1 subject of social philosophy and its functions. Test: The subject of social philosophy

1.2 The subject and functions of social philosophy

The history of philosophy has more than two and a half millennia. During this time, many definitions of philosophy have accumulated, but disputes about what it is - a worldview, science, ideology, art still do not subside. Everyone knows colloquial, everyday definitions of philosophy:

1) philosophy is the prevailing beliefs about something (for example, life philosophy, student philosophy);

2) abstract, general, irrelevant reasoning (for example, breeding philosophy).

One of the most common definitions of philosophy, which was adopted in the USSR for several decades, proceeded from the thesis of K. Marx on the need to create a new philosophical science armed with modern, accurate methods for studying being, society and man: philosophy is the science of the most general laws of the development of nature , human society and thinking.

Philosophy is often understood as someone's doctrine of the world (for example, ancient philosophy, Hegel's philosophy, etc.)

The term “philosophy” is often used to refer to the methodological principles underlying any science, field of knowledge (for example, the philosophy of history, the philosophy of mathematics, etc.)

It is even more difficult to define social philosophy, since this field of knowledge directly affects the interests of people, their understanding of the world and themselves in this world. Social philosophy originates in Antiquity. Its appearance is associated with the names of Socrates and Plato, who first set the task of philosophical understanding of society and its individual areas.

As for the philosophy of history, its beginning in Europe was laid by Augustine Aurelius (4th century AD) with his famous work “On the City of God”. The Augustinian interpretation of the historical process dominated European philosophy until the 18th century. But the formation of social philosophy as a separate branch of knowledge dates back to the middle of the 19th century. At this time, the formation of sociology and psychology takes place. Scientists are abandoning "speculative", based only on reflection, rational knowledge of the world in favor of experimental, rational knowledge. They highlight the active role of a person who masters the secrets of the universe not with the help of metaphysical, divorced from real life mental constructions, but due to exact scientific methods.

The century and a half that have passed since then have not brought clarity to the problem of the essence of both philosophy in general and social philosophy in particular. And to this day in the literature there is no unity in the definition of social philosophy and its subject. Moreover, in scientific world there is not even a single understanding of one of the main categories - "social", - although the object of social philosophy is social life and social processes.

In the literature, the term "social" is used in different senses. Perhaps the most commonly used definition is that given by P. A. Sorokin, considered by many to be the most prominent sociologist of the first half of the 20th century. “A social phenomenon is a world of concepts, a world of logical (scientific - in the strict sense of the word) being, obtained in the process of interaction (collective experience) of human individuals,” wrote this American scientist (Sorokin P. A. Man. Civilization. Society Moscow, 1992, p. 527).

Consider the definitions of social philosophy. One of the most famous definitions is the following: “Social philosophy is called upon to answer the question of how it is generally possible for people to consciously regulate their relations in society, which ways and means of building social relations were and are being opened and are being opened before them in different historical epochs, what nature were and here they carry objective barriers facing people, how these restrictions are realized by people and manifested in practice, how adequately this problem was reflected by philosophical systems and ideological constructions of the past and present” (Essays on social philosophy. M., 1994. P. 3.).

We will not analyze such a complex definition (interpretation of the word), apparently, it can be quite useful for a theoretical scientist, but we will try to find a simpler definition: “Social philosophy is a system scientific knowledge about the most general patterns and trends in the interaction of social phenomena, the functioning and development of society, the integral process of social life” (Social Philosophy. M., 1995. P. 13-14.).

The author of another definition is the well-known Russian scientist V. S. Barulin. He believes that “social philosophy studies the laws according to which stable, large groups of people are formed in society, the relations between these groups, their connections and role in society” (Barulin V.S. Social Philosophy. Part 1. M., 1993 pp. 90.)

The student can use any of the above definitions. He may also try to synthesize them in some way, or even try to construct his own definition. But for this you need to know that the diversity and difference in the definitions of social philosophy is largely due to the fact that the problem-subject status of social philosophy is still not clear. The reasons for this are varied. The nihilistic (denying completely all past achievements) break with the “Histmatic” past is having an effect. Influenced by the assertion since the mid-80s of "pluralism of thoughts, not knowledge." Difficulties in the development of modern Western literature are also having an effect.

Let's dwell on the last reason in more detail. For several decades, even Soviet professional philosophers, not to mention those who studied philosophy in higher educational institutions or was simply interested in it, were deprived of the opportunity to communicate with foreign non-Marxist colleagues and read foreign philosophical literature. The consequence of this, among other things, was that since the late 1980s, the book market has brought down on readers such a volume of previously unknown literature that was simply difficult to master. But it's not only that. Much of what was already the history of philosophy abroad has become fashionable in Russia.

If in the West the term “social philosophy” became very common in the middle of the twentieth century, then in Russia it was only in the final 90s. In fairness, it should be noted that in the West there is no consensus on the essence of social philosophy. Thus, a textbook for Oxford students (Graham G. Modern social philosophy. Oxford, 1988.) contains sections on the essence of society, personality, social justice, social equality and its maintenance, health care, moral standards and law. Another textbook published in Darmstadt (Forshner M. Man and Society: Basic Concepts of Social Philosophy. Darmstadt, 1989) examines the concepts of society, the idea of ​​human free will and responsibility, problems of punishment, power, political systems, theories of just wars, etc. The list goes on.

It should be noted that the approaches of domestic authors are also different and all of them have the right to exist, since they are not alternative, but only complement each other, considering the complex social world from different sides of the philosophical worldview.

What role does social philosophy play in society? Before answering this question, let us recall the functions of philosophy: after all, to a large extent they are common to social philosophy as well.

1) the function of extrapolating universals (identifying the most general ideas, ideas, concepts on which the socio-historical life of people is based);

2) the function of rationalization and systematization (translation into a logical and theoretical form of the total results of human experience in all its varieties: practical, cognitive, value);

3) critical function (criticism of the dogmatic way of thinking and cognition, delusions, prejudices, mistakes);

4) the function of forming a theoretical generalized image of the world at a certain stage in the development of society.

Speaking about the specifics of social philosophy, special attention should be paid to the following functions:

1) epistemological function (research and explanation of the most general patterns and trends in the development of society as a whole, as well as social processes at the level of large social groups);

2) methodological function (social philosophy acts as a general doctrine about the methods of cognition of social phenomena, the most general approaches to their study);

3) integration and synthesis of social knowledge (establishment of universal connections of social life);

4) the prognostic function of social philosophy (the creation of hypotheses about the general trends in the development of social life and man);

5) worldview function (unlike other historical forms worldview - mythology and religion - social philosophy is associated with a conceptual, abstract-theoretical explanation of the social world);

6) axiological or value function (any socio-philosophical concept contains an assessment of the object under study;

7) social function (in the broadest sense, social philosophy is called upon to perform a dual task - to explain social being and contribute to its material and spiritual change);

8) humanitarian function (social philosophy should contribute to the formation of humanistic values ​​and ideals, the affirmation of the positive goal of life).

The functions of social philosophy are dialectically interconnected. Each of them presupposes the others and in one way or another includes them in its content. Thus, it is obvious that the socio-philosophical study of social processes will be the more successful, the more carefully attention is paid to each of the functions of philosophy.

The famous philosopher K. Kh. Momdzhyan rightly notes that, unlike the specific sciences, each of which develops its own “plot”, philosophy has the audacity to try to comprehend the world in its totality, universality, generality. This totality is revealed by her in two interconnected aspects, which can be conditionally called “substantial” and “functional”. In the first case, we are talking about the search for significant and non-random similarities between the subsystems of the integral world (an example of which is their subordination to the universal principles of causal-functional connection, the existence of which the concepts of philosophical determinism insist on). In the second case, we are talking about attempts to explain such similarities by revealing significant and non-random connections, real mediations between the correlated “realms of being” (Momdzhyan K. Kh. Sotsium. Society. History. M., 1994. P. 68.).

Thus, the main task of social philosophy is to reveal the essence of society, to characterize it as a part of the world, different from its other parts, but connected with them into a single world universe.

At the same time, social philosophy acts as a special theory that has its own categories, laws and principles of research.

Due to the large degree of generality of its provisions, laws and principles, social philosophy also acts as a methodology for other social sciences.

The main functions of the social system All the functions implemented by the social system can be reduced to two main ones. First, it is the function of maintaining the system, its stable state (homeostasis). Everything that the system does, everything that the main areas are aimed at

Chapter 1. PHILOSOPHY: SUBJECT, STRUCTURE, FUNCTIONS 1.1. Worldview Each person has a certain amount of knowledge. With some simplification, knowledge can be divided into two levels. The first is ordinary (spontaneous-empirical) knowledge. This includes work skills

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1. The subject of social philosophy

The subject of social philosophy 1. Akhiezer AS On the features of modern philosophizing (a view from Russia) // Questions of Philosophy. 1995. No. 12.2. Bibler V.S. What is philosophy? (Another return to the original question) // Questions of Philosophy. 1995. No. 1.3. Bohensky Yu. One hundred superstitions.

The structure of philosophical knowledge

In the first centuries of its existence, philosophy did not have a clear structure. Aristotle was the first to put this problem clearly. He called the doctrine of the principles of being "the first philosophy" (later it was called "metaphysics"); his doctrine of pure forms of thinking and speech among the Stoics received the name "logic"; in addition, Aristotle wrote books on physics, ethics, politics and poetics - apparently considering them also branches of philosophy.

Somewhat later, the Stoics divided philosophical knowledge into three subject areas: logic, physics and ethics. This division persisted until modern times, when each school began to reshape the structure of philosophy in its own way. At first, theory turned into a special branch of philosophy sensory knowledge, which Alexander Baumgarten gave the name "aesthetics". Then the Kantians invented a special doctrine of values ​​- "axiology", renamed the theory of rational knowledge into "epistemology", and metaphysics - into "ontology". Already in the 20th century, such disciplines as philosophical anthropology, hermeneutics, grammar, etc., appeared.

There is currently no generally accepted understanding of the structure of philosophical knowledge. As a rule, four departments appear in educational literature: philosophy itself, which studies the laws and categories of thinking and being; logic - the doctrine of the forms of inference and evidence; aesthetics - the doctrine of the world of feelings, of the beautiful and the ugly; and ethics - the theory of morality, which tells about good and evil and about the meaning human life. In the domestic tradition of philosophy specializations, there are: ontology and theory of knowledge, history of philosophy, aesthetics, ethics, logic, social philosophy, philosophy of science and technology, philosophical anthropology, philosophy and history of religion, philosophy of culture

The main functions of philosophy

Functions of Philosophy- the main areas of application of philosophy, through which its goals, objectives, purpose are realized. It is customary to single out:

Worldview function contributes to the formation of the integrity of the picture of the world, ideas about its structure, the place of a person in it, the principles of interaction with the outside world.

Methodological function is that philosophy develops the basic methods of cognition of the surrounding reality. Thinking-theoretical function It is expressed in the fact that philosophy teaches to think conceptually and theorize - to generalize the surrounding reality to the utmost, to create mental-logical schemes, systems of the surrounding world.

epistemological – one of the fundamental functions of philosophy is the correct and reliable knowledge of the surrounding reality (that is, the mechanism of knowledge).

Role critical function – question the world and existing meaning, to look for their new features, qualities, to reveal contradictions. The ultimate goal of this function is to expand the boundaries of knowledge, the destruction of dogmas, the ossification of knowledge, its modernization, and the increase in the reliability of knowledge.

Axiological function philosophy (translated from Greek axios - valuable) is to evaluate things, phenomena of the surrounding world from the point of view of various values ​​- moral, ethical, social, ideological, etc. The purpose of the axiological function is to be a "sieve" through which to pass everything you need , valuable and useful, and discard the inhibitory and obsolete. The axiological function is especially enhanced during critical periods of history (the beginning of the Middle Ages - the search for new (theological) values ​​after the collapse of Rome; the Renaissance; the Reformation; the crisis of capitalism late XIX- the beginning of the twentieth century. and etc.). social function - explain society, the reasons for its emergence, the evolution of the current state, its structure, elements, driving forces; reveal contradictions, indicate ways to eliminate or mitigate them, improve society.

Educational and humanitarian function philosophy is to cultivate humanistic values ​​and ideals, instill them in a person and society, help strengthen morality, help a person adapt to the world around him and find the meaning of life.

predictive function is to predict development trends, the future of matter, consciousness, cognitive processes, man, nature and society on the basis of existing philosophical knowledge about the world and man, the achievements of knowledge.

3. The role of philosophy in human life and society.

The main role is to come to a meaningful understanding of who a person is, what is the world around him, what is his role in it, what is the meaning of his life - when several individuals are combined into a society, the question arises what is the function of this society, what place does this society occupy in the world, what is the role of each person in it.

4. Worldview and its main historical types Keywords: mythology, religion, philosophy.
Historically, the first form of worldview is mythology. It occurs at an early stage community development. Then mankind in the form of myths, that is, legends, legends, tried to answer such global questions as the origin and structure of the universe as a whole, the emergence of the most important natural phenomena, animals and people. A significant part of the mythology was cosmological myths dedicated to the structure of nature. At the same time, much attention in the myths was paid to the various stages of people's lives, the secrets of birth and death, all kinds of trials that lie in wait for a person on his life path. Special place occupy myths about the achievements of people: making fire, the invention of crafts, the development of agriculture, the domestication of wild animals.

Thus, myth is not the original form of knowledge, but a special kind of worldview, a specific figurative syncretic idea of ​​natural phenomena and collective life. In myth as the most early form human culture united the rudiments of knowledge, religious beliefs, moral, aesthetic and emotional assessment of the situation. If in relation to myth we can talk about knowledge, then the word “knowledge” here has the meaning not of the traditional acquisition of knowledge, but of the worldview, sensual empathy (this is how we use this term in the statements “the heart makes itself felt”, “to know a woman”, etc.). d.).
Myth usually combines two aspects - diachronic (a story about the past) and synchronic (an explanation of the present and future). Thus, with the help of myth, the past was connected with the future, and this ensured the spiritual connection of generations. The content of the myth was primitive man eminently real, deserving of absolute trust.

Mythology played a huge role in the lives of people in the early stages of their development. Myths, as noted earlier, affirmed the system of values ​​accepted in a given society, supported and sanctioned certain norms of behavior. And in this sense they were important stabilizers of social life. This does not exhaust the stabilizing role of mythology. The main significance of myths is that they established harmony between the world and man, nature and society, society and the individual, and thus ensured the inner harmony of human life.

At an early stage of human history, mythology was not the only ideological form.

Close to the mythological, although different from it, was the religious worldview, which developed from the depths of the not yet dissected, not differentiated social consciousness. Like mythology, religion appeals to fantasy and feelings. However, unlike myth, religion does not "mix" the earthly and the sacred, but in the deepest and irreversible way separates them into two opposite poles. The creative almighty force - God - stands above nature and outside nature. The existence of God is experienced by man as a revelation. As a revelation, a person is given to know that his soul is immortal, eternal life and a meeting with God await him beyond the grave.

Religion, religious consciousness, religious attitude to the world did not remain vital. Throughout the history of mankind, they, like other cultural formations, developed, acquired diverse forms in the East and West, in different historical eras. But all of them were united by the fact that at the center of any religious outlook it is worth searching for the highest values, the true path of life, and the fact that these values, and leading to them life path is transferred to a transcendent, otherworldly realm, not to earthly, but to "eternal" life. All deeds and deeds of a person and even his thoughts are evaluated, approved or condemned according to this highest, absolute criterion.

The main function of religion is to help a person overcome the historically changeable, transient, relative aspects of his being and elevate a person to something absolute, eternal. In philosophical language, religion is called upon to “root” a person in the transcendent. In the spiritual and moral sphere, this is manifested in giving norms, values ​​and ideals an absolute, unchanging character, independent of the conjuncture of the spatio-temporal coordinates of human existence, social institutions, etc. Thus, religion gives meaning and knowledge, and hence stability human existence helps him overcome life's difficulties.

Philosophy is a worldview form of consciousness. However, not every worldview can be called philosophical. A person can have fairly coherent, but fantastic ideas about the world around him and about himself. Everyone who is familiar with the myths of Ancient Greece knows that for hundreds and thousands of years people lived, as it were, in a special world of dreams and fantasies. These beliefs and ideas played a very important role in their lives: they were a kind of expression and custodian of historical memory.

In the mass consciousness, philosophy is often presented as something very far from real life. Philosophers are spoken of as people "not of this world." Philosophizing in this sense is a lengthy, vague reasoning, the truth of which can neither be proved nor refuted. Such an opinion, however, is contradicted by the fact that in a cultured, civilized society, every thinking person, at least "a little" is a philosopher, even if he does not suspect it.

Philosophical thought is the thought of the eternal. But this does not mean that philosophy itself is ahistorical. Like any theoretical knowledge, philosophical knowledge develops, enriched with new and new content, new discoveries. At the same time, the continuity of the known is preserved. However, the philosophical spirit, philosophical consciousness is not only a theory, especially an abstract, dispassionately speculative theory. Scientific theoretical knowledge is only one side of the ideological content of philosophy. Another, undoubtedly dominant, leading side of it, is formed by a completely different component of consciousness - spiritual and practical. It is he who expresses the life-meaning, value-oriented, that is, worldview, type of philosophical consciousness as a whole. There was a time when no science had ever existed, but philosophy was at the highest level of its creative development.

Man's relation to the world is an eternal subject of philosophy. At the same time, the subject of philosophy is historically mobile, concrete, the "Human" dimension of the world changes with the change in the essential forces of man himself.

The secret goal of philosophy is to take a person out of the sphere of everyday life, to captivate him with the highest ideals, to give his life a true meaning, to open the way to the most perfect values.

The organic combination in philosophy of two principles - scientific-theoretical and practical-spiritual - determines the specifics of it as a completely unique form of consciousness, which is especially noticeable in its history - in the real process of research, development of ideological content philosophical teachings which are historically, in time, interconnected not randomly, but in a necessary way. All of them are just facets, moments of a single whole. Just as in science and in other areas of rationality, in philosophy new knowledge is not rejected, but dialectical “removes”, overcomes its previous level, that is, it includes it as its own special case. In the history of thought, Hegel emphasized, we observe progress: a constant ascent from abstract knowledge to more and more concrete knowledge. The sequence of philosophical teachings - basically and most importantly - is the same as the sequence in the logical definitions of the goal itself, that is, the history of knowledge corresponds to the objective logic of the object being known.

The integrity of human spirituality finds its completion in the worldview. Philosophy as a single integral worldview is the business of not only everyone thinking person, but also of all mankind, which, as an individual, has never lived and cannot live only by purely logical judgments, but carries out its spiritual life in all the colorful fullness and integrity of its diverse moments. The worldview exists as a system value orientations, ideals, beliefs and convictions, as well as the way of life of an individual and society.

Philosophy is one of the main forms of social consciousness, the system of the most general concepts about the world and man's place in it.

5. The problem of the genesis of philosophy.

Question the genesis of philosophy in historical and philosophical science is solved ambiguously. A.N. Chanyshev identifies mythogenic, religious and epistemogenic approaches to the problem of the genesis of philosophy, and the first two approaches are sometimes difficult to separate.

A striking example is predominantly religious approach is the concept of G. Hegel, who in the myth saw primarily religious content. According to Hegel, philosophy arises from developed mythology (in Antiquity) and religion (from Christianity in modern times) as a means of overcoming the contradiction between the content, the knowledge about the world that is contained in religion, and the inadequate form of its expression - vague, obscure, mired in particular representation. Philosophy, on the other hand, clothes this knowledge in the form of a pure concept corresponding to the very foundation of the world. Protoscientific knowledge turns out to be superfluous in this struggle of contradictions and therefore is not taken into account.

Mythogenic approach represented, for example, by the works of A.F. Losev, who fundamentally separated mythology and religion and believed that philosophy arises from a non-religious myth through further abstractization and general ideas that are really contained in developed mythology. Philosophy turns out to be an attempt to read the knowledge encrypted in the images of myth and translate it into the language of concepts. Within the framework of this approach, philosophy is often thought of as incapable of discovering some new knowledge in comparison with what is already hidden in myth.

Gnoseogenic approach believes that the main prerequisite for the emergence of philosophy is the development of protoscientific knowledge, primarily mathematical and astronomical, which is characterized by a high degree of abstractness, evidence, the desire to identify objective laws, as well as a high ability to formulate problems. For example, the Pythagorean theorem, according to which the length of the hypotenuse of an isosceles triangle cannot be expressed as an integer, for a long time acted as a refutation of any ideas about the finite divisibility of space, not allowing natural scientists and philosophers to confine themselves to naive atomism.

In the national tradition, it has developed mythogenic-epistemological approach, within the framework of which the developed mythology and the emerging principles of scientific knowledge are considered the basis of the genesis of philosophy. It is important that these two sources of philosophy are considered equally necessary and that the process of the genesis of philosophy does not generate without each other. Forms transitional from myth to philosophy are called pre-philosophy (terminology by A.N. Chanyshev).

In addition to the sources of the genesis of philosophy, one should also talk about the conditions that made this process possible. In modern historical and philosophical science, it is customary to single out the following conditions for the emergence of philosophy:

1. Socio-political processes. For example, the formation of democracy in the Greek cities gave rise to an active political struggle, which made possible and even necessary not only a pluralism of points of view, but also the need for their rational justification. On the contrary, ensuring the stability of Chinese society required the creation of philosophical and ethical concepts based on the principles of rigid hierarchy and subordination.

2. Generalization of the practice of common sense - primarily in the field of interpersonal and social relations, which was expressed in the emergence of copyright, but generally significant ethical and legal norms. Such were the fragmentary ethical statements of the "seven Greek sages", the legislation of Lycurgus and Solon, the original teachings of Confucius.

3. The widespread use of abstract thinking in the life of society, which manifested itself, in particular, in the invention and distribution of the coin as a universal abstract measure of the value of all things.

Summing up the presentation of the problem of the genesis of philosophy, we note that, being a qualitatively new spiritual formation, philosophy can by no means be reduced to the sources and conditions of its origin. This also means that in the history of philosophy there are qualitatively specific regularities that cannot be reduced to regularities that operate in other spheres of society and even spiritual culture.

6. Man in the philosophy and culture of the Ancient East.

These features of the worldview and religious philosophical ideas are, one might say, a kind of archetylic features of the peoples of the East and influence the processes that take place in the world. Acquaintance with Eastern philosophy shows that it has absorbed not only rational forms of human exploration of himself and the world, but also other forms that existed in culture.

A feature of Eastern philosophy is the ideological synthesis of the mythological, religious-symbolic and rational, reflected in the teachings of Buddha and Confucius, the Vedas, holy book Persians "Avesta", as well as the integrity of the vision of man. The ratio of these principles and elements changes over time, but the very unity of the various approaches is preserved. A simplified view of the Eastern synthetic concept of being from the point of view of the European tradition, which puts its scientific and rational vision above the mythological and religious, and sometimes philosophical view. And mythology, and religion, and philosophy, and science are forms and at the same time products of the cultural self-determination of a person, which are not subordinated in terms of the degree of truth, but are coordinated as independent, in a certain respect, incommensurable conceptual structures. Historically, the complication of previously created value and worldview ideas and the emergence of new forms did not always lead to the complete replacement of the former, seemingly archaic, ways of interpreting being. Rather, there was a dominance of certain forms of rational-spiritual development of the world with the preservation of the previous forms on the periphery of the cultural space. In certain socio-cultural situations, these seemingly obsolete ways of spiritual and practical assimilation of the world by a person can be actualized, become dominant. Such is the complex dialectic of the development of various socio-cultural forms of human exploration of the world.

The ideas about the origin and essence of man in ancient Eastern philosophy are still largely mythological. The whole world became like a man. Therefore, this period is characterized by associativity, hylozoism, animism and anthropomorphism, i.e. revival, spiritualization and assimilation of natural phenomena to man, and man to the world. The world and man were seen as creations of the gods.

However, already in the first written sources of Ancient China, in particular, in the "Book of Changes" (III-IV centuries BC), specific characteristics of a person are comprehended in the teachings of Confucius. To be human, Confucius believed, means to love people. Reciprocity and love for others distinguish a person from other creatures of the Middle Kingdom. A follower of Confucius, Mencius, believed that a person is naturally good, and the manifestation of evil is the loss of his innate good qualities. Emphasizing the importance of human knowledge, Mencius argued that only those who know their nature can know Heaven. Mencius saw the fundamental difference between man and animal in the fact that man observes certain norms of relationships between people.

The opponent of Confucianism, Mo-tzu, believed that a person differs from an animal in the ability to work, while Lao-tzu and all representatives of the Taoist school were convinced that the main thing in human life is non-action, non-resistance to what is destined by the way of Tao.

7. Basic principles of philosophical thinking in ancient India.

Ancient Indian pre-philosophy historically dates back to the 3rd-2nd millennium BC. and extends to the III-IV centuries. AD Within this period, several very independent stages are distinguished: Vedic (before VI-V centuries BC); post-Vedic (before III-IV centuries BC); period of sutra philosophy (before lll-IVBB. AD).

The main goal of Indian philosophy is to achieve eternal bliss both before and after death. This means complete and eternal liberation from all evil. The method of achieving this goal is withdrawal into oneself, self-deepening. Concentrating in himself, a person comprehends a single, insensible higher being. This thought runs through Jainism and Buddhism.

Jainism, like Brahmanism, is characterized by a focus on the individual, the personality. However, there is more elemental rationalism in Jainism. It is in a certain sense opposed to Brahmanism. The central, backbone problem of Jainism is the personality, its place in the universe. The Jains tried to liberate not only the bodily, but also the spiritual in man. Jainism bases the liberation of the spirit on the operation of the law of karma, which regulates the connection of the individual soul with nature. The essence of personality is twofold: it is both material and spiritual. Karma is interpreted as a subtle matter that connects the material and spiritual in a person. The soul can be freed from the influence of karma as a result of good deeds and ascetic behavior.

Jainism tries to help a person to be saved, to find eternal bliss, to be in a state of nirvana. Life must be lived in such a way as to achieve a state of bliss, to merge with Brahman, to be in a state of nirvana.

Buddhism is a religious and philosophical concept that arose in the 6th-5th centuries. BC. The founder of Buddhism was Siddhartha Gautama, who comprehended the correct path of life as a result of enlightenment (or awakening) and was called the Buddha, i.e. enlightened. Buddhism proceeds from the equality of all people in suffering, so everyone has the right to get rid of them. The Buddhist concept of man is based on the idea of ​​reincarnation (metempsychosis) of living beings. Death in it does not mean complete disappearance, but the disintegration of a certain combination of dharmas - the eternal and unchanging elements of an existing, beginningless and impersonal life process - and the formation of another combination, which is reincarnation. The new combination of dharmas depends on karma, which is the sum of sins and virtues of a person in a past life.

important integral part The Buddhist worldview is the doctrine of a person's knowledge of himself and the world through the process of self-deepening and self-contemplation in yoga. As a philosophical concept and system of meditation techniques, yoga arose around the 1st century BC. BC e. and is aimed at teaching a person to free himself from the unrest of life, suffering, the shackles of the corporeal-material, in order to stop the flow of reincarnations. Only “saints” can do this - people who have reached nirvana, completely freed from everything earthly. Achieving nirvana is extremely difficult, but possible. As a special state, it is difficult to imagine it rationally, it can only be felt. In fact, this is immortality, eternity, the end of the world. Such a state can be achieved by those who train faith, courage, attention, concentration, wisdom. This allows them to enter a state of eternity, emptiness, absence of time, space, desires.

Indian philosophical thought appears as a holistic concept of personality, seeking to help a person in his unrest and suffering. The Indian type of philosophizing focuses on the individual, abstracting from complex social ties. Moreover, Indian philosophy focuses on avoiding these connections, looking for ways to achieve the independence of the subject. It can be said that both nirvana and yoga serve not so much the adaptation of the world to the cheshvek, but of man to the world. Thus, Indian philosophy believes that if the world does not satisfy a person, then it is necessary to change not the world, but the person.

8. Philosophy of Ancient China, the specifics of its problems.

China is a country of ancient history, culture, philosophy; already in the middle of the second millennium BC. e. in the state of Shang-Yin (XVII-XII centuries BC), a slave-owning economy emerged. The labor of slaves, in which the captured prisoners were converted, was used in cattle breeding, in agriculture. In the XII century BC. e. as a result of the war, the state of Shan-Yin was defeated by the Zhou tribe, which founded its own dynasty, which lasted until the 3rd century BC. BC e.

In the era of Shang-Yin and in the initial period of the existence of the Jok dynasty, the religious and mythological worldview was dominant. One of the distinguishing features of Chinese myths is the zoomorphic nature of the gods and spirits acting in them. Many of the ancient Chinese deities (Shan-di) had a clear resemblance to animals, birds or fish. But Shang-di was not only the supreme deity, but also their ancestor. According to myths, it was he who was the ancestor of the Yin tribe.

The most important element of the ancient Chinese religion was the cult of ancestors, which was based on the recognition of the influence of the dead on the life and fate of descendants. In ancient times, when there was neither heaven nor earth, the Universe was a gloomy formless chaos. Two spirits, yin and yang, were born in him, who took up the ordering of the world. In the myths about the origin of the universe, there are very vague, timid beginnings of natural philosophy. The mythological form of thinking, as the dominant one, existed until the first millennium BC. e. The decomposition of the primitive communal system and the emergence of a new system of social production did not lead to the disappearance of myths. Many mythological images pass into later philosophical treatises. Philosophers who lived in the V-III century. BC BC, often turn to myths in order to substantiate their conceptions of true government and their norms of correct human behavior. At the same time, Confucians carried out the historicization of myths, demythologization of plots and images of ancient myths. The historicization of myths, which consisted in the desire to humanize the actions of all mythical characters, was the main task of the Confucians. In an effort to bring the mythical traditions in line with the dogmas of their teachings, the Confucians did a lot of work to turn spirits into people and to find a rational explanation for the myths and legends themselves. So the myth became part of the traditional story. Rationalized myths become part of philosophical ideas, teachings, and the characters of myths - historical figures used to preach Confucian teachings.

Philosophy was born in the depths of mythological ideas, using their material. The history of ancient Chinese philosophy was no exception in this regard.

The philosophy of ancient China is closely connected with mythology. However, this connection had some features arising from the specifics of mythology in China. Chinese myths appear primarily as historical legends about past dynasties, about the “golden age”. They contain relatively little material that reflects the views of the Chinese on the formation of the world and its interaction, relationship with man. Therefore, natural philosophical ideas did not occupy the main place in Chinese philosophy. However, all the natural-philosophical teachings of Ancient China, such as the teachings about the “five elements”, about the “great limit” - tai chi, about the forces of yin and yang, and even the teachings about tao, originate from the mythological and primitive religious constructions of the ancient Chinese about the sky and earth, about the "eight elements".

Along with the emergence of cosmogonic concepts based on the forces of yang and yin, naive materialistic concepts arose, which were primarily associated with the “five elements”: water, fire, metal, earth, wood.

The struggle for dominance between the kingdoms led in the second half of the 3rd century. BC e. to the destruction of the “Warring States” and the unification of China into a centralized state under the auspices of the strongest kingdom of Qin. Deep political upheavals - the collapse of the ancient unified state and the strengthening of individual kingdoms, the sharp struggle between large kingdoms for hegemony - were reflected in the stormy ideological struggle of various philosophical, political and ethical schools. This period is characterized by the dawn of culture and philosophy.

In such literary and historical monuments as “Shi jing”, “Shu jing”, philosophical ideas are traced that arose on the basis of a generalization of direct labor and socio-historical practice of people. However, the true flowering of ancient Chinese philosophy falls precisely on the period of VI-III in BC. BC, which is rightly called the golden age of Chinese philosophy. It was during this period that such works of philosophical and sociological thought as “Tao De Ching”, “Lun Yu”, “Mo Tzu”, “Meng Tzu”, “Zhuang Tzu” appeared, great thinkers came forward with their concepts and ideas. Lao Tzu, Confucius, Mo Tzu, Zhuang Tzu, Xun Tzu, and schools are formed - Taoism, Confucianism, Mohism, Legalism, the natural philosophical school, which then had a huge impact on the entire subsequent development of Chinese philosophy. During this period, those problems, those concepts and categories, which then become traditional for the entire subsequent history of Chinese philosophy, up to modern times, arise.

1.2 Features of the development of philosophy in China

Two main stages in the development of philosophical thought in ancient China: the stage of the birth of philosophical views, which covers the period of the VIII-VI centuries. BC e., and the heyday of philosophical thought - the stage of rivalry "100 schools", which traditionally refers to the VI-III centuries. BC e.

The period of formation of the philosophical views of the ancient peoples who lived in the basins of the Huanghe, Huaihe, Hanshui rivers (VIII-VI centuries BC) and laid the foundations of Chinese civilization coincides in time with a similar process in India and Ancient Greece. On the example of the emergence of philosophy in these three regions, one can trace the commonality of the patterns that followed the formation and development of human society of world civilization.

The history of the formation and development of philosophy is inextricably linked with the class struggle in society. Therefore, the struggle of various classes in society, the opposition of progressive forces to reactionary ones, directly affected the development of philosophy and led to a struggle between two main trends in philosophy - materialistic and idealistic - with varying degrees of awareness and depth of expression of these trends.

The specificity of Chinese philosophy is directly related to its special role in the acute socio-political struggle that took place in numerous states of Ancient China during the periods of “Spring and Autumn” and “Fighting Kingdoms”. The development of social relations in China did not lead to a clear division of spheres of activity within the ruling classes. In China, a peculiar division of labor between politicians and philosophers was not clearly expressed, which led to the direct, immediate subordination of philosophy to political practice. Questions of social management, relations between different social groups, between kingdoms - that's what mainly interested the philosophers of ancient China.

Another feature of the development of Chinese philosophy is that, with a few exceptions, the natural scientific observations of Chinese scientists did not find a more or less adequate expression in philosophy, since philosophers, as a rule, did not consider it necessary to refer to the materials of natural science. Perhaps the only exception of this kind is the Mohist school and the school of natural philosophers, which ceased to exist after the Zhou era.

Philosophy and natural science existed in China, as if fenced off from each other by an impenetrable wall, which caused them irreparable damage. Thus, Chinese philosophy deprived itself of a reliable source for the formation of an integral and comprehensive worldview, and natural science, despised by the official ideology, experiencing difficulties in development, remained the lot of loners and seekers of the elixir of immortality. The only methodological compass of Chinese naturalists remained the ancient naive materialistic ideas of natural philosophers about the five primary elements. This view arose in ancient China at the turn of the 6th and 5th centuries and lasted until modern times. As for such an applied branch of natural science as Chinese medicine, it is still guided by these ideas to this day.

Thus, the isolation of Chinese philosophy from specific scientific knowledge narrowed its subject matter. Because of this, the natural philosophical concepts of explaining nature, as well as the problems of the essence of thinking, questions of the nature of human consciousness and logic, have not received much development in China. The isolation of ancient Chinese philosophy from natural science and the lack of development of questions of logic are one of the main reasons for the fact that the formation of the philosophical conceptual apparatus proceeded very slowly. For most Chinese schools, the method logical analysis remained virtually unknown.

9. The main stages in the development of ancient philosophy.

In the development of ancient philosophy, there are four main stages in the development of philosophy. The first one covers the period from the 7th to the 5th centuries. BC e., it is usually called pre-Socratic (and philosophers, respectively, pre-Socratics). This also includes the philosophers of the Miletus school, Heraclitus of Ephesus, the Eleatic school, Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans, the ancient Greek atomists Leucippus and Democritus.

The second stage - from about the middle of the 5th century. until the end of the 4th c. BC e. - classical, associated with the activities of the prominent Greek philosophers Protagoras, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, whose philosophical heritage most fully summarizes and expresses the achievements of antiquity.

The third stage in the development of ancient philosophy (the end of the 4th century - the 2nd century BC) is usually called Hellenistic. In contrast to the classical stage associated with the emergence of significant, deep in content philosophical systems, are formed philosophical schools Key words: peripatetics, academic philosophy, Stoic and Epicurean schools, skepticism. This period accounts for the work of prominent philosophers Theophrastus, Carneades and Epicurus. All schools are united by one feature: the transition from commenting on the teachings of Plato and Aristotle to the development of ethical problems, moralistic revelations in the era of decline and decline of Hellenistic culture.

The fourth stage in the development of ancient philosophy (I century BC - V-VI centuries AD) is the period when Rome began to play a decisive role in the ancient world, under the influence of which Greece also falls. Roman philosophy is formed under the influence of Greek philosophy, especially the Hellenistic period. Accordingly, three directions are distinguished in Roman philosophy: stoicism (Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius), skepticism (Sext Empiricus), epicureanism (Titus Lucretius Car). In the III-V centuries. n. e. In Roman philosophy, Neoplatonism arises and develops, the most prominent representative of which was Plotinus. Neoplatonism had a huge impact not only on the early Christian philosophy, but also on all medieval religious philosophy.

10. Search for the fundamental principle of the world in ancient philosophy.

The birthplace of philosophy in the proper European sense of the word is Ancient Greece.

Greek philosophical thought has its own stages of birth, flourishing and decay. At the first, pre-Socratic stage, Greek philosophical thought is cosmocentric in nature and initially retains the features of mythology. At the same time, philosophers (Pythagoras, Thales, Heraclitus, Anaxagoras) make a significant step from mythology to philosophy, trying to build a monoelementary model of being, which, however, is based not on the evidence of their statements, but on sayings, which is especially pronounced in Heraclitus. At this stage, the formation of a philosophical categorical system takes place.

The importance of the first cosmocentric philosophical concepts should be especially noted, since the most difficult thing is the beginning of something fundamental. The beginning of European philosophy, at the origins of which stood the Greeks, is a revolution in the intellectual and ideological culture, which influenced the entire subsequent development of history.

next Milesian school Philosophy was Eleatic, which more specifically posed the question of being. Parmenides proves that being is eternal, motionless and unchanging. Indeed, there is not what we directly perceive and feel, but what we think. Hence the assertion that the conceivable exists and the unthinkable does not exist. All these provisions are reflected in the famous aporias (paradoxes) of Zeno, such as "Achilles and the tortoise", "Dichotomy (halving)", etc. Significant in ancient Greek philosophy was the atomistic tradition of Democritus, which deepened the discussion of the problem of being and non-being. Democritus proceeds from the fact that the basis of existence is indivisible, indestructible, not composed of parts, eternal particles, which he called "atoms". Thus, the diversity of existence is reduced to atoms moving in the void. This continues the tradition from Thales, Anaximenes, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, but deepens it, since atoms have more explanatory possibilities, since they can form various combinations.

Later, in the era of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, ancient philosophy receives its highest, classical development.

After the discovery of nature as an object of philosophy, it became possible to raise the question of man, and then of God.

A person is always a mystery not only for others, but also for himself. Therefore, human existence includes the desire to know oneself. Knowing the outside world, other people, a person knows himself. The relation of a person to others, to the Cosmos characterizes, first of all, the most cognizing person, his intentions, value attitudes and beliefs. In a certain sense, man is the goal) of being, which was emphasized by the Greeks, who proposed the maxim "Man is the measure of all things."

11. The classical period of ancient philosophy.

The pinnacle of the development of ancient Greek philosophy falls approximately on the time from the second half of the 5th to the end of the 4th century. BC. This is the period of the greatest flourishing of classical Greek slave-owning democracy, based on political form city-states - policies. Thanks to the three most prominent representatives of classical Greek philosophy - Socrates, Plato and Aristotle - Athens became the center of Greek philosophy for about 1000 years.

Socrates for the first time in history raises the question of personality with its decisions dictated by conscience, and with its values. Plato creates philosophy as a complete worldview - political and logical-ethical system; Aristotle - science as a research and theoretical study of the real world. Ancient Greek philosophy has had a decisive influence on the entire history of Western and partly even world philosophy up to the present day. We owe the very term "philosophy" precisely to antiquity.

The heyday of ancient Greek philosophy falls on the V-IV centuries. BC and its echoes died away for another millennium. In Byzantium and the countries of Islam, the dominant influence of Greek philosophy continued throughout the next millennium; then, during the Renaissance and humanism, and in Europe there was a revival of Greek philosophy, which led to creative new formations, starting from Platonism and Aristotelianism of the Renaissance and ending with the influence of Greek philosophy on the entire development of European philosophical thought. one.

Social philosophy, as a theory of higher abstraction, performs at least the following functions: methodological, epistemological, ideological and prognostic.

methodological function.

Any science has its own methods, i.e., ways and means of knowing the world. Science builds a certain theoretical model, and therefore it must have the appropriate tools for cognizing objective reality. This also applies to philosophy. It is impossible not to notice that many philosophers paid attention to this. Even Plato in his dialogues described the method of dialectical knowledge. He distinguishes two ways, or methods, of knowledge: “The first is the ability, embracing everything with a general look, to raise to a single idea that which is scattered everywhere, so that, giving a definition to each, make the subject of teaching clear. This is what we just did when speaking about Eros: first we determined what he was, and then, whether it was bad or good, we began to reason; therefore, our reasoning came out clear and did not contradict itself ... The second type is, on the contrary, the ability to divide everything into types, into natural components, while trying not to break up any of them ... ".

Descartes, developing rules for the guidance of the mind, gave the following definition of the method: “By method, I mean reliable and easy rules, strictly observing which a person will never accept anything false as true and, without wasting any effort of the mind, but constantly increasing step by step knowledge will come to the true knowledge of all that he will be able to know.

Questions of research methods were at the center of attention of Kant, Hegel and other representatives of classical German philosophy. Hegel, for example, singled out such methods as analytical, synthetic, speculative, comparative, etc.

Marx is also very great importance attached to the methods of studying social reality. He emphasized that the construction of a genuine theoretical model of society depends on the scientific method. And he considered the dialectical method to be such a scientific method.

As for methodology, this is the doctrine of the methods and means of cognition of reality. And when we talk about the methodological function of social philosophy, we mean, first of all, that it provides universal knowledge suitable for all social sciences. Its conclusions and results can be used by other social scientists. Historians, for example, can use social philosophy as a methodology in the study of various specific socio-historical organisms, cultures different peoples and ethnic groups. For sociologists, social philosophy helps in clarifying, for example, the causes of an increase in crime or forms of change in the family and family relations etc.

As a general methodological principle in classical philosophy, including in social philosophy, until recently, dialectics acted. But at present, many social scientists reject dialectics. Synergy is now offered instead.

As you know, the term "dialectic" Greek origin and literally means to conduct a dialogue, a conversation. All Plato's works are written in the form of a dialogue. It was through disputes and conversations that they considered ancient philosophers, the truth is known. "Competition in speeches", in the words of Plato, the struggle of opinions and freedom of criticism constituted the spiritual atmosphere in which Greek philosophy and science were born, in particular dialectics, as the art of proving and refuting any thesis.

Heraclitus was the greatest representative of dialectics. His famous saying “You cannot enter the same river twice” expresses one of the most important principles of dialectics - the principle of development and change. And, as Cassidy writes, “none of the thinkers who lived before and after Heraclitus expressed the idea of ​​​​universal movement and change so impressively and in relief as Heraclitus did.”

It should be especially emphasized that Heraclitus proceeded from the unity and struggle of opposites. Life and death, for example, are opposites, but they exist in an inseparable unity. “Recognizing the struggle of opposites as the main characteristic of being, Heraclitus at the same time explains in a number of aphorisms that the struggling opposites do not just coexist: they pass one into the other and pass in such a way that during their transition from one to the other, the identical basis common to both is preserved. . In other words, Heraclitus presents the transition of opposites into each other not at all as one in which the emerging new opposite no longer has anything in common with the one from which it arose. He presents this transition as one in which there is always in the process of transition a common identical basis for the transition itself*.

Hegel further developed the doctrine of dialectics. Almost all of his works are imbued with the spirit of dialectics. Many, Hegel writes, identify dialectics with skepticism, which is nothing more than simple negation. According to others, dialectics is nothing but an artificial heap of contradictions. In this connection German philosopher notes that indeed sometimes dialectics manifests itself as a subjective game, “which arbitrarily puts forward either proofs or refutations - reasoning in which there is no content and the emptiness of which is covered up by witty considerations. However, in its true definiteness, dialectics, on the contrary, is actually the true nature of the definitions of the understanding, things, and the finite in general ... Dialectics is, therefore, the driving soul of any scientific development of thought and is the only principle that introduces into the content of science immanent connection and necessity in which, in general, lies the true, and not the external, elevation above the finite.

Hegel insists that dialectical knowledge should be correctly imagined, since "it is in general the principle of all movement, all life and all activity in the sphere of reality." It is the soul of any true scientific knowledge. Hegel shows how to reason dialectically. If the well-known proposition “man is mortal,” he notes, is considered non-dialectically, then the cause of death is sought in external circumstances. It turns out that a person has two properties: to be alive and to be mortal. And if we analyze dialectically, then a person turns out to have one property, since life already bears the germ of death in itself. In other words, life is death. If we decipher Hegel further, we can say: a person lives and at the same time dies. After all, the aging of the body is nothing but the approach of death.

Hegel warns against confusing dialectics with sophistry. Sophists put forward abstract judgments, absolutize certain phenomena and draw incorrect conclusions. Hegel gives this example: in order to live, you must eat and drink. But, absolutizing this side of human life, one can come to the conclusion that an individual has the right to steal or betray his homeland in the name of saving his life. This is pure sophism, deliberate deception. The dialectician, unlike the sophist, considers all phenomena together and in mutual connection. Sophistics is casuistry, and dialectics is a research method.

Hegel discovered three laws of dialectics: the law of the unity and struggle of opposites, the law of the transition of quantitative changes into qualitative ones and vice versa, and the law of negation of negation. They are universal laws and operate in nature, society and thought. But Hegel the idealist, as Engels writes, deduces them only from thinking, although he often cites examples from history and nature that confirm these laws. Thus, in the Phenomenology of Spirit, Hegel gives a brilliant example of the law of negation of negation: “The bud disappears when the flower blossoms, and one could say that it is refuted by the flower; in the same way, when the fruit appears, the flower is recognized as the false existence of the plant, and the fruit appears instead of the flower as its truth. These forms not only differ from each other, but also displace each other as incompatible. However, their fluid nature makes them at the same time moments of an organic unity in which they not only do not contradict each other, but one is just as necessary as the other; and only this identical necessity constitutes the life of the whole.

Outlining Hegel's Science of Logic, Lenin singles out the following elements of dialectics: “1) objectivity of consideration (not examples, not digressions, but the thing in itself); 2) the totality of the many different relations of this thing to others; 3) the development of this thing (respective phenomenon), its own movement, its own life; 4) internally contradictory tendencies (and ... sides) in this thing; 5) a thing (phenomenon, etc.) as a sum ... and a unity of opposites; 6) struggle, respectively, deployment of these opposites, conflicting aspirations, etc.; 7) connection of analysis and synthesis, - disassembly of individual parts and totality, summing up these parts together; 8) the relations of each thing (phenomenon, etc.) are not only manifold, but universal, universal. Each thing (phenomenon, process, etc.) is connected with each; 9) not only the unity of opposites, but also the transitions of each definition, quality, feature, side, property into each other, into its opposite; 10) an endless process of revealing new sides, relationships, etc.; 11) an endless process of deepening human knowledge of things, phenomena, processes, etc. from phenomena to essence and from a less deep to a deeper essence; 12) from coexistence to causality and from one form of connection to another, deeper, more general; 13) repetition in the higher stage of known traits, properties, etc. of the lower one; 14) return to the old (denial of negation); 15) struggle between content and form and vice versa, dropping the form, altering the content; 16) the transition of quantity into quality and vice versa.

Even if only these elements are used as principles of cognition, and the richness of dialectics is not exhausted by them, then good scientific results can be achieved.

Let us comment on some elements of dialectics. The second element involves taking into account all the relationships and connections of one thing with others. In other words, dialectics is the doctrine of the universal connection of objects and phenomena of the objective world. If, say, we want to study modern political problems, then we must take into account the economic, spiritual, social, cultural, ethnic, religious and other realities of modern humanity. Only in this case can we get a true picture of the political life of our era. Now, for example, at all levels they talk and write about terrorism as the main danger to humanity. But no one considers this social phenomenon in a complex way, i.e. dialectically. Everyone is limited to either simply condemning terror, or purely publicistic reasoning. Therefore, there is no clear and precise idea of ​​this historical and at the same time modern phenomenon.

Let's take the third element - the principle of development and change. As noted above, this principle was put forward by Heraclitus, but in the most expanded form it was presented by Hegel. “If we,” he wrote, “now take a look at world history in general, we will see a huge picture of changes and deeds, endlessly diverse formations of peoples, states, individuals that continuously appear one after another ... common thought, the category that appears first of all in this continuous change of individuals and peoples, which exist for a while and then disappear, is change in general. A look at the ruins, preserved from the former splendor, encourages a closer look at this change from its negative side. What traveler, at the sight of the ruins of Carthage, Palmyra, Persepolis, Rome, did not indulge in thoughts about the perishability of kingdoms and people and sadness about the past life, full of strength and rich in content? This sadness is not caused by personal losses and the inconsistency of personal goals, but is a disinterested sadness about the death of a brilliant and cultured human life. But the closest definition related to change is that change, which is death, is at the same time the emergence of new life, that death comes from life, and life from death.

Marx created materialistic dialectics, the essence of which he expressed as follows: “My dialectical method is fundamentally not only different from Hegelian, but is its direct opposite. For Hegel, the process of thinking, which he transforms even under the name of an idea into an independent subject, is the demiurge of the real, which constitutes only its external manifestation. With me, on the contrary, the ideal is nothing but the material, transplanted into the human head and transformed in it.

For dialectics, nothing is given once and for all. Everything changes and develops. What today was considered the most necessary, tomorrow, in the new conditions, becomes unnecessary and hinders the development of society in an ascending line. One of the reasons for the dislike of dialectics lies precisely in the fact that it does not leave hope for the eternal domination of the same people. It is no coincidence that Marx emphasized: “In its rational form, dialectics inspires only malice and horror in the bourgeoisie and its doctrinaire ideologists, since at the same time, in a positive understanding of the existing, it includes at the same time an understanding of its negation, its necessary death, it considers each realized form in motion. consequently, also on its transient side, it bows down to nothing and is critical and revolutionary in its very essence.

The core of dialectics is the unity of opposites. Of course, for postmodernists and supporters of synergetics, the main thing is not the contradictory development of society, but consensus. But the term "consensus" is not a philosophical term. This is at best the concept of political science. But even this is not the main thing. And the main thing is that a sober, and not opportunistic view of the social world shows its inconsistency, associated with the opposing interests of people and social classes and states. This also applies to our era. For example, a scientific study of modern globalization processes, which are very complex and contradictory, is possible only with the help of dialectics.

Opponents of dialectics argue that the modern world has changed so much that the old methods of research are already outdated and some new methods and means of cognizing objective reality are required.

Of course, the social world is changing, and therefore it is important that the methods of its study be improved so that new approaches to the study of social processes and phenomena appear. Without this, there is no development of science. But when new methods and new categories are introduced, then it is necessary to reasonably prove the inefficiency of the old methods and categories. Supporters of the synergetic approach to the study of society do not give serious arguments in defense of this approach. So, T.H. Deberdyaeva writes that “by the end of the 20th century. revealed the limitations inherent in the classical paradigm of the linear progressive development of society. Evolutionary changes in the world are characterized by increasing non-linearity, "non-classical" process of social transformation and, as a result, unexpected, unpredictable changes and consequences by ordinary extrapolation or comparison with "classical" samples" 16 .

This thesis is absolutely wrong. No philosopher who holds dialectical positions, cannot defend the so-called linearity of social development. The evidence of a multi-linear, or multi-linear, development of society is so striking that it does not require special evidence. The social world is very complex and it would be absurd to try to squeeze it into some kind of monolinear development. As for cyclicity, dialectics under cyclicity does not mean a cycle, but a spiral development, i.e. (13th and 14th elements) “repetition in the highest stage of known features, properties, etc. of the lower one and supposedly returning to the old ( negation of negation). An absolute return to the old is excluded, but a relative return is a necessary link in the entire chain of development of the objective world.

Synergetics is defined by many as the science of complex systems. Here is what E.N. Knyazev and S.P. Kurdyumov: “Along with the concepts of “self-organization”, “nonlinearity”, “openness” and “chaos”, synergetics focuses on the study of complexity. Synergetics is the knowledge and explanation of the complex, its nature, principles of organization and evolution. But for the first time, the adherents of dialectics pointed out the complex nature of the world. It is no coincidence that they criticized the metaphysical method of research. Engels wrote that "for a metaphysician, things and their mental reflections, concepts, are separate, unchanging, frozen, given objects once and for all, subject to investigation one after the other and one independently of the other." The metaphysician simplifies the world, while the dialectician sees it in all its complexity and inconsistency.

Supporters of synergetics put special emphasis on the principles of system self-organization. The same T.Kh. Deberdyaeva writes: “The main condition for self-organization is the presence of two types of information and energy (from the environment and into the environment). The contradictory unity of the incoming and outgoing flows determines the formation and development of self-regulating integrity, the nature of the channel of evolution. (What postmodern language!!! How can one use such a style of presenting the most complex issues of social philosophy? The meaningless terms “incoming and outgoing flow”, “channel of evolution” sound “revolutionary” in philosophy about society, but carry no theoretical load.)

Society is not just a self-organizing system. It is a historically established form of joint activity of people, which is purposeful and purposeful. In other words, each person consciously sets certain goals for himself and strives to achieve them.

But the joint activity of people is unthinkable without management. Therefore, management is an immanent feature of society. It is ontological, that is, the existence of society is unthinkable without management. And management presupposes the existence of subjects and objects of management. The stability of society is largely determined by the effectiveness of management, competence and responsibility of the subjects of management. Therefore, it is naive to think that in society everything forms by itself, everything organizes itself. The history of mankind testifies that through the fault of the subjects of management, many civilizations perished. Another question is that the development of society is of a natural-historical nature and one cannot voluntaristically interfere in this development.

As for nature, here we can talk about self-organization. Many physicists, for example, write about the self-organization of many processes in the microcosm. But if we take the noosphere, that is, the sphere of the mind, then we can speak about the principle of self-organization of nature only conditionally, especially in the modern era. After all, we are experiencing a deep environmental crisis. As a result of the ruthless exploitation of natural resources and intensive urbanization, nature is no longer able to self-organize and restore itself. In this, people must help her, otherwise the future of mankind may be in jeopardy.

Synergetics reject necessity and reduce everything to randomness and chaos. Thus, the French researcher D. Ruel considers the problems of randomness and chaos in the natural sciences. In general, he believes that chaos and randomness dominate in nature, so nothing can be predicted in advance. But it turns out that chaos and chance prevail in society as well. Of course, determinism has no place in this chaotic world. “It is virtually certain that economics and finance provide examples of chaos and unpredictable behavior (in the technical sense of the word). However, it is difficult to say something else, because in this case we don't have that type carefully controlled systems with which physicists like to experiment. External events, which economists call disturbances in economic equilibrium, cannot be neglected. The author understands that natural and economic processes are not identical and, therefore, cannot be explained in the same way, and yet he is implicitly convinced of the chaotic and random nature of the social world, i.e. society.

Synergetics are somewhat reminiscent of the philosophers of the 18th century, but with the opposite sign. Philosophers, unlike synergetics, rejected chance and reduced everything to necessity. They are an accident, reduced to ignorance of the causes of certain actions. Holbach directly writes that "the word" case "designated actions that we cannot foresee or whose necessary connection with their causes we do not know." He repeats these thoughts all the time: “Necessity is a constant and inviolable connection between causes and their effects. Fire necessarily ignites combustible substances that fall into its sphere of action. Man necessarily desires that which is useful, or seems to be useful, to his well-being. Nature in all her phenomena necessarily acts according to her inherent essence... In us, as in nature, nothing happens by chance, for chance, as we have shown, is a meaningless word. Everything that happens in us or is effected by us, as well as everything that happens in nature or that we ascribe to it, depends on necessary causes that act according to necessary laws and produce necessary effects that give rise to other effects.

Hegel, and then Marx and Engels, showed the inseparable unity of chance and necessity. Chance is a manifestation of necessity. Everything in the world is causally determined. Both chance and necessity are causal.

Society has its own laws that show the direction of historical development. And if society were a chaotic and random conglomeration of completely different events and processes, then it would have ceased to exist long ago. Obviously, over time, contradictions accumulate in society related to the various interests of groups, social classes, strata, castes, etc., and if they are not resolved in time, then a crisis ensues, or, in the language of synergetics, chaos, which ultimately ultimately leads to the death of society. But society is a product of human interaction, and people, as rational beings, resolve the accumulated contradictions, adjust the tasks set for themselves, depending on the specific historical situation that has developed. This is not reasoning in the spirit of Kantian ethics. They are based on the study of the experience of human history.

The object of social philosophy is social life and social processes. However, the term "social" itself is used in the literature in different senses. Therefore, it is necessary to define what is meant by this term when we speak of social philosophy. First of all, we note that, on the one hand, natural, and on the other hand, individual psychological phenomena are excluded from the concept of the social. That is social phenomena are always social phenomena. However, the concept of "social phenomena" includes economic, political, national and many other phenomena of the life of society.

The point of view, according to which social reality includes various aspects of social life, is sufficiently substantiated. In short, the social life of society is the joint existence of people, this is their "coexistence". It includes material and spiritual phenomena and processes, various aspects of public life: economic, political, spiritual, etc. in their multilateral interaction. After all, social action is always the result of the interaction of a number of social factors.

In modern socio-humanitarian knowledge abroad and in our country, two categories are increasingly used to designate the public: “societal” and “social”. The category "societal" refers to the processes of the "first level", i.e. processes related to society as a whole: economic, actually social, political, regulatory, spiritual. The category "social" refers to direct relations of the "second level" - between social communities and within them, i.e. this category most often refers to sociological science.

That's why the main subject of social action and social relations is community group(social community) or society as a whole. A characteristic moment of social life is its organization and structure within a certain social system.

Various kinds of interactions between the elements of a social system form its structure. The elements of this system themselves are diverse. It includes various ways of its functioning, diverse social institutions that ensure the implementation of social relations. And, of course, such elements are the main subjects of social life - social communities and individuals organized into social groups.

Based on the foregoing, the following definition can be given: social philosophy is a system of scientific knowledge about the most general patterns and trends in the interaction, functioning and development of elements of society, an integral process of social life.

It is necessary to highlight the following content subject area of ​​social philosophy:

Sources of development of society;

Driving forces and sources of social development;

Purpose, direction and trends of the historical process;

Forecasting the future.

Social philosophy studies society and social life not only in structural and functional terms, but also in its historical development. Of course, the subject of its consideration is the person himself, taken, however, not “on his own”, not as a separate individual, but as a representative of a social group or community, i.e. in his social network.

Social philosophy studies the laws according to which stable, large groups of people are formed in society, the relations between these groups, their connections and role in society.

Social philosophy explores the entire system of social relations, the interaction of all aspects of social life, the patterns and trends in the development of society. At the same time, she studies the features of the cognition of social phenomena at the socio-philosophical level of generalizations. In other words, social philosophy analyzes the holistic process of changing social life and the development of social systems.

The subject and specifics of social philosophy as a science cannot be disclosed without touching upon the question of its functions. We can highlight the main ones.

Gnoseological function social philosophy is connected with the fact that it explores and explains the most general patterns and trends in the development of the whole society and social processes at the level of large social groups.

Methodological function social philosophy lies in the fact that it acts as a general doctrine of the methods of cognition of social phenomena, the most general approaches to their study. It is at the socio-philosophical level that the general formulation of a particular social problem and the main ways to solve it are born. The socio-philosophical theory, due to the great degree of generality of its provisions, laws and principles, acts at the same time as a methodology for other social sciences.

In the same row there is also such a function as integration and synthesis of social knowledge, the establishment of universal ties of social life. Integrative function social philosophy is manifested in its focus, above all, on the integration and consolidation of human society. It is she who has the prerogative in developing comprehensive concepts designed to unite humanity in order to achieve collective goals.

Here it should also be noted predictive function social philosophy, the formulation within its framework of hypotheses about the general trends in the development of social life and man. In this case, the degree of probability of the forecast, of course, will be the higher, the more social philosophy relies on science.

It should also be noted ideological function social philosophy. Unlike other historical forms of worldview (mythology, religion), social philosophy is associated with a conceptual, abstract-theoretical explanation of the social world.

Critical function of social philosophy - the principle of "questioning everything", preached by many philosophers since antiquity, indicates the importance of a critical approach and the presence of a certain amount of skepticism in relation to existing social knowledge and sociocultural values. This approach plays an anti-dogmatic role in the development of social knowledge. At the same time, it must be emphasized that only constructive criticism based on dialectical negation, and not abstract nihilism, has a positive meaning.

Closely related to critical axiological (value) function of social philosophy. Any socio-philosophical concept contains the moment of evaluating the object under study from the point of view of a variety of social values. This function is especially acute in transitional periods of social development, when the problem of choosing the path of movement arises and the question arises of what should be discarded and what of the old values ​​should be preserved.

social function social philosophy - quite multifaceted in its content and covers various aspects of social life. In the broadest sense, social philosophy is called upon to perform a dual task - to explain social being and contribute to its material and spiritual change. Before you try to change the social world, you need to explain it well.

FROM social function a closely related function that can be called humanitarian. The point is that social philosophy should play an adaptive and life-affirming role not only for every nation, but also for every person, contribute to the formation of humanistic values ​​and ideals, affirmation of the positive meaning and purpose of life. It is thus intended to perform the function intellectual therapy, which is especially important during periods of unstable state of society, when old idols and ideals are collapsing, and new ones have not had time to form or gain authority; when human existence is in a "boundary situation", on the verge of existence and non-existence, and everyone must make their own difficult choice, which sometimes leads to a tragic denouement..

It should be noted that all the functions of social philosophy are dialectically interconnected. Each of them presupposes the others and in one way or another includes them in its content. It is impossible to break, for example, ideological and methodological, methodological and epistemological, social and humanitarian and other functions. And only through their integral unity is the specificity and essence of socio-philosophical knowledge manifested.

social philosophy ideological prognostic

First of all, let us point out the main meanings of the concept "social". In modern philosophical and sociological literature, this concept is used in the narrow and broad senses.

In a narrow sense, "social" means the existence of a special area of ​​social phenomena that make up the content of the so-called social sphere of society, in which its own range of problems is solved that affects the relevant interests of people. These problems relate to the social position of people, their place in the system of social division of labor, the conditions of their work, movement from one social group to another, their standard of living, education, health care, social security, etc. All these problems within the social sphere are solved on the basis of the specific social relations that are taking shape here, also understood in a narrow sense. Their specific content is determined by the content of these problems, about which they arise. In this they differ, say, from economic, political, moral, legal and other social relations.

In a broad sense, the concept of "social" is used in the sense of "public" as a synonym for this concept, coinciding with it in scope and content. In this case, the concept of "social" ("public") means everything that happens in society, in contrast to what happens in nature. In other words, it denotes the specificity of the social in relation to the natural, natural, biological. In a broad sense, the concept of "social" is also used as the opposite of the individual. In this case, it means that which refers to social groups or to the whole society, in contrast to what concerns the individual qualities of an individual.

The social function of philosophy is quite multifaceted in its content and covers various aspects of social life: philosophy is called upon to perform a dual task - to explain social existence and contribute to its material and spiritual change. At the same time, it should be remembered that social changes, experiments and reforms are of particular value and importance in public life. Therefore, before trying to change the social world, you must first explain it well. It is philosophy that has the prerogative in developing comprehensive concepts of the integration and consolidation of human society. Its task is to help to understand and formulate collective goals and direct efforts to organize collective actions to achieve them. However, the degree of vitality philosophical concept determined by the extent to which each individual can understand and accept it. Therefore, despite its comprehensive nature, philosophy must be addressed to every person.

Social philosophy recreates a holistic picture of the development of society. In this regard, it solves many "general questions" concerning the nature and essence of a particular society, the interaction of its main spheres and social institutions, the driving forces of the historical process, and so on. These questions are constantly faced in the study of their problems by various social sciences: history, political economy, sociology, political science, social Psychology, law, ethics, etc.

Appeal to the provisions of social philosophy helps representatives of these sciences to find solutions to their specific problems. This means that social philosophy plays the role of the methodology of the social sciences, in a certain way directs their studies of the relevant aspects of social life, and forms approaches and principles for their study. This is possible because it helps representatives of the social sciences to comprehend the place in society of the phenomena they study, their connections with other social phenomena, the combination of regularities and accidents in their development, and so on.

The effectiveness of this assistance depends primarily on the content of social philosophy, the degree of its penetration into the essence of a particular society, the processes taking place in it. It is the depth and breadth of her judgments and conceptual propositions, the heuristic nature of many of them, i.e. their inherent ability to comprehend the secrets of social phenomena and their complex interactions determine the theoretical and methodological significance of social philosophy. This significance of it is revealed when its provisions are used in solving the relevant problems of science and practice.

The task of social philosophy is not at all to reflect in detail all the phenomena and processes of social life. The life of society is extremely rich in various events. It is very complex with diverse connections between social phenomena that are dynamic and contradictory. No science is able to express all the richness and complexity of social life. Nor does social philosophy set itself such a goal. However, by recreating one or another ideal model of the development of society and its individual aspects, social philosophy helps to understand the essence of various social phenomena, their place and role in society, reveals the most significant direct and feedback links between these phenomena as elements of the social system. Ultimately, it reproduces a holistic picture of the existence of society, reveals the main mechanisms of interaction between its parties, the trends and patterns of its development.

This expresses the main content of the concepts of many traditional and modern trends and schools of social philosophy. It is desirable, of course, that the content of the concepts of social philosophy reflect real social processes as deeply as possible, which would contribute to their deeper understanding. This is important not only for science, but also for practice, more precisely, for the scientific substantiation of the practical activities of people.

The need for this is constantly reminded of itself. It is important that the development of society should not proceed by itself, but be more purposeful and carried out in the interests of all people. And for this it is necessary, in particular, that their activity be as less spontaneous as possible and as conscious as possible, meaningful by them at the level of understanding the problems of the whole society. This is especially important for the activities of state bodies, which are called upon to purposefully organize practical solutions to social problems and thereby find optimal ways for the development of society. All over the world, people strive to solve the problems of their social life more meaningfully, taking into account not only momentary, but also long-term interests, on which the solution of their personal problems also depends. It is important that they are clearly aware of both the immediate and long-term consequences of their activities and could change it in their own interests.

Appropriate ideological and methodological provisions of social philosophy can help with this. Revealing the social significance of various forms of activity and their role for the self-affirmation of a person in society, showing the nature of society itself, the dynamics and direction of its development, social philosophy helps people to realize the immediate and long-term consequences of their actions for themselves and other people, social groups and perhaps for the whole society. This is one of the manifestations of the prognostic function of social philosophy, which often helps to foresee trends in the development of social processes and consciously predict them.

So, we can talk about the ideological, theoretical, methodological and prognostic functions of social philosophy. Its ideological function lies in the fact that it forms a person’s general view of the social world, the existence and development of society, in a certain way solves questions about the relationship between people’s being, the material conditions of their life and their consciousness, about the place and purpose of a person in society, goals and the meaning of his life, etc. All these problems are posed and solved within the framework of various schools of materialistic, idealistic and religious philosophy.

The theoretical function of social philosophy is that it allows you to penetrate into the depths of social processes and judge them at the level of theory, i.e. systems of views about their essence, content and direction of development. At this theoretical level, we can talk about trends and regularities in the development of social phenomena and society as a whole.

Connected with all this is the methodological function of social philosophy, which consists in the application of its provisions in the study of individual phenomena and processes of social life studied by various social sciences. In this case, the provisions of social philosophy play the role of methodology in research carried out in the field of historical, sociological, legal, economic, psychological and other sciences.

Finally, the prognostic function of social philosophy lies in the fact that its provisions contribute to foreseeing the development trends of society, its individual aspects, the possible immediate and long-term consequences of human activity, the content of which, in fact, determines the content of social development. On the basis of such foresight, it becomes possible to build forecasts for the development of certain social phenomena and the whole society.

These functions of social philosophy are manifested in the development of the consciousness of each person, if he masters the philosophical worldview, the theory and methodology of philosophical thinking. In this case, he acquires the ability to think systematically, dialectically, to consider social phenomena in their interaction, change and development. As a result, a certain methodological discipline of thinking is formed, making it strictly logical and clear, which is an indicator of the culture of thinking.

All this does not exclude, but rather implies the development of a person's ability to think creatively, non-standard, overcoming various stereotypes, one-sidedness and dogmatism, to think in close connection with life, reproducing all its complexity and inconsistency. Logical creative thinking becomes an effective means of understanding social phenomena and solving practical problems of the life of people and the whole society.

At present, in the analysis of the phenomena of social life, so-called concrete sociological studies are used. They are resorted to in the study of economic, social, political and other phenomena and processes. In other words, their application can be universal, as is the application of the provisions of social philosophy. At the same time, there are significant differences between them. The main one is that social philosophy is able to comprehend the processes taking place in society more deeply, more clearly understand the internal logic of their development and the diverse forms of their manifestation, than the data of specific sociological studies, taken by themselves, allow, which most often contain information only about external side of social phenomena and processes. In addition, the results of specific sociological studies themselves, which receive a systematic justification within the framework of social philosophy, can be more deeply interpreted.

At the same time, if social philosophy really adheres to scientific foundations in the analysis and explanation of the processes taking place in society, it proceeds from the corresponding principles. These include:

approach to society as an integral social system, all elements of which are interconnected and interdependent; at the same time, special importance is attached to cause-and-effect and regular relationships, the analysis of which is the main content of social determinism as a theoretical and methodological principle for studying social phenomena, orienting on a comprehensive account of the cause-and-effect and regular relationships and relationships existing between them;

consideration of all social phenomena and processes in their constant dynamics, i.e. in motion, change and development; this is the principle of historicism, requiring the analysis of any social phenomena in a historically developing social context, i.e. in the system of their developing and changing relations with other social phenomena, together with which and under the influence of which these phenomena develop. This means that when analyzing social phenomena, one cannot artificially tear them out of their historical context, i.e. the system of circumstances in which their development took place or is taking place, so as not to get superficial, and even false conclusions about their essence and social significance;

finding and analysis of those social contradictions that determine the essence and source of development of these social phenomena and processes:

consideration of the latter in their historical continuity, taking into account what is really outdated and now plays a conservative, and even openly reactionary role, and what continues to live, retains its significance and enables society to develop along the path of civilization and progress;

These are, in brief, the provisions of social philosophy that characterize its subject matter, functions and principles of the study of social phenomena, as well as its theoretical and methodological significance for other social sciences that study various aspects of society, for analyzing the practical activities of people and their social relations.