Science is a form of social consciousness, a special type of cognitive activity. It is aimed at developing objective, systematically organized and substantiated knowledge about the world.
In scientific activity, any objects can be transformed - fragments of nature, social subsystems and society as a whole, states of human consciousness, therefore all of them can become subjects of scientific research. Science studies them as objects that function and develop according to their own natural laws. It can study a person as a subject of activity, but also as a special object.
Science as knowledge
Science as knowledge is an expanded association of cognitive units aimed at revealing objective laws.
From the point of view of the knowledge that forms science, it is not holistic. This manifests itself in two ways:
First, it includes substantively incompatible alternative and intensely competing theories. This incompatibility can be overcome by synthesizing alternative theories.
Secondly, science is a peculiar combination scientific and non-scientific knowledge: it includes its own history containing alternative knowledge.
The foundations of scientificity, allowing to distinguish between science and non-scientific knowledge: adequacy, absence of flaws, gaps, inconsistencies. The criteria for the scientific nature of knowledge depend on various spheres and stages of knowledge.
According to V.V. Ilyin, science as knowledge consists of three layers:
1. “cutting edge science”,
2. “hard core of science”,
3. “history of science.”
Cutting-edge science, along with true ones, includes untrue results obtained by scientific means. This layer of science is characterized by information content, non-triviality, and heuristics, but at the same time, the requirements for accuracy, rigor, and validity are weakened. This is necessary so that science can vary alternatives, play out different possibilities, expand its horizons, and produce new knowledge. Therefore, the science of the “leading edge” is woven from the search for truth - premonitions, wanderings, individual impulses towards clarity, and has minimally reliable knowledge.
The second layer – the hard core of science – is formed by true knowledge filtered from science. This is the basis, the basis of science, a reliable layer of knowledge formed in the process of cognition. The solid core of science is distinguished by clarity, rigor, reliability, validity, and evidence. Its task is to act as a factor of certainty, to play the role of prerequisite, basic knowledge, orienting and correcting cognitive acts. It consists of evidence and justification and represents the most established, objective part of science.
The history of science (the third layer) is created by an array of obsolete, outdated knowledge that has been pushed outside the boundaries of science. It is, first of all, a fragment of science, and only then - history. It stores an invaluable reserve of ideas that may be in demand in the future.
History of science
Stimulates scientific research,
Contains a detailed panorama of the dynamics of knowledge,
Contributes to the comprehension of intrascientific perspectives and opportunities,
Accumulates information about ways to achieve knowledge, forms, methods of analyzing an object,
Performs protective functions - warns, prevents people from turning to dead-end trains of thought and ideas.
Science as a cognitive activity
Science can also be represented as a certain human activity, isolated in the process of division of labor and aimed at obtaining knowledge.
It has two sides: sociological and cognitive.
The first one records role functions, standard responsibilities, powers of subjects within science as an academic system and a social institution.
The second displays creative procedures(empirical and theoretical level), allowing you to create, expand and deepen knowledge.
The basis of scientific activity is the collection of scientific facts, their constant updating and systematization, critical analysis. On this basis, a synthesis of new scientific knowledge is carried out, which not only describes observed natural or social phenomena, but also makes it possible to build cause-and-effect relationships and predict the future.
Cognitive activity involves people engaged in scientific research, writing articles or monographs, united in institutions or organizations such as laboratories, institutes, academies, scientific journals.
Activities for the production of knowledge are impossible without the use of experimental means - instruments and installations with the help of which the phenomena being studied are recorded and reproduced.
Subjects of research - fragments and aspects of the objective world to which scientific knowledge is directed - are identified and cognized through methods.
Knowledge systems are recorded in the form of texts and fill the shelves of libraries. Conferences, discussions, dissertation defenses, scientific expeditions - all these are concrete manifestations of cognitive scientific activity.
Science as an activity cannot be considered in isolation from its other aspect – scientific tradition. The real conditions for the creativity of scientists that guarantee the development of science are the use of the experience of the past and the further growth of an infinite number of germs of all kinds of ideas, sometimes hidden in the distant past. Scientific activity is possible thanks to the many traditions within which it is carried out.
Components of scientific activity:
· division and cooperation of scientific work
· scientific institutions, experimental and laboratory equipment
· research methods
scientific information system
· the entire amount of previously accumulated scientific knowledge.
Science how social institution
Science is not only an activity, but also a social institution. Institute (from lat. institutum- establishment, arrangement, custom) presupposes a complex of norms, principles, rules, and behavioral models operating in society that regulate human activity. The concept of “social institution” reflects degree of fixation of a particular type of human activity- So, there are political, social, religious institutions, as well as institutions of family, school, marriage, etc.
Functions of science as a social institution: bear responsibility for the production, examination and implementation of scientific and technical knowledge, distribution of rewards, recognition of the results of scientific activity (translation of the personal achievements of a scientist into the collective property).
As a social institution, science includes the following components:
· a body of knowledge (objective, or socialized, and subjective, or personal) and its carriers (a professional stratum with integral interests);
· cognitive rules;
· moral standards, moral code;
· presence of specific cognitive goals and objectives;
· performing certain functions;
· the presence of specific means of knowledge and institutions;
· development of forms of control, examination and evaluation of scientific achievements;
· finance;
· tools;
· obtaining and improving qualifications;
· communication with various levels of management and self-government;
· existence of certain sanctions.
In addition, the components of science, considered as a social institution, are various authorities, live communication, authority and informal leadership, power organization and interpersonal contact, corporations and communities.
Science as a social institution depends on the needs of technological development, socio-political structures and the internal values of the scientific community. In this regard, restrictions on research activities and freedom of scientific inquiry are possible. The institutionality of science provides support for those projects and activities that contribute to the strengthening of a particular value system.
One of the unwritten rules of the scientific community is the prohibition of appealing to the authorities or asking for the use of mechanisms of coercion and subordination in permission scientific problems. The requirement of scientific competence becomes the leading one for the scientist. Arbitrators and experts when assessing the results of scientific research can only be professionals or groups of professionals.
Science as a special sphere of culture
Modern philosophy of science considers scientific knowledge as a sociocultural phenomenon. This means that science depends on the diverse forces and influences operating in society, and itself largely determines social life. Science arose as a sociocultural phenomenon, responding to a certain need of humanity to produce and obtain true, adequate knowledge about the world. It exists, having a noticeable impact on the development of all areas public life. On the other hand, science claims to be the only stable and “genuine” foundation of culture.
As a sociocultural phenomenon, science always relies on the cultural traditions established in society, on accepted values and norms. Each society has a science corresponding to the level of its civilizational development. Cognitive activity is woven into the existence of culture. TO cultural-technological function science is associated with the inclusion of a person - the subject of cognitive activity - in the cognitive process.
Science cannot develop without mastering knowledge that has become public domain and stored in social memory. The cultural essence of science entails its ethical and value content. New opportunities are opening up tosa science - the problem of intellectual and social responsibility, moral and ethical choice, personal aspects of decision making, problems of the moral climate in the scientific community and team.
Science acts as a factor in the social regulation of social processes. It influences the needs of society, becomes a necessary condition rational management, any innovation requires a reasoned scientific justification. The manifestation of sociocultural regulation of science is carried out through the system of education, training and involvement of members of society in research activities and the ethos of science that has developed in a given society. The ethos of science (according to R. Merton) is a set of moral imperatives accepted in the scientific community and determining the behavior of a scientist.
Scientific research activity is recognized as a necessary and sustainable socio-cultural tradition, without which the normal existence and development of society is impossible; science is one of the priority areas of activity of any civilized state.
Being a sociocultural phenomenon, science includes numerous relationships, including economic, socio-psychological, ideological, social and organizational. Responding to the economic needs of society, it realizes itself as a direct productive force and acts as the most important factor in the economic and cultural development of people.
Responding to the political needs of society, science appears as a political instrument. Official science is forced to support the fundamental ideological guidelines of society and provide intellectual arguments that help the existing government maintain its privileged position.
Constant pressure from society is felt not only because science today is forced to fulfill social orders. A scientist always bears moral responsibility for the consequences of using technological installations. In relation to the exact sciences, such a characteristic as secrecy is of great importance. This is due to the need to fulfill special orders, and in particular, in the military industry.
Science is a “communitarian (collective) enterprise”: not a single scientist can help but rely on the achievements of his colleagues, on the cumulative memory of humanity. Every scientific result is the fruit of collective efforts.
Science– 1) one of the forms of human knowledge, a system of reliable knowledge about the patterns of development of nature, society, and man; 2) the sphere of creative activity aimed at obtaining, justifying, systematizing, and evaluating new knowledge about nature, society, and man.
As a social institution, science includes the following components: the body of knowledge and its carriers; the presence of specific cognitive goals and objectives; performing certain functions; the presence of specific means of knowledge and institutions; development of forms of control, examination and evaluation of scientific achievements; the existence of certain sanctions.
Science as a social institution includes:
– scientists with their knowledge, abilities and experience – representatives of science who carry out meaningful activities to form a scientific picture of the world, whose scientific activities and qualifications in one form or another have received recognition from the scientific community;
– scientific institutions (RAS, scientific centers, state institutes, etc.) and organizations (UNESCO, IUPAC, International Astronomical Union, etc.;
– special equipment (laboratory installations, space stations, etc.);
– methods of scientific research work (observation, experiment, etc.);
– a special language (signs, symbols, formulas, equations, etc.).
The purpose of science– obtaining scientific knowledge that underlies the scientific picture of the world.
Characteristic features of science: validity of statements, reliability of the results obtained, systematic research.
Principles of Science (according to R. Merton)
– universalism – impersonal character, objective nature of scientific knowledge; international and democratic nature of science.
– collectivism – the universal nature of scientific work, presupposing the publicity of scientific results, their public domain;
– selflessness, conditioned by the general goal of science – the comprehension of truth;
– organized skepticism – a critical attitude towards oneself and the work of one’s colleagues; in science nothing is taken for granted.
Properties of science, as a professionally organized cognitive activity: objective subjectivity; general significance; validity; certainty; accuracy; verifiability; reproducibility of the subject of knowledge; objective truth; utility.
Functions of science
1) cultural and ideological – forms a worldview; scientific ideas are part of general education and culture;
2) cognitive-explanatory - science has become a factor in the production process, the development of technology increasingly depends on the success of scientific research;
3) predictive - science data are used to develop plans and programs for social and economic development, to manage cultural processes;
4) practically effective;
5) social memory, etc.
Classification of modern sciences is produced according to the type of modern sciences, distinguished by object, subject, method, degree of generality and fundamentality of knowledge, and scope of application, etc.
1. Sciences are divided into: a) natural(astronomy, astrophysics, cosmochemistry, geology, geophysics, geochemistry, cycle of anthropological sciences, etc.); b) public(social) (sociology, political science, legal, management, etc.); V) humanitarian(psychology, logic, literary criticism, art criticism, history, language sciences, etc.); G) technical– (sciences that study the effects of the laws of physics and chemistry in technical devices, and other sciences).
2. In direct relation to practical activities, science is usually divided into fundamental And applied. The task fundamental sciences is the knowledge of the laws governing the behavior and interaction of the basic structures of nature and culture. Target applied sciences– application of the results of fundamental sciences to solve not only cognitive, but also social and practical problems. Fundamental sciences are ahead of applied sciences in their development, creating a theoretical foundation for them.
Directions of scientific research
Basic scientific research– this is a deep and comprehensive study of a subject in order to obtain new fundamental knowledge, as well as to clarify the patterns of the phenomena being investigated, the results of which are not intended for direct industrial use.
Applied scientific research– this is research that uses the achievements of fundamental science to solve practical problems. The result of the research is the creation and improvement of new technologies.
Trends in the development of scientific knowledge
Differentiation, i.e. division, fragmentation into smaller and smaller sections and subsections (for example, in physics a whole family of sciences was formed: mechanics, optics, electrodynamics, statistical mechanics, thermodynamics, hydrodynamics, etc.).
Integration scientific knowledge has become the leading pattern of its development and can manifest itself: in the organization of research “at the intersection” of related scientific disciplines; in the development of “transdisciplinary” scientific methods that are important for many sciences (spectral analysis, chromatography, computer experiment); in the development of theories that perform general methodological functions in natural science (general systems theory, cybernetics, synergetics); in changing the nature of the problems solved by modern science - they for the most part become complex, requiring the participation of several disciplines at once (environmental problems, the problem of the origin of life, etc.).
Differentiation and integration in the development of science are complementary trends.
Modern science– a complex network of interacting groups, organizations and institutions that are connected not only with each other, but also with other powerful subsystems of society and the state: economy, education, politics, culture, etc.
TO main characteristics modern science can be attributed to: a sharply increased number of scientists; growth of scientific information; changing the world of science (science includes about 15 thousand disciplines that are increasingly interacting with each other); transformation of scientific activity into a special profession.
Science: 1) helps a person not only explain the knowledge he knows about the world, but also build it into an integral system, consider the phenomena of the surrounding world in their unity and diversity, and develop his own worldview; 2) carries out knowledge and explanation of the structure of the world and the laws of its development; 3) predicts the consequences of changes in the surrounding world, reveals possible dangerous trends in the development of society, and formulates recommendations for overcoming them; 4) performs the direct function of the productive force of society.
Scientific and technological revolution (STR)– leap in development productive forces society (machines, machines, energy sources, etc.) - represents a stage in the development of scientific and technological progress (STP), which is associated with the transformation of science into a direct productive force of society (science becomes a constant source of new ideas that determine the path of development of society ). Modern scientific and technological revolution is a set of radical, qualitative and interrelated transformations in the means of production (tools and means of labor), technology, organization and management of production based on the transformation of science into a direct productive force. Scientific management of productive forces is a powerful source of social development. Technological revolution requires constant retraining, therefore scientific investments in people are the most promising.
Social consequences of the scientific and technological revolution
A) positive: the increasing role of scientific knowledge; the development of education, the use of new types of energy, artificial materials, which open up new possibilities for the use of natural resources; mastering by a person high speeds, relatively safe opportunities to work in hard-to-reach or harmful conditions; reducing the number of people employed in production and the amount of energy and raw materials used; changes in the appearance of workers in the industry and professional structure, as well as in their qualifications.
B) negative: man-made disasters; growth of unemployment, especially among middle-aged people and young people, caused by cyclical downturns in production, the development of automation, and structural restructuring of the economy; the inability of some workers to master constantly updated knowledge turns them into “superfluous” people; numerous environmental problems.
Scientific activity presupposes freedom of creativity for scientists. But at the same time it imposes on them a certain system of values in science: universal human values and prohibitions; ethical standards that presuppose a selfless search and defense of the truth; freedom of scientific research and social responsibility scientist.
Already in ancient times, representatives of science showed interest not only in morality, but also with their views formed the moral norms of the scientific community (“Do no harm”). Often scientific discoveries and achievements bring new threats to humanity (cloning, means of mass destruction, etc.). It is important that scientists always understand the enormous responsibility they bear for the use of their scientific achievements. Conscientiousness as one of the most important requirements for scientific work is manifested:
In careful thought and impeccable execution of all stages of research
In proving new scientific knowledge, in their repeated testing
In scientific honesty and objectivity (“Plato is my friend, but truth is more precious”)
Refusal to introduce unfounded, untested innovations into science (practice).
Education
Self-education– knowledge, skills and abilities acquired by a person independently, without the help of other teaching persons.
Education– one of the ways of personality development through people’s acquisition of knowledge, acquisition of skills and abilities, development of mental, cognitive and creative abilities through a system of social institutions such as family, school, funds mass media. Target– introducing an individual to the achievements of human civilization, relaying and preserving its cultural heritage.
Main Institute modern education is school. Fulfilling the “order” of society, the school, along with educational institutions of other types, trains qualified personnel for various spheres of human activity.
Principles of state policy and legal regulation of relations in the field of education
1) recognition of the priority of the education sector;
2) ensuring everyone’s right to education, non-discrimination in the field of education;
3) the humanistic nature of education, the priority of human life and health, the free development of the individual; education of citizenship, hard work, responsibility, respect for the law, individual rights and freedoms, patriotism, respect for nature and the environment, rational use of natural resources;
4) unity of the educational space on the territory of the Russian Federation; inclusion of Russian education in the global educational space;
5) the secular nature of education in state and municipal educational organizations;
6) freedom in education according to a person’s inclinations and needs, creating conditions for self-realization of each person, etc.
7) ensuring the right to education throughout life in accordance with the needs of the individual, continuity of education; adaptability of the education system to the level of training, developmental characteristics, abilities and interests of a person.
8) autonomy educational organizations, academic rights and freedoms of teaching staff and students provided for by this Federal law; information openness and public reporting of educational organizations;
9) democratic, state-public nature of education management;
10) equality of rights and freedoms of participants in relations in the field of education;
11) a combination of state and contractual regulation of relations in the field of education.
Functions of education
* Transfer of social experience (knowledge, values, norms, etc.).
* Accumulation and storage of the culture of society.
* Socialization of the individual. Training of qualified personnel to maintain and increase the survival of society in the constantly changing historical conditions of its existence. Education is the most important channel of social mobility.
* Social selection (selection) of members of society, primarily young people.
* Economic – formation of the social and professional structure of society, ensuring a person’s professional orientation.
* Introduction of sociocultural innovations.
* Social control.
General trends in the development of education
1) Democratization of the education system (education has become accessible to the general population, although differences in the quality and types of educational institutions remain).
2) Increasing duration of education (modern society needs highly qualified specialists, which lengthens the duration of training).
3) Continuity of education (in the conditions of the scientific and technological revolution, an employee must be capable of quickly switching to new or related types of work, to new technologies).
4) Humanization of education (attention of the school and teachers to the student’s personality, his interests, needs, individual characteristics).
5) Humanitarianization of education (increasing the role of social disciplines in the educational process: economic theory, sociology, political science, fundamentals of legal knowledge).
6) Internationalization of the education process (creation of a unified education system for different countries, integration of educational systems).
7) Computerization of the education process (use of new modern technologies training, telecommunication networks on a global scale).
The education system includes:
1) federal state educational standards and federal state requirements, educational standards established by universities; educational programs of various types, levels and orientations;
2) organizations carrying out educational activities, teaching staff, students and their parents ( legal representatives);
3) state authorities and local government bodies exercising management in the field of education, advisory, advisory and other bodies created by them;
4) organizations providing scientific, methodological, methodological, resource and information technology support for educational activities and management of the education system, assessment of the quality of education;
5) associations of legal entities, employers and their associations, public associations operating in the field of education.
Education is subdivided for general education, vocational education, additional education and vocational training, ensuring the possibility of realizing the right to education throughout life (lifelong education).
In the Russian Federation the following are established education levels: 1) preschool education; 2) primary general education; 3) basic general education; 4) secondary general education; 5) secondary vocational education; 6) higher education – bachelor’s degree; 7) higher education – specialist training, master’s degree; 8) higher education – training of highly qualified personnel.
General education allows you to master the basics of scientific knowledge necessary to understand the world around you, participate in public life and work. In the process of schooling, a person learns the norms, values and ideals of the culture of the society in which he lives, as well as the rules of everyday behavior based on the universal material of the historical experience of mankind.
Vocational education prepares creators of new cultural values and is carried out mainly in specialized areas of public life (economic, political, legal, etc.). Vocational education is determined by the social division of labor and consists in the acquisition of special knowledge, practical skills and skills of productive activity in the chosen field.
Taking into account the needs and capabilities of students, education can be obtained in different forms: full-time, part-time (evening), part-time, family education, self-education, external education. A combination of different forms of education is allowed. For all forms of education within a specific basic general education or basic professional educational program, a single state educational standard applies.
According to the Law of the Russian Federation “On Education in the Russian Federation,” education is a purposeful process of upbringing, training and development in the interests of the individual, society and the state.
Religion
Religion- this is a belief in the supernatural; a set of views and ideas, a system of beliefs and rituals that unites people who recognize them into a single community; one of the forms of human adaptation to the surrounding world characteristic of culture, satisfying its spiritual needs.
Religion is a public institution that occupies an important place in the structure of society; acts as a form of social consciousness, expressing certain ideas and regulating social relations; exists in the form of a system of norms and regulations for human behavior in society.
The following groups of definitions of religion are distinguished:
1. Theological– definitions accepted in theology.
2. Philosophical allow us to look at religion as a special entity that performs important functions in society.
* I. Kant distinguished between moral and statuary religions. Moral religions are based on the faith of “pure reason”; in them, a person, with the help of his own reason, knows the divine will within himself. Statuary religions are based on historical tradition;
* G. Hegel believed that religion is one of the forms of self-knowledge of the Absolute Spirit;
* Marxist philosophy defines religion as belief in the supernatural; religion is a fantastic reflection in the heads of people of those external forces that dominate them in real life.
Psychological
* W. James believed that the truth of a religion is determined by its usefulness;
* Freud called religion “the great illusion”;
* K. Jung believed that in addition to the individual unconscious, there is a collective unconscious, which is expressed in archetypes and embodied in the images of mythology and religion.
Basic elements of religion: religious consciousness (ideology and religious psychology); religious cult (relationships); religious organizations.
Religious ideology represents a system of views concerning the existence of a supernatural force that creates the world and reigns supreme in it. Currently, religious ideology, in particular, includes: dogmatics; theology; doctrine of cults (exegesis); ecclesiastical archaeology; doctrine about the fathers of the church (patrology); history of the holy books of the church; rules for conducting services (homiletics).
Religious consciousness can be defined as a reflection of reality in fantastic images. The main features of religious consciousness are sensory clarity, the combination of content adequate to reality with illusions, faith, symbolism, and emotional richness. The central element of religious consciousness is religious faith - this is a special mental state, which arises in conditions of lack of accurate information and contributes to effective activities individual.
Religious psychology implies the emotional relationship of believers to God and his attributes, religious organizations, each other, the state, society, and nature. The predominant ones are feelings of complete dependence on God's will, duties, guilt and fear of God.
Religious cult is a set of prescriptions indicating what, how and when to do in order to be pleasing to God. Ancient religious cults include: exaltation of gods, saints, ancestors, relics; sacrifice, sacrifice, alms; worship, sacraments, prayers; consecration of church buildings, utensils, etc.; propaganda of doctrine, books, figures, martyrs for the faith, etc.; A type of cult is magic (witchcraft) - a complex of ritual rites aimed at influencing forces hidden from humans in order to obtain material and other results. Religious acts: incantations of spirits, ritual dances, bows, kneeling, prostration, bowing of the head, sermon, prayer, confession, pilgrimage, etc.
Religious organization implies the division of believers into ordinary people and their leaders, that is, into flock and pastors or laity and clergy. The clergy unites the following religious leaders: patriarch, pope, ayatollah, etc.; synod, college of cardinals, imamate, etc.; clergy. Religious organizations also act in the form of various associations of pastors and flocks: monastic orders, religious brotherhoods, societies of believers, etc.
Religious culture- This is part of the spiritual culture of humanity, generated by the religious needs of people and designed to satisfy them. Components: elements of artistic creativity (religious art, literature, journalism), religious educational institutions, libraries and publishing houses, religious philosophical and political thought, moral norms. Specialized level of religious culture – religious teachings and confessions, esotericism; ordinary – mysticism, everyday magic and superstition.
Types of religion arising from the periodization of its development
* polydemonism (paganism):
Animism- an expression of faith in spirits and soul or the universal spirituality of nature.
Fetishism- worship of material objects - “fetishes”, to which supernatural properties are attributed.
Totemism- worship of any kind, tribe, animal or plant as its mythical ancestor and protector.
Pantheism– a “philosophical” form of religion that identifies the absolute with nature. Deism views nature and God as coexisting principles. In theism, God is understood as an infinite, personal, transcendent principle who created the world in a free act of will out of nothing.
* national religions that emerged at the stage of formation of class society and the formation of the state (Hinduism, Confucianism, Taoism, Shintoism, Judaism) express the national specificity of the people and, easily adapting to the changing world, are able to satisfy the religious needs of citizens even in modern society. Only those who belong to a given nation can profess such a religion.
* world religions, which include Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, can be professed by anyone, regardless of nationality.
Signs of world religions: huge number followers all over the world; egalitarianism (preach the equality of all people, appeal to representatives of all social groups); propaganda activity; cosmopolitan (inter- and supra-ethnic character; go beyond the boundaries of nations and states).
World religions
A) Buddhism– the most ancient world religion (it originated in the 6th century BC in India, and is currently widespread in the countries of South, Southeast, Central Asia and the Far East). Tradition connects the emergence of Buddhism with the name of Prince Siddhartha Gautama. Main ideas: 1) life is suffering, the cause of which is the desires and passions of people; to get rid of suffering, it is necessary to renounce earthly passions and desires; 2) rebirth after death; 3) one must strive for nirvana, that is, dispassion and peace, which are achieved by renouncing earthly attachments. Unlike Christianity and Islam, Buddhism does not have the idea of God as the creator of the world and its ruler. The essence of the teachings of Buddhism comes down to a call for every person to take the path of searching for inner freedom.
B) Christianity arose in the 1st century. n. e. in the eastern part of the Roman Empire - Palestine - as a religion addressed to all the humiliated, thirsting for justice. It is based on the idea of messianism - hope in the Divine deliverer of the world from everything bad that exists on Earth. The holy book of Christians is the Bible, which consists of two parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament. Christianity split into three movements: Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Protestantism. Protestantism has three main movements: Anglicanism, Calvinism and Lutheranism.
IN) Islam arose in the 7th century. n. e. among the Arab tribes of the Arabian Peninsula. The holy book of Muslims, the Koran. Sunnah is a collection of edifying stories about the life of the prophet, Sharia is a set of principles and rules of behavior obligatory for Muslims. The place of worship of Muslims is called a mosque. In Islam there is no clear division between clergy and laity. Any Muslim who knows the Koran, Muslim laws and rules of worship can become a mullah (priest).
Types of religion by number of gods, which are worshiped by representatives of a certain religion:
* Monotheistic religions affirm the belief in one God: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
* Polytheistic religions affirm the belief in many gods. These include all other religions of the world, including the world religion Buddhism.
Church- a social institution of society, a religious organization, which is based on a single Creed (creed), which determines religious ethics and religious activity, a system for managing the life activity and behavior of believers. Factors contributing to the formation of a church: general creed; religious activities; the church as a social phenomenon; a system for managing the life, activities and behavior of believers. The church has a certain system of norms (religious morality, canon law, etc.), values, models and sanctions.
Basic functions of religion
1) Worldview sets “ultimate” criteria, absolutes, from the point of view of which the world, society, and people are comprehended.
2) Compensatory(therapeutic) compensates for the limitations, dependence, and powerlessness of people in terms of restructuring consciousness, changing the objective conditions of existence. The psychological aspect of compensation is important - stress relief, consolation, meditation, spiritual pleasure.
3) Communicative provides two types of communication: believers with each other; believers - with God, angels, souls of the dead, saints in liturgy, prayer, meditation, etc.
4) Regulatory organizes in a certain way the thoughts, aspirations of people, and their activities.
5) Integrating unites individuals and groups if they recognize a more or less unified, common religion, which contributes to the preservation of stability and stability of the individual, social groups, institutions and society as a whole (integrating function). Separates individuals and groups if in their religious consciousness and behavior tendencies that do not agree with each other are found, if in social groups and society there are different and opposing confessions (disintegrating function).
6) Cultural-transmitting promotes the development of certain foundations of culture - writing, printing, art; ensures the protection and development of the values of religious culture; carries out the transfer of accumulated heritage from generation to generation.
7) Legitimizing legitimizes some public order, institutions (state, political, legal, etc.), relationships, norms.
8) Epistemological (cognitive)– in its own way answers questions that science cannot illuminate.
9) Ethical– justifies morality, moral values and ideals of society.
10) Social– integrates, unites people not according to family, national or racial characteristics, but according to spiritual and dogmatic ones, which is much broader;
11) Spiritual– fills life with meaning, opens up the prospect of personal self-improvement and eternal life, immortality, answers the question about the meaning of human life and existence.
Religion, being an integral part of spiritual culture, has had a tremendous influence on its entire development: religion has given humanity “holy books” (Vedas, Bible, Koran); European "architecture and sculpture of the Middle Ages were the "Bible in stone" ( Pitirim Sorokin); the music was almost exclusively religious in nature; painting was largely based on religious subjects; Byzantine and Old Russian schools of icon painting were a notable phenomenon in the history of world culture. The church played an important role in the spread of literacy. Temples were not only places of worship, but also remarkable historical and architectural monuments; some cathedrals had libraries, and chronicles were kept. Churches carried out merciful and charitable activities, helping the sick, disabled, poor, and beggars. The monasteries carried out significant economic work, often developing new lands and engaging in productive agriculture (the monastery on the Solovetsky Islands, etc.). The church acted as a powerful source of patriotism. Known role Sergius of Radonezh in the liberation of Rus' from foreign yoke. From the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the activities of the clergy contributed to the nationwide struggle against the invaders.
The role of religion in the modern world:
1. A huge number of people living on Earth are religious people.
2. The influence of religion on the political life of modern society remains significant. A number of states recognize religion as state and compulsory.
3. Religion remains one of the most important sources of moral values and norms, regulates daily life people, preserves the principles of universal morality.
4. Religious contradictions continue to be a source and breeding ground for bloody conflicts, terrorism, a force of separation and confrontation.
Modern world religions strive to contribute to the peaceful coexistence of states on the planet, engage in charitable activities, and strive to maintain their moral authority.
Art
Art 1) in a narrow sense, this is a specific form of practical-spiritual mastery of the world; 2) in broad terms – the highest level of skill, regardless of what sphere of social life they are manifested in (the art of a stove maker, a doctor, a baker, etc.).
Art– a special subsystem of the spiritual sphere of social life, which is a creative reproduction of reality in artistic images; one of the forms of social consciousness, the most important component of spiritual culture; an artistic and figurative form of human cognitive activity, a way of aesthetically expressing one’s inner state.
Versions of the relationship between nature and art
A) Kant reduced art to imitation.
b) Schelling And German romantics put art above nature.
V) Hegel placed art below philosophy and religion, believing that it is burdened with sensuality, that is, it expresses a spiritual idea in a form that is inadequate to it.
Theories of the origin of art
1. Biologizer– the origin of art from the need to attract the attention of the opposite sex. Art arises from emotional excitement, a psyche in a state of conflict, in moments of transformation and switching of the energy of elementary drives to the goals of high creative activity.
2. Gaming– the reasons for the emergence of art in the need for a person to spend energy not spent in work, in the need for training to master social roles.
3. Magical: art is a form of various types of magic introduced into the everyday activities of primitive man.
4. Labor: art is the result of labor (the useful qualities of produced objects become an object of artistic pleasure).
Differences between art and other forms of social consciousness
– Art understands the world through imaginative thinking (if reality is presented holistically in art, then the essence appears in the richness of its sensory manifestations, individual and unique).
– Art does not aim to provide any special information about private sectors of social practice and to identify their patterns, such as physical, economic and others. Art, as a special specific branch of spiritual production, masters reality aesthetically, from the standpoint of the main aesthetic categories: “beautiful”, “sublime”, “tragic” and “comic”.
– Holistic-imaginative and aesthetic principles of artistic consciousness distinguish art from morality.
Functions of art
1) socially transformative– having an ideological and aesthetic impact on people, includes them in targeted activities to transform society;
2) artistic and conceptual– analyzes the state of the surrounding world;
3) educational– shapes the personality, feelings and thoughts of people; fosters humanistic qualities of the human personality;
4) aesthetic– forms the aesthetic tastes and needs of a person;
5) consolatory-compensatory– restores harmony in the sphere of spirit, lost by a person in reality, contributes to the preservation and restoration of mental balance of the individual;
6) anticipations– anticipates the future;
7) suggestive– affects the subconscious of people, the human psyche;
8) hedonistic(from Greek pleasure) – gives people pleasure; teaches people to have a positive attitude towards the world, to look into the future with optimism;
9) cognitive-heuristic– reflects and masters those aspects of life that are difficult for science;
10) synthesizing– is a treasury of images and symbols that express values that are significant to a person;
11) communicative– connects people together, serves as a means of communication and communication;
12) recreational– serves as a means of relaxation, liberation from everyday work and worries.
The main category of art is artistic image. An artistic image is a part or component of a work of art; the way of being of a work of art taken as a whole. The inextricable connection of artistic meaning with material, sensory embodiment distinguishes an artistic image from a scientific concept, abstract thought. The meaning that makes up the content of an artistic image is created by the artist in the expectation that it will be conveyed and accessible to others. The material, sensually perceived form (visual and sound) provides such an opportunity and acts as a sign.
Under sign refers to any material phenomenon created or used with the aim of conveying any information with its help. This visual, expressive, verbal And conventional signs. The peculiarity of artistic signs is that, regardless of what they depict, express or designate, they themselves should always cause aesthetic pleasure. The spiritual content of an artistic image can be tragic, comic, etc., but the impression from its iconic material form represents the experience of beauty, beauty. The iconic form of an artistic image is subject not only to the communicative and aesthetic principle, but also to the psychological requirement to attract, hold and switch the attention of the viewer and listener.
Classification
1) by the amount of funds used: a) simple (painting, sculpture, poetry, music); b) complex or synthetic (ballet, theater, cinema);
2) according to the relationship between a work of art and reality: a) pictorial, depicting reality by copying it (realistic painting, sculpture, photography); b) expressive, where the artist’s fantasy and imagination create a new reality (ornament, music);
3) in relation to space and time: a) spatial (fine arts, sculpture, architecture); b) temporary (literature, music); c) spatio-temporal (theater, cinema);
4) by time of occurrence: a) traditional (poetry, dance, music); b) new (photography, cinema, television, video), usually using quite complex technical means to build an image;
5) according to the degree of applicability in everyday life: a) applied (decorative and applied arts); b) graceful (music, dance).
There are three types of spatial arts: easel(easel painting, easel graphics, etc.), monumental(monumental sculpture, wall painting, etc.) and applied(standard mass architecture, small sculpture, miniature painting, industrial graphics, posters, etc.).
In verbal-temporal arts there are three types: epic(novel, poem, etc.), lyrics(poems, etc.) and drama(various plays, etc.).
Types of art- these are historically established forms of artistic reflection of the world, using special means to build an image - sound, color, body movement, words, etc. Each type of art has its own special varieties - genera and genres, which together provide a variety of artistic attitudes to reality . Let's briefly consider the main types of art and some of their varieties.
* The primary form of art was a special syncretic (undifferentiated) complex of creative activity. For primitive man there was no separate music, or literature, or theater. Everything was merged together in a single ritual action. Later, from this syncretic action began to stand out individual species art.
* Literature uses verbal and written means to construct images. The main types of literature: drama, epic and lyric. Genres: tragedy, comedy, novel, story, poem, elegy, story, essay, feuilleton, etc.
*Music uses sound. Music is divided into vocal (intended for singing) and instrumental. Genres: opera, symphony, overture, suite, romance, sonata, etc.
*Dance uses plastic movements to construct images. There are ritual, folk, ballroom, modern dances, and ballet. Dance directions and styles: waltz, tango, foxtrot, samba, polonaise, etc.
* Painting reflects reality on a plane using color. Genres: portrait, still life, landscape, everyday life, animalistic (depiction of animals), historical.
* Architecture forms the spatial environment in the form of structures and buildings for human life. It is divided into residential, public, garden and park, industrial, etc. Architectural styles: Gothic, Baroque, Rococo, Art Nouveau, Classicism, etc.
* Sculpture creates works of art that have volume and three-dimensional form. The sculpture can be round (bust, statue) and relief (convex image); by size: easel, decorative, monumental.
* Decorative and applied arts are associated with applied needs. This includes artistic objects that can be used in everyday life - dishes, fabrics, tools, furniture, clothing, jewelry, etc.
* The theater organizes a special stage performance through the performance of actors. The theater can be dramatic, opera, puppet, etc.
* Circus is a spectacular and entertaining event with unusual, risky and funny acts in a special arena: acrobatics, balancing act, gymnastics, horse riding, juggling, magic tricks, pantomime, clowning, animal training, etc.
* Cinema is a development of theatrical performance based on modern technical audiovisual means. Types of cinema include feature films, documentaries, and animation. By genre: comedy, drama, melodrama, adventure film, detective, thriller, etc.
* Photography captures documentary visual images using technical means - optical and chemical or digital. The genres of photography correspond to the genres of painting.
* Variety includes small forms of stage art - drama, music, choreography, illusions, circus acts, original performances, etc.
To the listed types of art you can add graphics, radio art, etc.
In different eras and in different artistic movements, the boundaries between genres are more strict (for example, in classicism), in others - less (romanticism) or even conditional (realism). In modern art there is a tendency to deny the genre as a stable form of artistic creativity (postmodernism).
True art is always elitist. True art, as the essence of religion and philosophy, is open to everyone and is created for everyone.
Spiritual- this is creativity in everything, and philosophy And faith- poetry of the spirit. Berdyaev defines philosophy as “the art of knowledge in freedom through the creativity of ideas...”. Creativity is not auxiliary to metaphysics and ethics, but permeates them and fills them with life. Beauty is as important for the holistic spiritual development of a person as truth and goodness: harmony is created by their unity in love. That is why the great Russian writer and thinker F. M. Dostoevsky, repeating Plato’s thought, said that “beauty will save the world.”
Morality
Morality– 1) a form of social consciousness, consisting of a system of values and requirements that regulate people’s behavior; 2) the system of norms, ideals, principles accepted in society, and its expression in the real lives of people. Moral– principles of real practical behavior of people. Ethics – philosophical science, the subject of which is morality, morality.
Approaches to the Origin of Morality
– Naturalistic: considers morality as a simple continuation, a complication of the group feelings of animals that ensure the survival of the species in the struggle for existence. Representatives of naturalism in ethics reduce the social to the biological, erasing the qualitative line that distinguishes the human psyche from the animal.
– Religious-idealistic: views morality as a gift from God.
– Sociological: considers morality as a phenomenon that arose along with communication and collective labor actions and ensures their regulation. The main reasons that gave rise to the need for moral regulation are the development and complexity of social relations: the emergence of surplus product and the need for its distribution; gender and age division of labor; identification of clans within the tribe; streamlining sexual relations, etc.
Morality rests on three important foundations:
* Traditions, customs, morals, which have developed in a given society, in the environment of a given class, social group. A person learns these morals, traditional norms of behavior, which become habits and become the property of the spiritual world of the individual. They are realized in his behavior, the motives of which are formulated as follows: “this is how it is accepted” or “this is not accepted”, “this is how everyone does it”, “like people, so do I”, “this is how things have been done since ancient times”, etc.
*Relies on the strength of public opinion, which, by approving some actions and condemning others, regulates the behavior of an individual and teaches him to comply with moral standards. The instruments of public opinion are, on the one hand, honor, good name, public recognition, which become the result of a person’s conscientious performance of his duties and his strict adherence to the moral norms of a given society; on the other hand, shame, shaming a person who has violated moral standards.
*Based on consciousness of each individual, on her understanding of the need to reconcile personal and public interests. This determines voluntary choice, voluntariness of behavior, which occurs when conscience becomes a solid basis for the moral behavior of an individual.
In relation to a person’s personality, morality is an internal form of self-regulation by an individual of his behavior. Morality is disinterested, personal, represents a special kind of knowledge, and is an essential characteristic of spiritual knowledge.
Moral consciousness is of a value nature. It is oriented toward a certain absolute moral ideal that arises in society, but is taken beyond its boundaries, acting as a criterion and assessment of both social phenomena and individual human behavior and his motives.
Moral standard is aimed at developing certain moral qualities in a person: the desire for goodness and self-improvement, helping other people, courage, being ready to endure hardships and fight for the truth. A norm is understood as such a prescription (decision, instruction, instruction, directive, order, program, etc.), with which a certain action must (may or may not) be performed in order to achieve specified goals.
Moral norm defines socially necessary typical options moral behavior; a means that gives orientation to the human personality, indicates which offenses are acceptable and preferable and which should be avoided.
The main property of moral norms is their imperativeness (imperativeness). They express moral requirements. One and the same norm, say, the requirement of justice, can be expressed simultaneously both in the form of a prohibition and as a positive instruction: “don’t lie,” “tell only the truth.” Norms are addressed to a person, to his activities and behavior. A conscious set of norms is defined as moral code. The main elements of a moral code are the following: socially significant instructions, attitude-orientation, the individual’s readiness for proper requirements and objective conditions that allow the implementation of appropriate proper behavior.
Another component of a moral code is value orientations: 1) moral significance, dignity of the individual (group of persons, collective) and his actions or moral characteristics of public institutions; 2) value ideas related to the field of moral consciousness - ideals, concepts of good and evil, justice, happiness.
Motivation, assessment and self-esteem. Motivation, evaluation and self-esteem are important ways of morally regulating people's behavior. Motive is a morally conscious impulse to engage in activities related to satisfying the needs of the subject. Motivation- a system of motives interconnected in a certain way, meaning a preference for certain values, goals in the moral choice of an individual, a conscious determination of the line of one’s behavior.
Moral assessment allows you to determine the value of an action, a person’s behavior, their compliance with certain norms, principles, and ideals; This is an independent determination of the value of one’s behavior, one’s motives and actions. It is closely related to the sense of conscience and duty and acts as an important tool of self-control.
Conscience– the ability of an individual to exercise moral self-control, independently formulate moral duties for himself, demand that he fulfill them, and make a self-assessment of his actions; is an expression of moral self-awareness and well-being of the individual; allows a person to realize his moral responsibility to himself as a subject of moral choice and to other people, society as a whole.
Duty- This is the relationship of the individual to society. The individual acts here as an active bearer of certain moral responsibilities to society.
Functions of morality
* Worldview. Morality develops a system of value orientations: norms, prohibitions, assessments, ideals, which become a necessary component of social consciousness, orient the individual, express preference for certain norms and the command to act in accordance with them.
* Cognitive. It is not identical to scientific knowledge, it orients a person in the world of surrounding cultural values, predetermines the preference of those that meet his needs and interests.
* Regulatory. Morality acts as a way of regulating people's behavior in work, in everyday life, in politics, in science, in family, intra-group and other relationships. It authorizes and supports certain social foundations, a way of life, or requires their change. Morality rests on the strength of public opinion. Moral sanctions are more flexible, varied, and come in the form of not only coercion, persuasion, but also approval by public opinion.
* Estimated. Morality considers the world, phenomena and processes from the point of view of their humanistic potential. A morally evaluative attitude towards reality is its comprehension in the concepts of good and evil, as well as in other concepts adjacent to them or derived from them (“justice” and “injustice”, “honor” and “dishonor”, “nobility” and “baseness” etc.). Moreover, the specific form of expression of moral assessment can be different: praise, agreement, blame, criticism, expressed in value judgments; showing approval or disapproval.
* Educational. By concentrating the moral experience of humanity, morality makes it the property of every new generation of people. Morality permeates all types of education insofar as it gives them the correct social orientation through moral ideals and goals, which ensures a harmonious combination of personal and social interests.
* Motivational. Moral principles motivate human behavior, that is, they act as reasons and motivations that make an individual want to do or not do something.
* Controlling. Control over the implementation of norms based on public condemnation and/or the conscience of the person himself.
* Coordination. Morality ensures unity and consistency in the interactions of people in a wide variety of circumstances.
* Integrating. Maintaining the unity of humanity and the integrity of the human spiritual world.
Moral requirements and ideas
– norms of behavior (“don’t lie”, “don’t steal”, “don’t kill”, “honor your elders”, etc.);
– moral qualities (benevolence, justice, wisdom, etc.);
– moral principles (collectivism – individualism; egoism – altruism, etc.);
– moral and psychological mechanisms (duty, conscience);
– highest moral values (goodness, meaning of life, freedom, happiness).
Moral culture of the individual– the degree of individual’s perception of the moral consciousness and culture of society. The structure of a person’s moral culture: culture of ethical thinking, culture of feelings, culture of behavior, etiquette.
Morality manifests itself in understanding the opposition of good and evil. Good is understood as the most important personal and social value and correlates with a person’s desire to maintain the unity of interpersonal relationships and achieve moral perfection. If good is creative, then evil is everything that destroys interpersonal connections and decomposes a person’s inner world.
Human freedom, his ability to choose between good and evil, is called moral choice. A person is responsible to society and to himself (his conscience) for the consequences of his moral choice.
Differences between moral norms and customs and legal norms: 1) following a custom presupposes unquestioning and literal submission to its requirements, moral norms presuppose a person’s meaningful and free choice; 2) customs are different for different peoples, eras, social groups, morality is universal, it sets general norms for all humanity; 3) the implementation of customs is often based on habit and fear of the disapproval of others, morality is based on a sense of duty and is supported by a sense of shame and remorse.
Unlike other manifestations of the spiritual life of society (science, art, religion), morality is not a sphere of organized activity: there are no institutions in society that would ensure the functioning and development of morality. Moral requirements and assessments penetrate into all spheres of human life and activity.
Universal Moral Principles
1. The talion principle. In the Old Testament, the talion formula is expressed as follows: “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” IN primitive society talion was carried out in the form of blood feud, and the punishment had to strictly correspond to the harm caused.
2. The principle of morality. The golden rule of morality can be found among the sayings of the ancient sages: Buddha, Confucius, Thales, Muhammad, Christ. In its most general form, this rule looks like this: “(Don’t) act towards others as you (wouldn’t) want them to act towards you.” The commandment of love becomes the main universal principle in Christianity.
3. The principle of the golden mean presented in works Aristotle: Avoid extremes and keep it in moderation. All moral virtues are a mean between two vices (for example, courage is located between cowardice and recklessness) and go back to the virtue of moderation, which allows a person to curb his passions with the help of reason.
4. The Greatest Happiness Principle (I. Bentham, J. Mill): Everyone should behave in such a way as to ensure the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. An action is moral if the benefit from it outweighs the harm.
5. Principle of justice (J. Rawls): Every person should have equal rights with regard to fundamental freedoms; social and economic inequalities must be adjusted to the benefit of the poor.
Each universal principle expresses a certain moral ideal, which is mainly understood as philanthropy.
Amoralism
In modern society, in popular culture and through the media, the belief is often introduced that there are different moralities, that what was previously considered immoral can now be completely acceptable and permissible. This indicates an erosion of the strictness of the moral criterion, clarity and clarity in distinguishing between good and evil. The loss of morality leads to the destruction of the very basis of sociality, connections between people, laws and norms. In the end everything collapses social system, imperceptibly and gradually undermined from within.
Immorality associated with the concepts of selfishness, passion and sin. Passions (mental, physical) are what lead along the path opposite to virtue and self-knowledge.
In order for society to progress in its development, the unity of civil society and its fight against immorality in all its manifestations is necessary. It must be carried out through upbringing, education, spiritual development, persuasion and enlightenment. Violence is impossible in the moral sphere, just as goodness with fists is impossible, although it must be active.
Related information.
Cognition is the process of reflecting the world in the minds of people, the movement from ignorance to knowledge, from incomplete and inaccurate knowledge to more complete and accurate knowledge.
Cognition is one of the most important types of human activity. At all times, people have strived to understand the world around them, society and themselves. Initially, human knowledge was very imperfect, it was embodied in various practical skills and in mythological ideas. However, with the advent of philosophy, and then the first sciences - mathematics, physics, biology, socio-political doctrines, progress began in human knowledge, the fruits of which increasingly influenced the development of human civilization.
KNOWLEDGE is the result of knowledge of reality, confirmed by practice, the result of the cognitive process that led to the acquisition of truth. Knowledge characterizes a relatively accurate reflection of reality in human thinking. It demonstrates experience and understanding and allows one to master the world around them. In a general sense, knowledge is opposed to ignorance, ignorance. Within the cognitive process, knowledge, on the one hand, is opposed to opinion, which cannot claim to be the complete truth and expresses only a subjective belief.
On the other hand, knowledge is opposed to faith, which also claims to be the complete truth, but is based on other grounds, on the confidence that this is exactly the case. The most significant question of knowledge is how true it is, that is, whether it can really be a real guide in the practical activities of people.
Knowledge claims to be an adequate reflection of reality. It reproduces regular connections and relationships real world, strives to reject misconceptions and false, untested information.
Knowledge is based on scientific facts. “Facts, taken from their certainty, determine what is knowledge and what is science” (Thomas Hobbes).
A powerful thirst for knowledge is a purely human need. Any living creature on earth accepts the world as it is. Only a person tries to understand how this world works, what laws govern it, what determines its dynamics. Why does a person need this? It is not easy to answer this question. Sometimes they say; knowledge helps a person to survive. But this is not entirely true, because it is knowledge that can lead humanity to destruction... It is no coincidence that Ecclesiastes teaches us: much knowledge multiplies sorrow...
Nevertheless, already ancient man discovered in himself a powerful desire to penetrate the secrets of the Universe, to understand its secrets, to sense the laws of the universe. This desire penetrated deeper and deeper into the person, capturing him more and more. This irresistible desire for knowledge reflects human nature. It would seem, why does an individual, or me personally, need to know whether there is life on other planets, how history unfolds, whether it is possible to find the smallest unit of matter, what is the mystery of living thinking matter. However, having tasted the fruits of knowledge, a person can no longer refuse them. On the contrary, he is ready to go to the stake for the sake of truth. “Those who have innate knowledge stand above all. Next come those who acquire knowledge through study. Next come those who begin to study after encountering difficulties. Those who, having encountered difficulties, do not learn, stand lower everyone" (Confucius).
Three different sciences study knowledge: theory of knowledge (or epistemology), psychology of knowledge and logic. And this is not surprising: knowledge is a very complex subject, and in different sciences not the entire content of this subject is studied, but only one or another aspect of it.
The theory of knowledge is the theory of truth. She explores knowledge from the side of truth. It explores the relationship between knowledge and the subject of knowledge, i.e. between the object of knowledge and the being about which knowledge is expressed. “The real form in which truth exists can only be its scientific system.” (Georg Hegel). She studies the question of whether truth is relative or absolute and considers such properties of truth as, for example, universality and its necessity. This is an exploration of the meaning of knowledge. In other words, the range of interests of the theory of knowledge can be defined as follows: it studies the objective (logical) side of knowledge.
The theory of knowledge, in order to build a theory of truth, must conduct a preparatory study, consisting of an analysis of the composition of knowledge, and since all knowledge is realized in consciousness, it also has to engage in a general analysis of the composition of consciousness and develop some kind of doctrine about the structure of consciousness.
There are various ways and methods by which the truth of knowledge is verified. They are called criteria of truth.
The main criteria are the experimental verification of knowledge, the possibility of its application in practice and its logical consistency.
Experimental testing of knowledge is characteristic, first of all, of science. Assessing the truth of knowledge can also be carried out through practice. For example, based on certain knowledge, people can create some technical device, implement certain economic reforms or treat people. If this technical device functions successfully, the reforms give the expected results, and the sick are healed, then this will be an important indicator of the truth of knowledge.
First, the knowledge gained should not be confusing or internally contradictory.
Second, it must be logically consistent with well-tested and reliable theories. For example, if someone puts forward a theory of heredity that is fundamentally incompatible with modern genetics, then we can assume that it is unlikely to be true.
It should be noted that the modern theory of knowledge believes that there are no universal and unambiguous criteria of truth. Experiment cannot be completely accurate, practice changes and evolves, and logical consistency is concerned with relationships within knowledge rather than with the relationship between knowledge and reality.
Therefore, even that knowledge that can withstand testing according to the specified criteria cannot be considered absolutely true and established once and for all.
The form of cognition is a way of cognition of the surrounding reality, which has a conceptual, sensory-figurative or symbolic basis. Thus, a distinction is made between scientific knowledge, based on rationality and logic, and non-scientific knowledge, based on sensory-figurative or symbolic perception of the world.
Scientific knowledge of such an object as society includes social knowledge (sociological approach to the process of cognition) and humanitarian knowledge (universal human approach).
However, in the modern world, not all phenomena are fully understood. There is a lot that is inexplicable from a scientific point of view. And where science is powerless, non-scientific knowledge comes to the rescue:
non-scientific knowledge itself is scattered, unsystematic knowledge that is not described by laws and is in conflict with the scientific picture of the world;
pre-scientific - prototype, prerequisite for the emergence of scientific knowledge;
parascientific - incompatible with existing scientific knowledge;
pseudoscientific - deliberately exploiting conjectures and prejudices;
anti-scientific - utopian and deliberately distorting the idea of reality.
Scientific research is a special form of the cognition process, such a systematic and purposeful study of objects, which uses the means and methods of science and which ends with the formation of knowledge about the objects being studied.
Another form of knowledge is spontaneous-empirical knowledge. Spontaneous-empirical knowledge is primary. It has always existed and still exists today. This is cognition in which the acquisition of knowledge is not separated from the social and practical activities of people. The source of knowledge is a variety of practical actions with objects. From their own experience, people learn the properties of these objects, assimilate the best ways actions with them - their processing, use. In this way, in ancient times, people learned the properties of healthy grains and the rules for growing them. They did not expect the advent of scientific medicine. The people’s memory contains many useful recipes and knowledge about the healing properties of plants, and much of this knowledge is not outdated to this day. “Life and knowledge are consubstantial and inseparable in their highest standards” (Vladimir Solovyov). Spontaneous-empirical knowledge retains its importance in the era of scientific and technological revolution. This is not some second-rate, but full-fledged knowledge, proven by centuries of experience.
In the process of cognition, various human cognitive abilities are used. People learn a lot in the course of their ordinary life and practical activities, but they have also created a special form of cognitive activity - science, the main goal of which is to achieve reliable and objective true knowledge. Science is not a storehouse of ready-made and comprehensive truths, but a process of achieving them, a movement from limited, approximate knowledge to increasingly universal, deep, accurate knowledge. This process is limitless.
Science is a systematized knowledge of reality, based on observation and study of facts and seeking to establish the laws of the things and phenomena being studied. The goal of science is to obtain true knowledge about the world. Most in a general way science is defined as a sphere of human activity, the function of which is the development and theoretical systematization of objective knowledge about reality.
Science is the comprehension of the world in which we live. This comprehension is consolidated in the form of knowledge as a mental (conceptual, conceptual, intellectual) modeling of reality. “Science is nothing more than a reflection of reality” (Francis Bacon).
The immediate goals of science are the description, explanation and prediction of the processes and phenomena of reality that constitute the subject of its study on the basis of the laws it discovers.
The system of sciences can be divided into natural, humanitarian, social and technical sciences. Accordingly, the objects of study of science are nature, intangible aspects of human activity, society and material aspects of human activity and society.
The highest form of scientific knowledge is scientific theory.
A scientific theory is a logically interconnected system of knowledge that reflects significant, natural and general connections in a particular subject area.
You can name many theories that have changed people's ideas about the world. These are, for example, Copernicus’s theory, Newton’s theory of universal gravitation, Darwin’s theory of evolution, Einstein’s theory of relativity. Such theories form a scientific picture of the world, which plays an important role in people’s worldview.
Each subsequent scientific theory, compared to the previous one, is more complete and profound knowledge. The previous theory is interpreted as part of the new theory as a relative truth and thereby as a special case of a more complete and accurate theory (for example, the classical mechanics of I. Newton and the theory of relativity of A. Einstein). This relationship between theories in their historical development received in science the name of the principle of correspondence.
But to build theories, scientists rely on experience, experiment, factual data about the surrounding reality. Science is built from facts like a house made of bricks.
Thus, a scientific fact is a fragment of objective reality or event, the simplest element of a scientific theory. “Facts, taken from their certainty, determine what is knowledge and what is science” (Thomas Hobbes).
Where it is not always possible to obtain scientific facts (for example, in astronomy, history), estimates are used - scientific assumptions and hypotheses that are close to reality and claim to be true.
The part of a scientific theory built on scientific facts is an area of true knowledge on the basis of which axioms, theorems are built and the main phenomena of this science are explained. The part of scientific theory built on estimates represents a problematic area of this science, within the framework of which scientific research is usually conducted. The goal of scientific research is to turn estimates into scientific facts, i.e. the desire for the truth of knowledge.
The specificity of scientific knowledge, in contrast to spontaneous-empirical knowledge, lies primarily in the fact that cognitive activity in science is carried out not by everyone, but by specially trained groups of people - scientists. Scientific research becomes the form of its implementation and development.
Science, in contrast to the spontaneous empirical process of cognition, studies not only those objects with which people deal in their direct practice, but also those that are revealed in the course of the development of science itself. Often their study precedes practical use. “A systematic whole of knowledge can, simply because it is systematic, be called science, and if the unification of knowledge in this system is a connection of foundations and consequences, even rational science” (Immanuel Kant). For example, the practical application of atomic energy was preceded by a fairly long period of studying the structure of the atom as an object of science.
In science, they begin to specifically study the very results of cognitive activity - scientific knowledge. Criteria are being developed according to which scientific knowledge can be separated from spontaneous empirical knowledge, from opinions, from speculative reasoning, etc.
Scientific knowledge is recorded not only in natural language, as is always the case in spontaneous empirical knowledge. Specially created symbolic and logical means are often used (for example, in mathematics, chemistry).
The discursiveness of scientific knowledge is based on a forced sequence of concepts and judgments, given by the logical structure of knowledge (cause-and-effect structure), and forms a feeling of subjective conviction in the possession of the truth. Therefore, acts of scientific knowledge are accompanied by the subject’s confidence in the reliability of its content. That is why knowledge is understood as a form of subjective right to truth. In the conditions of science, this right turns into the obligation of the subject to recognize logically substantiated, discursively proven, organized, systematically related truth.
In the history of science, special means of cognition and methods of scientific research are created and developed, while spontaneous empirical knowledge does not have such means. The means of scientific knowledge include, for example, modeling, the use of idealized models, the creation of theories, hypotheses, and experimentation.
Finally, the cardinal difference between scientific knowledge and spontaneous empirical knowledge is that scientific research is systematic and purposeful. It is aimed at solving problems that are consciously formulated as a goal.
Scientific knowledge differs from other forms of knowledge (everyday knowledge, philosophical knowledge, etc.) in that science carefully verifies the results of knowledge through observation and experiment.
Empirical knowledge, if it is included in the system of science, loses its spontaneous character. “I have no doubt at all that real science can and does know the necessary relationships or laws of phenomena, but the only question is: does it remain with this knowledge on an exclusively empirical basis ... does it not contain other cognitive elements, in addition , to which abstract empiricism wants to limit it? (Vladimir Solovyov).
The most important empirical methods are observation, measurement and experiment.
Observation in science differs from simple contemplation of things and phenomena. Scientists always set a specific goal and task for observation. They strive for impartiality and objectivity of observation and accurately record its results. Some sciences have developed complex instruments (microscopes, telescopes, etc.) that make it possible to observe phenomena inaccessible to the naked eye.
Measurement is a method by which the quantitative characteristics of the objects being studied are established. Accurate measurement plays a big role in physics, chemistry and other natural sciences, but in modern social sciences, especially in economics and sociology, measurements of various economic indicators and social facts are widespread.
An experiment is an “artificial” situation expediently constructed by a scientist in which presumptive knowledge (hypothesis) is confirmed or refuted by experience. Often used in experiments precise methods measurements and complex instruments to test knowledge as accurately as possible. Scientific experiments often use very complex equipment.
Empirical methods, firstly, make it possible to establish facts, and secondly, to verify the truth of hypotheses and theories by correlating them with the results of observations and facts established in experiments.
Take, for example, the science of society. In modern sociology, empirical research methods play an important role. Sociology must be based on concrete data about social facts and processes. Scientists obtain this data using various empirical methods - observations, opinion polls, studying public opinion, statistical data, experiments on the interaction of people in social groups, etc. In this way, sociology collects numerous facts that serve as the basis for theoretical hypotheses and conclusions.
Scientists do not stop at observing and establishing facts. They strive to find laws that connect numerous facts. To establish these laws, theoretical research methods are used. Theoretical research is associated with the improvement and development of the conceptual apparatus of science and is aimed at a comprehensive knowledge of objective reality through this apparatus in its essential connections and patterns.
These are methods of analysis and generalization of empirical facts, methods of putting forward hypotheses, methods of rational reasoning that allow one to derive some knowledge from others.
The most famous, classic theoretical methods are induction and deduction.
The inductive method is a method of deducing patterns based on a generalization of many individual facts. For example, a sociologist, based on a generalization of empirical facts, can discover some stable, repeating forms of people's social behavior. These will be primary social patterns. The inductive method is a movement from the particular to the general, from facts to law.
The deductive method is a movement from the general to the specific. If we have some general law, then we can derive more specific consequences from it. Deduction, for example, is widely used in mathematics to prove theorems from general axioms.
It is important to emphasize that the methods of science are interconnected. Without establishing empirical facts, it is impossible to build a theory; without theories, scientists would only have a huge number of unrelated facts. Therefore, in scientific knowledge, various theoretical and empirical methods are used in their inextricable connection.
Science is built on objective and material evidence. Analytical consciousness absorbs the many faces of life experience and is always open to clarification. We can talk about scientific knowledge only when it is generally valid. The obligatory nature of the result is a specific sign of science. Science is also universal in spirit. There is no area that could isolate itself from it for a long time. Everything that happens in the world is subject to observation, consideration, research - natural phenomena, actions or statements of people, their creations and destinies.
Modern development of science leads to further transformations of the entire system of human life. Science exists not only to reflect reality, but also so that the results of this reflection can be used by people.
Particularly impressive is its impact on the development of technology and the latest technologies, the impact of scientific and technological progress on people's lives.
Science creates a new environment for human existence. Science is influenced by the particular form of culture in which it is formed. The style of scientific thinking is developed on the basis of not only social, but also philosophical ideas that generalize the development of both science and all human practice.
Foresight is one of the most important functions of science. At one time, V. Ostwald spoke brilliantly on this issue: “... A penetrating understanding of science: science is the art of foresight. Its entire value lies in the extent to which and with what reliability it can predict future events. Any knowledge that says nothing about the future is dead, and such knowledge should be denied the honorary title of science.” Skachkov Yu.V. Multifunctionality of science. “Questions of Philosophy”, 1995, No. 11
All human practice is actually based on foresight. When engaging in any type of activity, a person assumes (foresees) in advance to obtain some very definite results. Human activity is basically organized and purposeful, and in such organization of his actions a person relies on knowledge. It is knowledge that allows him to expand the area of his existence, without which his life cannot continue. Knowledge makes it possible to foresee the course of events, since it is invariably included in the structure of the methods of action themselves. Methods characterize any type of human activity, and they are based on the development of special tools and means of activity. Both the development of tools of activity and their “application” are based on knowledge, which makes it possible to successfully anticipate the results of this activity.
Tracing the social parameter of science as an activity, we see the diversity of its “sections”. This activity is embedded in a specific historical sociocultural context. It is subject to the norms developed by the community of scientists. (In particular, someone who has entered this community is called upon to produce new knowledge and is invariably subject to a “prohibition of repetition.”) Another level represents involvement in a school or direction, in a circle of communication, entering which an individual becomes a person of science.
Science, as a living system, is the production of not only ideas, but also the people who create them. Within the system itself, there is an invisible, continuous work going on to build minds capable of solving its emerging problems. School, as a unity of research, communication and teaching creativity, is one of the main forms of scientific and social associations, moreover, the oldest form, characteristic of knowledge at all levels of its evolution. Unlike organizations such as a scientific research institution, a school in science is informal, i.e. an association without legal status. Its organization is not planned in advance and is not regulated by regulations.
There are also such associations of scientists as “invisible colleges”. This term denotes a network of personal contacts between scientists and procedures for the mutual exchange of information (for example, so-called preprints, i.e. information about not yet published research results) that does not have clear boundaries.
“The Invisible College” refers to the secondary - extensive - period of growth of scientific knowledge. It brings together scientists focused on solving a set of interrelated problems, after a research program has been developed within a small compact group. In the “college” there is a productive “core”, overgrown with many authors who reproduce in their publications, preprints, informal oral contacts, etc. truly innovative ideas of this “core”, the shell around the core can grow as much as desired, leading to the reproduction of knowledge already included in the fund of science.
The sociopsychological factors of scientific creativity include the scientist’s opponent circle. The concept of it was introduced for the purpose of analyzing a scientist’s communications from the point of view of the dependence of the dynamics of his creativity on confrontational relationships with colleagues. From the etymology of the term “opponent” it is clear that it means “one who objects,” who acts as a challenger to someone’s opinion. We will talk about the relationship between scientists who object, refute or challenge someone’s ideas, hypotheses, conclusions. Each researcher has his own circle of opponents. It can be initiated by a scientist when he challenges his colleagues. But it is created by these colleagues themselves, who do not accept the scientist’s ideas, perceive them as a threat to their views (and thereby their position in science) and therefore defend them in the form of opposition.
Since confrontation and opposition take place in a zone controlled by the scientific community, which passes judgment on its members, the scientist is forced not only to take into account the opinions and positions of his opponents in order to understand for himself the degree of reliability of his data that has come under fire from criticism, but also to respond to his opponents. Polemics, even if hidden, become a catalyst for the work of thought.
Meanwhile, just as behind each product of scientific work there are invisible processes occurring in the creative laboratory of a scientist, these usually include the construction of hypotheses, the activity of imagination, the power of abstraction, etc., opponents with whom he is conducting a hidden polemic. Obviously, hidden polemics become most intense in cases where an idea is put forward that claims to radically change the established body of knowledge. And this is not surprising. The community must have a kind of “defense mechanism” that would prevent “omnivorousness”, the immediate assimilation of any opinion. Hence the natural resistance of society that anyone who claims to be recognized for his achievements of an innovative nature has to experience.
Recognizing the sociality of scientific creativity, it should be borne in mind that along with the macroscopic aspect (which covers both social norms and principles of organization of the world of science, and a complex set of relations between this world and society) there is a microsocial one. He is represented, in particular, in the opponent circle. But in it, as in other microsocial phenomena, the personal beginning of creativity is also expressed. At the level of the emergence of new knowledge - whether we are talking about a discovery, a fact, a theory or a research direction in which various groups and schools work - we find ourselves face to face with the creative individuality of a scientist.
Scientific information about things merges with information about others' opinions about those things. In a broad sense, both obtaining information about things and obtaining information about the opinions of others about these things can be called information activity. It is as ancient as science itself. In order to successfully fulfill his main social role (which is the production of new knowledge), the scientist must be informed about what was known before him. Otherwise, he may find himself in the position of discovering already established truths.
Literature
1. Alekseev P.V., Panin A.V. Philosophy. Textbook. - M.: Prospekt, 1999.
2. Karlov N.V. About fundamental and applied in science and education. // “Questions of Philosophy”, 1995, No. 12
3. Pechenkin A.A. Justification of scientific theory. Classic and modern. - M., Science, 1991
4. Popper K. Logic and the growth of scientific knowledge. - M.: Nauka, 1993.
5. Skachkov Yu.V. Multifunctionality of science. “Questions of Philosophy”, 1995, No. 11
6. Philosophy of science: History and methodology. - M., Publishing Center “Academy”, 2001.
7. Philosophical Encyclopedia. vol.1-5. - M., 1993.
Science includes scientists with their knowledge and abilities, scientific institutions and has as its task the study (based on certain methods of cognition) of the objective laws of nature, society and thinking to foresee and transform reality in the interests of society. [Burgin M.S. Introduction to modern exact science methodology. Structures of knowledge systems. M.: 1994].
On the other hand, science is also a story about what exists in this world and, in principle, can be, but it does not say what “should be” in the world in social terms - leaving it up to the “majority” to choose. humanity.
Scientific activity includes the following elements: subject (scientists), object (all states of existence of nature and man), goal (goals) - as a complex system of expected results of scientific activity, means (methods of thinking, scientific instruments, laboratories), final product ( indicator of scientific activity carried out - scientific knowledge), social conditions (organization of scientific activity in society), activity of the subject - without the proactive actions of scientists and scientific communities, scientific creativity cannot be realized.
Today, the goals of science are diverse - this is the description, explanation, prediction, interpretation of those processes and phenomena that have become its objects (subjects), as well as the systematization of knowledge and the implementation of the results obtained in management, production and other spheres of public life, in improving its quality.
Science is not only a form of social consciousness aimed at an objective reflection of the world and providing humanity with an understanding of patterns. Science, in essence, is a social phenomenon; its beginnings appeared in antiquity, approximately 2.5 thousand years ago. An important prerequisite for the development of science as a social institution is the systematic education of the younger generation.
In Ancient Greece, scientists organized philosophical schools, for example, Plato's Academy, Aristotle's Lyceum, and engaged in research of their own free will. In the famous Pythagorean League, founded by Pythagoras, young people had to spend the whole day at school under the supervision of teachers and obey the rules of social life.
The social stimulus for the development of science was growing capitalist production, which required new natural resources and machines. Science was needed as a productive force for society. If ancient Greek science was a speculative research (translated from Greek “theory” means speculation), little connected with practical problems, then only in the 17th century. Science began to be seen as a way to ensure man's dominance over nature. René Descartes wrote:
“It is possible, instead of speculative philosophy, which only conceptually dissects a pre-given truth in hindsight, to find one that directly approaches being and attacks it so that we obtain knowledge about force... Then... realize and apply this knowledge for all the purposes for which they are suitable, and thus this knowledge (these new ways of representation) will make us masters and owners of nature” (Descartes R. Discourses on the method. Selected works. M., 1950, p. 305).
It was in Western Europe that science emerged as a social institution in the 17th century. and began to claim a certain autonomy, i.e. there was recognition of the social status of science. In 1662, the Royal Society of London was founded, and in 1666, the Paris Academy of Sciences.
Important prerequisites for such recognition can be seen in the creation of medieval monasteries, schools and universities. The first universities of the Middle Ages date back to the 12th century, but they were dominated by a religious paradigm of worldview, and the teachers were representatives of religion. Secular influence penetrates universities only after 400 years.
As a social institution, science includes not only a system of knowledge and scientific activity, but also a system of relations in science (scientists create and enter into various social relations), scientific institutions and organizations.
An institution (from the Latin institut – establishment, arrangement, custom) presupposes a set of norms, principles, rules, and models of behavior that regulate human activity and are woven into the functioning of society; this phenomenon is above the individual level, its norms and values dominate the individuals operating within its framework. R. Merton is considered the founder of this institutional approach in science. The concept of “social institution” reflects the degree of consolidation of one or another type of human activity - there are political, social, religious institutions, as well as institutions of family, school, marriage, etc.
The methods of social organization of scientists are subject to change and this is due both to the peculiarities of the development of science itself and to changes in its social status in society. Science as a social institution depends on other social institutions that provide the necessary material and social conditions for its development. Institutionality provides support for those activities and those projects that contribute to the strengthening of a particular value system.
The social conditions of science are the totality of elements of the organization of scientific activity in society and the state. These include: the need of society and the state for true knowledge, the creation of a network of scientific institutions (academies, ministries, research institutes and associations), public and private financial support for science, material and energy supply, communication (publishing monographs, journals, holding conferences), training of scientific personnel.
Currently, none of the scientific institutes preserves or embodies in its structure principles of dialectical materialism or biblical revelation, as well as the connection between science and parascientific types of knowledge.
Modern science is characterized by the transformation of scientific activity into a special profession. An unwritten rule in this profession is the prohibition of turning to authorities for the purpose of using the mechanism of coercion and subordination in resolving scientific problems. A scientist is required to constantly confirm his professionalism, through a system of objective assessment (publications, academic degrees), and through public recognition (titles, awards), i.e. the requirement of scientific competence becomes leading for the scientist, and only professionals or groups of professionals can be arbiters and experts when assessing the results of scientific research. Science takes on the function of translating the personal achievements of a scientist into a collective property.
But until the end of the 19th century. For the vast majority of scientists, scientific activity was not the main source of their material support. Typically, scientific research was carried out at universities, and scientists supported themselves by paying for their teaching work. One of the first scientific laboratories to generate significant income was the laboratory created by the German chemist J. Liebig in 1825. The first award for scientific research (the Copley Medal) was approved by the Royal Society of London in 1731.
The highest prestigious award in the field of physics, chemistry, medicine and physiology since 1901 is the Nobel Prize. The history of the Nobel Prizes is described in the book “The Testament of Alfred Nobel.” The first Nobel Prize laureate (1901) in the field of physics was V.K. Roentgen (Germany) for the discovery of rays named after him.
Today science cannot do without the help of society and the state. In developed countries today, 2-3% of total GNP is spent on science. But often commercial benefits and the interests of politicians influence priorities in the field of scientific and technological research today. Society encroaches on the choice of research methods and even on the evaluation of the results obtained.
The institutional approach to the development of science is now one of the dominant ones in the world. And although its main disadvantages are considered to be the exaggeration of the role of formal aspects, insufficient attention to the basics of human behavior, the rigid prescriptive nature of scientific activity, and the disregard for informal development opportunities, the compliance of members of the scientific community with the norms and values accepted in science is complemented by ethos of science as an important characteristic of the institutional understanding of science. According to Merton, the following features of the scientific ethos should be distinguished:
Universalism– the objective nature of scientific knowledge, the content of which does not depend on who and when it was obtained, only the reliability confirmed by accepted scientific procedures is important;
Collectivism– the universal nature of scientific work, implying the publicity of scientific results, their public domain;
Unselfishness, conditioned by the general goal of science - the comprehension of truth (without considerations of prestigious order, personal gain, mutual responsibility, competition, etc.);
Organized skepticism– a critical attitude towards oneself and the work of one’s colleagues; in science nothing is taken for granted, and the moment of denying the results obtained is considered as an element of scientific research.
Scientific norms. Science has certain norms and ideals of scientificity, its own standards of research work, and although they are historically changeable, they still retain a certain invariant of such norms, due to the unity of the style of thinking formulated in Ancient Greece. It is commonly called rational. This style of thinking is based essentially on two fundamental ideas:
Natural orderliness, i.e. recognition of the existence of universal, natural and accessible to reason causal relationships;
Formal proof as the main means of validating knowledge.
Within the framework of a rational style of thinking, scientific knowledge is characterized by the following methodological criteria (norms). It is these norms of scientific character that are constantly included in the standard of scientific knowledge.
versatility, i.e. exclusion of any specifics - place, time, subject, etc.
- consistency or consistency, provided by the deductive method of deploying a knowledge system;
- simplicity; A good theory is one that explains the widest possible range of phenomena, based on a minimum number of scientific principles;
- explanatory potential;
- presence of predictive power.
Scientific criteria. Always relevant for science next question: What knowledge is truly scientific? In natural science, character is of utmost importance confirmability of the theory by empirical facts .
When characterizing a natural science theory, not the term “truth” is used, but the term “confirmability”. A scientist must strive for precision of expressions and not use ambiguous terms. The main criterion for the scientific nature of natural science in this regard is the confirmability of the theory. The terms “truth” and “truth” have a broader interpretation and are used in natural science, humanities, logic, mathematics, and religion, i.e. it does not express the specificity of natural science in comparison with the term “confirmability,” which is of paramount importance for natural science.
In humanities theories are ranked according to their effectiveness .
In the 20th century define two requirements for scientific knowledge:
1) knowledge must allow one to understand the phenomena being studied,
2) carry out retro-telling of the past and prediction of the future about them.
Natural sciences fulfill these requirements through concepts. hypothetico-deductive method and based on the confirmability criterion , and the humanities - thanks to the reliance on value ideas, pragmatic method and efficiency criteria – which are the three main scientific foundations of humanities.
Science expresses the objective laws of phenomena in abstract concepts and diagrams, which must strictly correspond to reality.
Other signs of scientific knowledge: logical justification and practical testing of knowledge; specialist. scientific terminology (artificial language); specialist. instruments and equipment; specific research methods; critical revision of the foundations of scientific research; the presence of a system of value orientations and goals (the search for objective truth as the highest value of science); conceptual and systemic nature of knowledge; reproducibility of scientific phenomena under certain conditions.
Structure and dynamics of scientific knowledge. Science includes: a) scientists with their knowledge, qualifications and experience, division of labor; b) scientific institutions and equipment; c) a system of scientific information (body of knowledge).
There are humanities, natural sciences and technical sciences. There are three layers in the structure of science: 1) general knowledge (philosophy and mathematics); 2) private scientific knowledge; 3) interdisciplinary integrative nature (general theory of systems and theoretical cybernetics from the mid-twentieth century). From the point of view of the characteristics of knowledge, they distinguish: a) empirical knowledge; b) theoretical knowledge; c) ideological, philosophical foundations and conclusions.
The foundations of each science are: a) ideals and norms of research; b) scientific picture of the world; c) philosophical principles.
The forms of implementation and functioning of the ideals and norms of research express the value and purpose of science and include: a) evidence and validity of knowledge; b) explanation and description; c) construction and organization of knowledge.
The scientific picture of the world provides the systematization of knowledge within the framework of the relevant science, functions as research program, which targets the formulation of scientific research problems and the choice of means to solve them.
Philosophical principles participate in the construction of new theories, guiding the restructuring of the normative structures of science and pictures of reality. Classical stage - the ideal of knowledge is the construction of an absolutely true picture of nature. Non-classical stage – an understanding of the relative truth of the picture of nature develops. Post-non-classical stage – vision of science in the context of social conditions and consequences, inclusion of axiological (value) facts when explaining and describing complex system objects (ecological processes, genetic engineering).
In interaction with science, philosophy:
a) stands above science as its guide;
b) is included in science as its integral component;
c) is in the foundation of science as its system-forming principle.
Science and philosophy are interconnected, but at the same time they are different. “Philosophy cognizes being from man and through man..., but science cognizes being, as it were, outside of man.” Philosophy is more an art than a science. Philosophy is one of the areas of culture where the criteria of science do not fully apply. Skepticism regarding philosophy as a science is expressed in the opinion that philosophy is supposedly engaged only in a speculative analysis of concepts about the properties of objects, and not facts about nature (ancient philosophers, Hegel), that it is not a system of knowledge, but only mental activity.
However, philosophy has a number of characteristics of scientific knowledge: systematicity, fixation in concepts, categories and laws, logical argumentation, evidence, objective truth. Philosophy has chosen dialectics as its method.
Philosophy has a certain redundancy of content in relation to the needs of science of each era. For example, the ideas of atomism in ancient philosophy etc.
The most important synthetic theories of natural science are distinguished by a pronounced philosophical character. For example, understanding the law of conservation and transformation of energy, the law of entropy, the theory of relativity, quantum theory.
“Philosophical prejudices” can hinder scientists, harm science and lead to dogmatism.
The development of knowledge occurs gradually, and also in the form of scientific revolutions. First large revolution in science(XV-XVII) destroyed the geocentric system and established the classical (mechanistic) picture of the worldview (Copernicus, Galileo, Newton).
The second scientific revolution is associated with Darwin's evolutionary doctrine, cell theory, the law of conservation and transformation of energy, Mendeleev's system of chemical elements (19th century). Creation of non-classical natural science.
The third revolution in science occurred at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries. Einstein's theory of relativity, Rutherford's experiments with alpha particles, the work of N. Bohr and others showed that the world is complex and that human consciousness is included in the perception of reality. The world is a continuous dynamic.
The scientific picture of the world changed under the influence of non-Aristotelian logic and non-Euclidean geometry (19th century), the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics (late 20th century), general systems theory and theoretical cybernetics (from the mid-20th century).
Methodology of scientific knowledge. Methodology is a system of fundamental principles that determine the method of approach to the analysis and assessment of phenomena, the nature and direction of cognitive and practical activity. From the principles of materialism, dialectics, subjective attitude to reality, practice, the principles of objectivity, determinism, universal connection, development, concrete historical approach, etc. follow. Significant contributions to the development of the research method were made by F. Bacon (experience, inductive method), R. Descartes (rational method), Hegel (dialectics), Marxist philosophy, representatives of scientistic and anthropological movements in philosophy.
In accordance with the structure of science, the following levels are distinguished: a) philosophical methodology, which considers the general principles of knowledge and the categorical structure of science; b) general scientific methodology (theoretical cybernetics, systems approach); c) specific scientific methodology; d) research methods and techniques, i.e. a set of procedures that ensure the receipt of reliable empirical data and their primary processing.
Philosophical methods include dialectical and metaphysical. The theoretical basis of all forms of scientific knowledge is materialist dialectics, which acts as logic and theory of knowledge.
The dialectical method includes the principles of historicism, comprehensiveness, objectivity, specificity, determinism, etc. Issues of the method are not limited to the framework of science and philosophy, but go into the sphere of practice.
Modern dialectical-materialist methodology of science considers in interrelation: a) the object of scientific research; b) subject of analysis; c) the research objective; d) stages of activity.
Among the methodological trends of the twentieth century. highlight the theory of scientific paradigms and syntagmas. Paradigm(from Greek - example, sample - a theory (or model of problem formulation), adopted as a model for solving research problems. Successfully solves typical scientific problems in areas isolated from each other. Syntagma(from Greek - something connected) - a knowledge system that unites heterogeneous subsystems to solve a certain set of complex problems (for example, artificial intelligence, social management, modern ecology).
Methods of empirical and theoretical research. To the main methods empirical research refers to observation, measurement, experiment. Observation– purposeful perception of objects and phenomena in their natural form directly and with the help of instruments. Measurement– establishment of one value using another, accepted as a standard, as well as a description of this procedure. Experiment– studying a subject under specially selected conditions and observing it.
TO general logical methods Scientific knowledge includes interconnected analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, abstraction and generalization. Analysis- dividing an object into its individual parts. Synthesis– combining parts of a subject into a single formation (system). Induction– the movement of thought from the individual to the general. Deduction– movement of thought from the general to the individual. Analogy– based on the similarity of objects in some characteristics, they conclude about their similarity in other characteristics. Modeling– through one system (natural or artificial) they reproduce another, more complex system, which is the object of research.
Abstraction– some distraction from directly perceived reality (abstraction). Generalization– establishment general properties and characteristics of objects (philosophical categories).
Methods of theoretical research: thought experiment, idealization(logical reconstruction of reality, in a theoretical ideal object, the essence is separated from the phenomenon and appears in its pure form, for example, a material point is a body without dimensions, the mass of which is concentrated at the point), explanation, axiomatic method(all other statements are logically derived from the axioms and postulates based on the accepted rules of inference and definitions), ascent from abstract to concrete(from properties, individual aspects to holistic knowledge, for example, K. Marx: from a commodity as an initial abstraction characterizing the essence of capitalist production, he ascended to richer and more meaningful abstractions (money, capital, profitable value, wages, etc.), recreating a comprehensive picture of the capitalist economy as a whole), unity of historical and logical(a description of the real process of the emergence and development of an object carried out with maximum completeness; fixation of the objective logic of the development of events, abstracting from their random specific historical features. Logical is a reflection of the historical process in a form freed from accidents).
The result of empirical research is observational data, empirical facts and dependencies.
The result of theoretical research is an idea, problem, hypothesis, theory (concept), scientific picture of the world.
Idea- a concept denoting the meaning, meaning, essence of a thing. Problem grows out of the needs of human practical activity in the pursuit of new knowledge. The problem is the unity of the unknown and the known, ignorance and knowledge. Hypothesis- knowledge based on an assumption, not yet proven theoretical reasoning. Theory– a justified and proven hypothesis (must be consistent and subject to experimental testability). Gives a scientific picture of the world.
Ethics of science. The most important norms of scientific ethics are: denial of plagiarism; falsification of experimental data; selfless search and defense of truth; the result must be new knowledge, logically, experimentally substantiated.
A scientist, in addition to professionalism, methodological skills, and scientific thinking, must develop certain socio-psychological qualities. Among these qualities, one of the most important is creative intuition.
The problem of the relationship between truth and goodness develops into the problem of the connection between freedom and responsibility in the activities of scientists, into the problem of comprehensive and long-term consideration of the ambiguous consequences of the development of science.
Subject: THE PROBLEM OF MAN IN PHILOSOPHY
- Man as a subject of philosophy. Anthroposociogenesis and its complex nature.
- The problem of the nature and essence of man. The unity of the natural and social in man.
- Spirituality and the problem of the meaning of life.
Interest in the problem of man (philosophical anthropology) is caused by the expansion and deepening of knowledge about the world. The ancient philosophical image of man is cosmocentric. For example, Confucius.
Plato saw man as “a bipedal creature without wings with flat claws, susceptible to knowledge based on reasoning.” The physical and spiritual characteristics of a person are highlighted here. Aristotle believed that man is a social animal, endowed with reason, improving in a just state. Aristotle gave a typology of the different “levels” of the soul, distinguishing the plant, animal and rational souls. Plants are responsible for the functions of nutrition, growth and reproduction. In the animal soul, to these functions is added sensation and the ability of desire. The rational soul, which only man possesses, is endowed, in addition to the listed functions, with the highest of abilities - reasoning and thinking. In man, only the mind is immortal: after the death of the body, it merges with the universal mind.
In addition to the idea of improving the individual through his inclusion in the state (social whole), the idea of a happy and virtuous life was pursued by freeing a person from the power of the outside world, from the socio-political sphere (for example, in the ethics of Epicurus).
In medieval philosophy, man was seen as the image and likeness of God, as a moment of movement towards God. On the other hand, the view was maintained that man is a rational animal (duality: he has God’s gift - free will, but the flesh and earthly life of man are sinful).
The Renaissance proclaimed the idea of greatness, freedom, dignity, and the power of the human mind. Humanism was discovered and defended by A. Dante, F. Petrarch, Leonardo da Vinci, T. More, E. Rotterdam, N. Machiavelli, D. Bruno, F. Bacon, F. Skorina and others.
In modern times, attention was paid to the inner world of man. For example, subjectivity, expressed in the formula of R. Descartes “I think, therefore I exist,” became the criterion of all things and the most reliable reality. The beginning of the “activity paradigm” was laid, within the framework of which a person became aware of himself.
Philosophers of the New Age tried to reveal the natural foundations of man. T. Hobbes argued that physical and spiritual abilities, the basic qualities of people can be realized in a state built on the basis of a social contract. B. Pascal anticipated the idea of the uniqueness of human cognition in comparison with nature. D. Locke attached an important role to the formation of harmony between the physical and spiritual principles of the individual (“A healthy mind in a healthy body”). French materialists of the 18th century. also tried to overcome the opposition between body and spirit.
Representatives of classical German philosophy sought to overcome the mechanistic interpretation in understanding man. Hegel believed that a person realizes his spiritual essence by overcoming naturalness, through inclusion in the diversity of relations of social life (family, property, state, law, etc.). However, practical activity was understood abstractly, as the activity of thinking, will, and spirit. Kant developed a dualistic view of man as existing in a “world of nature” and a “world of freedom.” According to L. Feuerbach, the essence of a person is largely determined by his body, and the person himself has a mind, heart and will capable of love. Man, including nature as his basis, is the universal and highest subject of philosophy. In this approach, along with advantages, there are also disadvantages: there is no historical view of man, it is not explained why different people the content of their spiritual life is so different.
Russian thinkers A.I. Herzen and N.G. Chernyshevsky noted that a person is not only exposed to the external world, but also changes it.
Russian philosophy of the 19th century. considered man in the concepts of “philosophy of totality” and “philosophy of individuality.” The first direction was represented by the Slavophiles, who believed that a truly moral subject, combining personal and collective principles, was possible only within the framework of the peasant community as an ideal “moral world.” Westerners focused on Western European civilization, the personal principle, and criticized Orthodoxy. F.M. Dostoevsky divided history into three stages: patriarchy (natural collectivity), civilization (painful individualization) and Christianity as a synthesis of the previous ones.
K. Marx and F. Engels developed the general materialist idea of the determination of man by objective natural and social reality. This concept is supplemented by the idea developed within the framework of idealism human activity, activities. At the same time, Marx discovered a tendency towards an increasing role of the subjective factor in history. V.I. Lenin, developing these provisions, formulated the ideology of revolutionary activism.
Representatives of anthropological philosophy, especially existentialism, chose existence, the spiritual world of man, as the main theme of their reflections. Existentialists believe that humanism is under threat due to the technization of society and man, the danger of nuclear war, and the Marxist doctrine that absolutizes the universality of labor and technology.
In the context of accelerating social progress, religious philosophy is being updated in the direction of an “anthropological turn.”
Modern foreign theorists are concerned with questions of the meaning of life and value orientations of a person, ways of his self-realization.
In general, modern socio-philosophical thought names a number of patterns of development of the essential forces of man:
· their continuous complication;
· advanced development of abilities as an indicator of qualitative change in personality;
· increasing the degree of freedom of human development;
· growth of the thoroughness of historical action.
The Becoming of Man ( anthropogenesis) and formation of society ( sociogenesis) together constitute anthroposociogenesis, which lasted 3-3.5 million years. In accordance with the evolutionary labor theory, it is believed that man descended from apes.
The behavior of human ancestors (homins) is characterized by: a) instinctive behavior; b) the decisive role of genetic inheritance; c) herd lifestyle; d) biophysiological division of functions.
According to the hypothesis, overcoming the shortcomings of the biological mode of behavior of human ancestors and the greatly deteriorating conditions of their habitat prompted the emergence of a fundamentally new, social way of existence of the pre-human and his transformation into a person. To make the leap into a social mode of existence, human ancestors had the necessary biological prerequisites: the brain; upright walking; a developed hand capable of performing labor operations; a larynx capable of producing articulate sounds; a look that allows you to see in three dimensions and navigate in space; development of complex patterns of behavior and adaptation to various environmental conditions; long-term care by parents of children, leading to better biological maturation and learning; the relative stability of sexual desire, affecting the quality of the offspring. Pre-man turned out to be prepared to pick up a stick or stone, thus lengthening his limbs, strengthening his natural capabilities by artificial means. From adaptation to nature, he moved on to its transformation and work. “Labor created man himself.”
The beginning of the manufacture of labor tools is a historical milestone in the formation of man and society. There is evidence that the production of simple tools began 1-1.5 million years earlier than the appearance of speech and thinking. Initially, the decisive role in production and everyday life was played by skills, abilities, not the mind. This makes it possible to assert that Man in his development goes through the stages of skillful, upright and reasonable man.
Already in the 60s. XIX century Haeckel, Huxley and Focht formulated one of the difficulties of the labor theory of human origins - the “missing link,” a morphologically defined form between ape-like ancestors and modern man. And in the 90s. XX century Genetic scientists, examining DNA molecules from the remains of a Neanderthal man a hundred thousand years ago, found in the vicinity of Düsseldorf, came to the conclusion that Neanderthals were not predecessors modern man, but were an extinct side line of evolutionary development.
A number of researchers who are skeptical about the labor theory of human origins pay special attention to spiritual factor the appearance of man. According to Teilhard de Chardin, the “paradox of man” is that the transition did not take place through morphological changes, but inside, through the development of consciousness, psyche, mind, only veiled by morphology.”
Many insects, birds, and mammals developed more radical innovations than human ancestors: complex nests, beaver dams, geometric angles, urbanoid anthills, etc. This means that man’s advantage was not that he began to use tools, but that that he was originally a self-improving animal using mainly his mind.
In a number of cases, animals carry out instrumental activities that contain “manual intelligence” or “practical thinking” (A.N. Lentyev). In the objective and practical activity of a person, the physical and spiritual abilities of a person are embodied, thinking, speech, self-awareness and various abilities develop. In the physical and mental development of a person, the labor factor is of decisive importance:
a) an increase in the number of connections and their complication (man - a tool of labor - an object of labor - nature);
b) the result of labor is separated in time from the direct labor act;
c) in the process of labor, a person learned the external connections and internal properties of things, developed his analytical and synthetic abilities;
d) along with the formation of the hand, the human brain increased and became more complex;
e) in the process of labor, the instinctive basis of behavior was weakened, the will, intellect, and human needs were formed.
In the process of labor, a sociocultural association of people and language are formed as a means of organizing joint actions, storing and transmitting knowledge, and communication.
Thus, work, thinking and speech formed man.
Depending on the material and labor factor, the American scientist L. Morgan (1818-1888) identified three historical eras in human history - savagery(use of fire, hunting, invention of the bow), barbarism(pottery, domestication of animals and cultivation of useful plants, smelting iron ore) and civilization(invention of alphabetic writing, creation of firearms).
K. Marx and F. Engels based the classification of history on the economic basis in all its depth, considering the development of the means of production and their influence on the character public relations(social division of labor: cattle breeding from agriculture; money; mental from physical).
Labor is the most important system-forming concept, not only political and economic, but also sociocultural.
One of the factors of anthroposociogenesis is moral. Moral and social norms arose as an expression of value behavior (prohibitions on incest, on killing a relative, the requirement to maintain the life of any member of the clan, and later - the human race as a whole and animals). Punitive measures (ostracism).
Important role the production of people by people themselves played a role in the formation of man and society ( demographic factor).
The continuation of the human race as a biosocial process is in organic unity with the sphere of production of means of life and the environment. The main features of the quality of the population are health, psychophysiological comfort of life, dynamic behavior style in unity with stability.
During anthroposociogenesis, a person acts as a product and at the same time a creator of circumstances. This leads to a number of approaches to man.
Object-genesis approach identifies the factors of human formation: a) macroenvironment (space, environmental, demographic, socio-economic, political living conditions); b) microenvironment (family, labor collective); c) social communities of people, interpersonal communication; d) public and political organizations, parties; e) system of training and education; f) mass media and cultural institutions.
K. Marx in his “Theses on Feuerbach” defined man as the totality of all social relations. However, a person is correlated not only with society, but also with the Universe, with all of History, with another person as an individual being of the Cosmos.
Z. Freud emphasized the role of the unconscious and argued that culture is derived from a person’s unconscious drives.
Subjective-functional approach reveals a person’s involvement in the main spheres of activity, communication and knowledge and characterizes him as a productive, socio-political and spiritual force of society.
Biologization(naturalistic) concepts of man absolutize the role of natural principles in man. Sociologizing theories represent a person only as a cast of the social relations surrounding him.
The natural-social in man is embodied in the unity of body and soul. Human actions are regulated not only by bodily needs, but also by social ones - society, history, spiritual and moral motives, etc.
Man is included in two worlds - nature and society. The biological in man is the initial, although not sufficient, beginning for explaining history and man himself. It is presented in the form of inclinations and abilities, drives. The social in a person is expressed in the fact that he embodies all the wealth of social development and is a product of the system of training and education. The dynamism and vitality of society largely depends on the maximum realization by individuals of their inclinations. Genetic and social differences are factors in human progress.
Compared to the social, the biological is more conservative. The human body does not always have time to adapt to negative and rapid changes in the environment (ecological disaster).
In general, it is necessary to improve social conditions and human biological capabilities simultaneously, ensuring their optimal interaction.
Spirituality there is a commitment to kindness, love, mercy, compassion and tolerance, conscience, beauty, freedom and honor, loyalty to ideals, the desire to reveal the secrets of existence and the meaning of life.
Human spirituality is manifested: 1) in the uniqueness of human individuality; 2) in involvement in universality, in the integrity of nature and culture.
The loss of the meaning of life has always been viewed as one of the greatest tragedies, as the loss of the main point of support. In the mythology of the ancient Greeks, the gods punished Syphysis for criminal acts with meaningless labor - they made him an eternal duty to roll a heavy stone up a mountain, which, upon reaching the top, rolled down. And the daughters of King Danae, who stabbed their sleeping husbands with daggers on their wedding night, are forced to fill a vessel that has no bottom with water.
The focus of culture has always been on the tasks of rational arrangement of social life, maintaining correspondence between society and nature, harmonization inner world person. In the search for harmony, people give preference to either external (material prosperity, fame, success) or internal harmony (spirit). Obviously, the meaning of life lies not in the opposition of internal and external harmony, but in their complementarity. The meaning of life for a person is in the comprehensive development of one’s abilities, making a personal contribution to the progress of society and culture through improving one’s own status (material and spiritual).
A person realizes the inevitability of his death. Death is an eternal theme of culture, “the inspiring genius of philosophy” (Socrates). The meaning of death is to create conditions for enriching life; the inevitability of death makes life meaningful and responsible (existentialism, Russian religious philosophy).
Modern interest in the problem of death is due to: a) the situation of a global civilizational crisis, which can lead to the self-destruction of humanity; b) a change in the value attitude towards life and death in connection with the general situation on Earth (devaluation of life due to poverty, lack of medical care, rampant terrorism, etc.).
The issue of the right to death is actively discussed in the literature, especially when it comes to euthanasia (“easy” death to end suffering from incurable diseases).
In some modern ideas, the idea of the formation of an incorruptible soul substance is renewed on a new basis. This idea is based on: Firstly, on the law of conservation and transformation of energy (complete destruction of mental energy is impossible); secondly, on the idea of the infinity of matter in space and time; thirdly, the possession of reason makes a person a being of cosmic scale, of inexhaustible depth. Death does not mean complete disappearance with the destruction of the body, but implies the exit of an intellectual-emotional clot in the form of a biofield structure to a higher level of existence.
Types of relative immortality: a) in the genes of the offspring; b) mummification of the body; c) dissolution of the body and spirit of the deceased in the Universe, their entry into the eternal cycle of matter; d) the result of a person’s life creativity.
Another idea is about the immortal soul (Heraclitus, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Kant, Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy, V.S. Solovyov, N.F. Fedorov, etc.).
Under certain conditions, people can acquire biological immortality as a result of “cloning.” Its essence is to destroy the barrier between “mortal” cells and “immortal” eggs. During cloning, it was possible to introduce the genetic information of an “immortal” egg into the nucleus of a mortal cell. Each surviving cell of the deceased can then be “resurrected” if the code of another fertilized egg is implanted into its nucleus (maybe the ancient Egyptians had a reason to embalm their dead?). Here we are talking only about biological immortality. But man cannot be reduced to biology. This idea can lead to an attempt to control human behavior (zombieing).
Realization of the meaning of life is possible in the case of comprehensive, harmonious and holistic development of a person. The realization of the meaning of life and human self-worth is most possible in world history. The individual level of a person depends on general historical and civilizational (formational) development and at the same time is relatively independent. Therefore, in realizing the meaning of life, it is inferior to the dynamics of the cultural-historical process, but in some of its implementations, especially among outstanding personalities, it is ahead of its time. The highest meaning of human life lies in the self-development of man through the dialogue of his uniqueness and universality, freedom and responsibility for the development of the world to the level of the noosphere.
Subject: PERSONALITY AND SOCIETY
1. The problem of personality in the history of philosophy.
2. Individual, individuality, personality.
3. Historical types of relationships between man and society.
4. Alienation as a phenomenon of human existence.
5. The role of the people and the individual in history.
In antiquity, the role of a person was assessed as a citizen of the polis. In general, the approach to man was speculative. Medieval philosophy tore the spiritual nature of man away from the physical, subordinated the personality to the divine will, paid attention to inner life, discovered self-consciousness as a special subjective reality, and contributed to the formation of the concept of “I”.
XVII century (emerging capitalism) formed such personality traits as initiative, activity, and uniqueness of each individual. In the 17th century theories of the world citizen1 appeared as an exponent of universal human values, civil society and the rule of law.
At the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries. there were the following basic concepts of personality: 1) focused on centralization and regulation of all spheres of life, belittled personality (Morelli, Babeuf, etc.). 2) humanistic concept - elevated the personality.
K. Marx and F. Engels noted that the essence of a person is revealed in the society in which a person functions. By changing the conditions of his existence, participating in transformations, a person becomes the creator of history, revealing in this process the facets of personality.
3) Representatives of the biologizing-individualistic concept explain personality solely by the action of heredity and argue that natural selection operates not only in nature, but also in society. Representatives of the structuralist approach, recognizing the social conditioning of the individual, reduce society to the impersonal structures of society and the human spirit. Many foreign philosophers have overcome the narrow structuralist view of personality, linking personality with the functioning of a social character (E. Fromm), with the process of socialization (J. Habermas).
One-sided is the position that contrasts society and the individual, masses of people and a unique personality (for example, Teilhard de Chardin). Modern philosophy approaches the issue of the role of the people and the individual in history in a comprehensive and concrete manner. For example, L.N. Gumilyov, in his discussions about ethnicity, wrote about passionaries (purposeful individuals who are able to lead others, infecting them with their enthusiasm), harmonious individuals and subpassionaries (the passive mass of the population). At different stages of ethnic development, the ratio of these groups of people changes.
Individual- a human unit, a representative of the human race and a historically defined society or group.
Individuality- a system of inherited and acquired social properties inherent in a particular person, characterizing his uniqueness and exclusivity. The most important feature individuality is universalism, the ability to master many types of activities. For example, outstanding figures of the Renaissance (Leonardo da Vinci - painter, mathematician, mechanic and engineer; N. Machiavelli - statesman, historian, poet, military writer).
The comprehensiveness of personality development does not only belong to the Renaissance. A physicist, mathematician, mechanic and astronomer, Newton performed alchemical experiments and commented on the Bible. Physicist Jung deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs. Mathematician Helmholtz is the author of fundamental works on the physiology of hearing and vision. A Nobel Peace Prize laureate, physician Schweitzer held doctoral degrees in philosophy, theology, music and law. Composer Borodin had a doctorate in medicine.
The opposite of individuality is integrativeness(plurality in man), which manifests itself in: 1) facelessness, uniformity, regulation of life; 2) synthesis of individuality, universality, which facilitates familiarization with the achievements of world culture.
Personality is a person as a “refraction” of the social (and spiritual) in the individual. Human socialization includes: 1) the “me-me” relationship; 2) “I-you”; 3) “I-we”; 4) “I am humanity”; 5) “I am nature”; 6) “I am second nature”; 7) “I am the universe.” Based on communication between “I” and different environments Various reflections and feelings are formed, certain norms of behavior and activity of people are formed.
The most important forms socialization are: customs, traditions, norms, language, through which the upbringing, training and activities of a person are carried out. Personality manifests itself through properties: ability to work, consciousness and intelligence, freedom and responsibility, direction and originality, character and temperament.
It is typical for higher mammals play behavior. It has also passed into human behavior (inherent in children and peoples at a primitive stage of development). The game has become a form of free self-expression of a person, not associated with the achievement of any utilitarian goal that brings joy and pleasure.
Game– an abbreviated and generalized expression of social relations. The culture of humanity is free and fair play (J. Huizinga), a person must choose: “to be nothing or to play” (J.-P. Sartre). Game is one of the most important phenomena of human existence.
Word "personality"(persona) originally denoted a theatrical play mask in European languages, then the actor himself and his role. In the future social role(father, doctor, artist, teacher, etc.) - a set of functions, patterns of behavior and actions performed by a person with a certain social status. Assumes responsibility.
Various variations appear in human behavior.
The first option is weathervane-adaptive. A person thinks and acts unprincipled, voluntarily submitting to circumstances, social fashion, his own inclination, power and ideology. When circumstances and power change, the opportunist is potentially ready to change his views and serve the new doctrine.
The second option is conservative-traditionalist. Its bearer has insufficient creative potential and is not able to react flexibly to changing circumstances, and is captive of previous dogmas.
The third option is personal independent behavior. Autonomy of consciousness and behavior is respectful if it does not turn into stubbornness.
The fourth option is stable and flexible behavior. Resilience is expressed through beliefs, a worldview “core,” flexibility is expressed through the ability to respond to new things and clarify positions on certain issues.
In each historical era, a set of conditions is formed that determine the social type of a person and the nature of his relationship with society:
1) “merger” of the individual and society (collective);
2) antagonistic relations between them;
3) unity between man and society, free individuality, based “on the universal development of individuals and on the transformation of their collective, social productivity into their public property”2 (Marx).
With the merger of the individual and society, a person is included in a strictly regulated localized system of social relations (clan, community), in reality and in his consciousness he did not stand out from the collective and was directly dependent on it.
The formation of personality occurs on the basis of the development and complication of work activity, the division of labor, the formation of private property and, accordingly, private interests.
During the development of private property, the merging of the individual and society was replaced by antagonistic relations between them, which was expressed in the emergence of various forms of exploitation of workers based on non-economic coercion: slavery, serfdom, collection of tribute from conquered peoples, etc.
With the advent of capitalist mature commodity production, individualism develops. Relations between people basically become relations between commodity producers and consumers, i.e. material relations. A new type of sociality is emerging – material dependence and personal independence. The individual has the opportunity to appropriate the wealth of material and spiritual culture accumulated by humanity. But the realization of this opportunity is hampered by relations of exploitation and various forms of alienation.
On the basis of public property, a new type of personality is emerging. Opportunities are opening up for combining personal and public interests, the individual and the team. However, the command-bureaucratic system of socialism in the USSR developed to a greater extent the elements of personal and material dependence rather than free individuality.
Social ownership of the means of production is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the full development of a new type of sociality. A high level of social labor productivity, an increase in free time, democratization of public life, and the development of creative initiative are also required.
In every historical era there are both dominant and remnant forms of sociality.
In addition to social ones, there are socio-psychological personality types. Hippocrates also divided people into choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic and melancholic. At the beginning of the twentieth century. C. G. Jung discovered 16 types of psyche, which he divided into 4 quadra groups. Each of them has its own rules of behavior and value system. TO first quadra include individuals who successfully generate ideas, create various successful or utopian projects (I. Newton, A. Einstein, K. Marx, F. Engels). Co. second quadra include individuals with a tendency to implement projects in life (V.I. Lenin), they are characterized by enormous capacity for work, will, determination and perseverance, flexibility and realism, and the ability to act in extreme situations. Representatives third quadra critically rethink primary ideas, identify their defects (M.S. Gorbachev, B.N. Yeltsin). Fourth quadra- creators.
One more classification of social personality types can be given.
Personalities-doers(artisans, workers, engineers, teachers, doctors, managers, etc.). The main thing for them is action, changing the world and other people, including themselves.
Thinkers(sages, prophets, chroniclers, outstanding scientists) come into the world in order to watch and reflect.
People of feelings and emotions(representatives of literature and art), whose brilliant insights sometimes outstrip the scientific forecasts and prophecies of the sages.
Humanists and devotees They are distinguished by a heightened sense of feeling the mental state of other people, love for their neighbor as for themselves, and rush to do good.
The phenomenon of alienation characterizes a situation when, firstly, contradictory communication develops between “I” and “not-I”, i.e. what man has created is opposed to him; secondly, when any phenomena and relationships in the distorted consciousness of people turn into something other than what they are in themselves. Alienation is the process and result of the separation of the function of a thing (system) from its basis, leading to a distortion of its essence.
Some fragments of the idea of alienation are found in ancient philosophy. For example, in Plato, T. Hobbes, J.-J. Rousseau, C. A. Saint-Simon, I. Fichte, G. Hegel, L. Feuerbach (in German classical philosophy, alienation is singled out as an independent object of study), K. Marx. The basis for any alienation of a person, according to Marx, is economic alienation, or alienated (forced, forced) labor, which was considered in a system of a number of relations:
a) alienation of society and man from nature; b) alienation from the work product and the results of his labor; c) alienation from the work process and the content of labor; d) alienation from the working content of the individual and or his generic essence; e) alienation in society of a person from another person. Marx draws attention to the contradictory nature of labor, which brings both satisfaction and suffering, which depends not only on the content of labor, but primarily on the state of social relations in which it is carried out. In Capital, Marx analyzed in detail social condition, where people exist as functions, and things dominate the creator. In a world of alienation, a person is focused on “having” rather than “being.”
Disalienation is considered by Marx according to the same parameters as the process of alienation: a) harmonization of relations between society (man) and nature; b) on the appropriation of the subject of labor and its result; c) on appropriation or liberation of the activity itself; d) by the appropriation by man of labor of a common “generic essence”; e) to harmonize human-human relationships.
Harmonization with external nature is carried out in activities in which a person realizes his goals not according to the laws of utilitarian benefit, exploitation of nature, but according to the “laws of beauty.” The inner nature of man himself is also transformed: instead of satisfying animal needs, a person appears with diverse, ever-increasingly complex needs. The main thing according to Marx is the abolition of private property as a genuine removal of alienation.
F. Engels - alienation is not only economic, but also social, political, spiritual, etc. V.I. Lenin - alienation can be overcome through the efforts of the subjective factor of history and the state along the path of significant growth of productive forces, changes in the quality of production relations.
A number of propositions about the nature of alienation were expressed in the philosophy of the twentieth century. Z. Freud (culture and society are forces alien and hostile to the individual), K. Jaspers (the main source of alienation is technology), M. Heidegger (alienation is a form of human existence in the impersonal world of everyday life), A. Camus (man is a stranger, “ strangers" in the world), E. Fromm (alienation is associated with the transformation of a person into a "thing", with an escape from freedom).
In the philosophical thought of the twentieth century. alienation is mainly viewed through the prism of the processes of dehumanization of society, leading to the “dehumanization” of the individual due to the crisis of technogenic civilization, the loss of the meaning of life and the value system of man and society, the dominance of the ideals of rationalism, the cult of science and technology.
Alienation is objective. Technological alienation - the poor development of tools of labor puts the entire burden of production on a person due to his physical overexertion (a person as an appendage of some means of labor or some production function).
Economic alienation (production and consumption are severed).
Political alienation (person and state). Alienation in spiritual life (rejection from history due to loss of historical memory).
Overcoming negative forms of alienation is rooted in social progress, gaining technological, economic, socio-political and spiritual freedom; conditions for the realization of one’s individuality against the general background of collectivity, the disclosure of a person’s creative qualities, his universal development, and integrity. But alienation is absolutely irremovable; it is normal characteristic a person, testifies to his abilities for self-expression and dedication. In general, alienation is dual: it promotes a person’s self-expression and at the same time depersonalizes him.
It is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of “population” and “people”.
Population – This is a collection (mass) of people living in certain space-time coordinates. People- a set of groups of workers who create material wealth and spiritual values, solve progressive historical problems in a given era and ensure the satisfaction of the personal and social needs of the population. The most important features of a people are their common cultural traditions, history, language, territory, and social character. The essence of a people is to be a socio-historical subject, which is expressed in the social activity of the people who form the people. The condition for the existence of a people is the existence of a civil society.
The categories “people” and “personality” are correlated. Some thinkers break this correlation, absolutizing the meaning of one and neglecting the other. In Soviet philosophy, for example, the role of the people in history was often exaggerated. Representatives of the theory of the elite (20th century) see among the people only a destructive, negative force.
A people is a collection of individuals. In the “people-person” relationship, the dialectical “both-and” principle operates. The increasing role of the people (through the activities of classes, social groups, collectives, parties) leads to an increase in the importance of the individual in all historical deeds.
In general, any personality has a contradictory impact on the historical process and culture: at some stages of life it accelerates the course of history, and at others it slows down. For example, I.V. Stalin, N.S. Khrushchev, L.I. Brezhnev.
Outstanding personalities play the role of innovators and organizers. These individuals cannot change history on a world-historical scale or disrupt its general objective logic, but in some way they influence the form of history’s movement as exponents of the needs and tasks of their era. American scientist Michael Hart in the book “The One Hundred Most Influential Personalities in History, Arranged in Order” (see “Arguments and Facts”, 1995, No. 9), the list begins with Mohammed, then the scientists and inventors Newton (2), Gutenberg, Einstein, Pasteur, Galileo, Darwin. Among the figures of literature, art and music are Shakespeare, Homer, Michelangelo, Picasso, Beethoven and Bach. Among philosophers, he begins with Marx. Of the natives of the CIS space, three figures are named - Lenin (15), Stalin (63) and Peter the Great (91).
Subject: MAN IN THE WORLD OF CULTURE, CIVILIZATION AND
