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MODULE 1. SPECIFICITY OF PHILOSOPHY
Topic 1. What is philosophy
1.1 The beginning of philosophy
Philosophy originated about three thousand years ago in Greece.
The word "philosophy", which is believed to have been first introduced by Pythagoras (c. 580-500 BC), comes from the Greek roots (philo (love) and sophia (wisdom) and is translated literally as "love to wisdom." However, the ancient Greek word "sophia" does not fully correspond to the Russian word "wisdom", but has a broader meaning.
Philosophy from the very beginning was understood not as a collection of frozen truths given once and for all, but as a desire for truth.
The great Plato (427-347 BC) wrote that the philosopher is always between knowledge and ignorance, he occupies a “middle” position between them and strives to ascend from ignorance to knowledge, from less perfect knowledge to more perfect knowledge.
Philosophy is, according to Plato, “the art of understanding and justice” - the art of penetrating with thought the true essence of things and human relationships. If, for example, a person - a military leader, an artisan or a poet - does something wise, this does not mean that he has philosophical wisdom. He becomes a philosopher only when he strives to understand the foundations and causes of human actions, to find out the general principles that should guide a person in his life and activities.
The first successes of philosophy were based on the discovery of the power of rational thinking. The essence of this force is in logical necessity, i.e. in the fact that from the recognition of the truth of the premises, the truth of the consequences derived from them necessarily follows. This means that it is possible to establish and prove truth on the basis of logical reasoning, that is, in a purely mental way, without resorting to direct verification of it in experience.
Philosophy was originally the art of obtaining true knowledge using reason, logic, and mental calculations. The ancient Greeks called this kind of art theoretical. Thus, philosophy was the cultural form in which theoretical thinking first began to develop.
1.2 The essence of philosophy
For centuries-old history philosophy, its content changed. But philosophy never completely lost sight of the tasks posed by ancient thinkers.
From ancient times to the present day, the subject of philosophical reflection is the “initial”, “ultimate” foundations, the most general and deepest ideas and principles from which a person must proceed in his life and activities, in understanding the surrounding reality and in relation to it.
Examples of philosophical ideas and principles
¦ the idea of eternity of the material world and the opposite idea of divine creation;
¦ the principle of determinism (the causality of all phenomena) and the opposing principle of indeterminism (recognition of the existence of uncaused phenomena);
¦ principles of knowability or, conversely, unknowability of being;
¦ the ideals of humanism, freedom, equality, justice, etc.
Based on the above, we can give a brief definition of philosophy.
> Philosophy is a field of knowledge in which the initial, most general principles of understanding reality are considered.
The fundamental feature of philosophical thinking is that it never stops there. Having reached the seemingly “ultimate”, “last” foundations of any knowledge, it subjects them to further critical discussion and strives to get to even deeper foundations. What in everyday experience, religion, morality, art, science is accepted as an undoubted and unshakable truth, for philosophy often serves only as a starting point for reflection.
Philosophical thinking is not for the privileged few. Everyone faces philosophical problems to a greater or lesser extent. It’s easy to start philosophizing; probably everyone can do it and does it from time to time. It's much harder to continue. And it is even more difficult to bring philosophical research to a critical analysis of what seems self-evident, to going beyond generally accepted standards of thought. But this frees the human personality from the captivity of prejudices and prejudices.
1.3 Composition philosophical knowledge
In the course of the development of philosophy, various areas of research historically take shape in it, each of which covers a certain set of interrelated problems.
It is customary to distinguish three main sections of philosophical knowledge.
1. Epistemology (theory of knowledge) studies the general principles, forms and methods of human cognition.
2. The basic principles of being that determine the structure of the world are studied by ontology (theory of being).
3. The initial principles, rules, norms that people should follow in their affairs and actions are established
· ethics (moral theory),
· axiology (the doctrine of values, i.e., about what people value, for example, goodness, justice, truth, beauty, benefit, etc.),
· social philosophy (theory of social life).
The history of philosophy occupies an important place in the composition of philosophical knowledge. One might even say that philosophy and the history of philosophy are, in a sense, one and the same thing. For the history of philosophy is philosophy outlined in its historical development. It is impossible to understand philosophy without studying its history.
In the history of philosophy there have been many philosophers who became famous for their works in any particular philosophical discipline. But the most outstanding thinkers managed to create philosophical teachings in which problems relating to different branches of philosophy were combined into an integral system. Such, for example, are the philosophical systems of Descartes (1596-1650), Spinoza (1632-1677), Kant (1724-1804), Hegel (1770-1831), Russell (1872-1970), Husserl (1859-1938), Heidegger ( 1889-1976), etc. Often these kinds of philosophical systems are named after their creators (Spinozaism, Kantianism, Marxism) or by their main idea (phenomenological philosophy, pragmatism, existentialism).
1.4 How philosophers think
Whatever philosophers do, the subject of their research from antiquity to modern times is meanings, that is, the knowledge, values, and regulations available in culture (and, moreover, the initial, most general ones). The source material for their reflections is usually the information available in culture: this can be information obtained in the course of practical activities of people, facts established by various sciences, and any other data, one way or another captured in myths, religion, art, etc. A philosopher can notice circumstances that, although known to other people, pass by their attention. He can clarify and interpret in a new way some vague, indistinct ideas from which people proceed in their lives. Finally, to explain the observed facts, he can come up with some original considerations, ideas, and principles that have never occurred to anyone before. But finding new facts is a matter of science, not philosophy. Philosophy uses factual material, which in one form or another is already presented in the content of human consciousness and is enshrined in the culture of society.
Philosophy is based on the accumulated and embodied experience of people in culture, but is not limited to its analysis: it puts forward ideas and principles that should explain it. It does not simply reflect and record culturally established ideas about man and the world, but clears them of contradictions and ambiguities, provides grounds for them and develops a system of views that organizes these ideas and brings them into unity. Philosophy, therefore, is a product of the free creative activity of the human mind. Of course, this freedom is limited by the need to take into account the knowledge, values, and regulations available in the culture. However, in the matter of their justification and interpretation, the philosopher has the right to offer his own, original and far from obvious solutions.
So, philosophical thought has two sources - the culture of society and the constructive imagination of the individual. Its main method is reflection. This term (from the Latin reflexio - turning back) means reflection of oneself by thinking, a person’s thinking about his thinking, his awareness of his consciousness.
> Reflection is thinking aimed at recognizing and understanding one’s own forms, prerequisites and attitudes.
Philosophical reflection can be carried out in various forms. Therefore, there are many different methods of philosophical research.
Methods of philosophical research
Many outstanding philosophers invented original methods with the help of which they created their teachings. Here are some of the most famous philosophical methods.
¦ Socrates' method is maieutics (literally: midwifery), which includes irony (criticism of the concepts and judgments of the interlocutor) and induction (guiding the interlocutor to comprehend and determine their general meaning).
¦ Descartes' method is universal doubt and the search for an unconditional, unquestionable truth (“I think, therefore I exist”).
* Spinoza's method is a “geometric method”, which consists of formulating the initial philosophical axioms and deducing various consequences from them.
¦ Kant's method is a “critical method” that requires an analysis of the premises on which human knowledge is built.
¦ Hegel's method is a dialectic of concepts that reveals the internal logic of their connection and development.
¦ Marx's method is a materialist dialectic based on finding the universal laws of development of knowledge and being.
¦ Bergson's method is intuition.
¦ Wittgenstein's method - logical analysis of language.
¦ Husserl’s method is “phenomenological reduction”, which involves a description of the world of “pure consciousness”, the content of which is considered outside of its relationship to the external world.
¦ Jaspers’ method is transiency, which consists in knowing the meaning of human existence (“existence”) by going beyond its limits to the “highest being,” i.e. God.
¦ Gadamer's method is hermeneutics as a special kind of art of interpretation and understanding of cultural texts.
Topic 2. Functions of philosophy
The question of the functions of philosophy is the question of what role it plays in people’s lives, how and for what they use philosophical knowledge. Let us consider the following main functions of philosophy: worldview, social and methodological.
2.1 Worldview function
The concept of worldview does not lend itself to a sufficiently clear definition. In everyday speech and in philosophical literature its meaning is interpreted differently. However, the absence of a generally accepted definition of this concept does not mean that when it is used it is not known what is meant.
The following main characteristics of the worldview can be identified:
* it includes a certain set of a person’s general views on the world and his place in the world;
* these views represent not just knowledge about reality, but knowledge that has become beliefs;
* worldview determines the orientation of a person, her life positions, the purpose and meaning of her life; it manifests itself in the behavior of the individual.
There are various types and variants of worldviews in which these characteristics appear differently. People of primitive society had a mythological worldview. One of the most widespread in society from antiquity to the present day is the religious worldview. In opposition to it, an atheistic worldview develops. The desire to solve worldview issues on the basis of science leads to the formation of a scientific worldview. They also talk about more particular forms of the latter - natural science, geo- and heliocentric, mechanistic and other variants of the scientific worldview.
People's worldview is formed under the influence of a variety of circumstances: upbringing, education, life experience, individual life experiences. It is affected by living conditions, general features of the era, and national cultural characteristics.
What does philosophy have to do with worldview? Philosophical reflection is a means of developing a worldview. In the systems, teachings, and concepts created by philosophers, various variants of worldviews and beliefs that people have are ultimately expressed, generalized, systematized, and argued. This allows ideas born in the heads of philosophers to gain recognition and spread in society.
Thus, the ideological function of philosophy is that philosophy acts as a means of expressing, systematizing and substantiating the worldview, as a theory for solving ideological issues.
2.2 Social function
The social function of philosophy is that with its help, in every historical era, the main problems of social life and prospects are comprehended further development society. In the sphere of philosophy, society seems to be aware of itself, its past, present and future, its advantages and disadvantages, achievements and losses.
An important task of philosophical thought in every society is the analysis and criticism of existing social reality. The peculiarity of philosophical criticism is that it does not simply reveal the shortcomings that exist in reality, but directs the main blow against ingrained dogmas, standards of thinking, “habits of consciousness” that, unnoticed by people, dominate their minds, like blinders, preventing them from seeing reality in its true light and understand what needs to be done to improve it.
In a socially heterogeneous society, the interests and aspirations of various classes and social groups collide and come into conflict with each other. Philosophy, reflecting the social life of the era, cannot escape this fact. Philosophical teachings express the interests, aspirations, ideals, and hopes of different social strata of society. This makes it an arena for the struggle of different ideologies.
> Ideology is a set of views and theories that express the interests of any social group, its attitude to social phenomena, its programs of action.
In philosophical teachings, the ideology of certain classes and social groups is developed and justified. This is the ideological function of philosophy.
The ideological function of philosophy cannot be understood in a simplistic way - as degrading “accommodation”, as “serving” the interests of one or another social group, in which philosophers, wanting to protect its interests at all costs, lose objectivity, sacrifice the truth and begin to preach even known a lie, as long as it benefits this group. Of course, there are philosophers of this kind. But philosophy that does not strive for truth ceases to be philosophy. A philosopher who betrays truth also betrays philosophy.
The ideological function of philosophy is not to “defend” the interests of some class by hook or by crook, but to reflect the diversity of social positions, ideals and life values existing in society. This is an extremely important matter, since only in the clash of different ideologies can ideas about solutions be improved. social problems and ways of social progress.
2.3 Methodological function
A method is a way of doing things. The set of methods for carrying out any work is called methodology, and knowledge about methods and techniques is called methodological knowledge.
The objective of the methodology is to study and improve the methods used in this field of activity, assess their generality and effectiveness, the conditions and limits of their application. But methodological knowledge in any field of activity cannot be limited to considering only its methods. The fact is that the evaluation of methods depends most significantly on what kind of results a particular method produces, and what is the relationship of these results to the final goals of the activity. Consequently, methodology must necessarily include knowledge not only about methods, but also about the nature of the results achieved with their help, about the goals of the activity, about its general structure and main stages, about the principles and forms of its organization.
> Methodology is the knowledge of how to act to achieve a given goal and what to guide your actions.
Indeed, to provide knowledge about what should guide people in their lives and activities is the central task of philosophy. Philosophy is a kind of “science of what should be,” about standards (principles, ideals, values) that determine the goals and nature of human activity. From philosophical ideas about the world and man follow methodological recommendations that help one navigate the reality surrounding a person and allow one to determine in all spheres of activity - even if only in the most general and preliminary form - some starting positions for searching for paths leading to the goal .
IN various fields In human activity, the methodological function of philosophy is implemented in different ways. In the life of an individual, it is manifested through the influence of ideological beliefs on the choice of goals and methods of behavior. In socio-political practice, the mechanism of its action is connected with the social function of philosophy. In art, the methodological function of philosophy is expressed in its impact on the development of artistic style, on the artist’s general orientation in life, on his understanding of the meaning of his work.
The role of philosophical ideas is especially great in revolutionary periods of the development of science, when it is on the threshold of the emergence of fundamentally new theories. In this case, philosophical ideas perform a heuristic function, acting as methodological tools for determining and assessing the ways and prospects for the further development of scientific knowledge. They perform a selective function in the selection (selection) of the initial principles of the theory, on the basis of which its other laws are formulated 1 . They also have a constructive function: with their help, the interpretation (interpretation) of the “physical meaning” of new theories and an explanation of their place and role in the entire system of scientific knowledge are constructed.
Topic 3. Philosophy in the cultural system
3.1 Philosophy and science
The characteristic common features of science and philosophy are the following.
1. Theoretical type of knowledge. The peculiarity of such knowledge is that it does not simply describe, but explains reality. In its construction The most important role thoughts and reasoning play. It relies on logical deductions and evidence and is expressed in abstract concepts.
> The basic concepts of philosophy and science are called categories.
Each science has its own categories (for example, in thermodynamics - heat, energy, entropy, etc.). Philosophical categories include both concepts that are well known to everyone (consciousness, time, freedom, truth, etc.), and concepts that are rarely used in everyday life, but play a fundamental role in certain philosophical systems (monad, thing in itself, transceptus, existence and etc.).
2. Attitude to truth as the highest value, towards which the work of a scientist and philosopher is aimed. In all other types of human activity, true knowledge is needed for the sake of some other goal, and it is sought as a means to achieve this goal.
Example: A driver who discovers a motor malfunction is interested in true knowledge about its causes - but not in itself, but only in order to eliminate this malfunction. The judge needs to establish the truth in order to make a fair verdict on this basis.
Only in science and philosophy the goal of activity is truth in itself, truth as such. True knowledge in the sphere of this activity is obtained for its own sake, and if it is used in it as a means, then only as a means of obtaining new true knowledge.
What distinguishes philosophy from science?
1. Science studies the real world, not what people think about it. She is interested in objective knowledge about the phenomena of reality, and not in people’s subjective opinions about them. Philosophy, while studying the principles of human understanding of reality, deals precisely with this understanding, and not with reality itself. She studies the thoughts, judgments, opinions, beliefs of people, i.e. the content of their knowledge.
Thus, philosophical thought, unlike science, always has as its subject not the world itself, but the human view of the world, the human understanding of the world. Man is the starting point of philosophical judgments about the world.
2. Scientific knowledge reflects reality, i.e. what exists, what is (or was, or will be). And philosophy does not simply reflect what exists - it is aimed mainly at describing and explaining what, according to the ideas and principles accepted as a basis, should be.
3. Scientific knowledge is based on a solid foundation of facts. Even the most daring scientific hypotheses must be confirmed by experimental data. Only knowledge verified by experience is considered true in science. But philosophical ideas concerning the initial, “ultimate” foundations of people’s conscious attitude to reality are statements that can neither be proven nor disproved by any set of experimental facts. The reason for this lies precisely in the “ultimate” nature of such ideas: their “ultimacy” lies in the fact that they go beyond the scope of our experience and act as standards (rules, principles) of thinking about what is not given in experience.
In fact, philosophical judgments about values and ideals are based not on facts, but on thoughts about what should be considered desirable, best, necessary. Therefore, it is impossible to verify and substantiate the truth of thoughts about values and ideals with any experimental data.
How to answer the question of what is the relationship between philosophy and science? In principle, four different answers are possible:
a -- philosophy includes science;
b - philosophy is part of science;
c -- philosophy and science are different areas knowledge;
d - philosophy and science are different, but partially overlapping, overlapping areas of knowledge.
Solution “a” reflects the situation in antiquity, when all sciences were considered branches of philosophy. This view, however, reflected only the initial stage of the development of philosophy and was revised in its subsequent history.
Solution “b” corresponds to the traditional idea of the commonality of philosophy and science. According to this idea, science went beyond the scope of philosophy, but philosophy retained the status of science and became one of its areas. However, from the above it follows that, despite the presence of a certain similarity between philosophical and scientific knowledge, philosophy still represents a special form of knowledge that cannot be unconditionally subsumed under the concept of science.
Solution “c,” in contrast to the previous one, ignores the commonality of philosophical and scientific knowledge and does not take into account the real connections between them.
The solution “d” is the most consistent with the actual state of affairs. It assumes that philosophical knowledge is different from scientific knowledge, but at the same time maintains a connection with the latter. This connection is manifested both in the tradition of constructing philosophical teachings in “science-like” theoretical forms, and in the fact that there are problems common to philosophy and science (for example, philosophical problems of physics, biology, psychology), the solution of which leads to obtaining scientific philosophical knowledge. At the same time, a significant part of philosophical knowledge is not of a scientific nature and is not part of science, does not receive theoretical formulation and is presented in the form of stories, parables, collections of aphorisms and free reasoning (“essays”, “discourse”).
3.2 Philosophy and art
The difference between philosophy and art is that philosophy is the area of theoretical thinking, and art is the area of artistic thinking. The philosopher thinks in abstractions, the poet - in artistic images. The first proves and explains, the second shows and describes. In art, the main thing is the emotional contact of the author with the reader, listener, and viewer. An artistic image affects, first of all, their feelings and through this influence encourages them to think (and even then not always). In philosophy, the author directly and directly addresses the mind of the reader or listener, trying to captivate him with him mainly with the help of logic, and emotional means can only play a supporting role.
Of the various types of art, literature and poetry are closest to philosophy. It is no coincidence that many of the greatest figures of human culture were both prominent philosophers and excellent writers (Cicero, Voltaire, Rousseau, Goethe, Radishchev, L. Tolstoy, etc.).
Often, a literary work written in the form of a poem or novel contains deep philosophical content (although not all philosophical ideas can be expressed in such a form). It is difficult to unequivocally classify such works as either art or philosophy.
In world fiction there are many works in which the most serious philosophical questions are posed and discussed: Dante’s “Divine Comedy”, Omar Khayyam’s “Rubaiyat”, Goethe’s “Faust”, Dostoevsky’s novels “Crime and Punishment” and “The Brothers Karamazov”, T. Mann "Doctor Faustus" and "Joseph and His Brothers", O. Huxley "Yellow Chrome" and "Oh, Wonderful new world”, G. Hesse “The Glass Bead Game”, V. Tendryakova “Attempt on Mirages”, etc.
Sometimes in works of art there are inserts in which the author, moving from artistic and figurative language to the language of philosophical theory, systematically sets out his philosophical concept on some problem. Thus, L. Tolstoy, in the epilogue of War and Peace, places a real philosophical treatise on freedom and necessity in history, and T. Mann includes a philosophical study of the problem of time in his “Magic Mountain”.
On the contrary, some philosophers resort to literary and artistic genres to express and popularize philosophical concepts. This was done, for example, by the largest representatives of the modern philosophy of existentialism, J.-P. Sartre (1905-1980), who wrote the novel “Nausea”, and A. Camus (1913-1960), author of the stories “The Stranger”, “The Fall”, etc. There are also works that can be classified as artistic and philosophical prose (“philosophical essay"). Russian thinkers P. Chaadaev (1794-1856) and V. Rozanov (1856-1919), Danish philosopher S. Kierkegaard (1813-1855), German philosopher F. Nietzsche (1844-1900), etc. wrote in this style. A brilliant example of this genre is the famous “Confession” of L. Tolstoy.
It should be noted that all major philosophers, even in the most rigorous philosophical and theoretical works, did not neglect the possibilities of artistic and figurative expression of thought.
Thus, philosophy and art, being different forms of spiritual creativity, nevertheless partially overlap with each other. Their relationship is similar to the relationship between philosophy and science (Fig. 3.3).
3.3 Philosophy and religion
philosophy society worldview ideology
The long-standing interest of mankind in religious issues, many of which preceded the emergence of the beginnings of philosophy, forces a variety of thinkers to explore the meaning of the statements of certain religious systems and the grounds on which these statements rest; consider the criteria that allow us to evaluate them; to study the question whether these statements can become components of any general theory about the structure of the universe.
Some of the philosophers who raise these questions seek to show the persuasiveness or even the validity of certain postulates of faith.
Others want to refute or sow doubt about certain religious approaches.
There are also those who approach this issue “neutrally,” simply trying to establish whether this or that view is connected with religious themes and whether there is a need to apply any standards to them.
Thus, for some philosophers, the philosophy of religion is an area in which they try to rationally justify or interpret religious systems close to them, for others it is the sphere of assessing the grounds and explaining the reasons for their disbelief, and for others it is simply an opportunity to study one of the areas of human interests and types of experience.
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Specificity of philosophical knowledge
Basic Concepts
Philosophy is a theoretical worldview, i.e. contemplation of eternal ideas and highest values, knowledge of meaning and familiarization with meaning.
Culture is the totality of products of human material and spiritual activity, spiritual and material values, a system of norms and institutions that distinguishes humans from animals.
Anthropocentrism is a philosophical ideological principle, the content of which is an understanding of the world in connection with the inclusion of man in it as a conscious, active being, the center of the Universe and the purpose of all occurring events.
Worldview is a system of views on the objective world and a person’s place in it, as well as the basic life positions of people, their ideals and values, determined by these views.
Value is a term used to indicate the humanistic meaning and sociocultural significance of certain phenomena of reality.
1. The place and role of philosophy in culture .
The concept of “culture” is broader than the concept of “philosophy”. Culture is the result of human activity and this activity itself, it is represented in a system of norms and institutions, in spiritual and material values. Culture is what distinguishes humans from animals. Through creativity - the creation of new meanings and values, a person overcomes his cultural and natural predestination.
The foundations of culture are:
Knowledge formulated in concepts and recorded in language,
Values that satisfy people's needs and determine their interests.
Philosophy as a component of culture represents both knowledge and values, and is the core (quintessence) of the self-awareness of a historical era. Dealing with a constantly changing reality, it forms in a rational form generally valid and enduring life values: good and evil, truths and errors, beauty and ugliness, freedom and dependence, life and death, the meaning and purpose of life, etc. Other problems are also discussed within the framework of philosophy, but it is fundamentally centered precisely on existential (life-meaning) values that determine the worldview nature of philosophical knowledge.
Philosophy draws its problems from life, but always strives to overcome the known, to look beyond the horizon of the known, pushing the limits of scientific and life experience. She reflects on the reflection of natural and social reality in other forms of spiritual culture: science, religion, art, etc., i.e. philosophy is a type of social consciousness that is aimed at understanding already established forms of practice and culture. The way of thinking of philosophy, addressed to the entire field of culture, is called critical - reflexive.
2. Subject: philosophy.
The subject of philosophy is universal connections in the “man - world” system; philosophy is a rational - theoretical understanding of these connections. In nature and culture, philosophy is interested in the universal that relates to man, is included in the orbit of his activity, and is refracted through the prism of his concepts of good and evil, beauty and ugliness, truth and error.
In the history of philosophy, ideas about its subject have changed. Within the same historical era, different ideas about the subject of philosophy could coexist. For Socrates, philosophy was the art of self-discovery. Plato believed philosophy knowledge of truly existing existence– the world of ideas, which he contrasts with the world of matter (non-existence) and the world of things. Aristotle believed philosophy the science that studies the root causes of things.
In the Middle Ages, philosophy was the handmaiden of theology, serving as a tool in theological debate. The Renaissance is characterized by the emancipation of philosophy from theology. Modern times defined philosophy as a science of sciences, correlating philosophy with the cognitive mind. In the second half of the 18th century. - early 19th century There is a gradual understanding of the fact that philosophy is the science of the universal. In the 19th century philosophical knowledge as knowledge about the universal begins to be contrasted with concrete scientific knowledge about the particular. Hegel called philosophy the queen of sciences, the science of the universal, existing in the sphere of pure thinking, or the science of reason comprehending itself. Kant defined the subject of philosophy as the doctrine of the ultimate goals of human reason.
XX century offered a wide variety of interpretations of the subject of philosophy. Neo-Kantians view philosophy as the science of values, discovering the universal in the sphere of values. Marxism defines philosophy as the science of universal laws nature, society and thinking. Existentialism understands philosophy as thinking about human existence. Positivism generally denies philosophy its own subject; it must become a “handmaiden” of the sciences, a methodology scientific knowledge.
We can say that with all the variety of interpretations of the subject of philosophy, it always represents rational knowledge about the universal, but universality is not understood in the same way and is found in different areas. At the same time, philosophy is not interested in the world in itself, but only in the world in the context of human life.
Kant most adequately and briefly outlined the range of philosophical problems, reducing them to four questions: 1).What can I know? 2). what should I do? 3). What can I hope for? 4). what is a person?
Kant was the first in classical philosophy to recognize the anthropocentric nature of philosophical knowledge.
The source of philosophical problems is the entire sphere of human existence, which gives rise to questions of an ideological nature. Since ideological questions cannot be answered definitively, philosophical problems at each historical stage are interpreted differently.
Philosophy is a system of detailed answers to worldview questions, which is updated by a particular era. It is a rational-theoretical form of worldview, in which a person’s views on the world and place in this world are presented in the form of concepts and theories. Philosophy is created consciously as a result of special professional activity.
The main problem of any worldview is the question of man’s relationship to the world. It is this topic that becomes the core of philosophy, around which a detailed system of other questions and problems is formed. Any philosophical question is considered through the prism of human attitude towards it. Philosophy is interested in the relationship between man and the world, man and man, man and his natural or cultural incarnations.
The specifics of philosophical thinking are:
Reflection is the turning of thinking to one’s own initial premises;
Universalization – identification of universal forms of being and thinking;
Totalization is a holistic coverage of relationships in the “person – world” system;
Abstraction is a mental technique of abstracting from non-essential properties and relationships of an object or phenomenon and focusing attention on the essential ones;
Idealization is a mental procedure for the formation of abstract objects that do not exist in reality. Also, ideal objects indirectly express real connections and relationships and represent limiting cases of the latter.
3. Basic functions of philosophy
.
The main function of philosophy is worldview. Being the theoretical core of a worldview, philosophy comprehends the ultimate foundations of culture, setting a coordinate system for everyday human activity in the form of the highest spiritual values.
The integral function follows from the ideological function. Philosophy is the quintessence of the basic ideas and values of a historical era, uniting various forms of culture into a single semantic whole.
An important function of philosophy is critical. By reflecting on the ultimate foundations of culture, philosophy questions ideas and meanings that have lost their relevance. Criticality is the basis of the movement of philosophical thought. The methodological function of philosophy is to determine the general rules and principles of scientific activity. Within the framework of philosophy, new prospects for scientific knowledge are outlined and scientific standards are formed.
4. Structure of philosophical knowledge .
The whole variety of philosophical problems can be reduced to five main groups studied in the indicated sections of philosophy:
Ontological, ontology is the philosophical doctrine of being and existence;
Epistemological, epistemology is the philosophical doctrine of knowledge;
Axiological, axiology is a philosophical doctrine of values;
Praxeological, praxeology is the philosophical doctrine of action;
Anthropological, anthropology is the philosophical study of man.
All sections of philosophical knowledge exist in indissoluble unity. It is impossible to construct any concept of action - praxeology - without solving the problems of axiology, anthropology or ontology. The solution of ontological problems inevitably leads thoughts to problems of knowledge and truth. Anthropological problems focus all other groups of philosophical problems.
In addition to the main groups of philosophical problems that form the core of philosophy, in the structure of philosophical knowledge there are studies that are correlated with a fragment of spiritual culture: philosophy of science, philosophy of history, philosophy of art, philosophy of religion, philosophy of politics. Each of these elements is based on ideas and principles formed in the “core” of philosophy.
5. Main directions of philosophy .
The choice of starting positions in the interpretation of universal relations in the “man - world” system determines the direction in philosophy. If the “world”, understood as matter or nature, is taken as the initial one, then such philosophical systems are called materialistic. If “man” is understood as the initial one, reduced to the concepts of “consciousness” and “spirit”, then idealistic systems are formed.
Materialism recognizes the primary material principle, which means that matter is not created in any way, consciousness is its attribute, and space, time and movement are the forms of its existence.
The following forms of materialism are distinguished: spontaneous materialism of ancient philosophers, natural philosophical materialism of the Renaissance, mechanical materialism of the 17th – 18th centuries and dialectical materialism in Marxist philosophy. In mechanistic materialism, matter is understood as a substance and the relative nature of movement, reduced to mechanical movement, is recognized. In dialectical materialism, matter is understood as an objective reality, independent of consciousness and opposed to it, the relative nature of rest is recognized, and movement is considered as any possible change.
Idealism recognizes the idea, thought, consciousness as the primary principle. There are two forms of idealism: objective and subjective.
Objective idealism recognizes as the initial principle a spirit or idea that exists outside and independently of a person and determines his individual consciousness. A classic example is the philosophy of G. Hegel. Subjective idealism recognizes the consciousness or will of the individual subject as the only reality, and the world is derived from the content of this consciousness. An example is the philosophy of J. Berkeley and D. Hume.
6. Formation of philosophy .
The emergence of philosophy dates back to approximately the 6th century. BC. In the West (in Greece) and in the East (in India and China), a type of theoretical knowledge arises that is opposed to traditional mythology. A person is aware of existence as a whole, himself and the limits of his capabilities.
Worldview problems: questions of life and death, the origin of man and the world have always worried people. Historically, the first form of worldview is mythology, consisting of a complex of myths setting out ideas about the origin and structure of the world, the emergence of society and man. For man, the myth was reality. He established a system of values and guaranteed the unity of society. The main property of mythological consciousness is the syncretism (indivisibility) of object and subject, knowledge and experience, man and nature. The principles of objective knowledge about the world, religious beliefs, and art coexisted in myth. Mythological consciousness is characterized by illogic, symbolism, collectivity, and authoritarianism.
But gradually, in the syncretic complex of mythological consciousness, religion, philosophy, and art are formed. Philosophy offers other ways to solve ideological problems, from the point of view of reason, a view of objectivity and reliability. Philosophy arises as a search for wisdom, meaning the harmony of knowledge about the world and life experience. Instead of image and symbol, philosophy offers rational concepts and categories.
The difference between philosophy and myth:
Philosophical knowledge is not syncretic. Here the subject and the object, knowledge and experiences, man and nature, the individual and the social group are clearly and unambiguously opposed;
Philosophical thinking does not tolerate contradictions;
Philosophy builds cause-and-effect relationships without allowing metamorphoses;
Philosophical thinking is not symbolic, it is thinking in strict concepts and categories;
The intellectual component of any worldview - worldview - is called a picture of the world. Worldview as a theoretical picture of the world is represented by scientific, philosophical, religious ideas.
7. Religious picture of the world . Religion is an internally integrated system of beliefs, feelings and actions aimed at establishing a relationship with the supernatural.
Philosophy and religion arise from myth and are systems of detailed answers to worldview questions. But there is a fundamental difference in the way these problems are interpreted. Philosophy uses the means of reason, relies on objective knowledge and formulates its conclusions in evidentiary form.
Religion comprehends the world differently; it places emphasis on faith, without evidence or argumentation. The results of religious reflection are formulated in specific visual and sensory forms. Religion invites a person to believe, experience and empathize, provides ready-made answers to worldview questions, but in philosophy not a single conclusion is predetermined. Religious doctrine does not allow criticism and transformation of fundamental provisions, and in philosophy criticality is a necessary condition movements of thought. Religion offers a person absolute ideals, norms and values. Philosophy does not guarantee that the answer is final. Religious ideas are always accompanied concrete actions: rites and rituals, but in philosophy there is nothing like that.
Philosophy and religion are united by the fact that any developed religious doctrine is a system. Religion presents its own version of the picture of the world, the fundamental feature of which is the doubling of the world into natural and sacred (supernatural). The sacred is primary, it determines the lives of people in the everyday world. The only way to unite a believer with the divine world is cult, rituals, prayers, and the place is the temple. The center of the religious picture of the world is God or many gods. God's power is limitless. He creates and controls the world, he and his plan are not knowable.
The religious picture of the world offers a person the only acceptable way of existence - the salvation of the immortal soul and overcoming one’s own sinful nature. Faith and correct behavior are the guide to salvation as the ultimate meaning of human existence.
8. Scientific picture of the world. Science has an extremely large influence on worldview modern man. In the history of science since the 17th century. there is a change from the mechanistic picture of the world to the modern one, in which the Universe appears as a set of connections, and not things, and science studies interactions, and not individual closed objects. The development of psychology, biology, and genetics returned man to the scientific picture of the world. The view of modern science has ceased to be totally objectivist; new scientific achievements have shown that human consciousness is woven into a system of objective connections between things and phenomena and influences reality itself. One of the central principles of the new organic paradigm states that the world is structured in such a way that the appearance of a person in it is natural. Modern representations physicists consider a single space-time continuum, where the properties of space-time depend on the position of the observer, the speed of ongoing processes and the mass of matter. The latter exists in both material and field forms, as well as in the form of plasma and vacuum. Transformations of matter can be described simultaneously as particle interactions and as wave processes. That. within the framework of the new scientific paradigm, the Universe appears as a constantly developing organism, and man as one of the stages of existence, the laws of which do not conflict with the laws of other levels of existence of the world. The modern scientific picture of the world is being formed, so there are many contradictions in it. However, the trend of change is obvious - from statics to dynamics, from separation to interconnectedness, from the mechanical dualism of the human and natural worlds to organic monism.
9. Philosophical picture of the world . At the stage of formation, philosophical knowledge was closely connected with scientific knowledge. In modern philosophy, there are sections that are directly related to scientific knowledge - the so-called problems specifically of scientific disciplines. Philosophy, like science, is aimed at the essence; it contains logical argumentation and evidence of the propositions put forward. Knowledge in both science and philosophy is expressed in a rational form, in the form of concepts, judgments, and conclusions. The similarity between science and philosophy lies in the fact that they rely on rational-theoretical research methods and develop reliable, generally valid principles and provisions.
But unlike philosophy, science is not ideological in nature, it does not tell a person about his ideals, the meaning of life, and does not resolve questions about freedom, truth or beauty. No science reveals universal connections or clarifies the fundamental preconditions of existence. That is why philosophy should not be identified with science.
Philosophical pictures of the world are extremely diverse. The foundation of the philosophical picture of the world is one or another concept of being. There are materialistic and idealistic, rationalistic and voluntaristic, monistic and pluralistic versions of the philosophical picture of the world.
The philosophical picture of the world never assumes final answers. Philosophy lacks the concept of the sacred. It fundamentally lacks the idea of a personal god, but at the same time, in some philosophical systems the concept of the Absolute Idea, or the World Spirit, is proposed. Philosophy uses all the data of natural and social sciences to solve fundamental ideological issues, but never confines itself to the sphere of empirical specifics. Any philosophical picture of the world is only an invitation to reflection and independent search, and not the final version of the universe.
Control questions
What historical types of worldview preceded philosophy?
Why is philosophy the highest historical type of worldview?
What is the specificity of the philosophical reflection of the world in contrast to the mythological, religious, scientific?
How do scientific and philosophical pictures of the world compare?
If philosophy considers the world as a whole and the mutual determination of forms of being, then what does this give to a person?
Why doesn't philosophy give definitive answers?
How is the historical character of philosophical knowledge manifested?
What function does philosophy perform in justifying the highest spiritual values of the era?
Test task:
The theoretical core, the core of the spiritual culture of man and society is called...
Art;
Philosophy;
Mythology.
Philosophy
Serves as an expression of the self-awareness of a particular era
Confirms his positions with experiment;
It comes from the primacy of faith over reason;
Has a dogmatic character;
Strives for systematic integrity of knowledge.
Worldview is:
A set of spiritual values;
A set of ideas that explain human behavior;
A system of beliefs that determines human behavior.
What type of worldview is the earliest?
Religion;
Philosophy;
Mythology.
Philosophy is:
Theoretical worldview;
A condensed summary of the science of its time.
The rational component of any type of worldview is called...
Theory;
Paradigm;
Hypothesis;
A picture of the world.
Mythology as a historical type of worldview is characterized by
Parascientific thinking;
Abstract - conceptual thinking;
Visually - imaginative thinking.
The religious picture of the world is built primarily on the basis of...
Mythological representations;
Philosophical ideas;
Scientific research data;
Holy Scripture.
Philosophy differs from religion in that
Is a form of worldview;
Develops a certain system of values;
It is a theoretical form of human exploration of the world;
Explores the problem of the meaning of human life.
The scientific picture of the world is characterized by (a)
True knowledge of causes;
Confidence in the existence of the World Mind;
Identification of faith and knowledge;
Unconditional influence of the ideas of leading scientists.
Problems solved by philosophy
Relates to the supernatural unreal world;
Can be solved within a specific scientific discipline;
They have nothing to do with the lives of ordinary people;
They have a universal limiting character.
Which of the judgments is correct?
Objects have value in themselves, regardless of whether they are useful to a person or not;
Value expresses the meaning of an object for a person, therefore it does not exist outside of the human attitude towards it;
Things have value only because a person's attitude towards them is an expression of his attitude towards another person.
A branch of philosophy is not...
Ontology;
Art history;
Justification of the value of personality, rights and freedoms is associated with the ________ function of philosophy
Heuristic;
Humanistic;
Methodological;
Aesthetic.
The function of philosophy, whose role is to question the world and existing knowledge, look for their new features, qualities, reveal contradictions, -
Worldview;
Prognostic;
Critical;
Methodological.
The methodological functions of philosophy include
Integrating;
Explanatory – informational;
Coordinating;
Logical-gnoseological.
Creative task
The discovery of philosophy is that any person lives in the world of his values more than in the world of real connections. Philosophy substantiates the highest spiritual values of man and society. What is the dialectic (contradictory unity) of the existent (what is) and the proper (what should be) in the existence of society and man in the philosophical picture of the world?
Unlike mythology and religion, which rely on faith in the supernatural, in general on faith, philosophy declares thinking to be the main principle of its existence. Philosophy groups numerous ideological issues and tries to solve them with the help of reason, relying on concepts and judgments. Philosophy claims to be universal knowledge, because the questions it tries to answer are also universal.
According to legend, the term “philosopher” was first used by the Greek mathematician and thinker Pythagoras (c. 580-500 BC) in relation to people striving for intellectual knowledge and the right way of life. The word philosophy consists of two - “love” and “wisdom”, i.e. means love of wisdom. Pythagoras meant that he himself was not a sage, i.e. does not possess wisdom, he only strives for it, loves it, honors it. Socrates will later say something similar: “I know that I know nothing.” It is interesting that from the point of view of modern epistemology, these positions can be defined as agnosticism (for complete possession of wisdom is impossible) or, to be less radical, as an anticipation of the dialectical doctrine of Absolute and Relative truth.
The interpretation and consolidation of the term “philosophy” in European culture is associated with the name of Plato. Initially, the concept of “philosophy” was used in a broader sense. The first philosophers were keenly interested in all the diversity of the world. It is not for nothing that philosophy is called the mother of all sciences, for initially philosophers were simultaneously mathematicians, linguists, logicians, astronomers, rhetoricians, etc. In fact, this term meant the totality of theoretical knowledge accumulated by humanity.
So what is philosophy?
Philosophy is a theoretically formulated worldview. Philosophy is a worldview, a system of general theoretical views on the world as a whole, the place of man in it, an understanding various forms the relationship of man to the world, man to man. Philosophy is the theoretical level of a worldview, its core. Consequently, the worldview in philosophy appears in the form of knowledge and is systematized, ordered. And this moment significantly brings philosophy and science closer together. Philosophy is the mother of science. The first naturalists were also philosophers. What brings philosophy closer to science is the desire to rely on theoretical research methods, to use logical tools to substantiate one’s positions, and to develop reliable, generally valid principles and provisions.
The specificity of philosophy lies in its form of universal theoretical knowledge. Philosophy is a form of knowledge of the most general, or rather, universal foundations of existence. The specificity of philosophy is that it combines two ways of human life: scientific-theoretical and spiritual-practical.
The theoretical nature of philosophy is as follows. A philosophical generalization has a much broader potential than any other specific generalization. Science is closed within the framework of experience, limited by it. Philosophy is a way of thinking in which there are no experimental limitations. Philosophy is truly universal, because it reveals laws of Existence that manifest themselves in all spheres of life. On the other hand, philosophy is substantial in nature (from the Latin substantia - essence, something underlying). Substance - this is the ultimate basis that allows us to reduce the sensory diversity of things and the variability of their properties to something permanent, relatively stable and independently existing. Universalism and substantialism as principles are closely related to each other, for the ultimate generalization reveals substance. Universalism and substantialism characterize the peculiarity of philosophy as a theoretical form of mastering reality.
The specificity of philosophy lies in the way of thinking. The philosophical position is characterized by doubt, which, however, is not negative character. Philosophers question everything in order to check how strong human institutions are, and to discard those that have outlived their time, as well as those that have stood the test, to place them on a more solid foundation of knowledge. In other words, doubt stimulates development. This is not always accepted by everyone. Thus, philosophy from the very beginning of its existence has a spiritual and practical orientation.
Philosophy is not only a way of thinking, it is also a science. Like any science, philosophy has its own subject, its own conceptual apparatus, its own structure.
Subject of philosophy- the whole world in its diversity and interaction of all its parts. This is being in full form its expression: real or abstract, rational or irrational, objective or subjective. For philosophy, the ravings of a madman, the laws of chemistry, historical movement, methods of hardening steel, etc. are equally important (if you approach it in principle). An important feature of the subject of philosophy is that it can be completely speculative. It is clear that a philosopher cannot alone embrace the whole world in its integrity. Therefore, philosophy is divided into a number of departments, each of which in turn can be divided further.
Ontology(from the Greek ontos “existence” and logos “concept, mind”) - a department of philosophy that studies the foundations of the world, the doctrine of Being as such. Identifies and studies the most general essences, ultimate foundations, fundamental principles of the existence of everything.
Epistemology(from the Greek gnosis “knowledge”) - a department of philosophy that studies the nature of knowledge, its forms, mechanism, essence.
Epistemology(from the Greek episteme “knowledge”) - theory of knowledge, a department of philosophy that studies the problem of scientific knowledge.
Axiology(from the Greek axia “value”) - a department of philosophical knowledge that studies the nature of value, the mechanism of its manifestation and functioning.
Logics(from the Greek logos “concept, mind”) - in philosophy - the science of correct thinking, the doctrine of thinking in concepts. Serves to increase the formal accuracy of consciousness and expression of the content of thinking.
Aesthetics(from the Greek aisthetikos “sentient, sensual”) - the doctrine of beauty, the laws and forms of beauty, its types, its relationship to nature and art, the essence of beauty.
Ethics(from the Greek ethos “custom, moral character”) - the doctrine of morality, morality, human behavior consistent with moral norms, the nature of these norms, etc. The term was first used by Aristotle.
Anthropology(from the Greek anthropos “man”) - the science of man, his origin and evolution. From the point of view of natural science, anthropology studies the differences between man and other living organisms, studies his bodily organization in anatomical, physiological, racial, etc. levels. Philosophical anthropology embraces real human existence in its entirety, determines its place and relationship to the surrounding world.
History of philosophy- a department of philosophy that studies the formation of philosophical knowledge, its forms, discoveries. Comprehends philosophy from the point of view of its processuality. On the one hand, the history of philosophy introduces a person to the philosophical experience of the past, on the other hand, it provides enormous material for critical understanding of this past with the aim of further successful development of certain problems.
Philosophy of history- a philosophical discipline that studies the essence and types of historical movement of human society.
The development of philosophical thinking ultimately determined the main, or fundamental question of philosophy . This in turn is divided into two.
The first side of the question is as follows: what is primary and what is secondary - being or thinking, nature or spirit. Depending on the solution to this issue, all philosophers were divided into two camps: materialists and idealists. Materialists assert the primacy and self-sufficiency of matter. The whole world and existence are explained by them as a product of the self-development of matter. This world is uncreated, eternal, infinite and constantly evolving. Idealists, on the other hand, call the spiritual principle - personal or impersonal (God) - the origin of all things. Those idealists who call personal, individual consciousness and thinking as the primary principle are called subjective idealists, and those who understand the spiritual principle as transpersonal are called objective idealists.
The second side of the main question of philosophy is formed as a question about the fundamental cognizability of the world, that is, can the spirit, thinking, consciousness, without remainder, without boundaries, comprehend Being, reflect in concepts the entire diversity of the universe. Most philosophers answer this question positively, in one form or another recognizing the possibility of knowing existence. Here the problem of Absoluteness and Relativity of truth arises, clearly formulated in dialectics. Those philosophers who deny the fundamental possibility of knowing existence are called agnostics (from the Greek gnosis - knowledge and the negative prefix a).
This question has universal significance for philosophy and is present in one or another modified form in solving many other philosophical problems.
How to relate science and philosophy? On the one hand, philosophy, as already mentioned, is itself a science. On the other hand, philosophy is the methodological basis of any science. Philosophy is broader than any science. At the same time, they do not exist separately: on the contrary, scientific achievements are necessary for the philosopher as material for further generalization. On the other hand, the philosophical concept serves as the methodological basis of scientific knowledge.
Philosophy, its specificity, subject, structure and functions. Relationship f. and private sciences.
The place and role of philosophy in the system of spiritual culture.
The term “philosophy” comes from the Greek words philio-love and Sophia-wisdom and means the love of wisdom. And to the question of what philosophy is, each philosopher answered in his own way. So, for Pythagoras and Heraclitus, the meaning of philosophy is the search for truth. The main task of the philosopher among the sophists (formally seemingly correct, but essentially false conclusion, based on a deliberate, conscious violation of the rules of logic; the legality of contradictions) is to teach his students wisdom. Plato believed that the task of philosophy is to know eternal and absolute truths. According to Aristotle, the task of philosophy is to comprehend the universal in the world itself, and its subject is the first principles and causes of being. Moreover, philosophy is the only science that exists for its own sake and represents “knowledge and understanding for the sake of knowledge and understanding itself.” As a result, some thinkers saw the essence of philosophy in finding the truth, while others saw it in concealing it and adapting it to their respective interests; some directed their gaze to the sky, others to the ground. Thus, a philosophy was formed - special shape social consciousness and knowledge of the world, developing a system of knowledge about the basic and fundamental principles of human existence, about the most general essential characteristics of human relations to nature, society and spiritual life.
Philosophy is a field of spiritual activity that is based on a special, philosophical type of thinking that underlies the philosophy of knowledge, and on the independence of the subject of philosophy. Philosophy does not have the same subject matter as, for example, natural Sciences, in the sense that the subject of philosophy is not localized within one or another specific field of knowledge, such as biology, geology... However, philosophy has a subject, and the fundamental impossibility of its localization is its specific feature. What exactly is the subject of philosophy depends on the era and the intellectual position of the thinker. "What is philosophy?" “What comes first: spirit or matter?”
The emergence of philosophy, its cultural and historical background.
Philosophy, as a higher level of worldview, namely a view of the world expressed in a system of concepts (worldview) arose in ancient societies (India, China, Greece) at the turn of the 7th-6th centuries BC. Its main cultural and historical prerequisite was the Social Division of Labor, and the direct separation of mental labor from physical labor. A layer of people appeared who could deal specifically with the problems of spiritual culture: religion, art, science, philosophy. Another important prerequisite for the emergence and development of philosophy was a fairly high level of development of rational (logical) thinking. The main form of primitive thinking was myth, in which people's primitive knowledge of the world was combined with their fiction and faith. With the decomposition of the primitive communal system and the emergence of the slave system, which was accompanied by the separation of mental labor from physical labor, rational thinking increasingly developed. This reached its peak in the mathematics of Pythagoras, the philosophy of Thales, Heraclitus, Protagoras, etc. They thought about the problems of the world, space, man, as well as morality, art and religion. Their thoughts, at first purely speculative, were increasingly based on elements of scientific knowledge and laid the foundation for various philosophical concepts (theories), trends and schools. Something similar happened in other countries, including the Ancient East. Subsequently, philosophy developed under the influence of scientific knowledge, art, political relations, and the entire human culture.
Subject and structure of philosophical knowledge (ontology, epistemology, logic, etc.)
Acting as a general view of the world, philosophy poses and solves, first of all, problems of an ideological nature. Here are just a few, the most fundamental: 1. Does the world around us exist forever, or was it created by someone? 2. Does God exist as the Most High and as the creator of the world. 3. Are there causal and natural connections in the world itself, or does everything come from God? 4. Can we know the world? 5. Are there boundaries of scientific knowledge of the world and what are they, that is, where do they end? 6. Are there methods and forms of knowledge other than scientific ones? For example, how true is it to talk about artistic or religious knowledge of the world and man? 7. What is human thinking and how does it relate to reality and God.
The listed questions directly relate to philosophy. Philosophy acts as a system of views on the world, its knowledge and human thinking.
Types of philosophy: 1. Scientific– formulates his conclusions on the basis of scientific knowledge. 2. Artistic philosophy, when the vision of the world is expressed through the means of art. 3. Religious– gives a philosophical interpretation of religious problems.
VI century BC. in three centers of ancient civilizations: Dr. China, Dr. India, Dr. Greece almost simultaneously with the emergence of philosophy.
The structure of philosophical knowledge. Common to all philosophical systems are:
the problem of being - how the world exists; what everything consists of; Ontology– the doctrine of being is the central section of the philosophical system. The system of views on thinking, its forms and laws is called logic.
the problem of knowledge (of the surrounding world and man) - is the world that surrounds us knowable; how the process of cognition develops; what does it consist of; what is truth; Epistemology– philosophical doctrine of knowledge (epistemology).
the problem of man – philosophical anthropology – is man free in his activities; the meaning of human life; whether human life is subject to any laws;
problem of society – social philosophy;
Sections of philosophy. Ethics is the science of morality. Aesthetics is the science of art. Logic is the science of the laws and forms of correct human thinking. Axiology is a theory of values. Philosophy is the doctrine of the most general principles of existence, knowledge and man’s relationship to the world. Hermeneutics is the philosophical study of understanding. Hermeneutical circle - in order to understand a part of something, you need to know the whole, but there is no other way to know the whole except by studying it in parts.
Philosophy and science.
Philosophy in the form in which it exists now would not be possible without conditions external to man, its source: the level reached by science in everyday life frees up a colossal amount of time for reflection, in no way related to the concern of getting a piece of bread essential, protecting yourself and loved ones from the external environment. Only the fact that now a person sleeps enough good conditions, eats well, of course, is clearly not enough for the “production” of philosophical thought, but this is a good help. It should be noted that the word “good” has a purely individual meaning, depending on a particular person. And in fact, it’s unlikely primitive, living in caves and constantly hunting for animals, without having at his disposal any “benefits of civilization” (now I don’t mean what is usually meant by the benefits of civilization, but to my regret I can’t find a worthy equivalent to this), was able to philosophize . And the point here is not only in his brain apparatus, which is not sufficiently adapted for this.
And vice versa, science (real science) without philosophy is doubly impossible, since scientific discoveries (and simply scientific work) must be realized, comprehended, experienced, otherwise they will not be discoveries, but will be simple mechanical work to obtain, take away from Nature new, dead knowledge. Dead knowledge cannot give a person anything good. That is why a real scientist must be, first of all, a philosopher, and only then a natural scientist, experimenter, and theorist.
When considering the question of the relationship between philosophy and science, there are three aspects: 1) Is philosophy a science - many major scientists in the field of specific sciences are also the most prominent representatives of philosophy. 2) The interaction of philosophy and private (concrete) sciences; Specific sciences have their own subject of research, their own laws and methods, and their own level of generalization of knowledge. However, philosophy is not only influenced by the private sciences, but also itself influences their development. 3) The relationship between philosophy and extra-scientific knowledge. Ignoring the scientific worldview can lead to dangerous social consequences. This danger increases many times when there is a union of political power and parascience (Inquisition, fascism)
Philosophy has similarities with both religion and science, although it cannot be equated with either one or the other. Similarities: They study nature and man, rely on reason, but science, in addition to reason, is based on experience, so the knowledge obtained is reliable. Scientific knowledge is highly specialized, while philosophical knowledge, on the contrary, is as generalized as possible.
Functions of philosophy.
The meaning of philosophy is best indicated by its functions:
1. Worldview (ontological). Its essence is that philosophy acts as a system of views on the world, society and man. By shaping people’s worldview, philosophy helps them navigate the complex natural, information and technological world. Depending on whether philosophy is scientific or non-scientific, the nature of the worldview is determined. It can also be scientific or non-scientific. 2. Cognitive function . (epistemological function) Philosophy solves the problem of the cognizability of the world, reveals the process of its cognition; how it is accomplished, and also resolves the question of the boundaries of knowledge of the world.
3.Methodological function . The point is that philosophy acts as a method of understanding the world, society, and man. Such a method is, for example, dialectics as a doctrine of the development of the world and its knowledge. The methodological and cognitive functions of philosophy are organically connected. Methodology: a) the doctrine of the methods of scientific knowledge - philosophy creates the doctrine of the methods of knowledge. b) the system is the most common methods, applied in all areas of scientific knowledge.
Since philosophy has an extremely wide area of study, then the methods have a broad (universal) meaning, applied in all areas of scientific knowledge of human knowledge. 4. Prognostic function . By creating a holistic picture of the world in the interaction of all its sides, philosophy helps to identify the sources and directions of certain phenomena of nature and society. In this way, it helps to anticipate the course of events and consciously predict them. 5. Exists logotherapy function (“meaning therapy”). It's about about healing with meaning. The task of philosophy is seen as helping a person cope with the suffering that is caused by a lack of understanding of what is happening in his life and the life of society. Due to certain social reasons, individuals experience a spiritual or mental crisis, and the person “is tormented by the question of whether his future life has meaning.” We are talking about the fundamental problems of existence, the meaning of life, religious problems, etc. In this case, the question arises of choosing values - religious or some other, which a person should be guided by in order to get out of a mental crisis and establish himself in society. Philosophy should help him with this. 6) axiological function – “the doctrine of values” – justification and criticism of value systems.7) critical function – critical analysis structures of our thinking - why now we think this way and not otherwise. The principle of “question everything” has been preached by many philosophers since antiquity. 8) School of theoretical thinking and wisdom . This is especially true for studying the history of philosophy. 9) Social function . The task is to explain social existence and contribute to its material and spiritual change. Before attempting to change the social world, it must first be explained well. 10)Humanitarian function . Philosophy should play a life-affirming role for every individual.
All functions of philosophy are interconnected. Each of them presupposes the others and, one way or another, includes them.
Philosophers of “physics” in AF.
Milesian school.
Thales is considered the first famous ancient philosopher. The Milesians tried to resolve the question of what is the substance of the foundation of the world and the differences in processes. The main achievement: the first conclusion that the diversity of the world arose from one source - from a certain primary element, primordial element, origin, arche. Thales: the basis of everything is water. Thales was a very authoritative scientist of that time; he predicted a solar eclipse ½ year in advance. Anaximenes: the basis of everything is air. Anaximenes' reasoning was later used by Democritus and Lefkip, the founders of the atomistic doctrine.
Anaximander is the substance of everything - apeiron (everything comes out of it and everything enters into it). Apeiron is something indefinite that permeates the whole world, everything arises from it and everything enters into it. Anaximander's idea very accurately reflects some of the problems of modern physical science. The physics of elementary particles (in all its models) proceeds from the fact that all elementary particles are connected to each other, all influence the structure of each, and each influences the structure of all. True, physics cannot offer a plausible model. Within the framework of the apeipon concept, this works. Apeiron is an analogue of the universal universal connection.
They do not belong to the Milesian school: Xenophanes is the basis of everything - earth, Heraclitus - fire.
Eleatics.
The main problem being studied: what is true being? What is the criterion for the truth of the knowledge of being?
Representatives: Xenophanes, Parmenides, Zeno
Main achievements: the doctrine of true existence; an attempt to make knowledge the subject of philosophical analysis
Parmenides was the first to clearly formulate the problem of being. Being is everything that was, is and will be and their unity. It was on the unity of being that Parmenides based himself. Parmenides actually had no evidence of the unity of being; they were obtained only in the last century in three great discoveries: cells - the unity of all living things; the teachings of Darwin (Mendel) - the mechanism of self-development of all living things; the law of conservation and transformation of energy, which confirmed the existence of a universal relationship. Parmenides posed a problem whose discussion was the entire development of the history of philosophy. In order to discuss the problem of being, it was necessary to build the following links of philosophical knowledge - the theory of dialectics (Zeno), substance, etc. The idea's lack of a protective belt has attracted critics. Parmenides' student Zeno stood up for his teacher. The essence of Zeno's reasoning: Parmenides cannot explain movement, but this is not his fault, but the misfortune of all knowledge of that time, since the concepts of that time were so inflexible that they could not express the usual mechanical movement. And to prove this, he cited several contradictions: Achilles and the turtle, a flying arrow, the noise of a heap of sand (the fall of one grain of sand is not heard, but the fall of a handful is heard). Leibniz was the first to solve Zeno's contradictions in a strict form in the 17th century.
Zeno actually looked into the problem of the dialectics of concepts, so he is considered the founder of the theory of subjective dialectics. Under understand dialectics movement and development of inanimate, living, socially organized matter, the process of cognition and the spiritual horizon of people. The basis of such movement and development is a universal universal connection.
There are objective dialectics (dialectics of the material world and society) and subjective (dialectics of the process of cognition and the spiritual horizon of people). There are theories of objective and subjective dialectics. Dialectics and the theory of dialectics should not be confused. The theory of dialectics is being improved with the development of modern science. Zeno is considered the founder of the theory of subjective dialectics.
Heraclitus(lone philosopher) from Ephesus - considered fire to be the substance of everything. Main achievements: conclusion about the constant formation of the world, about its universal variability; the conclusion that the reason for the universal and constant variability of the world (becoming) is the struggle of opposites. In modern synergetic science (the science of self-organization) there are various concepts of self-organization. In Russia, two synergetic centers have emerged: the Andronov school (specializing in the study of self-organization based on wave processes) and the Samarsky-Kurdyumov school (mathematics department, Moscow State University). Within the framework of the Samarsky-Kurdyumov school, a complex computer model of combustion convection over a large area was obtained. In the light of the works of Samarsky-Kurdyumov, it becomes understandable theory Heraclitus that the substance of everything is fire. Heraclitus believed, and was the first to state this, that the basis of movement is contradiction. There were also ideas about the contradictory development of the movement in Taoism. One of the main ideas of Heraclitus is that everything is known by comparison.
Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans. (notable for being vegetarian)
The main problem being studied: the origin of all things; What does the harmony of the world come from?
Representatives: powerful religious movement, community, learned caste, order with complex rituals and a strict initiation system. A complete veil of secrecy over rituals and regulations for strangers, and the same secrecy of especially important secrets even from many of our own. The elite of the order are mathematicians. The founder was Pythagoras, a mathematician, astronomer and spiritual mentor to many scientists of that time.
Main achievements: the first formulation of mathematics as a way of describing existence; attempt to develop a concept universal application numbers to knowledge of the world.
Arche is a number. It is known that Pythagoras led a school where mathematical research was open and philosophical research was closed. Mathematics forms situational thinking. The esotericism of Pythagoras was aimed at the spiritual horizons of people. The Pythagoreans developed mathematical research at a high level. Mathematics gave them the opportunity to develop situational thinking, and it is this thinking that allows people to look into the spiritual horizon of other people by looking at their actions. The Pythagoreans, thus, saw in the spiritual horizon of man many things that could not be told to everyone.
Kabbalists did approximately the same thing in Judaism and, obviously, the level of the Pythagoreans was no lower than the Kabbalistic level.
The Pythagoreans revealed their knowledge in the laws they wrote. Contemporaries noted that the government according to these laws was almost aristocratic, which cannot be said about Plato’s laws. After the burning of the Pythagorean school, the latter began to sell their research, for example, Archidas believed that the earth was a sphere.
Democritus and Leucippus– founders of the materialistic and atomistic theory of the structure of the world (the doctrine of the discontinuous structure of matter). Democritus has a lot of works. The main one is “The Great World Building”. From their point of view, the world consists of atoms. Atoms have different structures, weights, and the concept of free will of atoms was introduced. By will in inanimate nature we can understand the tendency of an object to develop. But there are a number of possible variations in this trend. It is impossible to predict in advance which path development will take. Democritus called the “choice” of atoms of a behavior option free will. Democritus is the author of the concepts of “necessity” and “accident”. Democritus, the son of a very rich merchant, spent all his money on travel and teaching young people. And in Athens there was a law against embezzlers. At his trial, he defended himself by reading a treatise on the structure of the world, which made an impression, and was acquitted.
Humanists
They are so named because the study of man is at the center of their philosophy.
Socrates. He made a turn in ancient thought from the former natural philosophy to man and to moral philosophy. Socrates did not look for natural philosophical truths, because natural philosophy, in his opinion, does not solve the main question - where did the primary substances themselves come from? And without an answer to this question, natural philosophy examines only the consequences, but not the causes themselves, which is erroneous as a method. He said: “I only know that I know nothing.” He added: “Some people don’t know even a fraction of what I know.” It was unattractive in appearance. There was a commoner, the son of a stonemason. I didn't write anything. All his ideas are known from the works of his students - Plato And Diogenes(from Sinop). Socrates believed that the essence of a person is his soul. It is formed throughout life, great importance they have education and upbringing here. Socrates believed that one should not immediately tell students the conclusions. The idea must arise in the mind of the student, be formed and be expressed by him. This is maieutics . Socrates - the author of the method irony ( a method of questioning that involves a critical attitude towards dogmatic statements, which prevents one from thinking necessarily in a predetermined way ) or learned ignorance. Also author rationalistic ethics of antiquity. He believed that the cause of evil is ignorance, and if people know that it is evil, then they will not act like that. Society will not be able to do without violence for a long time, but violence must be within the limits of the law. The death of Socrates (the trial for “corrupting the youth” and “disrespecting the gods”), in addition to well-known things, showed that it is impossible to win cleanly against people who play with dirty methods. The teaching of Socrates - a turn from materialistic natural philosophy To idealism. Agnosticist, you can only know yourself: “Know yourself.” The task of knowledge - not theoretical, but practical - is the art of living.
Sophists. (Sophia - wisdom). V century BC. These are the sages in philosophy. Ancient Greek paid teachers of eloquence. Protagoras- wanting to earn money, he repeated Socrates’ idea that the human soul is formed and educated. The merchants supported him. He was one of the first paid teachers of philosophy. “Man is the measure of all things, both in what they are and in what they are not.” Things are not natural, but created by people. "Everything is as it seems to us." Protagoras wanted to teach his students how to win polemics (politically, legally). Developed a whole system esoteric (only for our own) methods of conducting polemics:
The most sophisticated lie is a half-truth
A thing taken to extremes becomes its opposite
Only a correctly posed question has a correct answer.
It is easier to denigrate a person than to justify him
Answering a question with a question
Protagoras noticed that Now is called the existential (um: individual spiritual life and the desire to prove the meaninglessness of life, the futility of social activity are recognized), or the subjective aspect of truth. Usually, when discussing the problem of truth, the following facets are identified:
Objectivity
Specificity
Absoluteness
Relativity
Now they also highlight the subjectivity of truth.
Protagoras created 1st generation of sophists: Hippias, Antiphon and others. These were respected people, lawyers. 2nd generation – debater And: Gorgias and other citizens. (Gorgias is a sophist, agnosticist. Known in the presentation of Plato and others). The disputants aroused the dislike of the people because their speeches were mockery. 3rd generation – politicians. They believed that politics and ethics were incompatible. And politicians must practice violating ethical standards.
Academy of Plato and Aristotle.
Plato is a student of Socrates. Founder of objective idealism. All of Plato's works are written in the form of dialogues or myths and images. He experienced the teachings of Socrates, the Pythagoreans, Heraclitus, Parmenides, and fought against materialistic teaching. main idea: God created the most beautiful ideas. He arranged them in a certain agreement with each other. The result is the most beautiful valley of ideas in the world - eidos – Hyperurania. Next is another character - Demiurge(creator) - began to create the world according to these ideas. From Plato's reasoning it follows that any object in the world has its own idea, and it represents the essence of this thing. Plato believed that the human soul is immortal. Being in a human body is torment for the soul. The soul, freed from the body, rises to Hyperurania and contemplates the essence of the world. According to Plato, the soul of every person owns the essence of the world. Objective idealist. Plato believed that the essence of the world is knowable. He is an opponent of agnosticism. /* At the moment, anthropology considers not so much a person as his whole spiritual horizon. It is believed that a person’s spiritual horizon has its own structure. Its elements are phenomena. Phenomenology Husserl. */
The valley of Plato's eidos looks like the spiritual horizon of God, and every soul that has seen his spiritual horizon is its analogue. Man's spiritual horizon is similar to God's spiritual horizon. The human soul, after moving into a new person, forgets everything. A person begins to remember what the soul saw when he begins to learn.
There are two levels in human consciousness: sensual And rational. Sensory knowledge is his first navigation (sailing). Rational - the second navigation (by oars) is more difficult.
The Myth of the Cave. People see and hear only what they are ready to hear. Subsequently, these questions were raised by the Copenhagen school as methodological problems of physics:
The Problem of Physical Reality
Parameter observability problem
Plato was the first to define matter- These are the scaffolding from which the Demiurge created the world. In Hyperurania, the ideas of God are not arranged haphazardly, but in a certain order. The connections are varied – from direct to correlative. Connections between ideas are an analogue of the general universal connection. Apparently, this is also an analogue of the goal to which science should strive in reflecting this connection.
Plato - real name Aristocles. Rich landowner. Three types of love:
Like physiological attraction “at first sight”
If the first one is preserved - a loving fascination with the soul
If the first two are preserved, there is a thirst for beauty and goodness (eros).
These ideas were developed by religious Russian cosmists Fedorov And Florensky: Love is a cosmic creation. From the teachings of these citizens, it follows that people fall in love with their own ideals in another person.
Plato: “a woman should be beautiful, smart and kind.”
Plato is the author of many works on ethics and state structure. I considered it the most highest level board aristocracy, the lowest - democracy. Karl Popper, “The Open Society and Its Enemies,” criticizes Plato's work “The Republic” as the basis of totalitarianism.
Aristotle.- son of the court physician of Macedonia (Philip). Teacher of Alexander the Great. Born in Thrace, he studied in Athens, at Plato's Academy. Plato's philosophy - figurative, Aristotle – conceptual. Aristotle is the great ancient Greek philosopher and scientist, creator of the science of logic, founder of physics, psychology, ethics, politics, poetics as independent sciences. The most universal mind of antiquity. In his doctrine of matter and form, Aristotle tries to answer the question “why do things exist?”.
Creator and systematizer of the whole systems of categories of philosophy and science in general. This system lasted until Hegel. On this occasion, Engels called Hegel the Aristotle of modern times. According to Aristotle:
A person's form is his soul. By the way in which a given person exists, one can judge his soul. Matter is dead, but it is given life by form.
Philosophical teachings of Aristotle:
Physics is the science of motion, which is possible due to the ontological distinction between force and energy.
- Aristotle’s “First Philosophy” (later called metaphysics) contains the doctrine of 4 basic principles of being.
Reasons for being: 1) formal (“that which.” Essence, stimulus, purpose, as well as the reason for the formation of diverse things from monotonous matter. God (or the prime mover mind) creates the forms of diverse things from matter), 2) material (because matter constitutes everything that the world consists of; if there were no matter, there would be no world), 3) moving (the world is in constant motion and there must be something that produces this movement, for example, God), 4) finite (that for the sake of which everything in the world is accomplished, because something aimless cannot be meaningful and harmonious).
Being: 1) inanimate, 2) living, 3) human, 4) society. 5) …. ?, 6) God, as the unity of all existence. This division of being is the basis for the classification of movement according to Engels. Aristotle: probability– a measure of reality in the possible, a measure of necessity in the contingent. Aristotle began to discuss quality, quantity, measure. Measure is the unity of quantity and quality. Violation of the measure turns a thing into its own opposite (sophists).
Aristotle criticized the theory of eidos (eidos is the subject to which a person’s comprehending ability is actually directed), but he himself wavered between materialism and idealism.
Realism and nominalism in the SF.
The debate between realists and nominalists took place on the issue of universals - general concepts. Concepts – these are forms of thought that reflect objects in their essential characteristics. Concepts can be singular or general. IN single– an object is thought of. IN in general concept - a kind of objects is conceived. Regarding the nature of general concepts, medieval philosophers put forward two concepts: 1) Realism; 2) Nominalism.
The problem of universals was very relevant for medieval philosophers; it was associated with the philosophical problem of the general and the individual. This was important for the church, since it correlated with the problem of the unity of God, therefore the position of extreme realists denied the individual and extreme nominalists, the church was not satisfied with the general denial. The closest thing to her was the position of moderate realism.
Thomas Aquinas, in addition, managed to synthesize the approaches of realists and nominalists, in his words, universals in three senses:
1) before things - in the thought of God;
2) in things - as their essence;
3) after things - in the human mind.
We are talking about two main directions of scholasticism. Realists believed that only general concepts—universals—that contain the essence of things have true reality. In other words, first ideas (goodness, beauty, etc.), and then things, purely according to Plato. Nominalists believed that first a thing exists, and then an idea, i.e. from the teachings of Aristotle. General concepts were interpreted by them as names of things (from the Latin “nomen” - name), which do not have independent existence. They are formed by our mind by reflecting individual things, highlighting common properties in them. Thus, nominalism denoted an approach close to materialism - phenomena of nature, society and man are more important than ideas.
Modern philosophy: I reflect general concepts general properties items. Specific concepts reflect individual things.
Nominalists- There are separate things in the world. And in human cognition there are specific words that reflect these things. General concepts are empty names.
Realists– general concepts are the richest in content, they reflect the main thing in life, they are deep. Specific concepts reflect only part of reality.
Realists – Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas(student of Albertus Magnus).
Thomas believed that there is existence, and in it there are processes and events. Events happen all at once and everywhere. Modern science knows very little about the event level of phenomena occurring in the world. Thomas put forward 5 Proofs of God's Existence. I repeated them Leibniz and then denied Kant.
The essence of this evidence:
1. All objects and phenomena are divided into less general and more general. So there is something very common.
2. -//- less and more perfect. There is perfection itself.
3. Every process has its own reasons, chains of reasons. There is a reason why.
4. God is the most general, the most perfect, the cause of causes.
In fact, Thomas acted as a leading scientist who developed the science of logic. He proposed an event-level mechanism for occurring phenomena. “Look at the world around you and see God.”
Nominalists (“name”, undermined the dogmas of the church) - (Duns Scott, William Ockham, Jean Buridan, Nicola Arrem) - opponents of Thomas and other realists. Thomas's theory is a logical fraud. You can only operate on specific objects.
Occam. English theologian and scholastic philosopher. He taught at Oxford, was accused of heresy, and fled to Bavaria. Ideologist of the feudal lords in the fight against the papacy. Occam did not deny that language has the concepts of the individual, the particular and the general. But he said that Aquinas is not able to prove that there is something general, perfect and the cause of causes - these are just logical versions. Ockham put forward a logical principle - “Occam’s razor” - “one should not multiply entities beyond measure” ( "the principle of sufficient reason"). According to Occam, the individual, the particular and the general are just names??? in system-subsystem dependence in the real world. The basis of the polemic between realism (Thomas Aquinas) and nominalism (Occam) is the following: scientific problem It is possible or not to be based on human practice, which is too small compared to the scale of space, to extend the knowledge acquired by man to the entire space - this is a problem of approximation (transferring some knowledge to others). Science correctly discusses only those problems that are part of human practice (A and B). Other issues (C and D) can be discussed within the framework of religion. With the development of society and science, the scope of human practice and science expands. C and D become available. Philosophy, looking at events, “invented” the processes that form an event. Science, starting with small discoveries that “hit”, “coincided” with events, “discovered” processes. Now non-classical science has the opportunity to see events immediately. Synergetic research allows us to see enough a large number of events - this gave science a post-non-classical appearance.
At the moment, we can say that science can transfer some data obtained on Earth to the entire space. A plausible model of a universal universal connection is emerging; science already knows a series of intermediate links between its practice and the phenomena studied in space.
Jean Buridan(Rector of the University of Paris, famous poet, philosopher, logician): Buridan’s donkey is his.
Descartes' rationalism
Rationalism - a philosophical direction that recognizes reason as the basis of human cognition and behavior. Classical rationalism was based on the idea of the natural. Scientific (objective, universal, necessary) knowledge, according to rationalism, is achievable only through reason - both the source of knowledge and the criterion of its truth.
Rene Descartes believed that the main method of cognition is deduction. Those. he believed that knowledge should proceed from the most general philosophical provisions to the most specific provisions of specific sciences, and from them to the most specific knowledge.
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Philosophical knowledge is in many ways similar to science, but it also has its differences.
What makes philosophy similar to science is that to substantiate its conclusions and theses, it uses theoretical research methods, logical tools, and develops reliable, generally valid principles and theses. Scientific truth is universal. Philosophical truth, which contains a certain value point and imperative of behavior, is nevertheless intended for “individual”, selective use. The scientist is looking for answers to the questions: What? How? Why? The philosopher answers the questions: Why? In the name of what?
A specific feature of philosophical knowledge lies in its duality, because it: has a lot in common with scientific knowledge - subject, methods, logical-conceptual apparatus, but is not scientific knowledge in its pure form.
The main difference between philosophy and all other sciences is that philosophy is a theoretical worldview, the ultimate generalization of the knowledge previously accumulated by humanity.
Philosophy, based on concrete scientific knowledge, sees its task in the synthesis of various human knowledge, in the formation of a unified scientific picture of the world.
History shows that the theoretical form of substantiation of reality, the field of knowledge, is formed precisely within the framework of philosophy. More precisely, it was precisely this attitude to reality in the early stages of the development of civilization that was called philosophy. But as empirical material accumulated and methods of scientific research improved, differentiation occurred in the forms of theoretical development of reality. Sometimes this process is described as the separation of specific sciences from philosophy while simultaneously enriching philosophy with new scientific knowledge, allowing it to acquire a new look, change the subject, methods and functions it performs.
Philosophical thought is characterized by consideration of the world beyond human experience. No experience allows us to comprehend the world as a holistic, limitless in space and imperishable in time, infinitely superior to human powers, independent of the individual and humanity as a whole, an objective reality with which people must constantly reckon. A holistic understanding of the world provides ideological support for specific scientific research, allows them to move forward, correctly pose and solve their problems.
The specificity of philosophy lies in the fact that it is a universal form of theoretical knowledge. Philosophy is a form of knowledge of the universal foundations of existence. So, universalism is a characteristic feature of the philosophical way of mastering reality. Throughout the history of culture, philosophy has claimed to develop universal knowledge or universal principles of spiritual and moral life.
The specificity of philosophy at the earliest stages of its development is not manifested in special means expression of one’s ideas, but in a special attitude, in a special style of thinking, which manifests itself in doubt about established views, habits, customs, and traditions. Thus, another specific characteristic of philosophical knowledge is doubt. It was with doubt that philosophy began.
In its main question about the meaning and purpose of human life, philosophy is close to religion. Both philosophical and religious teachings ultimately have one goal: to take a person out of the sphere of everyday life, captivate him with the highest ideals, give his life true meaning, and open the way to the most perfect values.
Philosophical knowledge has following features:
It is of an extremely general, theoretical nature;
It has a complex structure (includes ontology, epistemology, logic, etc.);
Contains basic, fundamental ideas and concepts that underlie other sciences;
It is a set of objective knowledge and values, moral ideals of its time, and is influenced by the era;
It is largely subjective - it bears the imprint of the personality and worldview of individual philosophers;
Is influenced by the doctrines developed by earlier philosophers;
Dynamic – constantly developing and updating;
Inexhaustible in its essence;
It studies not only the subject of knowledge, but also the mechanism of knowledge itself, has the quality of reflection - turning thoughts on itself (that is, knowledge is addressed both to the world of objects and to itself);
It is limited by the cognitive abilities of a person (the cognitive subject), has insoluble, “eternal” problems (the origin of being, the primacy of matter or consciousness, the origin of life, the immortality of the soul, the presence or absence of God, his influence on the world), which today cannot be reliably resolved logically.
Philosophy, based on concrete scientific knowledge, sees its task in the synthesis of diverse human knowledge, in the formation of a unified scientific picture of the world. Having traveled a long way in its historical development, philosophy emerged as a rational form of human spiritual activity. This is the form of existence of the human spirit, the achievements of the human mind, presented in the form of ideas, teachings, theories, concepts.
Philosophy is a form of knowledge of the universal foundations of existence with the help of concepts and categories developed by the human mind.
Philosophy for a long period of its existence and development, accumulating knowledge about the world, developed certain concepts that made it possible to designate existing phenomena, their relationships, causes of occurrence and patterns of development. This process of development of the human mind, intellect, spirituality has become the process of formation of mature philosophical thinking - thinking with the help of abstract concepts and categories. A concept is always an abstraction that reflects reality and which reflects the result of theoretical knowledge of the world. The concept arises as a result of the interaction of thinking and being, as a product of the activity of the mind in cognizing real and ideal reality.
Philosophical categories express universal connections and relationships of the world. Each category developed by the mind of a particular philosopher, at the same time, reflects his subjective, personal vision of phenomena, relationships or patterns existing in the world.
The activity of the mind to identify logical relationships between concepts and phenomena of reality makes it possible to create scientific and philosophical theories that become theoretical models the world and its phenomena.
The specificity of philosophy at the earliest stages of its development is manifested not in special means of expressing one’s ideas, but in a special style of thinking, which manifests itself in doubt about established views, habits, customs, and traditions. Thus, another specific characteristic of philosophical knowledge is doubt. It was with doubt that philosophy began.
Philosophy as an integral system of knowledge contains objective theoretical knowledge and cultural and semantic ideas of people on the main, meaningful problems of human existence. In addition, philosophy reflects the whole spectrum of existential-personal forms of human existence in the world, his experience of his existence.
Objective theoretical knowledge is based on scientific discoveries and achievements and reflects the general level of theoretical consciousness of society. The cultural and semantic content of philosophy reflects the characteristics of cultural and historical eras in the history of mankind, which brought new meanings to the understanding of certain philosophical problems.
Such versatility and versatility of philosophy allows us to consider it as an original phenomenon of the spiritual culture of humanity, which allows a person to understand the world in which he lives and himself in this world.