At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, a direction arose in European philosophy, the focus of which is the concept of personality - personalism. The advantage of this direction is the recognition of personality as the highest spiritual value. However, for most personalists (B. Bone, E. Mounier, M. Buber), the concept of “personality” is a spiritual and religious category. And most importantly, the individual as a specific person is strictly opposed to society.

2. Basic aspects of human existence

The way of human existence is activity, and the main types of activity, in our opinion, are work, play and creativity. Among the main aspects of human existence, we can distinguish the following phenomena:

like freedom, responsibility, alienation, faith, love and happiness.

The ability to act is a generic characteristic of a person. Activity acts as a direct process of human functioning, his interaction with the surrounding reality. Activity, compared to the behavior of animals, is a more active and more rational attitude of the subject to the world, and it is organically connected with goal-setting, which is not the case with animals. Activity is a specifically human way of relating to the world, which is a purposeful process during which a person reproduces and creatively transforms nature, society and himself.

The necessary attributes of activity are the subject and object of activity, the means and purpose of activity, the method and result of activity. All these components of activity are interconnected and are expressed in action. The latter is associated with the worldview and value orientation of the individual. Based on ideals and ideas about the world

creativity can be manifested in the process and results of activity, which also fundamentally distinguishes a person from an animal. In general, a person in acts of activity is capable transcend, that is, to go beyond the boundaries of existing existence by looking to the future (to a possible world), expressed in assessing the consequences of one’s free choice of goals and means of activity.

Activity favors way of being a person, since in activity he expresses himself. Outside of activity, human self-realization is impossible. By the nature of the activity one can judge the degree of responsibility of a person and his social orientation. Activity reveals the dynamics of a person’s individual and social existence and ensures his integrity.

The objective dependence of an individual on the necessary conditions of his existence is expressed by his needs. The need realized by the individual becomes a motive that encourages him to act. This is the ideal (subjective) motivating force of activity. The interests of the individual (personality), which are a manifestation of his active attitude towards the world around him, are closely related to needs. Interests characterize the subject (specific) focus of activity, the individual’s inclination towards a certain activity. By actively influencing the world around him, the conditions of his existence, a person creates a “second nature” around himself.

Activity is not only a way to satisfy needs, but also a factor in the reproduction and birth of new needs. In the interaction of needs, interests and practices, various types of activities corresponding to these needs are born. The dialectic of needs and activities is a common source of human self-propulsion and self-development. Based on the description

By integrating various forms of activity, the abstract concept of “man” is filled with concrete content corresponding to the existence of man in all the richness of his manifestations.

The main type of human activity is labor. This is an expedient activity of people aimed at mastering and transforming natural and social forces to satisfy the historically established needs of man and society. The entire history of civilization is nothing more than the constant activity of people, focused on achieving material and spiritual benefits. Labor as a component of the material and production sphere provides society with the necessary amount of consumer goods and guarantees a certain standard of living for people. Labor, therefore, is a necessary condition for the existence of man and society. The content and forms of labor change historically, but it always remains the main type of human activity.

Due to its complexity, work can be studied in many aspects. First of all, let us note the relationship between the essence of man and the essence of work. Labor created man from a social animal. He is the embodiment of the generic essence of man, and at the same time he is a way of realizing his essential powers. Currently, society has entered a highly technical and information stage of development, and the problem of labor has acquired new features that are being studied by various specialists. Not only is economic growth growing,

but also moral and personal value content of labor.

The subject of labor is a person. Work gives a person’s life a certain purpose and significance. Rights sociologist A.A. Rusalinova, when she argues that a serious threat to man and society is posed by the trend that has arisen in the conditions of a modern market economy

“destruction of labor”, which manifests itself in mass unemployment, disproportionately low pay for workers in some socially important areas of labor activity (education, science, art, etc.).

Indeed, the value of labor is especially acutely felt when a person finds himself unemployed. Another famous Russian philosopher I.A. drew attention to this. Ilyin. In his fair opinion, unemployment as such, even if secured or even filled with private and public subsidies, humiliates a person and makes him unhappy. And vice versa, work from a universal human point of view has been and remains a person’s moral duty, an area for the realization of various abilities, an arena of high achievements, and a measure of recognition and gratitude from descendants.

Almost every activity, including work, involves creativity. The latter is human activity that generates new material and spiritual values. In modern concepts of human existence, creativity is considered as a problem of the existence of a specific person in the world, as a matter of his personal knowledge and experience, as a means of his renewal, development and self-improvement. Man is a universal being and his abilities are potentially limitless. There are no fundamental restrictions on inventing more and more new types of activities and mastering them. Creativity is the most adequate form of human existence in man, and the creative boundlessness of man underlies the dynamics of his existence.

Creativity is always individual and personal. According to the words

to you V. Rozanov, a person “brings something new to the world, not always something common that he has with other people, but something exclusive that belongs to him alone” (Rozanov V.V. Twilight of Enlightenment. - M., 1990. P. 14 ). In subjective

spiritually, creativity is a close unity of fantasy, foresight and intuition of the individual. It is often associated with a special psychological phenomenon - a state of inspiration, creative ecstasy, in which the subject feels a great surge of strength and shows the greatest activity and performance.

Of course, we must not forget that, as M. Gorky said, inspiration is a guest that does not like to visit the lazy. Moreover, creativity requires firmness and courage from the individual, because it is always a challenge to established ideas, traditions and norms. But in this case, as they say, the game is worth the candle. The creator not only gives himself to the outside, to people, to society, but also enriches himself. In creativity, a person’s self-development, expansion and enrichment of his inner, spiritual world occurs.

Like work, play is a fundamental feature of our existence. A game is an activity that combines the real and the imaginary. Play is a special type of enjoying one’s freedom, one’s freedom of thought and action. It is no coincidence that the famous teacher P.F. Lesgaft argued that a person only lives when he plays. The game, like love, is submissive to all ages. The Dutch scientist and cultural theorist Johan Huizinga considered play as a universal principle in the formation of human culture. It was after the appearance of his book “Homo Ludens” (“Man Playing”) (1938) that the concept of play entered into wide scientific circulation. The famous philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein considered language systems in their communicative functions as a kind of “language games”. In the first half of the 20th century, mathematical game theory was created (E. Zermelo, J. Neumann, G. Morgenstern), which proposed the analysis of decision-making models under conditions of uncertainty. Although "game theory" follows

Considered rather a branch of mathematics or cybernetics, it nevertheless explores activity as a game in the broad sense of the word. In accordance with this theory, virtually all types of activities can be represented as a game (mathematical model).

Despite the fact that the conceptual analysis of the game is difficult, the following definition can be given. Play is a form of human action or interaction in which a person goes beyond his normal functions or the narrow utilitarian use of objects. From a philosophical point of view, play can be seen as a way of modeling the connections of human existence. And this concept is important for philosophy as a means of understanding the fundamental relationships between people, between man and the world around him.

Children's games are extremely important in the process of socialization of an individual. They are the most important condition for the natural formation and development of personality. The game stimulates the child to master and maintain the rules of coordinated existence.

The game has a certain significant value as an element of creative search. It frees consciousness from the bonds of stereotypes and contributes to the construction of probabilistic models of the phenomena under study, the construction of new artistic or philosophical systems. However, the highest value of the game is not in its results, but in the game itself. gameplay. Apparently that's why people love to play so much.

The problem of freedom is one of the most important and central issues of philosophy. But the question first of all is: is freedom possible at all? It is obvious that there is no absolute freedom, because any of our specific actions or deeds are determined by something. Apparently, we can talk about freedom in terms of human existence only to the extent that our actions and actions are personally conditioned, based on our will.

Only a person who is endowed with will can be free. In existential terms, freedom is a person’s ability to master the conditions of his being, the choice of his actions and deeds.

Free will is a person’s ability to perform spontaneous acts of behavior. It is a component of the essence of man and his life, the individual form of his being. Individuality is a specific person himself. And he himself ultimately decides what to do in this or that case. Therefore, in their final instance, consciousness and life are free. It is no coincidence that Jean-Paul Sartre spoke about man’s ability to create his own life, relying on freedom.

The question of freedom as the relationship between the individual and his activities is closely related to responsibility. A free person has the opportunity to choose between different modes of behavior.

Responsibility is a person’s ability to behave in a way that balances his independence (freedom) with the actions of other people and various social structures. The normal existence of a person is responsible existence. And the measure of this responsibility is duty, conscience, honor.

In the process of human existence, situations are possible that lead to the suppression of freedom and individual rights. In this case, they talk about the alienation of a person from some structures

and values. Alienation is a state (process) of human existence, characterized by the transformation of activity, its conditions, structures and results into an independent force that dominates him and is hostile to him. Overcoming alienation is seen through changing social conditions

And value and worldview personal attitudes that give rise to this phenomenon.

Faith occupies a large place in a person's life. Faith in a broad philosophical sense is a complex phenomenon of individual and mass consciousness. From this perspective, faith is an integral attribute of a person, one of the central programs of his brain. Man has an innate tendency to believe. In epistemological and religious terms, faith has already been discussed in the corresponding topics (7 and 11). Let’s add a few words to what was stated earlier. Faith as an opinion in the broad sense, as vital knowledge, accepted without proof as true, turns into ideological attitudes, into the life guidelines of the individual. In addition, faith is a person’s ability to experience what is imagined and desired as real. Therefore, faith, as a rule, presupposes optimistic a person's relationship to the world. This is evidenced, in particular, by the following lines: “Comrade, believe, she will rise, the star of captivating happiness!”, “I believe in the revival of Russia!”

Love plays a significant role in human life. Blaise Pascal believed that love is an essential quality of a person. And indeed, without love, a person is an inferior being, deprived of one of the strongest life incentives. Because of love, people went to great deeds and because of it they committed crimes. Such is the power of love. Love in anthropological terms is a feeling of striving for unity, closeness with another person, other people, nature, ideals and ideas.

Love acts as a connecting link in the relationships of people in communication, especially in their spiritual communication. It helps overcome spiritual self-isolation and existential loneliness. Love is based on the common interests of people, their needs and values. Famous Russian philosopher I.A. Ilyin noted that “the main thing in life is love and that it is love that builds life together on earth,

for from love will be born faith and the whole culture of the spirit” (Ilyin I.A. Our tasks. - M., 1992. P. 323). Some thinkers even argue that love can save a person from self-destruction.

The forms of human love are varied. This is, first of all, love for neighbors, for all people in general, for the opposite sex (erotic love), the love of parents for children and vice versa, a person’s love for himself (“narcissism”), love for the Motherland, God, truth, beauty and etc. By the way, philosophy itself arose as a love of wisdom. Of course, love involves not only positive emotions and a comfortable life; it may require overcoming many obstacles on the way to the beloved object. Thus, Omar Khayyam wrote:

Is there anyone in the world who managed to Satisfy his passion without suffering and tears? He allowed himself to be sawed through a tortoiseshell comb, Just to touch his beloved hair!

And yet one cannot but agree with the words of Eduard Sevrus (Borokhov), who wrote: “Life lies in love. It begins with love for a mother, lasts with love for a woman, children, the business to which he devoted himself, and ends with love for life itself, from which it is a pity to leave...”

Happiness, like the meaning of life, is understood differently by different people. And it is no coincidence that one of the popular songs states that “everyone’s happiness is not the same.” The category “happiness” is very relative. And yet we can try to give some more or less general definition of this phenomenon.

Happiness is often identified with the complete satisfaction of needs, with material wealth, as well as with career success. However, from the standpoint of universal human values, material wealth cannot be the main criterion

happiness. It’s not for nothing that people say: “Money doesn’t buy happiness.” The latter in general largely depends not so much on the achievement of any benefits, but on the internal state of a person. Of course, happiness is associated with many aspects of human existence. It is connected, first of all, with love, health, communication, including, to some extent, material wealth. Happiness does not lie in money, but the misfortune of the world lies in money, including its lack. Many philosophers of the past, when characterizing happiness, also took into account its material component. According to Democritus, “happiness is a good mood, well-being, harmony, symmetry and equanimity.” We find a similar definition of happiness in Aristotle. Happiness, in his opinion, is the combined completeness of three goods: first, spiritual; secondly, bodily, what is health, strength, beauty and the like; thirdly, external, such as wealth, nobility, fame and the like.

And yet, happiness is more about “being” rather than “having.” It is closely related to understanding the value of an individual’s life. The very process of life, the very existence of a spiritually rich person can bring a feeling of happiness. The latter is ultimately inner peace. Happiness is, first of all, living in harmony with yourself. Arthur Schopenhauer noted that a rich individuality, and especially a broad mind, means the happiest lot on earth. Consequently, happiness is not some kind of blissful life, but rather a prosperous standard of life. And, unfortunately, we often do not notice this and expect something more prosperous in the future. This may also be due to the individual’s feeling of insufficient self-realization. All this prevents a particular person from seeing and appreciating the beauty of everyday life. But the feeling of insufficient self-realization also has its positive meaning, as

how it forces a person not to rest on his laurels, but to strive for better, for more complete happiness.

From a philosophical point of view, happiness is the successful implementation of the meaning and purpose of life chosen by an individual, accompanied by positive self-esteem and a feeling of satisfaction with life. The connection between subjective and objective conditions of happiness can be expressed by the following general formula - a fraction, where the denominator is the desire of the individual, and the numerator is the possibility of their implementation:

happiness = possible desire for life

Thus, in the words of the French philosopher Michel Montaigne, “happy is he who has been able to balance his needs with such precision that his means are sufficient to satisfy them without any trouble or suffering on his part.”

Food for thought

1. Philosopher Erich Fromm noted: “Character is a substitute for instincts that a person lacks.”

Give a philosophical interpretation of this statement.

2. Identify the philosophical category encrypted in the text below.

“Affirmation of personality” (E. Mounier), “overcome necessity” (V. Grossman), “religion of modernity” (G. Heine).

3. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky said: “To love each other, you need to fight with yourself.”

What is the rational-philosophical meaning of this statement?

4. “Bias is a vice (and threshold) of any specialist” (V. Kutyrev).

Comment on the truth of this statement from a philosophical point of view.

5. The famous American President Abraham Lincoln remarked: “My life experience has convinced me that people who have no faults have very few virtues.”

Do you think Lincoln is right and, if right, what might be the reason for this?

Literature

1. Vishev I.V. The problem of life, death and immortality of man in the history of Russian philosophical thought / I.V. Vishev. – M., 2005.

2. Volkov Yu.G. Man: encyclopedic dictionary / Yu.G. Volkov, V.S. Polikarpov. – M., 1999.

3. Gubin V.D. Ontology. Problems of being in modern European philosophy / V.D. Gubin. – M., 1998.

4. Demidov A.B. Phenomenon of human existence: manual. for students universities / A.B. Demidov. – Minsk, 1997.

5. Maksakova V.I. Pedagogical anthropology: textbook. allowance / V.I. Maksakova. – M., 2004.

6. About the human in man / under general. ed. I.T. Frolova. – M.,

7. Samsonov V.F. From a philosophical point of view: Philosophy in questions and tests / V.F. Samsonov. – Chelyabinsk, 2004. Topic 11.

8. Teilhard de Chardin P. The phenomenon of man / P. Teilhard de Chardin. –

9. Philosophy: textbook. manual / ed. V.N. Lavrinenko. – M., 1996.

10. Fromm E. The human soul / E. Fromm. – M., 1992.

Activity as a way of human existence.

Human creative activity.

Human purpose: purpose and meaning of life.

1. The essence and forms of human existence.

Genesis – existence and that which guarantees existence, a state of development.

Existential problems in philosophy have formed into a special philosophical discipline ontology(the doctrine of being, its forms, attributes and principles). This term was first introduced in 1613 by R. Goklenius.

Basic forms of being:

The existence of natural processes, as well as things produced by man, i.e. natural and “second, humanized” nature;

Human existence;

The existence of the spiritual is the world of the state of human consciousness and the objectified content of thinking (books, paintings, statues), other fruits of human spiritual activity;

Social existence is divided into the existence of an individual person in nature and history and the existence of society;

So, man, nature, spirituality and sociality are the main forms of existence.

Determining the specifics of human existence is possible through identifying different dimensions of the person himself.

The individual aspect of human existence involves considering the period of an individual’s life, limited by the dates of birth and death. The primary prerequisite for human existence is the life of his body. From the fact of human existence as a living body, it follows that he is subject to the laws of heredity, which cannot be abolished. This encourages careful handling of human natural and biological potential. To give life to the spirit, you need to provide life to the body. In all civilized countries the right to life is legally enshrined.

Personal aspect of human existence– human involvement in culture. An individual becomes a socially significant person in the course of socialization, through language and communication, mastering and replenishing the treasury of human culture. Psychologist A. Leontievsky called human activity “a unit of life.” The concept of “individual” acts as a prerequisite for the concept of “personality,” and individual existence is the basis for the existence of a person. Therefore, a baby can become human only when surrounded by other people. Subsequently, the egoism of bodily needs is covered by the actions and actions of the cultivated personality. A person is able to control and regulate his needs, satisfying them not just in accordance with nature, but in accordance with socio-historically established norms.

Social aspect of human existence is understood as the life of society, associated with activity, the production of material goods and including a variety of relationships into which people enter in the process of life. Social being is the ontology of social life. Social existence arises along with the formation of human society and exists relatively independent of the individual consciousness of each individual. Social existence is an objective social reality; it is primary in relation to the consciousness of the individual and generation.

Through its existence, humanity actively influences the world and itself. It is man who is capable of cognizing not only existence as a whole, but also his own existence-in-the-world. Realizing the existence of the world and himself as part of a single existence, a person simultaneously realizes the greatest responsibility for the existence of the human race.

2.Activity as a way of human existence.

a) a feature of human activity;

Unlike animals, human activity is not only adaptive, but also transformative;

People do not have an innate program of activity and cannot transmit it to their descendants genetically. A person independently and during his lifetime develops programs for his activities, selecting the best options and passing them on to his descendants. A person creates an objective world as a result of the objectification of his abilities;

Human activity makes biological existence social. Unlike animals that live in the natural environment, people live in a social environment, which is the result of their conscious labor activity; a whole series of connections and relationships are established between people. Thus, man, being a producing being, carrying out his activities, creates a new reality;

Human activity is characterized by goal-setting and is expedient;

b) the structure of human activity;

Motive Purpose

Subject Actions + means Object Result

Motive – the motivating reason for a person’s behavior and actions, arising under the influence of a person’s needs and interests and representing an image of a person’s desired good.

Need – a person's perceived need for something. Needs are divided into primary (physiological), secondary (social, prestigious), ideal (spiritual). All these types of needs interact with each other.

American psychologist A. Maslow identified the following basic needs:

* physiological (food, breathing, reproduction, clothing, housing, rest, etc., etc.);

* existential (security of existence, constancy of living conditions, job security, confidence in the future);

* social (communication, social connections, care and attention, joint activities);

* prestigious (self-esteem, respect and recognition of others, achievement of success, career growth);

* spiritual (self-actualization, self-expression, self-improvement, search for the meaning of life);

Social attitudes – the general orientation of a person towards a certain social object, expressing a predisposition to act in a certain way (orientation towards family, towards work);

Beliefs – these are stable views on the world, ideals and principles, as well as the desire to bring them to life through one’s actions and deeds;

Interests – what is important at the moment;

Classification of activities according to M. Weber depending on motives (see lecture No. 3).

c) diversity of human activity;

See lecture No. 3.

Labor activity – This is a type of human activity that is aimed at achieving a practically useful result. It is carried out under the influence of necessity and ultimately transforms the person himself, improving him as a subject of labor activity and as a person.

A game - a type of human activity focused not so much on the result as on the process itself. The peculiarity of the game is its two-dimensionality: on the one hand, the player carries out a real action, on the other, many aspects of this activity are conditional. The role of play in a person’s life is great, because... it is a school of life for children. The conventions of the game make it similar to art.

3. Human creative activity.

Creation - activity that generates something qualitatively new that has never existed before.

Creation - This is a person’s cognitive and active ability to create qualitatively new material and spiritual values.

The science that studies creative activity is called heuristic.

Creative abilities are manifested in various fields, but creativity is most clearly manifested in art, science and technology.

Structure of creativity:

Imagination + Fantasy + Intuition + Unconscious

Imagination allows you to anticipate possible changes.

Fantasy– building an image or visual model and result when information about the conditions and means of achieving the goal is not enough.

Intuition – knowledge, conditions, the receipt of which is not realized.

Unconscious = talent or inspiration.

But no discovery happens in a vacuum. This may be preceded by years of painstaking work (“Inspiration is such a guest that does not like to visit the lazy” P.I. Tchaikovsky).

Stages of creativity:

Awareness of the problem, formulation of the problem;

Collection and study of information;

Switching to other tasks or activities: the problem goes into the subconscious;

Insight: the problem is solved from an unexpected angle, the solution is found where it was not initially sought;

Test: it can be logical or experimental;

Assessing the novelty of the solution found;

4. Human purpose: purpose and meaning of life.

The main distinguishing feature of a person is the ability to be aware of himself and what he is doing, to think about what is happening and analyze his actions.

Life choice - This is a preference given by an individual to a certain way of satisfying his needs and a certain way of giving himself. Life choices are influenced by upbringing, education, and social structure. But life choice depends not only on society; it is where a person’s free will is exercised and internal motives and values ​​are manifested. Life choices express a person’s amateur activity, his creative attitude to the world.

Lifestyle - these are forms of human activity typical of a historically specific society. Lifestyle is formed under the influence of socio-economic, cultural and natural human conditions. The concept of “lifestyle” reflects stable features of the life and activities of certain groups of people and individuals.

Types of lifestyle: slaveholding, feudal, rural, urban, bohemian, labor, passive, sports.

Meaning of life - a concept inherent in any developed ideological system, which justifies and interprets the moral norms and values ​​inherent in this system, shows in the name of what the activity they prescribe is necessary.

The problem of the meaning of life is one of the most important and complex (“The secret of human existence is not only in living, but in why to live” F.M. Dostoevsky).

Hedonistic meaning of life associated with pleasure (Aristippus, Epicurus).

Ascetic meaning of life in the suppression of sensual drives and desires (Diogenes).

The humbly stoic meaning of life - humility, subordination, resistance to the inevitability of fate (Jesus Christ).

Religious meaning of life- selfless service to God.

The effective humanistic meaning of life - realization of a person’s inner potential, active identification of his holistic nature.

A person can only bring meaning to his life, and this happens through self-knowledge and self-realization.

Self-knowledge is one of the types of human cognitive activity. This is knowledge aimed at the inner world of a person, at his own “I”.

Socrates identified the problem of self-knowledge as the most important problem of human life. (“Know yourself and you will know the whole world”).

Self-realization – it is the fulfillment of human potential.

The difficulties of self-realization are associated with the fact that a person does not always manage to realize the actual content of his capabilities, on the one hand, and on the other hand, a person may not find a social need for his abilities, knowledge and talent. And only with a harmonious combination of personal capabilities and social needs does a person’s self-realization occur.

Philosophical meaning of the problem of being.

Being, substance, matter.

Forms of manifestation of being.

Movement, space, time as attributes of forms of being.

For many centuries, philosophical thought has been aimed at understanding the problems of existence, the “world-man” system. And it is no coincidence that Hegel called Parmenides’ poem “On Nature,” in which the problem of being occupies a central place, the beginning of philosophy. The words of N. Berdyaev that philosophy is “a creative breakthrough to the meaning of being” are still relevant today. The concept of being from the very beginning becomes one of the ideological foundations of philosophical thinking.

The term “being” was first introduced by the ancient philosopher Parmenides (V-IV centuries BC), taking it from the ordinary Greek language, but filling it with new content: “being” meant not just to be, to exist in existence, but also What guarantees existence. According to Parmenides, Being is what exists behind the world of sensory things, and this is thought. Being is one, unchangeable, absolute, it is all possible completeness of perfection. It is truly existing. There is no nothingness. Claiming that being is thought, Parmenides had in mind not the subjective thought of man, but Logos – Cosmic Mind. The content of being is revealed to man due to the connection of his mind with the cosmic Mind. But this absolute existence itself is independent of human consciousness, objective. The only true reality is Absolute Being, and all other realities are considered to exist, but with varying degrees of involvement in true being. Absolute existence provides the world with stability, reliability and necessity. Everything in this universe, according to Parmenides, exists out of necessity.

Democritus believed that the fundamental principle of existence is atoms as certain indivisible particles. But there is also non-existence, which is emptiness, without which atoms cannot exist, since it is the movement of atoms in emptiness that gives birth to all the diversity of the world. Consequently, the unity of being and non-being is truly existing. In the philosophy of Democritus, an attempt was made to identify the single, universal nature of matter and thinking. Everything is made of atoms: both the world and the human soul.

The Sophists (for example, Protagoras) and Socrates tried to shift the emphasis of philosophizing from being to man, as the place of discovery of being. Since, from their point of view, man is the measure of all things, he determines the status of existence of anything. He is the measure of existence. Socrates, defending the autonomy of the human mind, declared the highest reality not being, but individual, but universally significant consciousness. This idea will be the source of a radical turn in the interpretation of existence in modern times.

Plato distinguishes two types of being: true being (the world of spiritual entities, ideas) and material, sensory being (the world of things). The world of ideas is an authentic, true, eternal, unchanging existence. And the world of sensory things is not a genuine existence, since this world is transitory and mortal. After all, there is nothing eternal in it, everything in it flows, collapses, dies. This world is a pale shadow of the world of ideas. To ensure the possibility of interpenetration and unity of the two kinds of being, Plato introduces the concept of “One”.

Plato's teaching about true being as self-identical, unchangeable and eternal is continued by the Neoplatonists. Plotinus, following Plato, distinguishes between being and the One. The One is understood as the cause of being, its “producer”. The One is an absolute, which does not depend on anything, yet all the rest of being is radiated by it with necessity. This teaching would later become the basis for mystical pantheism.

Aristotle, preserving the idea of ​​being as eternal and self-identical, distinguishes being in general, as being in possibility, and being in reality, which is always the being of something (i.e., concrete being). This approach to considering existence in the form of specific forms of being will also develop in modern times. Trying to find the unchangeable in the changeable sensory world, Aristotle introduces the concepts of form and matter as the active and passive principles of being. The unity of these principles constitutes the reality of the world, which, in turn, posits the presence of a higher reality - God, as a thought of thought, as a pure form, as a fundamental principle.

Medieval thinking was influenced both by ancient philosophy (primarily Aristotle and the Neoplatonists) and by Christian revelation. Absolute being, God, was recognized as the only true reality, and all other realities, both material and immaterial, were considered to exist, but with varying degrees of involvement in true being. The Aristotelian categories of matter and form and the idea of ​​the prime mover, respectively transformed in relation to the Christian revelation, very well explained the idea of ​​creationism, creation from nothing, endowment with the property of “Being”. Therefore, it was they who were used by Thomas Aquinas in his doctrine of being. The concept of “Being” is revealed with the help of the concept of “One,” conceived as the One God, who imparts existence and unity to everything, and about whom the Old Testament says that he is “the Existing One.” The idea of ​​the identity of being and essence in God and the non-identity of being and essence in creatures, in their existence (existence) will be revived in a modified form in the existential philosophy of the 20th century.

In modern times, significant changes occur in the interpretation of existence. The fact is that in the process of the development of science and fundamental social changes, human activity, oriented towards knowledge, benefit and economic success, intensifies. Man, his consciousness, needs, his life began to be perceived as an undoubted and genuine existence. This caused a weakening of the idea of ​​​​the existence of the objective existence of the Absolute, God. Philosophy, expressing the spirit of the era, carries out a reorientation in the interpretation of existence, highlighting the subjective-idealistic (epistemological) concept, and on the basis of the development of natural science - the materialistic (naturalistic-objectivist).

Thus, R. Descartes, from whom the philosophy of modern times dates, argued that the act of thinking - “I think” - is the simplest and most self-evident basis for the existence of man and the world. One can doubt, wrote R. Descartes, whether the objective world (God, nature, other people) exists, but one cannot doubt that I think, and therefore exist. The essence of this ideological position is that man, as a being capable of saying “I think, I exist,” is the possibility and condition for the existence of the world, but not the world in general, but the world. Which he can understand, act in it, set some goals commensurate with the world and himself, know something about it. Thus, Descartes made thought into being, and declared man to be the creator of thought. Being has become subjective, transformed into human-dimensional being, determined by human abilities to perceive and act.

This approach to understanding the problem of being becomes leading in Western European philosophy of the 19th-20th centuries. Let us give examples of the understanding of being in various philosophical teachings of this period. I. Kant speaks of being dependent on knowledge carried out by man. The philosophy of life states that being is life and the needs of its growth. Philosophical anthropology views being as man's ability to go beyond his own limits and thereby ground all that exists. Existentialism directly states that man and only he is the true and ultimate being: the question of being is a question of its meaning, and the meaning is always asked by man himself.

Marxist philosophy, arguing that being “in general is an open question, starting from the border where our field of vision stops” (F. Engels), identifies it with the objective world (nature and society), given to man in his objectively practical activity. Being is only that which can be determined by scientific, rational knowledge and practice.

Russian religious philosophers condemned the refusal to understand being as the Absolute, criticized the new European man, who became proud of his autonomy and desired to be a god on earth. They considered such a worldview to be a temptation, a sin leading to a social, political, and moral dead end. Russian religious philosophers saw a way out in the rooting of a worldview that would recognize that being was given initially, before all forms of human activity. Knowledge is the self-disclosure of being, and the knowing subject should not, following Kant, claim that he constructs the world of phenomena in the experience of his consciousness. A person needs to come to terms with the fact that his individual consciousness is only a medium, i.e. mediator between the world and the Absolute.

2. Being presupposes not only existence, it is the unity of existence and essence. The essential side of being is expressed in philosophy by the category “substance”. The term substance comes from the Latin substantia - essence: that which underlies. Substance means self-sufficient, self-determined existence, the ultimate basis for the existence of the world and man. In accordance with the general orientation of a particular philosophical concept, either one substance (monism), or two (dualism), or many substances (pluralism) are distinguished. Thus, R. Descartes, in addition to the absolute substance of God, distinguishes two created substances: bodily and spiritual. Deism, especially of the materialist kind, sees in God the most distant cause, the source of the original movement (I. Newton, T. Hobbes). B. Spinoza limited himself to one substance, which he called either God or Nature. Substance for Spinoza is an interaction that gives rise to all the diversity of properties and states of the world. This idea was developed in materialism.

In the materialistic understanding, the substantial basis of the existence of the world is matter. In the spontaneously materialistic philosophy of the ancient world (Eleatic school, Leucippus, Democritus), the materialists of the New Age and the French Enlightenment, matter was explicitly or implicitly identified with physical reality (natural philosophical approach). The classics of Marxism made an attempt to overcome the identity of matter and physical reality. IN AND. Lenin, developing the views of F. Engels on the nature of matter, defines matter as a philosophical category to designate objective reality, which is given to man in his sensations. This definition is based on the opposition of matter to another, equally voluminous in its content, category - consciousness. Material is that which opposes consciousness, is reflected by consciousness and does not depend on consciousness. Matter is the substance of existence, it is self-sufficient and through consciousness is reflected in the practical and theoretical activities of man. This approach allowed him to adequately overcome the methodological crisis in natural science at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, which arose in the course of his own discoveries and was formulated in such ideological conclusions as the “disappearance of matter.”

Thus, in the historical development of philosophy, Being from the point of view of its substantiality was interpreted as ideal (spiritual) or material, and from the nature of its existence as objective or subjective. A distinctive feature of objectivity of existence is existence outside and independently of human consciousness, and subjectivity is existence within and thanks to human consciousness. At the heart of the whole variety of different interpretations of existence lie (with a certain coarsening) three main paradigms of seeing the world and its unity, i.e. objective-idealistic, subjective-idealistic, materialistic. In an objective-idealistic In understanding, being appears in the form of an objectively existing Mind: the Absolute, God, Concept. IN subjective-idealistic In the interpretation, being is associated with the feelings and consciousness of the subject: to be means to be perceived, thinkable. As long as something is perceived by the subject, it exists, i.e. has existence. IN materialistic concept, being is understood as an objective reality capable of influencing human senses. This reality exists outside and independently of human consciousness and its existence; its mode of existence is that it is capable of influencing everything, including human consciousness.

The problem of being is closely related to the problem of the unity of the world. In philosophical thinking, the interpretation of being is a prerequisite for the unity of the world, which philosophers saw either in the Absolute, God; or a person, subject; or in physical reality, matter.

Modern science, when explaining the phenomena of the world, proceeds from a materialistic-monistic understanding of substance. Understanding matter as a substance made it possible to imagine the real world as a complex self-organizing system, the elements of which are structurally organized at the level of inanimate nature, biosphere, sociosphere and noosphere.

3. “The meaning of being,” in the words of Heidegger, “consists in its discovery, “present existence.” Therefore, philosophers, based on a certain ideological concept of being, concentrated their attention on one or another form of manifestation of being. At the same time, the main forms of manifestation of existence are: the existence of nature, the existence of man, the existence of the spiritual, the existence of the social. Let's look at each of these forms.

Nature as one of the main forms of being in the world appears in two forms: the existence of things, phenomena and processes natural nature (which is often called “first nature” in philosophy) and the existence of things and processes created by man (called artificial, “second nature”).

Natural nature, due to its existence before, outside and independently of human consciousness, is a reality of a special type. This reality is objective and primary. Evidence of this is provided by data from specific sciences and all human social experience. The experience of all people who have lived and are living has given the idea of ​​the existence of natural nature before and independently of man the factual evidence from which most philosophers proceed. It is also obvious that natural environment is the habitat of man, without which his life and activity are impossible. This circumstance is of particular importance in modern conditions of environmental crisis. The existence of natural nature has the peculiarity that it represents the unity of opposites: enduring existence natural nature as a whole and transitory existence its individual things, bodies, processes. The self-organization of natural nature ensured the reality of human life and activity to create an artificial, “second nature.”

Artificial nature is a kind of synthesis of that part of natural nature that is involved in social production. This is objectified labor, human knowledge and skills, various tools, vehicles and means of communication, cultivated land (fields, gardens), works of art. The existence of this nature is connected with the time and space of human existence, with social existence. Thus, artificial nature acts as a natural-spiritual social reality. Natural because the materials used by humans, the space in which artificial nature as a whole exists and functions, as well as its bodies, things, and phenomena depend on natural nature. Artificial nature is also spiritual, since man-made objects contain his knowledge, thoughts, and will. The social character of artificial nature is determined by the fact that its objects and phenomena perform certain social functions, satisfying the needs of people. Being created by human activity, artificial nature is objectively predetermined by the work, thinking, and creativity of subsequent generations. As humanity develops, artificial nature has an increasing impact on human life and society as a whole. The dominant role in it is occupied by technology, in which rational, purposeful human activity and the laws of nature merge and are embodied. Thus, artificial nature is given objectively each person is a generation of people, but unlike the natural one, it cannot be considered absolutely independent of the consciousness of man and humanity, since it objectifies their knowledge, experience, and goals.

Human existence in contrast to the existence of nature is specific. It is the existence of flesh and spirit, the existence of creation and the existence of self-creation. Human flesh brings together the existence of man and the existence of nature. It exists in accordance with the laws of life and the cycles of nature, and needs to satisfy fundamental needs. From this circumstance, philosophy has concluded that the right to life is a natural and first human right, that the natural needs of man as a body and the conditions of his existence cannot be neglected. It is obvious that the right to life is the initial right of a person, since without it it is impossible to ensure any of his other opportunities, abilities, or rights. It also follows from this that a violation of the ecological balance of the body is fraught with devastating consequences for humans. Philosophy, especially materialistic philosophy, comprehending the connection between the body and soul of a person, tried to find a connection between the human body and his mental state, character, and will.

Human existence is unique. This uniqueness lies in the fact that the functioning of the flesh is closely related to the human psyche and consciousness. Thanks to the unity of flesh and spirit, a person acts as a “thinking” being, capable of actively influencing the world around him and himself, ensuring the existence of creation and the existence of self-creation. Within the limits of creation, man no longer acts as an individual, but as a social being, mastering natural nature and creating artificial nature. Within the boundaries of self-creation, a person directs efforts to the formation and development of his spiritual world, his value guidelines, his attitude towards nature, society and other people. The genetic program inherent in a person by nature is realized through the social (public) way of human existence. When considering human existence, the aspect of personal existence is especially significant. So many of life's problems simply do not exist as problems for everyone. Thus, the question of the meaning of life is closely related to individual consciousness. Each person can pose and solve the problems of his own existence in his own way. But at the same time, it is important to understand the general essential characteristics of existence.

An important question for philosophy is the question of the meaning of human existence in the holistic existence of the world. There are many philosophers who consider the existence of humanity as an insignificant fact in the existence of the world, and man as just a particle of the Universe. Currently, the idea is becoming more and more clear that not only millions, but also years of human existence are the most important for the existence of the world. A person influences the world, changes it, this influence is contradictory, since it is both positive and negative. It is important that a person realizes the contradictory nature of this influence and feels his responsibility for the existence of the world, the existence of humanity, the existence of civilization.

Being spiritual occupies a special place among other forms of being in the world. It develops and takes shape in the bosom of human culture, manifesting itself at the level of objectified and individualized existence. The individualized existence of the spiritual is inseparable from the activity of the individual. It includes all forms of manifestation of the individual’s consciousness. The spiritual principle is invisible, but it is present in all acts of human activity. It represents feelings and ideas, emotions and images, concepts and ideas, judgments and conclusions that are animated by people in the course of their spiritual and practical life. This also includes the unconscious, called by S. Freud the “dark layers” of the human psyche. A person's spirituality belongs to him and dies with him. But this does not mean that the results of an individual’s spiritual activity perish along with him. Those results of an individual’s spiritual activity that are transformed into non-individual forms of the spiritual are preserved.

Objectified (non-individual) spirituality can exist outside of individuals. One of the most important forms of existence of the objectified spiritual is natural and artificial languages. Natural language is not only a means of self-expression of the individual, but the highest form of manifestation of the objectified spirit. As a means of communication, language is an effective tool for understanding the world, as well as a social means of storing, processing and storing information. Language, connecting consciousness and the physical (objective) reality of the world, makes the spirit corporeal and the world spiritual.

Spiritual existence is a special kind of existence. It provides the experience of an individual person and is itself enriched by his efforts. Heuristic ideas of the past set the canons for the present and determine the future of a given society, influencing the life of an individual. The most productive idea lays down a certain structural paradigm within which a person’s existence is formed and developed: his way of life, his attitude towards the world and himself.

Being social(see topic “Society, civilization, culture”) is the process and result of the life of society as a self-developing system based on social production, which ensures the production and reproduction of humans.

4. One of the fundamental principles of the modern scientific view of the world is the statement about the inseparability of reality and its changes. Today it is impossible to consider any form of existence without being distracted from its changes. To be means to change. It is thanks to change that we can talk about the existence of certain objects. Moreover, any change reveals itself through interaction. To change is to act on something else and be affected by it. Therefore, in a worldview sense movement- This any change, change at all.

The idea of ​​the universality of movement arose during the formation of philosophy. Aristotle noted that ignorance of movement closes the road to knowledge of nature. However, humanity has long been in the dark about the nature of movement, considering it exclusively as mechanical movement in space. In the materialist philosophy of the French Enlightenment, movement (with its mechanical interpretation as a whole) was conceptualized as a way of existence, its attribute, i.e. an inherent property. And only by the middle of the 19th century it became clear that any change in the world, from the simple movement of an object in space to physical, chemical, biological and social processes, is movement.

In modern science and materialistic philosophy, the following properties of motion are identified as the main ones.

Firstly, movement is inseparable from its carrier. There is no “pure” movement, just as there is no existence outside of movement. The problem of “annihilation of matter”, which arose at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. in the course of the development of physics, does not have sufficient grounds, because body mass (which annihilates) as the initial characteristic of physical reality in classical physics is not matter. Mass acts as a measure of ensuring stability, a measure of maintaining a state of rest and motion, i.e. as a characteristic of one of the states of being of the macrocosm. The philosophical concept of “matter” is a substantial characteristic of being.

Secondly, the most important property of movement is its absolute character. This means that being cannot be a reality without movement; movement is a way of its existence. The absolute nature of movement is manifested only through its concrete forms of existence in the world. This could be the transformation of elementary particles into each other; interaction and transformation of atoms and molecules in the process of nuclear or chemical reactions; change in electromagnetic field; metabolic state in living organisms; birth, development and death of biological individuals; the emergence and disappearance of biological species; one or another transformation in society.

Third, the movement is controversial. Any change presupposes its state of rest. But in this unity, change is absolute and peace is relative. This does not mean that movement is possible without rest. It testifies that change leads to new states, and peace states the safety and persistence of these states. The contradictory nature of the movement is also manifested in the unity of discontinuity and continuity, evolution and revolution, quality and quantity.

Since ancient times, the most important characteristics of existence are space and time. Aristotle already considered time as a measure of movement, and space as its boundary. However, despite their apparent obviousness, space and time are not only the most important, but also very difficult to understand characteristics of existence.

Historically, two approaches have emerged in interpreting the nature of space and time: substantial And relational. The origins of the first go back to the philosophy of Democritus, who considered space and time as independent entities. Space was reduced to an infinite void, and time to “pure” duration. The whole diversity of the world is born in them, created by a combination of moving atoms. From the point of view of the ancient thinker, space and time are objective, absolute, unchangeable. These ideas received their logical conclusion in modern times from the author of classical mechanics, I. Newton. According to this concept, there is absolutely empty space, a vacuum, which is continuous in nature, and is “pure” extension; and time is “pure” duration, flowing always and everywhere the same. Space and time constitute an absolute frame of reference, in which material formations are distributed in a certain way, the movement of which can be carried out due to external, introduced action. The substantial concept of space and time acquired in science and philosophy in the 17th-18th centuries. dominant meaning. The idea of ​​absolute space and time fit well into the everyday understanding of things and events and was confirmed by the state of natural science of that time.

The origins of the second approach begin in the philosophy of Aristotle and are continued in the philosophy of G. Leibniz, who expressed doubts about Newton’s concept, justifying the attribution of space and time. The latter became a prerequisite for the formation of a relational concept, the essence of which is that space and time are conceived not as entities separate from being, but as forms of manifestation of this being, its attributes.

Substantial and relational concepts are not clearly associated with an idealistic or materialist interpretation of the world. Both developed on one or the other basis. Thus, the dialectical-materialist concept of space and time was formulated in the context of the relational approach. According to this concept, space and time are universal objective forms of coordination of material systems and their states. They are not independent entities, but universal structures of relationships between things and processes. Space is an attribute of being that characterizes the order of coexistence and juxtaposition of material formations, their structure and extent. Time - an attribute of existence that characterizes the interaction of objects and the change of their states, the sequence of processes and their duration.

The relational concept of space and time received a mathematical justification in A. Einstein’s theory of relativity, where space and time are considered not only in an inextricable connection with each other (not space And time, and space - time - an attribute of being), but also in relation to the system of material formations. This idea has been brewing in mathematics for a long time. So, N.I. Based on the construction of consistent non-Euclidean geometry, Lobachevsky came to the conclusion, important not only for geometry, but also for philosophy, that the properties of space are not constant, but change depending on real existence in the world.

According to Einstein, the material system itself forms its own space-time relationships. In accordance with the special theory of relativity, the space-time properties of bodies depend on the speed of their movement.

In the general theory of relativity, new aspects of the dependence of space-time relations on material processes, namely, on gravitational forces, have been identified. If there were no masses, there would be no gravity, and if there were no gravity, there would be no space-time. Since the existence of the world is in constant movement, the space and time of a particular type of existence change their properties depending on this movement. Moreover, each level of the organization of existence (megaworld, macroworld, microworld) has features of spatiotemporal connections. Thus, in the megaworld, the curvature of space-time plays a significant role, and in the microworld, the quantum nature of space and time and the multidimensionality of space play a significant role. In our macrocosm, biological space and biological time have their own rhythm and tempo. Social space and social time of both society and individual have their own specificity. If living organisms have their own “biological clocks”, expressed in the temporal rhythm of the functioning of their subsystems, then social time, like social space, is a product of human life. This is a different characteristic compared to physical or biological time. Time seems to be speeding up here as the main areas of social development intensify. Along with social time, there is also psychological time associated with a person, his subjective experiences when, for example, he is late or waiting.

Thus, the problem of the relativity of space and time, their connection with one or another form of existence has crossed the boundaries of theoretical physics and is becoming relevant in all areas of knowledge of the world and its existence.

Topic No. 14: Ontology: basic concepts and principles.

No. 1 The concept of being, its aspects and basic forms

The category of being is of great importance both in philosophy and in life. The content of the problem of being includes reflections on the world and its existence. The term “Universe” refers to the entire vast world, from elementary particles to metagalaxies. In philosophical language, the word “Universe” can mean existence or the universe.

Throughout the entire historical and philosophical process, in all philosophical schools and directions, the question of the structure of the universe was considered. The initial concept on the basis of which the philosophical picture of the world is built is the category of being. Being is the broadest, and therefore the most abstract, concept.

Since antiquity, there have been attempts to limit the scope of this concept. Some philosophers naturalized the concept of being. For example, the concept of Parmenides, according to which being is a “sphere of spheres,” something motionless, self-identical, which contains all of nature. Or in Heraclitus - as something constantly becoming. The opposite position tried to idealize the concept of being, for example, in Plato. For existentialists, being is limited to the individual existence of a person. The philosophical concept of being does not tolerate any limitation. Let us consider what meaning philosophy puts into the concept of being.

First of all, the term “to be” means to be present, to exist. Recognition of the fact of the existence of diverse things in the surrounding world, nature and society, and man himself is the first prerequisite for the formation of a picture of the universe. From this follows the second aspect of the problem of existence, which has a significant impact on the formation of a person’s worldview. Being exists, that is, something exists as a reality and a person must constantly reckon with this reality.

The third aspect of the problem of being is associated with the recognition of the unity of the universe. A person in his daily life and practical activities comes to the conclusion about his community with other people and the existence of nature. But at the same time, the differences that exist between people and things, between nature and society are no less obvious to him. And naturally, the question arises about the possibility of a universal (that is, common) to all phenomena of the surrounding world. The answer to this question is also naturally connected with the recognition of being. All the diversity of natural and spiritual phenomena is united by the fact that they exist, despite the difference in the forms of their existence. And it is precisely thanks to the fact of their existence that they form the integral unity of the world.

Based on the category of being in philosophy, the most general characteristic of the universe is given: everything that exists is the world to which we belong. Thus the world has existence. He is. The existence of the world is a prerequisite for its unity. For there must first be peace before one can speak of its unity. It acts as the total reality and unity of nature and man, material existence and the human spirit.

There are 4 main forms of existence:

1. the first form is the existence of things, processes and natural phenomena.

2. the second form is human existence

3. the third form is the existence of the spiritual (ideal)

4. fourth form – being social

First form. The existence of things, processes and natural phenomena, which in turn are divided into:

» the existence of objects of primary nature;

» the existence of things and processes created by man himself.

The essence is this: the existence of objects, objects of nature itself, is primary. They exist objectively, that is, independently of man - this is the fundamental difference between nature as a special form of being. The formation of a person determines the formation of objects of a secondary nature. Moreover, these objects enrich objects of primary nature. And they differ from objects of primary nature in that they have a special purpose. The difference between the existence of “secondary nature” and the existence of natural things is not only the difference between the artificial (man-made) and the natural. The main difference is that the existence of “second nature” is a socio-historical, civilized existence. Between the first and second nature, not only unity and interconnection are found, but also differences.

Second form. Human existence, which is divided into:

» human existence in the world of things (“a thing among things”);

» specific human existence.

The essence: a person is “a thing among things.” Man is a thing because he is finite, like other things and bodies of nature. The difference between a person as a thing and other things is in his sensitivity and rationality. On this basis, specific human existence is formed.

The specificity of human existence is characterized by the interaction of three existential dimensions:

1) man as a thinking and feeling thing;

2) man as the pinnacle of the development of nature, a representative of the biological type;

3) man as a socio-historical being.

Third form. The existence of the spiritual (ideal), which is divided into:

» individualized spiritual being;

» objectified (non-individual) spiritual.

Individualized spiritual being is the result of the activity of consciousness and, in general, the spiritual activity of a particular person. It exists and is based on the internal experience of people. Objectified spiritual being - it is formed and exists outside of individuals, in the bosom of culture. The specificity of individualized forms of spiritual existence lies in the fact that they arise and disappear with an individual person. Those of them that are transformed into a second non-individualized spiritual form are preserved.

So, being is a general concept, the most general, which is formed by abstracting from the differences between nature and spirit, the individual and society. We are looking for commonality between all phenomena and processes of reality. And this generality is contained in the category of being - a category reflecting the fact of the objective existence of the world.

No. 2 The concept of matter, the evolutionary content of the concept of matter in the process of historical development.

The unifying basis of being is called substance. Substance (from Latin “essence”) means the fundamental principle of everything that exists (the internal unity of the diversity of specific things, phenomena and processes by which and through which they exist). Substance can be ideal and material. As a rule, philosophers strive to create a picture of the universe based on one principle (water, fire, atoms, matter, ideas, spirit, etc.). The doctrine that accepts one principle, one substance as the basis of everything that exists is called monism (from the Latin “mono” - one). Monism is opposed by dualism, which recognizes two equivalent principles (2 substances) as a basis. The monistic approach predominates in the history of philosophy. The most pronounced dualistic tendency is found only in the philosophical systems of Descartes and Kant.

In accordance with the solution to the main ideological issue in the history of philosophy, there were two main forms of monism: idealistic and materialistic monism.

Idealistic monism originates from Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle. Numbers, ideas, forms and other ideal principles act as the foundations of the universe. Idealist monism receives its highest development in Hegel's system. In Hegel, the fundamental principle of the world in the form of an abstract idea is elevated to the level of substance.

The materialist concept of the universe received its most comprehensive development in Marxist-Leninist philosophy. Marxist-Leninist philosophy continues the tradition of materialist monism. This means that it recognizes matter as the basis of existence.

The concept of “matter” has gone through several stages in its historical development. The first stage is the stage of its visual and sensory representation in ancient Greek philosophical teachings (Thales, Anaximenes, Heraclitus and others). The world was based on certain natural elements: water, air, fire, etc. Everything that existed was considered a modification of these elements.

The second stage is the stage of material-subtractive representation. Matter was identified with matter, with atoms, with complexes of their properties, including the property of indivisibility (Bacon, Locke). This physicalist understanding of matter reached its greatest development in the works of philosophical materialists of the 18th century. La Mettrie, Helvetia, Holbach. In fact, the materialistic philosophy of the 17th – 18th centuries transformed the concept of “being” into the concept of “matter”. In conditions when science has shaken faith in God as the absolute and guarantor of existence, human concern about the foundations of the existence of the world was removed in the category of “matter”. With its help, the being of the natural world was substantiated as truly existing, which was declared self-sufficient, eternal, uncreated, and not in need of its justification. As a substance, matter had the properties of extension, impenetrability, heaviness, and mass; as a substance - by the attributes of movement, space, time, and, finally, the ability to cause sensations (Holbach).

The third stage is a philosophical and epistemological idea of ​​matter. It was formed during the crisis of natural science at the beginning of the 20th century. X-ray radiation disproved ideas about the impenetrability of matter; the electrical radiation of uranium, the radioactive decay of atoms - destroyed the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe indivisibility of the atom, as the fundamental basis of the concept of “field” described a new state of matter, different from matter.

Matter began to be interpreted as any objective reality given to man in his sensations, which are copied, photographed, displayed by our sensations, existing independently of them. In this definition, the sign of existence is given exclusively to the concrete sensory substances themselves. And this position is the position of science. Science and materialism have the same understanding of existence: it is identified with the existence of sensory things, and the function of justifying their existence is attributed to matter. This is the methodological significance of the definition. The formulation of the definition of matter that we have named is called epistemological, since it contains an element of connection between objective reality and consciousness and indicates the derivativeness of consciousness. At the same time, such an understanding of matter cannot become outdated, since it is not strictly connected with the specific structure of matter, but is also unable to cover the entire diversity of the concept of “matter.” Such diversity reveals consideration of matter in a substantial aspect. From this point of view, matter exists only in the variety of concrete objects, through them, and not along with them.

No. 3 Movement, space and time as the main forms of existence of matter.

The inherent properties of a substance in philosophy are called attributes. Dialectical materialism considers motion, space and time as attributes of matter.

Dialectical materialism considers movement as a way of existence of matter. There is no and cannot be movement in the world without matter, just as there is no matter without movement. Movement as an absolute way of existence of matter exists in infinitely diverse types and forms, which are the object of study of concrete, natural and human sciences. The philosophical concept of movement denotes any interaction, as well as changes in the states of objects caused by this interaction. Movement is change in general.

It is characterized by the fact that:

n inseparable from matter, since it is an attribute (an integral essential property of an object, without which the object cannot exist) of matter. You cannot think of matter without movement, just as you cannot think of movement without matter;

n movement is objective, changes in matter can only be made by practice;

n movement is a contradictory unity of stability and variability, discontinuity and continuity;

n movement never gives way to absolute peace. Rest is also a movement, but one in which the qualitative specificity of the object (a special state of movement) is not violated.

The types of movement observed in the objective world can be divided into quantitative and qualitative changes. Quantitative changes are associated with the transfer of matter and energy in space. Qualitative changes are always associated with a qualitative restructuring of the internal structure of objects and their transformation into new objects with new properties. Essentially, we are talking about development. Development is a movement associated with the transformation of the quality of objects, processes or levels and forms of matter.

Considering movement as a way of existence of matter, dialectical materialism asserts that the source of movement should be sought not outside of matter, but in it itself. The world, the Universe, with this approach appears as a self-changing, self-developing integrity.

Other, no less important attributes of matter are space and time. If the movement of matter acts as a method, then space and time are considered as forms of existence of matter. Recognizing the objectivity of matter, dialectical materialism recognizes the objective reality of space and time. There is nothing in the world except moving matter, which cannot move except in space and time.

The question of the essence of space and time has been discussed since ancient times. In all disputes the question was in what relation space and time relate to matter. There have been two points of view on this issue in the history of philosophy. :

1) the first we call the substantial concept; space and time were interpreted as independent entities, existing along with matter and independently of it (Democritus, Epicurus, Newton). That is, a conclusion is drawn about the independence of the properties of space and time from the nature of the ongoing material processes. Space here is an empty container of things and events, and time is pure duration, it is the same throughout the universe and this flow does not depend on anything.

2) the second concept is called relational (“relatuo” - relationship). Its supporters (Aristotle, Leibniz, Hegel) understood space and time not as independent entities, but as a system of relations formed by moving matter.

Nowadays, the relational concept has a natural scientific basis in the form of the theory of relativity created by A. Einstein. The theory of relativity states that space and time depend on moving matter; in nature there is a single space - time (space-time continuum). In turn, the general theory of relativity states: space and time do not exist without matter, their metric properties (curvature and speed of time) are created by the distribution and interaction of gravitating masses. Thus:

Space– this is the form of existence of matter, characterizing its extent (length, width, height), the structure of coexistence and interaction of elements in all material systems. The concept of space makes sense insofar as matter itself is differentiated and structured. If the world did not have a complex structure, if it were not divided into objects, and those, in turn, into interconnected elements, then the concept of space would not make sense.

To clarify the definition of space, let us consider the question: what properties of the objects captured on it does photography allow us to judge? The answer is obvious: it reflects the structure, and therefore the extent (relative sizes) of these objects, their location relative to each other. Photography, therefore, records the spatial properties of objects, and objects (in this case this is important) coexisting at some point in time.

But the material world does not simply consist of structurally divided objects. These objects are in motion, they represent processes, in them certain qualitative states can be distinguished, replacing one another. Comparing qualitatively different measurements with each other gives us an idea of ​​time.

Time is a form of existence of matter, expressing the duration of existence of material systems, the sequence of changes in states and changes in these systems in the process of development.

To clarify the definition of time, consider the question: why do we have the opportunity, looking at a movie screen, to judge the time characteristics captured on the film of events? The answer is obvious: because the frames replace each other on the same screen, coexisting at this point in space. If we place each frame on its own screen, then we will simply get a collection of photographs...

The concepts of space and time are correlated not only with matter, but also with each other: the concept of space reflects the structural coordination of various objects at the same moment in time, and the concept of time reflects the coordination of the duration of successive objects and their states in the same volume. same place in space.

Space and time are not independent entities, but fundamental forms of being, moving matter, therefore space-time relations are conditioned by matter, depend on it and are determined by it.

Thus, on the basis of a substantial interpretation of matter, dialectical materialism considers the entire diversity of being in all its manifestations from the angle of its material unity. Being, the Universe appears in this concept as an endlessly developing diversity of a single, material world. Developing a specific idea of ​​the material unity of the world is not the function of philosophy. This falls within the competence of the natural and human sciences and is carried out as part of the creation of a scientific picture of the world.

Dialectical materialism, both during its formation and at present, is based on a certain scientific picture of the world. The natural scientific prerequisites for the formation of dialectical materialism were three important discoveries:

1) the law of conservation of energy, which asserts the indestructibility of energy, its transition from one type to another;

2) establishing the cellular structure of living bodies - the cell is the elementary basis of all living things;

3) Darwin's theory of evolution, who substantiated the idea of ​​the natural origin and evolution of life on Earth.

These discoveries contributed to the establishment of the idea of ​​the material unity of the world as a self-developing system.

Having summarized the achievements of the natural sciences, Engels created his own classification of the forms of motion of matter. He identifies 5 forms of movement of matter: mechanical, physical, chemical, biological and social.

The classification of these forms is carried out according to 3 main principles:

1. Each form of movement is associated with a specific material carrier: mechanistic – movement of bodies; physical - atoms; chemical - molecules; biological – proteins; social – individuals, social communities.

2. All forms of matter motion are related to each other, but differ in degree of complexity. More complex forms arise on the basis of less complex ones, but are not their simple sum, but have their own special properties.

3. Under certain conditions, the forms of motion of matter transform into each other.

Further development of natural science forced changes to be made in the classification of forms of motion of matter.

Being is a philosophical category denoting reality that exists objectively, regardless of the consciousness, will and emotions of a person, a philosophical category denoting existence as it is thought. By being in the broadest sense of the word we mean the extremely general concept of existence, of beings in general. Being is everything that is - everything visible and invisible.

The doctrine of being - ontology - is one of the central problems of philosophy.

The problem of being arises when such universal, seemingly natural, prerequisites become the subject of doubt and reflection. And there are more than enough reasons for this. After all, the world around us, natural and social, constantly asks people and humanity difficult questions, forces us to think about previously unclear, familiar facts of real life. Like Shakespeare's Hamlet, people are most often preoccupied with the question of being and non-existence when they feel that the connection of times has broken down...

When analyzing the problem of being, philosophy starts from the fact of the existence of the world and everything that exists in the world, but for it the initial postulate is no longer this fact itself, but its meaning.

The first aspect of the problem of Existence is a long chain of thoughts about existence, answers to the questions What exists? - World. Where does it exist? - Here and everywhere. How long? - Now and always: the world was, is and will be. How long do individual things, organisms, people, and their life activities exist?

The second aspect of the problem of existence is determined by the fact that for nature, society, man, his thoughts, ideas, there is something common, namely, that the listed objects really exist. Thanks to their existence, they form an integral unity of the endless, imperishable world. The world as an enduring integral unity is outside and to a certain extent independent of man. Being is a prerequisite for the unity of the world.

As the third aspect of the problem of existence, the position can be put forward that the world is reality, which, since it exists, has an internal logic of existence and development. This logic precedes, as if preexists, the existence of people and their consciousness, and for effective human activity it is necessary to cognize this logic, to explore the laws of existence.

Existence is divided into two worlds: the world of physical things, processes, material reality and the ideal world, the world of consciousness, the inner world of man, his mental states.

These two worlds have different ways of existing. The physical, material, natural world exists objectively, regardless of the will and consciousness of people. The mental world - the world of human consciousness exists subjectively, since it is dependent on the will and desire of people, individuals. The question of how these two worlds relate is the main question of philosophy. The combination of these two main forms of being allows us to identify several more varieties of forms of being.

Man occupies a special place in these worlds. He is a natural being, on the one hand. On the other hand, he is endowed with consciousness, which means he can exist not only physically, but also reason about the existence of the world and his own existence. Human existence embodies the dialectical unity of the objective and subjective, body and spirit. This phenomenon in itself is unique. The material and natural is the primary prerequisite for human existence. At the same time, many human actions are regulated by social, spiritual and moral motives. In the broadest sense, humanity is a community that includes all individuals living now or who previously lived on Earth, as well as those who are yet to be born. We must keep in mind that people exist before, outside and independently of the consciousness of each individual person. A healthy, normally functioning body is a necessary prerequisite for mental activity and a healthy spirit. The popular proverb speaks about this: “a healthy mind in a healthy body.” True, the saying, which is true in its essence, allows for exceptions, since the human intellect and its psyche are not always subordinate to a healthy body. But the spirit, as we know, has, or rather is able to have, a huge positive impact on the vital activity of the human body.

Attention should also be paid to such a feature of human existence as the dependence of his bodily actions on social motivations. While other natural things and bodies function automatically, and their behavior in the short and long term can be predicted with reasonable certainty, this cannot be done with respect to the human body. Its manifestations and actions are often regulated not by biological instincts, but by spiritual, moral and social motives.

A peculiar way of existence characterizes human society. In social existence, the material and the ideal, nature and spirit are intertwined. The existence of the social is divided into the existence of the individual in society and in the process of history and the existence of society. We will analyze this form of existence in the sections devoted to society.

The topic of forms of being is of great importance for understanding the differences in philosophical views. The main difference usually concerns which form of being is considered the main and determining, initial one, and which forms of being are derivative. Thus, materialism considers natural being to be the main form of being, the rest are derivatives, dependent on the main form. And idealism considers ideal existence to be the main form.