Translators-explorers: Translations of Kyiv Mohyla philosophical courses in 1960s-1970s

Abstract

The article deals with Ukrainian translations of philosophical courses taught at Kyiv Mohyla Academy in the 17th and 18th centuries. The research project of studying the Mohylian philosophy started at the Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR in 1966. The project included translation of about a dozen of Kyiv-Mohyla philosophical courses from Latin into Ukrainian. Up to that time there was no precedents of translation of scholastic texts into Ukrainian. There was a lack of historians of philosophy who were able to fulfill this task. Therefore, the project involved about 30 people who knew Latin, but belonged to different professions, includihng four underground Greek-Catholic priests. Because of polit-ical reasons, at that time most of the translated philosophical courses were not published. Some of them are preserved as manuscripts. The article is devoted to bring these translations to light. It also examines the terminology used in the translations.