Transformation of axiological concepts in German naturalism. The drama ‘The family Selicke’ by A. Holtz

The article is devoted to the problem of the interaction between the ethical views of the past and axiological concepts at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, which sheds light on the general problem of modernity associated with its general principle - the interrelationship of epochs. The study aims to show how the ethical concepts of the past years receive an axiological interpretation; to reveal the poetic peculiarity of the global synthesis of ethics and axiology through the example of the drama The Selicke Family by A. Holtz. The analysis has revealed that, under the influence of the philosophy of life, known as everyday life, and the understanding of contemporary philosophies, emphasizing the teaching on values as the basis of all activities, a new ethic is emerging among naturalists, which is what axiology becomes for them. Naturalists, seeking to cognize life while rejecting the former principle of normativity, consider life as being valuecentered. The innovative role of the moral conclusions of a thinking subject leads to the ethical feeling taking major place in the soul. When subjected to axiological analysis, this feeling appears to be peculiar and subjective. It was found that the axiological criterion was also applied by naturalists to reinterpret the ethical notion of good. It is inseparable from evil, which naturalists see in the laws of environment and heredity. In The Selicke Family, the relationship between evil (immersion in environment) and good (victory over hatred and the triumph of love) is poetically realized through the change of representations of the beautiful (schön) and the ugly (schrecklich). The heroes of the drama derive from existence personal axiological judgment based on the transformation of ethical criteria: good is latently present in the environment, suffering leads to moral regeneration, the mysteries of good occur at the most tragic moment of life.