This study presents a critical examination of Ukrainian intellectual traditions, exploring the interplay between democratic governance, post-colonial resistance, and epistemic agency in Eastern Europe. Tracing the evolution from Kyiv-Mohyla Enlightenment and Cossack constitutional thought (Pylyp Orlyk) to the romantic humanism of Taras Shevchenko and twentieth-century intellectual dissent under imperial pressures, this research articulates a modern Ukrainian theoretical model for humanistic inquiry. Furthermore, it analyzes the imperatives of cultural heritage preservation, digital archival resilience, and anti-colonial pedagogy in modern higher education.