The problems of ancient Eastern philosophy were determined by the cruel caste division and inequality, the influence of zoomorphic mythology. Because of totemism and ancestor worship, this type of philosophy is not rationalized enough. In the philosophy of ancient India, it is customary to distinguish the following schools: orthodox (yoga, Vedanta, Mimamsa, Samkhya) and non-orthodox (Charvaka Lokayata, Buddhism, Jainism). Most of them clearly define the concept of karma - the law on which the fate of each person entirely depends. Another fundamental concept was "samsara" - a chain of incarnations of living beings in the world. The way out of this chain is moksha, but its various principles were distinguished by the philosophical schools of ancient India.
In ancient Chinese philosophy, which was formed in the same era as the ancient Indian, there were 2 trends: materialistic and mystical. The first assumed the presence of five primary elements (metal, water, wood), opposite principles (yang and yin). Ancient Chinese philosophy usually includes Confucianism, Legalism, Yi Jin studies, and Mohism.
ancient philosophy
Ancient philosophy, formed in Ancient Greece and in Ancient Rome passed through several stages in its development. The first stage is the birth of philosophy. It is associated with the emergence of the Milesian school, to which Anaximenes, Thales, Anaximander and their students belonged. The second stage is connected with the research of such philosophers as Aristotle, Plato, Socrates. During the heyday of ancient philosophy, the formation of the school of sophists, atomists, Pythagoreans took place. The third stage is no longer ancient Greek, but ancient Roman. It includes such currents as skepticism, stoicism,.
Philosophers of antiquity observed the phenomena of nature, trying to explain them. The "heart" of the teachings of ancient philosophy can be called cosmocentrism. Man is a microcosm that exists within the macrocosm - nature and the elements. The philosophy of this period is characterized by a unique combination of natural scientific observations with aesthetic and mythological consciousness. Ancient philosophy is dozens of philosophical ideas, which were often directly opposed to each other. However, this is precisely what determined more and more types of philosophy.
medieval philosophy
In the era of feudalism, to which medieval philosophy is attributed, man was subordinated to the interests of the church and was strictly controlled by it. Religious dogmas were zealously defended. The main idea of this type of philosophy is the monotheism of God. Not the elements and not the macrocosm are the main force ruling the world, but only God is the creator of all things. Medieval philosophy was based on several principles:
- creationism (God's creation of the world from the void);
- providentialism (the history of mankind is a plan invented by God in advance for the salvation of man);
- symbolism (the ability to see the hidden meaning in the ordinary);
- realism (God is in everything: in things, words, thoughts).
Medieval philosophy is usually divided into patristics and scholasticism.
Renaissance philosophy
During the period of the birth of capitalist relations in Western Europe (15th-16th centuries), a philosophy of a new type began to develop. Now in the center of the universe is not God, but man (anthropocentrism). God is perceived as a creator, a person formally depends on him, but a person is practically equal to God, because he is able to think and create. The world is viewed through the prism of the subjective perception of its personality. During the period of Renaissance philosophy, first a humanistic-pantheistic worldview appears, and later a naturalistic-deistic one. Representatives of this type of philosophy are N. Cusa, J. Bruno, J. Pico Della Mirandola, Leonardo da Vinci, N. Copernicus.
Philosophy of the New Age
The development of mathematics and mechanics as sciences, the crisis of feudalism, bourgeois revolutions, the formation of capitalism - all this became the prerequisites for the emergence of a new type of philosophy, which would later be called the philosophy of the New Age. It is based on an experimental study of being and its comprehension. Reason was recognized as the highest authority, to which everything else is subordinate. Philosophers of modern times thought about the rational and sensual form of knowledge, which determined the emergence of two main currents: rationalism and empiricism. Representatives of the philosophy of modern times are F. Bacon, R. Descartes, G. Leibniz, D. Diderot, J. Berkeley, T. Hobbes and others.
German classical philosophy
The social transformations that took place in Germany at the end of the 18th century, as well as the French bourgeois revolution, became the prerequisites for the emergence of a new type of philosophy, the founder of which is considered to be Immanuel Kant. He explored questions of natural science. It was Kant who hypothesized that tides slow down the rotation of the Earth and that the solar system arose from a gaseous nebula. Somewhat later, Kant turns to the problem of human cognitive abilities, developing his theory of knowledge in the key of agnosticism and apriorism. According to Kant, nature does not have "reason", but is a set of human ideas about it. What is created by man is cognizable (in contrast to the chaotic and irregular world of phenomena). The epistemological concept of Kant includes 3 stages of knowledge: sensory knowledge, the area of reason and the area of reason, which directs the activity of reason. Kant's ideas were developed by I.G. Fichte, F. Schelling. to German classical philosophy include G. Hegel, L. Feuerbach and others.
Philosophy of modern times
This type of philosophy developed in the 19th century. The fundamental idea was that human knowledge is limitless and that it is the key to the implementation of the ideals of humanism. At the center of philosophy is the cult of reason. The initial principles of classical philosophy were rethought by Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer. Their theories were called neoclassical philosophy. Scientists of the Baden school suggested that there are historical sciences and natural sciences. The former are the sciences of events, the latter are the sciences of laws. They recognized only individual cognition as really existing, considering any other as an abstraction.
An important part of the philosophy of modern times are the works of Karl Marx. Among other things, he formulates the concept of alienation and the principle of the revolutionary elimination of alienation, the creation of a communist society where anyone can work freely. Marx is convinced that the basis of knowledge is practice, which leads to a materialistic understanding of history.
Russian philosophy
Russian philosophy has always been original, as, indeed, the entire cultural and historical development of Russia. It originated somewhat later than in Europe, and initially professed the ideas of ancient and Byzantine thought, and then was influenced by Western European trends. Russian philosophy is closely connected with religion, artistic creativity and social and political activity. It is focused not on epistemological issues, but on ontologism (knowledge through intuitive knowledge). Special meaning in Russian philosophy is given to the existence of man (anthropocentrism). This is a historiosophical type of philosophy, since a person cannot live and think outside of socio-historical problems. Much attention in Russian philosophy is given to inner world person. G. Nissky, I. Damaskin, K. Turovsky, N. Sorsky, Elder Philotheus, V. Tatishchev, M. Lomonosov, G. Skovoroda, A. Radishchev, P. Chaadaev, A. Khomyakov, A. Herzen, N. Chernyshevsky, F. Dostoevsky, L. Tolstoy, V. Solovyov, V. Vernadsky, N. Berdyaev, V. Lenin and others.
Philosophy of the last quarter of the 20th century
In the last quarter of the last century, philosophers around the world turned to the search for a new rationality. There are three turns in the development of philosophy: historical, linguistic and sociological. Within theological traditions, modernist tendencies emerge. Parallel to this, there is a process of reflexive processing of the products of myth-making. Philosophers "purify" Marxism of utopianism and direct political interpretations. The philosophy of the last quarter of the 20th century is open, tolerant, there are no dominant schools and trends in it, since the ideological boundaries between them are erased. Philosophy is partly integrated with the humanities and natural sciences. Representatives of the philosophy of the last quarter of the 20th century are G. Gadamer, P. Ricoeur, K. Levi-Strauss, M. Foucault, J. Lacan, J. Derrida, R. Rorty.
§ 1. Genesis of philosophy.
§ 2. Philosophy of ancient India and China.
§ 3. Ancient philosophy.
§ 4. Medieval philosophy
§ 5. Philosophy of the Renaissance.
§ 6. Philosophy of modern times.
§ 7. German classical philosophy.
§ 8. Philosophy of modern times.
§ 9. Russian philosophy.
§ 10. Philosophy of the last quarter of the twentieth century.
Genesis of philosophy
As is known, the object of philosophical knowledge is objective reality in all the richness of its reality and possibilities. At the same time, the subject of attention of philosophers is not reality in general, as such, but as a worldview problem, which is viewed through the prism of the relationship “man – world” (“thinking – being”, “subject – object”, etc.). The poles of this worldview relationship are not just differences, but also such dialectical opposites that “gravitate” one over the other, “penetrate” one another, “thrive” to be identified, “merge”, “integrate” one into another.
Reflecting the complex and contradictory nature of the relationship "man - the world", philosophy from the very beginning of its existence shows the features of alternativeness and at the same time dialogicity. Its entire history, as will be shown below, is an endless dialogue between idealism and materialism, epistemological optimism and agnosticism, dialectics and metaphysics. In the real historical and philosophical process, this dialogue exists as a “polyphony”, “polyphony” of alternative positions - nominalism and realism, dogmatism and skepticism, rationalism and irrationalism, etc.
Another essential feature of philosophical knowledge is its fundamental historicism. Philosophy, which comprehends the basic ways of the relationship "man - the world", cannot abstract from its own history. None of the divisions of philosophy is capable of solving its problems without turning to historical and philosophical topics. The history of philosophy is a school of theoretical thinking, since for the development of the latter "... there is still no other means than the study of all previous philosophy" (F. Engels).
In comprehending a huge philosophical heritage, one should not forget that the history of philosophy, firstly, is the history of a single, albeit extended in time, attempt by people to philosophize and through philosophy to learn about themselves and about the world that which philosophy it is impossible to know, that is, the history of human comprehension of the most important worldview questions about the essence of the world, man, their nature and destinies . Secondly, the history of philosophy is a multifaceted dialectical unity of the collective experience of mankind, all its generations, peoples and sages-philosophers, “grasping” time, an era in a concentrated form. Hence the variety of types (methods) of the philosophical worldview, leading to the struggle of different points of view belonging to many teachings, schools, trends in a single philosophical process. Thirdly, the history of philosophy is a reflection of the general logic of the movement and development of all social thought, the logic of the development of culture as a whole.
It should also be taken into account that the history of philosophy is not a simple sum of the philosophical teachings of a certain historical era, it is, first of all, the value significance of each of them in itself. Therefore, they should be considered only as complementary to each other.
The problem of the historical conditionality of philosophy also has such an aspect as the similarity philosophical problems in different national-cultural conditions of one historical epoch. Indeed, why do the philosophical problems of East and West coincide in many respects? Why is a certain identity of the historical-philosophical process created? The answer to this question lies in the logic of development human culture generally. It is this regularity that should be taken into account when determining the philosophical problems of each historical era. Therefore, it is possible as a parallel consideration philosophical thought different countries and peoples, as well as revealing the specifics of the philosophy of a particular historical stage on the example of the most characteristic philosophical teachings, schools and trends for a given historical era.
Starting to consider the historical stages in the development of philosophy, it is necessary to clarify the following concepts.
Philosophical doctrine is a system of certain, logically connected with each other views. Since this or that doctrine, created by an individual philosopher, finds its successors, philosophical schools are formed.
Philosophical schools is a set of philosophical teachings united by some basic, ideological principles. The totality of various modifications of the same ideological principles developed by different, often competing schools, is usually called currents.
Philosophical directions - these are the largest and most significant formations in the historical and philosophical process (teachings, schools), which have common fundamental provisions and allow for individual private disagreements.
For the history of philosophy, as for any history, the most important issue is periodization. The most generally accepted approach to the periodization of the history of philosophy was proposed by G.V.F. Hegel, who called philosophy "the spiritual quintessence of the era."
The origin of philosophy is still largely a mysterious event. The uniqueness and complexity of this event make it difficult to logically explain the beginning of philosophy as such, so the question of the genesis of philosophy is no less relevant than the question of its essence.
It is assumed that philosophy arose as a result of the coincidence of several favorable conditions and prerequisites. It is customary to talk about the psychological prerequisites, spiritual origins and social conditions for the emergence of philosophy. Even ancient thinkers pointed out that philosophy arises as a product of perplexed thought. Thus, Plato considered surprise the beginning of philosophy. Surprise, understood not in the ordinary sense, but as such a state of consciousness, when it suddenly discovers that the usual and generally accepted views are not based on anything and therefore are a delusion, a prejudice. Subjecting them to analysis and evaluation, consciousness doubts them. At the same time, it not only denies traditional values, but also creates new ones. Objects and phenomena surrounding a person are transformed from objects of contemplation into a theoretical, moral and practical problem. The first step in emerging philosophy is the perception that our knowledge of the world depends on how much we know our own essence. "Know yourself and you will know the world."
Among the spiritual sources of philosophy, two main ones are usually distinguished - empirical knowledge and mythology. Knowledge and myth equally give rise to a philosophical vision of the world, but the ways of their continuity with it are different. Empirical knowledge does not automatically turn into philosophy. It emerges from pre-scientific knowledge, as if “surprising” at it, thereby indicating its limitations and prompting it to improve.
Philosophy and mythology are in the same evolutionary series, and genesis continuity is inevitable between them. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle believed that one who loves myths is, in a sense, a philosopher.
Denying mythology, philosophy, nevertheless, perceives from it the experience, on the one hand, of the ultimate generalization of the perception of the world, and on the other, of a value attitude to the world. The process of separating philosophy from mythology is a long process, “stretched out” over many centuries. It should be noted that philosophy has not been able to completely “clear itself” of mythology throughout history.
Social conditions were also necessary for the emergence of philosophy. These include, first of all, the separation of mental labor from physical labor, which made it possible to engage in theoretical activity. The professionalization of philosophical activity begins during the period of decomposition of the socio-economic structure and the emergence of the state, which provided the individual with a minimum of freedom. In various historical regions, this process occurs in different time and differently. Having started on the territory of the ancient civilizations of the Middle East (Egypt, Babylon, the Sumerian state), it did not end there. He was hindered by the ancient Eastern statehood (despotism) and the priests' monopoly on knowledge. Because of this, they speak only of individual elements of philosophical knowledge in this historical region.
The formation of philosophy, its substantive self-determination takes place in the middle of the first millennium BC. in India, China and Greece. Specificity community development these countries led to the predominance of religious and moral issues in Eastern philosophy, the establishment in Western philosophy of the cult of knowledge for the sake of knowledge. This predetermined the emergence of the Eastern and Western traditions of world philosophy.
§ 2. Philosophy of ancient India and China
Describing the ancient Eastern philosophy (India, China), the following should be noted. Firstly , it was formed in the conditions of despotic states, where the human personality was absorbed by the external environment, inequality, rigid caste division largely determined the socio-political, moral and ethical problems of philosophy. Secondly, the great influence of mythology (which had a zoomorphic character), the cult of ancestors, totemism affected the insufficient rationalization and systemic nature of Eastern philosophy . Thirdly, in contrast to European philosophy, Eastern philosophy is autochthonous (original, primordial, root).
With all the diversity of views in ancient Indian philosophy, the personal component is poorly expressed. Therefore, it is customary to consider first of all the most famous schools. They can be divided into orthodox schools - Mimamsa, Vedanta, Samkhya and Yoga, and unorthodox - Buddhism, Jainism and Charvaka Lokayata. Their difference is mainly related to the attitude to the sacred scripture of Brahmanism, and then Hinduism - the Vedas (orthodox schools recognized the authority of the Vedas, non-orthodox ones denied it). Written in poetic form, the Vedas contain questions and answers to them about the origin of the world, the cosmic order, natural processes, the presence of a soul in a person, the eternity of the world and the mortality of an individual. The Indian philosophical tradition has formed a number of basic philosophical and ethical concepts that make it possible to form a general idea of the ancient Indian philosophical teachings. First of all, this is the concept of karma - the law that determines the fate of a person. Karma is closely connected with the doctrine of samsara (the chain of rebirths of beings in the world). Moksha is the liberation or exit from samsara. It is the ways out of moksha that distinguish the views of different philosophical schools (these could be sacrifices, asceticism, yoga practice, etc.) Aspiring to liberation must follow the established norms and drachma (a certain way of life, life path).
ancient chinese philosophy, the development of which falls on the middle of the first millennium BC, was formed simultaneously with the emergence of Indian philosophy. Since its inception, it has differed from Indian and Western philosophy, as it relied only on Chinese spiritual traditions.
Two trends can be distinguished in the philosophical thought of China: mystical and materialistic. In the course of the struggle of these two tendencies, naively materialistic ideas developed about the five primary elements of the world (metal, wood, water, fire, earth), about opposite principles (yin and yang), about natural law (tao) and others.
The main philosophical directions (teachings) were: Confucianism, Mohism, Legalism, Taoism, yin and yang, the school of names, Yizinistics.
One of the first major Chinese philosophers is considered Lao Tzu founder of Taoism. His teaching about the visible phenomena of nature, which are based on material particles - qi, subordinate, like all things in nature, to the natural laws of Tao, was of great importance for the naive materialistic justification of the world. Another striking materialistic teaching in ancient China already in the 4th century BC. was the teaching of Yang Zhu about the recognition of the laws of nature and society. Not the will of the sky, the gods, but the universal, absolute law - Tao determines the existence and development of things and human actions.
The most authoritative ancient Chinese philosopher was Confucius(551-479 BC). His teaching, having turned out to be dominant in the spiritual life of China, achieved the official status of the dominant ideology in the 2nd century BC. The focus of Confucianism is the problems of ethics, politics, and education of a person. Sky - high power and guarantor of justice. The will of heaven is fate. A person should fulfill the will of Heaven and strive to know it. The Law (Li) is recognized as the core of human behavior, ritual. Confucianism declares the idea of humanity, self-respect, reverence for elders, reasonable order as the principle of moral perfection. The main moral imperative of Confucius is “do not do to others what you do not wish for yourself”.
ancient philosophy
Ancient philosophy, rich and deep in its content, was formed in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. According to the most common concept, ancient philosophy, like the entire culture of antiquity, went through several stages.
The first- origin and formation. In the first half of the VI century. BC e. in the Asia Minor part of Hellas - in Ionia, in the city of Miletus, the first ancient Greek school was formed, called the Milesian. Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes and their students belonged to it.
Second- maturity and flourishing (V-IV centuries BC). This stage of development is ancient Greek philosophy associated with the names of such thinkers as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle. In the same period, the formation of the school of atomists, the Pythagorean school, and the sophists took place.
Third stage- the decline of Greek philosophy in the era of Hellenism and Latin philosophy of the period of the Roman Republic, and then the decline and end of ancient pagan philosophy (IV - III centuries BC). During this period, skepticism, epicureanism and stoicism became the most famous currents of Hellenistic philosophy.
early classic(Naturalists, Pre-Socratics) The main problems are “Physis” and “Cosmos”, its structure.
middle classics(Socrates and his school; sophists). The main problem is the essence of man.
High classics(Plato, Aristotle and their schools). The main problem is the synthesis of philosophical knowledge, its problems and methods, etc.
Hellenism(Epicurus, Pyrrho, the Stoics, Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, etc.) The main problems are morality and human freedom, knowledge, etc.
Ancient philosophy is characterized by the generalization of the rudiments of scientific knowledge, observations of natural phenomena, as well as the achievements of scientific thought and culture of the peoples of the ancient East. This specific historical type of philosophical outlook is characterized by cosmocentrism. The macrocosm is nature and the basic natural elements. Man is a kind of repetition of the world around him - microcosm. The highest principle that subjugates all human manifestations is fate.
The fruitful development of mathematical and natural science knowledge during this period led to a unique combination of the rudiments of scientific knowledge with mythological and aesthetic consciousness.
The search for the origin (foundation) of the world - feature ancient, especially early ancient philosophy. The problems of being, non-being, matter and its forms, its main elements, the elements of the cosmos, the structure of being, its fluidity and inconsistency worried the representatives of the Milesian school. They are called natural philosophers. So, Thales (VII-VI centuries BC) considered water to be the origin of everything, the primary substance, as a kind of element that gives life to everything that exists. Anaximenes considered air to be the basis of the cosmos, Anaximander - apeiron (indefinite, eternal, infinite something). The main problem of the Milesians was ontology - the doctrine of the basic forms of being. Representatives of the Milesian school pantheistically identified the natural and the divine.
Spontaneous materialism and dialectics were developed in the work of thinkers of the Ephesian school, a prominent representative of which was Heraclitus(c. 520 - c. 460 BC). Coming from a noble aristocratic family, he defended the interests of his class, but entered the history of philosophy primarily as the "father of dialectics." According to his philosophy, the world is one, not created by any of the gods and by any of the people, but was, is and will be an ever-living fire, naturally igniting and naturally extinguishing. Nature and the world are an eternal process of movement and change of fire. Developing the idea of perpetual motion, Heraclitus develops the doctrine of logos as a necessary and regular process. This process is the reason, the source of movement. Heraclitus meant that everything in the world consists of opposites, opposing. As a result, everything changes, flows; You cannot step into the same river twice. The philosopher expressed thoughts about the mutual transition of the struggling opposites into each other: the cold gets warmer, the warm gets colder, the wet dries up, the dry gets moistened.
Heraclitus philosophy was sharply criticized by representatives of the Eleatic school - thinkers from the city of Elea. The founder of the school is considered Xenophanes(c.570-480 BC). Subsequently, the head of the school became Parmenides(c.540 - 480 BC), and his legendary student Zeno of Elea(c.490-430 BC). Systematized and completed the traditions of this school Meliss of Samos(V century BC). The formation of ancient philosophy ends in the school of the Eleatics. Contrasting the problem of multiplicity with the elemental dialectic of Heraclitus, they came up with a number of paradoxes (aporias), which still cause ambiguous attitudes and conclusions among philosophers, mathematicians and physicists. The aporias have come down to us in the presentation of Zeno, therefore they are called the aporias of Zeno (“Moving bodies”, “Arrow”, “Achilles and the tortoise”, etc.). According to the Eleatics, the apparent ability of bodies to move in space, i.e. what we see as their movement actually contradicts multiplicity. This means that it is impossible to get from one point to another, since many other points can be found between them. Any object, moving, must always be at some point, and since there are an infinite number of them, it does not move and is at rest. That is why the swift-footed Achilles cannot catch up with the tortoise, and the flying arrow does not fly. Isolating the concept of being, they denote by it a single, eternal, immovable basis of all that exists. The ideas indicated in aporias were refuted many times, their metaphysicality and absurdity were proved. At the same time, an attempt to explain the movement, changes is dialectical in nature. The Eleatics showed their contemporaries that it is important to look for contradictions in the explanation of reality.
A large role in the development of ancient philosophy was played by the ideas of atomists, supporters of materialistic teachings. Leucippe and Democritus(V - IV centuries BC). Leucippus argued that the eternal material world consists of indivisible atoms and the void in which these atoms move. Vortices of motion of atoms form worlds. It was assumed that matter, space, time cannot be divided to infinity, because there are the smallest, further inseparable fragments of them - atoms of matter, amers (atoms of space), hrons (atoms of time). These ideas made it possible to partially overcome the crisis caused by Zeno's aporias. Democritus considered the true world to be an infinite, objective reality, consisting of atoms and emptiness. Atoms are indivisible, immutable, qualitatively homogeneous and differ from each other only in external, quantitative features: shape, size, order and position. Thanks to perpetual motion, a natural necessity is created for the convergence of atoms, which in turn leads to the appearance of solid bodies. The soul of a person is also represented in a peculiar way. Soul atoms have a thin, smooth, round, fiery shape and are more mobile. The naivety of the ideas of the atomists is explained by the underdevelopment of their views. Despite this, the atomistic doctrine had a huge impact on the subsequent development of natural science, the materialistic theory of knowledge. Epicurus, a follower of Democritus, concretized the teachings of Democritus and, in contrast to him, believed that the sense organs give absolutely accurate ideas about the properties and characteristics of objects and processes in the surrounding reality.
Second phase development of ancient philosophy (middle classics) is associated with the philosophical teachings of the sophists. (Sophism is a philosophical direction based on the recognition of the ambiguity of concepts, deliberately false construction of conclusions that formally seem correct, snatching out certain aspects of the phenomenon). The Sophists were called wise men, and they called themselves teachers. Their goal was to give knowledge (and, as a rule, this was done for money) in all possible areas and to develop in students the ability for various kinds of activities. They played a huge role in the development of the technique of philosophical discussion. Their reflections on the practical significance of philosophy were of practical interest to subsequent generations of thinkers. The sophists were Protagoras, Gorgias, Prodik, Hippias. Greek thinkers treated the sophists negatively. So, the "wisest of wise men" Athenian Socrates(470-399 BC), who himself was influenced by the sophists, ironically over the fact that the sophists undertake to teach science and wisdom, while they themselves deny the possibility of any knowledge, any wisdom. In contrast, Socrates did not ascribe to himself wisdom itself, but only the love of wisdom. Therefore, the word "philosophy" - "love of wisdom" after Socrates became the name of a special field of knowledge and worldview. Unfortunately, Socrates did not leave behind written sources, so most of his statements have come down to us through his students - the historian Xenophon and the philosopher Plato. The desire of the philosopher for self-knowledge, for knowing himself precisely as a “man in general” through an attitude to objective universally valid truths: good and evil, beauty, goodness, human happiness - contributed to the promotion of the problem of man as a moral being to the center of philosophy. An anthropological turn in philosophy begins with Socrates. Next to the theme of man in his teaching were the problems of life and death, ethics, freedom and responsibility, personality and society.
The high classics of ancient philosophy is associated with the greatest thinkers of Ancient Greece Plato(427-347 BC) and Aristotle(384-322 BC). Plato expressed his thoughts in works equally belonging to ancient literature and philosophy. Aristotle gravitated toward encyclopedism. The theory of ideas became the core of Plato's teachings. The objective, irrelevant, independent of time and space, incorporeal, eternal, inaccessible to sensory perceptions, the idea is comprehended only by the mind. It represents the formative principle, and matter represents the possibilities. Both of them are the causes of the objective world, ordered by the demiurge. Ideas make up a special realm of ideal entities, where the highest idea is the Good.
Plato developed the theory of knowledge. He believed that true knowledge is the knowledge of the world of ideas, which is carried out by the rational part of the soul. At the same time, sensual and intellectual knowledge were distinguished. Plato's "theory of memories" explains the main task of knowledge - to remember what the soul observed in the world of ideas before it descended to earth and embodied in human body. The objects of the sense world serve to arouse the memories of the soul. Plato proposed to develop the art of controversy (“dialectics”) as a way to find out the truth.
Plato considered many other philosophical problems, among which the doctrine of the “ideal state”, the theory of space, and ethical doctrine deserve attention.
The rich philosophical heritage of Plato was critically rethought by his student, the scientist-encyclopedist Aristotle.
Aristotle founded his own philosophical school of "peripatetics" (by the name of the lecture halls in the covered galleries - peripatos). His teaching later had a decisive influence on the formation and development of not only philosophy, but also European culture as a whole. First, Aristotle, much wider than any of his predecessors, carried out an intellectual coverage of all forms of contemporary knowledge and culture in general. He was interested in questions of natural science, philosophy, logic, history, politics, ethics, culture, aesthetics, literature, theology, etc. Secondly, he formulated the concept of philosophy. As the "first philosophy" he considers "metaphysics" and "second philosophy" - physics. "Metaphysics" is the most exalted of the sciences, because it does not pursue empirical or practical aims. It answers the questions of how to investigate the causes of the first or higher principles, to know “being as it is being”, to gain knowledge about substance, God and supersensible substance. In the doctrine of matter and form, Aristotle considers the two beginnings of every thing (thing = matter + form). For the first time he introduces the concept of matter. Each thing becomes itself due to the form (eidos).
The study of being is possible only with the help of logic (an organon is a tool for studying being). Logic, according to Aristotle, has methodological significance for knowledge.
Continuing the tradition of his teacher Plato, Aristotle pays great attention to the human soul and develops his own ethics. A characteristic feature of Aristotle's philosophy is the vacillation between materialism and objective idealism, dialectics and non-dialectical method.
Hellenism. The main currents of Hellenistic philosophy were Stoicism and Epicureanism.
Philosophical direction - stoicism existed from the 3rd century BC. until the 3rd century AD The main representatives of early Stoicism were Zeno of China, Xenophanes, Chrysippus. Later, Plutarch, Cicero, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius became famous as Stoics. All of them were followers of the school of Stoia (Athens), their life ideal- equanimity and calmness, the ability not to respond to internal and external irritating factors. Stoicism as a doctrine absorbed much of the previous Greek philosophy. There are several sections of this philosophy: physics, logic and aesthetics. In physics, the Stoics stood on the positions of pantheism. God is Logos, Logos is nature. The logos of the Stoics is identical to matter and God and at the same time the divine mind. All people of the world are involved in the Logos. According to the old ancient tradition fire was considered by the Stoics the main element of the universe.
Problems of logic occupied a significant place in the work of the Stoics. They divided it into rhetoric and dialectics, understanding the latter as the art of reaching the truth with the help of a dispute. Nevertheless, the pinnacle of Stoic philosophy is its aesthetic teaching. It substantiated the main categories of Stoic ethics: autarchy - self-satisfaction, independence, isolation; ataraxia - equanimity, complete calmness, serenity; quietism - an indifferent, passive attitude to life; affect; lust; passion; apathy is dispassion. The ultimate goal of man is happiness. Virtue is a life in harmony with the nature-Logos. There are four virtues in life: wisdom, temperance, courage and justice.
Epicureanism, which existed parallel to Stoicism, is associated with creativity Epicurus(341-270 BC). He founded his own school - the "Garden of Epicurus", the source of the philosophical teachings of which was the teaching of the Milesian school on the fundamental principle of all things, the dialectic of Heraclitus, the doctrine of pleasure. Epicurus continued the traditions of the atomistic doctrine, supplementing it with the concepts of atomic weight, curvilinearity, the randomness of the movement of atoms, etc. In the theory of knowledge, he defended sensationalism, unlimitedly trusting the readings of the senses and not trusting the mind. Like Stoicism, Epicureanism assigns a large place in its philosophy to ethical teaching. The main principle, the goal of human life, is declared to be pleasure, pleasure. A means in the fight against suffering, a way to achieve peace of mind (ataraxia) and happiness (eudaimonia), Epicurus considers following the essence of reasonable human moral requirements.
An even more holistic atomistic picture of the world was presented in his teaching by the Roman sage Titus Lucretius Kar(c. 96 - 55 BC), who supplemented it with provisions on the eternity of being, the inseparability of motion and matter, the multiplicity of objective qualities of matter (color, taste, smell, etc.). His philosophy completes the development of the materialism of the ancient world.
It should be emphasized that the diversity of philosophical ideas of the period of antiquity gives grounds for the conclusion that in ancient Greek philosophy, almost all the later types of worldviews are contained in the embryo, in the form of brilliant conjectures.
medieval philosophy
Medieval philosophy belongs mainly to the era of feudalism (V-XV centuries). The entire spiritual culture of this period was subordinated to the interests and control of the church, the protection and justification of religious dogmas about God and his creation of the world. The dominant worldview of this era was religion, so the central idea of medieval philosophy is the idea of a monotheistic God.
A feature of medieval philosophy is the fusion of theology and ancient philosophical thought. Theoretical thinking of the Middle Ages at its core theocentric. God, and not the cosmos, is presented as the root cause, the creator of all things, and his will as a power that reigns supreme over the world. Philosophy and religion are so intertwined here that Thomas Aquinas characterized philosophy as nothing more than a "servant of theology." The sources of medieval European philosophy were predominantly idealistic or idealistically interpreted philosophical views of antiquity, especially the teachings of Plato and Aristotle.
The main principles of medieval philosophy were: creationism- the idea of the creation of the world by God from nothing; providentialism– understanding of history as the implementation of God's plan for the salvation of man; theodicy- as God's justification ; symbolism- a peculiar ability of a person to find the hidden meaning of an object; revelation- the direct will of God, accepted by the subject as an absolute criterion of human behavior and cognition; realism- the existence of common in God, in things, in people's thoughts, words; nominalism- special attention to the singular.
In the development of medieval philosophy, two stages can be distinguished - patristics and scholasticism.
Patristics. During the struggle between Christianity and pagan polytheism (from the 2nd to the 6th centuries AD), a literature of apologists (defenders) of Christianity arose. Following apologetics, patristics arose - the writings of the so-called church fathers, writers who laid the foundations of the philosophy of Christianity. Apologetics and patristics developed in Greek centers and in Rome. This period can be divided into:
a) the apostolic period (until the middle of the 2nd century AD);
b) the era of the Apologists (from the middle of the 2nd century AD to the beginning of the 4th century AD). These include Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Origen and others;
c) mature patristics (IV-VI centuries AD). The most prominent figures of this period were Jerome, Augustine Aurelius and others. During this period, the ideas of monotheism, the transcendence of God, the three hypostases - God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit, creationism, theodicy, eschatology were at the center of philosophizing.
During this period, philosophy is already divided into three types: speculative (theological), practical (moral), rational (or logic). All three types of philosophy were closely related to each other.
Scholasticism(VII-XIV centuries). The philosophy of the Middle Ages is often called in one word - scholasticism (lat. scholasticus - school, scientist) - a type of religious philosophy based on the combination of dogmatics and rationalistic justification with a preference for formal logical problems. Scholasticism is the main way of philosophizing of the Middle Ages. This was due, firstly, to the close connection with Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition, which, complementing each other, were an exhaustive, universal paradigm of philosophical knowledge about God, the world, man and history; Secondly , traditionalism, continuity, conservatism, dualism of medieval philosophy; third , impersonal character of medieval philosophy, when the personal receded before the abstract-general.
The most important problem of scholasticism was the problem of universals. Three philosophical currents are associated with an attempt to solve this problem: conceptualism(existence of the general outside and before a particular thing), realism(before the thing) and nominalism(existence of the general after and outside the thing).
Follower of Plato Augustine the Blessed stood at the origins of medieval philosophy. In his works, he substantiated the idea that the existence of God is the highest being. The good will of God is the cause of the appearance of the world, which, through the body and soul of man, ascends to its creator. Man has a special place in this world. The material body and rational soul constitute the essence of a person who, through his soul, acquires immortality and freedom in his decisions and actions. However, people are divided into believers and non-believers. God takes care of the first, and the second is given the opportunity to save himself through the conversion to faith. A. Augustine believed that a person has two sources of knowledge: sensory experience and faith. His religious philosophy served as the foundation of Christian thought until the 13th century.
Leading theologian of the Catholic Church Thomas Aquinas sought to harmonize the teachings of Aristotle with the requirements of the Catholic faith to achieve a historical compromise between faith and reason, theology and science. He is known for developing five "ontological" proofs for the existence of God in the world. They boil down to this: God is "the form of all forms"; God is the prime mover, i.e. the source of everything; God is the highest perfection; God is the supreme source of expediency; from God comes the lawful, orderly nature of the world.
Philosophy and religion, according to the teachings of Thomas, have a number of common provisions that are opened both by reason and by faith in cases where there is a choice: it is better to understand than just to believe. On this is based the existence of the truths of reason. The teachings of Thomas, called Thomism, became the ideological support and theoretical tool of Catholicism.
The philosophical thought of the Byzantine East is associated with the names of Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, Athanasius of Alexandria, John Chrysostom, Gregory Palamas, and others. Byzantine medieval philosophy is distinguished by an intense, dramatic search for the spiritual foundations of a new Christian culture, autocratic statehood.
In the Middle Ages, the development of scientific knowledge in the countries of the Muslim East was significantly ahead of European science. This was due to the fact that during this period idealistic views dominated in Europe, while Eastern culture absorbed the ideas of ancient materialism. As a result of the interaction of the Islamic value systems, the traditional cultures of the peoples belonging to the Arab Caliphate, and later to the Ottoman Empire, a syncretic culture began to develop, which is usually called Muslim. The most characteristic philosophical currents of Arab-Muslim philosophy were: Mutualism, Sufism, Arab peripatetism. The most significant phenomenon in its philosophical content was Eastern peripatetism (IX-XI centuries). The leading representatives of Aristotelianism were Al-Farabi, Al-Biruni, Ibn-Sina (Avicenna), Ibn-Rushd (Averroes).
The strong influence of Islam did not allow the development of independent philosophical teachings, therefore, the initial principle of constructing a picture of the world is God as the first reality. At the same time, Arab thinkers developed Aristotelian ideas about nature and man, his logic. They recognized the objectivity of the existence of matter, nature, their eternity and infinity. These philosophical views contributed to the development scientific knowledge in mathematics, astronomy, medicine, etc.
Despite some monotony of medieval philosophy, it became a significant stage in the development of philosophical knowledge of the world. Noteworthy is the striving of this philosophy to more fully comprehend the spiritual world of man, to attach him to a higher God. It should be noted that the religious exaltation of man as the "image and likeness" of God contributed to advancement in the philosophical understanding of man. Philosophy has taken a step from naturalistic ideas to the realization of the individuality of the human spirit and the historicity of man.
Medieval philosophy made a significant contribution to the further development of epistemology, having developed and refined all logically possible options for the ratio of rational, empirical and a priori, a ratio that would later become not only the subject of scholastic disputes, but also the foundation for the formation of the foundations of natural science and philosophical knowledge.
At the stage of pre-university training, the topic “Great Philosophers of the World” was studied in sufficient detail. Therefore, our task is to briefly summarize the previously studied material, highlighting only modern approaches in interpreting the main stages in the development of philosophy and the most General characteristics these stages, without focusing on personalities. Given the fact that within the framework of this manual it is impossible to adequately represent all stages of the development of philosophy, the authors limited themselves to the task of emphasizing only those aspects of the development of philosophical thought that will help the student in solving test tasks and questions for self-examination.
One cannot comprehend philosophy without studying the history of philosophy. The history of philosophy connects previous ideas with the present, it introduces us to the legacy of the outstanding minds of mankind. Like any theory of knowledge, this scientific discipline elucidates the patterns of development of philosophy itself, the conditions and factors that determine it, and as a result also answers the question: “What is philosophy”?
Philosophy has more than 25 centuries of its development and can be represented, according to modern researchers, as:
- 1) ancient - the philosophy of the Ancient East (India, China); Greece and Rome; Middle Ages and Renaissance;
- 2) new;
- 3) latest.
The division of the history of philosophy into periods implies a peculiar way of philosophizing, characteristic of a particular period (epoch). The historical era leaves a deep imprint on the very personality of the philosopher, on his understanding of his role in society, on his commitment to certain ideals and values. The historical type of philosophizing unites not like-minded people, but contemporaries, i.e. philosophers of different views and beliefs, but formed in a single space and time of culture.
Each major historical era knows his historical type of philosophizing and his characteristic type of philosopher. As for the types of philosophizing, today in the literature there are different approaches to their classification. Some researchers distinguish the following types:
- a) contemplative(highest values - serenity, peace of mind, calm contemplation of eternal truth) - characteristic of antiquity;
- b) speculative(close to contemplative) - focused on irrational and super-rational sources of knowledge (intuition, revelation, supersensible contemplation), characteristic of late antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Russian religious renaissance (late XIX - early XX century);
- in) active the type of philosophizing is socially transformative, the formation of which is associated with the philosophy of Marxism;
- G) the newest, socio-ecological type of philosophizing (the teaching of V.I. Vernadsky about the noosphere, even earlier N.F. Fedorov’s ideas about the conscious regulation of nature by man), the theoretical conclusions of the “Club of Rome”), which is characterized by the fact that the idea of preserving peace, civilization becomes the most important life the task of one and all.
Other philosophers, including representatives of the Ural school, identify as the main types of philosophizing that dominated in certain eras, cosmocentrism(naturalism), theocentrism, anthropocentrism, sociocentrism. So, for example, the specificity of Greek philosophy, especially in the initial period of its development, was the desire to understand the essence of nature, the cosmos, the world as a whole ( cosmocentrism). It is no coincidence that the first Greek philosophers were called "physicists" (from the Greek phusis) - nature. Man was interpreted as part of the world, nature, cosmos, a kind of microcosm.
During this period, expressed interesting ideas about being, the fundamental principle, movement, cognition, which determined the main directions of philosophizing for a fairly long subsequent period. The largest thinkers: Thales, Anaximenes, Pythagoras, Heraclitus (his most famous statement: “Everything flows, everything changes, you cannot enter the same river twice”), Democritus, Socrates (“Know thyself”, “I know that I don’t know anything”), Plato (“Wisdom brings three fruits: the gift of thinking well, the gift of speaking well, the gift of acting well”), Aristotle (“Wisdom is the science that is desirable for itself and for knowledge, and not that which is desirable for the sake of the benefit derived for it"), etc.
In the Middle Ages, the main form of philosophizing becomes theocentrism. The idea is affirmed that nature and man are creations of God. The main problems of philosophy are "God - man - nature", "faith and knowledge", "the purpose of man", "hope and hope".
In the Middle Ages, knowledge, the system of thinking, logic developed as scholasticism(from lat. shola - school). Scholasticism is the official school philosophy, the main feature of which was divorced from real life play with words and concepts, and the main task is to prove the existence of God and substantiate dogmas scripture. Among the scholastics (since the 11th century) a dispute arose between realists and nominalists about the nature of general concepts. The essence of the dispute was how our knowledge proceeds: from things to concepts, or, conversely, from concepts to things. The most prominent thinkers of this period: Augustine the Blessed, Avicenna, P. Abellard, F. Aquinas, D. Scott, W. Occam and others.
During the Renaissance, the transition from theocentrism to anthropocentrism, i.e. the focus shifts from God to man. During this period, the ideals of antiquity are being revived, the ideas of humanism are spreading and developing, and above all the idea of the inherent value of human earthly life, the doctrine of the integrity of the individual spiritual and bodily existence of man and his organic connection with the Universe.
The thinkers of this period proclaimed the freedom of man, the human person, opposed religious asceticism, for the human right to enjoyment, happiness and the satisfaction of earthly needs. Man was proclaimed not only the most important object of philosophical consideration, but also the central link in the entire chain of cosmic existence. The views and writings of the thinkers of this time are characterized by an anti-scholastic orientation, the creation of a new pantheistic pictures of the world (identification of God with nature). During the Renaissance, such outstanding thinkers as M. Servetus, N. Copernicus, G. Galileo, J. Bruno, M. Montaigne lived and worked (“For a person who does not know the science of good, any other science is useless”), the authors of impressive utopian theories of T. Mor ("Utopia"), T. Campanella ("City of the Sun"), etc.
On the basis of the Italian Renaissance, the philosophy of the New Age arose, the beginning of which was the 17th century. The founder of the philosophy of modern times was F. Bacon, the author of the "New Organon" and the famous phrase "Knowledge is power." F. Bacon believed that a new science and philosophy should have a new method of thinking, free from shortcomings ("idols"). There are four such idols: “idols of the clan”, “idols of the cave”, “idols of the market”, “idols of the theater”. F. Bacon is the founder of modern empiricism. He recognizes twofold truth - scientific and religious. The philosophy of the founder of empiricism and materialism of modern times was continued and systematized by T. Hobbes and J. Locke. The idealistic version of empiricism is presented in the philosophy of the English bishop J. Berkeley (“To exist means to be perceived”). D. Hume was a more consistent subjective idealist. R. Descartes is the ancestor of modern rationalism, who considered the formula “I think, therefore I exist” to be the only solid, reliable truth. Philosophers - rationalists were also B. Spinoza, G. Leibniz.
The philosophy of Marxism is characterized sociocentrism. The main feature that distinguishes it from previous philosophical currents is that it affirms the principle of activity, socio-historical practice. In practice, a person creates himself and his history, practice is the source and goal of knowledge, the criterion of truth. In Marxist philosophy, the analysis of the material and economic activities of mankind is the key to understanding man and history. The way of philosophizing is the result of the versatility of a person's relationship to the world, as well as the various goals of research, which reveals the reality of human existence in one mode or another. Today, none of these methods of philosophizing can claim to be the ultimate truth. Therefore, modern philosophy strives for synthesis. Each method generates partially true concepts of human being in the world, which limit and complement each other on the way to absolute truth. The world of philosophy is polyphonic.
Main directions the latest philosophy are pragmatism(C. Pierce, W. James, J. Dewey and others), neopositivism(M. Schlick, B. Russell, L. Wittgenstein, H. Reichenbach and others), existentialism(M. Heidegger, K. Jaspers, J-P. Sartre, A. Camus and others), neo-Thomism(J. Maritain, Gilson, Sertilange and others).
Russian philosophy of the 20th century is represented by such names as N.A. Berdyaev, L.I. Shestov (religious existentialism; the problem of freedom; freedom and creativity as a formula of human existence), P.A. Florensky, S.N. Bulgakov (sophiology), N.O. Lossky (intuitionism),. S.N. Trubetskoy, P.N. Savitsky (Eurasianism), K.E. Tsiolkovsky, V.I. Vernadsky, A.L. Chizhevsky (Russian cosmism) and many other scientists.
In conclusion, we emphasize that the concept of "historical type of philosophizing" is introduced in order to express the historically changeable nature of the process itself, the act of philosophical creativity, its conditionality objective factors spiritual production in general. The diversity of views does not lead a person away from the truth, but, on the contrary, brings him closer to it, since it allows everyone to independently make a choice of their own position, to compare it with the experience of their predecessors.
We single out the following historical types of philosophy:
1.Philosophy of the Ancient East.
2. Ancient philosophy (studies nature and man in the world).
3. Medieval philosophy (the study of God) and the philosophy of the Renaissance (aimed at man).
4. Philosophy of the new time.
5. German classical philosophy.
6. Domestic philosophy XI-XIX
7. Dialectics - materialistic philosophy
8. Foreign philosophy of the XX century.
The peculiarity of philosophical views and teaching of each historical type is determined by the special economic, political and cultural characteristics of each era. But despite the peculiarities, all historical types remained certain to accept. This made it possible to speak of the unity of the historical and philosophical process.
Engels formulated the main question by dividing it into two sub-questions. The first sub-question concerns the relationship between the material and the ideal. The answer to it serves as the basis for the division of all philosophical teachings into two directions - materialism (recognizes the primacy of being, nature and the secondary nature of consciousness, ideal) and idealism (recognizes the primacy of thinking, the spirit and the secondary, derivative of the material). The second sub-question concerns the question of the knowability of the world. The answer to the second sub-question - epistemological - allows us to single out two main positions - epistemological optimism (affirmative answer, that is, the world is cognizable) and agnosticism (disputes the possibility of an exhaustive, reliable knowledge of the essence of the world). Idealism and materialism are monistic (Greek monos - one) teachings, because their adherents prefer one of the two different beginnings. Both types of worldview changed their historical form in close connection with the development of society, science, and religion. There are two forms of idealism : objective and subjective. Objective idealism proceeds from the primacy of the spirit, which exists objectively, independently of the individual, his consciousness. God, the world mind, the absolute idea, the world will, etc. were called such spiritual origins. For subjective idealism is characterized by the recognition of the consciousness of the subject as the primary, determining subjective spirit - a pre-natural phenomenon that creates everything that exists. Materialism is represented by three forms. The first one is naive, spontaneous materialism ancient thinkers of Egypt, India, China, ancient times. Another form of materialism developed in the 17th-18th centuries. This so-called metaphysical (mechanistic, formed under the influence of the development of mechanics and other experimental sciences) materialism. The third form is formed in the second half of the 19th century. dialectical materialism , combining the ideas and principles of dialectics and materialism.
2)The concept of law. Main types of laws.
The laws of philosophy in a number of philosophical systems are the necessary relationship between events, phenomena and objects, expressed in the most general form. Philosophical laws often act as a concentrated content of these philosophical systems. However, the very question of the existence of objective laws as such depends on the philosophical position taken and does not always imply the existence of any philosophical laws.
· In ancient Chinese philosophy
The first philosophical constructions, elevated to the rank of laws by various philosophical schools, arose at the dawn of the development of philosophy and science in general. For example, in ancient China Confucians, dealing with the problem of the state and ethics, believed that the fate of a person is predetermined by heaven according to the law "jen". Taoists, in turn, thought about Tao - the basic law of nature and natural way things, coming to the conclusion that development occurs through opposition and in a circle, depending little on any subjects. At the heart of numerous natural-philosophical concepts, starting from the 3rd century BC. e., in addition to the doctrine of the 5 elements or fundamental principles - water, fire, metal, wood and earth, the polar forces of yin and yang, the idea of qi as the first matter - there was an idea of whether as a law, principle, normative the beginning, intelligent creative force, which is in conflict with qi.
· In dialectical materialism
Engels formulated " three laws of dialectics”, which were obtained by him by interpreting the dialectic of Hegel and the philosophical works of Marx:
The law of unity and struggle of opposites(“Movement and development in nature, society and thinking is due to the bifurcation of the one into interpenetrating opposites and the resolution of the contradictions that arise between them through struggle”)
The Law of the Transition of Quantitative Changes into Qualitative(“Development is carried out through the accumulation of quantitative changes in the subject, which inevitably leads to a violation of its measure (stable state) and an abrupt transformation into a qualitatively new subject”).
Law of negation(“Development proceeds through the constant negation of opposites to each other, their mutual transformation, as a result of which in the forward movement there is a return back, in the new the features of the old are repeated”).
· logical laws
Logic is an abstract science and began to develop one of the first, being in demand as the language developed. The axioms of logic rely on laws and are the basis of so-called formal logic. These include law of sufficient reason , and identity law formulated by Parmenides. In Aristotle one can find law of the excluded middle , and law of contradiction .
AT formal logic operations are performed on statements, proof is carried out, conclusions and generalizations are drawn. The laws of logic relate to the field of thinking, operations on objects of reflected reality.
3)Truth, delusion, lies. Truth criteria.
The immediate goal of knowledge is the comprehension of truth, that is, real knowledge about the world and man.
True- an adequate reflection of the object by the cognizing subject, reproducing reality as it is in itself, outside and independently of consciousness. This is the objective content of sensual, empirical experience, as well as concepts, judgments, theories, teachings and the whole integral picture of the world in the dynamics of its development. True knowledge enables people to intelligently organize their practical actions in the present and foresee the future. Experience shows that humanity rarely reaches the truth except through extremes and delusions. The learning process is not an easy path. According to D. I. Pisarev, in order for one person to discover a fruitful truth, it is necessary that a hundred people incinerate their lives in unsuccessful searches and sad mistakes.
ERRATURE is the content of consciousness that does not correspond to reality, but is accepted as true. The human mind, striving for the truth, inevitably falls into all sorts of delusions, due to both its historical limitations and claims that exceed its real capabilities. Misconceptions are also due to the relative freedom to choose the paths of cognition, the complexity of the problems being solved. Goethe: "He who seeks must wander." In scientific knowledge, errors appear as false theories, the falsity of which is revealed by the course of further development science. So, delusions have both epistemological and social grounds. But they should be distinguished from LIE as a moral and psychological phenomenon.
FALSE is a distortion of the actual state of affairs. intended to deceive someone. A lie can be both an invention about what was not, and a conscious concealment of what was. The source of lies can also be logically wrong thinking. But knowledge is not a continuous wandering in the darkness of fiction. Errors in science are gradually overcome, and the truth makes its way to the light. What has been said is true mainly in relation to natural-scientific and social knowledge.
CRITERIA OF TRUTH. What gives people a guarantee of the truth of their knowledge, serves as the basis for distinguishing truth from error and error? Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz offered clarity and distinctness of the conceivable as a criterion of truth. An example is "a square has 4 sides". Such an understanding of the criterion of truth is based on faith in the power of the logic of one's thinking, the reliability of his perception of reality. However, this criterion does not guarantee reliability. Over time, it turned out that clarity and distinctness are subjective states of consciousness, they clearly need to be supported by something more “solid”. It is confidence in the veracity of what is conceivable. But confidence in the truth of thought can be misleading. Such a criterion of truth as universal validity was put forward. What is true is what the majority thinks. The principle of pragmatism, which determines the meaning of truth by its practical usefulness. The criterion of truth lies in the practice: “The question of whether. whether human thinking has objective truth is not at all a question of theory, but a practical question. In practice, a person must prove the truth, that is, the reality and power-sidedness of his thinking. The dispute about the reality or invalidity of thinking, isolated from practice, is a question divorced from life ”(Marx, Engels, works, vol. 42). But practice cannot fully confirm or refute any kind of knowledge ...
RELATIVE TRUTH - limitedly true knowledge about something; a form of expression of objective truth, depending on specific historical conditions, characterizing its degree of accuracy, rigor, completeness, which is achieved at a given level of knowledge.
ABSOLUTE TRUTH - completely complete, accurate, comprehensive, exhaustive knowledge about any subject or phenomenon, which is not refuted by the subsequent development of science, but is enriched and constantly confirmed by life.
one) . Worldview paradigms of philosophy (cosmocentrism, theocentrism, anthropocentrism, anthropocosmism).
Cosmocentrism- a system of philosophical views in which the cosmos (as a philosophical concept) occupies a central place.
The core idea of other Greek. philosophy was cosmocentrism - the perception of the world as a huge and mysterious Cosmos, harmonious and diverse in its manifestations. Fear and admiration for the Cosmos, showing interest primarily in the problems of the origin of the material world, explaining the phenomena of the surrounding world
Theocentrism- a philosophical concept, which is based on the understanding of God as the absolute, perfect, highest being, the source of all life and any good. At the same time, the basis of morality is veneration and service to God, and imitation and likeness to Him is considered the highest goal of human life.
Theocentrism was most widespread in the Middle Ages.
anthropocentrism(from Greek άνθροπος - man and lat. centrum - center) - a philosophical doctrine according to which man is the center of the universe and the goal of all events taking place in the world.
Anthropocentrism prescribes to place the phenomenon of man at the head of all other life. The value of a human life can only be balanced by the value of another human life.
Anthropocentrism is also put in opposition to the worldview of monotheistic religions (theocentrism), where God is the center of everything, as well as ancient philosophy (cosmocentrism), where space is at the center of everything.
The word "anthropocentrism" is found today in different meanings- from the anthropocentric principle in linguistics to anthropocentrism in ecology. The most common meaning is ecological: a person is the master of nature, and has the right to receive the resources he needs from the outside world, even by infringing on other biological species. This content of the term became widespread in the 20th century.
At the same time, the history of the word is much older. The well-known expression of Protagoras "Man is the measure of all things" is called the key phrase of the anthropocentrism of Greek philosophy. In the Middle Ages, anthropocentrism of the Christian persuasion was very common, by which they meant that man is the pinnacle of creation, his crown, and, accordingly, his obligations are the greatest. In this sense, Christianity is an anthropocentric religion, as it is built around a person. The current content of the term is secular, such anthropocentrism is also called secularized anthropocentrism
Anthropocosmism
from the Greek anthropos - man + kosmos - world). 1. A worldview that removes the opposition of cosmocentrism and theocentrism, on the one hand, and anthropocentrism, on the other. In contrast to these opposites, which proclaim the priority of one of the related parties - nature, god or man, A. is built on parity, dialogue and co-creation of man and the world. A. as a worldview setting took shape in the twentieth century within the framework of Russian cosmism. 2. In philosophy, this term acts as a synonym for the philosophical concept of developing harmony. 3. In ontology, A. removes the opposites of naturalism, which does not take into account the specific role of man in the world, and subjective idealism, which asserts that the world is as man believes it to be.
2) The dialectic of necessity and chance, possibility and reality and their significance for medicine. Freedom and responsibility of the individual.
Necessity and chance– philosophical categories reflecting the determinative connections of the objective world. Necessity is such a development of objects and phenomena that arises naturally, follows from their essence and is the result of internal, stable and repetitive connections and relationships. Necessity is such a way of realizing a possibility, when an object under certain conditions has only one possibility, which sooner or later turns into reality. Randomness follows from external, insignificant, unstable, single connections of reality. Randomness is the result of a coincidence, a crossing of independent causal relationships. This is a way of realizing possibilities, when an object or phenomenon under certain conditions has many possibilities, and only one of them is realized. Development acts as a unity of necessity and chance. Objects and phenomena are both necessary and accidental (depending on the relationship in which we consider them). Necessity is realized through a mass of accidents, and accident is a form of expression and addition of necessity. The connection between necessity and randomness is realized through statistical and dynamic patterns.
Possibility and reality- philosophical categories expressing objective development trends, the connection between the new and the old in the process of development. Opportunity is a set of necessary and sufficient prerequisites that determine the natural occurrence of a particular phenomenon. Reality is the result of the realization of a certain possibility, in a broad sense - the totality of all realized possibilities, this is the world around us. Each object or phenomenon contains various possibilities as development trends. Possibility is potential reality or future in the present. Every opportunity has a basis and conditions. We distinguish between abstract and concrete possibilities. An abstract possibility is such a tendency of development, which, in principle, may not contradict reality, but for its implementation there is not yet necessary conditions. A specific opportunity is a trend in development that can be and has all the necessary and sufficient conditions for implementation. Abstract possibility must be distinguished from impossibility - something that contradicts reality, the laws of science. It is impossible to create a perpetual motion machine, as this contradicts the law of conservation and transformation of energy.
From the point of view of ordinary consciousness to be free means to freely do what I want, and in the way I want. This one is obvious to common sense the conclusion is practically supported by philosophy as well. B. Spinoza calls a free thing that exists by necessity own nature and is determined to act by itself. That is why freedom for him is a recognized necessity.
K. Marx and F. Engels showed that people are not free to choose the objective conditions of their activity, but they are free to choose its goals and means. From the point of view of Marxism, there is no abstract freedom, because freedom is always concrete and relative.
3)Scientific and non-scientific knowledge.
The main features of scientific knowledge (criteria of scientific character):
1. The main task of scientific knowledge is the discovery of objective laws of reality: natural, social (public), laws of knowledge itself, thinking, etc.
Hence the orientation of research mainly on the general, essential properties of the subject, its necessary characteristics and their expression in a system of abstractions, in the form of idealized objects.
2. The immediate goal and highest value of scientific knowledge is objective truth, comprehended mainly by rational means and methods, but, of course, not without the participation of living contemplation and non-rational means. Hence the characteristic feature of scientific knowledge is objectivity. However, it must be borne in mind that the activity of the subject is the most important condition and prerequisite for scientific knowledge.
3. Science, to a greater extent than other forms of knowledge, is focused on being embodied in practice, being a “guide to action” to change the surrounding reality and control real processes. The vital meaning of scientific research can be expressed by the formula: “To know in order to foresee, to foresee in order to practically act”, and not only in the present, but also in the future.
4. Scientific knowledge is a complex contradictory process of knowledge reproduction that forms an integral developing system of concepts, theories, hypotheses, laws and other ideal forms fixed in a language - natural or, more characteristically, artificial (mathematical symbols, chemical formulas).
5. In the process of scientific knowledge, such specific material means as devices, tools, and other so-called "scientific equipment" are used. In addition, science, to a greater extent than other forms of cognition, is characterized by the use of such ideal (spiritual) means and methods for the study of its objects and itself, such as modern formal logic, dialectics, systemic, cybernetic, synergistic and other general scientific methods and methods.
6.Scientific knowledge is characterized by strict evidence, the validity of the results obtained, the reliability of the conclusions. At the same time, there are many hypotheses, conjectures, assumptions, probabilistic judgments, etc.
7. Science is characterized by constant methodological reflection. This means that in it the study of objects, the identification of their specificity, properties and relationships is always accompanied to some extent by the awareness of the research procedures themselves, that is, the study of the methods, means and techniques used in this process, with the help of which these objects are known.
In modern theoretical and methodological literature (T. G. Leshkevich, L. A. Mirskaya, etc.), the following forms are defined non-scientific knowledge:
1. unscientific, understood as disparate, unsystematized knowledge, which is not formalized and not described by laws, is in conflict with the existing scientific picture of the world;
2. pre-scientific, acting as a prototype, a prerequisite for the scientific;
3. parascientific as incompatible with the existing epistemological standard. A wide class of the paranormal (from the Greek para - about, confession) includes teachings about secret natural and mental forces and relationships hidden behind ordinary phenomena;
4. pseudoscientific as consciously exploiting conjectures and prejudices. Pseudoscience is erroneous knowledge;
5. Quasi-scientific knowledge is looking for supporters and adherents, relying on the methods of violence and coercion. It, as a rule, flourishes in conditions of strictly hierarchical science, where criticism of those in power is impossible, where the ideological regime is rigidly manifested;
6. anti-scientific as utopian and deliberately distorting ideas about reality. The prefix anti- draws attention to the fact that the subject and methods of research are opposite to science. It's like the approach with " opposite sign»;
7. Pseudo-scientific knowledge is an intellectual activity that speculates on a set of popular theories, for example, stories about ancient astronauts, about Bigfoot, about a monster from Loch Ness.
1). Main philosophical concepts understanding of being: metaphysics, dialectics, synergetics.
Dialectics is a science, systematized, coherent knowledge, all parts of which are interconnected and represent an extensive arsenal of principles, laws and categories.
Principles of dialectics
- these are the fundamental principles underlying it as a science. Dialectics includes a number of principles. The subordination of principles in this series should reflect reality, the principles should be connected and determined with each other, consistently derived from each other and thus represent an integral, open, dynamic system, which can be represented in the following form: the principle of objectivity of being, the principle of material unity of the world, the principle of inexhaustibility of matter, the principle of universal connection, the principle of development, the principle of determinism, the principle of systemicity, the principle of functioning.
Second
laws are the systemic element of dialectics. Law
- this is a necessary, essential, steadily repeating connection-relationship that characterizes the interdependence of phenomena, the order of their structure and functioning, the tendencies of their occurrence and development.
The law of the unity and struggle of opposites is the core, the core of dialectics, because it reveals the source of the movement of the world, forms the logical basis, the core of all other laws and determines the main content of the dialectical method of cognition, requiring the study of opposites in the essence of phenomena.
- The law of mutual transition of quantitative and qualitative changes reveals the mechanism, the nature of development.
- The law of negation of negation determines the direction of development, the connection between the old and the new.
Categories
- the third element of dialectics. Categories
- these are the most general, basic key concepts associated with laws, reflecting the essential properties, connections and relationships of objects of reality. The categories of dialectics are universal, reflecting the objective reality, are interconnected, changeable, mutually transitional.
The categories of dialectics can be systematized on the basis of a system of principles, because the latter synthesize in their content information about the universal properties of being.
Until the 18th century, philosophizing about the beginnings of existence that went beyond experience was called metaphysics. Then the concept of metaphysics began to be applied in the sense of an anti-dialectical way of thinking. metaphysics
- a method tending to build an unambiguous static picture of the world, denying the self-development of being, replacing the study of objective reality with the construction of a priori, abstract schemes.
Metaphysics seeks an external source for the development of matter and therefore leads to idealism, religion. Metaphysics reduces development either only to continuous, evolutionary, or only to intermittent, spasmodic forms.
Synergetics- a new interdisciplinary field of knowledge. This is the theory of self-organization. It is focused on the search for universal patterns - the evolution and self-organization of complex systems. This theory was developed by I.R. Prigogine and his colleagues within the framework of the Brussels School.
The basic concepts of synergetics reflect the commonality of the processes of origin, complication, modification and tendencies to the disintegration of structures in various areas of reality. The definitions of synergetics include the categories of system, dissipation, structure, possibility, non-linearity, non-equilibrium, instability, openness, chaos, bifurcation.
The most important category of synergetics is chaos, which reflects the independence of the elements of the world, the degree of their freedom, stochasticity. Chaos in synergetics acts as a creative principle, a constructive mechanism of evolution, it is a means of unification, complication and harmonization of the development of a complex structure.
2)The concept of development. development models.
Development- this is a process of qualitative changes in the interaction of objects associated with the emergence of new properties or the emergence of a new object. There are two types of development: 1) when the processes of qualitative transformations do not go beyond the corresponding type of matter, a certain level of its organization (for example, the evolution of stars) and 2) when the processes move from one level of organization to another (the evolution of the inorganic world towards the organic, emergence of man).
As an attribute of being, development is characterized by a number of fundamental characteristics: generality (at all levels of being there is development, although it has a different qualitative character), irreversibility (the emergence of qualitatively new opportunities that did not exist before and the impossibility of returning to past states), orientation (movement of objects and systems along certain preferred trajectories).
In the history of philosophy and science, there have been several main models understanding of development. Model of regressive development (Confucianism, K.N. Leontiev, R. Guenon) argues that irreversible qualitative changes go in the direction of a constant decrease in the quality characteristics of being. evolutionary model (G. Spencer) substantiates the position of the universal gradual evolution of nature from simple to complex, where all systems evolve through the emergence of new elements (differentiation) and their subsequent unification (integration) within the framework of a new integrity. emergentism (L. Morgan, D. Alexander, G. Plesner, A. Bergson) affirms the predominant nature of revolutionary leaps in the development process. The higher stage cannot be fully explained by the lower one. Theory of equilibrium (le Dantec, L.F. Ward) any development is a process of achieving balance, which is the main property of being.
3). Development of science. Scientific revolution and change of types of scientific rationality.
In the dynamics of scientific knowledge special role play stages of development associated with the restructuring of research strategies set by the foundations of science. These stages are called scientific revolutions .
Most general views scientific revolutions in the history of science:
1) Intradisciplinary scientific revolutions - occurring within the framework of individual scientific disciplines. The reasons for such revolutions are most often transitions to the study of new objects and the application of new research methods.
2) Interdisciplinary scientific revolutions - occurring as a result of the interaction and exchange of scientific ideas between various scientific disciplines. In the early stages of the history of science, such interaction was carried out by transferring the scientific picture of the world of the most developed scientific discipline to new, still emerging disciplines.
3) Global scientific revolutions - the most famous of which are revolutions in natural science, leading to a change in scientific rationality.
First revolution: XVII - the first half of the XVIII century - the formation of classical natural science. Main characteristics: mechanistic picture of the world as a general scientific picture of reality
Second revolution: The end of the 18th - the first half of the 19th century, the transition of natural science into a disciplined science. Main characteristics: the mechanical picture of the world ceases to be general scientific, biological, chemical and other pictures of reality are formed that are not reducible to the mechanical picture of the world
Third revolution I: Late XIX- the middle of the 20th century, the transformation of the parameters of classical science, the formation of non-classical natural science. Significant revolutionary events: the formation of relativistic and quantum theories in physics, the formation of genetics, quantum chemistry, the concept of a non-stationary Universe, cybernetics and systems theory arise.
Fourth revolution: The end of the 20th - the beginning of the 21st century, a radical change in the foundations of scientific knowledge and activity - the birth of a new post-non-classical science. Events - the computerization of science, the complication of instrumentation systems, the increase in interdisciplinary research, complex programs, the merging of empirical and theoretical, applied and fundamental research, the development of ideas of synergetics.