Currently, philosophy is also a science about the universal laws of development of nature, society, thinking, cognition and a special form of social consciousness, theoretical basis worldview, a system of philosophical disciplines that contribute to the formation spiritual world person.

Philosophy has always included consideration of so-called worldview questions: how does the world work? Does it have a beginning and an end? What place does a person occupy in the world? The purpose of man. What is truth? Is it achievable? Is there a God? What is the meaning and purpose of life? What are the relationships between people, society and nature, good and evil, truth and error? What does the future hold for us? Not a single person can ignore these and similar questions. Philosophy has always helped people seek answers to these questions, while performing an ideological function.

1. Materialism.

Matter has always been there. On at a certain stage its development, highly organized matter acquires the ability to feel and think, i.e., the ideal arises (F. Bacon, L. Feuerbach. K. Marx. F. Engels, V. I. Lenin).

Vulgar materialism: “The ideal does not exist, the brain produces thoughts like the liver produces bile.” (Late 18th century, Buchner, Vocht, Milichott).

Materialism- scientific philosophical direction, opposite idealism. Philosophical materialism asserts the primacy of the material and the secondary nature of the spiritual, ideal, which means the eternity, uncreatedness of the world, its infinity in time and space. Considering consciousness to be a product of matter, materialism views it as a reflection of the external world, thus asserting the knowability of nature. In the history of philosophy, materialism, as a rule, was the worldview of advanced classes and strata of society interested in correct knowledge of the world, in strengthening human power over nature. Summarizing the achievements of science, materialism contributed to the growth scientific knowledge, improvement scientific methods, which in turn had a beneficial effect on the success of human practice and on the development of productive forces.

In the process of interaction of materialism and special sciences, the appearance and forms of materialism itself changed. The first teachings of materialism appear along with the emergence of philosophy in slave-holding societies ancient india, China and Greece - for several centuries. BC e. - in connection with progress in the field of astronomy, mathematics and other sciences. common feature ancient, in many ways still naive, materialism (Laozi, Yang Zhd, Wang Chong, the Lokayata school, Heraclitus, Anaxagoras, Empedocles, Democritus, Epicurus, etc.) consists in recognizing the materiality of the world, its existence independent of the consciousness of people. Its representatives sought to find in the diversity of nature the common origin of everything that exists and happens (Element). The merit of ancient materialism was the creation of a hypothesis about the atomic structure of matter (Leucippus, Democritus). Many ancient materialists were spontaneous dialecticians.

However, most of them have not yet made a clear distinction between the physical and the mental, endowing the properties of the latter with all of nature ( Hylozoism). The development of materialist and dialectical positions was combined in ancient materialism with the influence of mythological ideology. In the Middle Ages materialistic tendencies manifested themselves in the form of nominalism, doctrines of the “eternity of nature and God” and early pantheistic heresies. During the Renaissance, materialism (Telesio, Vruna, etc.) was often clothed in the form of pantheism and hylozoism, viewed nature in its integrity and was in many ways reminiscent of the materialism of antiquity. Materialism (materialism) received its further development in the 17th and 18th centuries. in European countries (Bacon, Galileo, Hobbes, Gassendi, Spinoza, Locke).

This form of materialism arose on the basis of emerging capitalism and the associated growth of production, technology, and science. Acting as ideologists of the then progressive bourgeoisie, materialists fought against medieval scholasticism and church authorities, turned to experience as a teacher and to nature as an object of philosophy. M. 17-18 centuries. It is connected with the rapidly progressing mechanics and mathematics at that time, which determined its mechanistic character. Unlike the natural philosophers-materialists of the Renaissance, the materialists of the 17th century. began to regard the last elements of nature as inanimate and qualityless. Another feature of mathematics of this era was the desire for analysis, for the division of nature into more or less isolated, unrelated areas and objects of study and consideration of them outside of development; among the representatives of materialist philosophy of this period, a special place is occupied by the French. materialists of the 18th century (La Mettrie, Diderot, Helvetius and Holbach).

Remaining in general positions mechanistic understanding of movement, they, following Tolaend, considered it as a universal and integral property of nature, and completely abandoned the deistic inconsistency inherent in most 17th-century materialists. Many elements of dialectics are characteristic of Diderot's materialism. The organic connection that exists between any kind of materialism and atheism is found among the French materialists of the 18th century. came out especially brightly. The pinnacle in the development of this form of mathematics in the West was “anthropological” M. Feuerbach. At the same time, Feuerbach most clearly manifested the contemplative nature inherent in all pre-Marxian M.

In Russia and other countries of Eastern Europe in the second half of the 19th century. A further step in the development of mathematics was the philosophy of revolutionary democrats (Belinsky, Herzen, Chernyshevsky, Dobrolyubov, Markovich, Votev, etc.), based on the traditions of Lomonosov, Radishchev, and others and in a number of respects rising above the narrow horizon of anthropology and metaphysical method. The highest and most consistent form of mathematics was created by Marx and Engels in the mid-19th century. dialectical M. He not only overcame the above-mentioned shortcomings of the old M., but also the idealistic understanding of the human society inherent in all its representatives.

In the further history of M. (materialism), two fundamentally different lines have already sharply emerged: the development of dialectical and historical materialism, on the one hand, and a number of simplified and vulgarized varieties of materialism. Among the latter, the most typical was vulgar materialism, which approached positivism; Those varieties of M. that arose at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries also gravitate towards the latter. as a distortion of dialectical materialism (mechanistic revision of Marxism, etc.), as well as so-called “scientific materialism” (J. Smart, M. Bunge, etc.). In the second half of the 19th century. M. in its mature forms turned out to be incompatible with the narrow class interests of the bourgeoisie.

Bourgeois philosophers accuse M. of immoralism, misunderstanding of the nature of consciousness and identify M. with its primitive varieties. Rejecting the atheism and epistemological optimism of M., some of them were nevertheless forced, in the interests of the development of production and natural science, to accept certain elements of the materialist worldview. Sometimes idealists portray their teachings as "authentic" and "most modern." M. (Carnap, Bachelard, Sartre). By obscuring in a number of cases the opposition between materialism and idealism, bourgeois philosophers resort not only to positivism and neorealism, but also to such amorphous and ambiguous constructions as the modern. American naturalism.

On the other hand, among scientists in the past there were many who, declaratively recognizing idealism or positivistly shunning “all philosophy,” actually occupied the position of mathematics in special scientific research (the natural history theory of Haeckel, Boltzmann, and others). For modern advanced scientists are characterized by an evolution from natural science to conscious, and ultimately to dialectical m. (Langevin, Joliot-Curie, etc.).

One of the features of the development of dialectical mathematics is its enrichment with new ideas. Modern the development of science requires that natural scientists become conscious supporters of dialectical materialism. At the same time, the development of socio-historical practice and science requires the constant development and concretization of the philosophy of mathematics itself. The latter occurs in the constant struggle of mathematics with the latest varieties idealistic philosophy.

2. Idealism.

a) Objective idealism: “The idea was primary. Everything came from it, including through evolution” (Plato, Hegel).

Modern French philosopher Teilhard de Chardin:

“There was a psychic principle in everything, but in the inanimate it did not develop.”

b) Subjective idealism (Berkeley, Hume). “There are only me and my consciousness. It gives birth to the surrounding world. The phenomena of the world are complexes of our sensations.”

Idealism - philosophical direction opposite to materialism in the solution of the main. question of philosophy. I. proceeds from the primacy of the spiritual, immaterial, and the secondary nature of the material, which brings him closer to the dogmas of religion about the finitude of the world in time and space and its creation God. I. considers consciousness in isolation from nature, due to which he inevitably mystifies it and the process of cognition and often comes to skepticism and agnosticism. Consistent I. opposes the teleological viewpoint to materialistic determinism. (Teleology). Bourgeois philosophers used the term “I.” is used in many senses, and this direction itself is sometimes considered as truly philosophical. Marxism-Leninism proves the inconsistency of this view, however, in contrast to metaphysical and vulgar materialism, which considers idealism only as absurdity and nonsense, it emphasizes the presence of epistemological roots in any specific form of idealism (Lenin V.I., vol. 29, p. 322).

Development of theoretical thinking leads to the fact that the possibility of idealism - the separation of concepts from their objects - is given already in the most elementary abstraction. This possibility becomes a reality only in the conditions of a class society, where I. arises as a scientific continuation of mythological, religious and fantastic ideas. According to its social roots, philosophy, in contrast to materialism, acts, as a rule, as a worldview of conservative and reactionary strata and classes that are not interested in the correct reflection of existence, in a radical restructuring public relations. At the same time, I. absolutizes the inevitable difficulties in the development of human knowledge and thereby hinders scientific progress. At the same time, individual representatives of philosophy, posing new epistemological questions and exploring the forms of the process of cognition, seriously stimulated the development of a number of important philosophical problems.

In contrast to bourgeois philosophers, numbering many independent forms I., Marxism-Leninism divides all its varieties into two groups: objective I., which takes the personal or impersonal universal spirit, a kind of super-individual consciousness, as the basis of reality, and subjective I., which reduces knowledge about the world to the content of individual consciousness. However, the difference between subjective and objective information is not absolute. Many objective-idealistic systems contain elements of subjective information; on the other hand, subjective idealists, trying to get away from solipsism, often switch to the position of objective I. In the history of philosophy, objective idealistic teachings initially appeared in the East ( Vedanta , Confucianism).

The classical form of objective philosophy was the philosophy of Plato. The feature of objective I. Plato, characteristic of the ancients. In general, there is a close connection with religious and mythological ideas. This connection intensifies at the beginning of the century. e., in the era of crisis of ancient society, when Neoplatonism developed, fused not only with mythology, but also with extreme mysticism. This feature of objective philosophy was even more pronounced in the Middle Ages, when philosophy was completely subordinated to theology (Augustine, Thomas Aquinas). The restructuring of objective history, carried out primarily by Thomas Aquinas, was based on distorted Aristotelianism. The main concept of objective-idealistic scholastic philosophy after Thomas Aquinas became the concept of immaterial form, interpreted as a goal principle that fulfills the will of an extranatural God, who wisely planned the world, finite in time and space.

Since Descartes in bourgeois philosophy In modern times, as individualistic motives strengthened, subjective information developed more and more. The epistemological part of the system of Verily and Hume’s philosophy became the classic manifestation of subjective information. IN Kant's philosophy with the materialist assertion about the independence of “things in themselves” from the consciousness of the subject is combined, on the one hand, a subjective-idealistic position about the a priori forms of this consciousness, which substantiates agnosticism, and on the other, an objective-idealistic recognition of the super-individual nature of these forms. The subjective-idealistic tendency subsequently prevailed in the philosophy of Fichte, and the objective-idealistic tendency in the philosophy of Schelling and especially Hegel, who created a comprehensive system of dialectical history. The evolution of history after the collapse of the Hegelian school was determined by the loss of the bourgeoisie's progressive public role and its struggle against dialectical materialism.

From the bourgeois philosophers themselves concept "I." became identified only with its most overt, spiritualistic form. An opinion has emerged regarding supposedly “intermediate” and even supposedly “rising” doctrines above humanism and materialism (positivism, neorealism, etc.). Agnostic and irrationalistic trends have intensified, the mythologization of philosophy as “necessary self-deception,” disbelief in the human mind, in the future of humanity, etc. Reactionary pseudo-atheism has developed (Nietzscheanism, fascist philosophical concepts, some types of positivism, etc.). During the period of the general crisis of capitalism, such forms of philosophy as existentialism and neopositivism, as well as a number of schools of Catholic philosophy, primarily neo-Thomism, spread. The three named currents are main variety I. mid-20th century, but along with them and within them in the second half of the century the process of splitting I. into small epigonic schools continued.

The main social reasons for “diversity” forms of modern philosophy (phenomenology, critical realism, personalism, pragmatism, philosophy of life, philosophical anthropology, concepts of the Frankfurt school, etc.) are the deepening process of the disintegration of bourgeois consciousness and the desire to consolidate the illusion of “independence” of idealistic philosophy from the political forces of imperialism. On the other hand, a partly opposite process is taking place - rapprochement and even “hybridization” of various currents of ideology based on the general anti-communist orientation of bourgeois ideology of the 20th century. Scientific foundations of modern criticism. The forms of philosophy were laid down by Lenin in his book “Materialism and Empirio-Criticism,” where a Marxist analysis was given not only of the Machian variety of positivism, but also of the basic content of all bourgeois philosophy of the era of imperialism.

Basic concepts of the theory of knowledge and history of philosophy (empiricism, rationalism, irrationalism) IN cognitive process, the goal of which is truth, achievement passes through a series of steps:

1. Empiricism(founders Beccon, Locke, Hobbes). Such a philosophy is a methodological orientation of knowledge that recognizes sensory experience as the main source and criteria, integrated into materialist empiricism as a result of the influence of connections and objects of the external world on human feelings, as a result of which they act as images of this world. And in ideological empiricism, this is the property of a person’s inner world, his unconditional experiences.

2. Rationalism- this is an ideological, theoretical and methodological orientation, the supporters of which recognize reason as the main source of true knowledge and the basis of human behavior, absolutizing its meaning and underestimating or ignoring the role of sensory experience and practical human activity. Representatives: Deckard, Leibniz, Spinoza (XVI century).

3. Irrationalism- this is the direction philosophical thought, which recognizes the basis of the process of cognition and transformation of the world as non-rational aspects of human spiritual life: intuition, faith, will, limiting or denying the possibilities of reason in this process.

4. Sensationalism- a diverse philosophical position, whose representatives fully recognized feelings as the only source and factor in achieving truth with all its content and the only essential reality, absolutizing their meaning, underestimating or ignoring other cognitive characteristics of a person. The problem of knowing the world and the main ways to solve it The problem of obtaining true knowledge about the world, i.e. the question of the knowability of the world is central problem epistemology.

In the history of philosophy, three main approaches have emerged that answer the question of the knowability of reality in different ways:

1) cognitive optimism;

2) skepticism;

3) agnosticism (cognitive pessimism).

Cognitive optimists (these include mainly materialists and objective idealists) believe that the phenomena of reality are essentially knowable, although the world - due to its infinity - is not completely knowable.

Skeptics(from the Greek “skepticos” - seeking, examining, exploring) they doubt the possibility of obtaining reliable knowledge about the world, absolutizing the moment of relativity in true knowledge, pointing out its formal unprovability. Representatives of agnosticism (these are mainly subjective idealists) deny the possibility of knowing the essence of phenomena. Absolutizing the imperfection of sensory perception of reality, agnostics in their extreme conclusions even deny the existence of objective reality. All these approaches have a certain theoretical basis.

But the decisive arguments in favor of cognitive optimism are: the development of social practice and material production, the successes of experimental natural science, confirming the truth of knowledge. The theoretical-cognitive situation has its own structure, including the subject and object of cognition, as well as a “mediator” that connects them into a single process. Dialectics of the process of cognition. The unity of the sensual, rational and intuitive in cognition Cognition is a socio-historical process creative activity people, shaping their knowledge. And knowledge is ideal images(ideas, concepts, theories) enshrined in the signs of natural and artificial languages, on the basis of which the goals and motives of human actions arise.

Exist different levels knowledge- everyday, theoretical, artistic - as a sensory-figurative reflection of reality. The branch of philosophy where knowledge is studied is called epistemology. Is the world knowable, is a person capable of creating a correct picture of the world? Most philosophers address this problem positively. This position is called epistemological optimism. For materialists, the world is knowable - knowledge is a subjective image of the objective world. In subjective idealism (Berkeley), knowledge of the inner world of man is possible, etc. But there are philosophers who deny the possibility of reliable knowledge - agnosticism (not accessible to knowledge).

In scientific philosophy cognition is considered as a process of interaction between object and subject in material and sensory human activity. Subject and object act as sides of a practical relationship. The subject is the bearer of a material, purposeful action that connects him with the object. Object - the subject to which the action is directed. The initial characteristic of the subject is activity, the object is the application of activity. Activity is conscious in nature, it is mediated by goal setting and self-awareness.

Into the structure of cognitive activity such levels as sensual and rational are included. Sensory cognition: sensation is a subjective image of an object, primary information about the world, perception is a holistic sensory image of objects given through observation, it reflects the various properties of a thing as a whole, representation is an indirect holistic image, stored and reproduced with the help of memory. It is based on past perceptions, imagination, dreams, fantasies, etc. Rational cognition is, first of all, thinking, which is based on sensory cognition and provides generalized knowledge. It is carried out in 3 forms: concepts, judgments, inferences. All three forms of logical thinking are characterized by a connection with language. Levels of knowledge exist in an inextricable connection and form a dialectical path of knowledge: from living contemplation, to abstract thinking - from there to practice. The result of knowledge is the achievement of true knowledge.

The subject of philosophy is the range of issues that philosophy studies.

General structure the subject of philosophy, philosophical knowledge consists of 4 main sections:

1. Ontology (the doctrine of being);

2. Epistemology (the study of knowledge);

3. Man;

4. Society.

Main sections of philosophical knowledge:

1). Ontology (Metaphysics). Ontology deals with the whole complex of issues related to the existence of Being and its basic principles. We can say that it includes such subsections as cosmogony, philosophical cosmology, natural philosophy, metaphysics, etc. It deals with issues of randomness and probability, discreteness and continuity, stationarity and variability, in the end, the materiality or ideality of what is happening in the environment us in the world.

2). Epistemology. She studies issues of knowledge, the possibility of knowledge, the nature of knowledge and its possibilities, the relationship of knowledge to reality, the prerequisites of knowledge, the conditions of its reliability and truth. It is from epistemology that such philosophical directions as skepticism, optimism, and agnosticism stem. One more important issue, which epistemology deals with, is the question of the relationship between experience, the work of the Mind and the sensations we receive through the senses. In addition to other sections, epistemology also includes epistemology, which studies the philosophy of scientific knowledge. The theory of knowledge as a philosophical discipline analyzes the universal foundations that make it possible to consider the cognitive result as knowledge expressing the real, true state of affairs.

3). Axiology is a philosophy of values. “What is good?” - the main question of the general philosophy of values. Axiology studies values, their place in reality, the structure of the value world, i.e. the connection of various values ​​with each other, with social and cultural factors and personality structure. It deals with some issues of personal and social life of a person and organized groups of people. We can say that it includes, as components, ethics, aesthetics, sociophilosophy and philosophy of history. This also includes philosophical anthropology.

4). Praxeology- a branch of philosophy that studies the immediate practical life of a person. By by and large, it includes, in fact, the same subsections as the previous paragraph, but in a somewhat arbitrary interpretation. We can say that praxeology deals with the utilitarian problems of axiology.

Main branches of philosophy

Within the framework of philosophical knowledge proper, already in the early stages of its formation, its differentiation began, as a result of which such philosophical disciplines, like ethics, logic, aesthetics, and the following sections of philosophical knowledge gradually took shape:

- ontology- the doctrine of being, about the origins of all things, about the criteria of existence, general principles and laws of existence;

- epistemology- a section of philosophy in which the problems of the nature of knowledge and its capabilities, the relationship of knowledge to reality are studied, the conditions for the reliability and truth of knowledge are identified;

- axiology- the doctrine of the nature and structure of values, their place in reality, the connection between values;

- praxeology- the doctrine of the practical relationship between man and the world, the activity of our spirit, goal-setting and human effectiveness;

- anthropology- philosophical doctrine about a human;

- social philosophy - a section of philosophy that describes the specific features of society, its dynamics and prospects, logic social processes, the meaning and purpose of human history.

These sections are not reducible to each other, but are closely related to each other.

Idealism is a category of philosophy that states that reality depends on mind and not on matter. In other words, all ideas and thoughts constitute the essence and fundamental nature of our world. In this article we will get acquainted with the concept of idealism, consider who its founder was.

Preamble

Extreme versions of idealism deny that any “world” exists outside of our minds. Narrower versions of this philosophical movement, on the contrary, argue that the understanding of reality primarily reflects the work of our minds, that the properties of objects do not have a standing independent of the minds that perceive them.

If there is an external world, we cannot really know it or know anything about it; all that is available to us are mental constructs created by the mind, which we falsely attribute to the things around us. For example, theistic forms of idealism limit reality to only one consciousness - the divine.

Definition in simple words

Idealism is the philosophical credo of those people who believe in high ideals and strive to make them real, although they know that sometimes this is impossible. This concept is often contrasted with pragmatism and realism, where people have goals that are less ambitious but more achievable.

This sense of “idealism” is very different from how the word is used in philosophy. WITH scientific point view, idealism is the basic structure of reality: adherents of this movement believe that its one “unit” is thought, not matter.

Important books and founding philosophers

If you want to get to know the concept of idealism better, it is recommended to read some fascinating works by some authors. For example, Josiah Royce - “The World and the Individual”, Berkeley George - “Treatise on the Principles of Human Knowledge”, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel 0 “Phenomenology of Spirit”, I. Kant - “Critique of Pure Reason”.

You should also pay attention to the founders of idealism, such as Plato and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. All the authors of the books mentioned above made a huge contribution to the development of this philosophical movement.

Scottish philosopher David Hume showed that a person cannot prove the existence of a stable self-identity over time. There is no scientific way to confirm people's self-image. We are confident that this is true thanks to our intuition. She tells us: “Of course it’s me! And it can’t be any other way!”

There are many ways to answer, including those based on modern genetics, which Hume could not have imagined. Instead of being a physical object, the human self is an idea, and according to ontological philosophical idealism, this is what makes it real!

James Jeans was a British scientist and mathematician. In his quotation that each individual consciousness should be compared to a brain cell in the universal mind, the researcher shows a comparison between divine and ontological idealism. James Jeans was an ardent proponent of the latter theory in philosophy. The scientist argued that ideas cannot simply float in the abstract world of the mind, but are contained in the great universal mind. However, he does not use the word “God” itself, but many attribute his theory to theism. Jeans himself was an agnostic, that is, he believed that it was impossible to know whether the Almighty was real or not.

What is “mind” in idealism

The nature and identity of the “mind” on which reality depends is one of the issues that has divided idealists into several sides. Some argue that there is some kind of objective consciousness outside of nature, others, on the contrary, think that it is simply the general power of reason or rationality, others believe that it is the collective mental abilities of society, and others simply focus on the thought processes of individual people.

Plato's Objective Idealism

The ancient Greek philosopher believed that there was a perfect realm of form and ideas, and our world simply contained its shadows. This view is often called Plato's objective idealism or "Platonic realism" because the scientist seemed to ascribe to these forms an existence independent of any mind. However, some argued that ancient Greek philosopher adhered to a position similar to Kant's Transcendental Idealism.

Epistemological course

According to Rene Descartes, the only thing that can be real happens in our mind: nothing from the external world can be realized directly without the mind. Thus, the only true knowledge available to humanity is our own existence, a position summed up in the famous statement of the mathematician and philosopher: “I think, therefore I am” (in Latin - Cogito ergo sum).

Subjective opinion

According to this trend in idealism, only ideas can be known and have any reality. In some treatises it is also called solipsism or dogmatic idealism. Thus, no statement about anything outside one's mind has any justification.

Bishop George Berkeley was the main proponent of this position, and he argued that so-called “objects” existed only insofar as we perceived them: they were not constructed from independently existing matter. Reality only seemed to persist, either because people continued to perceive things or because of the persisting will and mind of God.

Objective idealism

According to this theory, all reality is based on the perception of one mind, usually but not always identified with God, which then transmits its perception to the minds of all others.

There is no time, space or other reality outside the perception of one mind. In fact, even we humans are not separate from it. We are more like cells that are part of a larger organism, rather than independent beings. Objective idealism began with Friedrich Schelling, but found its supporters in the person of G. W. F. Hegel, Josiah Royce, S. Peirce.

Transcendental idealism

According to this theory, developed by Kant, all knowledge originates in perceptible phenomena that were organized into categories. These thoughts are sometimes called critical idealism, which does not deny that external objects or external reality exist. However, he at the same time denies that we have no access to the true, essential nature of reality or objects. All we have is a simple perception of them.

Absolute idealism

This theory states that all objects are identical to a specific idea, and ideal knowledge is the system of ideas itself. This is also known as objective idealism, which resembles the movement created by Hegel. Unlike other forms of flow, this one believes that there is only one mind in which all reality is created.

Divine idealism

Moreover, the world can be seen as one of the manifestations of some other minds, such as God. However, it should be remembered that all physical reality will be contained in the mind of the Almighty, which means that he himself will be located outside the Multiverse itself.

Ontological idealism

Other people who adhere to this theory argue that the material world exists, but at a basic level it was created from ideas. For example, some physicists believe that the universe is fundamentally made up of numbers. Therefore, scientific formulas do not just describe physical reality - they are it. E=MC 2 is a formula that is seen as a fundamental aspect of reality that Einstein discovered, and not at all a description that he subsequently made.

Idealism vs Materialism

Materialism states that reality has physical basis, not conceptual. For adherents of this theory, such a world is the only truth. Our thoughts and perceptions are part material world, like other objects. For example, consciousness is a physical process in which one part (your brain) interacts with another (a book, a screen, or the sky you are looking at).

Idealism is a constantly contestable system, so it cannot be proven or disproved, just like materialism. There are no specific tests that can find the facts and weigh them against each other. Here, all the truths can be falsified and false, because no one has yet been able to prove them.

All that adherents of these theories rely on is intuition or an instinctive reaction. Many people believe that materialism makes more sense than idealism. This is both a great experience of interaction of the first theory with the outside world, and the belief that everything around really exists. But, on the other hand, a refutation of this system appears, because a person cannot go beyond the limits of his own mind, so how can we be sure that reality exists around us?

Discussing the eternal, the world's minds strive to understand what is primary, what dominates the other. In order to defend their positions, representatives of knowledge have to build ideals on which the outcome of the dispute will depend. This is where idealism in philosophy originates, as a way of thinking and one of the fundamental areas of knowledge, which causes a lot of controversy and discussion.

Historical purpose

Despite the long existence and age of philosophy, the origin of the term dates back only to the 17th-18th centuries AD. The words “idea” and “idealists” were constantly circulating in scientific circles, but did not find a corresponding continuation. Until, in 1702, Leibniz called Plato and Epicurus great maximalists and idealists.

Later, Diderot defined the concept of idealists. The French figure called such philosophers blind, recognizing only their own existence of the world of sensations.

He perceived the direction as the theory of the existence of objects in space separately from humans. The thinker did not accept the material form of flow. The German classic was the author of transcendental (formal) idealism, which opposed the previous one. Based on the impossibility of the origin of things outside our consciousness, Kant argued that nothing can exist outside the human mind.

The year 1800 was the discovery of Schelling's theory of the extension of a formal principle to the scale of the knowledge system as a whole.

He believed that the essence of the doctrine boils down to the non-recognition of the finite as indisputably valid. The scientist believed that self-respecting intellectual science is subject to the principles of this particular focus.

According to Marx, dynamic reality developed only through idealistic actions, but figuratively. Materialism reflected contemplation, a lack of action.

Engels argued in 1886 that supporters of the theory of the primacy of spirit over nature unwittingly became the founders of the idealistic concept. Opponents who recognize the primacy of nature become adherents of materialism.

The History of Philosophy, published in 1957-1965 in the USSR, explained: “The main stages in the development of a branch of science are the confrontation of a pair of leading movements, where one reflects the breakthrough ideas of society, and the other comes down to conservative, reactionary views.”

The history of the use of the term became widespread in the 19th and early 20th centuries, especially in European countries.

Kant's supporters considered themselves idealists, while representatives of the British school of absolute idealism became followers of Hegel.

In the second half of the twentieth century, sages and thinkers avoided using the term, but when discussing, they increasingly used the word “ideology.”

What does the concept mean?

The meaning of the term is multifaceted. When accessible to segments of the population with different status and standard of living, it implies a tendency to overestimate reality. By reflecting on the actions of another person, a person implies that the individual was motivated solely by good intentions. This way of thinking is a manifestation of optimism. Otherwise, idealism is the predominance of moral values ​​over material ones. It is also a neglect of the actual circumstances of life in favor of the triumph of spiritual forces. Idealistic psychological philosophy, of the types listed earlier, reflects a state of mind, a subjective attitude to reality.

Subjectivism and its influence

The subjective current positions human consciousness as the ideal source. Under such circumstances, reality loses its objective character, because everything, as supporters of subjectivism believe, happens in the head of the individual. The current takes on a new manifestation - solipsism, in other words, the affirmation of the uniqueness of the existence of a specific subject. Real processes that occur in the surrounding world are the result of the activity of consciousness. Berkeley reveals the theory of solipsism more than other “colleagues.”

In practice, adherents of subjective views maintain moderation and do not openly oppose the existence of generally accepted reality, because they do not provide significant evidence of sensory teaching. Kant is sure that such a statement of things is “a scandal in scientific society.” Modern society observes the continuation of trends in pragmatism and existentialism. Protagoras, Berkeley, and Kant are considered famous representatives of scientific teaching.

Philosophical objectivism

Objective idealism in the science of man and the world is the doctrine of the superiority of the ideal principle over human consciousness. Representatives of this movement believe that the origin is a certain “cosmic spirit.” One stage of its development contributes to the emergence of the world, the origin of life on Earth. This worldview is very close to religion, where God is the creator of the universe, but has no material essence. Objective idealists consider their direction not to be religious, but connections with church dogmas have been preserved and there is evidence of this. Plato and Hegel are considered prominent figures in the doctrine.

Berkeley's view of the concept

In the course of Berkeley-type views, the hint of realism dissipates. Berkeley considers spiritual nature and the parallel concentration of intellects to be the fundamental dogma. The scientist believes that all physical manifestations are a fantasy of the mind, matter is a delusion of thinkers about the independence of existence.

Berkeley's and Plato's idealisms are combined into dogmatic idealism. The primacy belongs to the essence of objects, and not to the doubtfulness of the power of knowledge.

Interpretation of direction according to Plato

The ancient Greek thinker and scientist Plato, discussing the opposition of the mind and the feelings, represents a dualistic (Platonic) current of views. The concept is based on the opposition of inferences (visible being) with sensory manifestations (apparent being). But visible existence is based on an independent substance - matter, where it acts as a mediator between being and non-being. Following such judgments, Plato's views acquire a touch of realism.

English School

The difference in worldviews of dogmatic idealism is represented by students and followers English school. Philosophers deny spiritual entities, the independence of subjects, and give importance to the existence of groups of associated ideas and consciousnesses in the absence of subjects. Their views intersect with empiricism and sensationalism. He founded this theory of unconsciousness, but Hume refuted its objectivity, since it was incompatible with any proven knowledge.

German school

The German school of thought discovered a unique direction - transcendental idealism. Kant put forward a theory from which it follows that the world of phenomena is determined by irrefutable conditions of knowledge - space, time, categories of thinking. The philosophers of this doctrine, as subjective idealists, believed: physical bodies are accessible to man only by perfect nature, and the real nature of phenomena is beyond the boundaries of knowledge. Kant's theory of knowledge is perceived as a manifestation of extremes and is divided into branches:

• Subjective (founder Fichte);
• Objective (founder Schelling);
• Absolute (founder Hegel).

The currents described above differ in their perception of the reality of the surrounding world. Kant considers the existence of the world to be undeniable and fully meaningful. According to Fichte, reality acts as an unreflected facet that stimulates the individual to create an ideal world. Schelling transforms the outer edge inward, considering it the origin of the creative essence, which is something intermediate between subject and object. For Hegel, reality self-destructs, world progress is perceived through the self-realization of the absolute idea.

It becomes possible to understand idealism if you direct your aspirations towards realization. absolute truth in everyday reality.

Idealism comes from the primacy of the spiritual, immaterial, and the secondary nature of the material, which brings it closer to the dogmas of religion about the finitude of the world in time and space and its creation by God. Idealism considers consciousness in isolation from nature, due to which it inevitably mystifies it and the process of cognition and often leads to skepticism and agnosticism. Consistent idealism opposes materialistic determinism with the teleological point of view about the presence in the world of objective non-human goals and expediency.

The philosophical term “idealism” should not be confused with the word “idealist” used in everyday language, in everyday discussions on moral topics, which comes from the word “ideal” and denotes an unselfish person striving to achieve lofty goals. IN philosophical sense idealism in the ethical field means the denial of the conditionality of moral consciousness by social existence and the recognition of its primacy. The confusion of these concepts was often used by idealists in order to discredit philosophical materialism.

Bourgeois philosophers use the term “idealism” in many senses, and this direction itself is sometimes considered as truly philosophical. Marxism-Leninism proves the inconsistency of this point of view, however, in contrast to metaphysical and vulgar materialism, which views idealism only as absurdity and nonsense, it emphasizes the presence of epistemological roots in any specific form of idealism.

The historical sources of idealism are the anthropomorphism inherent in the thinking of primitive man, the animation of the entire surrounding world and consideration of it driving forces in the image and likeness of human actions as determined by consciousness and will. Subsequently, the ability of abstract thinking itself becomes the epistemological source of idealism. The possibility of idealism is already given in the first elementary abstraction. Education general concepts and an increasing degree of abstraction - necessary points progress of theoretical thinking. However, the incorrect use of abstraction entails hypostatization (raising to the rank of an independently existing object) properties, relationships, and actions of real things abstracted by thinking in isolation from their specific material carriers and attributing independent existence to these products of abstraction. Consciousness, thinking, size, form, goodness, beauty, conceived outside and independently of material objects and beings that possess them, as well as a plant “in general” or a person “in general”, taken as essences, or ideas embodied in things, - such is the false course of abstract thinking that leads to idealism.

This possibility of idealism becomes a reality only in the conditions of a class society, where idealism arises as a scientific continuation of mythological, religious and fantastic ideas. According to its social roots, idealism, in contrast to materialism, acts, as a rule, as a worldview of conservative and reactionary strata and classes that are not interested in the correct reflection of existence, in a radical restructuring of social relations. At the same time, idealism absolutizes the inevitable difficulties in the development of human knowledge and thereby hinders scientific progress. At the same time, individual representatives of idealism, posing new epistemological questions and exploring the forms of the process of cognition, seriously stimulated the development of a number of important philosophical problems.

In contrast to bourgeois philosophers, who count many independent forms of idealism, Marxism-Leninism divides all its varieties into two groups: objective idealism, which takes the personal or impersonal universal spirit, a kind of super-individual consciousness, as the basis of reality, and subjective idealism, which reduces knowledge about the world to the content of the individual consciousness. However, the difference between subjective and objective idealism is not absolute. Many objective-idealistic systems contain elements of subjective idealism; on the other hand, subjective idealists, trying to get away from solipsism, often switch to the position of objective idealism.

In the history of philosophy, objective-idealistic teachings initially appeared in the East (Vedanta, Confucianism). The classic form of objective idealism was the philosophy of Plato. A feature of Plato's objective idealism, characteristic of ancient idealism in general, is its close connection with religious and mythological ideas. This connection intensifies at the beginning of our era, during the era of the crisis of ancient society, when Neoplatonism develops, fused not only with mythology, but also with extreme mysticism.

This feature of objective idealism was even more pronounced in the Middle Ages, when philosophy was completely subordinated to theology (Augustine, Thomas Aquinas). The restructuring of objective idealism, carried out primarily by Thomas Aquinas, was based on a distorted Aristotelianism. The main concept of objective-idealistic scholastic philosophy after Thomas Aquinas became the concept of immaterial form, interpreted as a goal principle that fulfills the will of an extranatural god, which the world, finite in time and space, wisely planned.