The main question of philosophy and its various interpretations. The problem of the main question of philosophy and various options for its solution

From the moment a person begins to think, he strives to understand the world and your own existence. He tried to explain this with the help of myths, superstitions and religions on the one hand and with the help of science and philosophy on the other.

Religion offers answers to many of these questions, but it is based on divine intervention, which the church considers "authoritative", and is expressed in dogmatic, irrational faith. Science and philosophy abandon dogma and try to answer these questions using reason, logic and experience.

Philosophy is a fairly broad and complex concept, but its essence can be boiled down to finding answers to the 10 questions presented below.

1. What is the nature of the Universe?

Where did she come from? When did it begin to exist? Why did she appear? What influences its change? Is it developing or collapsing? Does it function on its own or does it need some kind of intentional control to keep it from becoming chaos?

2. Is there any Supreme Being?

If so, what is His nature? Did he create the universe? Does He control it, and if so, at what level? What is His connection with man? Can He interfere in human affairs? Is He good? If He is so good and omnipotent, then why does evil exist?

3. What is the place of man in the Universe?

Is the person highest form development in the Universe or is he just an insignificant grain of sand in infinite space? Is the human spirit a product of some higher spiritual forces or has it evolved from matter? How is the Universe disposed towards humans: friendly, indifferent or completely hostile?

4. What is reality?

What is consciousness and what is thought? Are the thoughts real? What is more important: consciousness or matter? Did consciousness create matter or did matter evolve into consciousness? Where do ideas come from? Do thoughts have any influence on our lives or are they just fantasies? What is Truth? Is there a universal Truth that is always true for all people, or is it individual for everyone?

5. What determines the fate of each person?

Is man a creator and driving force his life or is he living under the influence of a force over which he has no control? Is there free will or is our life determined? external factors, and if so, what are these factors? Is there some high power which can interfere in our lives? Or is everything predetermined from the beginning of time? Or is our life a random set of events, phenomena and incidents? Is there some other life control mechanism that we don't know about?

6. What is good and evil?

What is morality? What is ethics? Who accepted the boundaries of good and bad, right and wrong? On what basis? Is there an absolute standard for defining good or bad regardless of personal opinion? What to do if the decisions of other people (society, government), which determine the scope of good and bad, contradict personal beliefs? Should we obey others or follow our own conscience? If, as an answer to the fifth question, we assume that we do not have free will, then what difference does it make how we act in life, good or bad? If we have no choice, will it make a difference whether we are good or evil?

7. Why is our life the way it is?

What should it be ideal life? What would a utopian society or heaven on earth look like? Is it even possible to create a utopia? If so, how? Will utopia provide personal freedom? What will need to be done with those who are against the utopian system? If we start to control or punish them, will it remain a utopia?

8. What is the ideal relationship between the individual and the state?

When does the individual serve the state or when does the state serve the individual? What is the ideal form of government? When does a person have the right not to submit to the dictatorship of the state? What is the maximum permissible degree of government influence? In what case will a person protesting against the established order be right?

9. What is education?

What is important for young people to know and what is not? Who should control education: parents, the student himself, society or the state? Should a person be educated in order to be free and live according to his interests? Or should he subordinate his desires to serving other people or the state?

10. What happens after death?

Is death the end of everything, or does a person have a soul that continues to exist after death? If there is a soul, is it immortal, or will it eventually also cease to exist? If the soul continues to exist after death, what does that existence look like? If existence after death is possible, will those who behaved “good” be rewarded, and will those who behaved “badly” be punished? If so, how can this be reconciled with the predetermination of fate?

To understand the specifics of philosophy great importance has an understanding of its “main question”, the peculiarities of the relationship between the subject and the main question. Each philosopher identifies those questions that he considers fundamental for himself and for all philosophy. “The great and fundamental question of all, especially modern philosophy,” wrote Engels, “is the question of the relationship of thinking to being” Marx K., Engels F. Soch. T.21. P.282. . The main question of philosophy, therefore, is the value-semantic dominant of philosophy as “vital reason”. The main question of philosophy reveals the life-meaning orientation of philosophy, its desire to find ways to solve the basic human problem - “to be or not to be.” Different forms of answering the main question, various aspects its solutions make it possible to formulate some principles for the classification of philosophical concepts. “Philosophers,” writes F. Engels, “divided into two large camps according to how they answered this question. Those who argued that spirit existed before nature ... constituted the idealist camp. Those who who considered nature to be the main principle, joined various schools of materialism" K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 21, p. 283.

By the nature of the solution to the question of the connection between matter and spirit “by origin” philosophical concepts usually divided into materialistic and idealistic. Idealism (from the Greek idea - idea) is a doctrine that recognizes the spirit, idea, consciousness as the initial, primary beginning of everything that exists. The term itself was introduced by the German philosopher G. Leibniz at the beginning of the 18th century. The Greek philosopher Plato became an example of the idealistic direction in philosophy for Leibniz. Idealism has two main varieties. The first is objective idealism. Representatives of this trend (Plato and Neoplatonists, philosophers of the Middle Ages, Hegel) consider the ideal to exist objectively, independently of man. Subjective idealists (J. Berkeley, D. Hume, E. Mach) believe perfect shape inner human experience.

Materialism also has various shapes. The term "materialism" (from the Latin materialis - material) was also introduced by G. Leibniz. For Leibniz the most bright expression the first form of materialism, naive materialism, was ancient atomism. There is so-called “mechanistic” materialism, which sees the main property of matter in extension (P. Holbach, J. La Mettrie), vulgar materialism, which reduces everything thought processes To physiological basis, natural science materialism, conditioned by the cognitive attitude of the scientist, and dialectical materialism (Marxism) - they recognized the ideal as a special reality that exists relatively autonomously. Philosophers who recognize the existence of two independent substances (primary principles) are called dualists (from the Latin dualis - dual).

This classification is quite simplified, but it allows us to highlight general trends in the development of philosophy. This is how the term “naturalism” appeared (from the Latin naturalis - created by nature). Naturalism is basically the same as materialism. At the same time, the concept of B. Spinoza, who dissolved God in nature, is called naturalism. This concept was called “pantheism” (from the Greek pan - everything and Teas - God). There is also such a direction as deism (from the Latin deus - God), whose representatives (J. Toland, Voltaire) recognized the extranatural principle of God, but reduced his role in the world to a minimum.

Such areas of philosophical thought as dialectics and metaphysics have a rather contradictory history. The term "metaphysics" arose by chance. The first publisher of Aristotle's works, Andronicus of Rhodes, placed that work, which examines the principles of being, inaccessible to the senses and revealed only by speculation, after the “Physics”. This is where the term “what comes after physics” comes from. Hegel and the philosophy of Marxism brought a new shade to the understanding of metaphysics. For them, metaphysics meant the absence of dynamism in the original principles, the non-recognition of the internal contradictoriness of everything that exists.

Dialectics (from the Greek art of conversation, argument) is a term first used by Socrates to refer to the art of arguing with the goal of achieving truth through confrontation of opinions. Hegel, and after him the Marxists, began to view dialectics as the opposite of metaphysics. Dialectics in this sense is the doctrine of the internal connection of movement, development with the fundamental principles of the world.

Depending on the solution to the question of the knowability of the world, philosophers are divided into agnostics, who believe that the world is unknowable, and thinkers who recognize the knowability of the world. Among the latter, one can single out supporters of rationalism (from the Latin rationalis - reasonable), for whom the leading role of reason in knowledge and its independence from our feelings is beyond doubt (R. Descartes, I. Kant), and sensationalism (sensus - feeling), who believes that sensory cognition- the main way of understanding the world.

Based on all this, it is impossible to construct a linear classification scheme for all philosophical directions, it is multidimensional in nature.

Modern philosophy, after the revolution accomplished in philosophy by I. Kant, has become more cautious. She speaks only about the relationship between subject and object within the framework of the human world, she does not try to look into the realm of the beyond, does not try to answer the question of what is the absolute fundamental basis of the world.

The main question of philosophy, just like philosophy itself, evolves, changes form, but always remains an expression of the human desire for integrity, lying in the depths of the life world.

The question of the relationship between matter and consciousness, being fundamental, 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 between the main philosophical trends.

A person tries to find an answer to the most general and profound questions: what is the world around us and what is the place and purpose of man in the world? What underlies everything that exists: matter or spirit? Is the world subject to any laws? Can a person know the world around him, what does this knowledge represent? What is the meaning of life, its purpose? Such questions are called worldview questions. Central ideological problems - the relationship of thinking to human existence, peace to consciousness, matter to spirit, which is primary - the formation of the main question of philosophy, since through the attitude of a person, his thinking, consciousness, spirituality, psychological activity, a person’s place in the world, his purpose, the meaning of existence is realized. Any philosophical teaching is based on its decision, relying on it as the initial principle in answering other questions: about essence, the relationship of matter to spirit, about the nature of true knowledge, about life and death, and others.

It is the main question of philosophy that divides philosophers into materialists (who recognize matter as the primary element, existing outside and independently of consciousness, and consciousness as secondary, derived from matter) and idealists (who believe that spirit - consciousness, which precedes matter - creates it). Idealism is divided into objective And subjective:

Objective idealism recognizes the basis of everything that exists as an object, a spiritual principle independent of man - the world spirit, the extra-human mind.

Subjective idealism considers human consciousness to be primary, which is recognized as the only reality, while reality is the result of the spiritual creativity of the subject. Idealism is close to religion; the philosopher interprets God, but does not exclude the substantiation of his positions by rational means, using logical methods of argumentation.

The main forms of philosophical materialism: spontaneous, metaphysical (17-18th centuries), dialectical. Closely connected with science, based on its provisions and conclusions. There is a dualistic system that recognizes materialism and spirituality as two independent principles. For example, philosophers explain nature materialistically, and social phenomena idealistically. Although many philosophers do not recognize questions about the relationship of thinking to being as the main question of philosophy, other questions are reduced to it, which together give a holistic picture of the world.

1.4. The role of philosophy in scientific knowledge

Classification of methods

The variety of types of human activity determines a diverse range of methods that can be classified on a variety of grounds (criteria). First of all, we should highlight the methods of spiritual, ideal (including scientific) and methods of practical, material activity. Currently, it has become obvious that a system of methods, methodology cannot be limited only to the sphere of scientific knowledge, it must go beyond its limits and certainly include it in its orbit and scope of practice. At the same time, it is necessary to keep in mind the close interaction of these two spheres.

As for the methods of science, there may be several reasons for dividing them into groups. Thus, depending on the role and place in the process of scientific knowledge, one can distinguish formal and substantive, empirical and theoretical, fundamental and applied methods, methods of research and presentation, etc. The content of objects studied by science serves as a criterion for distinguishing between the methods of natural science and the methods of social sciences and humanities. In turn, the methods of natural sciences can be divided into methods of studying inanimate nature and methods for studying wildlife, etc. There are also qualitative and quantitative methods, uniquely deterministic and probabilistic, methods of direct and indirect cognition, original and derivative, etc.

In modern science, the multi-level concept of methodological knowledge “works” quite successfully. In this regard, all methods of scientific knowledge can be divided into the following main groups (according to the degree of generality and breadth of application).

1. Philosophical methods, among which the most ancient are dialectical and metaphysical. Essentially, every philosophical concept has a methodological function and is a unique way of mental activity. Therefore, philosophical methods are not limited to the two mentioned. These also include methods such as analytical (characteristic of modern analytical philosophy), intuitive, phenomenological, hermeneutic (understanding), etc.

Philosophical methods are not a “set” of rigidly fixed regulators, but a system of “soft” principles, operations, techniques that are general, universal in nature, i.e. located at the highest (ultimate) “floors” of abstraction. Therefore, philosophical methods are not described in strict terms of logic and experiment, and are not amenable to formalization and mathematization.

It should be clearly understood that philosophical methods set only the most general regulations of research, its general strategy, but do not replace special methods and do not directly and directly determine the final result of knowledge.

2. General scientific approaches and research methods, which were widely developed and used in science of the 20th century. They act as a kind of “intermediate methodology” between philosophy and the fundamental theoretical and methodological provisions of the special sciences. General scientific concepts most often include such concepts as “information”, “model”, “structure”, “function”, “system”, “element”, “optimality”, “probability”, etc.

The characteristic features of general scientific concepts are, firstly, the “fusion” in their content of individual properties, features, concepts of a number of special sciences and philosophical categories. Secondly, the possibility (unlike the latter) of their formalization and clarification by means of mathematical theory and symbolic logic.

If philosophical categories embody the maximum possible degree of generality - the concrete-universal, then general scientific concepts are characterized for the most part by the abstract-general (identical), which allows them to be expressed by abstract-formal means.

On the basis of general scientific concepts and concepts, the corresponding methods and principles of cognition are formulated, which ensure the connection and optimal interaction of philosophy with special scientific knowledge and its methods. General scientific principles and approaches include systemic and structural-functional, cybernetic, probabilistic, modeling, formalization and a number of others.

3. Private scientific methods- a set of methods, principles of cognition, research techniques and procedures used in one or another science corresponding to a given basic form of motion of matter. These are methods of mechanics, physics, chemistry, biology and social sciences.

4. Disciplinary Methods- a system of techniques used in a particular scientific discipline, included in any branch of science or arising at the intersections of sciences. Each fundamental science is a complex of disciplines that have their own specific subject and their own unique research methods.

5. Interdisciplinary research methods- a set of a number of synthetic, integrative methods (arising as a result of a combination of elements of various levels of methodology), aimed mainly at the interfaces of scientific disciplines. These methods have found wide application in the implementation of complex scientific programs.

Thus, methodology cannot be reduced to any one, even “very important method.” A scientist should never rely on any single doctrine, should never limit his methods of thinking to one single philosophy. Methodology is also not a simple sum of individual methods, their “mechanical unity”. Methodology is a complex, dynamic, holistic, subordinated system of methods, techniques, principles different levels, scope, focus, heuristic capabilities, contents, structures, etc.

Functions of philosophy in scientific knowledge

1. Philosophy develops certain “models” of reality , through the “prism” of which the scientist looks at his subject of research (ontological aspect). Philosophy gives the most big picture the world in its universal objective characteristics, represents material reality in the unity of all its attributes, forms of movement and fundamental laws. This complete system ideas about general properties and patterns of the real world is formed as a result of generalization and synthesis of basic particular and general scientific concepts and principles.

Such a philosophical picture of the world (as opposed to a religious, mythological, etc.) serves as a prerequisite and condition for the development of physical, biological and other pictures of the world as a universal ontological installation.

In other words, philosophy gives a general vision of the world.

Philosophy gives a general vision of the world not only as it was before (past) and as it is now (present). Philosophy, carrying out its cognitive work, always offers humanity some possible options for its life world. In this sense, it has predictive functions. Thus, the most important purpose of philosophy in culture is to understand not only what the existing human world is like in its deep structures and foundations, but what it can and should be.

2. Philosophy “arms” the researcher with knowledge of general laws the cognitive process itself, the doctrine of truth, ways and forms of its comprehension (epistemological aspect). Philosophy (especially in its rationalistic version) gives the scientist initial epistemological guidelines about the essence of the cognitive relationship, about its forms, levels, initial prerequisites and universal foundations, about the conditions of its reliability and truth, about the socio-historical context of knowledge, etc.

Although all special sciences carry out the process of cognition of the world, none of them has as its immediate subject the study of the laws, forms and principles of cognition in general. Philosophy (more precisely, epistemology, as one of its main branches) specifically deals with this, relying on data from other sciences that analyze individual aspects of the cognitive process (psychology, sociology, science, etc.).

3. Philosophy gives science the most general principles , formulated on the basis of certain categories. These principles actually function in science in the form of universal regulators, universal norms, requirements that the subject of knowledge must implement in his research (methodological aspect). By studying the most general laws of existence and knowledge, philosophy acts as the ultimate, most general method of scientific research. This method, however, cannot replace the special methods of the private sciences; it is not a universal key that unlocks all the secrets of the universe; it does not a priori determine either the specific results of the private sciences or their unique methods.

A philosophical and methodological program should not be a rigid scheme, a “template”, a stereotype according to which “facts are cut and reshaped”, but only a general guide for research.

4. From philosophy, a scientist receives certain worldview and value guidelines and life-meaning guidelines, which - sometimes to a significant extent (especially in the humanities) - influence the process of scientific research and its final results (axiological aspect).

Philosophical thought reveals not only intellectual (rational), but also moral-emotional, aesthetic and other human universals, always related to specific historical types of cultures, and at the same time belonging to humanity as a whole (universal values). Philosophy plays the role of critical “selection”, i.e. accumulation of ideological experience and its transmission (translation) to subsequent generations. Thereby she offers the scientist various options worldview (“possible worlds”, “worldview images”), which are always the integration of all forms of human experience - practical, cognitive, value-based, aesthetic and others.

5. Philosophy influences scientific knowledge when constructing theories (especially fundamental ones). This most actively occurs during periods of “drastic change” in concepts and principles during scientific revolutions. Obviously, this influence can be both positive and negative - depending on what kind of philosophy - “good” or “bad” - the scientist is guided by and what kind of philosophical principles he uses.

If there are many options for solving a particular scientific problem and the need arises to choose one of them, then experimental data, previous and coexisting theoretical principles, “philosophical considerations”, etc. “participate” in it.

6. Significant impact on cognitive development philosophy provides its “speculative and predictive” function. The point is that within the framework of philosophy (or rather, in one form or another) certain ideas, principles, concepts, etc. are developed, the significance of which for science is revealed only at future stages of the evolution of knowledge. Natural philosophy was especially rich in this regard, but not only it.

Such, for example, are the ideas of ancient atomism, which became a natural scientific fact only in the 17th-18th centuries.

7. Philosophical and methodological principles - in their unity - in a number of cases they perform the function of an auxiliary criterion of truth, derived from practice. They do not replace practice as a decisive criterion, but complement it - especially when resorting to it, due to a number of circumstances, is impossible. So, for example, if violations on the part of the researcher of such principles of dialectics as objectivity, comprehensiveness, specificity, historicism and others are noticed, then no practice is needed to make sure that the conclusions drawn on such a “basis” are unlikely to be true .

8. The impact of philosophical principles on the process of scientific research always carried out not directly and directly, but in a complex indirect way - through methods, forms and concepts of “lower” methodological levels. The philosophical method is not a “universal master key”; from it one cannot directly obtain answers to certain problems of particular sciences through a simple logical development of general truths. It cannot be a “discovery algorithm”, but gives the scientist only the most general orientation of research, helps to choose shortest way to the truth, to avoid erroneous trains of thought.

9. Philosophical methods do not always make themselves felt explicitly during the research process , they can be taken into account and applied either spontaneously or consciously. But in any science there are elements of universal knowledge (for example, laws, categories, concepts, principles, etc.), which make any science “applied logic”. In each of them “philosophy reigns,” because the universal (essence, law) is everywhere (although it always manifests itself specifically). The best results are achieved when the philosophy is “good” and is applied in scientific research quite consciously.

10. The implementation of philosophical principles in scientific knowledge means at the same time their rethinking, deepening, and development. The results of scientific research very often cause changes in philosophical views on problems that extend far beyond the limited areas of science itself. Philosophical generalizations must be based on scientific results. However, once they have arisen and become widespread, they very often influence the further development of scientific thought, indicating one of many possible lines of development. A successful “rebellion” against the accepted view results in an unexpected and completely new development, becoming a source of new philosophical views.

Thus, the way to implement the methodological function of philosophy is not only a way to solve fundamental problems in the development of science, but also a way to develop philosophy itself, all its methodological principles.

Conclusion

Methodological problems that arise in the course of the development of special scientific knowledge require for their study and resolution not only the means that these sciences themselves have, but, first of all, the means that are developed by philosophy and science.

The methodology is by no means reduced to a sum of recipes for those who want to do scientific discoveries: it can guide meaningful scientific research, but in no way can it replace it. Therefore, it cannot act as some kind of algorithmically designed technology of scientific thinking. By expanding the range of means and methods available to scientific knowledge, the methodology enhances its capabilities and at the same time reveals all the complexity, ambiguity, and variety of paths of truly creative scientific thinking.

The philosophy of science in our time has overcome its previously inherent illusions in creating a universal method or system of methods that could ensure the success of research for all sciences at all times. It revealed the historical variability not only of specific methods of science, but also of the deep methodological attitudes that characterize scientific rationality. Modern philosophy of science has shown that scientific rationality itself develops historically and that the dominant attitudes of scientific consciousness can change depending on the type of objects being studied and under the influence of changes in culture, to which science makes its specific contribution.

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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, main question 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 shows 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 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 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.

IN different periods stories materialism acquired different shapes and types:

Materialism 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 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 spirit and is subject to it, nature, material world- secondary. This term 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. 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). Bright representative dualism - 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 was addressed in Engels’s work “Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of the Classical German philosophy" Name 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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Briefly about philosophy: the most important and basic things about philosophy in 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 in this case are used as synonyms.

IN 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 main task 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 is primary 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”; big role God the Creator plays in the transformation of 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; out of consciousness 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.” .....................................