The paper is dedicated to Volodymyr Ivanovych Mazepa, an outstanding Ukrainian esthete of late Soviet period. The philosopher’s figure is outlined in its personality and scientific-creative aspect; the author marks the irreplaceable contribution made by V. Mazepa to formation of identity of the Institute of Philosophy, NAS of Ukraine, as the collective of researchers and human community. The author thinks that the originality of V. Mazepa’s conception of creative work in arts consists in the principle of human measurability based on the activity approach. There is a question of retaining the memory of both V. Mazepa and other wrongly forgotten scientist of the Institute of that time.
