Idealist philosophy. Idealism is a philosophical trend

Idealism in philosophy is a movement that claims that our spirit, subconscious and consciousness, thoughts, dreams and everything spiritual are primary. The material aspect of our world is considered something derivative. In other words, spirit generates matter, and without thought no object can exist.

General concepts

Based on this, many skeptics believe that idealism in philosophy is acceptance. They give examples where convinced idealists are immersed in the world of their dreams, regardless of whether they concern a specific person or the whole world. We will now look at the two main varieties of idealism and compare them. It is also worth noting that both of these concepts, although often characterized by opposing dogmas, are the exact opposite of realism.

in philosophy

The objective current in philosophical science appeared in ancient times. In those years, people did not yet share their teachings as such, so such a name did not exist. Plato is considered to be the father of objective idealism, who enclosed the entire world existing around people within the framework of myth and divine stories. One of his statements has passed through the centuries and is still a kind of slogan of all idealists. It lies in selflessness, in the fact that an idealist is a person who strives for the highest harmony, for the highest ideals, despite minor adversities and problems. In ancient times, a similar trend was also supported by Proclus and Plotinus.

This philosophical science reaches its apogee during the Middle Ages. In these dark ages, idealism in philosophy is a church philosophy that explains any phenomenon, any thing, and even the very fact of human existence as an act of the Lord. The objective idealists of the Middle Ages believed that the world as we see it was built by God in six days. They completely denied evolution and any other gradations of man and nature that could lead to development.

The idealists separated from the church. In their teachings they tried to convey to people the nature of one spiritual principle. As a rule, objective idealists preached the idea of ​​universal peace and understanding, the realization that we are all one, which can achieve the highest harmony in the Universe. Idealism in philosophy was built on the basis of such semi-utopian judgments. This movement was represented by such personalities as G. W. Leibniz and F. W. Schelling.

Subjective idealism in philosophy

This movement was formed around the 17th century, in those years when at least the slightest opportunity arose to become a free individual, independent of the state and the church. The essence of subjectivism in idealism is that a person builds his world through thoughts and desires. Everything we see and feel is only our world. Another individual builds it in his own way, and accordingly sees and perceives it differently. Such “isolated” idealism in philosophy is a kind of visualization as a model of reality. Representatives are I. G. Fichte, J. Berkeley, and D. Hume.

IDEALISM (from the Greek idea - concept, idea) is a philosophical direction opposite to materialism in solving the main question of philosophy - the question of the relationship of consciousness (thinking) to being (matter). Idealism, contrary to science, recognizes consciousness and spirit as primary and considers matter and nature to be secondary, derivative. In this regard, idealism coincides with the religious worldview, from the point of view of which nature and matter are generated by a certain supernatural, spiritual principle (God).

Absolute idealism (SZF.ES, 2009)

ABSOLUTE IDEALISM is a movement in Anglo-American philosophy of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The concept of absolute reality, or the absolute, was formed in classical German. philosophy. According to F.V.Y. Schelling And G.V.F. Hegel, the attribute of the absolute is the harmonious reconciliation of opposites. However, in their systems the concept of the absolute contained an implicit contradiction, which was not slow to reveal itself during further evolution. philosophical ideas. This is the contradiction between the principle of historicism, according to which the “spirit” becomes absolute in the process historical development, and the very concept of the absolute as the timeless fullness of being and perfection. Adherents of absolute idealism abandoned historicism in the name of a consistent concept of the absolute. At the same time, they did not have unanimity in their understanding of absolute reality. The differences between them can be reduced to three positions. The first is represented by the British neo-Hegelians ( ) F.G. Bradley and B. Bosanquet, the second - by the supporter of personalism J. E. McTaggart, the third - by J. Royce...

Transcendental idealism

TRANSCENDENTAL IDEALISM. Based on Kant's explanations of the concept of “transcendental,” Husserl gave it a broader and more radical meaning. In the book “The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology” he wrote: “The word “transcendental philosophy” has become widespread since the time of Kant as a universal designation for universal philosophizing, which is oriented towards its Kantian type.

Transcendental idealism

TRANSCENDENTAL IDEALISM (transzendentaler Idealismus) - philosophical doctrine I. Kant, epistemologically substantiating his system of metaphysics, which he opposed to all other metaphysical systems (see Transcendental). According to Kant, “transcendental philosophy must first resolve the question of the possibility of metaphysics and, therefore, must precede it” (Prolegomena to any future metaphysics that may appear as a science. Works in 6 vols., vol. 4, part 1, M. , 1965, p. 54).

Materialism and idealism

MATERIALISM AND IDEALISM (French materialisme; idealisme) - from the point of view of materialism, two main philosophical directions. the struggle between which affects the development of psychological thought throughout its history. Materialism proceeds from the principle of the primacy of material existence, the secondary nature of the spiritual, mental, which is considered as arbitrary from the external world, independent of the subject and his consciousness.

Absolute Idealism (NFE, 2010)

ABSOLUTE IDEALISM is a trend in British philosophy that arose in the second half of the 19th century, sometimes also called, although not entirely accurately, British neo-Hegelianism. Absolute idealism also had supporters in American philosophy. The immediate predecessors of absolute idealism were the English romantics (primarily S.T. Coleridge), as well as T. Carlyle, who stimulated interest in speculative objective-idealistic metaphysics among professional philosophers. German idealism (and not only in the Hegelian version) first of all became popular in Scotland, where in the mid-19th century. Positivism and utilitarianism were not as influential as in England. IN North America the spread of German idealism was first associated with the activities of a group of transcendentalists, and then was continued by the St. Louis Philosophical Society led by W. Harris...

Idealism (Gritsanov)

IDEALISM (French idealisme from rp. idea - idea) is a term introduced in the 18th century. for the integral designation of philosophical concepts, oriented in the interpretation of the world order and world knowledge towards the semantic and axiological dominance of the spiritual. The first use of the term I. was in 1702 by Leibniz when assessing the philosophy of Plato (in comparison with the philosophy of Epicurus as materialism). It became widespread at the end of the 18th century. after the explicit formulation within the framework of French materialism of the so-called “fundamental question of philosophy” as a question of the relationship between being and consciousness.

Idealism (Kirilenko, Shevtsov)

IDEALISM (from the Greek idea - idea) is one of the main trends in philosophy, whose supporters recognize the spirit, idea, consciousness as the original, primary, substance. The term I. was introduced by the German philosopher Leibniz at the beginning of the 19th century. For Leibniz, Plato was the model and founder of the idealistic trend in philosophy. Pythagoreanism is considered to be the predecessor of Plato's I. The ideal origin was called differently: it was called the idea, consciousness, God, the Absolute, the world will, the absolute idea, the One, the Good.

P.B. Goffman-Kadoshnikov

To understand the current state of biology and the directions of its development, it is necessary to take a quick look at the history of the biological sciences. In all periods of its history, biology has been an arena of struggle between two opposing worldviews - materialism and idealism. Worldview serves as the basis for theoretical generalizations, without which no science can do. Scientists, as F. Engels notes, often believed that their theoretical statements were based only on facts obtained through accurate observations and experiments, and that therefore they were free from the influence of one or another philosophical system. But scientists cannot do without inferences in their conclusions. And if they try to neglect philosophy, they unwittingly fall into captivity of long-outdated philosophical systems.

In the history of science, the struggle of worldviews took various forms, depending on the ideology of the social system. Nevertheless, at all times, philosophers and natural scientists have been divided into two camps depending on how they answered the main question of philosophy - the relationship of nature to spirit, matter to consciousness. Those who argued that spirit existed before nature formed the idealist camp. Those who considered nature to be the main principle joined various schools of materialism.

Biology, like other sciences, arose and developed in connection with the needs of the practical activities of mankind. Modern biology serves as the natural scientific basis of medicine and agriculture. And in the past, the development of biology has always been associated with practice. The first information about living beings began to be accumulated by primitive people in connection with hunting and collecting edible plants. The domestication of animals and the transition to agriculture contributed to the further accumulation of knowledge. Low level productive forces according to V.I. Lenin, was the reason that “... primitive man was completely depressed by the difficulty of existence, the difficulty of fighting nature” (c) - V.I. Lenin. Essays. Ed. 4th, vol. 5, p. 95. Gospolitizdat. M., 1954.) Fear and helplessness in the face of elemental forces were the soil on which the first rudiments of religion arose. The ignorant imagination of ancient people created the idea of ​​omnipotent deities.

With the emergence of slave society in Egypt, India, China and Greece, the productive forces rose to a higher level. The philosophers of the Ionian colonies of Greece (VII-VI centuries BC) systematized the accumulated knowledge about nature and developed a materialistic worldview, which “means simply an understanding of nature as it is, without any extraneous additions, and therefore the Greek philosophers originally had it something taken for granted" (F. Engels. Dialectics of Nature. Gospolitizdat, 1948, p. 159.). They, as F. Engels put it, were “born” dialecticians, viewing the world as a single whole, as an endless process of change and transformation of primary substances.

The Greek philosopher Aristotle (IV century BC), whom F. Engels calls the most comprehensive mind of antiquity, significantly expanded knowledge with his own observations and research. In particular, in his works “The History of Animals” and “On the Parts of Animals,” he described more than 500 species, provided data on their external features, lifestyle, anatomical structure, and created the first attempt to classify animals. His students described 550 plant species. In his worldview, Aristotle fluctuated between materialism and idealism.

The famous doctor of ancient Greece Hippocrates (IV century BC) systematized information about the human body. Studying human anatomy, he made it the basis of treatment. Hippocrates opposed mystical ideas about the cause of diseases and looked for them in the conditions of life, nutrition and work.

The slave system was replaced by feudalism. Religion became the dominant ideology. Science, in the figurative expression of K. Marx, has turned into the handmaiden of theology. The authority of the Holy Scriptures was recognized as superior to human reason. At this time, the culture of the peoples of the East was ahead of European culture. The Tajik philosopher, doctor and encyclopedist Abu Ali Ibn Sina (980-1037), known in Europe under the name of Avicenna, had a huge influence on the development of world culture. About 100 of his works have reached us, including the famous “Canon of Medicine,” which was translated into Latin and for centuries was the main medical guide in all European universities. In his works on issues of natural science and medicine, Avicenna took a spontaneously materialistic position. He developed the idea of ​​eternity and the uncreated nature of the world and was a supporter of the doctrine of causal patterns in nature.

The beginning modern natural science, like all modern history, F. Engels considered the Renaissance. This was the period of the collapse of feudal society. The revolution in the socio-economic structure caused fundamental changes in science. The spiritual dictatorship of the church was broken; natural science began to gradually free itself from theology; secular schools arose; The development of science has taken giant strides. Characterizing this era, F. Engels wrote: “It was the greatest progressive revolution of all that humanity had experienced up to that time, an era that needed titans and which gave birth to titans in strength of thought, passion and character, in versatility and learning” (F. Engels Dialectics of nature. Gospolitizdat, 1948, p. 6.).

As factual data accumulated, natural science began to differentiate, to be divided into separate sciences: mechanics, physics, chemistry, biology, and they, in turn, were split into separate areas and disciplines. The differentiation of science was a positive phenomenon, as it made it possible to penetrate deeper and deeper into the particular laws of nature, knowledge of which is necessary for the development of the productive forces of society. However, along with the dismemberment of science in the minds of natural scientists and philosophers, there was also a dismemberment of nature. There was a false idea that nature consists of separate, unrelated objects and processes. Scientists have ceased to notice the unity of nature and the interconnection of the phenomena occurring in it. But what especially characterizes the views of scientists of this period is their idea of ​​the immutability of nature, the absence of its development. In their minds, nature has always been the way we see it now. All development in nature was denied. This metaphysical view of nature was opposite to the ideas of the Greek philosophers - spontaneous dialecticians, for whom the world was something whole, arising and developing from chaos.

The liberation of natural science from the power of religious and metaphysical ideas occurred slowly. They persisted for a particularly long time in the biological sciences, where until the middle of the 19th century the views of creationists (Latin creator - creator) dominated, who sought to harmonize science with the tenets of religion. Creationist ideas were shared even by such prominent scientists as the founder of plant and animal taxonomy, Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) and the founder of paleontology, Georges Cuvier (1769-1832). For example, Linnaeus wrote: “There are as many species as various forms produced at the beginning of the world by the Almighty." Creationists considered the amazing adaptability of animals and plants to the conditions of their life to be a manifestation of primordial expediency, proving the wisdom of the creator of the Universe.

Already at that time, materialist scientists were fighting creationists. The great Russian scientist M.V. Lomonosov (1711-1765), ridiculing them, wrote: “In vain many people think that everything we see was first created by the creator... Such reasoning is very harmful to the growth of all sciences... although these clever people It’s easy to be philosophers by memorizing three words: God created it this way” (M. V. Lomonosov. Selected philosophical works. M., 1940, p. 214.).

Materialistic views found their way with difficulty. In the XVII, XVIII centuries materialism became the ideology of the bourgeoisie, its weapon in the fight against feudalism. The materialism of this time was mechanistic, since of all the sciences only mechanics had achieved significant development by this time. In biology, which, according to the figurative expression of F. Engels, was still in swaddling clothes at that time and could not provide a scientific explanation of life processes, mechanistic materialism led to the interpretation of the organism as a machine. The concept of “animal-machine” was first introduced by the French philosopher R. Descartes (1596-1650). Developing this concept, the physician and philosopher J. O. Lamettrie (1709-1751) created the doctrine of “man-machine”. He denied the existence of an immaterial soul and proved the close dependence of the human psyche on the body.

Mechanists, being right in recognizing the primacy of matter, did not notice the qualitative specificity of living things. For them, the body was a sum of parts, the vital activity of which can be entirely explained by the laws of physics and chemistry. In fact, biology also has special purely biological laws and theories, for example, the theory of the cellular structure of organisms, the laws of the struggle for existence and natural selection, laws of transmission of hereditary characteristics in generations, etc. All these patterns cannot be reduced only to physical and chemical processes.

According to our modern ideas, the laws of physics and chemistry have especially great importance when the phenomena of life are studied at the molecular level. But studying the same phenomena at the cellular level and whole organism makes it possible to detect the natural dependence of these phenomena on the specific biological characteristics of the organism, for example on structural components cells, on the presence of structural features and relationships between organs and, finally, on the relationships of organisms in biological communities. Reducing the phenomena of life only to the laws of physics and chemistry, mechanists were powerless in explaining the phenomena of life.

Both the materialists and idealists of this period were metaphysicians. They saw nature only as a collection of unrelated, absolutely unchangeable, frozen objects. Explaining the reasons for the dominance of metaphysics, F. Engels wrote: “It was necessary to investigate things before one could begin to study processes. One must first know what this thing so that you can deal with the changes that are taking place in it" (F. Engels. Ludwig Feuerbach. Gospolitizdat, 1949, p. 38.).

By the end of the 18th century, the metaphysical method began to seriously impede the further development of science. There is an urgent need to study the natural connections of objects, their emergence, change and development. Only this approach made it possible to scientifically understand nature. The first hole in the metaphysical worldview was made back in 1755 by the philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). In his General Natural History and Theory of the Heavens, the entire solar system and the Earth appeared as something developed in time.

However, in order to break the metaphysical worldview that was widespread at that time, major discoveries were needed in all major areas of natural science. F. Engels pointed out the decisive importance of three great discoveries of the 19th century: the law of conservation of matter and energy, cell theory and the evolutionary theory of Charles Darwin.

The time of publication of Darwin's main work - 1859 - was a major milestone in the history of biological sciences. Having collected enormous factual material, Darwin provided irrefutable evidence of the development organic world, and later proved the animal origin of man. Darwin's theory caused a revolutionary revolution in the biological sciences. When assessing its significance, two fundamentally important points need to be emphasized.

• Firstly, Darwinism dealt a severe blow to the metaphysical view - the entire organic world, all species of animals and plants now appeared as a result of the process of development of living nature. Darwin's teaching established the historical method in the biological sciences.
• Secondly, Darwinism proved the incompatibility of scientific knowledge of nature with religious ideas. Creationism, which dominated science before the publication of Darwin's works, ceased to exist.

Assessing the significance of Darwin’s teachings, V.I. Lenin wrote: “How Darwin put an end to the view of animal and plant species as unconnected, random, “created by God” and unchangeable, and for the first time put biology on a completely scientific basis, establishing changeability species and continuity between them - so Marx put an end to the view of society as a mechanical aggregate of individuals, and for the first time put sociology on a scientific basis..." (V.I. Lenin. Works. 4th ed., vol. 1 , p. 124. Gospolitizdat, 1941).

At the very first moment of the appearance of Darwin's teachings, it became clear that the materialistic core of Darwinism - the doctrine of the development of living nature - is in antagonistic contradiction with idealism and metaphysics. Reactionary scientists and clergy made every effort to refute Darwinism. Government officials banned teaching and persecuted defenders and propagators of Darwin's teachings. Leading scientists from many countries took part in the defense and development of Darwin's teachings: in England - T. Huxley, in Germany - E. Haeckel and F. Muller, in the USA - Aza Gray, in Russia - I.M. Sechenov, I.I. Mechnikov, A. O. Kovalevsky, V. O. Kovalevsky, K. A. Timiryazev and others. Darwinism was established in the conditions of the most acute struggle of advanced scientists against the forces of obscurantism and reaction.

After the collapse of creationism, idealism in biology took on new forms. The most important of them is known as neovitalism. Its origins were the idealistic (vitalistic) ideas of some philosophers of the ancient world and a number of scientists of the Middle Ages. Vitalists believed that the basis of the phenomena of life is a special immaterial principle, standing above the organism, existing before its material structures and directing their activity. Various names have been invented to refer to this fictitious beginning. Biologist G. Treviranus (1776-1837) called it vital force (vis vitalis), physiologist I. Müller (1801-1858) called it organic force. According to Müller, this creative intelligent force “manifests itself in accordance with a strict pattern; it exists in the embryo before its future organs arise, and it is this force that produces them, without which the idea of ​​the whole could not be realized.” The vitalists did not even attempt to determine the nature of these forces.

The founder of neovitalism, G. Driesch (1867-1941), tried to revive the idea of ​​​​an immaterial life principle, taking Aristotle’s term “entelechy” to designate it. According to G. Driesch, entelechy is neither matter nor special kind energy, it is outside of space and only acts in space. It is not difficult to see that the idea of ​​entelechy, like the idea of ​​vital force, has nothing in common with science and leads to the path of superstition and mysticism. Nevertheless, the struggle against vitalism from the standpoint of primitive mechanistic materialism turned out to be untenable, since mechanistic materialism itself could not explain the complex specifics of life phenomena.

Both mechanistic materialism and idealism revealed their limitations more and more clearly. There was an urgent need to extend the idea of ​​development and interconnection of phenomena to all areas of natural science and complete the transition to the reconstruction of the general picture of nature in its eternal movement and development with mutual transformations of the forms of motion of matter. But the ideology of bourgeois society could not be the basis for the further progress of science.

The working class, born in the depths of capitalism, began to enter the historical arena. The basis for the further development of sciences was the philosophy of dialectical materialism created by the ideologists of the proletariat K. Marx, F. Engels and V. I. Lenin. Just as at one time mechanistic materialism was the ideology of the emerging bourgeoisie and its ideological weapon in the fight against feudalism, so dialectical materialism became the ideological weapon of the new progressive class - the proletariat in its struggle against the worldview of moribund capitalism. Dialectical materialism, as a science about the most general laws of development of nature, society and thinking, generalizes the results of specific sciences and illuminates the ways of their further development. The works of F. Engels "Antiduring" and "Dialectics of Nature" are devoted to the main problems of the philosophy of natural science.

V. I. Lenin’s work “Materialism and Empirio-Criticism” (1908) marked a new era in the development of dialectical materialism. In this work, V.I. Lenin gave a philosophical generalization of the discoveries of the natural sciences for the entire period after the death of F. Engels. Dialectical materialism freed natural science from the philosophical limitations that characterize the science of bourgeois society.

Pre-Marxian materialism was predominantly contemplative. K. Marx shifted the focus to transforming the world. “Philosophers,” he wrote, “only explained the world in different ways, but the point is to change it” (K. Marx and F. Engels. Works. Vol. IV, Gospolitizdat, 1931, p. 591.).

The idea of ​​transforming the organic world and controlling biological phenomena becomes the leading idea of ​​the Soviet biological science. It provides the basis for the closest connection between biology and practice. Soviet scientists learn about biological phenomena not in the process of passive contemplation, but in practical, transformative activity.

A reflection of the philosophical concept of transformation is the famous motto of I. V. Michurin: “We cannot expect favors from nature; taking them from her is our task.”

Speaking about modern physiology, it should be noted that its main task is to control the functions of the body. For several centuries, physiology studied the functions of all organs of the human and animal body, and only the functions of the cerebral cortex remained almost unexplored. Even the ways and methods by which one could begin to study the activity of the higher part of the brain, which is the organ of thought, were unknown. The development of this most important problem on a strictly materialistic basis is the indisputable merit of I. P. Pavlov.

In zoology and botany, tasks are no longer limited to describing animals and plants; a new goal is being set - to provide a scientific basis for the transformation of flora and fauna. Zoologists study the issues of acclimatization of animals and resettle them in new territories. Ichthyologists are developing the scientific basis for the rational use of the country's fish resources, which makes it possible to increase fish production.

We have analyzed only individual examples showing that the Marxist idea of ​​transformation deeply permeates the most various areas Soviet biological science.

Since the second quarter of the 20th century, natural sciences have made a huge step forward. Physics and chemistry developed especially quickly. At the same time, the tendency to connect various fields of natural science with each other has intensified. Frontier sciences arose: physical chemistry, chemical physics, biophysics, biochemistry, molecular biology, etc.

The development of frontier sciences contributed to the further reconstruction of a holistic picture of the world in its unity and diversity of interconnected forms of matter movement. The metaphysical tearing of nature into parts was increasingly losing its ground. The development of physics and chemistry has given biologists ample opportunities to use new and sophisticated research methods. An electron microscope allows you to penetrate into the world of submicroscopic structures, examine the finest structure of a living cell, study in detail the morphology of bacteria and examine the structure of viruses.

• The method of labeled atoms opened up fundamentally new opportunities for studying chemical processes in the body and made it possible to deeply study life as a continuous process of synthesis and decomposition of substances.
• The method of histological chemistry (histochemistry) makes it possible to use precise study techniques chemical structure living matter in cells and tissues.
• The differential centrifugation method makes it possible to isolate individual parts of cells from the cell mass: their nuclei, microscopically small mitochondria, ribosomes invisible under a microscope, and “pure” protoplasm devoid of formed particles. This method of cell research has been widely used recently and allows one to study the details of metabolism in a cell.

Methods using ionizing radiation (X-rays and gamma rays) are becoming increasingly important. Exposure to rays penetrating deeply into the body has opened the way for the study of a number of important issues developmental physiology and genetics. Irradiation methods are also gaining great importance in practical medicine for the diagnosis and treatment of human diseases.

It is impossible to list all the new methods and techniques borrowed by biologists from related natural sciences. Using these methods gives modern biology a huge number of new facts that need to be systematized, evaluated and understood. Generalization of new factual material often leads scientists to directly opposite conclusions and conclusions. This shows that no matter how accurate the research methods are, the progress of science does not depend only on them. Worldview is crucial. It allows you to find the right path among a huge mass of conflicting data.

In modern biology, as before, dialectical materialism fights on two fronts: against idealism and vulgar mechanistic materialism.

The rapid introduction of physical and chemical research techniques has caused a new wave of mechanistic theories in modern biology. Advances in the study of the chemical and physical side of life phenomena give mechanists confidence that the phenomena of life can be entirely reduced to the phenomena of physics and chemistry. In particular, mechanists argue that the heredity of organisms comes down to the chemistry of the substance of heredity, that the evolution of organisms comes down to the selection of protein molecules (biochemical evolution), and thinking - to the physical and chemical processes of the brain.

Even F. Engels, criticizing the mechanists of the 19th century, wrote that “...organic life is impossible without mechanical, molecular, chemical, thermal, electrical, etc. changes. But the presence of these side forms does not exhaust the essence of the main form (the movement of matter. - P.G.-K.) in each case under consideration. We will undoubtedly someday “reduce” thinking experimentally to molecular and chemical movements in the brain; but does this exhaust the essence of thinking?” (F. Engels. Dialectics of Nature. Gospolitizdat, 1948, p. 199.).

Mechanists do not see that the specificity of life lies in the special, qualitatively unique interaction of material particles, and they reduce the whole to the sum of parts, qualitative differences to purely quantitative ones, higher forms of the movement of matter to lower ones.

Modern idealism often appears in disguised form. Without speaking openly about the immaterial beginning of life, idealists continue to absolutize the specifics of life. They deny the importance of chemicals and physical research to understand the essence of life and do not notice that specific physical and chemical processes in the body constitute an essential aspect of life phenomena. This leads them to a metaphysical disconnect biological form movement of matter from chemical and physical. Nature is again being torn into disconnected parts.

Idealists now, as before, separate life from its material carrier - protein, thinking - from the brain, heredity - from its biochemical basis. Thus, in Smets’s idealistic philosophy (holism), the integrity of the organism is considered in isolation from its physico-chemical and structural-physiological basis and is elevated to an absolute.

A scientific solution to the problems of modern biology is possible only on the basis of the philosophy of dialectical materialism.

From the point of view of dialectical materialism, the phenomena of life represent a special form of the movement of matter, which cannot be reduced to purely physical and chemical phenomena. The main manifestations of life - metabolism, irritability, reproduction, heredity and variability - are specific properties of living matter that are not inherent in bodies inanimate nature. These properties arose, developed and improved in the process of evolution of living beings. Organisms have a complex structure and high orderliness of all processes occurring in them. At any moment, the body undergoes many different chemical transformations and physical phenomena, but all of them are strictly coordinated by the body as an integral system. The coordination of life processes is carried out by a variety of regulatory mechanisms, enzyme systems that direct chemical transformations along a certain path, hormones that regulate many biological processes; in animals, the leading role in the regulation and coordination of life processes belongs to the central nervous system and humoral factors.

The completeness of knowledge necessary to control biological processes can be achieved only if the phenomena of life are studied not only at the level of the organism as an integral system, but also at the cellular and molecular level. For example, when studying the main property of life - metabolism - it is necessary to study: the general coordinating influence of the body, carried out through the chemical and nervous regulation of metabolic processes (the level of the whole organism), the role of the cell and its structural parts in the synthesis and breakdown of organic compounds (cellular and subcellular level ) and, finally, the properties of individual chemical substances, for example enzymes that catalyze metabolic reactions (molecular level).

The study of biological phenomena at the molecular level cannot be contrasted with the study of the same phenomenon at the level of cells and organisms. It only complements and expands the knowledge of various aspects of the biological process. In connection with the study of life processes at the molecular level, a new discipline emerged in the second half of our century - molecular biology. Its task is to study the properties of biologically important molecules. We must not forget, however, that the properties of these chemical compounds are realized only in the body as an integral system. The biological properties of an organism determine the specifics of life processes.

Idealism- an anti-scientific direction in philosophy, which, when resolving the main question of philosophy: the question of the relationship of thinking to being, in contrast to materialism, takes consciousness, spirit as primary and denies that consciousness is a product of matter. Idealism considers the world to be an embodiment. “consciousness”, “absolute idea”, “world spirit”. According to idealism, only our consciousness really exists, and the material world, existence, nature is only a product of consciousness, sensations, ideas, concepts.

The idealistic trend in philosophy falls into two main varieties: subjective idealism and “objective” idealism. Idealism, subjective, takes as the basis of the existing sensation, idea, consciousness of an individual, subject. This type of idealism is associated primarily with the name of the English bishop (see). Subjective idealism denies that behind sensations there are real objects independent of humans that act on our senses and cause certain sensations in us. This point of view inevitably leads to solipsism. Social practice, which at every step convinces us that human sensations, perceptions, and ideas reflect really existing objects, convincingly shows the anti-scientific nature of subjective idealism as one of the forms of idealistic philosophy.

In contrast to subjective idealism, “objective” idealism takes as the basis of what exists not personal, not subjective consciousness, but some mystical, “objective” consciousness, consciousness in general: “world mind”, “universal will”, etc., existing according to in the opinion of “objective” idealists, independently, independently of the person. In fact, there is and cannot be any objective consciousness, that is, one that exists independently of people. Idealism is closely related to religion and leads one way or another to the idea of ​​God.

Idealism is a faithful ally and assistant of religion. Pointing out that idealism is clericalism, Lenin emphasizes at the same time that “philosophical idealism is the road to clericalism through one of the shades of the infinitely complex knowledge of (dialectical) man.” Idealism has its roots in public life, as well as in the process of cognition itself. In the very process of cognition, in the process of generalizing phenomena, there is the possibility of separation of consciousness from reality, the possibility of transforming general concepts into an absolute, divorced from matter and deified.

So, for example, speaking about the ratio of actually existing apples, pears, strawberries, almonds and their general concept“fruit”, the “objective” idealist considers this concept (“fruit”) abstracted from reality to be the basis of existence itself: these apples, pears, strawberries, almonds. In the same way, subjective idealism, on the basis that without sensations it is impossible to know objects, turns sensation into the only reality, denying the existence of the external world.
The social conditions for the emergence of philosophical idealism are the separation of mental labor from physical labor, the emergence of classes and exploitation. The idealistic explanation of natural phenomena was developed primarily by the ideologists of the reactionary classes. Therefore, as a rule, philosophical idealism played a reactionary role in the history of society: it fought against progressive forces, against democracy and science.

Idealism originated in ancient times. The representative of ancient Greek “objective” idealism was (see), who expressed the interests of the slave-owning aristocracy, an ardent opponent ancient democracy. Plato declared that the real world is a special, supersensible world of ideas, and the world of real things is a world of shadows, a world of pale reflections of ideas. Feudal society was dominated by idealistic religious scholasticism, which turned philosophy into the handmaiden of theology. During the period of the decomposition of feudalism and the development of bourgeois relations, the revolutionary bourgeoisie of countries that were more economically developed (England, Holland) put forward a number of materialist philosophers ( - see, - see, - see, etc.). During the era of the establishment of capitalist relations in England, the forms of the struggle of idealism against materialism of English philosophers were Berkeley's subjective idealism and skepticism (see).

As an aristocratic reaction to the French revolution and French materialism in the 18th century. in Germany takes shape in the 18th century. and in the first third of the 19th century. idealistic philosophy: (see), (see), (see), (see). Hegel brought philosophical idealism to its extreme expression: but to Hegel, everything is an idea or the other being of an idea. Hegel was the last representative of that idealist philosophy, in which, despite idealism, there were some progressive elements (the “rational grain” of Hegelian dialectics).

Russian materialists of the 18th and 19th centuries played a major role in the struggle against philosophical idealism. - (see), (see), (see), (see), (see), (see), (see), (see), etc.

In its further development, idealistic philosophy degenerates, borrowing the most reactionary and mystical theories from the philosophical systems of the past. Idealist philosophy takes on a particularly reactionary character in the era of imperialism. IN late XIX and the beginning of the 20th century. The empirio-criticism of Mach and Avenarius, who revived Berkeleyism, became widespread.

Subjecting Machism to crushing criticism, Lenin wrote that “behind the epistemological scholasticism of empirio-criticism one cannot help but see the struggle of parties in philosophy, a struggle that ultimately expresses the tendencies and ideology of hostile classes modern society" But never before has idealistic philosophy been in such a state of insanity and decay as modern bourgeois philosophy. Hitlerism, based on an idealistic philosophy, showed what a mess anti-scientific, reactionary views on the development of society can and have led entire nations to. This is also evidenced by the idealistic philosophy of the ideologists of modern imperialists of the USA and other countries following in the footsteps of Hitlerism.

Renegades and traitors to the working class have always used and are using bourgeois philosophy as an ideological weapon to justify revisionism and opportunism. Defending the idea of ​​class cooperation and fighting against the idea of ​​proletarian revolution, revisionism rejected materialist dialectics, trying to eclectically combine the teachings of Marx with one or another idealist philosophy. Modern opportunists from the camp of right-wing socialists openly preach philosophical idealism and bend over backwards to discredit the all-conquering Marxism-Leninism that they hate. But all attempts by idealists to defend their reactionary cause are in vain. The progress of science and the victory of the forces of democracy and socialism lead to the fact that philosophical idealism is losing one position after another. The death of capitalism will mean collapse social foundations idealism.

In explanation social phenomena all philosophers before Marx and Engels, including pre-Marxian materialists, took an idealistic position, arguing that the main drivers of history are educated people, “heroes” who create history without the people, that the people are a passive, inert force, unable to rise to the level of history activities. These idealistic positions were occupied by Russian populists - see, all kinds of petty-bourgeois socialists, anarchists, etc.

Modern bourgeois philosophers, in order to prolong the existence of dying capitalism, use the most reactionary idealistic theories - racism, Catholicism, etc. Marx and Engels expelled idealism from its last refuge - from the field of science about society. Marxism pointed out the true driving forces social development, discovering that the method of production of material goods is the main force of social development, that the creator of history is the people, the working masses. The founders of Marxism were the first to create a consistently materialist worldview that was completely hostile to idealism. The emergence of Marxist philosophical materialism meant a whole revolution in the centuries-old history of the development of materialist philosophy.

What does idealism mean in a philosophical sense? The definition of this important concept in science seems confusing and vague. Let's try to explain it accessible language, the most in simple words. Idealism in philosophy is...umm...half an apple, if all philosophy is represented as a whole apple. What is the other half? And the other half is materialism. These two halves make up a whole apple - the apple of philosophy.

Philosophers from all countries and peoples, from all times and generations argue about which half is better and which is more important. The main question of philosophy is what comes first, being or consciousness? Idea or matter? Is it important to think a lot or work a lot?

Another option is the unification of two halves, just like: recognition of their equality and equal importance - this direction is called dualism, it tries to reconcile two opposing sides.
A clever definition from a philosophy dictionary not only explains nothing, but, on the contrary, confuses us even more with additional incomprehensible words. And yet... still... let's figure it out.

Idealism as a philosophical concept

The word itself, as a philosophical term, comes from the word idea. It is important here not to confuse it with the word ideal. Ideal is the desire for something better, perfect. The concept of ideal has nothing to do with philosophical idealism.

This is a philosophical teaching, this is a teaching about spirit, spirituality, consciousness, thinking. Thought, the work of the human brain, the way a person perceives the world around him - this is the basis on which it is built.
Idealist philosophers believe that the human spirit is determined by a person’s life, his worldview, and most importantly, life (being). In contrast to materialism, they believe that a person’s ideas and thoughts shape his environment, his material world.

What is human consciousness, how does it affect perception? Is there a universal mind that shapes materiality? How do the consciousness of an individual person relate to the universal, all-encompassing mind? These questions were and are being asked by idealists, and constant attempts are being made to comprehend them and get answers to them.

Main directions

Idealist philosophers are not united in their understanding of the world, and within the idealistic philosophical movement they separated.

Supporters of objective idealism recognize the reality of the existence of the material world, the reality of the existence of the consciousness of each individual and the existence of a universal mind, an idea, a certain intelligent substance that shapes everything that exists and influences development human consciousness and on the development of the material world.

Subjective idealists They believe that everything depends only on the thinking and perception of the individual himself. The inner content of a person, his thoughts, his relationships determine his reality. For each person, according to subjectivists, there is his own reality, which is determined by his ability to perceive and think. Sensations and their combinations determine the objects of the real, visible and tangible world. You can put it simply - no sensations, no world, no reality.

Stages of formation

The history of the emergence of idealism as a philosophical movement is long and complex. Its development is a unique reflection of the social development of a certain era.

The main forms of this teaching, which subsequently developed, arose back in Ancient Greece. Plato is considered the father of objective idealism. His “Dialogues” voice the ideas of the limitations of the human mind and the idea of ​​​​the existence of a universal, universal mind, the “mind of the gods.”

The medieval version of this direction of philosophy developed in the direction of assimilating the Greek model. God is described at this time as the idea of ​​absolute truth, absolute good. At that time, views independent of the church were severely punished, and philosophy was built under the control of the church. Bright representative this period - Thomas Aquinas.

Subjective idealism developed later, in the 18th century, when the possibility of self-awareness of a person as an individual arose. Representatives of this direction are Fichte, Berkeley, Hume.
He reached his peak in the German classical philosophy late 18th early 19th century - substantiation of idealistic dialectics, the work of Kant, Hegel, Feuerbach.

Modern version This teaching is represented by many directions: existentialism, intuitionism, neopositivism, etc. Each of these directions is actively developing and formulated into entire separate philosophical systems.

Each stage in the development of this teaching is a huge layer of human intellectual work, a new understanding of the structure of the world. This is not abstract theorizing, but a basis that helps to better understand the existing reality and bring changes to it.

Best regards, Andrey Puchkov