Morality as a form of human socio-cultural being in oral folk poetry

The article examines moral responsibility as a specific subjective-objective phenomenon of oral folk art using the example of folklore non-ritual lyric-epic texts. It is analyzed the conceptual dilemma of responsibility – irresponsibility and its role in implementing the functions of oral traditional culture. The authors focus on the correlation between the concepts of individual and social responsibility. In addition, the problem of social responsibility as an evident form of the relations between the individual and society driven by the need to comply with coexistence rules is actualized. Folk consciousness accumulates knowledge about responsibility as one of the forms of social relations, which objectively exists, is reflected in the psychological and spiritual aspects, and hence is an internal (towards oneself) and external (towards the community and humanity as a whole) manifestation of responsibility. Essential characteristics and forms of textualization of moral responsibility in folk songs are outlined: every time a practical act is compared with a proper one in real life, i.e., a moral ideal, through the reflection of the characters of a folklore work and the manifestation of behavior in a particular life situation. It is established that morality in oral literature appears simultaneously as a regulatory structure and a system of meanings of the subject and society as a whole. The imperativeness inherent in the belief system of a traditional work becomes not only a statement of a particular position but also a request for understanding the idea of life purpose at the author-audience level. The tragic event reinterpreted by folk consciousness transfers the axiological content of the depicted act to the collective memory. The essence of the responsibility–irresponsibility dilemma unfolds through a specific human reality. The analysis of non-ritual lyric-epic songs highlights a crucial axiom: moral responsibility is, first of all, the affirmation of the view of life, beliefs, and principles of a person who perceives these moments as own, imagined, and suffered. Having separated temptations of the empirical world, the essential from the insignificant, a person isolates the dominant landmarks of their existence, often leveling out the possibility of personal happiness, acting for the benefit of others. A folklore work conceives the relevance of individual and social consciousness since the depicted folk event raises the current problem to the level of collective comprehension, highlighting the imperative of human life value.