Metaphysics and dialectics are methods. Dialectics and metaphysics - methods of philosophical knowledge

A.S. Canary DIALECTICS OF THE AESTHETIC PROCESS. DIALECTICS OF THE AESTHETIC AS A THEORY OF SENSUAL COGNITION * * *I consider myself right to say: this is smart, serious and interesting book, worthy of attention and reflection. The problem indicated in the title of the work belongs to,

Dialectics and metaphysics as philosophical directions and methods of cognition. Statics and dynamics of reality

“Philosophy always and everywhere accompanied mental life and was its indicator...” (Kavelin K.D. “Our mental structure”, M., 1989, p. 283).

Philosophy is the doctrine of the world and the place of man in this world, it is a way of understanding the world.

“All people by nature strive for knowledge. Proof of this is the attraction to sensory perceptions: after all, regardless of whether they are useful or not, they are valued for their own sake, and most of all visual perceptions, for we can say that we prefer vision to all other perceptions, not only for the sake of act, but also when we do not intend to do anything” (Aristotle, Metaphysics, Book I., Chapter I).

The two main methods of philosophical knowledge are dialectics and metaphysics. The term “dialectics” was first used by Socrates to designate the fruitful and mutually interested achievement of truth through the collision of opposing opinions (from the Greek dialektike - the art of arguing, scientific conversation). Aristotle considered dialectics to be the science of probable opinions. Heraclitus can be considered the creator of the first form of philosophical dialectics, who gave traditional thoughts about change an abstract and universal form. He believed that the struggle of opposing forces is aimed at establishing cosmic harmony, that is, at establishing the harmony of the whole. The vision of this perspective for the development of the world allowed the ancient Greek thinker to re-evaluate many world phenomena. For example, war, which people usually fear, seeing in it a force that brings death, a means that can destroy society, in Heraclitus performs ancestral, creative functions. “War (Polemos) is the father of all, the king of all,” noted Heraclitus (Fragments of early Greek philosophers. Part 1. - M., 1989. - P. 202.). Defended by a philosopher positive value war occurs due to the fact that he saw in it not only a force capable of destroying society (the private), but also a means that, by destroying the private, creates harmony of the whole. “The one of the opposites that leads to the emergence of the cosmos is called war,” he wrote (ibid. - p. 177).

Huge contribution The Eleatic school contributed to the development of ancient dialectics, revealing the deep dialectics of existence that does not fit into the logic of concepts. Remarkable examples of ancient dialectics are found in the teachings of Plato, who comprehended the dialectics of movement and rest, difference and identity. Dialectical ideas Plato found their further development in the teachings of Aristotle and Neoplatonism.

In the Middle Ages, dialectics became one of the theological disciplines, which included logic and syllogistics. Dialectics takes on a special place in the works of representatives of German transcendental-critical philosophy, since it was here that for the first time in the history of philosophy a holistic dialectical concept of development was developed. The most developed form of this dialectic was the Hegelian dialectic. Since the beginning of the 19th century, after Hegel created a universal theory of knowledge and the doctrine of being, dialectics began to be called the universal method of knowledge, which considers all objects and phenomena as developing and interconnected, as well as the doctrine of being based on this method. Dialectics, or the method of development, according to Hegel, should be understood as the methodical discovery and resolution of contradictions contained in concepts. Hegel understood the contradictions themselves as a clash of opposing definitions and their resolution through unification. The main theme of his dialectics was the idea of ​​the unity of mutually exclusive and at the same time mutually presupposing opposites, or the theme of contradiction. Hegel very deeply and specifically characterized the internal nature of the contradiction itself. For him, it is not just a negation of the thought that was posited and affirmed, it is a double negation, i.e. detection of a contradiction and its resolution, when the original antinomy is simultaneously realized and removed. The highest stage of development includes, therefore, the lower, and the latter is abolished in it precisely in this dual sense. It was the dialectical method that allowed Hegel to critically rethink all areas of contemporary knowledge and culture.

In the philosophy of Marxism, dialectics is understood as the doctrine of the most general natural connections and formation, development of being and knowledge, as well as a method of creative cognitive thinking based on this doctrine.

Dialectics is a way of cognition that considers all objects and phenomena in universal connection and development.

The term “metaphysics” (Greek meta ta physika - after physics) appeared in the 1st century BC, introduced into circulation by the Alexandrian librarian Andronikos of Rhodes, who proposed it as the title of Aristotle’s treatise “on the first genera of existence.” As a result, the term “metaphysics” became synonymous with the word “philosophy” and in this sense was popular until the middle of the 19th century.

This term has two main meanings. Metaphysics is a type of philosophy that studies supersensible principles of existence that are inaccessible to experimental knowledge, as well as a method of cognition that considers objects and phenomena as static and isolated from each other.

From the 17th - 18th centuries, when natural science began to be opposed to philosophy, the word “metaphysics” gradually began to acquire the meaning “speculative, abstract from concreteness, non-experimental knowledge.”

After creation by Hegel in early XIX century of dialectical teaching, metaphysics acquired the meaning of “old, or pre-dialectical philosophy.” In the philosophy of Marxism, an even narrower meaning was assigned to it - “an anti-dialectical method of cognition.” That is, metaphysics creates a static, motionless picture of the universe, the components of which do not depend on each other and can be considered in isolation. Dialectics creates a dynamic, developing picture of the world, all of whose components are interdependent and interconnected.

As methods of knowledge, dialectics and metaphysics originated in antiquity and went through centuries of history. The heyday of metaphysics as a method of scientific knowledge occurred in the 17th - 18th centuries, and dialectics - in the 19th - 20th centuries. The metaphysical method underlay the rapid development of natural science in the 17th - XVIII centuries, thanks to him, the science of this period made a colossal breakthrough compared to previous eras. This method introduced into science methods of analysis and systematization of objects and phenomena. The greatest achievement of metaphysical methodology is the discovery of laws mechanical movement, that is, movement understood as a change in the position of bodies in space without taking into account changes in their internal properties.

With the help of dialectics, the main successes of science were achieved in the 19th - 20th centuries, especially in natural science. The content of dialectics is revealed in its main categories, principles and laws. We can say that human thinking is dialectical in nature. At different stages of human development, the levels of dialectical thinking are correspondingly different.

There are two basic principles in dialectics:

1. development principle;

2. the principle of universal connection.

The principle of universal connection is a reflection of the organization and orderliness of the world, in which everything is connected to everything. Communication is understood as the dependence between phenomena, a reflection of the interdependence of their existence and development. But there is no connection without interaction. It is precisely because of the universality of interaction that the mutual connection of all structural levels of existence, the material unity of the world, is realized.

Interaction reveals the process of influence of various objects on each other, their mutual conditionality, change of state, mutual transition, as well as the generation of one object by another. Interaction is objective, universal and active. Without studying interaction, it is impossible to understand either the properties, structure, or laws of reality. Without clarifying forms and contents various types connections and interactions in nature and society would be impossible to adequately resolve the problem of development, which is the second fundamental principle of dialectics.

The principle of development is the result of applying the principle of universal communication and interaction. Everything in the world is in the process of becoming and changing. The principle of the movement of matter, together with the principle of universal connection, gives us the principle of the development of the world. Development is nothing more than an irreversible, definitely directed and natural change in material and ideal objects, leading to the emergence of a new quality.

But the question arises as to what is the source of development. All the variety of points of view on the problem of the source of development can be reduced to two main ones: metaphysical and dialectical. The first considers external influence to be the source of development, while the second considers the struggle of opposing forces and tendencies, that is, a contradiction.

The contradiction is a philosophical problem. Some philosophers suggest that dialectical contradictions are characteristic of both nature, society, and our thinking. Already ancient Chinese thinkers understood the world as a struggle between two principles “yin” and “yang”. Others believe that there are only contradictions in human thinking, that is, logical contradictions. Which were noted already in ancient philosophy.

The most significant and logical connections and relationships between reality and knowledge are reflected in philosophical categories. For the first time, the doctrine of categories was systematically presented in Aristotle’s treatise “Categories”, where the most general concepts about the world.

According to Kant, categories are pre-experimental forms of reason that characterize the structure of thinking of the subject of knowledge. Most of the most important dialectical categories received their justification in Hegel's philosophical system in an idealistic interpretation. In the theory of dialectical materialism, categories are considered as the result of a generalization of the social experience of cognition. The understanding of the role and meaning of categories differs in philosophical theories. In a number of directions modern philosophy For example, in positivism or existentialism, the problem of categories is not given attention. For example, positivism and neopositivism turn to the analysis not of categories, but of language terms. In existentialism, a fundamentally new interpretation of categories appears, related to the problems of human existence and the essence of man.

Essence and phenomenon;

System, element, structure;

Whole and part;

Individual, special and universal;

Cause and investigation;

Possibility and reality;

Necessity and chance;

Freedom and Necessity;

Discontinuity and continuity;

Quantity and quality, etc.

Essence and phenomenon are the most important dialectical categories that reflect the basic properties of all objects existing in the world. Essence and phenomenon are always interconnected. Essence is the internal content of an object, inaccessible to the senses, its meaning. A phenomenon is the discovery of individual properties of an entity that is accessible to the senses. Or to put it another way, a phenomenon is the external properties of an object that a person learns experimentally through the senses - vision, hearing, and so on. A person can understand the essence of an object only with the help of reason.

Content is what an object or phenomenon consists of. Form is a way of external expression of content. The content is changeable and moving. The shape keeps it in stable balance. In a subject there is a constant struggle between form and content. At a certain stage, the content sheds the old form that hampered its development and acquires a new one.

A system is an ordered collection of interconnected elements. An element is an indivisible component within a given system. The element is not only indivisible, but also a necessary component of the system. If at least one element of the system is missing, it will be a different system. The number of elements, the order of their arrangement, and the connections between them characterize the structure of the system. Structure is a set of connections between elements of a system. The elements make up the content of the system, and the structure makes up its form.

Initially, the object appears to the subject cognizing it as something individual. The singular is separate, limited in time and space, isolated from all others. The subject then notices certain repeating properties in a number of objects. General properties, inherent in a number of objects of any class, constitute the content of the special. The properties inherent in all objects of any class without exception are universal.

From the perspective of dialectics, isolated phenomena do not exist. A cause is a phenomenon that causes or gives rise to another phenomenon. A consequence is a phenomenon generated by another phenomenon. In dialectics there is a provision about the existence of causality as such a connection of phenomena where one phenomenon produces another.

Necessity and chance are categories that reflect the type of existing connection and chance between phenomena. What must necessarily happen is caused by the necessary connection of phenomena. What might not have happened is caused by a random connection between phenomena.

The problem of categories is one of the central philosophical problems, since it is closely related to the topic of consciousness. Categories are universal and necessary mental forms that organize the very process of thinking and cognition.

Laws of dialectics.

1. Basic laws of dialectics

1.1 The law of mutual transition of quantitative and qualitative changes

Dialectics is a theory and method of understanding new facets of existence, specific situations, problems. Dialectics comprehends the environment through a dialogue of thought and action, through the analysis and synthesis of mutually exclusive and mutually exclusive opinions and points of view. Dialectics teaches wisdom, teaches us to avoid mistakes. In its internal basis, dialectics is unified, but in its manifestations, forms and methods of application it is diverse and multidimensional. In its initial settings and goals it is relatively stable, in specific applications and incarnations it is changeable and constantly being improved (the latter can be seen, at least, in the example of the enrichment of dialectics with ideas of synergetics).

The law of mutual transition of quantitative and qualitative changes shows how connections are made and development occurs, what their mechanism is. The content of the action of this law is revealed through the categories: “quality”, “quantity”, “property”, “measure”, “leap”.

Man has long tried to identify the nature of qualitative and quantitative characteristics in the structure and dynamics of the universe. The Pythagoreans argued that numbers expressing quantitative relationships are elements of all things and give harmony to the spheres solar system. The difference between unequal things and processes, i.e. Thales, Anaximenes and Heraclitus tried to explain their qualitative originality. Aristotle introduced the categories of quality and quantity to determine the fundamental properties of nature and knowledge. He attributed the following contexts to quality: properties and states, both transient and stable, inherent in things and phenomena in the process of their existence; the appearance of a thing. Aristotle considered quantity from the point of view of “set” and “magnitude”, “equality” or “inequality”.

In the Middle Ages, the idea of ​​“hidden” qualities as eternal and unchanging “forms” that predetermined the properties of objects was established. In modern times, Boyle, Newton, Hobbes, Locke, Spinoza and other natural scientists and philosophers continued to develop the theory of qualities, dividing them into primary and secondary, objective and subjective.

In philosophical and scientific thought, there was often a gap between quantity and quality: the reduction of quality to quantity (Democritus, Gassendi, Descartes, La Mettrie); denial of the influence of quantitative changes on supposedly forever given qualitative differences (the theory of preformationism in biology, Cuvier’s theory of geological catastrophes, etc.). In general, the view of the interdependence of quality and quantity has been established in philosophy. Hegel recognized quality as the internal certainty of being, and quantity as its external certainty.

Quality is the detection of the certainty of an object (process) through the totality of its characteristics. The existence of quality is possible on the basis of discreteness as a principle of structural organization of matter. Quality expresses that general thing that is characteristic of homogeneous objects or processes, and at the same time it captures that something has specificity, thanks to which it is this particular formation. The largest “blocks” of qualitative differences are between the main types of matter and the corresponding forms of motion.

The quality of objects is revealed through their properties, i.e. “facets” of an object that determine its difference or similarity with other objects and are manifested in interaction with them. When conditions change, individual properties of objects change or disappear completely. There are actual (realized) and potential, hidden properties.

Quantity is a philosophical category that characterizes the pace of processes, the mobility and variability of things, the degree of development or intensity of the properties of objects or processes. Quantity is measurable or computable by means of mathematical knowledge. Principle proclaimed by Galileo (1564 - 1642) quantitative approach to phenomena acts as the methodological foundation of exact natural science, a prerequisite for scientific and technological progress. DI. Mendeleev believed that science begins where measurement begins. ^The process of mathematization especially intensified with the development of computers. The more complex the phenomenon (in the field of politics, morality, aesthetic perception of the world, etc.), the more difficult it is to study it using quantitative methods. F. Engels in “Dialectics of Nature” emphasized that in biology and in the history of society, unlike the exact sciences, quantities cannot be clearly measured and traced. Some modern authors argue similarly, who argue that such phenomena and processes as “national-cultural traditions, beliefs, the subconscious... often... are not included... in quantifiable statistical columns or mathematical formulas“And yet, complex objects have an objectively quantitative side, although it is not expressed in precise quantitative parameters. The cultural traditions of a particular ethnic group can probably be indirectly, approximately judged, for example, by the number of people adhering to certain rituals, religious faith - by the number of people observing fasts, a person’s morality - by the number of his good deeds, etc. d. The above quantitative guidelines are, of course, supplemented by other indicators. Quantitative relationships, in addition to measurements, are also captured by the use of comparisons (higher, more intense, etc.).

In the process of development, quantitative changes at a certain stage transform into qualitative differences (for example, the transition of water from one state of aggregation into another in accordance with changes in temperature, pressure and other factors, the transformation of some chemical elements to others depending on the change in the magnitude of the charge of the atomic nucleus), and new qualities give rise to new possibilities and intervals of quantitative changes.

Quality and quantity are opposite and at the same time inextricably linked characteristics of objects, which is expressed by the concept of measure. Nothing too much, everything is good in moderation, Chilo argued. Use moderation, Thales insisted. Plato saw the thesis “nothing in excess” as a synonym for wisdom. Hegel defined measure as the unity of qualitative quantity. The measure arises due to a double transition (quality to quantity, quantity to quality). A measure is an interval of quantitative changes within which the qualitative certainty of an object is preserved. In many phenomena (especially social and spiritual), the position of the boundaries of the interval is unclear and difficult to determine.

The world and its fragments are characterized by the unity of relative exhaustibility and inexhaustibility (infinity), and development is the unity of continuity (changes within the boundaries of a measure) and discontinuity (changes in the measure itself).

Hegel established that the real whole is a result together with its becoming74. F. Engels pointed out that an essential moment of development is the mediation of opposites, when “all differences merge in intermediate stages, all opposites pass into each other through intermediate members”75. Intermediateness is evidence of the objective fluidity of things, the eternal formation of all things. Between the old and new quality there is a transitional state of a thing, an object. It represents something specifically unified, holistic, systemic in relation to both closing poles (old and new qualities). At the same time, it is unstable, internally bifurcated by the ongoing intensification of the struggle between the new and the old. The transition state is characterized by a situation of relative equilibrium of opposite poles. Within the framework of the transition period, opposites exist simultaneously, interacting as two structures in one “organism”, system (thus, regarding the economy of the transition period, Lenin wrote that “in this system there are elements, particles, pieces of both capitalism and socialism”76). In transitional states of society, traditions and innovations, remnants of the past and potentials of the future “collide.” A person involved in situations of transition, doubting, hesitating, forced to make risky decisions in conditions of instability and uncertainty, is faced with the need to sometimes participate in uncoordinated activities, which generates asynchrony in his inner world and is assessed by him as a crisis.

The transitional state is likely to have two consequences. The first is associated with the expansion of the new, when the new of two qualities develops further under the increasing influence of immanent laws, which makes it possible to reverse the inertia of the old system and give rise to a new quality. Self-denial of the old quality occurs due to the exhaustion of its resources by the new quality. In relation to social life in the modern transitional state of society in the CIS, a scenario for the approval of productive neo-capitalism or humane-democratic socialism suggests itself (after all, slavery, feudalism and “wild capitalism” are stages passed by humanity, and “state socialism” is unpromising). In the second version of the consequences, the transitional state leads to a diversity of reality that exceeds the capabilities of any individual system, to a “synthesis” of old and new qualities. In society, this will lead to a synthesis of labor and capital, to filling capitalism with the positive parameters of socialism, and socialism with the positive features of capitalism. Countries appear in which there is socialism with capitalist elements (China, Vietnam, etc.) and capitalism with features of socialism (Sweden, Norway, etc.).

IN public life transition states are objective. At the same time, the role of the subjective factor here is great, since the choice of options and forms of transitions largely depends on the interests and energy of social and ethnic communities and political parties.

The mechanism of bifurcations makes it clear “how purely quantitative growth can lead to a qualitatively new choice”77. To a first approximation, in one aspect, the law of mutual transition of quantitative and qualitative changes from the standpoint of synergetics can be expressed in the law of bifurcations. Correlations can arise spontaneously as a result of a combination of internal interactions in the system with external interactions of the system with the environment.

A jump is a transition from quantitative changes to qualitative ones or a transition from one qualitative state to another (as a result of exceeding the measure). A leap means: a break in the gradualness, continuity of quantitative changes in a previous phenomenon; transformation into the opposite, “saturation” of contradictions and their resolution; moment of development with retention of the positive content of the negated (“withdrawal”). Examples of leaps: the formation of stars and planets, the emergence of life on Earth, the formation of new species of plants and animals, humans and their consciousness, changes in types of civilizations and formations, social revolutions. Leaps are carried out both in the form of an “explosion” and extended over time. In relation to society, the view is formed that progressive evolution, slowed down or accelerated depending on the circumstances, without external violence, constitutes the leading trend of development. But in general, the development of things is of an evolutionary and spasmodic nature.

So, the law of dialectics under consideration establishes that quantitative changes at a certain stage jump abruptly into qualitative differences with the emergence of an object with a new measure of properties. The newly formed quality, having new quantitative parameters, makes it possible new round development.

1.2 The law of unity and struggle of opposites

The law of unity and struggle of opposites reveals the source of development and connections of all natural, social and spiritual objects, is revealed through the categories: “opposite”, “contradiction”, “unity”, “struggle of opposites”, “identity”, “difference”.

Objects of existence represent a certain integrity with their opposites. Already in ancient times, it was argued that everything that exists in the world is the result of a collision of opposing forces: good and evil principles (in the Egyptian myth about the struggle between Osiris and Horus); Yin and Yang (in Chinese mythology) - the interactions of good and evil, beauty and ugliness, man and woman, sun and moon, heaven and earth, pleasure and suffering, etc.

The presence of opposites in objects and their reflection in consciousness is expressed in aporias and antinomies. Aristotle characterized aporia as the equivalence of opposing conclusions. Antinomies, according to Kant, are oppositions that can be argued with to the same degree logical evidence. These are: 1) the world has a beginning in time and space; the world is limitless; 2) everything in the world consists of simple things; nothing is simple, everything is complex; 3) there is freedom in the world; there is no freedom, everything is done according to the laws of nature; 4) God is necessity, the first cause of the world; There is no God in the world. An example of a casuistic question in Kant was also the following: suicide is immoral; the suicide of a warrior who does not want to be captured is justified. Examples of transforming antinomies into dialectical conclusions can be Socrates’ aphorism “I know that I know nothing,” Hegel’s conclusion that a moving body is and is not in the same place at the same time, Marx’s conclusion characterizing the emergence of capital (in circulation and at the same time not in circulation).

Fixing the opposite features of existence at the level of everyday consciousness (white - black, right - left, up - down, beautiful - ugly, etc.) does not yet allow us to comprehend the essence of the dialectical inconsistency of the world and its fragments. In the scientific knowledge of the world and man, key opposites are identified (main aspects, trends, forces of an object, phenomenon, process), the interaction of which expresses the deep essence of objects and is a source of development. In inorganic nature, this is the relationship between matter and field, particles and antiparticles, positive and negative charges, attraction and repulsion, action and reaction, connection and dissociation of atoms, etc. In living nature, assimilation and dissimilation, heredity and variability, excitation and inhibition in physiological processes, etc. In society, contradictions are expressed between productive forces And industrial relations, basis and superstructure, goal-setting and spontaneity, etc. In mathematics, which reflects the world from the quantitative side, the opposites are plus and minus, exponentiation and root extraction, differentiation and integration. In cognition, analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, feelings and thinking interact. This or that natural, social or spiritual object or process represents not only the relationship of two opposites, but an integral system with its inherent range of interconnected opposites.

Often the original reality bifurcates into itself and its own opposite. Thus, nature, as an unconsciously ongoing process, at a certain stage gave birth to its opposite - society, i.e. the sphere of human life, carried out with the participation of consciousness.

Often opposites are mutually immersed in each other. This is manifested in the contradictions that arise when searching for the optimal combination of individual freedom and the needs of society, material and cultural-moral incentives for work, vital and creative motives for activity, competition and collectivist solidarity, social equality and differences in income, etc.

There is a moving relationship between opposites dialectical contradiction. Contradiction in its original sense means a discrepancy in speech, statements about a certain subject of a pair of judgments, of which one denies the other, which is the result of vagueness and illogicality. Many philosophers accepted contradictions as a phenomenon of thinking arising from a violation of the requirements of formal logic, rejecting the inconsistency of being. Contradictions, due to the universality of development, are inherent not only in cognition, but also in all forms of existence of the world.

Social contradictions have a subject-subject character (between people, their various communities) and a subject-object character (regarding such objects as technology, property, power, etc.). Dialectics requires thinking and acting on the basis of values ​​(evaluations), resolving contradictions, in accordance with the universal laws of material and spiritual existence.

The contradictory relationship between opposite sides, tendencies, taken in motion, is a struggle of opposites, their “mutual negation.” In relation to society, the struggle can be in the literal sense (social, political forces for your own interests). In general, the word “struggle” is used metaphorically.

First stage interaction deployment opposite sides the category of “identity” denotes the unity. Relative identity develops into discrepancy, incompatibility and, finally, into the mutual exclusion of opposites. Hegel defined the following stages of interaction between the sides of the whole - identity, difference, opposition and contradiction itself. K. Marx, using the example of the development of a value relationship, additionally placed the stage of double existence. The transitional state of an object is its dual existence.

The stages of interaction between the parties of the whole cause a state of harmony, disharmony and conflict of opposites.

In a state of harmony, each party contributes to a more complete disclosure of the capabilities of the other party and the system as a whole. The ductility and reliability of the system increases. Disharmony is associated with loosening common structures, with the development of one side at the expense of the other. It is characterized by the emergence, deepening and aggravation of relationships between opposites, the predominance of multidirectionality and mutual negation. Conflict (in a broad sense, a clash, confrontation between parties) as the highest level of contradiction indicates the incompatibility of opposites within the framework of a particular object or process and leads to the withering away of the old and the emergence of a new object or process, to the synthesis of positive elements of old and new qualities.

In the history of philosophy, the importance of either unity or the struggle of opposites is often exaggerated. The absoluteization of the struggle of opposites is expressed in the formula of Heraclitus: “War is the father of all things.” The exaggeration of the unity of opposites is visible in the positivist theory of equilibrium (19th century), in structural-functional analysis (20th century), where society is presented as a stable system striving to self-maintain a state of social order and harmony.

The point of view that pays attention to the unity of opposites comes from the principle of complementarity. D. Bruno wrote: “One opposite is the beginning of another... Destruction is nothing other than emergence, and emergence is nothing other than annihilation: love is hatred; hate is love." In the bosom of Russian philosophy and culture of the 19th - early 20th centuries. the concept of all-human unity, the unification of the peoples of the world into an undivided whole was substantiated (P.Ya. Chaadaev, F.M. Dostoevsky, V.S. Solovyov, N.A. Berdyaev, etc.). On the basis of the spiritual unity of people, the commonality of their ideals and values, the idea of ​​conciliarity developed (A.S. Khomyakov, E.N. and S.N. Trubetskoy), which emphasized the importance of human collectivism. This idea is supported by solid experience of the veche people's assembly, community self-government, the Cossack circle, and the zemstvo.

One of the manifestations of the principle of complementarity is the promotion of opposites. For example, as a result of the law of universal gravitation, the planets of the solar system are attracted by the Sun. At the same time, the rotation of the planets occurs due to the action of centrifugal forces. The interaction (assistance, complementarity) of centripetal and centrifugal forces creates a certain balance. Or, a living organism preserves itself as long as it is within the limits of measure, where assimilation and dissimilation are balanced and complement each other.

Science of the 20th century discovered that elementary particles are also waves. They express a combination (complementarity) of concentration at a point (particle) and extension in space (wave). In society, the principle of complementarity is expressed through consensus, consolidation, compromise, convergence, which aims at finding mutual balance, a certain balance of opposing forces.

At the same time, it is unacceptable to exaggerate the unity of opposites (as well as their struggle). In addition to the line of achieving a “symphony” (consensus) of opposites, the tendency of their cacophony has not disappeared at all, and in a number of moments the differentiation of interests (for markets, resources of the Earth) strengthens the antagonism of regions, states, and peoples. Integration processes raise the importance of the unity of opposites (interdependence in a single holistic world increases), and the remaining differentiation impulses - the struggle of opposites. So, along with the principle of complementarity, there is the principle of opposition, which coexist.

Classical dialectics says that the struggle of opposites is absolute, and unity is relative. Meanwhile, in the struggle of opposites, the incentive to change the system is expressed, and in unity lies the basis of its stability. The variability and stability of being and its fragments are equally objective and significant. Therefore, as the previous analysis showed, it is wrong to sharply separate the moments of “unity” and “struggle” of opposites.

Within the framework of synergetics, the law of unity and struggle of opposites in one aspect is manifested in the interaction of competition and cooperation. The internal interaction between the elements of the system is a collision of causes, some of which are in a state of competition (activities in different, even opposite directions), and the other - cooperation (activities in the same direction). Final result development (selection) is determined by the resultant of all interacting causes.