2 main question of philosophy. What is reality? The role of philosophy in scientific knowledge

Briefly about philosophy: the most important and basic things about philosophy in a brief summary
The main question of philosophy: being and consciousness

The main, basic problem of philosophy is the question of the relationship of thinking to being, spirit to nature, consciousness to matter. The concepts of “being” - “nature” - “matter” and “spirit” - “thinking” - “consciousness” in this case are used as synonyms.

In the existing world there are two groups, two classes of phenomena: material phenomena, that is, existing outside and independently of consciousness, and spiritual phenomena (ideal, existing in consciousness).

The term “fundamental question of philosophy” was introduced by F. Engels in 1886 in his work “Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy.” Some thinkers deny the significance of the main question of philosophy, consider it far-fetched, devoid of cognitive meaning and significance. But something else is clear: it is impossible to ignore the opposition between the material and the ideal. It is obvious that the object of thought and the thought about the object are not the same thing.

Already Plato noted those who took the idea as primary, and those who took the world of things as primary.

F. Schelling spoke about the relationship between the objective, real world, which is “beyond consciousness,” and the “ideal world,” located “on this side of consciousness.”

The importance of this issue lies in the fact that the construction of a holistic knowledge about the world around us and man’s place in it depends on its reliable resolution, and this is the main task of philosophy.

Matter and consciousness (spirit) are two inseparable and at the same time opposite characteristics of existence. In this regard, there are two sides to the main question of philosophy - ontological and epistemological.

The ontological (existential) side of the main question of philosophy lies in the formulation and solution of the problem: what comes first - matter or consciousness?

The epistemological (cognitive) side of the main question: is the world cognizable or uncognizable, what comes first in the process of cognition?

Depending on the ontological and epistemological side, the main directions in philosophy are distinguished - materialism and idealism, respectively, as well as empiricism and rationalism.


The ontological side of the main question of philosophy

When considering the ontological (existential) side of the main question of philosophy, the following directions are distinguished:

1. Materialism (founder Democritus) is a direction in philosophy, whose supporters believed that in the relationship between matter and consciousness, matter is primary. Matter exists really, independently of consciousness; is an independent substance; develops according to its own internal laws; consciousness (spirit) is the property of highly organized matter to reflect itself; consciousness is determined by matter (being).

A special direction of materialism is vulgar materialism (Focht et al.), whose representatives absolutize the role of matter, study matter from the point of view of physics, mathematics and chemistry, ignore consciousness as an essence and its ability to reciprocally influence matter.

2. Idealism is a direction of philosophy whose supporters considered consciousness (idea, spirit) to be primary in the relationship between matter and consciousness.

Two directions:

Objective idealism (Plato, Leibniz, Hegel, etc.): only the idea really exists; the “world of ideas” initially exists in the World Mind; the “world of ideas” objectively exists independently of our consciousness; the “world of things” is only the embodiment of the “world of ideas”; God the Creator plays a large role in transforming a “pure idea” into a concrete thing;

Subjective idealism (Berkeley, Hume): ideas (images) of material things exist only in the human mind, through sensory sensations; Outside the consciousness of an individual, neither matter nor ideas exist.

3. Dualism (Descartes) - a movement of philosophy whose supporters recognized the equal existence of two opposite and interconnected sides of a single being - matter and spirit. Material things come from material substance, ideas from spiritual. Both substances are combined in a person at the same time.

4. Deism (French enlighteners of the 18th century) - a direction in philosophy, whose supporters recognized the existence of God, who, having once created the world, no longer participates in its further development. Deists considered matter to be spiritual and did not oppose matter and spirit (consciousness).

The epistemological side of the main question of philosophy

When considering the epistemological (cognitive) side of the main issue of philosophy, the following directions are distinguished:

Empiricism (sensualism);
rationalism;
irrationalism;
Gnosticism;
agnosticism.

1. Empiricism/sensualism (founder F. Bacon) - a direction of philosophy whose representatives believed that knowledge can only be based on experience and sensory sensations.

2. Rationalism (founder R. Descartes) - a movement of philosophy whose supporters believed that true (reliable) knowledge can only be derived directly from the mind and does not depend on sensory experience. Firstly, only doubt in everything really exists, and doubt is a thought, an activity of the mind. Secondly, there are truths that are obvious to reason (axioms) and do not need any experimental proof, for example: “God exists,” “A square has equal angles,” “The whole is greater than its part,” etc.

3. Irrationalism (Nietzsche, Schopenhauer) - a special direction, whose supporters believed that the world is chaotic, has no internal logic, and therefore will never be known by reason.

4. Gnosticism (usually materialists) is a philosophical movement whose supporters believe that the world is knowable and the possibilities of knowledge are not limited.

5. Agnosticism (E. Kant and others) - a direction whose representatives believe that the world is unknowable, and the possibilities of knowledge are limited by the cognitive capabilities of the human mind. Based on the finiteness and limited cognitive capabilities of the human mind, there are riddles (contradictions) that will never be solved by man, for example: “God exists,” “God does not exist.” However, according to Kant, even what is included in the cognitive capabilities of the human mind will still never be cognized, since the mind can only cognize the reflection of a thing in sensory sensations, but will never cognize the inner essence of a given thing - the “thing in itself.” .....................................

The main question of philosophy is the question of the relationship of consciousness to being, thinking to matter, nature, considered from two sides: firstly, what is primary - spirit or nature, matter or consciousness - and, secondly, how does knowledge about the world relate to the world itself, or, in other words, whether consciousness corresponds to being, whether it is capable of correctly reflecting the world. Consistent regulation of O. century. f. is possible only if both sides are taken into account. Philosophers who are supporters of materialism recognize matter and being as primary, consciousness as secondary, and consider consciousness to be the result of the influence of the objectively existing external world on the subject. Idealist philosophers take the idea and consciousness as primary, considering them as the only reliable reality. Therefore, from their point of view, knowledge is not a reflection of material existence, but is only the comprehension of consciousness itself in the form of self-knowledge, analysis of sensations, concepts, knowledge of the absolute idea, world will, etc. An intermediate, inconsistent position in O.’s decision. V. f. occupy dualism, agnosticism. The former philosophy was characterized by a metaphysical approach to the solution of O.-v. f., manifested either in the underestimation of the activity of consciousness, in the reduction of cognition to passive contemplation (metaphysical materialism), in the identification of consciousness and matter (Vulgar materialism), or in the exaggeration of the activity of thought, in elevating it to an absolute, divorced from matter (Idealism), or in asserting their fundamental incompatibility (dualism, agnosticism). Only Marxist philosophy has provided a comprehensive materialist, scientifically based solution to O. v. f. She sees the primacy of matter in the following: 1) matter is the source of consciousness, and consciousness is a reflection of matter; 2) consciousness is the result of a long process of development of the material world; 3) consciousness is a property, a function of highly organized matter of the brain; 4) the existence and development of human consciousness and thinking is impossible without a linguistic material shell, without speech; 5) consciousness arises, is formed and is improved as a result of a person’s material labor activity; 6) consciousness is of a social nature and is determined by material social existence. Noting the absolute opposition of matter and consciousness only within the limits of O. century. f., dialectical materialism simultaneously points to their interrelation and interaction. Being a derivative of material existence, consciousness has relative independence in its development and has a reverse active impact on the material world, promoting its practical development and transformation. Human consciousness, based on practice, is capable of reliable knowledge of the world. The question of the relationship between matter and consciousness, being the main one, determines not only the solution to particular problems, but also the nature of the worldview as a whole, and provides a reliable criterion for distinguishing fundamental problems. philosophical directions. Therefore, the scientific formulation of O. century. f. allows us to consistently implement the principle of partisan philosophy, clearly distinguish and contrast materialism and idealism, and resolutely defend the scientific worldview of dialectical materialism.

The main question of philosophy is: what comes first – matter or consciousness? We are talking here about the relationship of the spiritual world to the material. As one of the founders of Marxist philosophy, Friedrich Engels, pointed out, all philosophers are divided into two large groups. Each scientific camp answers the basic question of philosophy in its own way.

Depending on what the thinkers considered primary, they began to be called idealists or materialists. Representatives of idealism argue that spiritual substance existed before the material world. Materialists, on the other hand, consider nature in all its manifestations to be the main source of all things. It should be noted that both of these currents are not.

Throughout the history of philosophy, its main question has undergone several modifications and was formulated in different ways. But every time such a question was posed and when it was resolved, thinkers were forced, willingly or unwillingly, to adhere to one of two possible sides, even if they tried to reconcile idealistic and materialistic views among themselves in the concepts of philosophical dualism.

In its specific formulation, the basic question of philosophy was first posed only by representatives of Marxist philosophy. Before this, many thinkers tried to replace the question of the relationship between spirit and matter with other approaches, for example, the problem of mastering the natural elements or the search for the meaning of human life. Only the German philosophers Hegel and Feuerbach came close to the correct interpretation of the main philosophical problem.

The question of the knowability of the world

The main question of philosophy has a second side, directly adjacent to the problem of identifying the principle that is primary. This other facet is connected with the attitude of thinkers to the possibility of cognizing the surrounding reality. In this formulation, the main philosophical question sounds like this: how do a person’s thoughts about the world relate to this world itself? Is thinking capable of accurately reflecting reality?

Those who fundamentally reject the knowability of the world are called agnostics in philosophy. A positive answer to the question about the knowability of the world can be found among both materialists and idealists. Representatives of idealism believe that cognitive activity is based on combinations of sensations and feelings, on the basis of which logical structures are built that go beyond the limits of human experience. Materialist philosophers consider the source of knowledge about the world to be objective reality, which exists independently of consciousness.

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Problem fundamental question of philosophy is basic to understand. And in this article we will briefly consider the essence of the main question of philosophy and its two sides.

The main question of philosophy reveals the semantic orientation of philosophy, its desire to find the keys to solving the main problem of humanity - “to be or not to be.”

The main question of philosophy does not entirely coincide with its subject. is a study of the principles of relationship and interaction between man and the world in their universal characteristics, while the main question determines which side this universal is “turned” towards man.

The ontological side of the main question of philosophy

So, the main question of philosophy– the question of the relationship of spirit, consciousness to being, matter; the question of what is primary - thinking or being, nature or spirit, material or ideal? Who generates and determines whom?

Depending on the solution to this issue, there are materialistic And idealistic concepts, two main directions of philosophical thought: materialism And idealism.
The table below reflects the main philosophical movements regarding the first side of the main question of philosophy. Find their description and representatives below in the text.

Materialism

Materialism proclaims matter eternal, independent, indestructible and primary - the source of all things, which exists and develops according to its own laws. Nature, being, matter, the material are the primary sources of everything, and in turn, consciousness, thinking, spirit, the ideal are secondary, determined and generated by the material. In honor of the greatest materialist of Ancient Greece, materialism is called line of Democritus in philosophy.

According to materialism, the world is material, exists on its own, is not created by anyone and is indestructible, naturally changeable, develops due to its own reasons; represents the single and final reality, which excludes any supernatural force. Consciousness, thinking and spirit are the properties of matter, its ideal reflection.

The virtues of materialism– reliance on science, logical provability of many provisions. Weak side– insufficient explanation of the essence of consciousness (its origin) and everything ideal.

During various periods of history Materialism took on different forms and types:

Materialism of the Ancient East and Ancient Greece (spontaneous and naive) - the original type of materialism, which represents the surrounding world as consisting of four basic material elements (water, earth, air, fire, all first principles, atoms, etc.), which is considered in itself, regardless of the consciousness of man and the gods. Representatives: Thales of Miletus, Leucippus, Democritus, Heraclitus, Empedocles, etc.

Metaphysical (mechanistic) materialism of the New Age. Its basis is the study of nature. Moreover, all the diversity of its properties comes down to the extension of matter and its mechanical form of movement. Representatives: G. Galileo, F. Bacon, J. Locke, J. Lamerty, P. Holbach, C. Helvetius and others.

– the unity of materialism and dialectics. Eternal and infinite matter is in constant motion and development, occurring according to the laws of dialectics. In the process of self-propulsion, matter acquires new forms and goes through various stages of development. The ideal is recognized as a special reality that exists relatively autonomously. Consciousness is the property of matter to reflect itself. God is an ideal image that was created by man to explain unknown and incomprehensible phenomena. Representatives: K. Marx, F. Engels.

Vulgar materialism reduces all thought processes to a physiological basis. Consciousness is identified with matter; matter produces consciousness as “liver and bile.” Representatives: Focht, Moleschott, Buchner.

Idealism

According to idealism the primary beginning of everything that exists is spirituality(God, spirit, idea, individual consciousness), matter arises from the spirit and obeys it, nature, the material world is secondary. This term was introduced by the German philosopher G. Leibniz at the beginning of the 18th century. The founder of the idealistic trend in philosophy for Leibniz was Plato. It is for this reason that idealism is called Plato's line in philosophy.

Idealism has two main forms: objective and subjective idealism.

Objective idealism, according to which the ideal exists objectively, independently of man and nature in the form of the world mind, the cosmic soul, the absolute idea. Representatives: Plato and Neoplatonists, philosophers of the Middle Ages, Hegel and Neo-Hegelians).

Subjective idealism defines the ideal as the form of internal human experience. The external world, its properties and relationships depend on human consciousness. Representatives: J. Berkeley, D. Hume, E. Mach et al. The extreme form of subjective idealism is solipsism (from Latin solus - one, ipse - myself, sum - I exist), suggesting that only my consciousness, my own “I”, my feelings, while the existence of everything that surrounds me is problematic.

All of the above varieties of materialism and idealism are different varieties of philosophical monism (from the Greek monos - one, only).

However, the main question of philosophy also allows for a dual answer: both matter and consciousness are primordial entities and cannot be reduced to each other. This direction in philosophy is called dualism (lat. duo - two). Thus, dualists recognized the existence of two independent substances (primary principles). A prominent representative of dualism is the French philosopher Rene Descartes.

An answer is also possible in which a set of first principles is asserted, in the limiting case of an unlimited set. This direction was called pluralism (Latin pluralis - multiple) and was proposed by a German thinker of the 17th century G. Leibniz.

The epistemological side of the main question of philosophy

This side considers another problem of the main philosophical question: “Are we cognizant of the world? Is a person capable of comprehending the essence of the surrounding reality?. This problem received the name "Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy" in Engels' work the second side of the main question of philosophy: “The great and fundamental question of all, especially modern, philosophy is the question of the relationship of thinking to being” (Marx K., Engels F. Soch. T.21, P.220).

This question allows two answers:

- “we know the world”, this solution is called epistemological optimism or from Greek gnoseo - I know;

- “the world is unknowable” - epistemological pessimism or agnosticism. Representatives: David Hume, Immanuel Kant.

Options for solving the first and second sides of the main question of philosophy are the main types of philosophical constructions that evolve, change forms and constitute a further classification of philosophical solutions.

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This is a question not only about the relationship between being and consciousness, but a question about the relationship between man, nature and thinking - three systems. Philosophers interpret these systems, their relationship, location and involvement of thinking in movement in different ways. Thus, Plato believes that ideas are outside things, according to Aristotle, ideas are in reality, according to Kant, thinking is in a person’s head, and Hegel argued that ideas move - into nature, then into man and return to their original state Absolute Idea. (Gorelov A.A.)

This formulation of the question is traditional, but there are different opinions among philosophers regarding the main question of philosophy.

Interpretations of the main question of philosophy by different thinkers

What is primary, fundamental, arising from one another - being or consciousness?

The worldview problem of the relationship between man and the world implies the problem of the relationship between being and consciousness. This problem can be formulated in various ways, but its very existence is due to the presence of human thinking and soul.

Two sides of the fundamental question of philosophy

There are two sides to the main question of philosophy that philosophers reflect on - ontological and epistemological. The first side – ontological – implies the determination of the primacy of being and consciousness. The second side is epistemological - the question of cognition, that is, the question of how our thoughts relate to the world around us, are our ideas about the world correct, are we able to know the world?

The solution to all philosophical problems begins with an answer to the main question of philosophy. Depending on the specifics of the answer to this question, philosophical directions and schools are determined and developed.

Ontological side of the issue

There are two points of view on the ontological problem of solving the main question of philosophy, which divided philosophers into two categories - idealists and materialists. The first argued that nature and all material existence were generated by spiritual entities, while the second, on the contrary, were sure that nature and matter were primary.

It should be noted that philosophers, reflecting on the question of primacy, decide not the question of what appeared or arose earlier - matter or consciousness, but the question of their relationship - how they relate to each other, what is primary in relation to each other. Idealists and materialists understand the ontological relationship between the world and consciousness differently.

There are three options for solving the first side of the issue (monistic philosophy): materialism, subjective and objective idealism.

Materialism

The external world exists independently of our spirit, consciousness and thinking and is primary in relation to them.

The origin of materialism occurred in the Ancient world (Ancient China - Taoism, Ancient India - Charvakalokayata, Ancient Greece - Milesian school). Throughout its development, one form replaced another - from the naturalistic materialism of antiquity to the mechanistic form of the New Age and the dialectical form in the 19-20 centuries. Representatives of mechanistic materialism: F. Bacon, Hobbes, Holbach, etc. In accordance with this form, the material world is a mechanism in which everything is necessary, conditioned and has a cause. However, this applies only to nature, but not to society, in which, according to materialists, moral principles operate, and not mechanical causes.

The modern form of materialism is dialectical. Founders: K. Marx and F. Engels. Its essence is an orientation towards science and practice, the mobilization of forces for a qualitative change in the life of society.

Subjective idealism

The external world is a product of the activity of human consciousness and exists thanks to it. Among the representatives of subjective idealism are such philosophers as Berkeley (1685-1753), Fichte (1762-1814) and others. The essence of subjective idealism is the assertion that the world is the way we imagine it. Everything that we observe in the world is only the totality of our sensations. All perceived qualities are relative: the same object can appear either large or small, depending on the distance to it. The famous thesis of George Berkeley: “to exist is to be perceived,” implying that being is something that is perceived through various human sensations, and one cannot even reason about the objective existence of things.

Objective idealism

Representatives of objective idealism believe that there is a higher mind, thanks to which the world of things and human consciousness appeared. In various philosophical teachings, this mind (the highest spiritual principle) has different names: Spirit, Idea, Brahman, etc.

Since this world mind exists independently of human consciousness, hence the name - objective idealism. Representatives of this trend: in Europe - Plato, Thomas Aquinas, Hegel, orthodox darshans - in India.

These directions relate to monistic philosophy (monism). In addition to the monistic teaching of philosophy, there is another concept called “dualism” - dualistic teachings. Dualism includes the teachings of Descartes (1596-1650), who believes that the world and consciousness do not depend on each other.

A compromise doctrine is deism (G. Cherbury, Voltaire, Newton, Radishchev, etc.). Philosophers of this school admitted that God created the world of things and man, but believed that he did not further participate in the development of the created world.

Epistemological side of the issue

There are also different answers and points of view to the question about the possibilities of human thinking to understand the world around us. The majority of people, including philosophers, answer this question in the affirmative: “the world is knowable,” which is called epistemological optimism or gnosticism.

In antiquity, agnosticism was presented in the form of skepticism. Skeptics pondered the question of the nature of things, man's relationship to them and the consequences of this relationship to them. Philosophers argued that the nature of things is unknown to us, and we should treat things with skepticism, avoiding categorical judgments. This will entail equanimity and happiness (lack of suffering). Representatives of Renaissance skepticism: M. Montaigne, P. Bayle. Representatives of modern agnosticism: Hume and Kant.

In some modern trends in philosophy, elements of agnosticism appear. For example, some representatives of agnosticism believe that the world is not knowable, and this fact is proposed to be assessed positively, since “knowledge makes existence more difficult.”

The main question of philosophy remains unresolved and loses its relevance. Philosophers argue that the main question of philosophy may change, and the main problem will be the question of the existence of man, his self-identification, the search for the meaning of life and happiness.

Useful sources

1. Gorelov A.A. Fundamentals of philosophy: a textbook for students. institutions of the environment prof. education / A.A. Gorelov. - 15th ed., erased. - M: Publishing center "Academy", 2014. - 320 p.
2. Ilyin V.V. Philosophy in diagrams and comments: Textbook / V.V. Ilyin, A.V. Mashentsev. – St. Petersburg: Peter, 2005. – 304 p.
3. Kryukov V.V. Philosophy: Textbook for students of technical universities. Novosibirsk: NSTU Publishing House, 2006.-219 p.

The main question of philosophy in brief (ontology of being) updated: March 23, 2019 by: Scientific Articles.Ru