The structure of the spiritual life of society is philosophy. Abstract: The spiritual life of society

The spiritual life of society is a sphere of social life associated with the production of spiritual values ​​and the satisfaction of spiritual needs. The spiritual life of society is a dynamically functioning system of ideological relations and processes, views, feelings, ideas, theories, opinions that arise in society, as well as the features of their functioning, distribution, maintenance. Consider the content of the spiritual life of society, that is, find out what basic elements are included in it.

Spiritual activity (activity in the sphere of spiritual production) includes spiritual and theoretical activity (the development of knowledge, opinions, ideas) and spiritual and practical activity, which is an activity to introduce the created spiritual formations into people's consciousness (education, upbringing, development of a worldview). It also includes such an element as spiritual production, which is carried out by special groups of people and is based on mental, intellectual labor.

spiritual needs. A need is a state of the subject in which he lacks something necessary for life. Examples of spiritual needs: education, knowledge, creativity, perception of works of art, etc.

spiritual consumption. It is a process of satisfying spiritual needs. For this, special social institutions are being created - educational establishments various levels, museums, libraries, theaters, philharmonics, exhibitions, etc.

Spiritual communication. It acts as a form of exchange of ideas, knowledge, feelings, emotions. It is carried out with the help of linguistic and non-linguistic sign systems, technical means, print, radio, television, etc.

Spiritual relationships. They represent the relationship between subjects in the sphere of spiritual life (moral, aesthetic, religious, political, legal relations).

The structure of the spiritual life of society can also be considered from other positions.

Spiritual life performs various functions, and on this basis, three of its areas can be distinguished: social psychology, ideology and science.

People's spiritual needs are complex and diverse, which have been formed and are being formed in the course of practical life. To satisfy them, forms of spiritual life arise in society: morality, art, religion, philosophy, politics, law. Consider the specifics and functions of the spheres and forms of the spiritual life of society.

Spheres of spiritual life

1. Public psychology- this is a set of views, feelings, experiences, moods, habits, customs, traditions that arise in a large group of people based on the common socio-economic conditions of their lives. Social psychology is formed spontaneously, under the direct influence of social conditions, real life experience, education, and training.

As a sphere of spiritual life, social psychology performs some functions that are manifested, in particular, in solving practical problems. Everyday life. Generally, there are three main functions.

regulatory function. It is expressed in the regulation of relations between people. It manifests itself in the fact that social psychology ensures the adaptation of people to existing social relations and regulates relations through habits, public opinion, customs, and traditions.

informative function. It manifests itself in the fact that social psychology absorbs the experience of previous generations and passes it on to new generations. Of particular importance here are the customs, traditions that are preserved and transmitted publicly. meaningful information. This function played an important role in the early stages of the development of society, when there was no written language, much less other media.

Emotional-volitional function. It manifests itself in stimulating people to action. This is a special function: if the first two functions can be performed by other means, then this function is performed only by social psychology. A person must not only know what to do, but also want to do it, for which his will must awaken. In this case, we can talk about the emotional-volitional states of mass consciousness. The essence of all socio-psychological phenomena lies in the fact that they represent a collectively conditioned emotional attitude towards social and group tasks.

Among all the phenomena of social psychology, one can distinguish more stable and more mobile. The most stable elements of social psychology include: habits, customs, traditions. The most mobile should include various motive forces for the activity of the masses, such as: interests, moods. They can be extremely fleeting, for example, the reaction of the audience to a comedy or panic.

A special place in the structure of social psychology is occupied by fashion, which can be described as a dynamic form of standardized mass behavior that arises under the influence of tastes, moods, and hobbies that dominate in society. Fashion is at the same time one of the most stable phenomena of social psychology (it always exists) and the most mobile (it is constantly changing).

2. Ideology is the next sphere of the spiritual life of society. This term was first introduced into scientific circulation in early XIX V. French philosopher D. de Tracy (1734-1836) to designate the science of ideas, designed to study their origin from sensory experience.

Today, ideology is understood, first of all, as a system of ideas, views that express the interests, ideals, worldview of a society, social group or class. Interest as a conscious need can be considered as the real reason for social actions, behind the immediate motives, ideas of the subjects participating in certain actions.

The ideology of society, in contrast to social psychology, which develops mainly spontaneously, is developed by the most prepared representatives of the social group, class - ideologists. Since ideology is a theoretical expression of the interests of social groups, classes, nations, states, it reflects reality from certain social positions.

As a sphere of spiritual life, ideology performs the following main functions:

Expresses the interests of society, social groups and serves as a guide to action for their implementation; ideology can be religious or secular, conservative or liberal, it can contain true and false ideas, be humane or inhumane;

Protects the political system that meets the interests of this class, social group;

Carries out the transfer of experience gained in the process of the previous development of ideology;

It has the ability to influence people by processing their consciousness, to resist or fight against ideas that express the interests of the opposite class, social group.

The criterion of the value of an ideology is its ability to provide the spiritual prerequisites for the political, managerial influence of a particular class, social movement, party in achieving its interests.

3. Science is the sphere of the spiritual life of society, its content is considered in the section of this manual "Philosophy of Science".

5. Spiritual life of society

An important aspect of the functioning and development of society is its spiritual life. It can be filled with rich content, which creates a favorable spiritual atmosphere in people's lives, a good moral and psychological climate. In other cases, the spiritual life of a society can be poor and inexpressive, and sometimes real lack of spirituality reigns in it. The content of the spiritual life of society reveals its true human essence. After all, the spiritual (or spirituality) is inherent only in man, distinguishes and elevates him above the rest of the world.

The main elements of the spiritual life of society. The spiritual life of society is very complex. It is not limited to various manifestations of people's consciousness, their thoughts and feelings, although with good reason it can be said that their consciousness is the core, the core of their personal spiritual life and the spiritual life of society.

The main elements of the spiritual life of society include the spiritual needs of people aimed at the creation and consumption of the corresponding spiritual values, as well as the spiritual values ​​themselves, as well as spiritual activities for their creation and, in general, spiritual production. The elements of spiritual life should also include spiritual consumption as the consumption of spiritual values ​​and spiritual relations between people, as well as manifestations of their interpersonal spiritual communication.

The basis of the spiritual life of society is spiritual activity. It can be considered as an activity of consciousness, during which certain thoughts and feelings of people, their images and ideas about natural and social phenomena arise. The result of this activity are certain views of people on the world, scientific ideas and theories, moral, aesthetic and religious views. They are embodied in moral principles and norms of behavior, works of folk and professional art, religious rites, rituals, etc.

All this takes the form and meaning of the corresponding spiritual values, which can be one or another views of people, scientific ideas, hypotheses and theories, works of art, moral and religious consciousness and, finally, the very spiritual communication of people and the resulting moral and psychological climate, say, in the family, production and other collectives, in interethnic communication and in society as a whole.

A special kind of spiritual activity is the dissemination of spiritual values ​​in order to assimilate them to as many people as possible. This is crucial to improve their literacy and spiritual culture. An important role in this is played by activities associated with the functioning of many institutions of science and culture, with education and upbringing, whether it is carried out in a family, school, institute or in a production team, etc. The result of such activities is the formation of the spiritual world of many people, which means enriching the spiritual life of society.

The main motivating forces of spiritual activity are spiritual needs. The latter appear as the inner impulses of a person to spiritual creativity, to the creation of spiritual values ​​and to their consumption, to spiritual communication. Spiritual needs are objective in content. They are conditioned by the totality of the circumstances of people's lives and express the objective necessity of their spiritual assimilation of the natural and social world around them. At the same time, spiritual needs are subjective in form, because they appear as manifestations of the inner world of people, their social and individual consciousness and self-consciousness.

Of course, spiritual needs have one or another social orientation. The latter is determined by the nature of existing social relations, including moral, aesthetic, religious and others, the level of spiritual culture of people, their social ideals, their understanding of the meaning own life. Multiplied by the will of people, spiritual needs act as powerful motivating forces of their social activity in all spheres of society.

An essential aspect of the spiritual life of society is spiritual consumption. We are talking about the consumption of spiritual goods, that is, those spiritual values ​​that were mentioned above. Their consumption is aimed at satisfying the spiritual needs of people. Items of spiritual consumption, whether they are works of art, moral, religious values, etc., form the corresponding needs. Thus, the wealth of objects and phenomena of the spiritual culture of society acts as an important prerequisite for the formation of a variety of spiritual needs of a person.

Spiritual consumption can be spontaneous to some extent, when it is not directed by anyone and a person chooses certain spiritual values ​​according to his own taste. He joins them independently, although this happens under the influence of the whole way of life of a given society. In other cases, spiritual consumption may be forced on people by advertising, mass culture etc. There is a manipulation of their consciousness. This leads to a kind of averaging and standardization of the needs and tastes of many people.

Rejecting any manipulation of personal and group consciousness, it is necessary to recognize as expedient and in principle progressive the conscious formation of needs for genuine spiritual values ​​- cognitive, artistic, moral and others. In this case, the consumption of spiritual values ​​will act as a purposeful creation and enrichment of the spiritual world of people.

There is a task of raising the level of culture of spiritual consumption. IN this case the consumer needs to be brought up by familiarizing with the real spiritual culture. To do this, it is necessary to develop and enrich the spiritual culture of society, make it accessible and interesting for every person.

The production and consumption of spiritual values ​​is mediated by spiritual relations. They really exist as a person's relationship directly to certain spiritual values ​​(whether he approves or rejects them), as well as his relationship to other people about these values ​​- their production, distribution, consumption, protection.

Any spiritual activity is mediated by spiritual relationships. Based on this, it is possible to single out such types of spiritual relations as cognitive, moral, aesthetic, religious, as well as spiritual relations that arise between a teacher and a student, an educator and those whom he educates.

Spiritual relations are, first of all, the relations of the intellect and feelings of a person to certain spiritual values ​​and, ultimately, to all reality. They permeate the spiritual life of society from beginning to end.

The spiritual relations established in society are manifested in everyday interpersonal communication of people, including family, industrial, international, etc. They create, as it were, an intellectual and emotional-psychological background for interpersonal communication and largely determine its content.

Public and individual consciousness. As already mentioned, the central moment of the spiritual life of society (its core) is the public consciousness of people. So, for example, a spiritual need is nothing more than a certain state of consciousness and manifests itself as a conscious motivation of a person to spiritual creativity, to the creation and consumption of spiritual values. The latter are the embodiment of the mind and feelings of people. Spiritual production is the production of certain views, ideas, theories, moral norms and spiritual values. All these spiritual formations act as objects of spiritual consumption. Spiritual relations between people are relations about spiritual values ​​in which their consciousness is embodied.

Public consciousness is a set of feelings, moods, artistic and religious images, various views, ideas and theories that reflect certain aspects of social life. It must be said that the reflection of social life in the public consciousness is not some kind of mechanical mirror image, just as a natural landscape located along its banks is reflected in the mirror surface of a river. In this case, in one natural phenomenon, the features of another were purely outwardly reflected. The public consciousness reflects not only external, but also inner sides life of society, their essence and content.

Public consciousness has a social nature. It arises from the social practice of people as a result of their production, family, household and other activities. It is in the course of joint practical activity that people comprehend the world around them in order to use it in their own interests. Various social phenomena and their reflection in images and concepts, ideas and theories are two sides of the practical activity of people.

Being a reflection of the phenomena of social life, various kinds of images, views, theories are aimed at a deeper knowledge of these phenomena by people for their practical purposes, including for the purpose of their direct consumption or their other use, say, for the purpose of aesthetic enjoyment of them, etc. e. In the final analysis, the content of social practice, of all social reality, comprehended by people, becomes the content of their social consciousness.

Thus, public consciousness can be interpreted as the result of a joint understanding of social reality by practically interacting people. This is the social nature of social consciousness and its main feature.

One can, perhaps, agree to some extent with the proposition that, strictly speaking, it is not man who thinks, but mankind.

An individual person thinks insofar as he is included in the thought process of a given society and humanity, i.e.:

Involved in the process of communicating with other people and mastering speech;

Involved in various types human activity and comprehends their content and meaning;

Assimilates the objects of material and spiritual culture of past and present generations and uses them in accordance with their social purpose.

By assimilating to some extent the spiritual wealth of his people and humanity, mastering the language, engaging in various activities and social relations, an individual acquires the skills and forms of thinking, becomes a thinking social subject.

Is it right to talk about the individual consciousness of a person, if his consciousness is directly or indirectly conditioned by the society and culture of all mankind? Yes, it's legal. After all, there is no doubt that the same conditions of social life are perceived by individual people in something more or less the same, and in something differently. Because of this, they have both general and individual views on certain social phenomena, sometimes significant differences in their understanding.

The individual consciousness of individual people is, first of all, the individual features of their perception of various phenomena of social life. Ultimately, these are the individual characteristics of their views, interests and value orientations. All this gives rise to certain features in their actions and behavior.

In the individual consciousness of a person, the features of his life and activity in society, his personal life experience, as well as the features of his character, temperament, the level of his spiritual culture and other objective and subjective circumstances of his social existence are manifested. All this creates a unique spiritual world individual people, the manifestation of which is their individual consciousness.

And yet, paying tribute to individual consciousness and creating opportunities for its development, it should be borne in mind that it does not function autonomously from social consciousness, is not completely independent of it. It is necessary to see its interaction with public consciousness. It is true that the individual consciousness of many people significantly enriches the public consciousness with vivid images, experiences and ideas, contributes to the development of science, art, etc. At the same time, the individual consciousness of any person is formed and develops on the basis of social consciousness.

In the minds of individuals, most often there are ideas, views and prejudices that they have learned, albeit in a special individual refraction, while living in society. And the person is the richer in spiritual terms, the more he learned from the spiritual culture of his people and all of humanity.

Both public and individual consciousness, being a reflection of the social existence of people, do not blindly copy it, but have relative independence, sometimes quite significant.

First of all, social consciousness does not just follow social being, but comprehends it, reveals the essence of social processes. Therefore, it often lags behind their development. After all, a deeper understanding of them is possible only when they have taken mature forms and manifested themselves to the greatest extent. At the same time, social consciousness can be ahead of social being. Based on the analysis of certain social phenomena, one can discover the most important trends in their development and thereby foresee the course of events.

The relative independence of social consciousness is also manifested in the fact that in its development it relies on the achievements of human thought, science, art, etc., and proceeds from these achievements. This is called continuity in the development of social consciousness, thanks to which the spiritual heritage of generations accumulated in various areas of public life is preserved and further developed. All this shows that social consciousness not only reflects the social life of people, but has its own internal logic of development, its own principles and its own traditions. This is clearly seen in the development of science, art, morality, religion, and philosophy.

Finally, the relative independence of social consciousness is manifested in its active influence on social life. Various ideas, theoretical concepts, political doctrines, moral principles, trends in the field of art and religion can play a progressive or, on the contrary, reactionary role in the development of society. This is determined by whether they contribute to its spiritual enrichment, strengthening and development, or whether they lead to the destruction and degradation of the individual and society.

It is important to take into account the extent to which certain views, scientific theories, moral principles, works of art and other manifestations of public consciousness correspond to the true interests of the peoples of this or that country and the interests of its future. Progressive ideas in all areas of social life are a powerful factor in development, because they contribute to a deep understanding of the present and foresight of the future, inspire confidence in people's actions, improve their social well-being, and inspire new creative actions. They form the very spirituality without which society and individuals cannot live and act normally. Everything suggests that the role of social consciousness in life modern society is very significant and is constantly increasing.

Structure of public consciousness. Public consciousness is a rather complex phenomenon. It is possible to distinguish various aspects in it, each of which is a relatively independent spiritual education and at the same time connected with its other sides both directly, directly and indirectly. Ultimately, public consciousness appears as a kind of structural integrity, the individual elements (sides) of which are interconnected.

Modern social philosophy distinguishes in the structure of public consciousness such aspects (elements) as:

Ordinary and theoretical consciousness;

Social psychology and ideology;

Forms of social consciousness. Let's give a brief description of them.

Ordinary and theoretical consciousness. These are, in fact, two levels of social consciousness - the lowest and the highest. They differ in the depth of understanding of social phenomena and processes, the level of their understanding.

Ordinary consciousness is inherent in all people. It is formed in the process of their everyday practical activity on the basis of their empirical experience or, as they say, everyday everyday practice. This is largely a spontaneous (spontaneous, i.e., spontaneous) reflection by people of the entire, so to speak, flow of social life without any systematization of social phenomena and the discovery of their deep essence.

When people are deprived scientific understanding some phenomena of social life, they talk about these phenomena at the level of their everyday consciousness. There are a lot of such cases in the life of every person and groups of people, because far from everything we think scientifically.

The lower the level of education of people, the more they talk about the phenomena of social life at the level of everyday consciousness. But even the most literate person does not think scientifically about everything. So the area of ​​functioning of ordinary consciousness is very wide. It allows with sufficient reliability, at the level of "common sense" to judge many phenomena and events in public life and to accept at this level in general right decisions supported by life experience. This determines the role and significance of everyday consciousness in people's lives and in the development of society.

Based on everyday life experience, everyday consciousness contains a great many useful information that is absolutely necessary for orienting people in the world around them, for their production and other activities. This information relates to the properties of the natural world, work, family and life of people, their economic relations, moral standards, art, etc. Folk art is still almost entirely based on people's everyday ideas about beauty. At the same time, one cannot fail to say that everyday consciousness is full of illusions, very abstract, approximate, or even simply erroneous judgments and prejudices.

In contrast to it, theoretical consciousness is the comprehension of the phenomena of social life by discovering their essence and the objective laws of their development. This applies to the economic, social, political and spiritual spheres of society. Because of this, it appears as a higher level of social consciousness compared to the ordinary.

Theoretical consciousness acts as a system of logically interconnected provisions, therefore, as a certain scientific concept concerning this or that phenomenon of social life. Not all people act as subjects of theoretical consciousness, but only scientists, specialists, theorists in various fields of knowledge, people who can scientifically judge the relevant phenomena of the development of society. It often happens that one or another person makes scientific judgments about a relatively limited range of social phenomena. He thinks about the rest at the level of ordinary consciousness - “common sense”, or even just at the level of illusions and myths.

Ordinary and theoretical consciousness interact with each other, the result of which is the development of both. In particular, the content of everyday consciousness is enriched, which includes more and more scientific information and judgments about various phenomena of social life. In this regard, the modern everyday consciousness of people differs significantly from that which was, say, one or two centuries ago.

Both levels of social consciousness - everyday and theoretical - play their role in the life and work of people and in the development of society.

Public psychology and ideology. The peculiar structural elements of social consciousness are social psychology and ideology. They express not only the level of understanding of the existing social reality, but also the attitude towards it on the part of various social groups and national-ethnic communities. This attitude is expressed primarily in the needs of people, i.e., in their internal urges to master reality, to establish certain conditions of social life and eliminate others, to produce certain material and spiritual values ​​and consume them.

The attitude to the phenomena of social life contained in social psychology finds its expression not only in the needs and interests of people, but also in their various feelings, moods, customs, mores, traditions, manifestations of fashion, as well as in their aspirations, goals and ideals. We are talking about a certain mood of feelings and minds, which combines a certain understanding of the processes taking place in society and the spiritual attitude of the subjects towards them.

Social psychology acts as a unity of the emotional and intellectual attitudes of people to the conditions of their life, to their social existence. It can be characterized as a manifestation of the mental makeup of social groups and national communities. Such, for example, is social-class and national psychology. The latter can be embodied in the national character of the people. The mental make-up of classes and other social groups also finds expression in their social class character, which largely determines their activity and behavior. Ultimately, social psychology manifests itself "in the form of beliefs, beliefs, social attitudes towards the perception of reality and attitudes towards it."

Social psychology, like everyday consciousness, is a manifestation of the consciousness of large masses of people, including classes, nations and entire peoples. In this sense, it acts as a mass consciousness, it has all its properties.

Some basic functions of social or social psychology can be pointed out. One of them we will call value-oriented.

It lies in the fact that the prevailing social psychology of classes, nations, peoples forms value orientations people, as well as the attitudes of their behavior, based on the assessment by social groups of certain phenomena of social life.

Another function of public (social) psychology can be characterized as motivational-incentive, since it encourages the masses of people, individual social groups to act in a certain direction, i.e., generates the appropriate motivation for their activities. In this sense, to influence social psychology means to promote the emergence of certain motives for the activity and behavior of people, their volitional efforts aimed at realizing their social interests. Many of these motives arise spontaneously in the process of constant impact on the minds of people by the objective conditions of their lives.

Everything speaks for the fact that in the course of implementing state policy, whether it concerns the whole of society or some of its spheres, it is necessary to take into account the social psychology of various social groups and strata of the population. After all, the socio-psychological motives of their actions are a very significant factor contributing to or, on the contrary, hindering the implementation of this policy.

Ideology plays an important role in the mechanism of motivation of people's social activity. It, as in social psychology, expresses the objective needs and interests of various social groups, primarily classes, as well as national communities. However, in ideology these needs and interests are realized at a higher, theoretical level.

The ideology itself acts as a system of views and attitudes, theoretically reflecting the socio-political system of society, its social structure, the needs and interests of various social forces. It can clearly express the attitude of certain classes, political parties and movements to the existing political system of society, state system individual political institutions.

The fact that ideology appears in the form of theoretical concepts indicates that it should scientifically illuminate the process community development, discover the essence of political, legal and other phenomena and the patterns of their development. However, this does not always happen.

To a greater extent, the ideology of those social subjects is filled with scientific content, whose interests correspond to the main trends in the development of society and coincide with the interests of social progress. In this case, their interests coincide with the true interests of the majority of members of society. Therefore, they do not need to hide their interests, at the same time there is a need to understand the patterns of development of society, the interaction of objective and subjective conditions for its functioning. Hence the interest in the scientific analysis of social phenomena, in comprehending the truth. So if driving force ideology is social interest, then its cognitive reference point, in this case, is the truth.

Not every ideology is scientific. In a number of cases, their real interests are hidden in the ideology of certain classes, since they diverge from the interests of the progressive development of society. An ideology is being created, the purpose of which is to draw a deliberately false picture of the processes taking place in society, the alignment of social class forces, to distort the goals of their activities, etc. In other words, a conscious mystification of reality occurs, social myths appear one after another, and then there are many such in order to obscure the consciousness of the masses and, under these conditions, to realize the interests of those forces that this ideology serves.

Ideology has a social-class nature. This, however, does not mean that it always expresses only the narrow system of views of a certain class. First, in the ideology of one class or another, there may be provisions shared by representatives of other classes and strata of society. Because of this, it becomes to some extent their common ideology. Thus, its social base is expanding. Secondly, ideology expresses not only social-class, but also national, as well as universal human interests, for example, the interests of maintaining universal peace, protecting the natural environment on our planet, etc.

Nevertheless, those of its provisions are the core of the ideology; which express the interests of one class or another, consistent with or at odds with the interests of other classes. An ideology can be scientific or non-scientific, progressive or reactionary, radical or conservative. Everything depends on its social class content, forms and methods of its implementation.

Unlike social psychology, which is formed more spontaneously than consciously, ideology is created by ideologists quite consciously. Some theoreticians, thinkers, politicians act as ideologists. Then, through appropriate mechanisms (various systems of education and upbringing, means mass media etc.) ideology is being introduced into the minds of large masses of people. Thus, the process of creating an ideology and its dissemination in society is conscious and purposeful from beginning to end.

It can be considered normal if the ideology that meets the interests of the majority of society is more widespread. It happens, however, that an ideology is imposed on the masses, even if it is alien to their true interests. Many individuals and groups of people can fall into error and be guided by an ideology that is objectively alien to them. Thus, they move to the positions of other forces, often to the detriment of their own interests.

The strength of the influence of an ideology is determined by the position in society of those classes and social groups whose interests it expresses, as well as the depth of its development, the forms and methods of its influence on the masses. Its influence is often deeper and more enduring than social psychology. By expressing not only the current, but also the fundamental interests of classes and broader masses of people, ideology is capable of exerting a long-term influence on the nature of their social activity.

Of course, ideology is formed under the influence of all objective and subjective conditions for the development of society, including social psychology. At the same time, it has a significant impact on social psychology.

Under the influence of ideology, the emotional mood of certain social groups and their state of mind can significantly change, in a word, the whole system of socio-psychological motives for their actions. Ideological attitudes can fit into the socio-psychological motivations for the actions of social groups and give them a certain direction. As a rule, ideological attitudes induce people to serious social transformations. Individual exceptions to this only confirm the general rule.

Forms of social consciousness, criteria for their differentiation. In modern social philosophy allocate such forms of social consciousness as political, legal, moral, aesthetic, religious, scientific and philosophical consciousness. Each of them reflects the corresponding aspects of social life and, as it were, reproduces them spiritually. At the same time, the relative independence of all forms of social consciousness is preserved, which in one way or another influence the political, economic and other processes taking place in society.

What are the criteria for singling out and distinguishing among themselves the forms of social consciousness?

First of all, they differ in the object of reflection. Each of them mainly reflects one or another aspect of social life. This is the basis for their distinction. Thus, in the political consciousness more fully than in any other, the political life of society is reflected, the main aspects of which are political activity people and the resulting political relations between them. The legal consciousness reflects various aspects of the legal life of society associated with the development and practical application of certain legal norms and legislative acts. moral consciousness reflects the moral relations existing in society. And aesthetic consciousness, one of the manifestations of which is art, reflects the aesthetic attitude of people to the world around them. Of course, each of the forms of social consciousness reflects, directly or indirectly, other aspects of the life of society, because they are all closely interconnected. However, she reflects “her own” object and spiritually masters it more fully than others.

The forms of social consciousness differ and, therefore, are differentiated among themselves also in the forms and ways of reflecting the corresponding aspects of social reality. Science, for example, reflects the world in the form of concepts, hypotheses, theories, various kinds of teachings. At the same time, she resorts to such methods of cognition as experience, modeling, thought experiment, etc. Art, as a manifestation of aesthetic consciousness, reflects the world in the form of artistic images. Various genres of art - painting, theater, etc. - use their own specific means and methods of aesthetic exploration of the world. Moral consciousness reflects the moral relations existing in society in the form of moral experiences and views, which are expressed in moral norms and principles of behavior, as well as in customs, traditions, etc. Social life is reflected in its own way in political and religious views.

Finally, the forms of social consciousness differ in their role and significance in the life of society. This is determined by the functions that each of them performs. We are talking about the cognitive, aesthetic, educational and ideological functions of various forms of social consciousness, as well as the functions of moral, political and legal regulation of people's behavior and their social relations. It should be said about such a function as saving spiritual heritage society in science, art, morality, political, legal, religious and philosophical consciousness, as well as the predictive function of science, philosophy and other forms of social consciousness, their ability to foresee the future and predict the development of society in the near and distant future. Each form of social consciousness is characterized by a certain set of the above functions. In the implementation of these functions, its role and significance in the life of society is manifested.

All forms of social consciousness - political, legal, moral, aesthetic, religious and others - are interconnected and interact with each other, because those aspects of the life of society that are directly reflected in them interact with each other. Thus, public consciousness acts as a kind of integrity that reproduces the integrity of social life itself, which consists in the inseparable connection of all its aspects.

Within the framework of this structural integrity of social consciousness, the ordinary and theoretical consciousness of people, their social psychology and ideology, as well as the above forms of social consciousness interact with each other.

Depending on the nature of the existing social relations at one time or another and the tasks being solved in society, one or another form of social consciousness may come to the fore - political, legal, moral, scientific or religious.

At present, in Russia, in connection with the reform of the political system, the role of political consciousness has increased not only among state and other political figures, but also among the broad masses of the people. The role of legal consciousness has also increased in connection with the active process of lawmaking in the transition to new social relations and the general desire of the people to build constitutional state. Religious consciousness is noticeably spreading among the masses of people, its peacekeeping role and importance in achieving the spiritual unity of the people is growing. Objectively, the importance of moral and aesthetic consciousness, the corresponding moral and aesthetic values, designed to enrich the spirituality of the people and humanize relations between people, is increasing. It is important that these pressing objective requirements be met.

The complication of the processes of social development and the increase in their dynamism, the transition to new forms of life require an increase in the creative activity of people. This activity must be deeply conscious, based on clear goals and beliefs. Thus, the importance of all forms of social consciousness increases, within the framework of which various phenomena and processes of social life are comprehended and ways of actively influencing them are developed.

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45. Culture and spiritual life of society. Culture as a determining condition for the formation and development of an individual Culture is the sum of the material, creative and spiritual achievements of a people or group of peoples. The concept of culture is multifaceted and includes both global

Chapter V. Revolution and Spiritual Life

Chapter 18 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE OF SOCIETY The subject of this chapter is the rich realm of the spirit. Our goal here is to briefly analyze the essence of social consciousness, to link it with the analysis of individual consciousness, to consider various aspects and levels of social consciousness and their

2.5 Social consciousness and the spiritual life of society Analysis of the spiritual life of society is one of those problems of social philosophy, the subject of which has not yet been definitively and definitely singled out. Only in Lately there have been attempts to give an objective characterization

MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

BELGOROD LEGAL INSTITUTE

on the topic: "Spiritual life of society"

Prepared by:

doctor of philosophical science,

Professor Naumenko S.P.

Belgorod - 2008

Introductory part

1. The concept, essence and content of the spiritual life of society

2. The main elements of the spiritual life of society

3. Dialectics of the spiritual life of society

Final part (summarizing)

To the most important philosophical questions relating to the relationship between the World and Man, also includes the inner spiritual life of man, those basic values ​​that underlie his existence. A person not only cognizes the world as a being, trying to reveal its objective logic, but also evaluates reality, trying to understand the meaning. own existence experiencing the world as due and improper, good and pernicious, beautiful and ugly, fair and unfair, etc.

Universal human values ​​act as criteria of degree as spiritual development and the social progress of mankind. The values ​​that ensure human life include health, a certain level of material security, social relations that ensure the realization of the individual and freedom of choice, family, law, etc.

Values ​​traditionally classified as spiritual - aesthetic, moral, religious, legal and general cultural (educational) - are usually considered as parts that make up a single whole, called spiritual culture, which will be the subject of our further analysis.

Since the spiritual life of mankind comes from and is nevertheless repelled from material life, its structure is largely similar: spiritual need, spiritual interest, spiritual activity, spiritual benefits (values) created by this activity, satisfaction of spiritual need, etc. In addition , the presence of spiritual activity and its products necessarily gives rise to a special kind of social relations (aesthetic, religious, moral, etc.).

However, the external similarity of the organization of the material and spiritual aspects of human life should not obscure the fundamental differences between them. For example, our spiritual needs, unlike our material ones, are not biologically set, they are not given (at least fundamentally) to a person from birth. This does not at all deprive them of objectivity, only this objectivity is of a different kind - purely social. The need of an individual to master the sign-symbolic world of culture has the character of an objective necessity for him - otherwise you will not become a person. Only here “by itself”, in a natural way, this need does not arise. It must be formed and developed by the social environment of the individual in the long process of his upbringing and education.

As for the spiritual values ​​themselves, around which people's relations in the spiritual sphere are formed, this term usually refers to the socio-cultural significance of various spiritual formations (ideas, norms, images, dogmas, etc.). And in the value ideas of people without fail; there is a certain prescriptive-evaluative element.

Spiritual values ​​(scientific, aesthetic, religious) express the social nature of the person himself, as well as the conditions of his being. This is a peculiar form of reflection by the public consciousness of the objective tendencies of the development of society. In terms of the beautiful and the ugly, good and evil, justice, truth, etc., humanity expresses its attitude to the present reality and opposes to it some ideal state of society that must be established. Any ideal is always, as it were, “raised” above reality, contains a goal, desire, hope, in general, something that should be, and not existent. This is what gives it the appearance of an ideal entity, seemingly completely independent of anything.

Under spiritual production usually understand the production of consciousness in a special social form, carried out by specialized groups of people professionally engaged in skilled mental labor. The result of spiritual production are at least three "products":

Ideas, theories, images, spiritual values;

Spiritual social connections of individuals;

Man himself, because, among other things, he is a spiritual being.

Structurally, spiritual production is divided into three main types of development of reality: scientific, aesthetic, religious.

What is the specificity of spiritual production, its difference from material production? First of all, in the fact that its final product is ideal formations with a number of remarkable properties. And, perhaps, the most important of them is the universal nature of their consumption. There is no such spiritual value that would not ideally be the property of all! Still, it is impossible to feed a thousand people with five loaves, which are mentioned in the Gospel, but with five ideas or masterpieces of art, material wealth is limited. How more people claims them, the less is the share of each. With spiritual goods, everything is different - they do not decrease from consumption, and even vice versa: the more people master spiritual values, the more likely they are to increase.

In other words, spiritual activity is valuable in itself, it often has significance regardless of the result. In material production, this almost never occurs. Material production for the sake of production itself, a plan for the sake of a plan, of course, is absurd. But art for art's sake is not at all as stupid as it might seem at first glance. This kind of phenomenon of self-sufficiency of activity is not so rare: various games, collecting, sports, love, finally. Of course, the relative self-sufficiency of such activity does not negate its result.

List of used literature

1. Antonov E.A., Voronina M.V. Philosophy: Tutorial. - Belgorod, 2000. - Topic 19.

2. Weber M. Protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism // Selected. works. - M., 1988.

3. Kirilenko G.G. Philosophical Dictionary: Student's Handbook. - M., 2002.

4. Crisis society. Our society in three dimensions. - M., 1994.

5. Self-consciousness of European culture of the XX century. - M., 1991.

6. Spirkin A.G. Philosophy: Textbook. - M., 2001. - Chapter 18.

7. Fedotova V.G. Practical and spiritual exploration of reality. - M., 1992.

8. *Philosophy: Textbook for universities / Ed. V.N. Lavrinenko, V.P. Ratnikov. - M., 2001. - Section IV, chapter 21, 23.

9. Frank S. L. Spiritual foundations of society. - M., 1992.

Literature:

Main

1. *Antonov E.A., Voronina M.V. Philosophy: Textbook. - Belgorod, 2000. - Topic 19.

2. *Kirilenko G.G. Philosophical Dictionary: Student's Handbook. - M., 2002.

3. *Spirkin A.G. Philosophy: Textbook. - M., 2001. - Chapter 18.

4. *Philosophy: Textbook for universities / Ed. V.N. Lavrinenko, V.P. Ratnikov. - M., 2001. - Section IV, chapter 21, 23.

Additional

1. Weber M. Protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism // Selected. works. - M., 1988.

2. Crisis society. Our society in three dimensions. - M., 1994.

3. Self-consciousness of European culture of the XX century. - M., 1991.

4. Fedotova V.G. Practical and spiritual exploration of reality. - M., 1992.

5. Frank S. L. Spiritual foundations of society. - M., 1992.

Philosophy

Spiritual life of society

Introduction 3

The essence and content of the spiritual life of society 4

The phenomenon of social consciousness in the history of philosophy 15

Correlation of public and individual consciousness 18

Conclusion 21

References 22

Introduction

Society is a complex system of various social relations. Social relations are divided into material and spiritual. Material relations are formed outside our consciousness and exist independently of it. Spiritual relationships are formed, first passing through the consciousness of people. The connection between them is of an indirect nature: material relations, reflected in the public consciousness, give rise to certain spiritual values, which are the basis of spiritual relations.

Spiritual life can be filled with rich content, which creates a favorable social atmosphere, a good moral and psychological climate. In other cases, the spiritual life of a society can be poor and inexpressive, and sometimes real lack of spirituality reigns in it.

The main elements of spiritual life are the spiritual needs of people, spiritual activities to create spiritual values, spiritual consumption and spiritual relations between people.

The basis of the spiritual life of society is spiritual activity. It can be considered as an activity of consciousness, in the process of which certain thoughts and feelings arise, images And ideas about natural and social phenomena. The result of this activity are certain views of people on the world, scientific ideas and theories, moral, aesthetic and religious views.

A special type of spiritual activity is the dissemination of spiritual values ​​in order to assimilate them to as many people as possible. The result of such activity is the formation of the spiritual world of people, and hence the enrichment of the spiritual life of society.

The essence and content of the spiritual life of society

Structural elements stand out in the spiritual life, endowing them with specific properties and, as a result, guiding social life in different ways. Each person, collective or society has one or another store of vital forces, which find expression in affective moods and actions. Love passion or hatred, enthusiasm, anger or apathy, horror or a surge of disgust, embracing the individual, become the source of the corresponding actions. But society as a whole can come into a state of enthusiasm or apathy, indignation or satisfaction, aggressiveness or fatigue. It depends on the current situation, on the challenges that he has to face and which in one way or another affect (or do not affect) his fundamental interests. An important characteristic of such moods is the need for immediate (or as soon as possible) satisfaction of the passion that owns an individual or society, the desire to relieve tension or express it - through a rally, picketing, agitation, march, strike, pogrom, voting, etc. 1.

Of course, any full-fledged socio-cultural system also includes a special area, allocated in time or space, where affective behavior is allowed and even encouraged that violates norms and values ​​that are considered generally accepted and normal, but ordinary. Such, in particular, are many manifestations of festive culture, which, perhaps, receive their most vivid expression in carnivals and folk festivals, accepted by all peoples. Such are the many manifestations of mass culture that have become widespread in the modern world, but in areas that are clearly separated from production with its rigid rationality and principles of efficiency. This topic will be discussed in more detail in the section on popular culture.

At the same time, the regulatory role of culture lies in the fact that it sets limits, limits the natural manifestations of human nature or a social group that does not fit within the normative framework. For many centuries, the main means of such regulation has been religion, which subordinates the behavior of the believer to values ​​and norms that have an unconditional sacral sanction. Naturalness was sinful and was allowed in a limited form only at the lower levels of being. A detailed analysis of such drives and states is the realm of social psychology. Of course, both the sociology of culture and social psychology study to some extent the same field - the patterns of people's behavior and activities, due to their intrinsic motivations, beliefs and habits. These internal motivations invariably correlate with some external spiritual factors that are formed as a collective consciousness or as an unconscious principle. However, culture embraces more permanent or long-term, stable and orderly ways of spiritual regulation. If psychology takes into account the states and movements of small groups, temporary associations, crowds or individuals, then culture determines the nature of social strata, ethnic or national groups or civilizations over longer periods of time.

Of course, the individual is also an essential bearer of culture. Thus, in the phenomenon of fashion there is undoubtedly a cultural component that determines the general style of fashion development, its national identity. But psychology determines the rhythms of changing details and ornamentation, the degree of their distribution, slow or accelerated variability in clothing and appearance.

Of course, the influence of culture is also reflected in the fact that the higher the degree of development of culture, the more differentiated all its elements and components become, including fashion. Ethnic cultures make do with a set of permanent clothing options, quite observable in a good museum of ethnography. The capital usually hosts several fashion houses that showcase the latest seasons.

Even M. Weber formulated his concept of the transformative impact of religion on human behavior as overcoming those ecstatic and orgiastic states that turn out to be temporary and transient and lead a person to a state of devastation, which in religious language is referred to as God-forsakenness. , and in the secular - aimlessness and meaninglessness of being 2 .

P. Sorokin described this position in more moderate terms, stating that in the natural affective states of a person, his changeable psychological characteristics, his direct reactions to life influences, subject to situational and transient moods, are revealed. However, culture transforms these affective states, regulates them and directs them to achieve meaningful and long-term goals. human being. At different stages and levels of development of society, in its different spheres and structures, the ratio of affective and culturally regulated factors may be different. But they are necessarily present in some connection as the cultivation of human material.

Following the process of "de-deifying" the world and reducing the influence of religion, it was the turn of secular normative culture in its established, classical form. These shifts were explained and justified in the psychoanalytic direction, represented primarily by the works of Z. Freud and E. Fromm. They showed that the current type of culture is largely repressive in nature, suppressing the individual "ego" in its very significant vital and personal manifestations. The curbing of instincts, on the one hand, is a necessary principle, since otherwise their revelry threatens society with self-destruction. Various forms of control, including morality, religion, social sanctions, and the state, were viewed by Freud as basically the result of a compromise between spontaneous drives and the demands of reality. Being repressed into the sphere of the unconscious, these drives give rise to psychological neuroses and conflicts of the individual with himself and society. The sublimation of these instincts is the source of artistic and scientific creativity, which gives rise to high achievements of religious or secular culture. Developing these ideas in line with neo-Freudianism, E. Fromm deeply criticized those social and cultural mechanisms of capitalist society, primarily its extreme technism, the cult of profit and success, which lead to the alienation of human essence, the loss of oneself in the process of social vital activity.

However, the liberation of a person from a repressive culture is limited by certain socio-cultural frameworks. Affective behavior that deviates from the norm can take on the character of deviant behavior with varying degrees of antisocial and criminality. The study of such behavior is the primary property of social psychology and sociology. But cultural studies cannot ignore such behavior, since it also has its own rather strict rules and principles that regulate the behavior of individuals in a criminal environment. As we shall see, there is a complex interplay of normative culture and deviant options in society. The significant spread of such behavior requires special consideration of the reasons for the disorganization of sociocultural regulation and the degradation of the human community 3 .

The simplest types of behavior are formed primarily on the basis of holistic, habitual patterns of behavior performed on an established occasion at a certain time and at a certain time. certain place. The model fits into some part of the activity, its segment, not subject to a clear division, change or reflection. The term "custom" can be identified with the terms "tradition", "rite", "ritual", "mores". However, tradition still refers to a wider range of phenomena and in application to more differentiated forms of regulation of activity, although it receives a semantic overload in this case (for which see Chapter VI). Rite and ritual are more formalized variants of habitual behavior adopted in certain parts of the total cultural regulation. Rite and ritual - a formalized behavior or action that has primarily a symbolic meaning, devoid of immediate expediency, but helps to strengthen ties either between permanent members of the group, or in interaction between groups, relieving tension, distrust and increasing the level of communication ty. Marriage and funerals are among the most important ceremonies that are universal in every culture.

The term "mores" usually expresses the established forms of regulation of mass behavior. However, in a culturological context, mores can mean a more mobile, changeable and not far-reaching layer of habitual behavior, subject to differentiation depending on the social environment, the psychological state of certain layers, the historical situation, etc. d. ("O times! O morals!"). War and peace, revolution, reforms, shock therapy, modernization, etc. - processes implying large-scale changes in mores, which entail a gradual shift in broader areas of culture, which by no means means the loss of its qualitative certainty 4 .

Although custom acts as the main regulator of behavior only in primitive ethnographic societies, in a stable domestic environment, in inert social groups, it is also present at all more advanced levels. Socially recognized patterns are formed into customs, according to which the accumulated experience is transmitted from generation to generation and from individual to individual. Customs include traditional labor practices, forms of behavior, way of life, and education. In everyday life, the usual rules of hygiene apply, the existing hostel options. Custom regulates the hours and conditions of eating and sleeping. The choice of food is dictated by no means only by the needs of the body. In Russia, for example, it is not accepted to eat snakes, dogs, frogs, cats. Hindus do not eat beef, but Muslims do not eat pork. In societies with a traditional nomadic culture, horse meat is eaten. The choice in this case is not determined by the nutritional value of food, but by tradition. At the entrance to a dwelling, the first thing a European will do is take off his headdress, an Eastern person first of all remembers shoes. It is not always possible to directly relate both to the situation, but this is the custom. Customs are universally recognized and approved by the power of mass habit. For the most part, they do not receive explanation and may not be recognized by the members of the collective themselves. To the question "Why are you doing this?" they answer: "That's the way it is."

The contradictory process of the development of social relations, the increasing role of the subjects of these relations, the person, the individual predetermines the need to find optimal ways of functioning, enriching the spiritual life of society. Of particular importance is the theoretical and philosophical study of this problem in our time. The objective reasons that actualize the importance of the problems of the spiritual life of society, the development of new, non-traditional approaches to ways to solve them, are: a comprehensive revival of the national in culture, spirituality, its convergence with the universal on the basis of the increasing integration of peoples' lives; the urgent need for the formation of a new quality of people's spirituality, their mentality, culture, thinking, consciousness; approval of effective ways of formation, education of spirituality, culture, consciousness of people who would most fully realize the spiritual potential of the individual; rethinking the classical paradigms of the development of the spiritual life of society.

What is the content of the spiritual life of society? The spiritual life of society is an extremely broad concept, which includes multifaceted processes, phenomena associated with the spiritual sphere of people's life; a set of ideas, views, feelings, ideas of people, the process of their production, distribution, transformation of social, individual ideas into the inner world of a person. The spiritual life of society embraces the ideal world (a set of ideas, views, hypotheses, theories) together with its bearers - social subjects - individuals, peoples, ethnic groups. In this regard, it is appropriate to talk about the personal spiritual life of an individual, his individual spiritual world, the spiritual life of one or another social subject - a people, ethnic group, or the spiritual life of society as a whole. The basis of spiritual life is the spiritual world of a person - his spiritual values, worldview orientations. At the same time, the spiritual world of an individual is impossible outside the spiritual life of society. Therefore, spiritual life is always a dialectical unity of the individual and the public, which functions as a personal-public one.

The versatility of the spiritual life of society includes the following components: spiritual production, social consciousness and spiritual culture.

Spiritual production is carried out in an inextricable relationship with other types of social production. As an extremely important component of social production, spiritual production is the formation of people's spiritual needs and, above all, the production of social consciousness. Social consciousness is a set of ideal forms (concepts, judgments, views, feelings, ideas, ideas, theories) that embrace and recreate social being, they are developed by mankind in the process of mastering nature and social history.

The Marxist tradition proceeded from the thesis that social being determines social consciousness, and not vice versa. This was the basis of the fundamental question of philosophy. But any absolutization of the meaning of social being or social consciousness, from a theoretical point of view, is not justified. The vital activity of society is always a complex, contradictory process of the organic unity of material and spiritual, ideal, social being and social consciousness, which complement each other, arising simultaneously as relatively independent phenomena.

Social consciousness, therefore, not only reflects social being, but also creates it, carrying out anticipatory, predictive function about social life.

The leading role of social consciousness is precisely manifested in its social activity. It is connected mainly with the scientific and theoretical level of reflection of reality, the subject's deep awareness of his responsibility for the progress of society. Theories, ideas cannot be limited only to an ideal existence, but reflecting certain interests of people, they can turn into reality, be embodied in practice. Activity, the functional and regulatory content of the values ​​of public consciousness should be understood as a purposeful influence on social practice, on the course of its development by mobilizing the spiritual energy of people, increasing their social activity. The implementation of the regulatory function of public consciousness creates the necessary prerequisites for its functioning as a socially transforming force, which has a significant impact on the active creative activity of people, their worldview, ideals. When ideas, feelings, which constitute the essence of social consciousness, take possession of people, become a material force, they act as an important driving force for the all-round progress of society. Thus, the values ​​of social consciousness, the process of its formation and functioning act as a specific tool for regulating social development.

But social consciousness, under certain circumstances, can also act as a destructive force of social development, hindering the progressive course of social progress. It all depends on what social subject belong to certain ideas, to what extent they are adequate to national and universal values, revealing the spiritual potential of the individual.

An important feature of the relative independence of social consciousness is continuity in its development: ideas, theories, everything that makes up the content of the spiritual life of society, does not arise in a new place, but is formed and affirmed on the basis of the spiritual culture of past eras, which represent a continuous process of functioning and development. society.

Public consciousness can exist only when there are its specific carriers - a person, social groups, communities, specific individuals and other subjects. Without the main carriers of social consciousness - specific people - it is impossible. Therefore, social consciousness is able to exist and fully function only in the individual, i.e. through the individual consciousness, which is the spiritual world of this particular person, her views, feelings, ideas, dispositions of the spirit.

Public and individual consciousness are in dialectical unity, since they have a common source - the being of people, which is based on practice. At the same time, the dialectical unity of social and individual consciousness does not mean their absolute identity. Individual consciousness is more concrete, more multifaceted than social consciousness. It includes unique, inherent only this person features that are based on specific features his concrete being. Public consciousness, in comparison with the individual, reflects the objective reality deeper, fuller, and therefore richer. It abstracts from those or other specific characteristics, properties of individual consciousness, absorbing the most significant, essential. Thus, the social consciousness seems to rise above the consciousness of individuals. However, this does not mean the leveling of the consciousness of the individual. On the contrary, taking into account the specifics of individual consciousness, its versatility, originality, everything that makes up the essence of the spirituality of the individual, is an extremely important condition for the formation and development of the values ​​of spiritual culture, human consciousness.