METHODOLOGICAL GUIDELINES FOR RESEARCHING THE STATUS OF A CIVIL SERVANT

Abstract

B a c k g r o u n d . The article carries out a philosophical and methodological analysis of the problem of the status of a civil servant in the conditions of the crisis of modern public administration. Given the global trends of devaluation of the role of the civil service, the article justifies the need to understand it not only as an administrative and legal institution, but also as a moral and value, socio-cultural and philosophical phenomenon. The purpose of the study is to determine methodological guidelines, such as those that allow comprehensively to reveal the nature of the civil service and its functions in modern society. In turn, the task of the article is to identify the philosophical relationship between moral values, institutional culture and personal experience of a civil servant.

M e t h o d s . The methodological basis is the following approaches, namely axiological, institutional and phenomenological. The axiological approach allows us to consider the civil service as a space for the implementation of social values: justice, integrity, service, solidarity, etc. Such an approach as institutional provides an analysis of the civil service as a social institution that reproduces certain norms of behavior, models of ethics, and management culture. As for the phenomenological approach, it focuses on understanding service as a personal experience that gives the profession existential meaning.

R e s u l t s . The results of the study show that the status of a civil servant cannot be reduced exclusively to a formal and legal category; instead, it reflects, on the one hand, the value orientations of society, and on the other, moral responsibility to the community. At the metaphysical level, this meaning reflects the ontological essence of service. It is proven that only the synthesis of diverse approaches creates a holistic methodological basis for updating the philosophy of public administration.

C o n c l u s i o n s . The conclusions emphasize that the interdisciplinary nature of understanding the civil service opens up new prospects for reforming the public administration system in Ukraine. This approach combines ethical, institutional, axiological, phenomenological, existential, and other dimensions, giving the study of the status of a civil servant a humanistic content and philosophical depth.