Fresh pumpkin is ideal for preparing unusual dishes. She can...
Publication 2017-11-03 Liked 12 Views 17675 Talk...
Note that the theory of knowledge
The need for knowledge is one of the essential characteristics of a person. The entire history of mankind can be represented as an accelerating process of development, expansion, refinement of knowledge - from the technology of processing stone tools and making fire to the methods of obtaining and using information in computer network. Modern stage development of society is usually seen as a transition from an industrial society (based on the production of goods) to a post-industrial society, or information society (based on the production and distribution of knowledge). sites, and the share of digitized information is calculated in terabytes. In such conditions, the problems of cognition are becoming increasingly important. To the greatest extent, general questions of knowledge are developed by a section of philosophy, which is called epistemology (from the Greek gnosis - knowledge + logos - teaching), or the theory of knowledge.
Cognition in general - creative human activity aimed at obtaining reliable knowledge about the world.
Often, knowledge requires a person to be convinced that she is right and special courage: many scientists went to prisons and fires for ideas and ideas. Based on the foregoing, we come to the conclusion that knowledge has social nature: it is conditioned by the internal needs of society, goals, values, beliefs of people.
Since knowledge will be an activity, it has common features with other activities - work, learning, play, communication, etc. Therefore, in cognition, it is possible to single out elements characteristic of any type of activity - need, motive, goal, means, result.
cognitive need will be one of the most important needs in the structure of a person and is expressed in curiosity, the desire for understanding, spiritual quest, etc. Striving for the unknown, attempts to explain the incomprehensible is a necessary element of human life.
Motives of knowledge varied and traditionally practical: we are trying to learn something about an object in order to understand how it can be used or how to use it more effectively. But the motives can also be theoretical: a person often enjoys simply solving a complicated intellectual problem or discovering something new.
The purpose of knowledge is obtaining reliable knowledge about the studied objects, phenomena, about the world as a whole. Ultimately, cognitive activity is aimed at achieving the truth. Truth in the classical sense is the knowledge of the reality of reality itself.
Means of knowledge in science are called research methods. Among them are observation, measurement, experiment, comparison, analysis, etc. (they will be discussed in detail below)
Actions in the process of cognition are also diverse. For example, in scientific knowledge, the following sequence of actions is adopted: proposing a problem, setting a hypothesis, choosing methods, studying the problem, developing a theory.
The result of knowledge- ϶ᴛᴏ proper knowledge about the subject: its external and internal characteristics, features, elements, connections, historical development, etc. Note that sometimes it is possible to achieve a result without setting conscious goals for the search for truth. Knowledge can be a by-product of other activities. Material published on http: // site
For example, ideas about the properties of different materials can be obtained in the process of labor or play. Therefore, we can say that cognitive activity is woven into all other forms of activity. Material published on http: // site
Philosophy of knowledge
In the system of diverse forms of a person's relationship to the world, an important place is occupied by knowledge or the acquisition of knowledge about the world around a person, its nature and structure, patterns of development, as well as about the person himself and human society.
Cognition- ϶ᴛᴏ the process of obtaining new knowledge by a person, the discovery of the previously unknown.
The effectiveness of cognition is achieved primarily by the active role of a person in the ϶ᴛᴏm process, which caused the need for its philosophical consideration. In other words, we are talking about clarifying the prerequisites and circumstances, the conditions for advancing to the truth, mastering the necessary methods and concepts for ϶ᴛᴏ. Philosophical problems of knowledge are the subject of the theory of knowledge, or epistemology. “ Epistemology"- a word of Greek origin (gnosis - knowledge and logos - a word, a doctrine) Note that the theory of knowledge answers the questions, what is knowledge, what are its main forms, what are the patterns of transition from ignorance to knowledge, what is the subject and object of knowledge, what is the structure of the cognitive process, what is truth and what is its criterion, as well as many others. The term “theory of knowledge” was introduced into philosophy by the Scottish philosopher J. Ferrier in 1854. The improvement of the means of knowledge is an integral part of the history of human activity. Material published on http: // site
Many philosophers of the past turned to the development of questions of knowledge, and it is not by chance that this problem comes to the fore and becomes decisive in the development of philosophical thought. At first, knowledge appears in naive, sometimes very primitive forms, i.e. exists as ordinary knowledge. Its function has not lost its meaning to this day. In the course of the development of human practice, the improvement of the skills and abilities of people in comprehending real world the most important means not only of knowledge, but also material production becomes science. The principles of scientific knowledge will emerge, which formed the basis for the formation and organization of scientific thinking.
With ϶ᴛᴏm, general philosophical principles are distinguished that apply both to the world as a whole and to the sphere of knowledge (the relation of human knowledge to the world), the principles of special scientific thinking and the principles of special scientific theories. It is important to note that one of the most powerful factors that transform the life of society in the XX century. became science (more about science as a form of public consciousness will be discussed in topic 5) This, in turn, turned her into an object of careful and scrupulous study. A wide front of research unfolded, in the center of which was the cognitive activity of man and society. The psychology of scientific creativity, the logic of science, the sociology of science, the history of science, and finally, science of science - this is an extremely short list of special disciplines that study various industries and forms of knowledge. Philosophy did not stand aside, forming broad scope, called the philosophy of science (including a number of subsections: the philosophy of biology, the philosophy of physics, the philosophy of mathematics)
Subject and object of knowledge in philosophy
If we consider the process of scientific cognition as a whole as a systemic formation, then as its elements, first of all, the subject and object of cognition should be singled out.
Subject of knowledge- ϶ᴛᴏ carrier of subject- practical activities and knowledge, the source of cognitive activity aimed at the subject of knowledge.
The subject of cognition can be both a separate person (individual) and various social groups(society as a whole) In the case when the subject of knowledge is an individual, then his self-consciousness (experience of his own “I”) is determined by the whole world of culture created throughout human history. Successful cognitive activity can be carried out under the condition of the active role of the subject in the cognitive process.
Object of knowledge- ϶ᴛᴏ that which opposes the subject, to which his practical and cognitive activity is directed.
The object is not identical to objective reality, matter. The object of knowledge can be both material formations (chemical elements, physical bodies, living organisms), and social phenomena (society, the relationship of people, their behavior and activities) The results of cognition (experimental results, scientific theories, science in general) can also become an object of cognition. Based on all of the above, we come to the conclusion that things, phenomena, processes that exist independently of a person become objects, which are mastered either in the course of practical activity or in the course of cognition. For this reason, it is clear that the concepts of object and subject differ from each other. The subject is only one side of the object, to which the attention of any science is directed.
In addition to the object in scientific knowledge, they often distinguish subject- a part of the object, which is specially isolated by cognitive means. For example, the object of all humanities there will be a person, but the cognitive means of psychology are directed to the spiritual world of man, archeology - to his origin, cultural studies - to culture, ethnography - to the mores and customs of mankind. Accordingly, the spiritual world, origin, culture, etc. act as the subject of these sciences.
The concept of an object in terms of its volume is wider than the concept of an object. Since the emergence of philosophy, the problem of the relation of the subject to the object, as the relation of the knower to the known, has always been at the center of attention of philosophers. The explanation of the causes and nature of the ϶ᴛᴏ relationship has undergone a complex evolution, going from extreme opposition of subjective reliability, self-consciousness of the subject and the world of objective reality (Descartes), to the identification of a complex dialectical relationship between subject and object in the course of cognitive activity. Material published on http: // site
The subject itself and its activities can be correctly understood only with regard to specific socio-cultural and historical conditions, taking into account the mediation of the subject's relations with other subjects. Scientific knowledge involves not only the conscious attitude of the subject to the object, but also the conscious attitude of the subject to himself (reflection)
From the concepts of "subject" and "object" the terms "subjective" and "objective" are formed.
Subjectively everything that is connected with the subject, person, i.e. his will, desires, aspirations, preferences, feelings and emotions, etc. Based on the foregoing, we come to the conclusion that subjectivity is a characteristic inner peace person or the personal impact that consciousness has on our relationship with the world. A subjective attitude to something is traditionally a matter of taste and different people may be different. Subjectivity is more ᴏᴛʜᴏϲᴙt to opinions than to knowledge, although personal knowledge will be subjective already because it belongs to the human mind, and not to the surrounding world.
Objectively everything that does not depend on consciousness, will, desires. For example, the rotation of the Earth around the Sun, the flow of the Volga into the Caspian Sea, the statements “Socrates is a ϶ᴛᴏ man”, “F.M. Dostoevsky is a Russian writer”, etc. will be objective facts or their reflections; they do not depend on our personal desires: the Earth will not stop its rotation, the Volga will not turn back, and Socrates will not become a Russian writer.
Of course, knowledge cannot be completely “purified” from a person. Cognition is influenced social relations, culture, era.
Types (methods) of knowledge
“There are two main stems of human knowledge, growing, perhaps, from one common, but unknown to us root, namely, sensibility and reason: through sensibility, objects are given to us, while they are thought by reason.” I.Kant
Cognition is not limited to the sphere of science, each form of social consciousness: science, philosophy, mythology, politics, religion, etc. - corresponds to its specific forms of knowledge, but unlike all diverse forms of knowledge, scientific knowledge is the process of obtaining objective, true knowledge aimed at reflecting the patterns of reality. Scientific knowledge has a threefold task and is associated with the description, explanation and prediction of the processes and phenomena of reality.
There are also forms of knowledge that have a conceptual, symbolic or artistic-figurative basis. In the history of culture, diverse forms of knowledge that differ from the classical scientific model and standard are assigned to the department of extrascientific knowledge: parascientific, pseudoscientific, quasiscientific, antiscientific, pseudoscientific, everyday practical, personal, "folk science". Since the diverse set of non-rational knowledge does not lend itself to a strict and exhaustive classification, there is a division of the corresponding cognitive technologies into three types: paranormal knowledge, pseudoscience and deviant science.
The initial structure of Cognition is represented by the subject-object relationship, where the question of the possibility of adequate reproduction by the subject of the essential characteristics of the object (the problem of truth) is the central theme of epistemology (theory of Knowledge). Depending on the solution of this issue in philosophy, the positions of cognitive optimism, skepticism and agnosticism are distinguished.
Plato
Everything accessible to knowledge, Plato in the VI book of "States" divides into two kinds: comprehended by sensation and known by the mind. The relationship between the spheres of the sensed and the intelligible also determines the relationship of different cognitive abilities: sensations allow us to understand (albeit unreliably) the world of things, the mind allows us to see the truth.
The sensed is again divided into two kinds - the objects themselves and their shadows and images. Faith (πίστις) corresponds to the first kind, likeness (εἰκασία) corresponds to the second. By faith is meant the ability to have direct experience. Taken together, these abilities constitute an opinion (δόξα). Opinion is not knowledge in the true sense of the word, since it concerns changeable objects, as well as their images. The sphere of the intelligible is also divided into two kinds - these are the ideas of things and their intelligible similarities. Ideas for their knowledge do not need any prerequisites, representing the eternal and unchanging essence, accessible only to the mind (νόησις). Mathematical objects belong to the second kind. According to Plato's thought, mathematicians only "dream" being, since they use derivational concepts that need a system of axioms accepted without proof. The ability to produce such concepts is the understanding (διάνοια). Mind and reason together constitute thinking, and only it is capable of cognizing the essence. Plato introduces the following proportion: as essence is related to becoming, so thinking is related to opinion; and in the same way knowledge relates to faith, and reasoning to likeness.
Of particular fame in the theory of knowledge is Plato's allegory "The Myth of the Cave" (or "The Parable of the Cave").
epicureans
Philo of Alexandria
Types of cognition
There are several types of knowledge:- mythological
- religious
The goal of religious knowledge in monotheism is not the creation or refinement of a system of ideas about God, but the salvation of man, for whom the discovery of the existence of God at the same time turns out to be an act of self-discovery, self-knowledge and forms in his mind the demand for moral renewal. In the New Testament, the method of religious knowledge is formulated by Christ Himself in the "commandments of beatitude": "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8)
- philosophical
In the process of philosophical knowledge, the subject seeks not only to understand being and the place of man in it, but also to show what they should be, that is, he seeks to create ideal, the content of which will be determined by the philosophical postulates chosen by the philosopher.
- sensuous
- scientific (rational)
see also
Links
- Kokhanovsky V.P. and others. Fundamentals of the philosophy of science. M.: Phoenix, 2007. 608 with ISBN 978-5-222-11009-6
- Levichev O. F. Logical-epistemological mechanism of cognition of universal laws in the process of becoming a synthetic consciousness of a teacher
- For the theory of knowledge, see the dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron or the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010 .
See what "Knowledge (philosophy)" is in other dictionaries:
The science of the most general theoretical worldview. problems of jurisprudence and state science. From legal sciences that study specific legal systems differs in that it puts and solves these problems in philosophy. level. F. p. ... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia
Cognition is the acquisition or result of acquiring knowledge: Cognition (philosophy) is a set of procedures and methods for acquiring knowledge about the phenomena and patterns of the objective world. Cognition (in psychology) (cognition) is a term denoting in ... ... Wikipedia
Philosophy- Philosophy ♦ Philosophie Theoretical (but not scientific) occupation, when the object of study is everything, the method is reason, the goal is wisdom. Philosophy teaches us to think better and therefore live better. It's not science, it's not even... Philosophical Dictionary Sponville
There is a wikibook on the topic "Philosophy of Science" Philosophy of Science is a branch of philosophy that studies the concept, boundaries and ... Wikipedia
- (from the Greek phileo love, sophia wisdom, philosophia love of wisdom) a special form of social consciousness and knowledge of the world, developing a system of knowledge about the fundamental principles and foundations of human existence, about the most common essential ... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia
A category that describes the process of obtaining any knowledge by repeating ideal plans for activity and communication, creating sign-symbolic systems that mediate the interaction of a person with the world and other people. Philos. P.'s concepts are extremely ... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia
In the very general meaning philosophy reflections on religion. With this understanding, F.r. It is represented by many different directions, works, judgments expressed over more than two thousand years of the history of philosophy. Their content and measure of novelty can be ... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia
knowledge- KNOWLEDGE is a philosophical category that describes the process of building ideal plans for activity and communication, creating sign-symbolic systems that mediate the interaction of a person with the world and other people in the course of the synthesis of various ... ... Encyclopedia of Epistemology and Philosophy of Science
The teachings of the Russian philosopher Nikolai Fedorov. During his lifetime, N. F. Fedorov, avoiding fame and not wanting to receive money for his writings, published his articles under pseudonyms or did not print at all, giving them to read in handwritten form. Name ... ... Wikipedia
- 'Philosophy and the mirror of nature' ('Philosophy and the mirror of nature', 1979) by Rorty. The book is directed against the paradigm of the feasibility of developing a correct 'theory of knowledge' and, as a consequence, against philosophy, considered as different from ... ... History of Philosophy: Encyclopedia
Chapter I. Epistemology
Chapter II. Knowledge and knowledge
Knowledge
Cognition
empirical knowledge
Theoretical knowledge
Intuition
Chapter III. Practice and knowledge
Chapter IV. Truth and delusion
Chapter V. Scientific Knowledge
1) The structure of knowledge
2) Descartes method
3) Principles of scientific knowledge
4) Methodology of scientific knowledge
Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction.
It is no secret that transformations are taking place in our country that are very important for every citizen, events of historical importance. Therefore, it is necessary to study the problems of human cognitive activity in more depth.
The development of civilization has reached a point where the most important means of solving its problems are competence and good will, based on knowledge and universal values. A scientific and humanistic worldview focused on truth, goodness and justice can contribute to the growth of human spirituality, as well as the ever greater integration of human culture and the convergence of the interests of the people.
Some scholars argue that in our time the process of the formation of social integrity is becoming more and more clearly visible, the foundations of a common style of thinking for mankind are being laid. In the structure of the latter, the leading place belongs to dialectics.
The problems of the theory of knowledge in our time appear in various forms Oh. But there are a number of traditional problems, including truth and error, knowledge and intuition, sensual and rational, etc. They form the foundation, based on which one can comprehend the development of science and technology, the relationship between knowledge and practice, forms and types of human thinking. Some of these problems will be discussed below.
Cognition is very important for man, because otherwise it would be impossible for the development of man himself, science, technology, and it is not known how far we would have gone from the Stone Age if we did not have the ability to know. But the "excess" of knowledge can also be harmful. Here is what F. Joliot-Curie said about this: “Scientists know how much benefit science has brought to mankind; they also know what it could now achieve if peace reigned throughout the globe. They do not want the words "Science has led us to death by atomic and hydrogen bombs" ever to be uttered. Scientists know that science cannot be to blame. Only those people who misuse its achievements are to blame.”
It should be noted that many deep problems of epistemology have not yet been fully elucidated. Further epistemological progress is associated with significant future breakthroughs in theoretical thought.
I Epistemology.
Epistemology or the theory of knowledge is a branch of philosophy that studies the nature of knowledge and its possibilities, the relationship of knowledge to reality, and identifies the conditions for the reliability and truth of knowledge. The term "epistemology" comes from the Greek words "gnosis" - knowledge and "logos" - concept, teaching and means "the concept of knowledge", "the doctrine of knowledge". This doctrine explores the nature of human cognition, the forms and patterns of transition from a superficial idea of things (opinion) to comprehension of their essence (true knowledge) and therefore considers the question of the ways of the movement of truth, its criteria. The most burning question for all epistemology is the question of what practical meaning of life has reliable knowledge about the world, about man himself and human society. And, although the term “theory of knowledge” itself was introduced into philosophy relatively recently (in 1854) by the Scottish philosopher J. Ferrer, the doctrine of knowledge has been developed since the time of Heraclitus, Plato, Aristotle.
The theory of knowledge studies the universal in human cognitive activity, regardless of what this activity itself is: everyday or specialized, professional, scientific or artistic. Therefore, we can call epistemology (the theory of scientific knowledge) a division of epistemology, although quite often in the literature these two sciences are identified, which is not true.
Let us give definitions of the subject and object of cognition, without which the process of cognition itself is impossible.
The subject of cognition is the one who implements it, i.e. creative personality, forming new knowledge. The subjects of cognition in their totality form science community. It, in turn, historically develops and organizes itself into various social and professional forms (academies, universities, research institutes, laboratories, etc.).
From an epistemological point of view, it can be noted that the subject of knowledge is a socio-historical being that realizes social goals and carries out cognitive activity on the basis of historically developing methods. scientific research.
The object of knowledge is a fragment of reality that has become the focus of the researcher's attention. Simply put, the object of knowledge is what the scientist investigates: an electron, a cell, a family. It can be both phenomena and processes of the objective world, and the subjective world of a person: way of thinking, mental state, public opinion. Also, the object of scientific analysis can be, as it were, “secondary products” of the intellectual activity itself: artistic features literary work, patterns of development of mythology, religion, etc. The object is objective in contrast to the researcher's own ideas about it.
Sometimes in epistemology an additional term “object of knowledge” is introduced to emphasize the non-trivial nature of the formation of the object of science. The subject of knowledge is a certain cut or aspect of the object involved in the field of scientific analysis. The object of knowledge enters science through the object of knowledge. It can also be said that the subject of knowledge is the projection of the selected object onto specific research tasks.
II Knowledge and knowledge.
Knowledge.
Mankind has always sought to acquire new knowledge. The process of mastering the secrets of being is an expression of the aspirations of the creative activity of the mind, which is the great pride of mankind.
Our mind comprehends the laws of the world not for the sake of simple curiosity, but for the sake of practical transformation of both nature and man with the aim of the most harmonious living order of man in the world. The knowledge of mankind forms a complex system that acts as a social memory, its wealth is transferred from generation to generation, from people to people with the help of the mechanism of social heredity, culture.
The term "knowledge" is usually used in three senses:
1) abilities, skills, skills that are based on
Awareness about how to do something, to carry out certain
Other intentions;
2) any cognitively significant information (in particular -
Adequate);
3) a special cognitive unit, epistemological form of relationship
a person to reality, existing along with and in interconnection with a practical attitude.
It should be noted that the second and third paragraphs of this definition are the subject of epistemology.
Cognition.
Cognition is a specific type of human spiritual activity, the process of comprehending the surrounding world. It develops and improves in close connection with social practice.
Knowledge is always an ideal image of reality. To know something means to have some ideal idea about the subject of interest to us.
Cognition and knowledge differ as a process and a result.
In its essence, knowledge is a reflection of the world in scientific ideas, hypotheses and theories. Reflection is usually understood as the reproduction of the properties of one object (original) in the properties of another object interacting with it (reflecting system). In the case of cognition, the scientific image of the object under study, presented in the form of scientific facts, hypotheses, and theories, acts as a reflection. There are relations of structural similarity between the reflection given in a scientific image and the object under study. This means that the elements of the image correspond to the elements of the object under study.
From millions of cognitive efforts of individuals, a socially significant process of cognition is formed. In order for individual knowledge to become social, it must go through a natural selection”(through communication of people, critical assimilation and recognition of this knowledge by society, etc.). Thus, knowledge is a socio-historical, cumulative process of obtaining and improving knowledge about the world in which a person lives.
The process of cognition is very multifaceted, as is social practice. Firstly, knowledge differs in its depth, level of professionalism, use of sources and means. On this side stand out ordinary and scientific knowledge. The former are not the result of professional activity and, in principle, are inherent in one way or another to any individual. The second type of knowledge arises as a result of a deeply specialized, requiring vocational training activity called scientific knowledge.
Knowledge also differs in its subject matter. The knowledge of nature leads to the formation of physics, chemistry, geology, etc., which together constitute natural science. Knowledge of the individual and society determines the formation humanitarian and public disciplines. There is also artistic knowledge. Very specific religious knowledge aimed at understanding the sacraments and dogmas of religion.
In cognition, logical thinking, methods and techniques for the formation of concepts, and the laws of logic play an important role. Also, an increasing role in cognition is played by imagination, attention, memory, ingenuity, emotions, will and other abilities of a person. These abilities are of no small importance in the spheres of philosophical and scientific knowledge.
It should be noted that in the process of cognition, a person uses both feelings and reason, and in close connection between themselves and other human abilities. So, the sense organs supply the human mind with data and facts about the object being known, and the mind generalizes them and draws certain conclusions.
Scientific truth never lies on the surface; moreover, first impressions of an object are known to be deceptive. Cognition is associated with the disclosure of secrets about the object being studied. Behind the obvious, what lies on the surface, science tries to reveal the non-obvious, to explain the laws of functioning of the object under study.
The cognizing subject is not a passive contemplative being mechanically reflecting nature, but active creative personality realizing its freedom in cognition. The question of reflection is closely connected with the question of the creative nature of cognition. Mechanical copying, wherever and by whomever it is carried out, excludes the creative freedom of the individual, for which he was criticized by many philosophers. The question was often raised: either the process of cognition is a reflection (and then there is nothing creative in it), or cognition is always creativity (and then it is not a reflection). In fact, this dilemma is essentially false. Only with a superficial, one-sided and abstract understanding of cognition, when either one or the other of its facets is absolutized, is it possible to oppose reflection and creativity.
Creativity is specific human species activity in which the will, purpose, interests and abilities of the subject are realized. Creativity is the creation of something new, something that has not yet been in existence. From the epistemological point of view, scientific creativity is the construction of scientific images of the object under study. Imagination and intuition play an important role in creativity.
In the recent past, it was believed that cognition has two stages: sensory reflection of reality and rational reflection. Then, when it became more and more clear that in a person the sensual in a number of moments is permeated with the rational, they began to come to the conclusion that the levels of cognition are empirical and theoretical, and the sensual and rational are the abilities on the basis of which the empirical and theoretical are formed. This representation is most adequate to the real structure of cognition, but with this approach, the initial level of cognition (sensory cognition) - “living contemplation” is not noticed, this stage is not distinguished from the empirical one. If the empirical level is characteristic only for scientific knowledge, then living contemplation takes place both in scientific and in artistic or everyday knowledge.
empirical knowledge.
Living contemplation is rather not a cognitive ability, but the result of the realization of these abilities or the process of cognition of the indicated side of the object.
There are three interconnected forms of living contemplation:
1) sensation - a reflection in the mind of a person of individual aspects, properties of objects, a direct impact on the senses;
2) perception - a holistic image of an object, directly given in living contemplation and the totality of all its sides, a synthesis of these individual sensations;
3) representation - a generalized sensory-visual image of an object that acted on the senses in the past, but is not perceived at the moment.
Sensations, according to the sense organ through which they are received, are divided into visual (the most important), auditory, gustatory, etc. Usually sensations are an integral part of perception.
There are images of memory and imagination. Usually the images are fuzzy, vague, averaged, but on the other hand, the most important properties of the object are usually highlighted in the images and insignificant ones are discarded.
Cognitive abilities of a person are connected with the sense organs. The human body has an exteroceptive system external environment(vision, hearing, taste, etc.) and the interoreceptive system associated with signals about the internal physiological state of the body.
All these abilities are combined into one group, called "the ability to sensually reflect reality." Due to the ambiguity of the word "feeling", it is more correct to divide the sensual into sensual-emotional and sensual-sensitive.
Theoretical knowledge.
Theoretical knowledge is most fully and adequately expressed in thinking.
Thinking is a process of generalized and indirect reflection of reality, which is carried out in the course of practical activity and ensures the disclosure of its main regular connections (based on sensory data) and their expression in an abstraction system.
There are two levels of thinking:
1) reason - the initial level of thinking, at which the operation of abstractions takes place within an unchanged scheme, template; this is the ability to reason consistently and clearly, to correctly build one's thoughts, to clearly classify, strictly systematize facts;
2) reason (dialectical thinking) is the highest level of theoretical knowledge, which, first of all, is characterized by creative operation with abstractions and a conscious study of their own nature.
It should be noted that reason is ordinary worldly thinking, common sense; his logic studies the structure of propositions and proofs, focusing on the form of knowledge rather than on its content.
With the help of reason, a person comprehends the essence of things, their laws and contradictions. The main task of the mind is to unite the manifold and to identify the root causes and driving forces of the phenomena under study. The logic of reason is dialectics, presented as a doctrine of the formation and development of knowledge in the unity of their content and form. The process of development includes the interconnection of reason and reason and their mutual transitions from one to another and vice versa.
Mind and reason take place both in living contemplation and in abstract thinking, at the empirical and theoretical levels of scientific knowledge.
Reason and reason represent a special section of the cognitive process, when thinking is either reasoning and orienting-adaptive, or understanding and creative-constructive.
Intuition.
The process of thinking is not always carried out in a detailed and logical form. There are cases when a person grasps extremely quickly, almost instantly. difficult situation and finds the correct solution. The ability to comprehend the truth by its direct discretion, without substantiation with the help of discourse, is called intuition. It occupies an important place in cognition, gives it a new impulse and direction of movement. Intuition (guess) is understood as intellectual intuition, which allows you to penetrate into the essence of things. Intuition has long been divided into two varieties: sensual and intellectual. Also, intuition can be technical, scientific, everyday, medical, etc., depending on the specification of the subject's activity.
Various interpretations of intuition emphasize in its phenomenon the general moment of immediacy in the process of cognition, in contrast or in contrast to the mediated nature of logical thinking.
Intuition lends itself to experimental study. Here we should note the works of Ya.A. Ponomarev, Olton, K. Fakuoara.
It has been proved by observation of people that intuition is widespread even under ordinary conditions. There are frequent cases when, in a non-standard situation that requires a quick decision in conditions of limited information, the subject makes a choice of his actions, as if “foreseeing” that it is necessary to act in this way and not otherwise.
One of the most important properties of intuition is its immediacy. It is customary to call direct knowledge (as opposed to indirect) such that is not based on logical proof. Intuition is also characterized by suddenness and unconsciousness.
The general conditions for the formation and manifestation of intuition include the following:
1) thorough professional training of the subject, deep
knowledge of the problem;
2) search situation, problem state;
3) the action of the subject of the search dominant on the basis of continuous attempts to solve the problem, strenuous efforts to solve the problem or task;
4) the presence of a "hint".
III Practice and knowledge.
Practice is the material development of the surrounding world by a social person, the active interaction of a person with material systems. In it, people transform and create material things, objectifying their essential forces. Objectification is the process of materializing people's intentions, the transformation of subjective creativity, plans, ideas into the form of objectivity, into a thing that objectively exists.
The most important features of practice as an epistemological phenomenon are: purposefulness, object-sensory character and transformation of material systems.
Practice is differentiated. So, for example, at the beginning of history, two of its interrelated spheres arose: the production of consumer goods and the production of tools. Later, more and more detailed and specialized division of these spheres takes place.
Practice has a social character, it unites millions of human wills and aspirations into a whole, directing them towards the realization of social goals. The possibilities of practice are determined by the level of development of society as a whole.
Since practice is based on reason, it is a purposeful activity. The goal involves a mental representation of a future thing. The reasonable nature of practical activity involves thinking through a program of action, evaluating the means and conditions for achieving the goal, etc. Since the goal-setting principle cannot be removed from human practice, the latter is a dual subjective-objective process that connects objective prerequisites (natural and supranatural material) with human purposefulness.
Cognition develops in close connection with practice. It is the process of obtaining and accumulating knowledge by society. Practice has a cognitive side, knowledge has a practical side. Knowledge is human information about the world. To start practical activity, a person needs at least minimal knowledge about the subject being transformed in practice. Therefore, knowledge is a necessary prerequisite and condition for the implementation of practical activities.
As mentioned above, practice and knowledge are very closely related. Therefore, each of these types of human activity performs some functions in relation to the other. Let's consider them in more detail.
Gnoseological functions of practice:
1) basic function, i.e. as a source of knowledge, practice provides initial information that is generalized and processed by thinking;
2) determining function, i.e. practice is the driving force of cognition, impulses come from it, which largely determine the emergence of new knowledge and its transformation;
3) criterion function, i.e. practice is the main criterion of truth;
4) goal-setting function, i.e. practice is the goal of cognition, ultimately, which includes those options in which it also acts as the immediate goal of cognition, but the goal of cognition is to achieve true knowledge.
Cognition, in turn, has a number of functions in relation to practice:
1) informative-reflective function, i.e. knowledge processes the initial data obtained from practice and produces concepts, hypotheses, theories, methods; knowledge is a means of practical activity;
2) design and constructive function, i.e. knowledge produces perfect plans such new types of human activity that cannot arise without science, outside of it;
3) regulatory function, i.e. knowledge regulates practice, provides management of practice, practical actions.
Practice and knowledge, practice and theory are interconnected and influence each other. Their relationship contains a contradiction. The parties to the contradiction may be in a state of compliance, harmony, but they can also come into a disharmonious state, reaching a conflict. One of the parties may lag behind the development of the other, which is a natural expression of the contradiction between them; overcoming this contradiction can lead to a new level of their relationship. On this path, the development of both theory and practice is achieved.
IV Truth and delusion.
The problem of truth is the leading one in epistemology. All problems of the theory of knowledge concern either the means and ways of achieving truth (questions of sensual and rational, intuitive and discursive, theory and practice, universal, general scientific and particular methods of cognition, etc.), or forms of existence of truth (the concept of fact, hypothesis, theory , scientific knowledge, etc.), forms of its implementation, the structure of cognitive subject-object relations, etc.
Many scientists equate the concepts of truth and truth. The same point of view is shared by a great connoisseur of the Russian language V. Dahl.
How each person sees the truth, understands its essence, often depends on the life position of this person, his understanding of his purpose.
In philosophy today, one can indicate the presence of at least the following concepts of truth. All of them have both positive and negative sides:
1) The classical theory of truths. Truth is the right reflection
Subject, process in individual cognition.
2) The coherent concept considers truth as correspondence
One knowledge to another.
3) Pragmatic concept. This concept, which is common in
especially in America, says that the truth is that which is useful to a person.
4) Conventional concept. Truth is what counts
Majority.
5) Existentialist concept. A prominent representative of this
concept is Heidegger. Truth is freedom. On the one hand, this is a process in which the world opens up to us on the one hand, and on the other hand, a person is free to choose how and in what way one can cognize this world.
6) Non-atomistic concept. Says that truth is
God's revelation.
In the history of philosophical thought, there have been different understandings of truth. Here are some examples: “Truth is the correspondence of knowledge to reality”; “Truth is experimental confirmation”; “Truth is a property of self-consistency of knowledge”, etc.
The first proposition, according to which truth is the correspondence of thoughts to reality, is the main one in the classical conception of truth. It is so called because it turns out to be the oldest of all conceptions of truth; it is with it that the theoretical investigation of truth begins. This concept was supported by Aristotle, Plato, Hegel, Feuerbach and others.
There are several definitions of truth. Here is a definition from Marxist literature: truth is an adequate reflection of the object by the cognizing subject, reproducing the cognizable object as it exists outside and independently of consciousness.
A characteristic feature of truth is the presence of objective and subjective sides in it.
Truth, by definition, is in the subject, but it is also outside the subject. Truth is subjective. When we say that truth is "subjective", it means that it does not exist apart from man and mankind. Truth is objective - this means that the true content of human ideas does not depend on the subject, does not depend either on a person or on humanity.
In idealistic systems, truth is understood as an eternally unchanging and absolute property of ideal objects (Plato, Augustine), or as the agreement of thinking with itself (the theory of coherence), with its a priori forms (Kant). According to Hegel, truth is a dialectical process of the development of knowledge, in which the correspondence of the concept to the subject of thought is achieved.
The point of view of supporters of subjective-idealistic empiricism is to understand truth as the correspondence of thinking to the sensations of the subject or as the correspondence of ideas to the aspirations of the individual to achieve success (pragmatism), or as the simplest mutual agreement of sensations.
A common feature of various conceptions of truth in modern Western philosophy is the denial of the objectivity of the content of knowledge. Recognition of the objectivity of truth fundamentally distinguishes the Marxist concept from pragmatic, conventionalist interpretations and various forms of relativism.
At each historical stage, humanity has a relative truth - approximately adequate, incomplete, misleading knowledge. The recognition of the relativity of truth is connected with the inexhaustibility of the world and the infinity of the process of its cognition.
The true knowledge of each era contains elements of absolute truth: it has an objectively true content, is a necessary stage in the development of human knowledge, and with its objective content is included in the subsequent stages of knowledge.
Absolute truth is such knowledge that completely exhausts the subject of knowledge and cannot be refuted with the further development of knowledge. Every relative truth contains an element of absolute knowledge. Absolute truth is the sum of relative truths. Truth is always specific.
The criterion of truth is not found in thinking itself and not in reality taken outside the subject, but lies in practice.
The process of achieving truth, especially in social and humanitarian knowledge, involves the comparison and competition of ideas, scientific discussions, criticism and overcoming of realistic forms of consciousness and social illusions, analysis of the correlation of ideological and scientific-theoretical forms of reflection of social reality, clarification of socio-practical and worldview prerequisites theoretical constructions.
Delusion is a kind of epistemological phenomenon. It is an unintentional discrepancy between judgments or concepts and an object. The property of unintentionality makes it significantly different from a lie. Along with this, both delusion and falsehood are erroneous statements. Delusion is false knowledge taken as true (E.M. Chudinov), or, if we take into account the cases when, on the contrary, truth can act as a lie, it is the perception (realization) of false knowledge as true or true knowledge as false.
V Scientific knowledge.
The structure of knowledge.
Let's take a closer look at scientific knowledge. Being a professional type of social activity, it is carried out according to certain scientific canons adopted by the scientific community. It uses special research methods and evaluates the quality of the knowledge obtained on the basis of accepted scientific criteria. The process of scientific knowledge includes: object, subject, knowledge as a result and research method.
It should be noted that science deals with a special set of objects of reality that cannot be reduced to objects of ordinary experience, and that scientific knowledge is a product of scientific activity.
In science, there are empirical and theoretical levels of research. This difference is based on the dissimilarity, firstly, of the methods (methods) of cognitive activity itself, and secondly, the nature of the scientific results achieved.
Empirical research involves the development of a research program, the organization of observations, experiments, a description of the observed and experimental data, their classification, and initial generalization. In a word, fact-fixing activity is characteristic of empirical cognition.
Theoretical knowledge is essential knowledge carried out at the level of abstraction of high orders. Here the tools are concepts, categories, laws, hypotheses, etc.
Both of these levels are connected, presuppose each other, although historically empirical (experimental) knowledge precedes theoretical.
The main form of knowledge obtained at the empirical stage is a scientific fact and a set of empirical generalizations. On the theoretical level the resulting knowledge is fixed in the form of laws, principles and scientific theories. The main methods used at the empirical stage are observation, experiment, inductive generalization. At the theoretical stage of cognition, methods such as analysis and synthesis, idealization, induction and deduction, analogy, hypothesis, etc. are used.
In empirical knowledge, the sensual correlate dominates, and in theoretical knowledge, the rational one. Their ratio is reflected in the methods used at each stage.
Scientific research presupposes not only an "upward" movement towards an ever more perfect, developed theoretical apparatus, but also a "downward" movement associated with the assimilation of empirical information.
As mentioned above, scientific knowledge is closely related to the creativity of the knowing person.
Descartes method.
Despite the individuality of solving scientific problems, we can name some general rules that underlie the research process and make up the essence of Descartes method to gain new knowledge:
Take nothing as true that does not appear clear and distinct;
Divide difficult questions into as many parts as needed for resolution; to begin research with the simplest and most convenient things for cognition and gradually ascend to the cognition of difficult and complex ones;
To dwell on every detail, to pay attention to everything, to be sure that nothing is omitted.
Principles of scientific knowledge.
Summing up, let us briefly formulate three basic principles of scientific knowledge of reality .
1. Causality. The first and rather capacious definition of causality is contained in the statement of Democritus:
No thing comes into being without a cause, but everything comes into being on
any reason and out of necessity.
In the modern understanding, causality means the connection between the individual states of the types and forms of matter in the process of its movement and development. The emergence of any objects and systems, as well as the change in their properties over time, have their grounds in the previous states of matter; these grounds are called reasons and the changes they cause consequences.
2. criterion of truth. Natural scientific truth is verified (proved) only by practice: observations, experiments, experiments, production activities. If a scientific theory is confirmed by practice, then it is true. Natural-science theories are tested by an experiment connected with observations, measurements and mathematical processing of the results obtained. Emphasizing the importance of measurements, the outstanding scientist D. I. Mendeleev (1834-1907) wrote:
Science began when people learned to measure; exact science
Unthinkable without measure.
3. Relativity of scientific knowledge. Scientific knowledge (concepts, ideas, concepts, models, theories, conclusions from them, etc.)n.) is always relative and limited .
Methodology of scientific knowledge.
Method - a way of knowing, studying the phenomena of nature and social life; method, way or mode of action.
The methodology of science explores the structure and development of scientific knowledge, the means and methods of scientific research, ways to justify its results, mechanisms and forms of implementing knowledge in practice.
In modern science, the multilevel concept of methodological knowledge works quite successfully. In this regard, all methods of scientific knowledge can be divided into five main groups:
1) Philosophical methods. These include: dialectics (ancient, German and materialistic) and metaphysics.
2) General scientific approaches and research methods.
3) Private-scientific methods.
4) Disciplinary methods.
5) Methods of interdisciplinary research.
We often use the dialectical method. He proceeds from the fact that if in the objective world there is a constant emergence and destruction of everything, mutual transitions of phenomena, then concepts, categories and other forms of thinking must be flexible, mobile, interconnected, united in opposites in order to correctly reflect the developing reality. One of the main principles of the dialectical approach to cognition is the recognition of the concreteness of truth, which implies an accurate account of all the conditions in which the object of cognition is located, the allocation of the main, essential properties, connections, trends in its development. The principle of the concreteness of truth requires approaching the facts not with general formulas and schemes, but taking into account the real conditions, the specific situation.
For example, scientific methods empirical research are observations, descriptions, measurements, experiments. Let's define these concepts.
Observation is a purposeful perception of the phenomena of objective reality.
Description - fixation by means of a natural or artificial language of information about an object.
Measurement is a comparison of an object by some similar properties or sides.
Experiment - observation under specially created and controlled conditions, which allows you to restore the course of the phenomenon when the conditions are repeated.
There are six types of experiment:
1) research;
2) verification;
3) reproducing;
4) insulating;
5) quantitative;
6) physical, chemical, etc.
Among the scientific methods of theoretical research are:
1) formalization;
2) axiomatic method;
3) hypothetical-deductive method.
Scientific research widely uses general scientific research methods:
1) analysis and synthesis;
2) abstraction;
3) generalization;
4) induction and deduction;
5) analogy and modeling;
6) idealization;
7) classification;
8) a systematic approach.
Conclusion.
Almost all people in their lives in one way or another act as subjects of knowledge. In order for a person to be able to understand the huge amount of information that falls upon him every day, to systematize, generalize and use it in the future, it is desirable for him to know at least the elementary foundations of epistemology. For scientists engaged in scientific research, this should be mandatory requirement because they must know the way to true knowledge, distinguish it from false, and so on. I think that epistemology can make life easier for more than one person, because it teaches us to correctly cognize the world around us.
Some scientists argue that all great inventions have come about only because of human laziness. A person simply does not want to do something, and he invents some mechanism that does it for him or greatly simplifies this process. The same is true with knowledge. We want to live better, therefore our mind comprehends the laws of the world not for the sake of mere curiosity, but for the sake of practical transformation of both nature and man with the aim of the most harmonious living order of man in the world.
It is also important that knowledge tends to accumulate and be transferred from one person to another. This enables mankind to develop, to carry out scientific progress. Our ancestors were right, who believed that a father should pass on his skills to his son.
As already mentioned, in its essence, knowledge is a reflection of the world in scientific ideas, hypotheses and theories. In the case of cognition, the scientific image of the object under study, presented in the form of scientific facts, hypotheses, and theories, acts as a reflection. There are different levels of knowledge, differing in their subject, depth, level of professionalism, etc. Cognition and knowledge differ as a process and a result.
Cognition has two levels: empirical and theoretical. On the first of them there is a collection, accumulation and primary processing of data, on the second - their explanation and interpretation. The main methods of the empirical level of knowledge are observation, description, measurement and experiment; theoretical - formalization, axiomatics, systematic approach, etc. It should be noted that the so-called general scientific research methods (abstraction, generalization, analogy, etc.) are used at both levels of cognition.
A special role in cognition is played by intuition - the ability of a person to comprehend the truth through its direct discretion, without substantiation with the help of discourse. Intuition gives cognition a new impulse and direction of movement. An important property of intuition is its immediacy.
In close connection with knowledge, practice also develops. Practice is the material development of the surrounding world by a social person, the active interaction of a person with material systems. Practice has a cognitive side, knowledge has a practical side. Knowledge is human information about the world. To start practical activity, a person needs at least minimal knowledge about the subject being transformed in practice. Therefore, knowledge is a necessary prerequisite and condition for the implementation of practical activities.
Practice has epistemological functions:
1) basic function;
2) determining function;
3) criterion function;
4) goal-setting function.
In turn, knowledge also has certain functions:
1) informative and reflective function;
2) design and constructive function;
3) regulatory function.
Since knowledge can be both “correct” and false, the leading problem in epistemology is the problem of truth. There are many points of view regarding the definition of truth. Thus, Marx believed that truth is an adequate reflection of the object by the cognizing subject, reproducing the cognizable object as it exists outside and independently of consciousness. A characteristic feature of truth is the presence of objective and subjective sides in it.
Allocate also absolute truth- such knowledge that completely exhausts the subject of knowledge and cannot be refuted with the further development of knowledge.
It should also be noted that the criterion of truth is not in thinking in itself and not in reality taken outside the subject, but lies in practice.
In contrast to the truth, there is a fallacy - a kind of epistemological phenomenon. It is an unintentional discrepancy between judgments or concepts and an object.
Scientific knowledge is very important not so much for the scientist who carries it out, but for society as a whole. The structure and methodology of scientific cognition were discussed in detail above, but I would like to especially note that the dialectical method of cognition plays an important role in everyday life, and creativity occupies not the last place in cognition itself, although some scientists reject this.
Summarizing the work done, we can say that there are different points of view on the problems discussed above. This is due to the different understanding of these problems by different authors of the literature used, since philosophical education in our country has been quite strongly ideologized and politicized over the past decades, and now many concepts are being reassessed. In the course of the work, I tried to choose the most acceptable and logical definitions of concepts, as well as points of view on the problems considered.
I think the results of this work will be useful to me in the future, since economics is a science, and the most important one, because determines the daily life of society as a whole and of each individual person. Due to the duration and scale of economic processes, it is important to master the whole complex of knowledge about this science. In the economy today there is a problem of the truth of the applied knowledge. The current state of the economy of our country has once again confirmed the relevance of knowledge of the disciplines of this science. A vivid example of this is the activity of our governments in recent years, when the whole country acts as a laboratory used to conduct their experiments (landslide privatization; a policy of rigid monetarism, as a result of which the state lost control over natural monopolies, enterprises lost working capital which, in turn, led to a sharp reduction in the tax base and a budget deficit).
Bibliography:
1) P.V. Alekseev, A.V. Panin. Theory of knowledge and dialectics. - Moscow: Higher School, 1991. - 383 p.
2) H.-G. Gadamer. Truth and Method: Fundamentals of Philosophical Hermeneutics. - Moscow: Progress, 1988. - 704 p.
3) V.V. Ilyin. Theory of knowledge. Epistemology. - Moscow: MGU Publishing House, 1974. - 136 p.
4) S.Kh. Karpenkov. Basic concepts of natural science. - Moscow: Culture and sport, UNITI, 1998. - 208 p.
Introduction
Cognition is one of the types of human activity, one of the ways of spiritual and practical development of the world by man. Distinguish knowledge and knowledge. If knowledge is an adequate representation of people about reality, then knowledge is a way of obtaining knowledge. Since primitive times, in the struggle for survival, man has been forced to obtain the most complete and accurate idea of the world around him, of the properties of things and their relationships. The quality of knowledge about reality directly affected the level of protection of a person from the adverse effects of the forces of nature.
The nature of philosophical knowledge
As the socio-cultural forms of human existence became more complex, the consciousness of people developed, the means of knowing the world improved. Already at the Neolithic stage (8-4 millennium BC), the main types of knowledge took shape: everyday, religious-mythological, artistic (aesthetic), scientific, philosophical. If in the ancient world these types of knowledge existed, as a rule, together, overlapping one another, then later (starting from the Renaissance) they were noticeably differentiated.
At the level of everyday knowledge, obvious, elementary truths are comprehended (for example: power implies submission, law is the regulation of human behavior, etc.). One should not think that ordinary knowledge of political and legal phenomena was characteristic of people only at the early stages of historical development, in the pre-scientific era. For a person of modern culture, everyday knowledge is also an integral element of the process of cognition, creating an empirical basis for higher forms of cognition.
Religious and mythological knowledge was mainly characteristic of the ancient peoples. At the same time, both mythology and religion, giving their own, often mystified, explanation of political and legal phenomena, sought to identify a rational component in them, to find logic and meaning in them. The picture of the world built on the basis of religious and mythological knowledge often gave people quite accurate guidelines for political behavior.
Art provides a person (both in antiquity and now) with the help of specific images of literary, musical, architectural works to better understand the specifics of the world of politics and law. For example, the works of O. de Balzac, C. Dickens, L.N. Tolstoy, F. Kafka are able to say more about the soullessness of the state machine than separate theoretical articles.
Science is the most important type of cognitive activity aimed at developing objective, systematically organized and substantiated knowledge about the world. Thanks to science, humanity has been able to develop the productive forces to gigantic proportions, creating on this basis high level material well-being. Scientific knowledge is characterized by the desire to obtain extremely accurate, objective knowledge about the properties of things (especially for the natural and technical sciences).
Philosophy is a special kind of cognition, within the framework of which a search is made for the ultimate semantic, value and logical foundations of things.
The question of the peculiarities of philosophical knowledge is directly related to the understanding of the essence of philosophy, the causes, place and time of its appearance. Despite all the debatability / of that topic, there are a number of provisions on which there is relative agreement.
Philosophy appears at that stage of people's development when they develop self-consciousness, the need to comprehend themselves as an autonomous being and their place in the world. At a certain stage of development, a person begins to distinguish himself from the world of things, realizing his special significance and role. As a thinking subject, he opposes himself to the world as a cognizable object, which gives rise to the so-called subject-object relations. At the heart of the conscious opposition of oneself to the world lies the ethical need of a person to understand himself and his place in the world. Better than others, this moral search was formulated by I. Kant in the form of four questions that a person has always asked and will always ask himself: 1) what can I know? 2) what should i do? 3) what can I hope for? 4) what is a person? Ultimately, the content of the entire world philosophy is the result of an endless attempt to provide answers to these "eternal" questions. They are called “eternal”, or “damned”, because a person, by virtue of his moral nature, is doomed to put them before himself, but, unfortunately, without any special prospects for their final resolution. Someone may object that not all world philosophy is subject to ethics, for example, ontology or the philosophy of nature have no direct connection with it. However, these sections of philosophical knowledge also have an ideological aspect, since their consideration helps to clarify the main philosophical question about the purpose of a person and his place in the world.
“The intensity of the creative search for philosophical thought,” correctly notes V.S. Shvyrev, is primarily associated with the desire to theoretically comprehend the problem of the relationship between man and the world, the "inscription" of man in the world, to develop such a holistic understanding of the world that would make it possible to include a person in it and, on the contrary, consider a person from the point of view of the universe as a whole. , understand its place and purpose in the natural and social world. The main problem here is that a person acts not just as a part of the world in a number of other things, but as a being of a special kind, going beyond the world of objects, possessing mental and spiritual life, capable of manifesting an active attitude towards the world in consciousness and in practice. Compared with other forms of worldview, this problem in philosophy is theoretically sharpened, it appears most prominently, forming the basis of all philosophical reflections about the relationship between subject and object, spiritual and material, consciousness and being, freedom and necessity, etc. The "unity of opposites", inherent in the very essence of philosophical thought, associated with the need to "include" man and the world and at the same time consider his special place in the world, determines the deep dialectic of philosophical consciousness" Shvyrev V.S. Philosophy // Philosophical Dictionary / ed. I.T. Frolova. M., 2001. S. 602..
So, the essence of philosophical knowledge lies in the fact that it is aimed at revealing the meaning and goals of human existence, that is, it has a worldview character. Philosophical knowledge is based on a persistent motive of self-determination of a person as a rational and moral being. The result of such self-determination is the formation of a semantic picture of the world, through the prism of which a person perceives reality and himself in it. The specificity of philosophical consciousness and cognition is most clearly manifested in the turning points in the history of mankind, when the usual forms of life collapse and the society faces the problem of choosing new value orientations. Thus, the birth of philosophy in Ancient Greece associated with the "great cultural upheaval" X-5 centuries. BC, when polis democracy opened the way to a free discussion of social and spiritual problems 2 . The philosophy of Socrates, Plato or Aristotle can be seen as an attempt to offer a new model of human relationship with the world (natural and social).
Philosophy is often called a rational-theoretical form of worldview. This means that a person, seeking to understand the meaning-life problems of his being, does not turn to the postulates of myth or religion, but to the arguments of reason. The logic of their own thought forced people to come to conclusions that often contradicted the religious and mythological picture of the world, traditions and customs. From the very beginning, philosophical knowledge meant freedom and creativity, not connected with pre-established truths. Philosophy has become a manifestation independent thinking and independent behavior that forms a sense of responsibility in a person. The freedom of philosophical thought often brought with it a critical revision of established views on nature and society, which made philosophy and philosophers a noticeable social force (Pythagorean union, sophists). The execution of Socrates is an example of the influence of philosophy on the conservative life of the ancient Greeks, who sought to protect themselves from dubious values and ideas.
Philosophy as a sphere of free discussion of ideas often becomes a form of self-consciousness of a particular historical epoch. Philosophical knowledge, summarizing achievements different areas culture, tries to bring them to some common denominator, to express them in universal categories. The historically concrete culture of this or that people, its way of life and forms of life receive an extremely broad and generalized assessment in philosophy. In philosophy, as a form of self-consciousness, the value ideal of society is formed, which can be conservative, reactionary or revolutionary, orient society towards progressive development or stagnation. So, in the philosophy of the Enlightenment of the XVII-XVIII centuries. the social ideal of the bourgeoisie was formulated, which determined for centuries to come the forms of economic, political, religious, scientific and cultural life of the countries of the West. Market economy and the rule of law, ideological and religious pluralism, emphasis on science as a productive force of society, social optimism and faith in a better future for mankind - these are the basic values put forward by European rationalism.
Another example of philosophical reflection is Russia II half of XIX- the beginning of the 20th century, when several socio-political projects were intensively discussed: conservative-soil, socialist, liberal-Western. All three projects reflected the deepest needs of the Russian people, which paradoxically melted into the Soviet statehood. The practice of “real socialism” in the USSR became the realization of several vectors of Russian national self-consciousness and legal consciousness: 1) the medieval imperial idea “Moscow is the Third Rome”, 2) the peasant ideal of egalitarian socialism, 3) the desire (even if it is external) for rapprochement with Europe (ideas of popular sovereignty, parliamentarism, electivity, etc.). The collapse of the USSR occurred not so much as a result of economic stagnation or a dissident movement for human rights (largely inspired by Western intelligence agencies and generally alien to the population of the country), but because the idea of Soviet power has exhausted itself. Self-awareness of society in the late 1980s - early 1990s. recorded not just the loss of basic Soviet values, but the collapse of the entire value system of coordinates. In subsequent years, the philosophical reflection of the post-Soviet intellectual elite of Russia invariably demonstrated a state of confusion, loss of orientation and vitality.
Features of philosophical knowledge are clearly visible against the background of other types of knowledge. As noted above, philosophy as an independent branch of knowledge appears in Antiquity and takes shape in modern times. However, even in the 20th century philosophy often includes non-philosophical components: science, aesthetics, religion. Thus, European philosophy of the 17th-18th centuries, in the era of the rapid development of natural science and mathematics, strove both externally and in content to be similar to science. The vocabulary of philosophical texts is replete with the words "axiom", "theorem", "law", the authors strive for maximum formalization, accuracy and rigor of their theses, definitions and conclusions. In the XIX-XX centuries. the idea of the scientific nature of philosophy reaches its culmination in positivism and directions close to it, where philosophy was declared the synthesis of all sciences, and any metaphysics (knowledge of the supernatural foundations of the world) - the fantasies of an idle mind.
European and Russian cultures have produced many works of art imbued with philosophical ideas. Dramas by W. Shakespeare, poetry by I.V. Eite, D.N.G. Byron, F.I. Tyutchev, novels by F.M. Dostoevsky and L.N. Tolstoy, operas by R. Wagner, paintings by S. Dali, films by I. Bergman or A.A. Tarkovsky are not just phenomena of aesthetics, but often - detailed philosophical concepts. For Russia XIX- the beginning of the 20th century, when, it would seem, professional philosophy was already fully on its feet, outstanding philosophical ideas were often expressed precisely in artistic form. For example, for a philosophical understanding of Russian history and Russian legal consciousness, the novels of F.M. Dostoevsky was given more than the texts of professional philosophers.
The unity of philosophy and religion also has a long and strong tradition. The philosophical component of theologians is a common thing. A vast array of literature has been accumulated, where, in the context of any religious dogma, philosophical problems(Thomas Aquinas, J. Maritain, V.S. Soloviev, N. Berdyaev, S.L. Frank and others).
Science, aesthetics and religion acquire philosophical aspect when they include a worldview component expressed in a rational-theoretical form. Without this component, any of the named elements of culture appears before us exclusively from the functional side: science produces knowledge, art gives pleasure, religion makes it possible to worship. Philosophy in this case disappears.
Philosophical comprehension of the state and law also always assumes an ideological, life-sense aspect. The most diverse aspects of political and legal reality (ontology, epistemology, axiology, praxeology, aesthetics, logic of law) can be subjected to philosophical analysis, but all of them must be subject to the main thing - the question of the meaning of human existence. Forgetting this main, ultimate goal of any philosophical research can noticeably impoverish or even distort our understanding of the state and law.
Codifier of content elements of the discipline "Philosophy"
Consciousness and cognition
main approaches to solving the problem of the origin of consciousness and its essence
structure of consciousness
connection of consciousness with language
relationship between consciousness and the unconscious
the role of consciousness and the unconscious in human life and activity
Essence and nature of knowledge
main approaches to solving the problem of the cognizability of the world
essence and nature of knowledge
correlation of understanding and explanation
The structure of cognitive activity
levels and forms of knowledge
relationship between knowledge and belief
The Problem of Truth
basic concepts of truth
relationship between truth and error
1. P.V. Alekseev, A.V. Panin. Philosophy: textbook. M., 2004
Consciousness and cognition
The theory of knowledge (or epistemology, philosophy of knowledge) is a branch of philosophy in which the nature of knowledge and its possibilities, the relationship of knowledge to reality are studied, the conditions for the reliability and truth of knowledge are revealed.
The term "epistemology" comes from the Greek words gnosis - knowledge and logos - concept, doctrine and means "the concept of knowledge", "the doctrine of knowledge". And although the term "theory of knowledge" was introduced into philosophy relatively recently by the Scottish philosopher J. Ferrer (in 1854), the doctrine of knowledge began to be developed since the time of Heraclitus, Plato, Aristotle.
Gnoseology studies the universal characterizing human cognitive activity. In her competence is the second side of the main question of philosophy, most often expressed by the question "Do we know the world?". There are many other questions in epistemology, the disclosure of which is associated with other categories and concepts: “consciousness”, “truth”, “practice” and “knowledge”, “subject” and “object”, “material” and “ideal”, “human ” and “computer”, “sensual”, “rational”, “intuition”, “faith”, etc. Each of these concepts, expressing spiritual or material phenomena, is autonomous and is associated with a special worldview problem. However, in the theory of knowledge, all of them are united with each other through the concept of "truth", with which they somehow correlate.
The problematic and subject-substantial specificity of the philosophical theory of knowledge becomes clear when it is compared with non-philosophical sciences that study cognitive activity. And the sciences that study cognition are becoming more and more. At present, cognitive activity is studied by psychology, the physiology of higher nervous activity of a person, cybernetics, formal logic, linguistics, semiotics, structural linguistics, the history of culture, the history of science, etc. Thus, a new direction has arisen in psychology - cognitive psychology (from Latin cognitio - knowledge, cognition). For her, analogies with a computer are important, and the primary goal is to trace the movement of the flow of information in the “system” (i.e., in the brain). Cognitive psychology studies cognitive activity associated, as W. Neisser notes, with the acquisition, organization and use of knowledge (see: “Cognition and Reality. Meaning and Principles of Cognitive Psychology”, M., 1981, p. 23).
All these disciplines (or sections) of psychological science are aimed, as we see, at the study of human cognitive activity. They relate to the relationship of the individual (or collective) psyche of people with the external environment, the consideration of psychological phenomena as a result of the influence of external factors on the central nervous system, changes in the behavior or state of a person under the influence of various external and internal factors.
The philosophical theory of knowledge explores largely the same phenomena of cognitive activity, but from a different perspective in terms of the relationship of cognition to objective reality, to truth, to the process of achieving truth. The main category in epistemology is "truth". Sensations, concepts, intuition, doubt, etc. act for psychology as forms of the mental, associated with the behavior, life of an individual, and for epistemology they are means of achieving truth, cognitive abilities or forms of existence of knowledge associated with truth.
Along with questions about what the essence of the world is, whether the world is finite or infinite, whether it develops, and if it develops, then in what direction, what time, causality, etc. represent, an important place in philosophical problems is occupied by questions associated with the knowledge of objects surrounding a person (things, relationships, processes). "Do we know the world?" - such is the traditional question that arose in the ancient era, when philosophy took its first steps, striving to be a demonstrative, rationally justified worldview. But the traditional nature of just such a form of question can lead to the idea that there were philosophers who believed that the world is not cognizable at all.
In the history of philosophy, there have been two positions: cognitive-realistic and agnostic, and not always in the asset of the first was a sensitive capture of the real complexity of the problem.
The first historical form of agnosticism is skepticism. The ancient Greek philosopher Protagoras (c. 490 - c. 420 BC) shared materialistic beliefs, doubted the existence of gods. The philosopher drew a conclusion about the impossibility of reliable, i.e., universally significant ("unambiguous") knowledge of the essence of the surrounding phenomena.
In the school of sophists, the goal was to justify any judgments, points of view, even resorting to logical overexposures and paradoxes (sophisms).
The founder of ancient skepticism, Pyrrho (c. 365 - 275 BC), considered sensory perceptions to be reliable (if something seems bitter or sweet, then the corresponding statement will be true); delusion arises when we try to move from a phenomenon to its basis, essence. Any assertion about an object (its essence) can be countered with equal right by an assertion that contradicts it. It was this train of thought that led to the position of abstaining from final judgments.
In modern times, on the basis of the progressive development of natural science, the ideas of D. Hume and I. Kant about the possibilities of knowledge were formed.
The English philosopher D. Hume (1711 - 1776) argued: “Nature keeps us at a respectful distance from its secrets and provides us with only knowledge of a few superficial qualities of objects, hiding from us those forces and principles on which the actions of these objects depend entirely” (Hume D. Works: In 2 vols. T. 2. M., 1966. S. 35).
Without doubting, unlike D. Hume, in the existence of material “things in themselves” outside the consciousness, I. Kant, however, considered them to be unknowable in principle. Influencing a person, “things in themselves” evoke in him a variety of sensations, which turn out to be ordered through a priori forms of living contemplation. Thus, we cognize only the world of appearances; but things in themselves are not attained by knowledge, they are elusive. “About that,” Kant points out, “what they (things - P.A.) can be in themselves, we do not know anything, but we know only their phenomena, i.e. the representations they produce in us by acting on our senses.
The position of the so-called "physiological idealism", presented in the works of the German physiologist I. Müller (1801 - 1858), is close to the Kantian concept. I. Müller put forward a position about the existence of a specific energy of the sense organs, which plays a decisive role in the specification of sensations. He emphasized that "sensation is the result of excitation of energy innate for the sense organ", that color, for example, does not exist outside the sense organ; external factor"starts" the energy of the corresponding sense organ, which gives rise to the sensation of color in us. From all this, I. Müller concluded: “We do not know either the essence of external objects, or what we call light, we know only the essence of our feelings.” What I. Muller said is not some kind of naive mistake, if we remember that color is still considered to be the result of electromagnetic waves acting on the retina of the eye, which themselves are colorless. I. Muller came to the same idea, to the same scheme of the cognitive interaction of the subject with the object, as I. Kant; the only difference was that I. Muller tried to prove the legitimacy of this scheme with the help of physiology data.
The "theory of hieroglyphs", or "theory of symbols", by the German physicist and physiologist G. Helmholtz (1821 - 1894) is also based on the law, or principle, of the specific energy of the sense organs by I. Müller. The difference (from the concept of I. Muller) consists, firstly, in concretizing this principle, in establishing a connection between “specific energy” with individual subsystems of the sense organs, with nerve fibers (since G. Helmholtz believed that there are specific energies of different quality even in the same sense organ). Secondly, the theory of hieroglyphs gave more epistemologically generalized ideas about cognition than Muller's interpretation of it. G. Helmholtz considered both sensations and concepts to be signs. As for sensations, he wrote: “Sensations of feelings for us are only symbols of external objects, they correspond to them to the extent that a written word or sound corresponds to a given object. Feelings of the senses tell us about the features of the external world, but they do this no better than we can communicate to the blind through words the concept of colors ”(Gelmholtz G. Popular Scientific Articles. St. Petersburg, 1866. Issue I. C. 61 ). Sense impressions are only marks of the qualities of the external world, signs (symbols, hieroglyphs), the interpretation of which we must learn from experience. The main thesis of his concept is “the absence of the closest correspondence between the qualities of sensation and the qualities of an object” (ibid., p. 82).
At the turn of the XIX - XX centuries. another form of agnosticism emerged conventionalism(from Latin conventio - contract, agreement) is defined as a philosophical concept, according to which scientific theories and concepts are not a reflection of the objective world, but the product of an agreement between scientists.
Its most prominent representative is the French mathematician and methodologist of science. A. Poincare(1854 - 1912). Analyzing the existence of a number of geometries in science - Euclidean, Lobachevsky, Riemann, A. Poincaré came to the conclusion that “geometric axioms are neither synthetic a priori judgments nor experimental facts. They are conventional propositions.... One geometry cannot be more true than another; it can only be more convenient” (Poincare A. “Science and Hypothesis”, Moscow, 1904, pp. 60 - 61). The pragmatic criterion, taken as the only guideline of reliability, led to doubts about the cognizability of the essence of material systems, the laws of natural reality; scientific laws, in his opinion, are conventions, symbols.
Conventionalism as a system of worldviews and principles of scientific knowledge has become widespread in recent decades in Western philosophy, as well as in the logic and methodology of science. With conventionalist attitudes were K. Popper, I. Lakatos, P. Feyerabend and many other scientists. The founder of neorationalism, the French philosopher G. Bachelard (1884 - 1962), divided the world into "natural reality" and "technical reality". In practice, practical actions, he believed, the subject is included in the "natural reality", creates a new one according to the principles of reason through the objectification of ideas. In the process of transformative practice, however, the subject does not reveal any features of natural reality, but reveals "forms", "order", "programs" deployed in "technical reality". This world is knowable.
The modern philosophical theory of knowledge does not diverge from agnosticism in the question of the cognizability of phenomena (as phenomena, objects of sensory cognition). Nor do they differ in answering the question: is it possible to know the world as a whole in all its connections and mediations? (This is answered in the negative.)
The discrepancy in another - on the question of whether the essence of material systems is knowable. Differences - in the interpretation of the nature of the "phenomenon" - phenomena: are these phenomena directly related to the essence and is it possible to obtain reliable knowledge about the essence of material systems through phenomena?
On the question of the possibility of obtaining reliable knowledge about the essence of objects (or about the main thing in this essence), agnostics answer in the negative, albeit in different ways, depending on whether they generally recognize the existence of the essence or not, and if they do, then what connection they see essence with the phenomenon.
Thus, the following definition can be proposed as a starting point: agnosticism is a doctrine (or belief, attitude) that denies the possibility of reliable knowledge of the essence of material systems, the laws of nature and society.
Agnostic concepts are subdivided on many grounds. Exist materialistic and idealistic agnosticism, sensationalistic and rationalistic, Humean, Kantian, etc. agnosticism(if we take the names of the founders of the respective schools), agnosticism ethical, hieroglyphic, physiological, cybernetic etc. (according to the means, the nature of the argumentation).
