EPISTEMOLOGY
EPISTEMOLOGY
(Greek gnosis - knowledge, and logos word). Theory of knowledge; engaged in the study of the origin, composition and boundaries of human cognition.
Dictionary foreign words, included in the Russian language. - Chudinov A.N., 1910 .
EPISTEMOLOGY
Philosophy theory of knowledge; a branch of philosophy that studies the forms and methods of scientific knowledge.
Dictionary of foreign words. - Komlev N.G., 2006 .
EPISTEMOLOGY
Greek Same as metaphysics.
Explanation of 25,000 foreign words that have come into use in the Russian language, with the meaning of their roots. - Mikhelson A.D., 1865 .
Epistemology
(gr. gnosis (gnoseos) knowledge, cognition + ...logy) theory of knowledge, a section of philosophy that studies the sources, forms and methods of scientific knowledge, the conditions of its truth, and human ability to cognize reality.
New dictionary of foreign words. - by EdwART,, 2009 .
Epistemology
epistemology, many no, w. [ from Greek gnosis - knowledge and logos - teaching] (philosophical). The science of the sources and limits of human knowledge; the same as the theory of knowledge.
Big dictionary foreign words.- Publishing house "IDDK", 2007 .
Epistemology And, pl. No, and. (German Gnoseologie Greek gnōsis (gnōseōs) knowledge, cognition + logos science, teaching).
Chapter philosophy, studying the sources, forms and methods of scientific knowledge, the conditions of its truth, human ability to cognize reality; theory of knowledge.
Epistemological- related to epistemology.
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Wed. epistemology.
Explanatory dictionary of foreign words by L. P. Krysin. - M: Russian language, 1998 .
epistemology- epistemology... Spelling dictionary-reference book
EPISTEMOLOGY- see Theory of knowledge. Philosophical encyclopedic Dictionary. M.: Soviet encyclopedia. Ch. editor: L. F. Ilyichev, P. N. Fedoseev, S. M. Kovalev, V. G. Panov. 1983. GNOSEOLOGY ... Philosophical Encyclopedia
epistemology- GNOSEOLOGY, epistemology GNOSEOLOGICAL, epistemological... Dictionary-thesaurus of synonyms of Russian speech
EPISTEMOLOGY- (from the Greek gnosis knowledge and...logy) the same as the theory of knowledge... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
EPISTEMOLOGY- (Greek gnosis knowledge, logos teaching) a philosophical discipline dealing with research, criticism and theories of knowledge, the theory of knowledge as such. In contrast to epistemology, G. considers the process of cognition from the point of view of the relations of the subject... ... History of Philosophy: Encyclopedia
EPISTEMOLOGY- (Greek gnosis knowledge, logos teaching) philosophical discipline dealing with research, criticism and theories of knowledge, theory of knowledge. In contrast to epistemology, G. considers the process of cognition from the point of view of the relations of the subject of cognition... ... The latest philosophical dictionary
EPISTEMOLOGY- GNOSEOLOGY, epistemology, many others. no, female (from the Greek gnosis knowledge and logos teaching) (philosophy). The science of the sources and limits of human knowledge; the same as the theory of knowledge. Ushakov's explanatory dictionary. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary
EPISTEMOLOGY- GNOSEOLOGY, and, female. In philosophy: theory of knowledge. | adj. epistemological, oh, oh. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary
epistemology- noun, number of synonyms: 3 theory of knowledge (1) philosophy (40) epistemology ... Synonym dictionary
Epistemology- or gnoseology (the more common term is the doctrine of recognition, Erkenntnisslehre) a philosophical discipline that studies the possibility and conditions of true knowledge... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron
Epistemology" is a purely philosophical category. Its name comes from the Greek words: "γνωσεο" (gnoseo) - know ["γνωσισ" (gnosis) - knowledge] and "λογοσ" (logos) - word ["λογια" - teaching, science] and literally means: “The Doctrine (Science) of Knowledge,” “The Doctrine (Science) of Consciousness.” In philosophical literature, including in philosophical encyclopedias and dictionaries, the expression “Epistemology” is translated as “Theory of Knowledge.” Along with this, for To express the same content in philosophical literature, the word "Epistemology" is also used. But the last word means the study of what we accept as truth on the basis of faith. We will use the term "Epistemology" in the meaning of the philosophical doctrine of the essence of knowledge (consciousness). But first Let us outline the range of problems of Epistemology.
Epistemology , or theory of knowledge, is a branch of philosophical knowledge ( philosophical science, philosophical discipline), which explores the possibility of man’s knowledge of the world, as well as man’s knowledge of himself; the movement of knowledge from ignorance to knowledge is explored; the nature of knowledge in itself and in relation to those objects that are reflected in this knowledge is explored.
So, let's repeat what was said schematically.
GNOSEOLOGY is:
1. Section of philosophical knowledge.
2. Philosophical study of the extent of a person’s knowledge of the world and himself.
3. Study of how movement occurs in the process of cognition
from ignorance to knowledge.
4. Study of the nature of our knowledge, as it is in itself in its
ontological essence, and the relationship of this knowledge with objects and
phenomena that are known.
Problems of epistemology occupy a leading place in philosophy. This is due to the fact that the very problems of the essence of our knowledge in their relationship with the objective state of affairs are philosophical problems and no one else’s. No, there was not and cannot be any other science, except philosophy, that could compare the nature of our knowledge with those objects and phenomena that are recorded in them, in our knowledge. After all, the nature of our knowledge is spiritual; it is connected with objects and phenomena so indirectly that it is not possible either experimentally or theoretically to reduce it, knowledge, to the level of the objects and phenomena themselves. Spirit and matter are so far from each other, there is such an abyss between them that in no way can be overcome by scientific bridges or climbs. Only philosophy allows you to “jump” over this abyss: from spirit to matter and from matter to spirit. This is the first thing. And secondly, philosophy seems to be aware of the exclusivity of its position and invariably, throughout the history of its existence, gives primary attention to the problems of knowledge. Philosophers and philosophical schools have always existed and still exist who believe that philosophy has no other problems other than the problems of epistemology. In their work, all problems of philosophy are reduced to epistemology or are considered only through the prism of epistemology. Even Marxism, which tries to embrace and bring into a system absolutely all problems of worldview, believes that epistemology is only “the other side of the main question of philosophy” (Engels). True, there are philosophers who ignore the problems of epistemology due to the impossibility of solving its problems or due to the “unphilosophical” nature of epistemology itself. But, motivating the exclusion of epistemology from the field of philosophical research, giving it their assessment, philosophers are already engaged in epistemology. In addition, when presenting his views on a particular philosophical issue, the philosopher necessarily argues for the truth of his statements. And “truth” is already an epistemological (and no other!) philosophical problem. Consequently, we repeat, the problems of epistemology always occupy a central place in philosophy in general, and not just in a particular philosophical school or in the work of an individual philosopher.
Problems of epistemology in the history of the development of worldview and philosophical thought.
The solution to the problems of epistemology is carried out at the lowest level of worldview development - at the level of naive realism.
Naive realism, as we know, accepts the world as it is presented to us by our senses. The naive realist asserts that the world is the way we feel, smell, taste, see, hear, feel... Naive realism, therefore, does not see any difference between the world and our perception of the world, between the real world and its reflection in our sensations.
Mythological and religious worldviews can adhere to a wide variety of aspects of assessing the relationship between our, let’s say, subjective perceptions, ideas, concepts and knowledge with objective reality. In Soviet-era textbooks, the prevailing opinion was that religion, together with philosophical idealism, unequivocally and always deny the possibility of human knowledge of reality. It should be said that Karl Marx did not share this opinion. This opinion entered Marxist philosophy from Ludwig Feuerbach through F. Engels and, especially, from V.I. Lenin and. V. Stalin. And then, through the efforts of Soviet philosophers, this erroneous opinion was proclaimed the elementary truth of Marxism-Leninism. But this “elementary truth” does not correspond to the objective state of affairs. Thus, the Christian religion, represented by, for example, representatives of Catholicism (Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, Teilhard de Chardin, the current Pope John Paul II) and Orthodoxy (Kudryavtsev-Platonov, Gogotsky, Svetlov, Filaret Drozdov) do not deny either the knowability of the world or the truth our knowledge about it. The knowability of the world is denied only by official Buddhism, which believes that the world is only our illusions about it; that the world itself either does not exist at all or we simply do not know it and cannot recognize it. True, in all modern religious worldviews, including Buddhism, one can find echoes of a wide variety of epistemological views on the content of our knowledge about the world and about God. The specificity of mythological epistemology lies in the fact that with its imagination it populates the world with personified beings, “sees” their interference in the processes of real life, and, along with the phenomena of the world, “cognizes” these personified beings - gods, spirits, devils, witches, mermaids, etc. Further. Religion also looks at the world through the eyes of a mythological worldview. At the same time, she can include her gods in the objects of her knowledge and “know” them, or she can proclaim them inaccessible to knowledge, supernatural and super-intelligent.
Epistemology common sense for centuries has been under the dual influence of: 1. The practices of everyday life and 2. The state and quality of social consciousness. Everyday life practically proves to a person the reliability of his knowledge, even if he does not understand the essence of certain phenomena. Thus, not knowing the Law of Universal Gravitation, a person learned the truth that all objects around him are attracted to the earth and fall on it; not knowing the essence of electromagnetic waves, by simply pressing the switches of a television or radio receiver, he became convinced of their existence and of their ability to transmit sounds and images over a long distance; Likewise, I learned about the transmission of certain diseases through contact, without having the slightest idea about germs, bacteria and viruses. And the state of public opinion was reflected in common sense as the average and popularized level of theoretical education of the population of a country, people, tribe or clan. Thus we can observe, for example, echoes of subjective idealism in the common sense of the population of Buddhist countries, echoes of scientific thinking in the common sense European peoples, the dominance of magical ideas in the common sense of nomadic gypsies. Common sense is subject to temporary fluctuations as a reaction to a crisis, phenomena of mass psychosis, revolutionary enthusiasm, defensive action, etc. Thus, one of the German journalists, who visited Ukraine two years ago and became acquainted with the “medicinal business” cultivated here, upon returning to Germany wrote: “I came to the conclusion that the citizens of Ukraine have gone crazy.” What other conclusion can a sensible Western European person make after seeing our public vilification of medical healthcare and the irrepressible, shameless advertising of super-healing abilities? traditional healers", "white witches", and visiting preachers of the word of God?
In philosophical thought, since its inception, epistemology has occupied an important and permanent place. We do not have the opportunity to consider the entire history of the development of the theory of knowledge. But it should be noted that the presence of this problem was found in all the most ancient representatives of philosophical thought in India, China and Greece. Let us dwell on the philosophical thought of antiquity that is close to us.
Written sources have brought to us evidence of the presence of an extensive presentation of the problems of epistemology already in Democritus (460 - 370 BC). An outstanding materialist of antiquity taught that images (eidos) constantly flow from surrounding objects and penetrate into us through our senses. Thus, our knowledge is the material samples present in us, the eidoses, of the objects themselves that exist around us. According to Democritus, for the perception of certain qualities, eidos, objects, phenomena of material or spiritual world, we have corresponding organs: for the material world - the senses, and for the spiritual world - the mind. “Like is known by like,” Democritus liked to repeat. Last expression in its broadest understanding and interpretation, it has entered the cultures of all European peoples, and finds its application even in theological proofs of the existence of God. Democritus also taught that the sharp-shaped atoms that enter into us with the eidos give us the sensation of sour, spherical - sweet, angular - bitter. He called all these sensory sensations secondary qualities objects, since they exist only in our sensations. But in fact, nothing bitter, sour, sweet, red, warm, loud exists in reality. In reality, Descartes said, there are only atoms and emptiness. Atoms and emptiness are primary, independent of our sensations, properties objects and phenomena, and they are perceived only by the mind.
The outstanding idealist of antiquity, Plato (427-347), devoted several of his works to the problems of knowledge and created his own Platonic theory of knowledge. Objecting to the materialist Democritus, Plato argued that our feelings in no way give us a correct idea or knowledge of the world. To explain the essence of his epistemology, in his largest work in terms of volume and significance, “Politics” (State), he composed the following picture-myth. We humans are prisoners, imprisoned in a cave and chained with our faces to the wall. Behind these people is the entrance. And behind the entrance people and animals are moving, the shadow of which falls on the wall of the cave. People in the cave thus see only moving shadows on the wall and take these shadows for a single real world. Plato, therefore, taught that our senses in no way allow us to see the world as it really is. The truth about the world is shown to us not by feelings, but by reason. And to explain his understanding of the place of reason in the knowledge of truth, Plato develops his, already known to us, myth about the soul.
The objective idealist of antiquity taught that Truth is ideal and has nothing to do with matter; that this ideal truth originally existed in the other world, resided in the empyrean world. In this other world, along with the future soul of man, absolutely all truths resided in the form of ideas. Among these Ideas were truths of different hierarchical positions. The smallest among them was the Idea-soul. But. although being the smallest, insignificant idea in the empyrean world, the human soul, before its incarnation into a person, had the opportunity to observe all ideas and communicate with them. When the soul “coarsened” and fell into the material world, then on the way to its man, passing through the River Styx (River of Forgetfulness), it drank water and... forgot its past. In the conditions of its earthly life, the human soul only special conditions- when suppressing her feelings, concentration, detachment, pious lifestyle - she may remember something about what she observed, knew in the other world. This is it memory(αναμνεσισ, anamnesis - memory) allows a person to know real and undoubted truths.
Plato’s theory of anamnesis was developed by European philosophers over thousands of years, acquired additional concepts, and even today finds its application in “teachings” about the transmigration of souls, in stories about “memories” of one’s former life on earth several decades or hundreds of years ago. It should be said that the philosopher himself did not stoop to such primitive ideas. When Plato started talking about anamnesis, he did not mean some material, sensual, everyday things, but ideas high level, ideas-truths. To these he included, first of all, the ideals of meaning in life, the ideals of Truth, Goodness, Beauty, Justice. It is these four ideals of life that Plato introduced into ancient times, and from there into all European culture and thought. The philosopher also included among the ideals those ideals and concepts that correspond to the truth and are obtained by man through abstract thinking. These are the ideas of Logos, Harmony, God (the Soul of the world), mathematical axioms. This side of Plato's philosophy was highly developed and completed by the great German philosopher of the 19th century, Hegel.
Below we will dwell on the main directions for solving epistemological problems in the history of philosophical thought.
Philosophical schools (directions) sensationalism(from the Latin word “sensus” - sensation, feelings) they recognize as truth only what is given to a person in his sensations. “What is not in the mind,” said the English materialist philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588 - 1679), “is not in the mind.” His contemporary, also a materialist, John Locke (1632 - 1704) created the doctrine that the soul of a newborn is like a blank slate (tabula rasa), on which feelings and experiences write down their contents.
The sensationalistic approach to solving epistemological problems is inherent not only in materialism, but also in idealism. Sensualist-idealists argued that in the world for a person there is only what is in his feelings. The feelings themselves do not so much inform a person about the outside world as distort it. Unlike materialists, they argue that feelings do not connect a person with the world, but share with it. A person knows only his feelings - and nothing more, and he has no means of knowing exactly which aspects of the external world are reflected in his consciousness. Idealism, which asserts that only his sensations exist in the world for a person, is called subjective idealism. Its classical representative was David Hume, although elements of subjectivism are inherent in the philosophy of Kant, modern existentialists, and postmodernism, which has become fashionable.
In the history of the development of epistemology, along with sensationalism, there was also an opposite approach to solving epistemological problems. It got the name rationalism. Its representatives argue that genuine information about objective reality, correct knowledge about the truth, is given to a person not by the senses, but exclusively by the mind. They argue that feelings either deceive us or give us information about unimportant aspects of reality, about things that are transitory and isolated. Only intellect, reason, provides us with the opportunity to comprehend reality in its adequate content. It was precisely these thoughts that such rationalist philosophers as Plato and Aristotle developed in their works. Leibniz, Kant, Hegel, various schools of positivism.
We have schematically, in filmed form, depicted the essence of sensualistic and rationalistic philosophical approaches to solving epistemological problems. In each specific case, one can discover that there is no insurmountable line between rationalism and sensationalism. Sensualism in epistemology gives preference primarily to feelings, taking into account the role of reason, and rationalism gives preference to reason, but also takes into account sensory perception. Thus, the classic representative of rationalism, Hegel, believed that feelings are only the lowest type of knowledge. You see, a lower, but still a level of knowledge. And Thomas Hobbes, being one of the consistent sensualists, believed that only reason, thinking, processing sensory data, formulates the truth to us. Hobbes' famous saying: "Truth is the daughter of reason!"
In assessing the abilities of human cognition in the history of philosophical thought, in addition to sensationalism and rationalism, there were other approaches to solving epistemological problems. We will only talk about the most notable among them. We will talk about skepticism, agnosticism, intuitionism.
Skepticism(from the Greek word "σκεπτικοσ", skepticos - incredulous) - questions the reliability of all our knowledge about the world. Skepticism originated in ancient philosophy. Its famous representatives were the Greek philosopher Pyrrho (365 - 275) and the Roman philosopher, Stoic Epictetus (50 - 138). Skepticism casts doubt on all statements about real things and phenomena. The wisest behavior of a philosopher, said Pyrrho, is “abstinence (εποχη, epochs) from judgment.” And if a philosopher really wants to speak out, then he must say: “This is for me.” Seems bitter", "This is for me Seems true." Epictetus was born a slave, belonged to one of Nero's bodyguards; received freedom and took up philosophy. He called for having your own opinion on all issues and in no case bowing to authorities: "If a book costs five dinars, then what is stated in it is not is worth more"; "If I bow to one interpretation, then I am only a grammarian, instead of being a philosopher." In the history of European philosophical thought, the most prominent representatives of skepticism were: Montaigne (1533 - 1592), philosopher and theologian Pierre Charon (1541- 1603), atheist Pierre Bayle (1647 - 1706), David Hume (1711 - 1776), Kant (1724 - 1804) and his followers.
In the history of the development of knowledge, skepticism played a dual role. On the one hand, it discredits the reliability of established knowledge and thereby undermines trust in science and contributes to the vegetation ordinary people in darkness and ignorance. But on the other hand, skepticism helps test scientific knowledge for strength, undermines blind faith and awakens sound thought; was and remains an enemy of dogma, promotes the search for new answers to seemingly solved questions. The history of the development of science is the history of the emergence and overcoming of doubts.
Creation of the term " Agnosticism"(from the Greek word "γνωσεο", gnoseo - I know and the negative particle "α", and - not, without, against) belongs to the outstanding English Darwinist Thomas Huxley (1825-1895). The scientist applied this term to those areas of knowledge that science has not yet been discovered. The term immediately gained recognition and was extended to the area of so-called transcendental knowledge: Is there a God or is there no God? Is there a meaning to human life or no meaning at all? human life doesn't have? Is spirit generated by matter or exists independently of it? Is the existing world eternal or does it have a beginning and an end to its existence? Developing the thoughts of his older friend, the German Darwinist Emile Dubois Raymond in 1872 ended his public lecture “On the Limits of the Knowledge of Nature” with the words: “As for the riddle of what force and matter are and how they are able to think, we must once and for all bow to conclusion: “Ignorabimus!” We will never know.” The “improved” expression of E. D. Raymond “Ignoramus et ignorabimus” (I don’t know now and will never know in the future) is still in wide use among apologists of religion and enemies of scientific knowledge. In generally accepted dictionaries, agnosticism is given the following definition: “Agnosticism is a philosophical doctrine that denies the possibility of knowing the essence of speech and the laws of the development of nature.” In modern England, agnostics officially refer to those atheists who do not recognize the existence of God, but believe that his existence can neither be proven nor disproved.
A number of scientists and philosophers (Nicholas Cusanus, Spinoza, Locke, Hegel) believe that, along with reason and feelings, there is another way (method) of knowledge - intuition(from the Latin word “intueror” - I look closely, I see right through). It is interpreted either as an insight, or as a sudden result of experimental research, or as a guess, or as an anticipation, or as a “leap” to the level of a new vision, or as a manifestation of a brilliant insight.
Despite the diametrically opposed conclusions of philosophers about the essence of epistemology, about the methods and reliability of human cognition, philosophy itself has made a significant scientific contribution to the scientific study of consciousness, the essence of cognition and the content of human knowledge. In a purely philosophical way, reflecting on the problems of knowledge, Plato made a great discovery, even by the standards of modern knowledge, about the three-component nature (Mind, Feelings, Will) of the human psyche; Aristotle - about the social essence of man; Rene Descartes - three hundred years before academician Ivan Petrovich Pavlov - identified conditioned and unconditioned reflexes in humans and animals; John Locke laid the foundation for child psychology... And all this without taking into account the fact that philosophy has always acted as a synthesizer of all knowledge acquired by mankind and has always been a guiding ray for scientists in the darkness of scientific searches.
59. Theory of truth. Truth and error in knowledge.
◘ History and theory of the problem of truth in philosophy.
The problem of the correspondence of knowledge to objective reality is known in philosophy as the problem of truth.
Already in Antiquity ancient greek philosophers liked to use the antithesis: according to truth and according to opinion. The first is what philosophy gives, and the second is the opinion of the crowd. Yes, according to Democritus According to people, things exist, but in truth - atoms and emptiness, as the content of the internal basis of the existence of things.
Plato believed that knowledge about eternal and unchanging ideas could be true
However, the understanding of true knowledge in different eras was different. The truth changed objectively with the process of gaining knowledge of reality. F. Bacon- “truth is the daughter of time.”
The variability of true knowledge can be explained from three positions:
· The objective world reflected in is constantly changing and developing;
· Practice, on the basis of which cognition is carried out, and all the means involved in it change and develop;
· Knowledge that grows on the basis of practice and is tested by it is constantly developing, therefore, truth is in the process of constant development.
◘ Truth is a process.(GPR - Geocentric and heliocentric models of the universe). The form of expression of truth, depending on specific historical conditions that characterize the degree of its accuracy, which is achieved at a given level of knowledge is called RELATIVE the truth. Completely different, accurate, comprehensive, exhaustive knowledge about any phenomenon is called ABSOLUTE truth.
◘ Truth and error. A misconception is an idea, thought or train of thought about which, although there is confidence that they are correct, nevertheless they do not correspond to the truth or actual circumstances. Sources of misconceptions can be: Prejudice; Imperfection of mental abilities, haste, lack of energy, concentration or stability of thinking, insufficient cognitive material, subjective moods, predispositions, passions, disorderly processing of sources, rash generalizations, etc. Misconceptions are an unintentionally distorted opinion about the true state of affairs, which often has a subjective nature of comprehending the phenomenon.
◘ Delusion and lies. A lie is a deliberate distortion of the true state of affairs for some purpose.
60.Specificity of extra-scientific knowledge. Knowledge and faith.
The higher the role of science in the life of society, the less attention the so-called extrascientific knowledge receives. It passes through the register as undeveloped, superficial, and sometimes false knowledge. But humanity in its development stubbornly demonstrates that science can do a lot, but not everything, that human civilization develops not only on the basis of scientific knowledge, but also on the basis of everyday knowledge, ethical and aesthetic, legal and political, religious and philosophical vision of the world.
The problem of different types of knowledge is not to draw a demarcation line between science and other forms of exploration of the world, but to identify the field of possibilities of each form, including science, in the context of the structure of social consciousness, remembering that in every historical era social consciousness had its own organizational structure and its “Olympus” was crowned by one of the forms of consciousness, acting as a “fashion” setter for everyone else. In antiquity the ball was ruled by “philosophy”, in the Middle Ages by “religion”, in modern times by “philosophy - science”, in modern times by “politics”. All forms of consciousness have something in common and something special, which allows us to pose a question and identify the general and special in the characteristics of scientific and extra-scientific knowledge.
In extra-scientific knowledge, all facets of mastering being in the world intersect; their direct and indirect relationship to the world, subjectivity and objectivity, rationality and irrationality are realized; knowledge, values and norms. An integrative form of extra-scientific knowledge is ordinary knowledge. Its carrier is a person. The purpose of everyday cognition is to develop knowledge about the world and about oneself, to form a psychological attitude towards one’s attitude towards the world, and to find the optimal form of fulfilling one’s interests (needs).
In the cauldron of everyday knowledge such early forms as fetishism, totemism, magic, animism, and omens are boiled. Religion and philosophy, politics and law, morality and art, as well as, to one degree or another, science are also presented there. But science is presented only as “one of...”, and therefore is not decisive for everyday knowledge if its bearer does not professionally represent science.
1. Fetishism - belief in the supernatural properties of an object (thing) that can protect a person from various troubles. Excluding items healing properties, all other fetishes are based on faith.
2. Totemism - belief in a supernatural connection and blood affinity of a clan group with any type of animal or plant. This is a unique form of affinity between man and nature.
3. Magic - belief in a person’s ability to influence objects and people in a certain way. White magic carries out witchcraft with the help of heavenly forces, and black magic carries out witchcraft with the help of the devil. In general, magic embodies faith in miracles.
4. Animism - belief in the existence of a spirit, soul in every thing. Animism is a consequence of the anthropic principle: I see the world through the prism of my ideas about myself (see: F. Bacon on the ghost of “genus”).
5. Signs - a fixed form of frequently recurring events. Some of the signs record the cause-and-effect relationship and capture their necessary nature. Some signs are random in nature, but are mistakenly taken as necessary. Both form a behavioral stereotype and are reinforced by faith.
Of the five early forms of world exploration, all five are based on faith. It is no coincidence that faith is also the basis of such forms of sensory-abstract knowledge of existence in the world as occult, paranormal and meditative knowledge.
Occult comprehension of the world. Occultism (from the Latin occultus - secret) is a set of teachings about the hidden, supernatural forces of space, earth, and people. This type of extra-scientific comprehension of the world includes astrology, alchemy, graphology, spiritualism, cabalism, etc.
Paranormal Cognition(from the Greek para - about) claims to provide information about physical phenomena inexplicable from the standpoint of science and the special abilities of some individuals to influence other people and natural objects. It includes dowsing, contacting, levitation, telekinesis, telepathy, and extrasensory influence. Attempts to explain the phenomenon of paranormality have so far remained unsuccessful, because science currently does not have an accessible factual base or sufficient experimental material. Hence there are many hypotheses, versions, speculations about the abilities of psychics that do not fit into traditional ideas about the types of interaction: gravitational, electromagnetic, weak, strong; the nature of the transmission of thoughts and feelings at a distance is unclear; the phenomenon of special sensitivity, the phenomenon of levitation, communication with other worlds, etc. remains a mystery. But they exist (if they exist?) and demonstrate the limitlessness of human spiritual and physical potential.
Meditation(from Latin meditatio - mental contemplation, reflection) is an extremely deep spiritual state, which is achieved either by volitional detachment from the outside world with the help of certain exercises, prayers, dances; or as a result of taking drugs; or as a result of clinical death. Meditation is aimed at finding nirvana, that peace and bliss that opens up the opportunity to know one’s essence and connect with “Brahma” - the sacred force.
Interest in forms of occult, paranormal and meditative knowledge is not an accidental phenomenon. It is due to the breakdown of social relations, and the spiritual crisis in our country, the feeling of a dead end in the development of new European civilization, the aggravation of global problems of our time and the inability of humanity to optimally solve them.
Under these conditions, the noted forms of extra-scientific knowledge require not crucifixion, not irony, not enthusiasm, but an attitude towards knowledge of the unknown, relying on the methodological principle of doubt, which allows one to walk along the “razor’s edge” between absolute denial and absolute faith.
Knowledge and faith have different foundations. Knowledge receives its status in the process of implementing an epistemological relationship in the “subject-object” system and subsequent testing, only then does it acquire social significance.
Faith is based on the universal validity of what is believed. The bearer of faith is man, and therefore it has its roots in him. This is, first of all, trust in one’s feelings, trust in one’s own hypotheses, one’s intuition, taking on faith accumulated social experience, traditions, and customs.
As a result, we can state that faith is “embedded” in many processes of human life, where even in scientific knowledge trust and doubt coexist, and through this unity cognition is realized and empirical and theoretical knowledge is produced.
61. Logic and methodology of scientific knowledge.
A special section of philosophy that directly examines methods of cognition and their specificity is called methodology. Methodology is another type historical knowledge about the production of new knowledge. Methodology is closely related to epistemology and worldview. Its heuristic potential depends on the level of development of epistemology and the qualitative certainty of the worldview, which is focused on an ideal (optimal) attitude towards the world.
Despite its capabilities, the methodology does not exclude the presence of problems in the process of producing new knowledge. Cognition will never become a reproductive activity. It will always be creative, because both cognition and cognition of cognition are always concrete in a new situation. And a new problem situation will always attract the researcher with its mystery and uncertainty.
You can select general logical methods of cognition, methods of sensory and rational levels of cognition .
◘ General logical methods of cognition: analysis and synthesis; abstraction; generalization; induction and deduction; analogy and modeling.
Analysis- this is the division of an integral object of research into its components with the aim of their comprehensive study.
Synthesis- this is the restoration of the integrity of an object by combining previously identified characteristics, properties, sides, relationships into a single whole.
Abstraction- this is a special technique, a mental distraction from certain aspects, properties, connections of the object of study in order to highlight those essential features that interest the researcher.
Generalization- this is a method of cognition during which it is established general properties and signs of related objects, their commonality is established.
The transition from the known to the unknown is carried out using techniques such as induction and deduction.
Induction(from Latin inductio - guidance) is a logical technique for constructing a general conclusion based on particular premises.
Deduction(from Latin deductio - deduction) is a technique that provides a transition from the general to the particular, when a conclusion of a particular nature necessarily follows from general premises.
Induction and deduction are as necessarily interrelated as analysis and synthesis. Only within the framework of the principle of complementarity do these logical techniques fulfill their purpose in the process of the subject’s cognition of the object.
Analogy- this is a technique in which, based on the similarity of objects based on one characteristics, a conclusion is drawn about their similarity based on other, not yet studied characteristics.
Modeling- this is a method of cognition of an object (original) through the creation and study of its copy (model), replacing the original in those positions that are of research interest.
Methods of the sensory (empirical) level of cognition
Empirical cognition is characterized by fact-recording activity in the system of epistemological relationship “subject-object”. The main task of empirical knowledge is to collect, describe, accumulate facts, perform their primary processing, and answer the questions: what is what? what and how is happening? This activity is provided by: observation, description, measurement, experiment.
Observation- this is a deliberate and directed perception of an object of cognition in order to obtain information about its form, properties and relationships.
Description observation continues, as it were, it is a form of recording observation information, its final stage. With the help of description, information from the senses is translated into the language of signs, concepts, diagrams, graphs, acquiring a form convenient for subsequent rational processing (systematization, classification, generalization, etc.).
Measurement- this is a technique in cognition with the help of which a quantitative comparison of quantities of the same quality is carried out. Measurement is by no means a secondary technique; it is a kind of system for ensuring knowledge.
Experiment- this is a special technique (method) of cognition, representing a systematic and repeatedly reproduced observation of an object in the process of deliberate and controlled trial influences of the subject on the object of study.
◘ Methods of rational (theoretical) level of knowledge
Theoretical knowledge is characterized by consistency. If individual empirical facts can be accepted or refuted without changing the entire body of empirical knowledge, then in theoretical knowledge a change individual elements knowledge entails a change in the entire knowledge system.
Idealization represents a special epistemological relationship, where the subject mentally constructs an object, the prototype of which is available in the real world.
Formalization consists in constructing abstract models with the help of which real objects are studied.
Axiomatic method- this is a method of producing new knowledge, when it is based on axioms, from which all other statements are derived in a purely logical way, followed by a description of this conclusion. The main requirement of the axiomatic method is consistency, completeness, and independence of axioms.
Hypothetico-deductive method- this is a special technique for producing new but probable knowledge. It is based on drawing conclusions from hypotheses whose true meaning remains uncertain.
Thought experiment is a system of mental procedures carried out on idealized objects.
Topic No. 17 Philosophical problems of epistemology.
62.Problems of philosophy of science. Epistemology [ K. Popper, I. Lakatos, P. Feyrabend].
Philosophy of science is usually called that branch of analytical philosophy that deals with the study of science and claims the scientific validity of its conclusions.
Subject of philosophy of science. The problem of defining science. Logical positivism of the Vienna Circle ( M. Schlick, R. Carnap, O Neurath etc.) about the need for a dominant for science "one-dimensional world of facts".
FalsificationismKarl Popper: concepts falsifiability And falsification. The problem of demarcation of scientific and Not scientific knowledge. Thomas Kuhn's concept of scientific revolutions: a concept normal science scientific revolution, paradigms.
Methodology of research programs Imre Lakatos. Epistemological anarchism of the concept of Paul Feyerabend.
Theoretical foundations of scientism and anti-scientism. Scientific knowledge: significance for individuals and society. Goals and limits of science. Non-scientific knowledge: methods of obtaining, possibilities and limits of irrationality. Scientism and anti-scientism like two opposite directions(method) of knowing reality.
63. Philosophy of economic doctrines.
◘ Basic principles economic science . Economics as a science. A. Smith, D. Ricardo, J. St. Mill, K. Marx, M. Weber on the essence of economic laws. Definition of Economics (Collins, Robbins). Features of constructing the theory of economic science. Determinism in the science of principles, laws, phenomena. The principle of theoretical relativity (K. Popper, W. Quine). The principle of conceptuality (R. Carnap). Values and goals of the economy. The principle of the hierarchy of values. The principle of efficiency. The principle of economic responsibility. The principle of scientific and technical series and structure (T. Kuhn, I. Lakatos, P. Feirabend). Logic of problem and interpretive methods. The truth of economic science.
◘ Revolutions in the development of economic theory. The first revolution: the formation of classical economic theory. A. Smith on the theoretical core of economics. Abstraction of Smith's "economic man". Second revolution: marginalism (A. Marshall, K. Menger, F. Wieser). The third revolution: Keyesianism. J. Keynes on the general theory of economic dynamics. The problem of scientific description of economic reality. “Waiting” in the system of economic process. The fourth revolution: expected utility theory and the program-game method (J. von Neumann, M. Bleaney).
64. Philosophy of technology.
◘ The role of technology in human history (V century BC – XI century). Evolution of the concept of technology (Antiquity, Modern times, 20th century).
◘ Technique and technology in the historical process. Engineering and technology - not only universal method human existence and the objective basis of the social world order, but also the only reliable criterion for assessing the historical process, distinguishing between eras and civilizations. In technology and technology, the meaning of historical certainty and continuity in the development of world culture is expressed in a concentrated form. Technique and technology in history cannot be derived and explained through other social phenomena. Scientific, technical and technological progress is an integral part of social progress. Both technology and technology have their own logic historical development. The emergence of man, the need for active adaptive, and then expedient, purposeful activities to ensure the conditions of its own existence, it explains the initial prerequisites for the formation of the technical and technological sphere of life. Changes in historical time in technical means and methods of their use provide the most visual and objective picture of humanity’s ascent through the stages of social progress. In the history of technology and technology, a change in the generic qualities of a person is manifested - the dynamics of his spiritual, creative activity. It is here that the potential of knowledge, skills, and experience is formed, ensuring not only the production of conditions and means of life, but also the conditions for the connection of people, their continuity in history. The connection of the past with the present and the future is ensured mainly by the function of accumulation, storage, transmission of vital important information, assigned by history to science, technology and technology.
The unity of technology and its technological specifications is usually called the technological method of production. Fundamental changes in these connections determine the dominant forms and nature of human activity in a given interval of historical time. In this case, the distinction between eras can be made on various grounds. Characteristics of the technical means used for the manufacture natural material, the method of its processing gives us an idea of the Stone, Bronze, Iron Age, of the artificial materials. An assessment of the subject of labor and the type of activity allows us to distinguish epochal links in the change in technological methods of production - the era of gathering, hunting, cattle breeding, agriculture, handicrafts, industry, information activities. The most accepted distinctions between civilizational stages of social development characterize them in accordance with the method of using technical means: Savagery and Barbarism - the simplest manual and tool technologies; Cosmogenic civilization - complex weapon technologies; Technogenic civilization- machine technologies; Anthropogenic civilization - information technologies. In other words, each social era corresponds to a certain, historically established structure of technology, qualitatively different technical means and technological conditions of activity.
The Marxist concept in this matter does not remove the internal contradictions in the development of scientific, technical and technological progress. On the one hand, they are considered as the most important objective driving force stories. The transformation of science into a direct productive force, automation of production, qualitative transformation of technological conditions of activity become a factor in the mass humanization of production and other social relations, a condition for the development of personality. On the other hand, responsibility for all visible and hidden vices of scientific and technological progress is assigned to the predatory and exploitative essence of the socio-economic and political system of technogenic bourgeois society. The release of the creative forces of science, technology and technology, the removal of all forms of social alienation is associated with the destruction of capitalist social relations, the creation of a society of justice and equality.
Technology and its use serve in history as an important causal factor in the formation of the social environment, the dominant type of social relations, and political organization. In this sense, equipment and technology actually play the role of the locomotive of history, its humanization. But under any social system, the manifestation of alienation, injustice, and exploitation to one degree or another becomes an inevitable evil. The difference lies only in the degree of public awareness and overcoming of these phenomena. Humanity inertly follows the path of inhumane use of technological achievements, creating weapons of mass destruction, using them to start wars and colonial conquests. It actively uses its technical and technological potential to implement projects that destroy the natural balance of ecosystems. These and many other examples of man's destructive activity reveal themselves as a historical trend, the roots of which lie within himself.
A person’s individual attitude to technology is also contradictory. On the one hand, technology is a means of developing his creative abilities and humanizing the most diverse areas of his activity. On the other hand, he uses the technical environment, includes it in the natural way of life and at the same time resists it. Having a noticeable impact on the formation personal qualities, technology simultaneously acts as a kind of instrument of social violence, a factor of alienation. This paradox can be traced throughout history. It reveals itself within the framework of social differentiation caused by technical development and different polar assessments of technology on the part of the poor and the rich, and manifests itself in the form of alienation in the process of transferring human activity functions to a machine. In this sense, mass protests against machines in the era of early industrialism, the Luddite movement in the 18th-19th centuries, and modern ideas unemployment related to the automation of production and the movement of people to other areas of activity have common roots. The same paradox also manifests itself in the form of human powerlessness in the face of technology, which stimulates ever new needs and continuously forms their additional circle (for example, the phenomenon of fashion).
As a result, it turns out that technical progress does not save labor, and an increase in free time becomes possible only on the basis of labor intensification. This kind of contradiction also reveals itself in a number of other parameters of human inclusion in the technical and technological sphere. social activities. Traditional approaches to assessing the role of technology and technology in the history of mankind and the humanization of social relations need serious correction. This is due, first of all, to the industrial period of development, where technology and technological conditions of activity have a clear tendency to dehumanize. The technology of the industrial world is occupied with its own self-sufficiency, and only a small part of it is aimed directly at satisfying human needs.
◘ The problem of philosophical analysis of the phenomenon of technology in the twentieth century Fr. Desauer, E. Chimmer, A. Dubois-Reymond, M. Heidegger, K. Jaspers, H. Ortega y Gasset, N. A. Berdyaev, H. Jonas, L. Mumford and etc.
Works of a Russian engineer P.K. Engelmeyer “Theory of Creativity”, “Philosophy of Technology” - basic works for the philosophy of technology.
Since the 1960-70s. – philosophy of technology as an independent philosophical discipline. Two cardinal directions for studying technology: philosophy and methodology of science And philosophical anthropology. Karl Jaspers on the modern understanding of technology.
The nature of technical knowledge. Subject of technical knowledge. The evolution of the relationship between technology and science. Processes of “scientification” of technology. Technology and art. Anthropology of technology. Russian philosophy: technical Apocalypse. Technooptimism and technopessimism.
65. Sociocultural aspects of engineering and technology in the development of information civilization.
The ideas of global reconstruction of society on an information basis were first proposed in the 60-70s. XX century representatives of the Western technocratic trend in philosophy. In a generalized social meaning, the conceptual meaning of these ideas can currently be reduced to the following:
1) information and information technology become of particular value, which qualitatively change the technical basis of material and spiritual production;
2) the social structure of society is deprived of its former objective meaning and gives way to a two-member elite-mass structure - the technocratic elite and the middle class;
3) power in society passes into the hands of the information elite, which is renewed on the basis of social stratification;
4) the overwhelming majority of the Earth’s population moves into the sphere of information activities and its services;
5) the consequence of these processes is the radical humanization of the entire system of culture, social connections, family and everyday relations, and power relations;
6) contradictions between the new “computer” generation and the bearers of the old “industrial” psychology, inevitable costs in the form of the formation of a large mass of surplus population and other problems are solved on the basis of the principle of social justice through the redistribution of wealth accumulated by society, scientific management of social processes;
7) the information society itself is independent and neutral to any social system. It implements the principle of humanism for all based on increasing the threshold of awareness, improving social care for members of the community, increasing education and health care, reducing working hours, increasing well-being through increased productivity, facilitating all forms of communication, eliminating language and cultural barriers.
The ideal model of society is based on the principle of technological determinism, absolutization of the role of technical and technological factors in history. In modern society, its role and value are significantly increasing due to the emergence of information technology, data banks, and a technical base that includes the latest generation of super-powerful computers, effective programming methods, and the latest information and communication systems. New scientific information is used to provide resource-saving technologies, qualitative transformation of production structures based on complex automation, and solutions to global and numerous social problems. It turns out to be the only type of resources that humanity does not waste, but creates and accumulates. In the visible historical perspective, undoubtedly, the priority and effectively developing society will be the one that has the best information, the best technical information support, which can quickly master the accumulated information and bring it to the level of practical implementation in the sphere of production, science, culture, and management.
The emergence of a new information society provides prospects social development, expands the horizons of knowledge. At the same time, ideas about the universal ability of this society to solve any social problems with the help of equally universal technical and technological tools are, to say the least, erroneous and illusory. No matter how super-powerful, perfect and socially neutral information technology and equipment may be, it is not able, due to its social limitations, to automatically ensure the humanization of all social relations and the creation of decent living conditions for everyone. The technocratic illusory nature of many ideas about the prospects for the future of humanity is obvious, and, above all, because D. Bell, O. Toffler, A. King and other authors of this concept unify, cosmopolitanize man himself, deprive him of his natural qualities. Their ideal model of the information society is fundamentally no different from the ideal state Plato, “Cities of the Sun” by T. Campanella, the teachings of the utopian socialists.
The practice of economically developed countries establishing themselves on the paths of information civilization testifies that the increasing complexity of the entire system of social life in these conditions requires strengthening state regulation of social processes, scientifically based forecasting of their results and consequences, development of targeted programs for the implementation of tasks of a tactical level and strategic scale in the formation of post-industrial society.
66.Biology in the context of philosophy and methodology of modern science. Biophilosophy.
The problem of the descriptive and explanatory nature of biological knowledge in the mirror of the neo-Kantian opposition of ideographic and nomothetic sciences (1920-1930s). Biology through the prism of the reductionist-oriented philosophy of science of logical empiricism (1940-1970s). Biology from the point of view of anti-reductionist methodological programs (1970-1990s). The problem of the “autonomous” status of biology as a science. The problem of "biological reality". The plurality of “images of biology” in modern scientific, biological and philosophical literature. Development of bioengineering, bionics, ecophilosophy (bioethics, biopolitics, bioaesthetics, sociobiology).
Biology and the formation of a modern evolutionary picture of the world. Evolutionary ethics as a study of population genetic mechanisms of the formation of altruism in living nature. Adaptive nature and genetic determination of sociability. From altruism to moral standards, from social ability - to the human society The concepts of good and evil in evolution onno-ethical perspective. Evo tionary epistemology as dissemination evolutionary ideas for the study of cognition. Prerequisites and stages of the formation of evolutionary epistemology. Kant's a priori in the light of the biological theory of evolution. The evolution of life as a process of “cognition”. The problem of truth in the light of an evolutionary-epistemological perspective. Evolutionary genetic origin of aesthetic emotions. Higher aesthetic emotions in humans as a consequence of evolution based on natural selection. Categories of art in a bioaesthetic perspective.
Biophilosophy is a direction of the 21st century. The end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries were marked by growing interest in naturalism as a method of scientific interpretation of all the most important problems and realities that form the subject of philosophical research, including the world of purely human values. Realization of this required a reorientation of attitudes from the positions of naive anthropocentrism to more realistic positions of biocentrism.
However, the decisive factor in the new turn of philosophical thought towards the paradigm of naturalism is, of course, the achievements of theoretical-evolutionary thought in biology of the last two or three decades. What is meant here, first of all, are deep breakthroughs in understanding the population genetic mechanisms of the formation of complex forms of social behavior and life in communities, which allowed the emergence of a fundamentally new area of scientific research - sociobiology and gave impetus to the formation of a whole bunch of new scientific directions - evolutionary ethics, evolutionary aesthetics, evolutionary epistemology, bioethics, biopolitics, biolinguistics, biosemiotics and even biohermeneutics . It was the achievements of the life sciences - from molecular genetics and population genetics to cognitive psychology and research in the field of creating “artificial intelligence” that highlighted a fundamentally new perspective for the naturalization of the entire complex of philosophical research (from ethics to metaphysics), the development of the concepts of post-non-classical rationality and “new humanism”
In the field of philosophy, it started with a direction called “philosophy of life.” It gained a foothold in literature thanks to the authority of one of the leaders of the Baden school of neo-Kantianism, G. Rickert, who, looking for a common name for the motives that dominated the motley flood of intellectual innovations in the first decades of the 20th century, settled on this phrase. “The best designation for a concept that now dominates average opinions to an exceptionally high degree,” he wrote, “seems to us to be the word life... For some time now it has been increasingly used and plays a significant role not only among publicists, but also among scientific philosophers. “Experience” and “living” are favorite words, and the most modern opinion is that the task of philosophy is to give a doctrine of life, which, arising from experiences, would take on a truly vital form and could serve a living person. “According to new trends, he wrote He further states, “life must be placed at the center of the world whole, and everything that philosophy has to treat about must be related to life. It seems like the key to all the doors of the philosophical building. Life is declared to be the world’s own “essence” and at the same time an organ of its knowledge. Life itself must philosophize from itself without the help of other concepts, and such a philosophy must be directly experienced.”
In philosophical literature, it is generally accepted that the philosophy of life reaches its greatest influence in the first quarter of the 20th century, later giving way to existentialism and other personalist-oriented philosophical trends. In 1968, a monograph by one of the classics of modern evolutionism, the German scientist B. Rensch, “Biophilosophy,” was published. In the 70s, several monographs appeared with the title “Philosophy of Biology”, among which the most significant were the works of M. Ruse and D. Hull. In the 80s, this process continued to gain momentum and, in particular, the fundamental work of the Canadian scientist R. Sattler “Biophilosophy” was published.
Since 1986, under the editorship of M. Ruse, the international journal “Biology and Philosophy” (in English) began to be published, in which the questions put forward by the biophilosophical movement are systematically developed. Biology has increasingly come to be seen not just as a highly unique object for philosophical analysis, but as a kind of cultural and historical “crucible” in which, perhaps, ideas are smelted that can lead to a significant transformation of modern life. scientific picture world, and perhaps the scientific and philosophical worldview as a whole. Biophilosophy can be represented as a biologically oriented interdisciplinary branch of knowledge that considers ideological, epistemological, ontological and axiological problems of the existence of the universe through the prism of studying the phenomenon of life.
Biophilosophy is an integral unity of three components: philosophy of biology, philosophy of life and corresponding axiology ( evaluative attitude to the philosophy of biology and philosophy of life).
If we specify these formulations, we can distinguish at least three areas, or directions, of research in modern science that are related to biophilosophy.
1) Research in the field philosophical problems biology, or philosophy of biology, with a fairly clearly defined range of problems (problems of reduction, teleology, structure evolutionary theory, units of evolution, problems of the species and reality of supraspecific taxa, the relationship between micro- and macroevolution, the problem of constructing a system of the living world and a number of others). The most important result of the study of these problems in recent decades has been the awareness of the deep specificity of biology as a science, proof of its irreducibility to physics and chemistry. This specificity of biology, in turn, is a consequence of the specificity of life, which finds its most vivid expression in what has been called “teleology of the living” since ancient times. The interpretation of this property of life in terms of the theory of natural selection has opened up a broad perspective for understanding the origin and very essence of value-goal (axiological) relations in the natural and social world.
2) Research in the field of biological foundations of what is associated with man, human culture, social institutions, politics and the world of purely human values. They rely on the theoretical and mathematical apparatus of population genetics, synthetic theory of evolution and sociobiology (in bioethics and bioaesthetics they go beyond this framework). Mature research directions have formed here, sometimes claiming the status of special independent disciplines (biopolitics, evolutionary ethics, evolutionary aesthetics, etc.). In a number of cases, using purely scientific methods, they invade the holy of holies of philosophy (say, the nature of morality or knowledge), the validity of which always constitutes a big philosophical problem.
3) The third direction has, as it were, two vectors of interest, one of which is associated with the study of life from a more general angle than is typical for biology itself, and the other with the transfer of both biological and more general concepts developed in the study of life , to the entire class of natural and social systems, including the Universe as a whole.
67.Nature and society. Global problems of our time.
Ecological crisis.*Global problems of our time. Philosophy and global problems whole world: demographic problem; the problem of education; healthcare, food problem; unevenness economic development; energy and raw materials resources; problem of war and peace.
Universal guidelines: movement towards global consciousness; consolidation of international forces; correlation of private and general interests in solving global problems.
Philosophical context of the environmental problem. Humanity as geological force. V.I. Vernadsky’s teaching about noosphere. Man and the noosphere. Roman Club (K. Lorenz, A. Piccei ). Ecological imperative. The formation of ecophilosophy.
The modern ecological crisis as a civilizational crisis: origins and trends. Directions of change in the biosphere in the process of the scientific and technological revolution. Principles of interaction between society and nature. The essence of the biosphere. The global nature of the metabolic processes occurring in the biosphere between living and inanimate nature. Self-regulation of the biosphere and the natural nature of its changes over time. The biosphere as a system of interconnected biogeocenoses. The role of man in the transformation of the biosphere. IN AND. Vernadsky about the concept of “noosphere”. Civilization as a form of organization of a new geological force. Natural scientific justification for the need for a new state of society.
Spiritual and historical foundations for overcoming the environmental crisis. Ethical prerequisites for the decision environmental problems. Ecology and ecopolitics. Ecology and law. Ecology and economics. The concept of sustainable development in the context of globalization. Ecology and philosophy of information civilization. Critical analysis of the main scenarios for the eco-development of humanity: anthropocentrism, technocentrism, biocentrism, theocentrism, cosmocentrism, eccentricity. A change in the dominant cultural regulations and the formation of new constitutive principles under the influence of environmental imperatives. A new philosophy of interaction between man and nature in the context of the concept of sustainable development of Russia.
Ecological imperatives of modern culture. Ecological foundations of economic activity. Education, upbringing and enlightenment in the light of environmental problems of humanity. Ecological meaning of culture. Transformation of culture, processes of upbringing and education; production management, government in the light of new environmental requirements.
The role of education and upbringing in the process of personality formation. Features of environmental education and training. The need to change the worldview paradigm as the most important condition overcoming environmental dangers. Scientific foundations of environmental education. Features of the philosophical program “Paideia” in conditions of environmental crisis. Practical significance environmental knowledge to prevent dangerous destructive processes in nature and society. The role of funds mass media in environmental education, upbringing and enlightenment of the population.
Philosophy is a field of knowledge whose subject is almost impossible to define precisely. The questions that it is designed to answer are very diverse and depend on many factors: the era, the state, the specific thinker. Traditionally, philosophy is divided into several branches according to the subject it deals with. The most important components of philosophical knowledge are ontology and epistemology, respectively, the doctrine of being and the doctrine of knowledge. Of great importance are such fields as philosophy, history of philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, as well as some others. In this article we will dwell in detail on the section studying the nature of human cognition.
Epistemology and epistemology are two terms that indicate the same phenomenon - the theory of knowledge in philosophy. The existence of two different terms is due to temporal and geographical factors: in German philosophy of the 18th century. the doctrine of man was called epistemology, and in Anglo-American philosophy of the 20th century. - epistemology.
Epistemology is a philosophical discipline that deals with the problems of human knowledge of the world, the possibilities of knowledge and its limits. explores the prerequisites of knowledge, the relationship of acquired knowledge to the real world, the criteria for the truth of knowledge. Unlike sciences such as psychology, epistemology is a science that seeks to find universal, universal bases knowledge. What can be called knowledge? Does our knowledge relate to reality? The theory of knowledge in philosophy does not focus on the private mechanisms of the psyche through which knowledge of the world occurs.
The history of epistemology begins in Ancient Greece. It is believed that for the first time the problem of the truth of knowledge in Western philosophy was posed by Parmenides, who in his treatise “On Nature” discusses the difference between opinion and truth. Another ancient thinker, Plato, believed that initially the soul of every person belonged to the world of ideas, and true knowledge is possible as a memory relating to the period of the soul’s stay in this world. Socrates and Aristotle, who were developing methods of consistent cognition, did not ignore this problem. Thus, already in ancient philosophy we find many thinkers who do not doubt that epistemology is an important branch of philosophical knowledge.
The problem of knowledge has occupied one of the central positions throughout the history of philosophy - from antiquity to the present day. The most important question that epistemology asks is the fundamental possibility of knowing the world. The nature of the solution to this problem serves as a criterion for the formation of agnosticism, skepticism, solipsism and epistemological optimism. The two extreme points of view in this case represent, respectively, absolute unknowability and complete knowability of the world. Epistemology addresses the issues of truth and meaning, essence, form, principles and levels of knowledge.
It is no secret that our country is undergoing transformations that are very important for every citizen, events of historical importance. Therefore, it is necessary to study the problems of human cognitive activity in more depth.
The development of civilization has reached a point where the most important means of solving its problems are competence and good will, based on knowledge and universal human values. A scientific and humanistic worldview, focused on truth, goodness and justice, can contribute to the growth of human spirituality, as well as the increasing integration of human culture and the convergence of the interests of the people.
Some scientists argue that in our time the process of formation of social integrity is becoming more and more clear, and the foundations of a common style of thinking for humanity are being laid. In the structure of the latter, the leading place belongs to dialectics.
Problems of the theory of knowledge in our time appear in various forms. But there are a number of traditional problems, including truth and error, knowledge and intuition, the sensual and the rational, etc. They form the foundation on which one can comprehend the development of science and technology, the relationship between knowledge and practice, forms and types of human thinking. Some of these problems will be discussed below.
Cognition is very important for a person, since otherwise the development of man himself, science, technology would be impossible, and it is unknown how far we would have gone from the Stone Age if we did not have the ability to cognition. But “excess” knowledge can also be harmful. Here is what F. Joliot-Curie said on this matter: “Scientists know how much benefit science has brought to humanity; they also know what she could achieve now if peace reigned throughout the entire globe. They do not want the words to ever be uttered: “Science led us to death from atomic and hydrogen bombs.” Scientists know that science cannot be to blame. The only people to blame are those who make poor use of its achievements.”
It should be noted that many deep problems of epistemology have not yet been fully clarified. Further epistemological progress is associated with significant future breakthroughs in theoretical thought.
Epistemology or the theory of knowledge is a branch of philosophy in which the nature of knowledge and its possibilities, the relationship of knowledge to reality are studied, and the conditions for the reliability and truth of knowledge are identified. The term “Gnoseology” comes from the Greek words “gnosis” - knowledge and “logos” - concept, doctrine and means “concept of knowledge”, “doctrine of knowledge”. This teaching explores the nature of human cognition, the forms and patterns of transition from a superficial idea of things (opinion) to comprehension of their essence (true knowledge) and therefore considers the question of the paths of truth, its criteria. The most pressing question for all epistemology is the question of what practical life meaning has reliable knowledge about the world, about man himself and human society. And, although the term “theory of knowledge” itself was introduced into philosophy relatively recently (in 1854) by the Scottish philosopher J. Ferrer, the doctrine of knowledge has been developed since the times of Heraclitus, Plato, Aristotle.
The theory of knowledge studies the universal in human cognitive activity, regardless of what this activity itself is: everyday or specialized, professional, scientific or artistic. Therefore, we can call epistemology (the theory of scientific knowledge) a subdivision of epistemology, although quite often in the literature these two sciences are identified, which is not true.
Let us give definitions of the subject and object of cognition, without which the process of cognition itself is impossible.
The subject of knowledge is the one who realizes it, i.e. creative person, forming new knowledge. Subjects of knowledge in their totality form science community. It, in turn, develops historically and is organized into various social and professional uniforms(academies, universities, research institutes, laboratories, etc.).
From an epistemological point of view, it can be noted that the subject of cognition is a socio-historical being who realizes social goals and carries out cognitive activity on the basis of historically developing methods of scientific research.
The object of knowledge is a fragment of reality that is the focus of the researcher’s attention. Simply put, the object of knowledge is what the scientist studies: an electron, a cell, a family. They can be both phenomena and processes of the objective world, and the subjective world of a person: way of thinking, mental state, public opinion. Also an object scientific analysis may be, as it were, “secondary products” of intellectual activity itself: artistic features literary work, patterns of development of mythology, religion, etc. The object is objective in contrast to the researcher’s own ideas about it.
Sometimes in epistemology an additional term “object of knowledge” is introduced to emphasize the non-trivial nature of the formation of the object of science. The subject of knowledge represents a certain slice or aspect of an object involved in the sphere of scientific analysis. The object of knowledge enters science through the object of knowledge. We can also say that the subject of knowledge is a projection of the selected object onto specific research tasks.
Epistemology is the philosophical doctrine of knowledge. The subject of the study of epistemology is all aspects of subject-object relations, the specifics of scientific, ordinary, everyday knowledge and all types of human cognitive activity.
Epistemology studies the specifics of this or that type of cognition only from the worldview side. The purpose of studying cognitive processes is the possibility of achieving truth and the form of existence of truth.
The process of cognition is often identified with scientific knowledge. This is not true. Scientific knowledge characterized by a number of specific features that are not typical for other forms of cognition, such as everyday, artistic, religious, etc.
Epistemology studies the phenomena of cognitive activity, but in terms of the relationship of cognition to objective reality, to truth, to the process of achieving truth. “Truth” is one of the central concepts of epistemology. Epistemology is based on the sociocultural aspect of human activity, which is the leading one.
The philosophical theory of knowledge is based on data obtained within special disciplines, be it empirical data or theoretical generalizations.
However, epistemology is an independent field of knowledge and cannot be reduced to any special scientific discipline. The philosophical theory of knowledge is based on the results of research, which act as empirical material, which change within the framework of tasks to identify the norms for obtaining true knowledge, in the context of developing problems related to the relationship between knowledge and reality.
One of the central questions of epistemology is: “Is the world knowable?” Within the framework of epistemology, this question takes on the following formulation: “how do our thoughts about the world around us relate to this world itself?” The question is whether it is possible to reliably know objects, their essence and manifestations of essence.
Answering this question, two directions have emerged in philosophy: cognitive-realistic and agnostic. For agnosticism The characteristic statement is that the world is unknowable. However, such a statement is not entirely true and originates from the position of I. Kant. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, a type of agnosticism was formed - Conventionalism is a philosophical concept according to which scientific theories and concepts are not a reflection of the objective world, but are the subject of agreement between scientists. Conventionalism has become widespread in the last decade.
Modern philosophical theory knowledge and agnosticism do not disagree on the question of the knowability of phenomena. Fundamental disagreement on the question of whether the essence of material systems is knowable. The specificity of agnosticism lies in the denial of the possibility of reliable knowledge of the essence of material systems. Agnosticism is a doctrine that denies the possibility of reliable knowledge of the essence of material systems, the laws of nature and society.
2. The leading (central) problem of the philosophy of knowledge is the problem of truth. All problems of epistemology are characterized by interest either in the means and ways of achieving truth, or in the forms of existence of truth, forms of its implementation, and the structure of cognitive relations.
There are many definitions of truth:
1) correspondence of knowledge to reality;
2) experimental confirmability;
3) usefulness of knowledge, its effectiveness;
4) agreement.
Definition truth as the correspondence of knowledge to reality is central to the classical concept of understanding truth.
