Consciousness develops from the universal property of matter - the property of reflection, which means the ability of some material systems to leave a "trace" in others in the process of their interaction. Due to the interaction of systems, the relations between them are in the nature of mutual reflection. Reflection in its simplest form, there is a special function of interacting material systems, each of which is in a state of dynamic equilibrium. This state is constantly disturbed by external factors that have an impact on the system, leading either to its destruction or to the restoration of the previous balance. In the course of restoring equilibrium in interacting systems, changes occur that are in the nature of reflection. Reflection is a certain aspect of the change that occurs within the system under the influence of external conditions. It acts as the ability of material systems to reproduce the internal structure of objects affecting them or some features of their structure. In other words, reflection there is a property of material formations to reproduce in the course of interaction the properties and features of other systems. In the simplest cases, this is a footprint in the sand, the imprints of long-dead animals, the repulsion of a body when it collides with another body, etc.

The recognition of reflection as a universal property of matter indicates that the basis of matter as an objective reality contains the prerequisites for the emergence of consciousness, which are realized in the course of its development. At the same time, the assertions of the hylozoists (B. Spinoza) that all matter is endowed with the ability to think are unjustified. Thinking is a qualitatively special, higher form of reflection, inherent exclusively in man. Reflection itself is specifically manifested at various levels of matter organization: inanimate nature, organic life and at the social level.

Reflection in organic nature is determined by the nature and level of behavior of living systems. In the process of evolution, the sense organs of organisms become more complex and specialized, reaching the highest degree of perfection with the emergence of the nervous system.

The elementary and initial form of reflection inherent in all living organisms is irritability, meaning selective response to external influences. Irritability expresses the ability of living organisms to respond appropriately to a short-term effect of the environment. It is one of the inalienable properties of life, which is the basis of biological reflection. The formation of irritability is due to the activity of the living, which has no analogue in inorganic nature. The purpose of activity is to ensure such interaction between the organism and the environment, which is necessary for the preservation of the system and its sustainable reproduction.

As the forms of interaction of organisms with the external environment become more complex, as the living things differentiate and become more complex, a new form of reflection develops - sensitivity, those. the ability to reflect individual properties of things in the form of subjective sensations. The development of sensitivity is associated with the ability to respond not only to environmental factors that are of vital importance, but also to those that are indirectly related to them. Sensitivity arises already at the level of the simplest animals, but it acquires special significance at the level of higher animals, which have specialized sense organs containing sets of receptor cells and are capable of responding to a certain type of energy with electrical impulses circulating in the nervous system. The main function of the sense organs is to perceive certain stimuli and transmit information about them to the nervous system.

concept information - one of the most important characteristics of the reflection process. In the scientific literature, there is still no unity in the definition of information. It is interpreted in different ways: “a measure of the ordering of reflection”, “reflected diversity”, “a measure of organization”, “encoded message”, “an expediently ordered structure of objects and influences”, etc. One can generally consider information as a functionally ordered reflection that is actually detected in the emergence of primary biosystems. Life processes in all their manifestations appear as information relations. Irritability and sensitivity are elementary forms of biological information.

An even more complex character in organic nature is mental reflection, expressing the ability of living organisms to analyze complex complexes of simultaneously acting stimuli and reflect them in the form of a holistic image of the situation. Psychic reflection is a special form of adaptation of living beings to changing external conditions in the course of a long evolutionary development.

The development of mental reflection was carried out in the process of long biological evolution and passed through a number of stages. The emergence of the simplest nervous system and sensory organs led to the emergence of elementary

sensory psyche, expressing the ability to reflect individual properties of the environment. Further complication of the cerebral cortex led to animals reflecting the integrity of things and the emergence of a perceptual psyche. And finally, the improvement of the brain made it possible for animals to sense the objective correlation of things in the form of objective "situations".

The improvement of the forms of mental reflection - reality has served as the most important factor in morphophysiological progress on the way to the formation of consciousness. However, the morphophysiological progress associated With the emergence of the central and peripheral nervous system, led to a more accurate response to changes in environmental factors and an increase in the ability of living organisms to more fully master life resources. This had an impact on the organization of the Activity of living systems and, accordingly, on the forms of their reflection of reality.

Consideration of the forms of reflection at various levels of organization of living matter makes it possible to reveal the biological foundations of consciousness, to reveal the correlation between the Physiological and the mental. Mental is a property of the brain, a function of matter organized in a special way. Therefore, consciousness functions only in the process of brain activity. The creative activity of the brain, as noted by I.O. Pavlov, does not belong to one particular part of the brain, but to many, which at different times can alternately turn on and off. Thus, the active part of the brain constantly moves throughout the space of the cerebral hemispheres.

The work of the cerebral cortex is inseparable from the receptor department, which directly perceives external stimuli. The receptor (peripheral) section of the nervous system transforms external energy into a specific nervous excitation. This excitation is conducted along the conduction path from the receptor to the intermediate centers of the brain stem (reticular formation). Here there is a reflex connection with various efferent systems, as well as interaction with various analyzers. In the cortical section, the nervous material process acquires a new quality: its highest manifestation arises - consciousness. It is at this stage that the most subtle analysis of external stimuli is performed, which, through bioelectrical and biochemical processes, as a result of the complex activity of the brain, its analyzers, are transformed into sensations and other forms of mental reflection that regulate the adaptive behavior of the animal, human activity.

The connection of mental phenomena, consciousness with the activity of the brain is beyond doubt, however, the statement of this fact does not allow us to fully explain the secrets of consciousness. For a deeper knowledge of them, it is necessary to reveal the internal mechanisms, patterns of brain activity that underlie the psyche, consciousness.

The concept of the psyche is broader than the concept of consciousness. Under psyche of a person is understood as the totality of the phenomena of his inner subjective world, which is different from the external world of things, including the human body. The main components of the psyche are sensations, perceptions, ideas ("external feelings"); mind, abstract thinking, the forms of which are concepts, judgments, conclusions; emotions - grief, joy, excitement, fear ("inner feelings"); will.

Consciousness is not identical to the psyche, because the psychic also includes the subconscious (unconscious, unconscious). For example, eye blinking, flinching, sleep, hypnosis, sleepwalking, etc. Emotions can also be conscious or unconscious.

The conscious includes such mental phenomena that pass through thinking (mind), are realized by a person. Thinking subdues feelings, emotions, will. You can talk about a greater or lesser degree of consciousness. But in general, human activity is characterized by the decisive role of conscious actions and actions.

The existence of the psyche is impossible outside the functioning brain, the level of its reflectivity depends on the level of its structural organization.

The qualitative difference between the human psyche and the psyche of animals lies in the fact that a person has the ability to foresee individual consequences of his own; activities, nature and direction of development of natural and social processes. In this regard, a person, according to K. Marx, "not only changes the form of what is given by nature; in what is given by nature, he also realizes his conscious goal, which, like a law, determines the method and nature of his actions and which he must subordinate his will" (29. Vol. 23, p. 189). In addition, a person is distinguished by a value attitude to reality, while an animal does not separate itself from nature.

Introduction

Essence, structure and functions of consciousness

Mental and ideal

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

A person has a wonderful gift - the mind with its inquisitive flight, both to the distant past and to the future, the world of dreams and fantasies, creative solutions to practical and theoretical problems, and finally, the embodiment of the most daring ideas. Since ancient times, thinkers have been intensely searching for the solution to the mystery of the phenomenon of consciousness. Science, philosophy, literature, art, technology - in a word, all the achievements of mankind have combined their efforts to reveal the innermost secrets of our spiritual life.

Consciousness is the highest form of reflection of objective reality peculiar only to a person, a way of his attitude to the world and to himself, which is a unity of mental processes that are actively involved in man's understanding of the objective world and his own being and is determined not directly by his bodily organization, but acquired only through communication with other people skills of objective actions. Consciousness consists of sensory images of objects that are a sensation or representation and therefore have meaning and meaning, knowledge as a set of sensations imprinted in memory, and generalizations created as a result of higher mental activity, thinking and language. Consciousness is a special form of human interaction with reality and its management.

There are various historical and philosophical interpretations of the problem of consciousness. Depending on which worldview was dominant in a particular era, the understanding of consciousness also changed. In antiquity, consciousness was defined as a universal connection between the mind and the object, which exist independently of each other. At the moment of their meeting, the object leaves a mark in the field of mind, as a seal leaves a mark on wax. In the culture of Christianity, there is a need for inner concentration. It was caused by the need to communicate with God through prayer. In it, a person must dive into himself. Along with prayer, the practice of confession arose, in which the ability for introspection and self-control was consolidated. Then consciousness - knowledge, first of all, about one's own spiritual experience - is the center between the first and second. That is, consciousness is the ability to reproduce experiences, having risen to the level of God and evidence of the insignificance of man. In the New Age, however, man renounces God. Man was declared the beginning and cause of everything that happens to him in the world. He is the condition and possibility of the world, the world which he can understand and act in. Man creates the world by his activity, R. Descartes declared that the act "I think" is the basis of the existence of man and the world.

Since consciousness is a property of matter, a reflected world, the question arises - how does this world exist in consciousness? A.G. Spirkin defines consciousness as an ideal reflection of the reality of the transformation of the objective content of an object into the subjective content of spiritual life.

Reflection is a property of material systems to reproduce in the course of interaction in changing their properties and states the features of other systems. Consciousness is a subjective image of the world, corresponding to the nature and content of the subject's activity. The image of an object is an ideal form of being of an object "in the head" of a person. This does not mean that there are real signs in the head as such (conceivable fire does not burn our brain, the image of snow does not make it cold), but it contains these real signs (hot and cold) as an image. In an ideal form, an object is deprived of its material substrate (carrier). This form, which replaces any material substrate, preserves the properties, qualities, essence of things and their connections. The condition of an ideal image of the world is the physiological material processes taking place in the human brain and body. The material basis of the human psyche, therefore, are neurophysiological processes in the brain. The level of its reflective abilities depends on the level of the structural organization of the brain. The being of the ideal is functional in nature and acts as an image of an object and a value judgment, as a goal and plan of activity, etc.

Essence, structure and functions of consciousness

Consciousness, as an ideal reflection, exists only in the material form of its expression - language. Consciousness and language are both one and the same. On the basis of language and in connection with it, other ways of reification of the ideal have developed in the history of mankind - sign systems. Language, like other sign systems, is not just a substitute for real things. Behind them stands a social practice crystallized in meanings.

The ideal is reified not only in language and sign systems. It materializes in general in any products of human labor: in objects created by people, in the resting properties of which conscious activity is fixed. It is precisely as products of labor that they have an "ideal side", which is revealed in the acts of their conscious perception, understanding, action with them, etc. This is the main essence of consciousness, as the transformation of perceived information for the realization of knowledge, its transmission to life. Consciousness acts as an intellectual activity of the subject, since a person, in addition to active reflection, connects new impressions with previous experience, emotionally evaluates reality, provides the outside world.

“Without an ideal image, a person cannot exchange substances between himself and nature at all, and an individual cannot act as a real intermediary between things of nature, since these things are involved in the process of social production. The ideal as such is born only by the process of subject-practical activity of a social person who changes nature. In general, it only exists in the course of this process and as long as this process lasts, continues, is reproduced on an expanded scale "

The transforming activity of society required a special form of reflection, providing an anticipation of its future result, and this form arose and developed precisely as an ideal reflection. The main thing in the ideal is determined by the fact that it is a socio-historical product; in a developed society, special types of "spiritual" activity (scientific, artistic, ideological, etc.) are formed and developed, the special subject of which is the ideal. When a person "builds something in his head", he somehow uses those techniques, methods and means of working with side objects (reflecting real objects) that have developed in the course of the historical development of mankind. The conscious images with which he operates act as an ideal measure, which is subsequently materialized in the subject-practical activity. At the same time, far from always (moreover, rarely) the ideal image created by any particular individual is materialized by him himself. It can be reified (usually it happens) in the activities of other people. In other words, the ideal reflection, as it were, acquires an independent existence: a person can “separate from himself” the ideal image, materialize it (for example, in a drawing) and act with it, without touching for the time being the very object reflected in this image. This relative independence of an ideal reflection, of various types of social consciousness, is of exceptional importance for understanding the laws of development of the human psyche.

Consciousness as an ideal form of reflection of being has a real meaning only in society and for society; the results of an ideal reflection, arising in the process of social life, dictated by its needs, sooner or later are embodied in it, realized, materialized in the products of human activity. Being a social phenomenon in its essence, consciousness does not exist above individuals, and not between them, and not outside of them, but in their heads.

The structure of consciousness can be represented as a circle, this "field" is divided into four parts.

1. The sphere of bodily-perceptual abilities of knowledge of the sensations, perceptions, specific representations obtained on their basis, with the help of which a person receives primary sensory information. The main goal is the usefulness and expediency of being the human body.

2. The sphere of logical-conceptual components of consciousness is connected with thinking, which goes beyond the limits of the sensible given into the essential levels of objects. This is the sphere of concepts, judgments, conclusions, proofs. Truth is the main goal of this sphere of consciousness.

3. Different people have different degrees of consciousness: from the most general, fleeting control over the flow of thoughts about the outside world, to in-depth reflections on oneself. A person comes to self-consciousness only through socialization.

4. A person realizes himself through awareness of his own activity, in the process of self-consciousness a person becomes a person and realizes himself as a person. Such a representation of self-consciousness as internally posited in consciousness testifies to its reflexive function in relation to consciousness.

Based on the considered representation of consciousness, it is possible to distinguish the functions of consciousness:

Cognitive

Forecast, foresight, goal setting

Evidence of the truth of knowledge

value

Communicative

Regulatory

The provisions on the three main functions of the psyche: cognitive, regulatory and communicative - in one form or another are manifested at all stages of mental development, but with the emergence and development of consciousness (meaning, first of all, individual consciousness), they acquire new qualitative features.

cognitive function only at the level of consciousness does it act as cognition in the full sense of the word, that is, as an active purposeful acquisition of knowledge. “The way in which consciousness exists and how something exists for it,” Marx wrote, “is knowledge.” At the same time, knowledge is primarily meant as the ideal results of reflection created in the process of socio-historical practice and “cast into shape” by scientific , ideological, ethical and other ideas, principles, norms, etc. Mastering them, the individual at the same time assimilates the established types of social consciousness. Knowledge is recorded and transmitted from person to person mainly through language, although other means are also used. Sometimes consciousness is seen as an intellectualized psyche; in this connection it is identified with thinking; sensations, the perception of feelings are considered as pre-conscious levels of mental reflection, or even as not mental, but as physiological phenomena. Sometimes consciousness is seen as an intellectualized psyche; in this connection it is identified with thinking; sensations, the perception of feelings are considered as pre-conscious levels of mental reflection, or even as not mental, but as physiological phenomena. Of course, in the system of mental processes occurring at the level of consciousness, thinking has the most important, perhaps the leading role. But it would be wrong to limit the cognitive function of consciousness only to thinking. It is also realized in the processes of sensory cognition: sensations, perceptions, representations.

- this is a certain state, peculiar only to a person, in which both the world and himself are simultaneously available to him, consciousness instantly correlates, connects what he saw, heard a person with what he felt, thought, experienced.

Being- the general concept of existence, of beings in general, these are material things, all processes (chemical, physical, geological, biological, social, mental, spiritual), their properties, connections and relationships.

Being consciousness- this is an important part of human being, therefore, in consciousness one should single out and study not only that side of it that appears during the awareness of consciousness itself, not only its reflection, but also that side, which, constituting a living component of the living action of a real person, is not subjected to their reflexive analysis.

The question of the relationship between consciousness and being is of a different nature than the usual philosophical questions. There is an opinion that this is not so much a question as a semantic orientation of philosophical thought.

The most complex interaction and opposition of being and consciousness, material and spiritual, grows out of all human practice, culture, permeates them. That is why these concepts, which have meaning only in pairs, in their polar correlation, cover the entire field of worldview, constitute its extremely general (universal) basis.

The most general, the most important prerequisites for human existence are:

• the presence of the world (primarily nature), on the one hand;
• people, on the other hand.

And everything else is derivative, comprehended as a result of the practical and spiritual assimilation by people of primary (natural) and secondary (social) forms of being and the interaction of people with each other on this basis.

The main qualities of consciousness:

• cognitive and communicative equipment of consciousness - allows you to distinguish the existence of a person from the existence of other living beings;
• holistic connectedness and coherence of the interaction of individual structures of consciousness - allows the most complex system of very heterogeneous processes to work: mental, emotional, sensual, volitional, mnemonic (memory processes), intuitive, etc .;
• intentional ability of consciousness, which expresses the orientation of consciousness to someone, to something or consciousness about someone, about something, distinguishes the orientation of consciousness “outward” and “inward”, i.e. consciousness must be oriented either towards the outer world of a person's being, or on his inner world;
• epistemic, which express the states of a person's inner world - these qualities involve states of doubt, conviction, faith, confidence, etc.

The main functions of cognition:

• cognitive (reflects reality);
• evaluative-orientational (evaluates the phenomena of reality and one's being in them);
• goal-setting (sets goals);
• managerial (controls one's behavior).

Consciousness as a phenomenon of being, its emergence and evolution

From the time when a person began to think about himself and the world around him, questions inevitably arise before him about what he is, and for what reasons there are his thoughts about objects and phenomena that he encounters in everyday life, about deeds committed by himself and other people, etc.

The desire to find answers to these and similar questions has given rise to various explanations of consciousness, from explanations available in myths to explanations contained in modern teachings based on the latest data in psychology and neurophysiology. The difficulty in obtaining answers to these questions lies in the fact that it is impossible to draw a direct connection between the sensually perceived world and thoughts (representations, concepts) about it, sensually imperceptible.

The first to create a holistic concept, with the help of which he explained how human thoughts arise and in what form they exist, was the ancient Greek philosopher. He proceeded from the recognition that two worlds exist in parallel: one world of concrete, sensually perceived objects and things; they arise and disappear, subject to random changes; the other world is the world of immaterial (non-material) formations, the so-called ideas or ideal entities; they do not change, they are self-preserving. According to Plato, sensible objects are a kind of shadows of ideal entities or ideas. The personification of these entities is the soul - as a kind of special immaterial force, immortal, it always exists, although its owner is immortal - a person. The soul, settling in a person as a natural being, endows him with the ability to be reasonable, to acquire knowledge.

Approximately in this way, for a long time, the question of the relationship between the real, material and non-material, non-material was solved.

Throughout the history of philosophy, up to the 19th century, all phenomena that in one way or another belonged to the field of consciousness were explained by the presence of the soul, qualified as spiritual. For example, at the end of the XIX century. thinkers, including Russian ones, argued that, in the words of V.S. Solovyov, the human body does not exist by itself, but thanks to the soul, which determines both its existence and actions, “it is not the organism that lives and thinks, but the soul through the organism”. He further states: "It is unjustified to deny the essential connection between individual souls, and, consequently, the solidarity of all that exists." This "is equally contrary to experience and reason."

Another direction in resolving the issue of consciousness was based on the thesis that the world from the very beginning of its existence has a certain spiritual principle - either in the form of an integral part of “Absolute Unity” (as the Greek philosopher Plotinus argued), or in the form of countless active substances - monads, initially capable of mental life (G. Leibniz), etc.

The third direction in the explanation of consciousness is represented by a much larger number of options for resolving questions about the essence and origin of consciousness. All of them are united on the basis of the recognition of two postulates: consciousness does not have a supernatural character and there is no consciousness (ideal) without connection with the brain (material). Hence it follows that a rational explanation of consciousness is possible - to one degree or another - only on the basis of a generalization of the results of specific studies of specific manifestations of consciousness.

However, this did not prevent the fact that within this direction there was a very wide discord. Some, recognizing the fact of the inextricable nature of the connection "consciousness - the brain", leave in the shade the question of the origin of consciousness. It is regarded as a fact taken for granted, which manifests itself in the presence of reason in man; it is given to man as if from birth. In their philosophical constructions, I. Kant, G.V.F. Hegel, L. Feuerbach, representatives of the philosophy of positivism do not raise and do not solve questions about the origin, and even about the essence of consciousness, limiting themselves to stating specific (and infinitely different) manifestations of it.

Such an approach to consciousness is mainly due to the denial of the similarities between it and all other phenomena of the real world. The results of specific scientific research, as a rule, serve as illustrative material for various concepts that have been formed from the point of view of similar approaches to solving questions about consciousness. E. Mach is a prominent physicist and philosopher of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. - generally considered false the very formulation of the question of the existence in the foundation of matter (inorganic) of a property that is identical to sensations. According to him, sensations, from which consciousness arises, exist initially as “elements of the world”. And "our body and our consciousness are a comparatively closed, isolated system of facts."

For a more or less rational understanding and explanation of the essence of consciousness, one should keep in mind the following situation: the more complex the material system, the longer the time required for its formation, the longer its previous evolutionary period. And at each subsequent - in terms of complexity - structural level, the more different are the elements that make up the system and its properties. A common feature, no matter how peculiar these systems may seem, is that their properties do not have the ability to influence their material carriers. An exception to the “general rule” is consciousness: it is able to influence “its carrier”.

So what is consciousness? As a special property, it is the highest form of reflection of matter organized in a special way. The concept of “higher” form means that there can be no higher in complexity and perfection form of reflection, because the laws of evolution of nature are not “able” to generate a more perfect reflection.

The "higher form" is naturally preceded by less perfect forms of reflection. These include reflection in inorganic (non-living) nature and especially in living nature. At its core, reflection is the specific results of the interaction of material formations, in content - changes in their structure, or their energy potential, or both taken together, and the way it is expressed is its inherent features. In inanimate nature, reflection is characterized by “systematic nature”, i.e. a manifestation of some kind of "organization", a tendency to direct development and action. In living nature, material formations - individuals, even the simplest of them - certainly show a desire for self-preservation at the slightest change in the conditions of their existence. A clear illustration of the very first signs of such a desire is the appearance of various kinds of tropisms, i.e. a clear reaction of the simplest organisms to a change in the chemical composition of the environment, its temperature, illumination, etc. Such a reflection, inherent in living nature, is defined as irritability.

The evolution of living nature at the stage of a relatively high level of organization had the character, mainly, of improving the system of regulation of the entire totality of the organism's vital activity. The “rigidity” of regulation, manifested in the form of programmed behavior of living organisms, was supplemented by the formation of a system of relatively flexible response to external influences (the range of which was constantly expanding under the influence of continuous changes in living conditions). The ability to "flexible reactions" was fixed in the formation of a conditioned reflex system, on the basis of which reflection in higher animals took the form of the psyche. Its material carriers were the brain with specialized cells as the main regulator of vital activity, and physiologically - a sharp increase (in comparison with other organs of individuals) in the rate of biochemical and biophysical processes and in the volume of energy consumption.

If in the form of irritability and sensation, reflection is presented both in terms of method and content as relatively direct, i.e. direct connection between the stimulus and the nature of the action of the organism, then at the level of the psyche - both as a direct and indirect one (that is, in the form of the ability to freely choose responses to identical stimuli). However, no matter how the psyche of animals evolves, it is not able to give rise to a reflection that could have a qualitatively new form. The main "obstacle" is the naturally established connection "instincts - need". Moreover, this connection is one-sided: a satisfied need stops the action of the instinct for a certain time, and does not give rise to a new need. This connection does not go beyond the limits of those external factors whose actions are in one way or another directly correlated with instincts. And, therefore, reflection cannot but be concretely sensuous; and as soon as there is a distraction from this connection, the reflection itself disappears.

The limit of the improvement of the psyche in living nature on the basis of biological laws is the psyche of primates - higher animals. Therefore, it is considered as a biological prerequisite for consciousness. The first distinguishing feature of consciousness is the ability to generalize reflection, i.e. the formation of both direct and abstract (repeatedly mediated) connection between the action of external factors and the formation of responses. This feature is called integrative, synthetic, etc. The second distinguishing feature of consciousness is the ability for unlimited improvement (due to generalization) of reflection. The third sign of consciousness as a “property of matter organized in a special way” is the ability to influence (due to the generalization of reflection) on a material carrier - the brain, and thereby on, so to speak, itself or, figuratively speaking, reflection on reflection.

Consciousness as the highest form reflections are only human consciousness. Therefore, the history of the emergence and development of consciousness is the history of the emergence and development of man as a biological and, especially, as a social being. Therefore, consciousness in the proper sense of the word is originally a social phenomenon.

Consciousness as a special property of matter, is inextricably linked with language, speech and their development. On the other hand, consciousness is impossible outside of language, speech. Without the word - the basis of the "construction" of language and speech, a generalized reflection is impossible. The so-called sign language, facial expressions, etc. outside of words is not able to reflect, and thus to carry out the transfer and exchange of information. The word, language, speech will be used in an unambiguous sense. Even the simplest word generalizes, while another "carrier" of information - gesture, facial expressions, sound signals, etc. - is able to designate this or that event in its concrete, sensual, directly given form.

The word, of course, was originally formed as a need to develop such means of mutual exchange of information that correspond to the formation and development of labor activity - the activity of making and using tools to create or produce consumer goods. It, the word, was caused - from the very beginning quite instinctively - by the need to develop a goal setting, i.e. what required combining efforts to achieve specific results with the greatest efficiency. And each cycle of activity: the goal - the achievement of appropriate results - the satisfaction of needs gave rise to a new cycle. The word, in addition to being informative, has performed and continues to perform the function of accumulating and preserving experience, knowledge and is a means of regulating relations in society. Therefore, each level of development of labor activity, in principle, corresponded to the degree of perfection of vocabulary, language, and speech.

Human consciousness, as a whole, being a generalized reflection, along with this, has a pronounced active character. Its source can only be the transition from the instinctive use of tools of activity of a natural order to the use of specially conscious tools of activity, i.e. to work. It can be said that the activity of human consciousness is inextricably linked with the overcoming of instinctiveness in the activity of a developing person.

The activity of consciousness (or "reflection of the reflected") is what is called thinking.

Thinking is the same as the generalized active reflection of the external world in the human brain. Due to this feature, at a certain stage of its formation and development, consciousness begins to acquire (in an accelerated form) relative independence and is characterized by the corresponding neurophysiological, psychoneurological processes. Developing, the thought process reaches such a high level of relative independence that it is perceived by the organ of reflection itself as a separate and special phenomenon that opposes it and is designated as spiritual life.

From the point of view of the concept, in which consciousness is understood as a property of reflection, the basis of the sphere of spiritual life can only be repeated and indirect reflection, in the process of which, naturally, the absolutization of relative independence arises and, thereby, giving it complete independence, the denial of any of its connection with any sign of "substantiality". It is this approach that makes it possible to rationally understand and explain the spiritual life, and at the same time disagree with the statements about the presence of some kind of spiritual principle in the existing world. Likewise, one should not assume that the spiritual sphere, having arisen, remains unchanged. For it is constantly changing and developing, improving, like all its sections and directions, methods and methods of action.

Consciousness is a property of the human brain. Outside the human head there is not and cannot be an independent existence of the spiritual world and, moreover, parallel to the material world.

Consciousness in its content is a collection of all those products of reflection that distinguish the human psyche from the psyche of animals. Such products include sensations, ideas, ideas etc., which are generated in the process of labor activity in a broad sense. However, not all reflection products in a person’s head “pass” through the threshold of his consciousness, since not all, or rather, the vast majority of stimuli are not essential for normal life at this particular time. All irritants of this kind perceived by the body do not disappear, but leave forever - in one form or another - a trace in “its memory”, manifesting itself in the form of “incomprehensible” experiences, unmotivated actions, etc. All of them - these products of reflection - form the content of the unconscious, and the images, thoughts that arise from “it”, as if suddenly, suddenly appear in the mainstream of a certain frame of mind.

Another part of the unconscious is formed by stimuli, "passed" through the threshold of awareness. But they are “displaced” from the stage of the active state by other information that is relevant and more important for the life of the organism at this time. This part of the unconscious (which Z. Freud designated as superconsciousness), as a rule, plays a leading role in relation to the content of dreams and various kinds of other visions that constantly accompany a person in a state of sleep, mental disorders, the appearance of phenomena, are designated as intuition, irrational, etc. .d.

During the wakefulness of consciousness, the manifestations of the sphere of the unconscious seem to be muffled, and stimuli that have a certain significance for the body are perceived through the prism of awareness. The passive, largely chaotic picture of kaleidoscopic images is replaced by an active and, predominantly, systemic construction of responses to stimuli (external and internal) in the form of various ideas, concepts, judgments, conclusions, etc. and related practical actions.

The process of this construction by the active part of consciousness is a thought process or, briefly, thinking, which obeys certain rules or laws, and their strict observance determines the level of thinking, its effectiveness. Thought is a concept that denotes a specific result (regardless of its form) of the functioning of consciousness in the active phase of a mental state. Its material carrier is the word (language, speech) and its derivatives (in the form of signs, figures, etc.). They are the custodians and means of transmitting information.

Any thought- abstract or concrete-figurative - in its content does not have any elements of materiality, materiality. Therefore, it is ideal in the sense of the opposite of the material. The idea, ideality - as concepts from the very beginning (from the philosophy of Plato) meant something perfect, independent and independent of specific objects (things, phenomena) existing. This meaning of the concepts has been preserved, basically, to this day.

Sometimes some people (including philosophers, not to mention natural scientists) try to draw a line between the material and the ideal. And disputes often arise, sometimes dividing their participants, defending clearly expressed opposing positions: some believe that all products of mental reflection (including feelings, emotions, etc.) are ideal, while others, on the contrary, believe that that only products of the thought process (representations of the concept, etc.) are considered ideal.

In such discussions, the question of the historical nature of the emergence of the problem of the relationship between the ideal and the material remains in the background. Firstly, in extrahuman “consciousness” such a statement of the question does not make sense, because “passive” consciousness does not distinguish between an object and an image of an object. Secondly, when comprehending the process of cognition, the question arises: how does a person acquire knowledge about the form of concepts, judgments, conclusions, i.e. about the general, essential, necessary — by means of self-development of consciousness, regardless of transformative activity, or “draws” this knowledge in some way from objects. Obviously, attempts to find a visible line of difference between the ideal and the material, and vice versa, are powerless, because it is mobile. Nevertheless, it becomes quite understandable when considering questions related to the topic of knowledge.

1. Consciousness as a form of human life, a way of spiritual orientation and transformation of the world, a tool for understanding reality. 3

2.Material prerequisites for the emergence of consciousness. Qualitative change in the forms of reflection at different levels of development of matter. 7

3. Consciousness and the brain. Technical and physiological. The relationship between the conscious and the unconscious in the human psyche. ten

4. Consciousness and language. Ideal and material. Consciousness and self-awareness 12

This fragment can serve as an illustration of the theory of associations, of which Helvetius was an adherent and on the basis of which he explained the nature of consciousness. Its essence is that the sensations sequentially appearing in the brain are superimposed on each other and form a “bundle of sensations”. These sensations are images of objective reality, and the logical thought process that arises on their basis naturally reflects the objective causal relationship of things and phenomena.

Z. Freud's opinion:

“Being conscious is first of all a purely descriptive term that relies on the most direct and reliable perception. Experience further shows us that a psychic element, such as representation, is usually not permanently conscious. On the contrary, it is characteristic that the state of consciousness passes quickly; a representation that is conscious at a given moment ceases to be so at the next moment, but can again become conscious under certain, easily attainable conditions. What it was like in the interim we do not know; we can say that it was latent, meaning by this that it was capable of becoming conscious at any moment. If we say that it was unconscious, we also give a correct description. This unconscious then coincides with the latent or potentially conscious...

The concept of the unconscious we thus obtain from the doctrine of repression. We regard the repressed as a typical example of the unconscious. We see, however, that there is a twofold unconscious: hidden, but capable of becoming conscious, and repressed, which by itself and without further can become conscious ... The hidden unconscious, which is such only in a descriptive, but not in a dynamic sense, is called us preconscious; the term "unconscious" we apply only to the repressed dynamic unconscious; thus we now have three terms: "conscious" ( bw), "preconscious" ( vbw) and "unconscious" (Ubw)” .

Philosophy puts at the center of its attention as the main question the relation of matter and consciousness, and thus the problem of consciousness. The significance of this problem is revealed already in the fact that the species to which we humans belong is designated as Homo sapiens. Proceeding from this, we can rightly say that a philosophical analysis of the essence of consciousness is extremely important for a correct understanding of the place and role of man in the world. For this reason, the problem of consciousness initially attracted the closest attention of philosophers when they developed their initial worldview and methodological guidelines.

At the same time, the consideration of certain aspects of consciousness as a specifically human form of regulation of human interaction with reality within the framework of various disciplines always relies on a certain philosophical and ideological attitude in approach and consciousness. This gives the solution of the question of the nature of consciousness from a philosophical standpoint a special, additional meaning and significance. At the same time, philosophy, unlike other sciences, explores the general nature of consciousness, studies it primarily from the point of view of its main question.

The idealistic approach actually mystifies consciousness, since it considers it as a product of the soul, turning consciousness into something mysterious and inaccessible to rational, from a scientific standpoint, research. Materialism, on the contrary, removes the veil of mystery from consciousness and proceeds from the fact that it is a function of the brain; secondly, it considers consciousness as a reflection of matter, a reflection of the external world, and, finally, from a materialistic point of view, it is a product of the development of the material world. With such an approach, it turns out that consciousness, for all its complexity, is not at all something absolutely incomprehensible and unknowable.

Indeed, studies of the physiology of higher nervous activity can provide considerable material on the physiological foundations of consciousness, since consciousness is organically connected with the material, physiological processes in the brain and acts as a specific aspect. Extensive data for understanding consciousness is provided by the study of human activity and its products, insofar as the knowledge, thoughts and feelings of people are realized and imprinted in them. Along with this, consciousness manifests itself in cognition, as a result of which this source, the study of the cognitive process, opens up various aspects of consciousness.

Finally, one can say very closely that consciousness and language are organically linked, which is why the scientific analysis of such a phenomenon as language in all its complexity is important for understanding the essence and nature of consciousness. At the same time, the main thing that should be constantly remembered is that "thinking cannot be separated from the matter that thinks." Consciousness, like matter, is a reality. But if matter is an objective reality, characterized by self-sufficiency and self-justification, then consciousness is a subjective reality, it is a subjective image of the objective world. It does not exist by itself, but has a basis in something else, in matter. In other words, the dialectical-materialist approach to consciousness proceeds from the primacy of being in relation to consciousness, which not only does not exclude, but suggests that the very way of being a person in the world always presupposes consciousness, that all human activity is permeated with consciousness and does not exist without it. But being is a wider system, and consciousness acts as a condition and means for a person to fit into this wider, integral system of being.

Consciousness, as determined by being, acts primarily as a property of highly organized matter and at the same time as a product of the evolution of matter, the complication of forms of reflection in the course of this evolution, starting from the most elementary forms and ending with thinking. At the same time, the evolution of reflection forms itself is determined not from within, but on the basis of certain relationships between the carriers of reflection and the environment. In humans, this interaction is realized in a practically transformative activity carried out within certain communities. Therefore, consciousness is not just a function of the brain, it is a social product. The social nature of consciousness is clearly visible in its organic connection with language and, in particular, with practical activity, in which consciousness, its products are objectified and which gives consciousness an objective character, a focus on the outside world with the aim of not only reflecting it, cognition, but also changing it. . In addition, consciousness was not only initially formed in the primary forms of society, but even today it is laid down and developed in each new generation only in society through activity and communication with their own kind.

Consciousness cannot be derived from the process of reflection of the objects of the natural world alone: ​​the “subject-object” relation cannot give rise to consciousness. To do this, the subject must be included in a more complex system of social practice, in the context of social life. Each of us, coming into this world, inherits a spiritual culture, which we must master in order to acquire a proper human essence and be able to think like a human being.

Social consciousness arose simultaneously and in unity with the emergence of social being. Nature as a whole is indifferent to the existence of the human mind, and society could not only arise and develop without it, but even exist for a single day and hour. Due to the fact that society is an objective-subjective reality, social being and social consciousness are, as it were, “loaded” with each other: without the energy of consciousness, social being is static and even dead.

Consciousness is realized in two hypostases: reflective and active-creative abilities. The essence of consciousness lies in the fact that it can reflect social existence only if it is simultaneously actively and creatively transformed. The function of anticipatory reflection of consciousness is most clearly realized in relation to social being, which is essentially connected with aspiration to the future. This has been repeatedly confirmed in history by the circumstance that ideas, in particular socio-political ones, can outpace the current state of society and even transform it. Society is a material-ideal reality. The totality of generalized ideas, ideas, theories, feelings, morals, traditions, etc., that is, what constitutes the content of social consciousness and forms spiritual reality, is an integral part of social being, since it is given to the consciousness of an individual.

But emphasizing the unity of social being and social consciousness, one must not forget their difference, their specific disunity. The historical relationship of social being and social consciousness in their relative independence is realized in such a way that if in the early stages of the development of society, social consciousness was formed under the direct influence of being, then in the future this influence acquired an increasingly indirect character - through the state, political, legal relations, etc. ., and the reverse effect of social consciousness on being, on the contrary, acquires an increasingly direct character. The very possibility of such a direct impact of social consciousness on social being lies in the ability of consciousness to correctly reflect being.

So, consciousness as a reflection and as an active creative activity is the unity of two inseparable sides of the same process: in its influence on being, it can both evaluate it, revealing its hidden meaning, predict, and transform it through the practical activity of people. And so the public consciousness of the era can not only reflect being, but actively contribute to its restructuring. This is the historically established function of social consciousness, which makes it an objectively necessary and really existing element of any social structure.

The fact that social consciousness includes different levels (everyday, theoretical, social psychology, ideology, etc.), and the fact that each level of consciousness reflects social being in different ways, is precisely the real difficulty in understanding the phenomenon of social consciousness. And therefore it is impossible to consider it as a simple sum of the concepts of "consciousness" and "social".

Possessing an objective nature and immanent laws of development, social consciousness can both lag behind and ahead of being within the framework of the evolutionary process that is natural for a given society. In this regard, public consciousness can play the role of an active stimulator of the social process, or a mechanism for its inhibition. The powerful transformative power of social consciousness is capable of influencing all being as a whole, revealing the meaning of its evolution and predicting prospects. In this regard, it differs from the subjective (in the sense of subjective reality) finite and limited by an individual individual consciousness. The power of the social whole over the individual is expressed here in the obligatory acceptance by the individual of the historically established forms of spiritual assimilation of reality, those methods and means by which the production of spiritual values ​​is carried out, that semantic content that has been accumulated by mankind for centuries and without which the formation of personality is impossible.

2.Material prerequisites for the emergence of consciousness. Qualitative change in the forms of reflection at different levels of development of matter.

Marx's position that it is impossible to separate consciousness, thinking from matter that thinks, that consciousness is derived from matter, is extremely simple and understandable. But it needs, firstly, to be deciphered, and secondly, to be substantiated. And the first thing to be solved is the question of the prerequisites for the emergence of consciousness in nature, or rather, in inanimate nature, in the very foundation of matter.

Indeed, if we assert that it was not spirit that gave birth to matter, but matter gave birth to spirit, then our opponents have the right to ask us: are there any grounds for the generation of consciousness on the very foundation of matter, in inanimate nature? This problem also faced the old materialism, but was not solved by it. One part of the materialists simply bypassed this complex problem, the other took the position of hylozoism (from the Greek. Hyle-matter, zoo - life), endowed, contrary to the facts, all matter with the ability to feel and even think, and in essence removed the question of the emergence of consciousness and the necessary for this premise. In particular, the French materialist D. Diderot stood on the positions of hylozoism, but at the same time he came closer than others to the real solution of the problem. Endowing all matter with the property of sensitivity, he believed that inanimate matter is characterized by passive, and living matter - active sensitivity.

One thing is clear: to find the material prerequisites for the emergence of consciousness in the very foundations of the material world means to lay a reliable and solid foundation under materialism. And vice versa - if such prerequisites cannot be found, then the emergence of consciousness will have to be recognized as a miracle and the building of materialism will simply collapse. However, such fears are unnecessary: ​​there are real prerequisites for the generation of consciousness in the very foundation of the material world. They were established by Lenin. And the decisive prerequisite is the property of reflection discovered by him and inherent in all matter. The presence of precisely this property in all types of matter, including inanimate, inorganic, forms an objective basis for the emergence in the process of development of ever new and, moreover, increasingly complex forms of reflection up to its highest form - human consciousness. But what is this universal property of matter?

Reflection is a property of material systems, objects to reproduce in the course of interaction with other systems, objects in changes in their properties and states, their various features and characteristics. Simple examples of reflection: the imprint of an object on wax, an object and a negative on a photographic plate, changes in instruments that record a change in current or atmospheric pressure, and so on. Almost all measuring devices are based on the use of the reflection property. Already within the limits of inanimate nature, reflection becomes more complicated with the transition from one form of motion of matter to another and appears in the form of mechanical, physical, chemical reflection.

At the same time, reflection, starting from the simplest forms, is characterized by a number of properties: 1) it implies not just changes in the reflecting system, but changes that are adequate to external influence; 2) reflection depends on what is reflected, it is secondary in relation to it; 3) reflection depends on the environment and features of the reflected system, which plays an active role in the process of reflection. These features of reflection find their most vivid manifestation at the level of consciousness. At the same time, reflection in inanimate nature is only a prerequisite and basis for the formation in the course of evolution of a higher form of reflection - biological reflection. The fact is that reflection in inanimate nature (excluding some technical means) does not become for a reflecting object any kind of guideline for its own activity. On the contrary, in biological systems, the results of reflection, which carry information about the environment, are used as guidelines that determine the activity of these systems, their appropriate response to external influences. Therefore, the reflection associated with the active use of the results of external influences can be called informational, and information in this case is understood as the property of phenomena to promote active orientation in the surrounding world.

Reflection acquires at least two important features at the living level. First, further development acquires the selectivity of reflection, the activity of the displaying system: it is focused on the factors of the external environment that are vital for it; secondly, reflection acts as the most important means of adapting the organism to environmental conditions, it implies a purposeful response to the information contained in the reflection. This is the meaning and significance of reflection in living nature. It acts as a source of data for managing living systems and their behavior. Therefore, it can be said that the extraction of vital information about the environment and its purposeful use to regulate the behavior of living organisms is a fundamental property of living things. At the same time, reflection at the level of the living goes through a number of stages in its development.

The initial form of reflection in living nature is irritability, i.e. the ability of a living thing to respond to external influences by the process of internal excitation, which provides an expedient response to a stimulus. This form arises from the very beginning of the existence of the living, even before the emergence of the nervous system and specialized organs of reflection. A higher step is sensitivity, i.e. the ability to feel. If irritability is also characteristic of plants, then sensitivity is specific to the living world. At the same time, sensations, the information that they carry, become material for the internal work of the body in order to develop an appropriate reaction. For this, specific organs are formed in living organisms for such processing of information - nervous tissues, and then complex nervous tissues. Reflection eventually rises to the next level - neurophysiological reflection, inherent only in higher animals, manifesting itself not only in a direct reaction to a stimulus, but in a whole system of dissected, organized sequence of actions, only ultimately subordinated to a vital goal, in active realization in a collision with the external environment of its internal program, the “species experience” of the organism.

Thus, at this stage, reflection acts as a dialectical unity of the impact of the external environment and the realization of internal goals, attitudes, programs of a living being in the process of constructing a behavior scheme that meets both the real situation and internal goals and needs. This unity of internal activity and external influence finds its fullest expression at the stage of mental reflection, characteristic of higher animals with a sufficiently developed and centralized nervous system.

Mental reflection occurs when and where and when the resources and mechanisms of neurophysiological reflection with its characteristic automatism turn out to be insufficient and an active search is needed for what the body needs to solve the problem that has confronted it, orientation activity is necessary in examining the real situation. Here mental images become necessary, which are formed on the basis of a real orienting movement in reality. Through the image, a living being traces new for him relations and connections between the phenomena of the external world, used to solve the problem facing him. The mental image acts as a reflection of objective reality, formed in the process of active search activity and serving as a scheme of the organism's action, encoded in neurodynamic structures.

It was the development of the psychic form of reflection that prepared the qualitative shift that marked the transition to human consciousness. Further we will dwell on the origin of consciousness in more detail, but here we will note only some specific features of reflection at the level of human consciousness. First, reflection, along with sensory-figurative, acquires the character of an abstract-conceptual one. As a result, the information load of the reflection is greatly expanded. Indeed, perception reflects one object, while the concept replaces a huge number of objects. Thanks to the formation of concepts, the capacity of human thinking, in comparison with animal forms of the psyche associated with sensory-individual representations, increases billions of times, allows the human brain to absorb and immeasurably more information and operate on it. Secondly, with the emergence of abstract thinking, the human psyche ceased to be tied to direct sensory images, it became possible for thoughts to fly away from the immediately given, the opportunity not only to reflect reality and adapt to it, but also to change it, create a new reality, i.e. the creative and design function of consciousness is formed. The active role of reflection, mediated by practice, rises to a new level. True, it should be recognized that with the development of abstract thinking, the possibility of a “sick fantasy” appeared, an exaggeration of the relative independence of thought, its separation from reality, religion was formed, and then idealism.

Finally, reflection acquires a socially determined character. This finds its expression primarily in the social nature of consciousness, which is manifested, in particular, in the emergence of language and in its indissoluble unity with thinking. Along with this, the social conditionality of consciousness is found in its dependence on social relations, in the fact that people's consciousness changes with the development of society, and social consciousness, which we will discuss in detail later, is a reflection of social life.

We have considered the question of the reflection and evolution of its forms in the process of the development of the material world. Already the complication of forms of reflection is closely connected with the level of organization of matter, especially with the complication of neurophysiological systems. Matter thinks, but, as noted above, consciousness is not inherent in all matter, but only in a special way organized matter, a reasonable person. This aspect of the relationship between matter and consciousness is to be considered further.

3. Consciousness and the brain. Technical and physiological. The relationship between the conscious and the unconscious in the human psyche.

Already an analysis of the development of the psyche of animals shows that the level of its development, and hence the degree of development of the forms of reflection, are a function of the complexity of their behavior, and most importantly, the complexity of the organization of the organs of reflection of the external world, the central nervous system.

The lower forms of life, which lack specialized organs of reflection and the central nervous system, are characterized only by irritability. With the complication of organization, with the formation in animals of the central nervous system and specialized sense organs, reflection rises to a higher level. In the course of development, sensitivity is built over irritability, then - neuro-physiological reflection, and then - the psyche of animals. Finally, in humans, the structure of the central nervous system, primarily the brain, reaches the greatest complexity, and, accordingly, reflection appears in the most complex form - in the form of human thinking. Indeed, the human brain is a complex material formation with an average volume of 1400 cubic cm (in primates, the brain is 3-4 times smaller in volume), consisting of 10-14 billion neurons interconnected by synapses and dendrites.

The brain has a very complex structure, it traces a kind of "division of labor" between its departments. The simplest forms of analysis and synthesis of external stimuli and regulation of behavior are carried out by the lower parts of the central nervous system - the spinal, medulla oblongata and diencephalon, and the most complex upper floors, primarily by the cerebral hemispheres, especially their cortex.

The very fact that the richness and richness of the forms of reflection are associated with the complexity and perfection of the nervous system, the degree of its centralization, in itself confirms the materialistic thesis: consciousness is a function of the brain. This thesis is also reliably supported by data from the physiology and pathology of higher nervous activity, in particular, by the fact that mental disorders are often associated with damage to certain parts of the brain.

The problem of consciousness and the brain includes two main aspects. The first is how the phenomena of consciousness, the mental, correlate with the physiological processes in the brain. This is the so-called psychophysiological problem. And the second aspect, closely related to the first, is the ratio of the ideal and the material.

Let's take a look at each of these issues in turn. Materialism and idealism have always solved the psychophysiological problem in different ways. True, even among the representatives of idealism there is no complete uniformity in the solution of this problem. Part of the idealists, and with them the representatives of dualism, solve it in the form of psychophysiological parallelism: mental and physiological processes proceed in parallel and independently of each other and at the same time inexplicably correspond to each other.

The second solution appears in the form of the idea of ​​psycho-physiological interaction, although the question of how the ideal, mental and material can interact is left open by the physiological supporters of this position. The third, extreme version is the idea of ​​psycho-physiological identity, the reduction of the physiological to the mental, an idea inherent in subjective idealism. Thus, the Machist Avenarius denied any connection between consciousness and the brain. Thinking, in his opinion, is not an inhabitant or ruler, half or side, etc., but also not a product and not even a physiological function or even a state of the brain. However, even in materialism, the psychophysiological problem did not find a single solution. Representatives of vulgar materialism, rejecting idealism, fell into the other extreme, identifying consciousness and matter, declaring thought to be material. Thus, Büchner, Vogt and Moleschott, who came from this school, believed that the brain secretes thought in the same way as the liver secretes bile. In the 30s of our century, a relapse of such views was observed in connection with the successes of electrophysiology: individual physiologists and psychologists began to equate thought with electromagnetic oscillations.

This position is still held by individual philosophers and psychologists. The inconsistency of such a view is, firstly, that its supporters lubricate the qualitative originality of consciousness as an ideally figurative reflection of matter, and secondly, this view leads to a shift in materialism and idealism, since, following idealism, the possibility of an independent, independent of the brain, is recognized. the existence of thoughts.

Indeed, the materialist solution to the problem of the relationship between the mental and the physiological consists in recognizing the psychophysiological unity, the basis of which is the material, physiological process, and the mental, ideal constitutes its inner side, the side of reflection. Ultimately, it is this idea that is seen in the well-known statement of K. Marx: "... The ideal is nothing but the material, transplanted into the head and processed in it." (Marx K., Engels F. Soch.2nd ed. T.23. P.21.).

Ancient India - opinion :

“In the philosophical system of Yoga Patanjali, the unconscious was interpreted as the highest moment of knowledge - intuition. Moreover, the unconscious was understood not as a form of knowledge preceding consciousness, but, on the contrary, as the superconscious, on the basis of which the highest degree of penetration into the essence of things is carried out.

However, in "Yoga Patanjali" the concept of the unconscious is also used to characterize the causes of the Universe, the initial product of the development of "prakriti" - the great one, which includes intellect, self-consciousness and mind ("chitta"). “He (citta) is essentially unconscious, although he becomes conscious due to the reflection of the “I” that is in him” .

Schelling argues that the envisaged harmony between the ideal and real worlds is the result of both conscious and unconscious activity. This means "that the activity that is consciously productive in our behavior is unconsciously productive in its generation of the world." This postulates the presence of conscious and unconscious activity in the subjective, that is, in consciousness itself, and the objective world appears to be nothing more than the original unconscious "poetry of the absolute spirit" ".

Based on this quote, we can conclude that for Schelling the unconscious is the starting point, a negative stimulus to development. In the original “absolute identity” of being and thinking, there is an unconscious desire and action, as a result of which nature arises. Various natural phenomena in Schelling act as certain forms of being and consciousness of the world spirit. In this way, development occurs through the gradual transformation of the unconscious into the conscious.

Consciousness is the most important sphere of the human psyche, but not the only one, since the latter also includes the unconscious. The Austrian psychiatrist and philosopher Z. Freud paid special attention to the question of the nature of the unconscious. He made a number of important propositions about the sphere of the unconscious.

At the same time, Z. Freud exaggerated its significance, gave the unconscious a leading role, arguing that it allegedly determines both consciousness and all human behavior, and he attached special importance to innate instincts and drives, the core of which he considered the sexual instinct. While disagreeing with such an absolutization of the place of the unconscious in human life, it would be wrong to underestimate and even more so to deny its role in the knowledge and behavior of people.

The unconscious itself has three main levels. The first includes the unconscious mental control of a person over the life of his body, coordination of functions, satisfaction of the simplest needs and requirements. The second, higher level of the unconscious is processes and states that can be realized within consciousness, but can move into the sphere of the unconscious and be carried out automatically, etc. Finally, the third, highest level of the unconscious is manifested in artistic, scientific, philosophical intuition, which plays an important role in the processes of creativity. The unconscious at this level is closely intertwined with consciousness, with the creative energy of the senses and the human mind.

For the self-consciousness of the individual, this information turns out to be “closed”, but it exists, enters the brain, is processed, and many actions are carried out on its basis. Unconscious reflection, playing an auxiliary role, frees consciousness for the implementation of the most important, creative functions. So, we perform many habitual actions without the control of consciousness, unconsciously, and the consciousness, freed from solving these problems, can be directed to other objects.

4. Consciousness and language. Ideal and material. Consciousness and self-awareness

One of the prerequisites for its occurrence at the biological level was the sound signaling systems already existing in higher animals.

Mimic-gestural and sound means of mutual communication, first of all, of higher animals, served as a biological prerequisite for the formation of human speech. The development of labor contributed to the close rallying of the members of society. People have a need to say something to each other. The need created an organ - the corresponding structure of the brain and peripheral speech apparatus. The physiological mechanism of speech formation is conditioned reflex: the sounds uttered in a given situation, accompanied by gestures, were combined in the brain with the corresponding objects and actions, and then with the ideal phenomena of consciousness. The sound from the expression of emotions has turned into a means of designating the images of objects, their properties and relationships.

In language, the social nature of consciousness reveals itself with particular clarity. Language is as ancient as consciousness. Language and consciousness are an organic unity, which, however, does not exclude contradictions between them.

The essence of language reveals itself in its functions. First of all, language acts as a means of communication, transmission of thoughts, performs a communicative function. A thought is an ideal reflection of an object and therefore cannot be expressed or transmitted without a material frame. In the role of a material, sensual shell of thought, the word acts as a unity of sign, sound and meaning, concept.

Speech is an activity, the very process of communication, the exchange of thoughts, feelings, etc., carried out with the help of language as a means of communication. But language is not only a means of communication, but also an instrument of thinking, a means of expressing and shaping thoughts. The fact is that a thought, a concept is devoid of imagery, and therefore to express and assimilate a thought means to clothe it in a verbal form. Even when we think to ourselves, we think by casting thought into linguistic forms. The performance of this function by the language is ensured by the fact that the word is a sign of a special kind: as a rule, there is nothing in it that would remind of the specific properties of the designated thing, phenomenon, which is why it can act as a sign - a representative of a whole class similar items, i.e. as a symbol of the concept.

Finally, the language plays the role of an instrument, the accumulation of knowledge, the development of consciousness. In linguistic forms, our ideas, feelings and thoughts acquire a material existence and thanks to this they can become and become the property of other people.

So, consciousness and language are organically connected with each other. But the unity of language and thinking does not mean their identity. Indeed, a thought, a concept as the meaning of a word is a reflection of objective reality, and a word as a sign is a means of expressing and fixing a thought, a means of transmitting it to other people. It should be added to this that thinking is international in its logical laws and forms, and the language is national in its grammatical structure and vocabulary.

Finally, the lack of identity of language and thinking is also seen in the fact that sometimes we understand all the words, and the thought expressed with their help remains inaccessible to us, not to mention the fact that people with different life styles can use the same verbal expression. experiences invest far from the same semantic content.

These features in the relationship between language and thinking must be taken into account both in live speech and in written speech. Natural languages ​​are the main and decisive means of communication between people, a means of organizing our thinking. At the same time, with the development of knowledge and social practice, along with languages, non-linguistic signs and sign systems are beginning to be used more and more widely. Ultimately, they are all connected in one way or another with natural language, complementing it and expanding its range and possibilities. Such non-linguistic sign systems include systems of signs used in mathematics, chemistry, physics, musical notation, traffic signs, etc. Moreover, artificial languages ​​are being formed - the language of mathematics, other sciences, and, more recently, formalized programming languages.

Language and consciousness form a contradictory unity. Language affects consciousness: its historically established norms, specific to each nation, shade different features in the same object. However, the dependence of thinking on language is not absolute. Thinking is determined mainly by its connections with reality, while language can only partially modify the form and style of thinking.

The state of the problem of the relationship between thinking and language is still far from being completed; it contains many more interesting aspects for research.

The physiological mechanisms of mental phenomena are not identical to the content of the psyche itself, which is a reflection of reality in the form of subjective images. The dialectical-materialist conception of consciousness is incompatible neither with idealistic views, which separate mental phenomena from the brain, nor with the views of the so-called vulgar materialists, who deny the specificity of the mental.

The reflection of things, their properties and relations in the brain, of course, does not mean their transfer to the brain or the formation of their physical imprints in it, like imprints on wax. The brain does not deform, does not turn blue, does not get cold when it is affected by hard, blue and cold objects. The experienced image of an external thing is something subjective, ideal. It is not reducible either to the material object itself, which is outside the brain, or to those physiological processes that occur in the brain and give rise to this image. The ideal is nothing but the material, "transplanted" into the human head and transformed in it.

The spiritual world of a person can neither be touched, nor seen, nor heard, nor detected by any instruments or chemical reagents. No one has yet found a single thought directly in the human brain: an ideal thought has no existence in the physical and physiological sense of the word. At the same time, thoughts and ideas are real. They exist. Therefore, the idea cannot be considered something “invalid”. However, its reality, reality is not material, but ideal. This is our inner world, our personal, individual consciousness, as well as the whole world of the “transpersonal” spiritual culture of mankind, that is, outwardly objectified ideal phenomena. Therefore, it is impossible to say what is more real - matter or consciousness. Matter - objective, and consciousness subjective reality.

Consciousness belongs to man as a subject, not to the objective world. There are no "no one's" sensations, thoughts, feelings. Every feeling, thought, idea is a feeling, thought, idea of ​​a particular person. The subjectivity of the image is by no means an arbitrary introduction of something from the subject: objective truth is also a subjective phenomenon. At the same time, the subjective also appears in the sense of incomplete adequacy of the image to the original.

The content of the mental image of an object is determined not by the anatomical and physiological organization of a person and not by what the cognizing subject finds directly in nature on the basis of his individual experience. Its content is a synthetic characteristic of the object obtained in the course of object-transforming activity. This opens up the fundamental possibility of an objective study of consciousness: it can be known through the forms of its manifestation in sensory-practical activity.

The subjective image as knowledge, as a spiritual reality, and physiological processes as its material substratum are qualitatively different phenomena. Failure to understand this qualitative specificity gave rise to a mechanical tendency to identify them. The absolutization of the specifics of consciousness as a subjective image gives rise to a tendency to oppose the ideal and the material and bring the opposition to the point of complete disintegration of the world into two substances - spiritual and material.

Consciousness and the objective world are opposites that form a unity. Its basis is practice, the sensory-objective activity of people. It is she who gives rise to the need for a mental conscious reflection of reality. The need for consciousness, and at the same time consciousness that gives a true reflection of the world, lies in the conditions and requirements of life itself.

Finally, the most important component of consciousness, putting all its other components as if in one bracket, is self-consciousness.

Self-consciousness is a kind of center of our consciousness, integrating the beginning in it. Self-consciousness is a person's consciousness of his body, his thoughts and feelings, his actions, his place in society, in other words, awareness of himself as a special and unified personality.

Self-consciousness is a historical product, it is formed only at a certain, moreover, quite high stage of development of primitive society. And along with this, it is also a product of individual development: in a child, its foundations are laid at about the age of 2-4 years. Three levels can be distinguished in the development and dynamics of self-consciousness. The first is the level of well-being, which boils down to an elementary awareness of one's body and its inclusion in the system of things surrounding a person. It is thanks to this that a person not only distinguishes himself from the objective world, but also has the opportunity to freely navigate in it.

The second level of self-consciousness is realized in the awareness of one's belonging to a particular community, to a particular culture and social group. The highest level of development of self-consciousness is the emergence of the consciousness of "I" as such an entity, which, although similar to the "I" of other people, is at the same time unique, and is able not only to perform actions, but also to be responsible for them, which implies the need and possibility of both control over their actions, and their self-esteem. Thus, self-consciousness characterizes not only self-knowledge, but also the comparison of oneself with a certain ideal of the “I”, which means control and self-esteem, as well as the emergence on this basis of a feeling of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with oneself. At the same time, the very awareness of one's "I" can again be realized only through comparing oneself with other people.

This once again testifies to the social nature of consciousness, which is formed in the course of collective activity and human communication. Self-consciousness is characterized by two interrelated properties - objectivity and reflectivity. The first property makes it possible to correlate our sensations, perceptions, ideas, mental images with the objective world outside of us, which makes it possible to ensure the focus of consciousness on the external world. Reflection is such a side of self-consciousness, which, on the contrary, focuses attention on its very phenomena and forms.

In the course of reflection, a person realizes his "I", analyzes it, comparing himself with the ideal, reflecting on his attitude to life, fixing or, conversely, changing certain life guidelines. At the same time, errors are possible in assessments and self-assessments. Checking and correcting here are possible provided that you are attentive to the assessments of other people and soberly compare your self-assessments with them. Therefore, self-consciousness is not some kind of constant, it not only arises in the process of joint activities and communication with other people, but is also constantly checked and corrected in the process of deepening and expanding interpersonal relationships.

In conclusion, consideration of the topic, it is necessary to summarize all of the above and draw some conclusions. So:

1) Consciousness is the highest form of reflection of the real world, peculiar only to man. It is associated with articulate speech, logical generalizations, abstract concepts.

2) The “core” of consciousness, the way of its existence is knowledge.

3) The formation of consciousness is associated with the emergence of labor.

4) The need for labor in the process of communication caused the appearance of language. Labor and language had a decisive influence on the formation of human consciousness.

5) Consciousness is a function of the most complex material, physiological system - the human brain.

6) Consciousness has a multicomponent structure, nevertheless it is a single whole.

7) Consciousness has the ability to influence the reality surrounding it. It is active.

Bibliography.

1. Seminars in Philosophy: Textbook. Ed. K.M. Nikonov. - M.: Higher school, 1991. - 287p.

2. A.G. Spirkin. Fundamentals of Philosophy: Textbook for universities. - M.: Politizdat, 1988. - 592s.

3. Introduction to Philosophy: A Textbook for High Schools. At 2 pm Part 2 Under the general. ed. I.T. Frolova. - M.: Politizdat, 1989. - 458 p.

4. Anisimov O.S. Methodological version of the categorical apparatus of psychology. - Novgorod: NZKSH, 1990.

5. Leontiev A.N. Activity. Consciousness. Personality. M., Politizdat, 1975.

6. General psychology. Under the editorship of Petrovsky A.V. - Moscow: Education, 1986.

7. Philosophical Dictionary. M.: Politizdat, 1987

8. The world of philosophy. M., 1991. Part 1.

9. History of philosophy in brief. M.: “Thought”, 1994.

10. Anthology of world philosophy. M.: 1970. T.2.

11. Modern Western Philosophy. M.: Politizdat, 1991.

12. The problem of consciousness in modern Western philosophy. M.: 1989

13. Plato. Works in 3 vols. M., 1971. V.3.

14. Boyko A.N. The problem of the unconscious in philosophy and concrete sciences. Kyiv: "Vishcha School", 1978.

15. Bykova G.F. Hegelian understanding of thinking. M.: 1990.

16. Reader in general psychology. Psychology of thinking. 1981.

17. Sayings of the greats. M.: “Thought”, 1993.

18. Lem S. Lymphater's formula. M.: "Knowledge", 1963.

Tutoring

Need help learning a topic?

Our experts will advise or provide tutoring services on topics of interest to you.
Submit an application indicating the topic right now to find out about the possibility of obtaining a consultation.

Consciousness is like a reflection (The concept of reflection)

According to the concept of reflection, consciousness is a property of highly organized matter - the human brain. Of the material structures known to modern science, it is the brain that has the most complex substrate organization. About 11 billion nerve cells form a very complex system whole in which electrochemical, physiological, biophysical, biochemical, bioelectrical and other material processes take place. Having arisen as a result of a long evolution of a living thing, the human brain, as it were, crowns biological evolution, closing on itself the entire information-energy system of an integral organism, controlling and regulating its vital activity. As a result of the historical evolution of the living brain, it acts as a genetic continuation of simpler forms and ways of connecting the living with the outside, including the inorganic world. But how and why does matter, consisting of the same atoms and elementary particles, begin to realize its existence, evaluate itself, and think? It is logical to assume that in the foundation of the very knowledge of matter there is a capacity similar to sensation, but not identical to it, that "all matter has a property that is essentially akin to sensation, the property of reflection." This assumption was made by D. Diderot back in the 18th century.

Matter at all levels of its organization has the property of reflection, which develops in the process of its evolution, becoming more and more complex and multi-qualitative. The complication of forms of reflection is connected with the developing ability of material systems for self-organization and self-development. The evolution of reflection forms acted as a prehistory of consciousness, as a link between inert matter and thinking matter.

The followers of hylozoism came closest to the idea of ​​reflection in the history of philosophy, but they endowed all matter with the ability to feel and think, while these forms of reflection are characteristic only for certain types of it, for living and socially organized forms of being.

Consciousness- this is the highest form of reflection of objective reality peculiar only to a person, a way of his attitude to the world and to himself, which is a unity of mental processes that are actively involved in man's understanding of the objective world and his own being and is not determined directly by his bodily organization (as in animals), but acquired only through communication with other people, the skills of objective actions. Consciousness consists of sensory images of objects that are a sensation or representation and therefore have meaning and meaning, knowledge as a set of sensations imprinted in memory, and generalizations created as a result of higher mental activity, thinking and language. Thus, consciousness is a special form of human interaction with reality and its management. Reflection is understood as the process and result of interaction, in which some material bodies reproduce the properties and structure of other material bodies with their properties and structure, while maintaining a trace of interaction.

Reflection as a result of the interaction of objects does not stop after the completion of this process, but continues to exist in the reflecting object as a trace, an imprint of the reflected phenomenon. This reflected variety of structures and properties of interacting phenomena is called information, understood as the content of the reflection process.

Etymologically, the concept of information means familiarization, clarification, communication, however, in philosophical discussions on the issue of the subject area of ​​information, three positions have developed: attributive, communicative and functional. From the point of view of the attributive concept of information as a reflected variety of objects in relation to each other, information is universal in nature, acts as the content of the reflective process both in living and inanimate nature. It defines information as a measure of the heterogeneity of the distribution of matter and energy in space and time, which accompanies all processes occurring in the world. The communicative concept of information as the transfer of information, messages from one person to another was the most popular in connection with the everyday practical meaning of the term and persisted until the mid-20s of our century. In connection with the growth of the volume of transmitted information, there was a need for its quantitative measurement. In 1948, K. Shannon developed the mathematical theory of information. Information began to be understood as those messages transmitted by people to each other, which reduce the uncertainty of the recipient. With the advent of cybernetics as a science of control and communication in living organisms, society and machines, a functional concept of information took shape as the content of reflection in self-developing and self-managing systems. In the context of a functional approach to the nature of information, the problem of the informational nature of human consciousness is posed and solved in a fundamentally new way. The attributive concept of information as the necessary content of any reflection makes it possible to explain the development of living matter from non-living matter as the self-development of the material world. Probably, in this sense, it is justified to speak about different qualitative levels of manifestation of reflection and, accordingly, about different measures of information saturation of reflection. At each of the levels of the systemic organization of matter, the property of reflection manifests itself as qualitatively different. Reflection, inherent in phenomena and objects of inanimate nature, has a fundamentally different intensity of information content than reflection in wildlife. In inanimate nature, for interacting phenomena, firstly, the absolutely predominant volume of their mutual diversity remains unperceived, unreflected, due to its “insignificance” for the given qualitative state of these phenomena. Secondly, due to the low organization of these phenomena, they have a very low threshold of sensitivity to this diversity. Thirdly, the same low level of organization of phenomena causes a weak ability to use the information content of reflection for self-organization. Such, for example, are the forms of reflection available to rocks, minerals, etc., where it is impossible to grasp the constructive use of information as a factor of self-development in the sensually observed content of the reflection. Here, the destructive result of reflection dominates, since these objects are not able to use its information content for increasingly complex self-organization, for acquiring new, more complex qualities and properties. The emergence of organic nature forms a qualitatively new form of reflection. A higher degree of intensity of the information content of reflection and a much wider volume of it are already available to the phenomena of living nature. So, if the mineral reveals only the ability to accumulate changes in the external environment, then the plant reflects external diversity much more dynamically and actively. It actively reaches out to the sun, uses the information that appears in connection with this for more dynamic mobilization of its resources in the process of photosynthesis and, ultimately, for self-development. This increasing intensity and richness of information connections forms in a living being the ability for more intensive growth and expanded self-reproduction of properties, the formation of new features, their coding and inheritance. Thus, the complication of forms of reflection expresses not only the fact of the development and complication of matter, but also the fact of the acceleration of this development. The increase in the intensity of information links with the development of reflection forms brings new qualitative features to the spatio-temporal forms of the existence of matter. The spatial parameters of the existence of matter are expanding, its development is accelerating. The simplest level of reflection, inherent in living matter, manifests itself in the form of irritability. Irritability is the ability of the organism to the simplest responses to the influence of the environment. This is already a selective response of the living to external influences. This form of reflection does not passively perceive information, but actively correlates the result of the reaction with the needs of the body. Irritability is expressed only in relation to vital influences: nutrition, self-preservation, reproduction. Gradually, irritability appears not only in relation to biologically important stimuli, but also to other phenomena significant for the body, signals that carry more indirect information about the environment. Irritability is already quite noticeable in many plants and protozoa. This rather information-rich form of reflection causes further development and complication of organisms, their accelerating evolution. In the course of evolution, sense organs that are in demand by enriching reflection arise. In accordance with the functions performed by these sense organs, the process of formation of a specific material tissue (material substrate) - the nervous system, concentrating in itself the functions of reflection, goes in parallel. With the emergence of this specialized material instrument of reflection, the connections of the organism with the external environment become even more complex and flexible. The emergence of a set of receptors significantly enriches the information content of the reflection of the surrounding world. This level of development of reflection is defined as sensory reflection. It has the ability to reflect individual properties of the external environment. The emergence of sensations is associated with the emergence of elementary forms of the psyche, which gives a new impetus to the evolution of the living. As for the sensitive nature of consciousness, Helvetius said: “Feelings are the source of all our knowledge ... We have three main means of research: observation of nature, reflection and experiment. Observation collects facts; thinking combines them; experience checks the result of combinations ... every sensation of ours entails a judgment, the existence of which, being unknown, when it has not riveted our attention to itself, is nevertheless real.

Already at the level of relatively simple organisms, the nervous system significantly expands the possibilities of reflection, allows you to fix the diversity of the environment in the individual "memory" of the organism and use it in fairly complex adaptive reactions to environmental changes. With the emergence of a special center of the nervous system - the brain, the information volume of reflection reaches a new qualitative level. Already in vertebrates, perception arises - the ability to analyze complex complexes of simultaneously acting external stimuli, to create a holistic image of the situation. Individual behavior appears based on individual experience, on conditioned reflexes, in contrast to intuitive behavior based on unconditioned reflexes. A complex mental form of reflection is formed, accessible to highly organized mammals. The mental form of reflection is characterized not only by a significantly greater richness in the reflection of phenomena, but also by a more active “presence” in the process of reflection of the reflecting one. Here, the selectivity of reflection, the concentration and selection of the object of reflection, or even its individual properties and features, increase significantly. Moreover, this selectivity is set not only by biophysical relevance for reflecting certain properties and signs, but also by emotional and mental preference. It should be noted that the complication of the properties of mental reflection is directly related to the development of the brain, its volume and structure. At this level of development, memory resources are expanded, the ability of the brain to capture specific images of things and their inherent connections, to reproduce these images in various forms of associative thinking. Based on the associativity of thinking, animals (higher apes, dolphins, dogs) demonstrate excellent abilities for anticipatory reflection when they first construct their actions and actions in an ideal model that anticipates the logic of events. They also have richer content channels of information links, more complex sound and motor means of signaling, which are the primary forms of substitution for the objects themselves. Nevertheless, no matter how complex the mental reactions of animals to the external world, no matter how meaningful their actions may seem, animals do not possess consciousness, the ability to think. Consciousness represents a higher level of reflection associated with a qualitatively new level of organization of the material world - society, a social form of being. Thus, based on all of the above, we can state that consciousness is formed as a result of the natural-historical evolution of matter and its universal, attributive property - reflection. In the process of evolutionary development, matter, becoming more and more complex in its structural organization, gives rise to such a substrate as the brain. Outside the brain, which is capable of generating information not only to adapt to reality, but also to transform it, consciousness does not arise. Consequently, the emergence of a developed brain, a psychic form of reflection, is the main result of the evolution of prehuman forms of reflection.