Bohdan Kistyakivsky and Sociology

Abstract

The article examines the sociological views of B. Kistyakivsky, his place and role in the history of sociological thought. The scientist's life path, formation and evolution of his scientific interests are traced. It is shown that the formation of B. Kistyakivsky's sociological views did not take place in the Russian academic environment, saturated with populist ideals, positivist concepts and, to some extent, the ideas of "legal Marxism", but in the context of the influential trends of Western European sociological thought and social psychology represented by G.Simmel, M.Weber, G. Tarde, W.Wundt, as well as philosophical neo-Kantianism (G.Rickert, W.Windelband), Neo-Kantian philosophical ideas and attitudes, Western European legal doctrines, which Kistyakivsky became familiar with during his studies at German universities determined his fundamental interest in the methodology of social cognition, in the sociology of law, in constitutionalism as the quintessence of democratic legal culture. Under the influence of neo-Kantianism, B.Kistyakivsky delved into the specifics of scientific knowledge of social phenomena, he was one of the first (if not the first) in world sociology to attempt a systemic logical and methodological awareness of social cognition as such and sociological science in particular. The positions of B. Kistiakivskiу regarding various interpretations of the essence and tasks of sociology as a science were analyzed. His contribution to the development of the logical and methodological foundations of sociological knowledge, criticism of subjectivism and naturalism in sociological science, his proposals for overcoming the crisis state of social sciences, and his proposed solution to the problem of combining social necessity and conscious human activity are highlighted. The attitude of B. Kistyakivsky to the Ukrainian question, his dedication to Ukrainian culture, his role in the creation of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences is shown.