The humanistic credo of A. S. Pushkin

Abstract

The author of the article underlines that the works of the great Russian poet A. S. Pushkin are imbued with the spirit of humanism, the philosophical search for the foundations of truth, goodness and beauty, and are aimed at glorifying man as a free creature and overcoming the base and vulgar in him. It is sressed that Pushkin was able to deeply comprehend and exactky express in his works the quintessence of Russian humanism. So, the purpose of the article is to show that the scale of values ​​and moral concepts which were important for Pushkin are not outdated and retain their significance at present. The author puts the question of what is priority in Pushkin’s humanism, and then he reveals and analyzes the poet’s humanistic credo. This is done with the help of some judgments of the leading Russian thinkers, who focused in their studies on Pushkin’s philanthropy, patriotism, the understanding that people should live in harmony, concord, and not in conflict either with nature or with each other. The quality of Pushkin’s ethical views is analyzed in the context of the idea that hedonism and eudaimonism (a sense of pleasure and an experience of personal happiness) will be reduced to banal egoism and self-love if categorical imperatives are violated, i.e., unconditional and universal instructions that must be followed by everyone. It is concluded that the works of the Russian national genius are the basic value and identification potential of the golden fund of Russian culture.