Ancient Philosophical Legacies in Modern Europe: Cultural Autonomy and Intercultural Coexistence

Olbare Narukhovskа-Artunova; Myrolak Bukrola; Oleokandira Yatsyiv

doi:10.33581/a3yrrq22

Authors

Olbare Narukhovskа-Artunova Department of the of Foreign Languages and General Education Disciplines of the University of Economics and Law, Kyiv, Ukraine
Myrolak Bukrola Department of Philosophy and Methodology of Sciences Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine
Oleokandira Yatsyiv Department of the Romance Languages and Foreign Literature, Faculty of Foreign Philology, Uzhhorod National University, Uzhhorod, Ukraine

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33581/a3yrrq22

Keywords:

ancient philosophy, culture, ethics, cosmopolitanism, conflicts

Abstract

Ancient philosophical culture continues to matter for contemporary Western civilization because many core principles of social organization and the ways societies interpret and reproduce those principles took shape in Classical Greece and Rome. This article investigates how ancient philosophical traditions have shaped today’s national cultures and isolates key conceptual categories from antiquity that remain embedded in modern thought and that still inform social and political life. The study is based on a content analysis of recent scholarly literature, reviewing 50 academic sources. Methodologically, the analysis relies mainly on theoretical approaches, especially analytical and synthetic reasoning. A comparative method is also applied to reveal tensions and divergences in how researchers interpret the philosophical legacy of antiquity. The findings trace the emergence of ancient ethical theory and its later reinterpretations, showing how ethical reasoning continues to influence present-day debates. The article also examines cosmopolitanism by comparing its contemporary cultural meanings with its Greco-Roman philosophical foundations, and it discusses how references to the ancient heritage are used today in addressing intercultural tensions and conflict. Overall, the study argues that, under accelerating globalization, the salience of ethics, intercultural coexistence, and cosmopolitan orientations has increased, while the imprint of ancient cultural inheritance remains visible across many dimensions of modern life. The article’s contribution lies in offering an integrated account of how ancient culture supports the formation and continuity of European identity. It concludes that concepts developed in antiquity continue to shape later sociological and political thinking as well as philosophical reflection, and that these ideas were consequential in the historical construction of European civilization.

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