PHENOMENON OF HEROISM IN THE CONTEXT OF PATRIOTIC EDUCATION

The Problem setting. Social and political processes, economic and state-building
transformations in our country, and the military and political situation around Ukraine,led to the return o f the theme o f heroism to scientific discourse, rethinking the use o f heroic
potential in shaping patriotic consciousness o f citizens, national identity o f Ukrainians.
The problem o f heroism is connected with the evaluation o f the activity not only o f individual
historical personalities or even whole generations o f the people, but also with its
fixation in the cultural memory o f mankind. The phenomenon o f the heroic is in the range
o f research interests o f many social sciences and in the focus o f attention o f educational
institutions.
The moral significance o f the heroic is important, because this concept has a significant
educational potential, contributes to the formation o f humane, noble goals, active citizenship
and patriotism
Recent research and publications analysis. The essence o f the category o f the heroic
was explored by J. Bruno, J. Vico, G. V. Hegel, T. Carlyle, D. Campbell, F. Nietzsche,
K. Jung and others. The formation o f the phenomenon o f heroism is outlined in the works
o f G. Skovoroda, P. Yurkevich, T. Shevchenko, I. Franko, L. Ukrainka, M. Hrushevsky,
D. Dontsov, V. Lypynsky, G. Vashchenko, V. Sukhomlynsky, S. Krymsky, V. Baranivsky,
O. Khmilyar.In the Western philosophical thought o f the XX century the understanding o f the heroic
can be divided into four areas. The first direction continues to develop the concept o f
T. Carlyle (understanding the hero as a «superman»), the second considers the hero as a
social myth and tool o f psychoanalysis, for the third direction the hero is a phenomenon
o f social consciousness, a regulator o f social life. The fourth is the concept o f degeneration,
the representatives o f which reject the existence possibility o f the heroic in a postmodern
society.
Paper objective. The one o f the most important phenomena in a range o f scientific
interests o f philosophy, psychology, ethics and history was discussed. The essence o f
concepts «hero», «heroism» based on the analysis o f philosophical literature was explored.
The description o f the history o f the phenomenon o f heroism in different sources
was made. The connection o f aforementioned phenomena could be traced with such
concepts as «patriotism» and «identity», the motives o f selfless devotion and death,
variants coexistence o f different concepts o f «hero» were distinguished, specific signs
o f heroic action were demonstrated. It reflected social and cultural settings o f a specific
historical period and indicated the variability o f ideas about the status o f this
phenomenon. It was defined that people constantly were coming back to that category
and fixing with that fact the highest level o f spiritual beauty and activity ofpersonality,
which was able to give hope and to lead, to provoke the desire to imitate.The attention
in the research work was focused on the philosophical idea ofthe twentieth century because
at that period there was intensification o f scientific research for clarification o f
those concepts.Conclusions of the research. Modern Ukrainian patriotism must be the result o f the
practical realization o f a responsible sense o f citizenship as an integrated quality o f a
modern man. Forming patriotic feelings in Ukrainian youth, teachers should rely on suchbasic characteristics ofpatriotism as the socially consolidating nature o f its manifestation,
civic responsibility and active position o f all members o f the community. As a result, patriotic
feelings for Ukrainian youth should become not only a stable and conscious identification
with their native country, but also a readiness for responsible and effective civic
action.