FACULTY OF PHILOSOPHY AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
the meaning-forming faculty
The Belarusian State University was originally created as a classical higher education institution. Naturally, philosophical knowledge became an integral attribute of his educational program. In addition, in the conditions of revolutionary transformations, considerable attention was paid to social sciences. It is not surprising because the training of specialists and scientific research in the field of socio-philosophical knowledge have been conducted at BSU since its inception.
One of the first three faculties of the new university in 1921 was the Faculty of Social Sciences. Among the first university professors appointed by the State Academic Council was U.M. Ivanovsky. At that time, he was already a famous philosopher and teacher of a higher school. In Minsk, the scientist published such works as "The Logic of History as an Ontology of the Unit" (1922) and the first volume of "Methodological Introduction to Science and Philosophy" (1923). These books became the first editions of socio-philosophical topics published at BSU.
At the same time, in 1921, the Department of Sociology and Primitive Culture was opened, headed by Professor S. Z. Katzenbogen, who taught genetic sociology. The first course of lectures on sociology was published in the works of BSU in 1923.
The ruling Communist Party paid extremely close attention to the state and development of the social and humanitarian sciences. This had a significant impact on the development of the university and individual scientific fields. The prestige of philosophy and history was extremely great. They were rightly recognized as elitist sciences. Thus, the Department of Philosophy was established at the Faculty of History in 1941, and the Department of Philosophy was opened already after the Great Patriotic War, in 1947. A year later, the Department of History of Philosophy was established, which from 1950 was called the Department of History of Philosophy and Logic. In 1966, the training of socio-humanitarian specialists for the republican education system received further development in connection with the restoration of the philosophical department at the history faculty.
The most important event in the development of social and humanitarian sciences in our country was the opening in 1967 at the BSU of a problem-based research laboratory headed by a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR I. M. Luschytsky. It is good that the university was the flagship of all innovative initiatives and projects that moved science forward.
The ambiguity and thorniness of the path to the student audience of psychology is evidenced by the existence of the department of logic, psychology and the Russian language at the Faculty of Philology of BSU, opened in 1947. Only in 1976 was a decision made to separate the departments of pedagogy and psychology and create an independent department of psychology.
A turning point in the history of the faculty was 1989, when the Faculty of Philosophy and Economics was opened, which included departments of philosophy, sociology, and political economy. It was headed by a well-known Belarusian scientist, Doctor of Philosophical Sciences, Professor A. M. Yelsukou. At the same time, the Department of Sociology was established, and for the first time in Belarus, the training of sociologists was started. In 1997, the department of psychology became part of the faculty. The next step in the development of the faculty was the opening of the department of information and communication (currently - social communication), and in 1999 the department of social communication was established. Among the tasks of the new department, the provision of training of students in the field of information and communication, as well as the activation of scientific research in the field of communication processes in modern society, immediately came to the fore.
In the structure of the Faculty of Philosophy and Economics, students were trained in seven specialties of both economic and socio-philosophical profiles, which could not but cause serious difficulties in planning and optimal organization of the educational process. As a result, there were grounds for a serious reorganization – the division of the Faculty of Philosophy and Economics into two independent faculties: Economics and Philosophy and Social Sciences, which took place on March 1, 1999. At that time, the newly formed faculty was headed by Doctor of Philosophical Sciences Professor A.I. Zelyankov. In 2006–2016. doctor of sociological sciences, professor A. U. Rubanov worked as dean. From February 2016 to October 2021, candidate of historical sciences, associate professor V. F. Gigin was the dean. Since October 2021, the dean of the faculty is candidate of philosophical sciences, associate professor V. S. Sayganova.
