Keywords
historical determinism
historical necessity
safety
war of values
Zelenskyy
How to Cite
Abstract
The role of ethical values in history is often overlooked. The main role ascribed to the political, economic and military aspects of history diminishes the role of norms and values. At the same time, the perspective concentrating on the history of culture, mentality and daily life provides a viewpoint from which ethical norms and values are treated as an aspect of culture and have limited influence on other aspects of history.
In this paper, I present the importance of ethical values and historical justifications, referring to them based on the example of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s speeches during the first year of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. This provides an opportunity to analyze an example of the role ethical values play in the Ukrainian struggle against Russia and justify the thesis that ethics plays an important part in geopolitical security and defense.
This paper consists of four parts: first, the author briefly describes the importance of ethical values for historiography and certain aspects of the historical context in which Zelenskyy’s speeches will be interpreted throughout the text. Secondly, the issue of nihilism in history is described, with particular attention to Zelenskyy’s opposition toward it. The next part describes historical determinism as a tool to justify abhorrent actions, and the final part describes the value ascribed to freedom by Zelenskyy, especially as a prerequisite for the existence of other ethical values and as a method to search for an answer to aggression, war, and evil.
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