In Universam Philosophiam Prooemium

Abstract

Prokopovych’s philosophical course is distinguishable by its content from other philosophical courses taught at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Now we are publishing a previously unknown, but philosophically significant part of the course – Prooemium (the Introduction). The publication is based on the manuscript from the Russian National Library (St. Petersburg). The text deals with the nature of philosophy (its definition, division and goal), but outlines the method and structure of the course as well. These questions are important as they shed light on the most general philosophical beliefs of the future Church hierarch and reformer. Prokopovych’s “Prooemium” was compared with the relevant part of Georgiy Konyskyi’s philosophical course. The texts turned out to be almost identical, what affirms that Konyskyi used Prokopovych’s text. All the variations between the manuscripts are indicated in the critical apparatus.