Basic areas of philosophy and philosophical disciplines. The concept and subject of philosophy as a science What is philosophy what is its subject

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 the qualitative uniqueness of 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 is 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, the methodology of 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 of 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 of discourse, in cognition and in the structures of consciousness and knowledge is revealed

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”). The most famous work is “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 adopted son of 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.”

GBOU SPO "Volgograd Technological College"

Tutorial on

discipline "Fundamentals of Philosophy"

Volgograd

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. Man in the face of 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. Creating a new system of 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 is explained by the extremely weak development of 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 lies in the extremely general nature of 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 is a philosophical method that 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, and comprehend its hidden meaning. Often the object of hermeneutics is 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 a teaching is the dialectical materialism of 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?

Hello, dear readers!

The subject of philosophy, foundations, definition, functions, history, concepts, unsolved problems, epistemology, empiricism, rationalism and other important issues of philosophy. This is the topic for a series of articles that I prepared specifically for my modern, progressive, extremely busy readers. All articles are short and contain information in a concentrated form.

I know how we are all squeezed into tight deadlines for our projects, urgent personal matters, and various kinds of unforeseen circumstances. And with our rhythm like this, we still do not give up hope that we will still be able to find time to learn more, read more...

Especially for those who are very busy but want to know more, I have already prepared a series of articles on the topic “Contemporary Art”. This series of articles will be devoted to the topic "Philosophy: history, basic concepts and problems of philosophy."

From this, the 1st article in the series, you will learn about what philosophy studies, what basic questions of philosophy are still open.

Here is a list of all the articles in the series: Modern philosophy Classical German philosophy Russian philosophy Philosophy of the Enlightenment Philosophy of the late 19th - early 20th centuries Philosophy of the 20th century

Subject of philosophy

Subject of study of philosophy is everything that exists in the world. The goal of philosophy is not to determine the external boundaries between all components of the world, but to determine their internal connections and unity between them.

The purpose of philosophyis attracting a person to the most perfect values, the highest ideals, taking him out of the ordinary sphere, giving his life true meaning.

The main goal of philosophy- find the meaning of life and the highest principle.

Other useful articles:

Definition of philosophy

Philosophy is the science of knowledge of the world and man, of knowledge of the universal laws of development of the world and society, of knowledge and explanation of moral values ​​and the meaning of existence, of knowledge of the process of knowledge itself.

Since ancient times, philosophy has been looking for answers to the questions: “What is truth?”, “Is it possible to know the world?”, “Is consciousness or matter primary? ", "What is Man?", "Is there God? ", "Why do we live?" and others.

Word"f" philosophy" comes from the ancient Greek words phileo - love and sophia - wisdom. Philosophy literally means love of wisdom.

Sections of philosophy

Philosophy includes sections:

• Ontology or metaphysics- the doctrine of the existence of the universe;
• Epistemology- the doctrine of knowledge;
• Logic- the doctrine of thinking;
• Ethics- the doctrine of morality;
• Aesthetics- the doctrine of beauty;
• Social philosophy and philosophy of history- the doctrine of society;
• Philosophical anthropology- the doctrine of man;
• History of philosophy.

Fundamental problems of philosophy

To the fundamental problems of philosophy that have not yet been resolved include:

• problem of being— the meaning of human existence, man’s relationship to God, the idea of ​​the soul, its death and immortality;
• problem of cognition— can our thinking comprehend the world objectively and truly;
• problem of values- morality and aesthetics,
• problem of dialectics- the world is static or changing.
• the problem of the essence of space and time.

Fundamental questions of philosophy

In modern philosophy such questions remain unresolved. fundamental issues: Is spirit or matter primary? Is there a God? Is the soul immortal? Is the world infinite or finite, how does the Universe develop? What is Man, what is the hidden meaning of human history? What is truth and error? What is good and evil? and others.

Functions of philosophy

Philosophy performs the following functions:

• Worldview function- responsible for the conceptual explanation of the world;
• Methodological function- responsible for the most general methods of understanding reality;
• Prognostic function— is responsible for formulating hypotheses about trends in the development of consciousness and matter, the world and man);
• Critical function— is responsible for the principle of “questioning everything”;
• Axiological function- is responsible for assessing the object that is being studied from different points of view: moral, social, aesthetic, etc.);
• Social function- is responsible for performing a dual task - and explanation social existence, and assistance in its material and spiritual change).

In the next article we will look at the question of when and where philosophy originated. I'll tell you briefly about the history of the emergence and achievements of philosophical thought in Ancient Greece.

I hope you liked the article on the topic “ Subject of philosophy, foundations, definition, functions, history" and you will want to study more deeply this incredibly beautiful, fascinating and useful area of ​​human knowledge! I assure you, philosophy can become very useful for you, to the point that you reconsider your system of values ​​and goals.

I highly recommend these to you 2 articles on philosophy with video lectures by a modern philosopher, in which he talks about practical advice from ancient Greek philosophers that will greatly help you in life not to make unnecessary movements and useless actions:

Here is one of the lectures " How to live correctly - wise advice from the philosophers of Ancient Greece":

I wish you all inspiration, always a positive attitude and a lot of strength for all your plans!

A little about science as such

If we consider the definition of science ad hoc, i.e. in relation to a given case, a given specific situation, then in terms of content science can be defined as knowledge that comprehends reality at the level of law, i.e., the ultimate essence of knowable reality, because behind the law there is no longer any reality.

The form (structure) of scientific knowledge includes:

1. principles;
2. laws;
3. categories;
4. concepts.

Principle- initial, basic position, foundation of science. As a rule, a specific scientific system seeks to reduce the number of principles necessary and sufficient for the formation of its theoretical framework to a minimum. A principle is knowledge compressed to the limit, which in its development and unfolding forms the entire “body” of science, determines its parameters, specificity, and quality.

Category- this is a philosophical, extremely general concept that captures an essential property, connection, relationship inherent in phenomena in all spheres of reality. Categories form the basis of the language of philosophy and determine the specifics of philosophical knowledge. Categories are formed as universal properties, connections and relationships are identified. The specificity of philosophical categories lies in their universal nature: “being”, “quantity”, “quality”, “law”, etc.

Concept- the unity of essential properties, connections and relationships of objects or phenomena reflected in thinking; a thought or system of thoughts that identifies and generalizes objects of a certain class according to general and, in their entirety, specific characteristics for them.

Concept of philosophy

Philosophy- this is the science of universal properties, connections, relationships inherent in phenomena in all spheres of reality (inanimate, living nature, society, thinking processes); This is synthesized knowledge in which the achievements of all human culture are expressed in a generalized form.

Otherwise, philosophy is the science of the universal laws of development of nature, society and thinking.

Comment

The word “philosophy” in the ancient Greek world meant the entire body of knowledge that people possessed.

In the modern understanding, philosophy does not include all knowledge: it is, first of all, a system of theoretical knowledge. Philosophy is a theoretical understanding of reality.

Considering universal connections and relationships, philosophy gives a general idea of ​​the world, of being, of man and his relationship to the world. The range of philosophical problems is directly related to the basic questions of human existence:

• • What is peace? Is it regular or chaotic?
  • Who is this person? What place does it occupy in the world? What is his attitude towards the world?
  • Do we know the world?

Comment

Some scientists (see, for example, Rezhep S.V., Svechnikov V.P.) note that philosophy does not represent an integral, unified teaching, unified general principles for philosophers of all countries of the world. Philosophy appears as a set of various philosophical teachings, various philosophical trends, philosophical schools, philosophical systems. Each philosophical doctrine, direction, school, system forms its own philosophical base, its own philosophical concepts, ensuring the unity of its philosophical teaching.

Various philosophical teachings compete with each other, justifying their positions, and criticize other schools and directions.

Historically, each philosophical system presupposes a critical overcoming of previous philosophical systems. And although different philosophical teachings consider essentially the same problems, the vision of these problems and their theoretical solution in different teachings turn out to be different. And not one of these teachings or trends is rejected over time by all philosophers.

Each of them has its supporters, each of them exists because they proceed from such universal properties, such universal provisions that cannot be verified by practice, and can neither be confirmed nor refuted. They are accepted as initial ones on faith.

The difference between philosophy and other sciences and forms of theoretical understanding of reality:

1. 1. considers the world as a whole, from the point of view of universal properties, connections and relationships (is of an extremely general theoretical nature);
   2. understands the nature of the world and establishes the reasons for its development;
   3. studies the most general laws of nature, society and thinking;
   4. explores ways and means of understanding the world and its transformation (contains basic, fundamental ideas and concepts that underlie other sciences).

Specifics of philosophical knowledge:

• • is knowledge about the universal properties, connections, relationships inherent in phenomena in all spheres of reality (inanimate, living nature, society, thought processes), gives a general view of the world, establishing general principles and patterns of its manifestation;
  • is synthesized knowledge in which the achievements of all human culture are expressed in a generalized form;
  • largely subjective (carries the imprint of the worldviews of individual philosophers);
  • is a set of objective knowledge and social values ​​(moral ideals) of its time (is influenced by the era);
  • has the quality of reflection (thought turning to itself);
  • inexhaustible in its essence;
  • limited by the cognitive abilities of the knowing subject (human).

Subject and object of philosophy

Introduction

Science object- this is a fragment of reality that is studied by this science. For example, economic reality is the object of study of economic theory, sociology, social philosophy, and history. It is clear that each of the sciences takes its own slice of economic reality, but in principle they study the same thing.

Science subject- this is an object of science, given to us through the prism of its categorical-conceptual apparatus, a specific vision of its object inherent only in this science. The subject of science is any specific area of ​​reality, dissected and presented to the subject through the categorical-conceptual apparatus of science. The subject of science is the result of research activities.

Object of philosophy as a science - reality (the world) and man in the totality of their complex relationships. Thus, philosophy studies the world as a whole, the world as a whole; it explores man's relationship to the world, the world taken in relation to him.

Subject of philosophy - the most general laws of the development of nature, society and human thinking, developed on the basis and in the process of studying the object of its research.

Sometimes the subject of philosophical research is understood as a certain area of ​​reality or a range of problems studied by philosophers at a given point in time or in a certain era, or an area of ​​study of a certain philosophical science.

Comment

The subject and object of study of philosophy are constantly changing: they are simultaneously narrowing and expanding. They are narrowed because philosophy is constantly freeing itself from problems that are not within its competence. If, say, in the era of antiquity, philosophy is syncretic knowledge about virtually all problems of the universe (from space to medicine), then already in modern times we find a fairly clear differentiation of the sciences. The noted tendency to narrow the subject of philosophy really exists. That is why, for example, formal logic and psychology emerged from the structure of philosophical knowledge and gained independence as non-philosophical disciplines.

But at the same time, the subject of philosophy is expanding: more and more new facets, aspects of reality are being discovered that require philosophical understanding. This is how branches of philosophical knowledge appeared, having their own clear subject area:

• • axiology (philosophical doctrine of values ​​and assessments);
  • semiotics (the study of knowledge and meaning);
  • philosophical hermeneutics (the study of understanding and interpretation).

The structure of philosophy as a science

There is no single point of view on this issue.

It is traditionally customary to divide philosophical knowledge into the following areas:

1. 1. ontology (the doctrine of being), which includes the doctrines of:
      • about the essence of being (metaphysics);
      • about the forms of being (matter, movement, space, time);
      • about ways of being (natural, social, material, spiritual, human existence, society).
   2. epistemology (the study of the knowledge of being: the beginning of knowledge, its stages, levels, determinants, the object and subject of knowledge; the central problem is the problem of truth);
   3. social philosophy(philosophical doctrine about society):
      • philosophy of economics, politics, culture, history;
      • philosophical anthropology.

Comment

Such a theoretical scheme is an “ideal type”, a kind of averaged invariant. In the real existence of many philosophical schools and directions, this invariant is constantly deformed, for example:

• the philosophy of M. Heidegger is primarily ontology, epistemological problems here are clearly of a subordinate nature;
• E. Husserl’s phenomenology is reduced to questions of epistemology, and the problems of being itself are “excluded” from the cognitive process;
• postpositivists (I. Lakatos, P. Feyerabend, T. Kuhn) reduce all philosophy not even to epistemology, but to epistemology - the doctrine of scientific knowledge. Moreover, in the epistemology of postpositivists, the main, central epistemological problem - the problem of truth - is practically absent.

In addition, the main question of ontology - what is being - is understood by various philosophers in a radically opposite way: in Marxist philosophy, being is interpreted as matter moving in space and time, in Heidegger’s fundamental ontology, being is seen as “Dasein” - being subject here and now.

But the place of truth can be indicated even in this diversity: it, as the famous Russian philosopher A.F. Losev noted, is always somewhere between the expressed positions. True, every philosopher is subjectively convinced (and this is also normal) that the truth lies in his own concept, since without such conviction it is pointless to engage in philosophy.

The structure of philosophical knowledge also includes specialized knowledge: philosophical problems of natural science, humanities and social sciences, social cognition. Philosophical disciplines include ethics (the philosophical doctrine of morality), aesthetics (the doctrine of beauty, the aesthetic properties of reality), philosophy of religion and atheism.

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 methods. 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; the positive meaning lies in the orientation towards the hidden potentialities of being.

Dialectics as a method can be interpreted in different ways: either as a teaching about the 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 the external conditions of his work also matter. 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?