Yevhen Golovakha in an academic circle on the biological and the social in human beings

On 20 June 2025 the O. V. Palladin Institute of Biochemistry of the NAS of Ukraine hosted the latest meeting of the academy-wide interdisciplinary seminar in the natural sciences, “Current questions of physico-chemical and mathematical biology”.

The paper “The biological and the social” was given by the Director of the Institute of Sociology of the NAS of Ukraine, Corresponding Member of the NAS of Ukraine, Professor Yevhen Ivanovych Golovakha.

In his opening remarks the chair, Academician S. O. Kosterin, informed those present that Yevhen Ivanovych is a well-known Ukrainian psychologist, sociologist and public figure. His research interests focus on questions of the theory and methodology of sociology, the sociology of politics and social transformations, the sociology of personality, and social psychology. He is also the author of literary works.

Professor Yevhen Golovakha then delivered his interdisciplinary paper. He began by posing a question: how do genetic differences of 1% turn a wolf into “man's friend” and an ape into homo sapiens, and how can this be understood by scientific methods? The talk thus concerned the assessment of the relationship between the biological and the social in human beings. In what was Blaise Pascal right in seeing the human being as a “thinking reed”? The speaker's view of evolutionary inheritance and sociocultural acquisition in the context of past, present and future anthropogenesis was of great interest. The question of whether human beings have instincts was also addressed. In the context of his theme Yevhen Ivanovych touched on Freudianism, Marxism and Freudo-Marxism in the understanding of human nature. Attention was focused on an analysis of contemporary approaches to resolving the problem of the relationship between the biological and the social. In particular, the talk addressed primary and secondary needs: is human nature changing under the influence of the accelerated civilisational changes of recent decades? Yevhen Ivanovych then focused on the methods of studying the influence of heredity and environment on the human psyche. The “twin method” was discussed in the context of studying the influence of heredity and environment on the human psyche. From this standpoint identical and fraternal twins were compared. The approaches used in sociology, psychology and psychiatry to distinguish genetic from social factors were analysed, along with their advantages and shortcomings. Finally, the speaker offered some of his own aphorisms on the conflict between the “bio” and the “socio” in the human being and in society.

Questions to the speaker and contributions to the discussion came from Academician of the NAS of Ukraine Volodymyr Shyrokov, Professor Oleh Panchenko, Professor Olha Matyshevska, Academician of the NAS of Ukraine Vitalii Kalchenko, Academician of the NAS of Ukraine Serhii Kosterin, Academician of the NAS of Ukraine Yaroslav Shuba and others.

In his closing remarks the chair, Academician S. O. Kosterin, thanked the speaker for an interesting interdisciplinary paper at the junction of “biology + sociology”, which the audience listened to with great attention and which prompted lively discussion. The chair wished Yevhen Ivanovych further success in his creative work.

In honour of the speaker — Corresponding Member of the NAS of Ukraine, Professor Ye. I. Golovakha — and of the seminar's audience, a work of classical music, Brahms's Rhapsody in B minor, was performed by Yuliia Yermolova, a student of the National Music Academy of Ukraine. As Yevhen Ivanovych joked, a musical masterpiece by a genius is the most beautiful reward he has ever received for a talk.

Link to the recording of the seminar: https://youtu.be/5O6dGNyZL9c