THE PROBLEM OF SPIRITUAL AND MORAL UPBRINGING OF THE YOUNGER GENERATION

THE PROBLEM OF SPIRITUAL AND MORAL UPBRINGING OF THE YOUNGER GENERATION

The article deals with the problem of spiritual and moral upbringing of the younger generation. The author emphasizes the special importance of the formation of a personality that, along with developed intellectual abilities, should have significant spiritual potential, moral ideals and values. Two conditional levels of self-knowledge are analyzed.
Keywords: spiritual and moral upbringing, younger generation, intellectual abilities, levels of self-knowledge, moral ideals and values.

Zamishchak M. I.
PhD in Psychology, Associate Professor, Associate Professor of the Department of Psychology
Drohobych Ivan Franko State Pedagogical University, Drohobych, Ukraine

Ilnytska M. V.
third year student of the Faculty of Ukrainian and Foreign Philology
Drohobych Ivan Franko State Pedagogical University, Drohobych, Ukraine

10.34142//2708-4809.SIUTY.2022.164

The spiritual, moral, and social revival of Ukrainian society requires an increased role for morality in the regulation of social relations and personal relationships in human life. This necessitates a heightened consciousness of people based on their assimilation of moral norms and values, and requires new approaches to the organization, psychological and pedagogical support of moral education of the younger generation.

The problem of spiritual and moral upbringing of the younger generation has become increasingly important today due to the growing role of morality in regulating human relations, the revival of spiritual and moral values, norms of communication based on tolerance, and civic patriotism in society. “Moral improvement is the main and central act of human nature: all ways of improvement lead to it and only with its help become perfection in the full sense of the word,” writes K. Wojtyla [1, 11].

Conceptual approaches to the study of spiritual and moral personality are presented in the works of such scientists as I. Bekh, M. Boryshevsky, I. Bulakh, S. Maksymenko, V. Moskalets, R. Pavelkiv, M. Savchyn and others who have studied the philosophical and psychological essence of this phenomenon. The personal development of the younger generation takes place in the system of its social relations, which are mediated by their activities and communication. Therefore, in the system of relations with other people, as a result of interpersonal interaction of the individual’s self with others, personality formation takes place. According to V. Moskalets [3], philosophical anthropology is based on the idea of a personality that, along with developed intellectual abilities and capacities, should have significant spiritual potential, moral ideals and values.

A person’s idea of himself or herself as a subject of spiritual and moral behavior and activity is the result of the functioning of his or her spiritual and moral consciousness, which includes awareness of his or her identity and self as an active, active principle in oneself; awareness of one’s mental properties and moral qualities; a certain set of social and moral positions [2].

Scientists view the individual as a carrier of morality, a subject of moral relations, and moral self-regulation.

“In relation to the public consciousness, the individual is the object of moral regulation, subject to complex moral imperatives. The specificity of moral regulation lies in the combination of the functions of the subject and object of regulation in one individual, and is “internal in nature, being carried out as self-regulation. It is a conscious and arbitrary way of managing one’s own activities and behavior on the basis of internalized moral norms, in accordance with them” [5].

In joint activities and communication, moral attitudes towards people are a special component of morality. The process of forming moral relations is mediated by moral feelings.

In interacting with other people, a child experiences various aspects of the interaction of his or her own self with other people, which is a condition for the emergence of moral attitudes.

However, the essence of the problem of adequate formation of the self – moral image is that the process of interaction with the environment is burdened in the younger generation because they have an incorrect idea of the world and themselves in it. Adequacy is manifested in how successfully a person realizes his/her own needs in the social environment, finds his/her place there and feels the highest level of his/her being at the emotional level – this is the level of value and meaning determination in the world of values and meanings. According to M. Savchyn [5], for a personality, “the main plane of movement is moral and value”.

An individual can view himself or herself simultaneously from the point of view of both the real and the imaginary, ideal self. These two images can be related, but inconsistencies and discrepancies are possible between them. In the self-concept of the younger generation, one can distinguish a discrepancy between the real and ideal self.

The problem of discrepancies in the self-concept has been studied not only from the standpoint of correspondence or inconsistency between the real and ideal selves. Thus, in national psychology, the problem of dialogic consciousness and self-consciousness is raised (O. Bakhtin, T. Florenska, etc.). Based on the views of dialogic self-awareness, the self-attitude of a personality is more clearly manifested if studied through the contradiction between the real and the non-self. The self-attitude of a personality is manifested in how he or she understands himself or herself in comparison with others who have the opposite set of moral qualities: conscientious or dishonest, responsible or irresponsible, benevolent or unfriendly, merciful or unmerciful.

The younger generation develops two conventional levels of self-knowledge. At the first level, self-knowledge is realized within the framework of the relationship “I am another person.” At this level of self-knowledge, various images of oneself and one’s own behavior and activities arise. Therefore, at this level of self-knowledge, knowledge about oneself is situational. The main internal methods of self-knowledge are self-perception and self-observation.

At the second level, self-knowledge is carried out within the I – I relationship. Here, a person operates with ready-made knowledge about himself or herself that was learned at different times and in different situations. This knowledge about oneself is generalized and, depending on individual characteristics, the process of self-knowledge is formed. The most important mechanism of this level is self-reflection and self-analysis based on self-acceptance and self-observation.

Therefore, the education of the younger generation should be realized not only by developing intellectual abilities, but also by teaching them to possess moral and spiritual knowledge, significant spiritual potential, moral ideals, norms and values. The process of cognition of the self is not only the accumulation of ideas about oneself, but also the ability to direct, regulate and carry out one’s behavior and activities on this basis.

List of references

1. Mykola Eterovych, Archbishop. Roads of Ukraine. Lviv: Svichado, 2007. 556 с.
2. Unformed moral self-esteem of junior schoolchildren as a factor of their destructive behavior. Destructive emotional states of pupils: genesis, psychological mechanisms, prevention and correction : proceedings of the All-Ukrainian scientific and practical conference. Vinnytsia, 2012. С. 41-43.
3. Moskalets V. P. Psychological substantiation of the Ukrainian national school. Lviv: Svit, 1994. 120 с.
4. Moskalets V. P. Psychology of religion: a manual. Kyiv: Akademvydav, 2004. 240 с.
5. Savchyn M. V. The spiritual potential of man. Ivano-Frankivsk: Play, 2001. 203 с.