Historical and Cultural Aspects of the Value and Ontological Foundations of Humanitarian Education

The content of the article discusses the historical and cultural aspects and the main approaches to the definition and essence of the values of humanitarian education in philosophical and psychological and pedagogical works. Particular attention among the conceptual philosophical positions is paid to the works of Heinrich Rickert, Max Weber, Immanuel Kant, the theories of representatives of Russian philosophical thought – N.A. Berdyaev, N.O. Lossky, as well as the ideas of cultural and philosophical and spiritual-religious trends in the field of humanities. The content of the article touches upon the topic of spiritual and moral quest, human striving for perfection, knowledge of God, comprehension of the true, "higher" values of the meaning of being. It is these values and meanings of being that have been the leitmotif of Russian humanitarian knowledge, culture and enlightenment for many centuries. The transformations of the ideas of axiology and ontology in the context of historical epochs and socio-cultural events are briefly presented.