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Discipline, philosophy and history. AT 2

Introduction

1.1 Concept of philosophy

1.2 Functions of philosophy

1.3 Forms of philosophical activity

2. Subject and sections of philosophy

2.1 Subject of philosophy

2.2 Branches of philosophy

3. Modern philosophy

Conclusion

The relevance of this topic is determined by the discussion on the problems of relevance in the modern culture of philosophical knowledge. Is it a science, a philosophy, or a worldview - what does it bring to modern man?

The object of study is philosophy in modern world.

The purpose of this work is to study modern philosophy.

In connection with this goal, the following research objectives can be formulated:

Formulate the concept of philosophy, its functions in the modern world and forms;

Consider the subject and sections of philosophy;

Highlight modern trends in philosophy.

The structure of this work corresponds to the stated goals and objectives. The work consists of 3 sections. The first formulates the concept, functions and forms of philosophy, the second - the subject and sections of philosophy, the third describes the features of modern philosophy, the main philosophical directions, and in conclusion, the main conclusions are drawn on the content of the work.

1. Concept, functions of philosophy and forms of philosophical activity

1.1The concept of philosophy

Traditionally, philosophy is defined as the study of the root causes and beginnings of everything conceivable - the universal principles within which both being and thinking, both the comprehended Cosmos and the spirit that comprehends it, exist and change. The thinkable in traditional philosophy acts as being - one of the main philosophical categories. Existence includes not only actually occurring processes, but also intelligible possibilities. Since the conceivable is vast in its particulars, philosophers mainly concentrate their attention on the root causes, extremely general concepts, categories. In different eras and for different philosophical movements, these categories.

Philosophy includes such various disciplines as logic, metaphysics, ontology, epistemology, aesthetics, ethics, etc., in which questions such as, for example, “Does God exist?”, “Is objective knowledge possible?”, “ What makes an action right or wrong?" The fundamental method of philosophy is the construction of inferences that evaluate certain arguments regarding such issues. Meanwhile, there are no exact boundaries or unified methodology of philosophy. There are also disputes over what is considered philosophy, and the very definition of philosophy differs in numerous philosophical schools.

The term “philosophy” itself has always had the reputation of being difficult to define due to the sometimes fundamental gap between philosophical disciplines and the ideas used in philosophy.

Hegel defined philosophy as the science of thinking, which has as its goal the comprehension of truth through the development of concepts on the basis of developed “subjective thinking” and a method that is “able to curb thought, lead it to the subject and hold it in it.” In Marxism-Leninism, several interrelated definitions were given: philosophy is “a form of social consciousness; the doctrine of the general principles of being and knowledge, the relationship between man and the world; the science of the universal laws of development of nature, society and thinking.” Heidegger, in the first lecture of his course “Basic Concepts of Metaphysics,” having consistently examined the relationship of philosophy with science, worldview preaching, art and religion, proposed, in the essential definition of philosophy, to start not from them, but from the statement of the German poet Novalis: “Philosophy is, in fact, nostalgia , the craving to be at home everywhere.” Thus, recognizing in fact not only the possibility, but in this case also the necessity of using an “outside view” (poetry) for philosophy.

Modern Western sources give much more careful definitions, for example: “philosophy is the study of the most fundamental and general concepts and principles relating to thinking, action and reality.”

1.2 Functions of philosophy

In relation to any sphere of human life and activity, philosophy can take three positions.

1. Research position. Philosophy, as the most general science, explores this area.

2. Critical and methodological position. Criticizes the activities of this area and prescribes rules for it.

3. Position of active intervention. Claims to replace a given field of activity (for example, from time to time philosophy tries to replace science).

The functions of philosophy are the main directions of application of philosophy, through which its goals, objectives, and purpose are realized. It is customary to highlight:

ideological,

methodological,

thought-theoretical,

epistemological,

critical,

axiological,

social,

educational and humanitarian,

prognostic function of philosophy.

The worldview function contributes to the formation of the integrity of the picture of the world, ideas about its structure, the place of man in it, and the principles of interaction with the outside world.

The methodological function is that philosophy develops the basic methods of understanding the surrounding reality.

The mental-theoretical function is expressed in the fact that philosophy teaches conceptual thinking and theorizing - to extremely generalize the surrounding reality, to create mental-logical schemes, systems of the surrounding world.

Epistemological - one of the fundamental functions of philosophy - has the goal of correct and reliable knowledge of the surrounding reality (that is, the mechanism of knowledge).

The role of the critical function is to question the world And existing value, look for their new features, qualities, reveal contradictions. The ultimate goal of this function is to expand the boundaries of knowledge, destroy dogmas, ossify knowledge, modernize it, and increase the reliability of knowledge.

The axiological function of philosophy (translated from Greek axios - valuable) is to evaluate things, phenomena of the surrounding world from the point of view of various values - moral, ethical, social, ideological, etc. The purpose of the axiological function is to be a “sieve” through which to pass everything that is necessary, valuable and useful and discard what is slow and obsolete. The axiological function is especially enhanced in turning points history (the beginning of the Middle Ages - the search for new (theological) values after the collapse of Rome; the Renaissance; the Reformation; the crisis of capitalism at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, etc.).

Social function– explain society, the reasons for its emergence, evolution current state, its structure, elements, driving forces; reveal contradictions, indicate ways to eliminate or mitigate them, and improve society.

The educational and humanitarian function of philosophy is to cultivate humanistic values and ideals, instill them in people and society, help strengthen morality, help a person adapt to the world around him and find the meaning of life.

The prognostic function is to predict development trends, the future of matter, consciousness, on the basis of existing philosophical knowledge about the surrounding world and man, achievements of knowledge. cognitive processes, man, nature and society.

1.3 Forms of philosophical activity

Philosophy as a worldview

Philosophy is a worldview discipline (science), since its task is to review the world as a whole and search for answers to the most general questions.

Worldview is a system of the most general views on the world (nature and society) and the place of man in this world. In the history of mankind, a number of forms of worldview are distinguished: mythology, religion, philosophy and others.

There is an opinion that philosophy is a person’s worldview, that is, his judgment about the world around him, about the events taking place in this world, a complex of concepts about culture, ideologies, his delusions and insights.

Worldview is formed under the influence of personal life experience, schools and movements existing in the minds of people in a given era, on the mindset of the individual. Often the individual does not express his worldview. But that doesn't mean they don't exist. Often a philosopher views a phenomenon through one or another biased prism. Berdyaev, for example, in his work “The Meaning of Creativity” directly defines this bias of his by Russian Orthodoxy, moreover, in his own interpretation of this Orthodoxy. The prism of K. Marx: being determines consciousness. Yes, it is likely that each individual has his own prism, perhaps unformulated. Very often philosophers formulate some kind of postulate, and then throughout their lives they build strained schemes in support of this postulate.

Philosophy as a way of life

In ancient, Indian and Chinese philosophy, philosophy itself was considered not only as a theory, but also as a way of life (activity).

Philosophy and science

There are at least three questions regarding the relationship between philosophy and science:

Is philosophy a science?

How do philosophy and private (concrete) sciences relate to each other?

How do philosophy and extra-scientific knowledge relate to each other?

When considering the first question about the scientific nature of philosophy, it is clear that throughout its history, philosophy has been one of the sources of the development of human knowledge. Considering it historically, one can detect continuity in the development of philosophical knowledge, its problems, the commonality of the categorical apparatus and the logic of research. It is no coincidence that Hegel viewed philosophy primarily from the point of view of the “science of logic.”

Axiology(Greek axia - value and logos - teaching) - a branch of philosophy that studies values.

History of philosophy- a philosophical discipline, the subject of which is the process of emergence and development of philosophical knowledge.

Metaphysics– the doctrine of the supersensible (transcendent) foundations and principles of existence.

Methodology– the doctrine of methods of organizing and constructing human activity.

Moral philosophy– moral practical philosophy, ethics.

Natural philosophy– philosophy of nature, a speculative interpretation of nature, considered in its integrity.

Ontology– the doctrine of being; branch of philosophy that describes the world.

Practical philosophy – a traditionally distinguished branch of philosophy, including ethics and politics.

Social philosophy– a section of philosophy that describes qualitative originality human society, its structure and development.

Teleology– the doctrine of expediency as a characteristic of individual objects or processes and existence as a whole.

Theoretical philosophy– a traditionally distinguished section of philosophy, including logic and metaphysics.

Phenomenology – a branch of philosophy that studies the appearance of the world in experience.

Philosophy of history– a concept as part of philosophical knowledge, aimed at understanding the historical process as a whole and analyzing the methodological problems of historical knowledge.

Philosophy of culture – a branch of philosophy that studies the essence and meaning of culture. Great importance attached to the struggle for culture.

Philosophy of science– philosophical discipline , exploring the structure of scientific knowledge, means and methods of scientific knowledge, methods of substantiation and development of knowledge.

Philosophy of education– a research area of philosophy that analyzes the foundations of pedagogical activity and education, its goals and ideals, methodology pedagogical knowledge, methods of designing and creating new educational institutions and systems.

Philosophy of politics– a research area of philosophy that analyzes the most general foundations, boundaries and possibilities of policy , about the relationship in it between the objective and the subjective, the natural and the accidental, the existing and the proper, the rational and the extra-rational.

Philosophy of law– philosophical discipline , exploring the value of law, the relationship between law and justice, law and law, law and force, as well as philosophical problems legal sciences.

Philosophy of religion– rather heterogeneous, but remaining within the limits of rational discourse, judgments regarding religion, including a meaningful consideration of solutions to ontotheological, ethical-anthropological and soteriological problems proposed by certain religions.

Philosophy of technology– a field of philosophical research aimed at understanding the nature of technology and assessing its impact on society, culture and people.

Philosophy of language – a research area of philosophy in which the relationship between thinking and language is analyzed, the constitutive role of language, words and speech in various forms discourse, in cognition and in the structures of consciousness and knowledge

Philosophical anthropology- a branch of philosophy that studies man.

Philosophical comparative studies – the area of historical and philosophical research, the subject of which is the comparison of various levels of the hierarchy (concepts, doctrines, systems) of the philosophical heritage of the East and West.

Epistemology– a philosophical and methodological discipline that studies knowledge as such, its structure, structure, functioning and development.

Aesthetics– a philosophical discipline that studies art and the aesthetic attitude to reality (beautiful and ugly, etc.)

Personalities

Augustine Blessed Aurelius(354-430) – a representative of mature patristics. The most significant works: “Confession” (400) and “On the City of God” (413-426).

Anaxagoras(500-428 BC) - student of Anaximenes, founder of the Athenian school of philosophy. He described the world as a countless number of “seeds of things” (“similar to homeomeries”), which are ordered by the world “mind” (“nus”), put forward the idea of “everything is in everything,” i.e. argued that “everything contains a part of everything.”

Anaximander(610-540 BC) - Ionian (from Miletus) philosopher, student and follower of Thales. Considered the beginning apeiron– something qualitatively indefinite and infinite.

Anaximenes(585-525 BC) - Ionian (from Miletus) philosopher, student of Anaximander. As the beginning considered air, the most unqualified of all elements: “just as air in the form of our soul holds us together, so breath and air embrace the entire Earth.”

Aristotle(384–322 BC) – student of Plato and mentor of Alexander the Great. In 335 BC founded his own school, called the Peripatetic, or Lyceum. The subject of “first philosophy” was considered existence in the aspect of its four causes: form, matter, the beginning of movement (motive cause) and purpose.

Berkeley George(1685-1753) - English philosopher, representative of solipsism, in which the main position is “to exist is to be perceived” (esse est percipi). A seaside city in the USA, where the University of California is located, is named after B.

Boethius Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus(480-524, executed) - Roman philosopher, one of the founders of medieval scholasticism. He was imprisoned on charges of high treason, where, while awaiting execution, he wrote the artistic and philosophical essay “The Consolation of Philosophy.”

Bacon Francis(1561-1626) - Attorney General, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain. The founder of empiricism, who proposed in his work “The New Organon or True Guidelines for the Interpretation of Nature” (1620) to use experiment and systematic induction. In 1627 Bacon published the utopia “New Atlantis”.

Wittgenstein Ludwig(1889-1952) - Austrian philosopher, one of the founders of analytical philosophy. The main idea of his “Logical-Philosophical Treatise” (1921) is that philosophy is an activity to clarify language and eliminate inaccuracies in the expression of thoughts.

Voltaire(1694-1778) - French philosopher, leader of the French Enlightenment of the 18th century. and mentor to King Frederick II of Prussia.

Gadamer Hans-Georg(1900-2002) – German philosopher, student of M. Heidegger, founder of philosophical hermeneutics. According to Gadamer, understanding is an open historical process in which every interpreter and everything interpreted is already included in a certain tradition of understanding.

Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich(1770-1830) - German philosopher, one of the main representatives of the school of German classical philosophy. The most famous works: “Phenomenologies of Spirit” and “Science of Logic”.

Heraclitus(c. 540 - c. 480 BC) - Ionian philosopher from Ephesus. He was nicknamed the “dark” (for his thoughtfulness) and the “crying” (for his tragic seriousness) thinker. He considered fire to be the origin of everything – the essence of “logos”.

Holbach Paul Henri (1723-1789) - French materialist philosopher. The most famous work is “The System of Nature, or On the Laws of the Physical and Spiritual Worlds” (1770).

Husserl Edmund(1859-1938) – German philosopher, founder of phenomenology.

Descartes Rene(1596-1650) - French rationalist philosopher, famous for the basic maxim “I think, therefore I am” (“cogito ergo sum”). Most famous work"Discourse on Method" (1637).

Democritus of Abdera(c. 460 - c. 370 BC) - ancient Greek atomist philosopher.

Zeno of Elea(c. 490 - c. 430 BC) - representative of the Eleatic school, student and Foster-son Parmenides. Formulated aporia directed against the possibility of movement: “Dichotomy”, “Achilles”, “Arrow”, “Stages”.

Kant Immanuel(1724-1804) – founder of German classical philosophy. The three fundamental works of the “critical period” - “Critique of Pure Reason”, “Critique of Practical Reason”, “Critique of Judgment” - proceed from the requirement that any philosophical research must be based on a critique of human cognitive abilities and the boundaries to which knowledge itself.

Comte Auguste(1798-1857) - French positivist philosopher, author of the six-volume “Course of Positive Philosophy” (1830-1842). The entire history of mankind, according to Comte, is subject to the “law of three stages”: theological (fictitious), metaphysical (abstract) and scientific (positive).

Confucius(552-479 BC) - ancient Chinese philosopher. Confucius considers the “noble man” to be the standard of a person following the path of Tao.

Kierkegaard Soren(1813-1855) Danish philosopher, founder of existentialism.

Lao Tzu(V century BC) ancient Chinese philosopher who lived in, the legendary founder of Taoism and the author of “Tao Te Ching” - “Book of the Path and Good Power.”

Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm(1646-1716) - German philosopher. He considered the world in completeness and continuity, as a collection of monads in pre-established harmony.

Locke John(1632-1704) - English philosopher. He developed the doctrine of “primary” and “secondary” qualities. He believed that the soul is a “blank slate”, and only experience writes some content on it.

Marx Karl(1818-1883) - German philosopher, together with F. Engels, created a philosophical doctrine called dialectical and historical materialism.

Nietzsche Friedrich(1844-1900) – German philosopher, representative of the “philosophy of life”. The doctrine of the superman is known, set forth in the work “Thus Spoke Zarathustra...” (1883),

Parmenides(late 6th - early 5th century BC) - founder of the Eleatic school. He formulated the principle of the identity of being and thinking: “to think and to be one and the same,” according to which only that which is thinkable is real, and that which is unthinkable does not exist.

Pyrrho(c. 360-280 BC) - ancient Greek philosopher from Elis (Peloponnese); High Priest of Elis. One of the founders of ancient skepticism. He recommended refraining from judgment, since “this is no more than that.”

Pythagoras Samian (c. 570 - c. 500 BC) - ancient Greek philosopher, student of Anaximander. Insisted that everything is a number.

Plato(427-348 BC) - ancient Greek philosopher, student of Socrates. In his teaching, the existence of the world of things depends on the world of ideas (prototypes of things)

Protagoras(c. 480-340 BC) - the most famous of the sophists; close to Pericles. The main position of Protagoras’ philosophy: “Man is the measure of all things - those that exist in their being and those that exist in their non-existence.”

Seven wise men– a group of historical figures of the 7th–6th centuries. BC, whose life wisdom became known throughout Hellas. The most famous aphorisms: “For everything there is a time” (Pittacus), “Know yourself” (Thales), “Nothing in excess” (Solon, Chilo), “The greatest wealth is to desire nothing,” etc.

Socrates(470-399 BC) - ancient Greek philosopher. He saw the task of philosophy in the self-knowledge of man, which is expressed in his call “Know yourself.”

Soloviev Vladimir Sergeevich(1853-1900) – Russian philosopher. Based on the principle of all-unity, he built a system of “integral knowledge”, which declared the synthesis of science, philosophy and religion to be the highest task and the final result of the spiritual development of mankind.

Spinoza Benedict(1632-1677) - Dutch philosopher. For Spinoza, mind (thought) and extension (material bodies) are only attributes of a single substance, which is the cause of itself (causa sui).

Thales(640-562 BC) - founder of the Milesian school, one of the “seven wise men”. He believed that the fundamental principle of the world is water.

Fichte Johann Gottlieb(1762-1814) – representative of the school of German classical philosophy. In his “scientific teaching” he chooses the Self as the initial principle, representing the world as a non-Self.

Thomas Aquinas(1225-1274) – systematizer of scholasticism. In 1879, by papal decree, his teaching, Thomism, was legitimized as the official philosophical teaching in all Catholic educational institutions.

Heidegger Martin(1889-1976) – German existentialist philosopher; student of E. Husserl.

Schopenhauer Arthur(1788-1860) - German philosopher. He identified the Kantian concept of “thing-in-itself” with will - the true, albeit hidden, reality of the world

Spengler Oswald(1880-1936) – German philosopher and cultural scientist, representative of the “philosophy of life”. The most famous work is “The Decline of Europe”.

Epictetus(Greek Epictetus is not a proper name, but a colloquial nickname for a slave - “acquired”) (50-125) - Greek Stoic philosopher. The existing order of things, he taught, does not depend on us and we are not able to change it.

Epicurus(341-270 BC) - ancient Greek atomist philosopher. He believed that the possibility of random deflection of atoms determines the presence of free will in humans. The main value of life, according to Epicurus, lies in pleasure, which is freedom from bodily suffering and mental anxieties.

Erasmus of Rotterdam(1469-1536) - Dutch humanist, author of the bestseller “In Praise of Folly” (1509).

Hume David(1711-1776) - English agnostic philosopher. Hume called the awareness of the real nature of causal connections faith: “Reason can never convince us that the existence of one object always includes the existence of another; therefore, when we pass from the impression of one object to the idea of another, or to the belief in this other, it is not reason that prompts us to do so, but habit, or the principle of association.”

Dialectical method

The dialectical method is usually contrasted with the formal-logical method that dominates natural scientific knowledge. We can say that the dialectical method is closer to life, the formal-logical method is closer to its knowledge in thought. With the dialectical method, thinking remains at the concrete level, while with the formal-logical method it ascends from the concrete to the abstract.

Both methods must be used. Dialectics, when formal logic is denied, turns into the irrational opposite of knowledge, the denial of the possibility of the world and knowledge of it. Formal logic in its extreme variants appears as tautological reasoning that has little in common with life. There are, as it were, two poles of worldview and worldview. The value of the dialectical method is that it clears metaphysics of unnecessary philosophizing and the dead end into which thought reaches. But dialectics itself is not capable of finding a way out of the contradictions that it deals with, without involving the apparatus of formal logic.

The dialectical method can complement concrete scientific ones. Essentially, it does not refute or deny scientific methods due to its universality (any scientific data is subject to dialectics), but points out the fundamental incompleteness of scientific knowledge and can help in developing the fundamental prerequisites of scientific knowledge.

Dialectics as a method is the consideration of phenomena in their development. Therefore, the dialectical method is opposed to any closed system of views. The dialectical view must deny both the immobility of the Platonic kingdom of ideas and the Hegelian Absolute Idea. The contradiction between method and system is present among all dialecticians - creators of systems.

Having approached the demands of reason, having become a system, dialectics moves away from reality. Using the system you can pre-

say a certain number of phenomena, but the larger it is, the less accurately individual events are reflected. Attempts to find substance, “eternal laws” (including dialectics) are, in essence, a formal-logical desire of the mind for stability. In everything that is definite in philosophy, there is a formal-logical construction.

The dialectical method is good for refuting opponents, since it opposes every positive view of things with its negation. Therefore, the dialectical method is widely used as a method of argument. Its negative meaning is perhaps no less than that of skepticism; positive value lies in orientation to the hidden potentialities of being.

Dialectics as a method can be interpreted in different ways: either as the doctrine of external struggle, which reaches its extreme aggravation and revolutionary resolution, or as a teaching about the internal struggle that a person wages with himself. In other words, dialectics as a method presents wide possibilities for use.

Dialectics claims to be an epistemological synthesis of the specific and the universal. From the individual through the study of the connection between the individual and the natural to the natural and from it again to the individual - this is a method of research that corresponds to dialectics. A philosopher can start with ordinary things that are understandable to everyone, then move on to conceptual analysis, go into the methodology of science and return to reality again, giving guidance for the future.

Pragmatic method

Among the methods that reflect the specific features of the subject of philosophy, one of the important places is occupied by pragmatic (from the Greek “pragma” - action, practice). He proceeds from the fact that the synthesis of cognition and transformation is a characteristic feature of philosophizing. “Philosophers have only explained the world in various ways, but the point is to change it” 1 . This aspiration of philosophy is brought to the fore by pragmatism.

Pragmatism, according to James, is nothing more than a method. “The pragmatic method... attempts to interpret each opinion by pointing out its practical consequences... if we are unable to find any practical difference, then both opposing opinions mean essentially the same thing” 2. All conclusions are verified by extrapolating them to humans.

1 Marx K., Engels F. Works: In 50 volumes - M., 1995. - T. 2. - P. 4.

2 James W. Pragmatism. - St. Petersburg, 1910. - P. 33.

Structuralism, systems approach, functional analysis, pragmatism, dialectics are research methods that, when they arise, are to some extent immanent to the subject. Then the method, which has achieved success in the field of its formation, begins to penetrate into related areas, acting in them as a tool. There is also continuity in methodology, shifts in methods are similar to shifts in problems, and there is a huge field of activity for methodologists.

Method and principle

Essentially, the basic methods of philosophizing are rather principles that are discovered in the world and thinking and then recommended to be applied everywhere. The results of knowledge are themselves to some extent determined by the initial principles. Each harmonious philosophical system has its own principle: Hegel’s has the Absolute Idea. in Nietzsche - the will to power, etc. About the role of principle in philosophy, V.S. Solovyov said this: “When any principle should manifest itself in mental development, then in order for it to be fully expressed and fully developed, it is necessary that the bearers of this principle recognize it as absolute and, therefore, , unconditionally denied the significance of any other principle" 1 .

The personality of the philosopher and external conditions his works. Let us emphasize once again that the main thing in philosophy is not the set of knowledge, but the ability to think. Philosophy has its own methods: Socratic mayotics, which developed into dialectics as a method of thinking; a set of rational rules - a universal compass by which being is measured, etc. The use of these methods is necessary, but not sufficient.

An analogy with language is appropriate here. There are phonetics, grammar, and vocabulary that you can know, but not be able to speak a given language. In the same way, you can learn philosophy, but not be able to think. Skill and training are required both to master the ability to speak and to master the ability to think. This is the second level of mastering the discipline. Finally, the highest, third, level is creative, when you manage to say a new word in the literal and figurative sense. So, three levels: knowledge, skill, creativity.

The ability to think is associated with a critical assessment of what is happening, since any independent thought is in conflict with existing stereotypes; with integrity of attitude towards the world, since one thought inevitably leads to another. The person either knows how to speak another language about everything.

1 Soloviev B.S. Criticism of responsible principles // Collection. Op.: In 10 volumes. - St. Petersburg.. 1911-1914.-T. 1.-P.63.

or does not know the language at all. Also, he either has a holistic view of the world, or has not matured into philosophy.

Special philosophical disciplines

In previous chapters we looked primarily at the “trunk” of philosophy. Now let's outline the contours of the entire tree as such. This logic of familiarization with the material determines that the chapters revealing the main content of philosophy come after the historical and philosophical consideration of systematic philosophy.

Many sciences have general and special parts. In philosophy there is systematic philosophy and such disciplines as ethics - art of Living, logics- ability to think, ontology- the doctrine of being, epistemology - theory of knowledge, aesthetics- the doctrine of beauty, theology - teaching about God. Systematic philosophy deals with the unity of truth, goodness and beauty, and individual philosophical disciplines deal with truth (theory of knowledge), goodness (ethics), beauty (aesthetics).

Tree of Philosophy

If systematic philosophy is the study of ideas as such, then ethics is the study of moral ideas, aesthetics is the study of the idea of beauty, epistemology is the study of the idea of truth. Hi, different sections of philosophy distribute the load of its main functions differently: ideological, cognitive, systematic, critical.

In the depths of philosophy, logic arose with the Aristotelian laws of identity (A = A), non-contradiction (A ≠ not-A) and the exclusion of the third (possibly A or not-A, there is no third), which was then supplemented by Leibniz and Hegel.

The interactions between philosophy and ethics are especially important. The philosophy of Socrates began with the search for moral values common to all people. The concept of the common good was the impetus for the creation of Plato's world of ideas. With Aristotle, ethics began to diverge from philosophy, although Aristotle wrote the first textbook “Ethics”, which, however, testified to its isolation. Never again did ethics serve as the basis for philosophical systems. Kant's categorical imperative is only a statement of the “golden rule” of ethics. For Hegel, moral problems are not primary.

Ethics has an independent meaning as a discipline about universal human values. Where it is subordinated to class, national and any other interests, its intrinsic value disappears. As soon as historical expediency (according to Hegel and Marx) is placed above absolutes, ethics loses its meaning. The universal human (in Socrates) and even metaphysical (in Plato) meaning of moral principles is a condition for the development of ethics. The laws of ethics include the so-called “golden rule”, which comes from ancient philosophy through the Christian “love your neighbor as yourself” to the Kantian categorical imperative.

The development of individual philosophical disciplines was determined by the dominant cultural dominants in society, which represented the sequence: mythology - religion - science.

In a more complete scheme (see p. 159), one can distinguish the inner core of philosophy, or systematic philosophy, the sphere of philosophical disciplines and the sphere of human activity and branches of culture.

Control questions

1. How do the subject and method of research relate?

2. What is the essence of the dialectical method?

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Introduction: Philosophy as a way of life

Part I History of Philosophy

Chapter 1. Philosophy of the Ancient East

Chapter 2. Philosophy of Antiquity

Chapter 3. Philosophy of the Middle Ages

Chapter 4. Philosophy of the Renaissance and Modern Times

Chapter 5. German classical philosophy

Chapter 6. Russian philosophy

Chapter 7. Non-classical philosophy

Chapter 8. Modern philosophy

Part II Man and Society

Chapter 1. Philosophy about the origin and essence of man

Chapter 2. Society as a structure

Chapter 3. Culture and civilization

Chapter 4. The Man in Face global problems

Chapter 5. Being and consciousness and cognition

Introduction.

Philosophy as a way of life.

Worldview and its types. Specificity of philosophical knowledge. Subject of philosophy. The structure of philosophical knowledge. Basic methods of philosophy. Basic questions of philosophy. The place and role of philosophy in culture. Functions of philosophy.

Each person has certain ideas about the world around him. This is necessary in order to navigate reality in a certain way and engage in any activity, that is, live, work, study, and so on. The totality of a person’s views on the world as a whole is called a worldview.

The worldview is very unstable. A person's ideas about the world can change over time or under the influence of certain circumstances. To preserve knowledge about the world and transfer (transmit) it to other generations, elements of the worldview are crystallized in various social institutions: norms of law and morality, traditions and customs, folklore, values, ideals, images and symbols of art, religious beliefs and knowledge of science.

The views of all humanity on the world also change over time. This is expressed in the formation of new types of worldviews. Creation new system ideas about reality is a long and difficult process. In total, four types of worldviews were created: myth, religion, philosophy and science.

Myth or mythology is the historical first type of worldview. Mythological ideas about the world were inherent in primitive man for tens of thousands of years. The main features of myth are imagery and reliance on visual clarity. This can be explained extremely poor development abstract thinking in primitive man. Myth always tells about a specific, individual thing. Therefore, general ideas about the world are expressed within the framework of mythology in a number of stories about gods and heroes.

Another feature of the myth is the deification of nature, that is, the desire to attribute anthropomorphic (human) traits to natural phenomena. Mythological man assumed that everything around him had a soul and consciousness, and, therefore, there was an opportunity to enter into dialogue with the world around him. This dialogue was carried out through various kinds of rituals and sacrifices.

Another form of worldview is religion. The main distinguishing feature of religion is the belief in the presence of certain supernatural forces that influence human life and the world around him. Reliance on faith indicates the sensual, figurative-emotional (rather than rational) nature of knowledge of the world within the framework of a religious worldview.

Religion involves the creation of a coherent system of ideas about the world. The three most common religions in the world are: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism. There are also a number of national religions (Judaism, Hinduism, Shintoism, etc.).

Somewhat later than religion and myth, a philosophical worldview is formed. Philosophy is a special type of worldview based on the logic of inferences and conceptual understanding of the world.

The modern form of worldview is science. Unlike philosophy, science relies on knowledge obtained through the generalization of empirical (that is, based on sensory experience) data. However, what philosophy and science have in common is that they involve a logical description of the world using concepts.

Despite the fact that the worldview of modern man is characterized as scientific, this does not mean that other types of worldview have completely disappeared. We can say that each subsequent type seemed to be “layered” on the previous ones. Modern man, while generally accepting the truths of science, retains elements of three other forms of worldview: there are superstitions - remnants of mythological ideas, many people share religious beliefs, philosophical theories and concepts are used in scientific knowledge.

The specificity of a philosophical worldview is determined by its theoreticality and rationality. The theoretical nature of philosophy consists in the utmost general character philosophical knowledge. Philosophy operates with categories – extremely general concepts such as “quantity”, “quality”, “time”, “action”, “state”.

The concept of “rationality” comes from the Latin “reason”. Rationality presupposes:

Firstly, the reflection of the objective world in concepts that reveal the most essential, generalized features of phenomena and objects.

Secondly, logical thinking, i.e. its compliance with the laws of logic.

Thirdly, discursivity, that is, the validity of certain statements.

The subject of knowledge of philosophy is the most general and fundamental questions of the origin and functioning of nature, society and thinking. It is worth noting that philosophy strives to capture and describe the world in its integrity, to identify the universal patterns underlying it.

The questions that make up the subject of philosophy underlie the structure of philosophical knowledge. Basic philosophical disciplines:

1. Ontology is the doctrine of being. This discipline is designed to consider the origin and structure of the world as such.

2. Epistemology – the study of knowledge. Considers the question of truth, as well as methods of knowing it.

3. Social philosophy is the doctrine of society, its structure, as well as the general laws of its functioning.

4. Philosophical anthropology is the doctrine of man, the meaning of human life, his place in the world around him, the essence of human existence.

5. Ethics is the doctrine of morality and ethics.

6. Aesthetics – the study of beauty, problems of creativity and expression.

7. Logic is the study of forms and methods of thinking.

8. History of philosophy is a discipline that studies the origin and development of philosophical teachings.

There are several basic methods of philosophical knowledge. A method in the most general sense is a set of steps or actions necessary to achieve a goal. In philosophy, method is a way of looking at the world in one way or another, emphasizing and examining in more detail certain of its qualities.

The two main methods of philosophical thinking are metaphysics and dialectics.

Metaphysics represents philosophical method, which involves consideration of the supersensible (that is, not accessible to sensory knowledge - vision, touch, smell, etc.) rationally comprehended foundations of our world. The main task of metaphysics is to find the principle underlying the existence of the world, establishing the order of its existence. Such a principle in various philosophical teachings using the metaphysical method becomes: Substance, God, World Mind, Absolute Idea, and so on. The main feature of metaphysics is the consideration of the world in statics, that is, as motionless. This helps the thinker to grasp the structure of the world, but does not allow him to describe the processes of its movement and development.

Dialectics is a method of philosophical research in which things and phenomena are considered as constantly moving, changing, developing as a result of the struggle of opposites contained in them.

As can be seen from the definitions, both methods complement each other. In addition to the two main ones, the following methods are also distinguished:

Dogmatism- perception of reality with the help of dogma, that is, a set of provisions that are unprovable, but also not subject to doubt, that is, given from above as the absolute truth.

Eclecticism- a method based on the combination of various facts, concepts, theories, ideas that do not have a single basis, resulting in superficial conclusions that have only the appearance of plausibility.

Hermeneutics is a method of reflection based on the process of interpreting a text. New ideas, in this case, are born from attempts to interpret a text, feel into it, comprehend it hidden meaning. Often the object of hermeneutics becomes the sacred texts of a particular religion (Koran, Bible, Vedas, etc.)

Sophistry– a method of thinking that involves the use of errors in formal logic, the characteristics of the listener’s psychology, and false premises to obtain the required conclusions. Sophistry is not used to achieve truth, but to win an argument, discussion, and therefore can only formally be called a philosophical method.

In the history of philosophy, many different versions of what can be called the basic question of philosophy have been proposed. Thus, the first thinkers of antiquity believed that the main question of philosophy was the question of the origin of the world. Socrates, in turn, considered the main question of man’s knowledge of himself. In the Middle Ages, the main question became the knowledge of God.

In modern philosophy, the main question of philosophy is the question of the relationship between Being and Consciousness. This question was clearly posed in the philosophy of Marxism, where two sides were distinguished.

The ontological side of this question consists in posing and solving the problem: what comes first, consciousness or matter?

Depending on the solution to this problem, all philosophical teachings are divided into two large groups:

Idealism- a direction of philosophy whose supporters consider consciousness to be primary and matter to be secondary. An example of this kind of teaching is the idealism of Plato, who argued that at the heart of our world lies the World of Ideas, containing the ideas of all things.

In turn, idealism has two varieties: objective and subjective idealism. Supporters objective idealism They believe that the basis of the world is a certain objective idea (mind, consciousness, God, the absolute), which exists independently of the consciousness of a person cognizing the world.

Supporters subjective idealism We are confident that the whole world exists only in the consciousness of the cognizing subject (human).

Materialism- a direction of philosophy, whose supporters claim that matter is primary, and consciousness and thinking are only the results of its self-development. An example of such teaching is dialectical materialism Karl Marx.

In addition to materialism and idealism, there are two more “compromise” movements:

Dualism- a direction in philosophy, whose representatives believe that there are two substances independent of each other: material, which has the property of extension, and ideal, which has the property of thinking. An example of such a position is the philosophy of Rene Descartes.

Deism- a philosophical movement whose supporters recognized the existence of God, but believed that after the creation of the world he withdrew from the world and no longer influences the lives and actions of people. Deists considered matter to be spiritual and did not oppose Consciousness and Being.

The epistemological side of the same issue concerns the possibility of man’s knowledge of the world around him, that is, the relationship between his consciousness and existence. In accordance with how this issue is resolved in a particular teaching, they distinguish:

Epistemological optimism- a direction of philosophy whose representatives believe that the world is knowable, and the possibilities of knowing it are unlimited.

Agnosticism- a direction of philosophy whose representatives are confident that the world is either unknowable or can be partially known, since the capabilities of the human mind are limited.

There are also different points of view on the question of ways of understanding the world:

Empiricism, a philosophical movement whose founder is considered to be F. Bacon, assumes that knowledge is based only on experience and sensory sensations.

Rationalism is a philosophical trend, the founder of which is R. Descartes; representatives of this trend are confident that reliable knowledge can only be derived from the human mind and does not depend on experience.

The opposite of rationalism is irrationalism, the main position of which is the thesis that the world lacks a logical structure. The world is chaotic, unpredictable, and therefore unknowable.

In modern philosophy, it is believed that the main question of philosophy has not been resolved either in its ontological or epistemological aspects and belongs to the category of so-called “eternal” problems. However, this situation is very common in philosophy and reflects its essence. The fact is that philosophy, as a form of knowledge of the world, places emphasis not on the search for final answers to questions, but on the process of reflection itself. This is reflected in the very term “philosophy,” which translated means “love of wisdom.” This word was introduced into use by the outstanding ancient Greek scientist and thinker Pythagoras (580–500 BC), suggesting that the philosopher does not possess wisdom (which only gods can possess in the full sense of the word), but strives for it and loves it . In this regard, the main task of philosophy is not to find answers, but to correctly pose questions, which is impossible without understanding the incompleteness of one’s knowledge. This is exactly what one of the classics of philosophy, Aristotle (384-322 BC), spoke about when he stated: “Philosophy begins with wonder.”

The importance of philosophical knowledge for a person is difficult to overestimate. The main functions performed by philosophy in modern society, are divided into two groups: ideological and methodological.

Worldview functions of philosophy as a source of information:

1. Humanistic – consists in the fact that philosophy helps a person to comprehend his life, the world around him and strengthen his spirit. Attempts to comprehend one’s life and search for the global purpose of one’s life are familiar to every person. The main assistant of a person in this activity is philosophy.

2. Axiological function - is to evaluate things, phenomena of the surrounding world from the point of view of various values - moral, ethical, social, ideological, etc.

3. Cultural-educational - consists in the fact that philosophy contributes to the formation in a person of important qualities of a cultural personality, such as self-criticism, criticism, doubt.

4. The explanatory and informational function is to develop a worldview that corresponds to the modern level of science, historical practice and the intellectual requirements of a person.

Methodological functions of philosophy as a source of methods:

1. The heuristic function is to promote the growth of scientific knowledge, including the creation of prerequisites for scientific discoveries.

2. The coordinating function consists of coordinating methods in the process of scientific research.

3. The integrating function lies in the fact that philosophy acts as a factor in the integration of scientific knowledge. The term “integration” (from the Latin integratio - restoration, replenishment) means the unification of any parts into a whole. The fact is that modern scientific disciplines, separated from the once unified science during the process of differentiation, are now isolated from each other. Philosophical knowledge can help overcome isolation and find connections between them.

4. Logical-epistemological consists in the development of the philosophical method itself, its normative principles, as well as in the logical-epistemological justification of certain conceptual and theoretical structures of scientific knowledge.

Questions for self-control:

1. What types of worldviews do you know? 2. What is the object of such a philosophical discipline as ontology? 3. What are the main methods of philosophical research? 4. What is the humanistic function of philosophy?

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Introduction

1.1 Concept of philosophy

1.2 Functions of philosophy

1.3 Forms of philosophical activity

2.1 Subject of philosophy

2.2 Branches of philosophy

3. Modern philosophy

Conclusion

Bibliography

The object of study is philosophy in the modern world.

The purpose of this work is to study modern philosophy.

In connection with this goal, the following research objectives can be formulated:

Formulate the concept of philosophy, its functions in the modern world and forms;

Consider the subject and sections of philosophy;

Highlight modern trends in philosophy.

1. Concept, functions of philosophy and forms of philosophical activity

1.1 Concept of philosophy

Philosophy includes such various disciplines as logic, metaphysics, ontology, epistemology, aesthetics, ethics, etc., which ask questions such as, for example, “Does God exist?”, “Is objective knowledge possible?”, Fundamental The method of philosophy is to construct conclusions that evaluate certain arguments regarding such issues. Meanwhile, there are no exact boundaries or unified methodology of philosophy. There are also disputes over what is considered philosophy, and the very definition of philosophy differs in numerous philosophical schools.

The term “philosophy” itself has always had the reputation of being difficult to define due to the sometimes fundamental gap between philosophical disciplines and the ideas used in philosophy.

1.2 Functions of philosophy

In relation to any sphere of human life and activity, philosophy can take three positions.

1. Research position. Philosophy, as the most general science, explores this area.

2. Critical and methodological position. Criticizes the activities of this area and prescribes rules for it.

3. Position of active intervention. Claims to replace a given field of activity (for example, from time to time philosophy tries to replace science).

ideological,

methodological,

thought-theoretical,

epistemological,

critical,

axiological,

social,

educational and humanitarian,

prognostic function of philosophy.

The methodological function is that philosophy develops the basic methods of understanding the surrounding reality.

Epistemological - one of the fundamental functions of philosophy - has the goal of correct and reliable knowledge of the surrounding reality (that is, the mechanism of knowledge).

The role of the critical function is to question the surrounding world and existing meaning, look for their new features, qualities, and reveal contradictions. The ultimate goal of this function is to expand the boundaries of knowledge, destroy dogmas, ossify knowledge, modernize it, and increase the reliability of knowledge.

The axiological function of philosophy (translated from Greek axios - valuable) is to evaluate things, phenomena of the surrounding world from the point of view of various values - moral, ethical, social, ideological, etc. The purpose of the axiological function is to be a “sieve” through which to pass everything that is necessary, valuable and useful and discard what is slow and obsolete. The axiological function is especially strengthened during critical periods of history (the beginning of the Middle Ages - the search for new (theological) values after the collapse of Rome; the Renaissance; the Reformation; the crisis of capitalism at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, etc.).

The social function is to explain society, the reasons for its emergence, the evolution of the current state, its structure, elements, driving forces; reveal contradictions, indicate ways to eliminate or mitigate them, and improve society.

The prognostic function is to predict development trends, the future of matter, consciousness, cognitive processes, man, nature and society, based on existing philosophical knowledge about the surrounding world and man, achievements of knowledge.

1.3 Forms of philosophical activity

Philosophy as a worldview

Philosophy is a worldview discipline (science), since its task is to review the world as a whole and search for answers to the most general questions.

Philosophy as a way of life

In ancient, Indian and Chinese philosophy, philosophy itself was considered not only as a theory, but also as a way of life (activity).

Philosophy and science

There are at least three questions regarding the relationship between philosophy and science:

Is philosophy a science?

How do philosophy and private (concrete) sciences relate to each other?

How do philosophy and extra-scientific knowledge relate to each other?

At the same time, in the history of human thought there are whole layers of non- scientific philosophy, for example, religious. The close connection between philosophy and science is inherent mainly in the European way of understanding the processes of knowledge. The return of European thought to unscientific (and even anti-scientific) philosophizing often manifests itself during crises (an example is Lev Shestov).

The relationship between science (special sciences) and philosophy is a subject of debate. Philosophy often claims to be something more than science, its beginning and result, the methodology of science and its generalization, a theory of a higher order, metascience (the science of science, the science that substantiates science). Science exists as a process of putting forward and refuting hypotheses; the role of philosophy in this case is to study the criteria of scientificity and rationality. At the same time, philosophy comprehends scientific discoveries, including them in the context of generated knowledge and thereby determining their meaning. Connected with this is the ancient idea of philosophy as the queen of sciences or the science of sciences. However, even in the absence of the opportunity to claim the role of a science of sciences, philosophy can be considered as a science that deals with a higher, secondary level of generalization, reuniting the particular sciences. The primary level of generalization leads to the formulation of the laws of specific sciences, and the task of the second is to identify more general patterns and trends. It must be borne in mind that new discoveries in the field of special sciences can lead to the approval of both scientific and philosophical conclusions and a philosophical branch representing irrationalistic speculation. Also, philosophy itself can influence private sciences, both positively and negatively. It should also be noted that the history of philosophy is a humanities science, the main method of which is the interpretation and comparison of texts. The answer to the question about the relationship between non-scientific knowledge and philosophy is connected with the question about the relationship between philosophy and “misguided reason.” This point is necessary from a historical point of view due to the very nature of the process of cognition. It is characteristic of any science. Philosophy also cannot be guaranteed against error. The relationship between philosophy and parascience. Many adherents of the concept of postmodernism and other authors call for the use of any teachings, including mysticism, superstition, magic, astrology, etc., as long as it has a therapeutic effect on modern sick society and individuals. However, such a position of absolute neutrality of the scientific worldview towards pseudoscience leads to intellectual anarchism. The influence of parascience becomes greatest precisely at critical moments in the development of society, since each individual seeks to shift the burden of responsibility for decision-making and avoid the need to make his own choice. The status and general cultural significance of rationalistic and scientific philosophy are incompatible with pseudosciences.

Philosophy and religion

Like philosophy, religion also explores the root causes of the conceivable (God, Brahman), but in religion the emphasis is on faith, cult, revelation, and in philosophy - on intellectual comprehension.

Thus, philosophy provides an additional opportunity to comprehend the meaning and understanding of the wisdom inherent in religion. In religion, faith is in the foreground, in philosophy - thought and knowledge. Religion is dogmatic, and philosophy is anti-dogmatic. In religion there is a cult, unlike philosophy.

Karl Jaspers wrote: "A sign of philosophical faith, faith thinking man, it always serves that it exists only in union with knowledge. She wants to know what is knowable and to understand herself."

Philosophy and art

In the philosophy of German romanticism, the thesis “philosophy as art” was put forward.

2. Subject and sections of philosophy

2.1 Subject of philosophy

What exactly is the subject of philosophy depends on the era and the intellectual position of the thinker. The debate about what the subject of philosophy is continues. According to Windelband: “Only by understanding the history of the concept of philosophy can one determine what in the future will be able to lay claim to it to a greater or lesser extent.”

Different schools offered their own answers to the question about the subject of philosophy. One of the most significant options belongs to Immanuel Kant. Marxism-Leninism also proposed its own formulation of the “fundamental question of philosophy.”

Marxism-Leninism considered two of the most important issues:

"What comes first: spirit or matter?" This question was considered one of the most important questions of philosophy, since it was argued that from the very beginning of the development of philosophy there was a division into idealism and materialism, that is, a judgment about the primacy spiritual world over the material, and material over the spiritual, respectively.

The question of the knowability of the world, which was the main question of epistemology in it.

One of the fundamental questions of philosophy is the question itself: “What is philosophy?” Each philosophical system has a core, main question, the disclosure of which constitutes its main content and essence.

Philosophy answers questions

“What makes an action right or wrong?”

Philosophy tries to answer questions for which there is no way to obtain an answer yet, such as “For what?” (e.g., “Why does man exist?” At the same time, science tries to answer questions for which there are tools for obtaining an answer, such as “How?”, “In what way?”, “Why?”, “What?” (e.g., “How did man appear?”, “Why can’t man breathe nitrogen?”, “How did the Earth arise?”, “What is the direction of evolution?”, “What will happen to man (in specific conditions)?”).

Accordingly, the subject of philosophy, philosophical knowledge was divided into main sections: ontology (the study of being), epistemology (the study of knowledge), anthropology (the study of man), social philosophy (the study of society), etc.

2.2 Branches of philosophy

Methodology. Since philosophy is the search for knowledge about last things, one of its main subjects was the nature of knowledge itself. In the course of his research, four main questions arise: 1) what is the source of knowledge. 2) what is the nature of truth and what is its criterion. 3) what is the relationship between perceptions and things. 4) what are the forms of correct reasoning. The first three questions relate to epistemology (theory of knowledge), the fourth - to logic.

On the question of the source of knowledge, philosophers were divided into two schools - rationalists and empiricists. The answer of the representative of empiricism is that all knowledge has its source in sensory experience; The rationalist's answer is that at least some types of knowledge (for example, the self-evident propositions of logic and mathematics) have their source in the light of reason itself. Many philosophers, in particular Kant, tried to reach a compromise between these approaches.

The answers to the second question, concerning the nature of truth, are quite close to the answers to the first question. The empiricist is likely to hold that truth consists in the correspondence between ideas and the data of the senses. The rationalist is inclined to see it either in the internal necessity and self-evidence of the judgment itself, or in its compatibility with other judgments that make up a certain coherent whole. Another approach that differs from these two is pragmatism, according to which the truth of a belief lies in how well it “works” in practice.

There are three main answers to the question about the relationship between perceptions and things, corresponding to the positions of realism, dualism and idealism. A consistent realist believes that when we see tables and chairs, stones and trees, we experience the physical objects themselves, which exist “outside us,” regardless of whether we perceive them or not. The dualist, agreeing with the realist that physical things exist independently of us, believes that we do not experience them directly; what we perceive is only a collection of images or symbols of things “outside us.” The idealist believes that in general there are no things independent of experience; all things can be reduced to experience without remainder.

The question of the nature and forms of correct reasoning is answered by a separate philosophical discipline - logic. The disputing parties here are also rationalists and empiricists. The first believe that reasoning follows the path laid out by objective necessity; it follows the connection of signs and judgments, which is self-evident to the mind. The latter, together with Mill, believe that this necessity is nothing more than an established habit arising from the observation of a constant combination of signs. Most logicians tended to the rationalist point of view.

Metaphysics. It is a central philosophical discipline. Metaphysics deals with the nature and structure of reality, its main problems are ontological and cosmological. Ontology is a philosophical discipline that studies the question of the common basis, or substance, of all things. Those who believe that there is only one such substance are called monists. Those who believe that there are two or more substances are called pluralists. The most profound differences in nature are matter and consciousness, and monism, as a rule, was concerned with reducing one of these substances to the other. Those who reduce consciousness to the physical world are called materialists; among them are Democritus, Hobbes, and, in the recent past, behaviorists. Those who reduce matter to consciousness or experience are classified as idealists; examples include Berkeley and Hume. Descartes and many other philosophers were convinced that these two forms of existence are irreducible to each other and equally real; such philosophers are called representatives of ontological dualism.

The second main problem of metaphysics is the cosmological problem, or the problem of the structure of nature. Various solutions This problem reflects the difference of views in the field of ontology. Materialists, as a rule, adhere to mechanistic views, i.e. They believe that the laws that “hold together” the Universe into a single whole are purely mechanical laws of the type that we encounter in physics. Idealists reject such a worldview; for them the Universe is a collection of spirits or, according to Hegel, one all-encompassing spirit (mind): we could see, if we had sufficient knowledge, that its parts form a single intelligible system. Dualists, as one might expect, do not have such a coherent worldview. From their point of view, the world is divided into a kingdom of mechanical laws and a kingdom of goals. One of the Western religious teachings combines the idea of a material kingdom governed by physical laws and the idea that this kingdom itself is created and controlled by a spiritual being who orders all things according to his own purposes. This doctrine is called theism.

Metaphysics does not always pose problems on a cosmic scale. The subject of its analysis can be a specific structure or a specific relationship within the whole. For example, one of the most famous metaphysical problems is the problem of causation: what do we mean when we say that A is the cause of B. A wide variety of answers have been given to this question: according to Hume, the idea of a cause arises from the uniform repetition of phenomena; some rationalists like Spinoza saw in causality a logical necessity similar to what we find in geometry. Metaphysicians were also interested in problems related to space and time. Are they infinite or have limits. In any case, we face serious difficulties. Are space and time structures belonging to the external world, or are they simply forms into which the mind puts our ideas. Realists believe the first is true, Kant - the second. Next, what is the place of the human self in the world. Maybe the Self is just an attachment to the body, disappearing with its death. Or I am capable of my own independent life. To ask such questions is to plunge, one or two steps, into the problems of the relationship between body and soul, free will and immortality, discussed throughout the history of metaphysics.

Theory of values. Humanity has traditionally recognized three fundamental values: truth, goodness and beauty. Strictly speaking, philosophy is the search for truth; it leaves the desire for the good to morality, and the comprehension of beauty to art. When philosophy begins to concern itself with goodness and beauty, it does so only in order to find the truth associated with these values. Philosophers believed that such truth is of paramount importance, since its incorrect understanding can direct a person’s life along the wrong path.

The branch of philosophy that develops the theory of the good life is called ethics. Ethics deals with the study of two main problems: 1) what is the purpose of life, what kind of experience has the highest value in life. 2) on what basis do we consider this behavior correct. The two main schools give different answers to the first question. From the point of view of hedonism, the only true good, the only quality that gives value to everything else in life, is pleasure. This look has been popular since Ancient Greece to this day. But it is not very common among ethicists. Most of them believe that there are many true values; that knowledge, beauty and love, for example, have a value of their own, irreducible to the pleasure that may accompany them. Some philosophers have sought to bring these various benefits to a single principle, considering them all as forms of self-realization, ways of developing or expressing the powers given to man by nature.

The second essential ethical question is on what basis do we consider this behavior right or wrong. - the two main schools also answer. From the point of view of utilitarianism, if there is an answer to the first question - what is an internally significant good? - then it’s easy to answer the second question: the right action is the one that, of all possible actions, brings greatest number good, no matter how we interpret the meaning of good itself. This view was most popular among ethicists of the 19th century. However, along with it, there was a completely different view, namely, that the correctness or incorrectness of behavior lies in something inherent in the act itself, and not in its consequences. This view is called intuitionism. It was shared by Kant, who believed that the correctness of an action is conditioned by submission to the law of reason: “Act in such a way that the rule of your behavior can become the rule of behavior for everyone.” This is a different formulation of New Testament ethics, according to which the righteousness of behavior lies not so much in the consequences as in the motive or feeling underlying a particular action.

Another branch of value theory is aesthetics, a discipline not as well developed as ethics. Its main themes, discussed in the past, are the nature of beauty and the purpose (purpose) of art. Since a great variety of theories have been proposed on both issues, we will here note only one modern trend in each of the topics. Thanks to the influence of B. Croce, many began to analyze beauty in terms of expressiveness, so that a repulsive or chaotic scene can still, if it subtly express certain feelings, be called beautiful. On the other hand, from the point of view of the formalists and their defenders, the purpose of art is the creation of forms or patterns that satisfy the aesthetic sense, regardless of whether they resemble the original or convey some other meaning.

3. Modern philosophy

Scientism (from Latin scientia - science) is a philosophical and worldview orientation associated with substantiating the ability of science to solve everything social problems. Scientism underlies numerous theories and concepts of technological determinism (“revolution of scientists”, “revolution of managers”, “industrial society”, “ post-industrial society", "microelectronic revolution", "technotronic society", "information society", etc.), concepts of neopositivism (primarily the philosophy of science).

Antiscientism does not deny the power of science to influence social life and people. However, this influence is interpreted by him as negative and destructive. Antiscientism revises such concepts as truth, rationality, social harmony, etc. On the basis of antiscientism, existentialism, the Frankfurt social-philosophical school, a number of movements of the Club of Rome, the ideology of the “greens,” and religious and philosophical teachings come together. Antiscientism requires limiting the social expansion of science, equating it with other forms of social consciousness - religion, art, philosophy; take control of its discoveries, avoiding negative social consequences. In its extreme forms, anti-scientism proposes to completely abandon the further development of science and technology (the concept of “zero growth”, “limits to growth”, etc.).

These two most important directions in the development of philosophy of our century are organically connected with rationalism and irrationalism, anthropologism and naturalism, materialism and idealism. The latest trends, integrated by scientism and anti-scientism, acquired their own characteristics in the 20th century. Thus, rationality and irrationality develop as scientific rationality (philosophy of science) and scientific irrationality (philosophy of psychoanalysis). Anthropologism - as scientific anthropologism (G. Plesner, M. Scheler. E. Fromm) and as naturalism (modern intuitionism, “scientific materialism”).

Rationalism and irrationalism in the 20th century appear as philosophical understanding essential means knowledge of the world, management of human activity and influence on the development of society.

20th century rationalism represented by neo-Hegelianism: English philosophers F.G. Bradley (1846-1924), R.J. Collingwood (1889-1943); American philosopher D. Royce (1855-1916); Italian philosophers B. Croce (1866-1952) and G. Gentile (1875-1944), etc.; neo-rationalism: French philosopher G. Bachelard (1884-1962); Swiss philosophers - mathematician F. Gonsetio (1890-1975) and psychologist and logician J. Piaget (1896-1980); rationalism: the Spanish philosopher J. Ortega y Gassepeum (1883-1955); linguistic phenomenology: English philosopher J. Austin (1911-1960); the critical rationalism of the English philosopher K. Popper (1902-1994); philosophy of technology in the form of technological determinism: American philosopher, sociologist D. Bell (b. 1919), sociologist, economist J.K. Galbrept (b. 1908), political scientist, sociologist G. Kahn (1922-1984), philosopher, sociologist, publicist O. Toffler (b. 1928); French sociologist, publicist R. Aron (b. 1905), philosopher, sociologist, lawyer J. Ellul (b. 1912), etc.; methodology of science: American historian, philosopher T.K. Kuhn (b. 1922), philosopher P.K. Feyerabend (b. 1924); English philosopher, historian of science I. Lakatos (1922-1974); French philosopher, historian of science A. Koyre (born in Russia, 1892-1964), etc.

Neo-Hegelianism is a rationalistic trend in idealistic philosophy of the late 19th - first third of the 20th century. It represents interpretations of the philosophy of G.W.F. Hegel in the spirit of new philosophical ideas: decomposition using the dialectic of “sensibility” and “materiality” to achieve a certain “extra-empirical” reality; combining the Hegelian doctrine of the absolute idea with consideration of individuality and personal freedom, interpretation of the historical process, etc. Rethinking Hegelian philosophy from the point of view of historicism is carried out by B. Croce, G. Gentile, G. Colligwood. For Robin George Collingwood, the crisis of contemporary Western civilization is a consequence of the rejection of faith in reason as the basis for the organization of all social life.

Neorealism is another current of the rationalistic direction of philosophical thought of the first half of the 20th century. For representatives of this movement, reality is revealed in terms of theoretical scientific thinking. At the same time, mathematics is the highest deductive, integration knowledge that promotes creative synthesis in science.

Rationalism - appeared as a result of criticism of rationalism, primarily Cartesian, by the philosophy of the New Age. H. Ortega y Gasset does not accept the rationalism of R. Descartes, because in philosophy last man only cognizing, but not living, and therefore many manifestations of human existence in Descartes remained outside the scope of study.

Ortega y Gasset claims to have discovered and substantiated new role reason, allowing us to understand the unity of man with the world. And this world is not only the external world of inter-individual relations, but also the internal, personal world, which is based on free individual choice.

Irrationalism of the 20th century. represented by the “philosophy of life” of F. Nietzsche (1844-1900), W. Dilthey (1833-1911), G. Simmel (1858-1918), A. Bergson (1859-1941); psychoanalytic philosophy of Z. Freud (1856-1939), K.G. Jung (1875-1961), A. Adler (1870-1937), K. Horney (1885-1952), E. Fromm (1900-1980); existentialism, which will be discussed below.

The German philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey believed that philosophy is a “science of sciences” and therefore does not provide knowledge of supersensible entities. Sciences are divided into “natural sciences” and “spiritual sciences.” The subject of the latter is social life, which is comprehended by “descriptive psychology.” Man, according to Dilthey, is history himself, which is comprehended by psychology as “understanding” the connections of all mental life person, her motives, choices, appropriate actions. The problems posed by the philosopher are interesting and significant. For example, the connection between the individual and the social: how can sensory individuality become the subject of universally valid objective knowledge?

French philosopher, Nobel Prize winner (received the prize for the style of his philosophical writings) Henri Bergson explored such phenomena as duration, vital impulse, stream of consciousness, memory of the present, creative evolution. Each of the works published by A. Bergson - “An Experience on the Immediate Data of Consciousness”, “Matter and Memory”, “Introduction to Metaphysics”, “Creative Evolution”, “Two Sources of Morality and Religion” - became an event in European intellectual life. The central concepts of his philosophy are “pure duration” as true, concrete time and “non-intellectual intuition” as a genuine philosophical method. Duration presupposes the constant creation of new forms, the interpenetration of past and present, the unpredictability of future states, and freedom. Knowledge of duration is accessible only to intuition.

Over the past decade and a half, cultural researchers, including philosophy, have been writing about modernism and postmodernism. Modernism (fr. moderne - newest, modern) as a phenomenon had in the history of culture different interpretations: how new in art and literature (cubism, dadaism, surrealism, futurism, expressionism, abstract art, etc.); as a direction in Catholicism, striving for a renewal of doctrine based on science and philosophy; finally, as a comprehension of qualitatively new phenomena or a qualitatively new interpretation of what is already known in philosophy. Thus, modernism at one time included positivism, Marxism, and even earlier, the Enlightenment. Modernism, from the point of view of Habermas, is characterized by the “openness” of a particular teaching to other teachings. More recently, in Anglo-Saxon countries, he notes, analytical philosophy dominated, while in Europe, in countries such as France and Germany (FRG), there were their own philosophical idols: in France-J. P. Sartre, and in Germany - T. Adorno. However, over the past 20 years, the French have become receptive to the philosophical thought of both the United States and Germany, and German philosophers rely on the ideas of Karl Levi-Strauss. M. Foucault, D. Lukacs. T. Parsons. Among the modernists, Habermas includes the American sociologist and social philosopher Talcott Parsons (1902-1979), the author of the theory of a differentiated, increasingly complex society, where there is an alienation of the structures of activity in the “life world” from the structures social system.

One of the first philosophers of postmodernism is the French philosopher Jean Francois Lyotard (b. 1924). In his book “The State of Postmodernity” (1979), he explains the phenomenon of postmodernity as not only philosophical, but generally cultural, as a kind of reaction to the universalist vision of the world in modernist philosophy, sociology, religious studies, art, etc. J.F. Lyotard, like J. Habermas, sees the difference between postmodern philosophy and Marxist philosophy in the affirmation of the idea of choosing from several alternatives, represented not so much in the cognized, but in the historical configuration of life practices, in social sphere. Postmodernism is thus represented by modern poststructuralism (J. Derrida, J. Bordrillard), pragmatism (R. Rorty).

American philosopher Richard Rorty (b. 1931), a professor at the University of Virginia, is known for his project of “destruction” of all previous philosophy. In his opinion, all hitherto existing philosophy distorted the personal existence of a person, because it deprived him of creativity. Previous philosophy lacked humanitarianism, says R. Rorty. In his teaching, he combines pragmatism with analytical philosophy, arguing that the subject of philosophical analysis should be society and forms of human experience. Rorty thus interprets philosophy as “the voice in the conversation of humanity,” a picture of universal connection, a mediator in the mutual understanding of people. For him, society is the communication of people and nothing more... In society, the main thing is the interests of the individual, the “interlocutor.”

We can say that postmodernism is a reaction to the changing place of culture in society: to the shifts occurring in art, religion, morality in connection with the latest technology of post-industrial society. Postmodernism insists on humanitarization and anthropologization of philosophical knowledge.

Conclusion

The term “philosophy” itself has always had the reputation of being a difficult term to define due to the sometimes fundamental gap between philosophical disciplines and the ideas used in philosophy

Philosophy includes such various disciplines as logic, metaphysics, ontology, epistemology, aesthetics, ethics, etc.

The functions of philosophy are the main directions of application of philosophy, through which its goals, objectives, and purpose are realized. It is customary to highlight:

worldview, methodological, thought-theoretical, epistemological, critical, axiological, social, educational-humanitarian, prognostic functions of philosophy.

The subject of philosophy is the range of issues that it studies.

"Who is this person and why did he come to this world?"

“What makes an action right or wrong?”

There are three main branches of philosophy: methodology, metaphysics and theory of values. However, there are no clear boundaries between these disciplines. There are philosophical questions that simultaneously relate to more than one of these disciplines, and there are those that do not belong to any one.

Modern philosophy is a complex spiritual formation. Its pluralism expanded and enriched both through the further development of science and practice, and through the development of philosophical thought itself in previous centuries.

She appears in various directions. Among them are modernism and postmodernism, rationalism and irrationalism, scientism and anti-scientism.

Today, in our country, and in other countries, a new type is being born materialist philosophy, focused on a materialistic understanding of history, addressed to the individual, the human life world, solving problems of the material and spiritual, natural and social, individual and social, objective and subjective, personal and collective.

1. V.N. Lavrinenko. Philosophy: textbook. Modern philosophical thought. The main directions of modern philosophy. – M., 2002.

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