The Origins of P. M. Rabinovych’s Scientific Outlook in the Philosophical Notes of the 1950s

Abstract

The article introduces into scholarly circulation for the first time in Ukraine the youthful notes and aphorisms of the well-known theorist and philosopher of law, Professor P. M. Rabinovych (1936–2023), which address worldview issues and problems of cognition. The purpose of the study is to facilitate the identification of the origins of the scientist’s worldview and the foundations of his scientific outlook as interconnected components of his life and scholarly activity. The main methods employed are textual analysis, hermeneutic reconstruction, and synthesis. The thematic grouping of diary entries allows for the reconstruction of logical and semantic connections between them, some of which are not immediately apparent. In this way, the philosophical depth of the young researcher’s understanding of worldview issues and problems of scientific cognition, as well as the sharpness of his thinking and his practical wisdom, are demonstrated. It is shown that the methodological approaches formed during the lawyer’s school and student years include, above all, materialist dialectics. In addition, even at this early stage, the young scholar was characterized by a heightened interest in epistemological issues and, in particular, in the ways and conditions for achieving truth; the dialectics of the relationship between consciousness and being, the ideal and the material, the subjective and the objective. P. M. Rabinovych was interested in the interrelations between reason and emotions, intellectual and sensory modes of perceiving the world, cognition and discursive thinking, as well as the culture of proof and argumentation in scientific discussions. The presented material is intended to stimulate interest in further research into the scholar’s work and personality and to serve as a resource for future generations of researchers who will develop the ideas of Pyotr Moiseyovych and engage in scholarly debate with them.