Father Mykola Konrad: Reviews as a Source of Reconstruction of the Historical and Philosophical Views of the Thinker

Abstract

Father Mykola Konrad (1876–1941) was a Professor, Doctor of Theology and Philosophy, Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Theological Academy in Lviv, a Ukrainian thinker and a historian of philosophy. However, his intellectual biography has not yet been studied in detail. His interest in the history of modern philosophy is still unknown. The article attempts to reconstruct the interests of the father in these branches of the history of philosophy on the basis of his reviews.

The analyzed reviews by Father Mykola Konrad show his interest in the newest history of philosophy, primarily the development of neo-Thomism. This is evidenced by the reviewed works and their authors, whose scientific work contributed to the restoration of Thomism (A. Stöckl, K. Kovalsky, etc.), as well as Konrad’s own arguments about the content of the criticized works. From the standpoint of neo-Thomism, he agrees with the critique of Hegel's philosophy, since he saw the source of Marxism and Communism in it. His philosophy, as well as the German philosophy of the modern period, was one of the scientific interests of M. Konrad. At the same time, Father Konrad paid special attention to the development of the modern history of Polish philosophy, especially neosholastics. He was interested in the history of Ukraine's philosophy, in particular the work of G. Skovoroda, and the works of Ukrainian contemporary philosophers (D. Chyzhevsky, I. Mirchuk). As a scientist and a teacher, he saw the need to study it and emphasized this in one of the reviews. In addition, the article makes it possible to see certain comments to the European research in M. Konrad’s work, including Polish scientists (as well as the Ukrainian scientist I. Mirchuk in the work of Rev. Fr. Kwiatkowski) and indicates the existence of areas of common interest between Polish and Ukrainian scientists.