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Philosophy of the New Time - briefly the most important thing. We continue our acquaintance with philosophy in a short, simple presentation. In previous articles, you learned about such periods of philosophy:
So, let's turn to the philosophy of the New Time.
The 17th-18th centuries is the period to which the philosophy of the new time belongs. It was a time when human civilization made a qualitative leap in the development of many scientific disciplines, which in turn had a huge impact on philosophy.
In the philosophy of modern times, the idea that the human mind has no limits to its power, and science has unlimited possibilities in its knowledge of the surrounding world and man, has become increasingly dominant.
Especially characteristic of this period in the development of philosophy is the tendency to explain everything from the point of view of materialism. This was due to the fact that natural science was a priority at that time and had a strong influence on all spheres of social life.
The main directions of the philosophy of the New Time - empiricism and rationalism
Philosophical thought of that time is characterized by several clear directions:
- empiricism,
- rationalism,
- philosophy of education,
- French materialism..
Is empiricism in philosophy?
Empiricism is a direction in philosophy that recognizes only experience and sensory perception in cognition and downplays the role of theoretical generalizations.
Empiricism opposed rationalism and mysticism. Formed in the English philosophy of the 17th century, led by Fr. Bacon (1561-1626), Hobbes, Locke.
Is rationalism in philosophy?
Rationalism is a direction in philosophy that recognizes only the mind as the only source of knowledge, denying knowledge through experience and sensory perception.
The word "rationalism" comes from the Latin word for "reason" - ratio. Rationalism was formed led by Descartes (1596-1650), Leibniz, Spinoza.
Enlightenment philosophy of the 18th century
The philosophy of enlightenment of the 18th century was formed in the Age of Enlightenment. It was one of the important periods of European history, was associated with the development of philosophical, scientific and social thought. It was based on free-thinking and rationalism.
The Age of Enlightenment began in England under the influence of scientific revolution 17th century, spread to France, Germany and Russia. Its representatives Voltaire, Montesquieu, Diderot, Rousseau.
18th century French materialism
French materialism of the 18th century is a trend in philosophy that revived epicureanism, interest in the philosophy of antiquity.
Formed in France 17-18 centuries. Its representatives are Lameter, Holbach, Helvetius.
Problems of Philosophy of the New Time
A special place in the philosophy of modern times was occupied by the problem of being and substance, it was in it, according to philosophers, that the whole essence of the world and the ability to control it lay.
Substance and its properties were the focus of attention of philosophers, since, in their opinion, the task of philosophy was to make man the master of natural forces. So basic task and there was the study of substance as the basic category of all things.
As a result, several currents have formed in philosophy regarding the study of substance. The first of these was founded by Bacon, who believed that substance is the basis of all things. The second was founded by Locke. He, in turn, tried to comprehend the substance from the point of view of epistemology.
Locke believed that concepts are based on outside world, and the objects that we see have only quantitative features, and differ from each other only in primary qualities. In his opinion, matter does not have any variety. Objects differ only in figures, rest and movement.
Hume sharply criticized the idea that substance has any material basis. In his opinion, there is only an “idea” of substance, and it was under this that he summed up the association of perception.
Representatives of this direction have made a significant breakthrough in the study and further development theory of knowledge, where the main subjects of study were the problems of the scientific approach in philosophy and the methods of studying the reality around him, as well as the connection between external and internal experience, combined with the problem of obtaining true knowledge.
As a result of the study of all the above problems, the main trends in the philosophy of modern times arose - empiricism and rationalism. The founder of empiricism was F. Bacon. Rationalism was represented by Descartes and Spinoza.
The main ideas of the philosophy of modern times
The main ideas were the principles of an independently thinking subject and methodical doubt. And also in it the method of intellectual intuition and the inductive-empirical method of cognition of the world were developed.
In addition, methods of jurisprudence and ways to protect the freedom of people were developed. The main goal was the intention to embody the ideas of freedom from religion, to build a vision of the world based on scientific knowledge.
The main ideas of the philosophy of the New Time:
Books on the philosophy of modern times
- W.Hösle. The geniuses of modern philosophy
- P.D. Shashkevich. Empiricism and Rationalism in Modern Philosophy
Philosophy of the New Age. VIDEO LECTURE
Summary
I hope the article The Philosophy of the New Time - briefly the most important" turned out to be useful for you. It can be said that the philosophy of the New Time has become a significant driving force in the development of the entire human civilization, has prepared the basis for the improvement of the philosophical scientific paradigm and substantiated the methods of rational knowledge.
The next article is devoted to the topic "German classical philosophy".
I wish everyoneunquenchable thirst for knowledge of yourself and the world around you, inspiration in all your affairs!
Expanding the content of the first question: "Philosophy of the New Age and its features. The scientific revolution of the 18th century and the problem of the method of cognition", note that the new time is associated with the beginning of bourgeois revolutions and the period of the formation of bourgeois relations in European countries of the 17th-18th centuries, which led to the development of science and the emergence of a new philosophical orientation towards science. The main task of philosophy is the problem of finding a method of cognition.
From the 16th century natural science begins to develop rapidly. The needs of navigation determine the development of astronomy; construction of cities, shipbuilding, military affairs - the development of mathematics and mechanics.
Science gives impetus to the development of industry. If the philosophy of the Renaissance was oriented towards art and humanitarian knowledge, then the philosophy of the New Age was oriented towards science.
In the XVI-XIII centuries. thanks to the discoveries of N. Copernicus, G. Galileo, I. Kepler, experimental natural science arose. The greatest development was achieved by mechanics, which became the basis of the metaphysical method. Science becomes a productive force. There is a need for philosophical understanding of new scientific facts, the development of a common methodology of knowledge.
Since the 17th century the formation of science begins, science acquires modern features and forms. The laws discovered by the natural sciences are transferred to the study of society. A person proudly looks around him and feels that there are no barriers to the possibilities of his mind, that the path of knowledge is completely open and you can penetrate the secrets of nature in order to increase your strength. Faith in Progress, Science and Reason is the main distinguishing feature of the spiritual life of the New Age.
The ontology (general theory of being) of this period is characterized by the following features:
mechanism- absolutization of the laws of mechanics, transferring them to all types of movement, including the development of society;
deism- recognition of God as the root cause of nature, the power that gave first an impetus to the world movement and no longer interfering in its course. characteristic feature Deism was the reduction to a minimum) of the functions of God.
The philosophy of modern times is characterized by a strong materialistic tendency, which stems primarily from the experience of natural science. Famous philosophers in Europe of the 17th century. are F. Bacon (1561-1626) - England; R. Descartes (1596-1650), B. Pascal (1623-1662) - France; B. Spinoza (1632-1677) - Holland; P. Leibniz (1646-1716) - Germany.
The development of science has formalized the problem of finding ways of knowing. And here the opinions of thinkers are divided. Two directions in knowledge are affirmed: empiricism and rationalism. Empiricism (from the Greek "impeiria" - experience) considers sensory experimental experience to be the main source of reliable scientific knowledge.
Rationalism(from the Latin "ratio" mind) the main source of knowledge is the mind, theoretical generalizations. If empiricism focused primarily on natural Sciences, then rationalism is on mathematical.
Expanding the third question: "Methods of cognition: F. Bacon's induction and R. Descartes' deduction" indicate that the formation empirical method associated with the name of the English philosopher Francis Bacon. The main treatise of F. Bacon is the New Organon (in honor of Aristotle's Organon). F. Bacon is considered the founder of the empirical method of cognition, since he attached great importance to the experimental sciences, observation and experiment. Bacon saw the source of knowledge and the criterion for its truth in experience. Bacon's slogan was the aphorism "Knowledge is power".
He considered induction as the main method - the movement from the particular to the general. The scientist directs all his efforts to collecting the facts that he receives as a result of the experiment. The experimental data are processed and conclusions are drawn. Schematically, the theory of knowledge of F. Bacon can be represented as follows (see diagram 22).
The formation of rationalism is associated with the name of the French mathematician and philosopher Rene Descartes, or Cartesius (in Latin, the name sounds like Cartesius).
The main works of R. Descartes are "Discourse on the Method", "The Beginnings of Philosophy". R Descartes did not recognize experimental, sensory knowledge as reliable, feelings distort reality. He is looking for justification for the reliability of knowledge.
In the philosophy of R. Descartes the main role in the process of cognition is assigned to the mind, which relies on reliable evidence. According to Descartes, only reasoning, thought, can be true. "I think, therefore I am" is the thesis of Descartes.
In his work "Discourse on the Method", Descartes comes to the conclusion) "that the source of knowledge and the criterion of truth is not in the external world, but in the human mind. Descartes assigned the main place in scientific knowledge to deduction (inference) - the movement from the general to the particular. Therefore, "his method was called - deductive.
To find the truth, thinking must be guided by the following rules:
- 1. Consider as true only that which seems to the mind quite clear and does not raise doubts;
- 2. Each complex problem must be broken down into individual tasks. Through the consistent solution of particular problems, the whole problem can be solved;
- 3. It is necessary to start moving towards the truth from the simple to the complex.
Behind the proposed scheme, determine what the dualism of R. Descartes manifested itself in (see Diagram 23).
When considering the fourth question: "Philosophy of the Enlightenment. French materialism of the 18th century, it must be said that the Enlightenment is called the ideological movement in the European countries of the 18th century, whose representatives believed that the shortcomings of the social world order stem from the ignorance of people and that through enlightenment it is possible to reorganize the social order on rational principles.The meaning of "enlightenment" is that it should create such political system, which will change to better life person.
Characteristic features of the Enlightenment:
- rationalism as a general belief in reason;
- anti-clericalism - orientation against the dominance of the church (but not religion) in the spiritual life of society.
The philosophy of the Enlightenment is known mainly for its socio-political part. The principles of bourgeois society received their justification in it: freedom, equality of rights, private property, instead of feudal ones - dependence, class, conditional property, absolutism.
English Enlightenment in the 17th century represented primarily by the socio-political teachings of Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679).
T. Hobbes in his treatise "Leviathan" developed the theory of the social contract, according to which the state arises from an agreement between people to limit some of their freedoms in exchange for rights. According to the philosopher, without a social contract, people are not capable of peaceful coexistence due to their natural enmity towards each other - "the struggle of all against all."
Beginning of the French era Enlightenment XVIII in. associated with the name of Voltaire (1694-1778).
Voltaire went down in the history of philosophy as a brilliant publicist and propagandist of Newton's physics and mechanics, English constitutional orders and institutions, a defender of individual freedom from the encroachments of the Church, Jesuits, and the Inquisition.
On the formation of the revolutionary ideology of Europe huge influenced by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), the author of the famous work "The Social Contract", which was the theoretical justification for civil society.
Meaning of the Age of Enlightenment:
- in philosophy, the Enlightenment affirmed rationalism;
- in science - the development of natural science;
- in the field of morality and pedagogy, the ideals of humanity were affirmed;
- in politics, judicial and socio-economic life, the equality of all people before the law was affirmed.
Basic concepts and terms
Deduction- a logical conclusion from the general to the particular.
Deism- a doctrine that recognizes that God is the root cause of the world, gives it the first impetus and no longer interferes in the development of the world.
Induction- a logical conclusion from the particular to the general.
Cartesianism the totality of the views of Descartes and his followers.
Natural philosophy- philosophy of nature, a feature of which is a natural understanding of nature.
Rationalism- direction in the theory of knowledge, which recognizes the most reliable knowledge with the help of mind.
Sensationalism- direction in the theory of knowledge, which recognizes that the only basis of true knowledge are sensations.
Substance- some beginning or fundamental principle, objective reality.
Empiricism- direction in epistemology, recognizing sensory experience as the only source of true knowledge.
Brief description of the New Age
New time (or new history) is a period in the history of mankind, located between the Middle Ages and the Newest time.
The concept of "new history" appeared in European historical and philosophical thought in the Renaissance as an element of the three-term division of history proposed by humanists into ancient, middle and new. From the point of view of humanists, the flourishing of secular science and culture during the Renaissance, that is, not a socio-economic, but a spiritual and cultural factor, was the criterion for determining the "new time", its "novelty" in comparison with the previous era. However, this period is rather contradictory in its content: the High Renaissance, the Reformation and humanism coexisted with a massive surge of irrationalism, the development of demonology, a phenomenon that received the name "witch hunt" in the literature.
The concept of "new time" was perceived by historians and established itself in scientific use, but its meaning remains conditional in many respects - not all peoples entered this period at the same time. One thing is certain: in this period of time, a new civilization is emerging, new system relations, the Eurocentric world, the "European miracle" and the expansion of European civilization to other parts of the world.
Main events
Great geographical discoveries
period in human history that began in the 15th century
lasting until the 17th century, during which Europeans discovered new lands and sea routes to Africa, America, Asia and Oceania in search of new trading partners and sources of goods that were in great demand in Europe.
Colonization of America
Reformation (lat. reformatio - correction, transformation) - a mass religious and socio-political movement in Western and Central Europe XVI - early XVII century, aimed at reforming Catholic Christianity in accordance with the Bible. Its beginning is considered to be the speech of Martin Luther, doctor of theology at Wittenberg University: on October 31, 1517, he nailed his “95 Theses” to the doors of the Wittenberg Castle Church, in which he opposed the existing abuses of the Catholic Church, in particular against the sale of indulgences.
counter-reformation in Western Europe, a church movement aimed at restoring the prestige of the Catholic Church and faith.
Thirty Years' War(1618-1648) - the first military conflict in the history of Europe, affecting to one degree or another almost all European countries (including Russia). The war began as a religious clash between Protestants and Catholics in Germany, but then escalated into a struggle against Habsburg hegemony in Europe. The last significant religious war in Europe, which gave rise to the Westphalian system of international relations.
Peace of Westphalia means two peace agreements in Latin - Osnabrück and Münster, signed on May 15 and October 24, 1648, respectively. They ended the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire.
The Peace of Westphalia resolved the contradictions that led to the Thirty Years' War:
The Peace of Westphalia equalized the rights of Catholics and Protestants (Calvinists and Lutherans), legalized the confiscation of church lands carried out before 1624, and proclaimed the principle of religious tolerance, which further reduced the significance of the confessional factor in relations between states.
The Peace of Westphalia put an end to the desire of the Habsburgs to expand their possessions at the expense of the territories of the states and peoples of Western Europe and undermined the authority of the Holy Roman Empire: the heads of independent states of Europe, who had the title of kings, were equal in rights with the emperor.
According to the norms established by the Peace of Westphalia, the main role in international relations, which previously belonged to monarchs, passed to sovereign states.
English revolution The 17th century (also known as the English Civil War) was the process of transition in England from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional one, in which the power of the king was limited by the power of Parliament, and civil liberties were also guaranteed. The revolution opened the way for the industrial revolution in England and the capitalist development of the country.
The revolution took the form of a conflict between the executive and legislative powers (parliament against the king), which resulted in a civil war, as well as a religious war between Anglicans and Puritans. In the English Revolution, it was noticed, although it played a secondary role, also an element national wrestling(Between the English, Scots and Irish).
Of course, during this period there were other, but not so noticeable events.
Philosophy of the New Age
The philosophy of modern times is the period of development of philosophy in Western Europe in the XVII-XVIII centuries, characterized by the formation of capitalism, the rapid development of science and technology, the formation of an experimental mathematical worldview. This period is sometimes referred to as the era of the scientific revolution. Sometimes the philosophy of modern times also includes, in whole or in part, the philosophy of the 19th century. However, here we will get acquainted only with the period up to the 18th century.
The key figures in the philosophy of mind, epistemology, and metaphysics of the seventeenth century fall into two main groups. Rationalists, mainly in France and Germany, assumed that all knowledge must begin with certain "innate ideas" present in the mind. The main representatives of this trend were Rene Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, Gottfried Leibniz and Nikolai Malebranche. Empiricists, on the contrary, believed that knowledge must begin with sensory experience. The key figures in this trend are John Locke, George Berkeley and David Hume. (The concepts of rationalism and empiricism themselves came later, largely due to Kant, but they are quite precise.) Ethics and political philosophy are not usually considered through these concepts, although all these philosophers dealt with ethical questions in their own styles. Other important figures in political philosophy included Thomas Hobbes.
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon (eng. Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans); January 22, 1561 - April 9, 1626) -
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| Francis Bacon |
In general, Bacon considered the great dignity of science almost self-evident and expressed this in his famous aphorism “Knowledge is power” (lat. Scientia potentia est).
Pointing to the deplorable state of science, Bacon said that until now, discoveries have been made by chance, not methodically. There would be many more of them if the researchers were armed the right way. The method is the way, the main means of research. Even a lame person walking on the road will overtake a healthy person running off-road.
The research method developed by Francis Bacon is an early forerunner of the scientific method. The method was proposed in Bacon's Novum Organum (New Organon) and was intended to replace the methods that were proposed in Aristotle's Organum (Organon) nearly 2,000 years ago.
At the core scientific knowledge, according to Bacon, induction and experiment must lie.
Induction can be complete (perfect) and incomplete. Complete induction means the regular repetition and exhaustibility of some property of the object in the experiment under consideration. Inductive generalizations start from the assumption that this will be the case in all similar cases. In this garden, all lilacs are white - a conclusion from annual observations during its flowering period.
Incomplete induction includes generalizations made on the basis of a study of not all cases, but only some (conclusion by analogy), because, as a rule, the number of all cases is practically unlimited, and theoretically it is impossible to prove their infinite number: all swans are white for us reliably, as long as we will not see a black individual. This conclusion is always probabilistic.
So, in his theory of knowledge, Bacon rigorously pursued the idea that true knowledge follows from sensory experience. This philosophical position is called empiricism. Bacon was not only its founder, but also the most consistent empiricist.
Francis Bacon divided the sources of human errors that stand in the way of knowledge into four groups, which he called "ghosts" ("idols", Latin idola). These are “ghosts of the family”, “ghosts of the cave”, “ghosts of the square” and “ghosts of the theater”.
- The "ghosts of the race" stem from human nature itself, they do not depend on culture or on the individuality of a person. “The human mind is likened to an uneven mirror, which, mixing its own nature with the nature of things, reflects things in a distorted and disfigured form.”
“Ghosts of the cave” are individual perceptual errors, both congenital and acquired. “After all, in addition to the mistakes inherent in the human race, everyone has their own special cave, which weakens and distorts the light of nature.”
"Ghosts of the square (market)" - a consequence of the social nature of man - communication and use of language in communication. “People are united by speech. Words are established according to the understanding of the crowd. Therefore, the bad and absurd establishment of words surprisingly besieges the mind.
"Phantoms of the theater" are false ideas about the structure of reality that are assimilated by a person from other people. “At the same time, we mean here not only general philosophical teachings, but also numerous principles and axioms of sciences, which have received strength as a result of tradition, faith and carelessness.”
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| Thomas Hobbes |
Hobbes is one of the founders of the "contractual" theory of the origin of the state.
Like most political thinkers after Bodin, Hobbes distinguishes only three forms of the state: democracy, aristocracy and monarchy. He does not approve of democracy, for example, because "great wisdom is inaccessible to the mob" and in democracy parties arise, which leads to civil war. The aristocracy is better, but it is the more perfect, the less it resembles the government of the people and the closer it approaches the monarchy. The best form of the state is a monarchy, which, more than any other, corresponds to the ideal of absolute and undivided power.
Hobbes considers the state as the result of an agreement between people that put an end to the natural pre-state state of "the war of all against all." He adhered to the principle of the original equality of people. People were created by the Creator to be equal physically and intellectually, they have equal opportunities and the same, unrestricted "rights to everything", they also have free will. Individual citizens have voluntarily restricted their rights and freedom in favor of the state, whose task is to ensure peace and security. Hobbes does not claim that all states came into existence by treaty. To achieve supreme power, there are, in his opinion, two ways - physical force (conquest, submission) and voluntary agreement. The first type of state is called acquisition-based, and the second, establishment-based, or political state.
Hobbes adheres to the principle of legal positivism and extols the role of the state, which he recognizes as absolute sovereign. On the question of the forms of the state, Hobbes' sympathies are on the side of the monarchy. Defending the need for the subordination of the church to the state, he considered it necessary to preserve religion as a tool state power to curb the people.
Hobbes' ethics proceeds from the immutable sensual "nature of man". The basis of morality Hobbes considered "natural law" - the desire for self-preservation and satisfaction of needs. The main and most fundamental natural law of Hobbes prescribes to every person to seek peace, while there is hope of achieving it. The second natural law provides that, if other people agree, a person must renounce the right to things to the extent necessary in the interests of peace and self-defense. A brief third follows from the second natural law: people must fulfill the agreements they make. Other natural laws total number 19) can be, according to Hobbes, summarized in one easy rule: "do not do to another what you do not want to be done to you." Virtues are conditioned by a reasonable understanding of what promotes and what hinders the achievement of good. Moral duty in its content coincides with civil obligations arising from the social contract.
John Locke
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| John Locke |
Locke's theoretical constructions were also noted by later philosophers such as David Hume and Immanuel Kant. Locke was the first thinker to reveal personality through the continuity of consciousness. He also postulated that the mind is a "blank slate", that is, contrary to Cartesian philosophy, Locke argued that humans are born without innate ideas, and that knowledge is instead determined only by experience gained through sense perception.
The basis of our knowledge is experience, which consists of individual perceptions. Perceptions are divided into sensations (the action of an object on our sense organs) and reflections. Ideas arise in the mind as a result of the abstraction of perceptions. The principle of building the mind as "tabula rasa", which gradually reflects information from the senses. The principle of empiricism: the primacy of sensation over reason.
He was one of the founders of the empirical-sensualistic theory of knowledge. Locke believed that a person does not have innate ideas. He is born being a "blank slate" and ready to receive the world through their feelings through inner experience - reflection.
He developed a gentleman's upbringing system built on pragmatism and rationalism. main feature systems - utilitarianism: every object should prepare for life. Locke does not separate learning from moral and physical education. Education should consist in the formation of physical and moral habits, habits of reason and will in the educated person. The goal of physical education is to form the body into an instrument as obedient as possible to the spirit; the goal of spiritual education and training is to create a straight spirit that would act in all cases in accordance with the dignity of a rational being. Locke insists that children teach themselves self-observation, self-restraint, and self-conquest.
Rene Descartes
Rene Descartes (fr. René Descartes [ʁəˈne deˈkaʁt], lat. Renatus Cartesius - Cartesius; March 31, 1596,
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| Rene Descartes |
The philosophy of Descartes was dualistic. He recognized the presence in the world of two kinds of entities: extended (res extensa) and thinking (res cogitans), while the problem of their interaction was resolved by introducing a common source (God), who, acting as the creator, forms both substances according to the same laws.
The main contribution of Descartes to philosophy was the classical construction of the philosophy of rationalism as a universal method of cognition. Reason, according to Descartes, critically evaluates experimental data and derives from them true laws hidden in nature, formulated in mathematical language. With skillful application, there are no limits to the power of the mind.
Another essential feature of Descartes' approach was mechanism. Matter (including subtle) consists of elementary particles, whose local mechanical interaction produces all natural phenomena. For philosophical outlook Descartes is also characterized by skepticism, criticism of the previous scholastic philosophical tradition.
The self-reliance of consciousness, cogito (Cartesian "I think, therefore I am" - Lat. Cogito, ergo sum), as well as the theory of innate ideas, is the starting point of Cartesian epistemology. Cartesian physics, in contrast to Newtonian, considered everything extended to be corporeal, denying empty space, and described motion using the concept of "vortex"; the physics of Cartesianism subsequently found its expression in the theory of short-range action.
Cogito, ergo sum (Latin - “I think, therefore I am”) is a philosophical statement by René Descartes, a fundamental element of modern Western rationalism.
Descartes put forward this statement as primary certainty, a truth that cannot be doubted - and from which, therefore, one can begin to rebuild the building of reliable knowledge.
The argument should not be understood as a conclusion ("he who thinks exists; I think; therefore I exist"); on the contrary, its essence is in the evidence, the self-reliance of my existence as a thinking subject (res cogitans - “things thinking”): every act of thinking (and more broadly - any representation, experience of consciousness, for the cogito is not limited to thinking) reveals - with a reflective look at it — me, the thinker, the performer of this act. The argument points to the self-discovery of the subject in the act of thinking (consciousness): I think - and, contemplating my thinking, I find myself, the thinker, standing behind his acts and contents.
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (German Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz or German Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz,
(German): [ˈɡɔtfʁiːt ˈvɪlhɛlm fɔn ˈlaɪbnɪts] or [ˈlaɪpnɪts]; June 21 (July 1) 1646 - November 14, 1716) - German philosopher, logician, mathematician, mechanic, physicist, lawyer, historian, diplomat, inventor and linguist. Founder and first president of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, foreign member of the French Academy of Sciences.
Leibniz is one of the most important representatives of the new European metaphysics, the focus of which is the question of what a substance is. Leibniz developed a system called substance pluralism, or monadology. According to Leibniz, the foundations of existing phenomena, or phenomena, are simple substances, or monads (from the Greek monados - unit). All monads are simple and do not contain parts. There are an infinite number of them. Monads have qualities that distinguish one monad from another; there are no two absolutely identical monads. This provides an infinite variety of the world of phenomena. The idea that there are no absolutely similar monads or two absolutely identical things in the world, Leibniz formulated as the principle of "universal difference" and at the same time as the identity of "indistinguishable", thereby putting forward a deeply dialectical idea. According to Leibniz, monads, self-expanding all their content through self-consciousness, are independent and self-active forces that bring all material things into a state of motion. According to Leibniz, monads form an intelligible world, the derivative of which is the phenomenal world (physical cosmos).
Simple substances are created by God at the same time, and each of them can only be destroyed all at once, in one moment, that is, simple substances can start only through creation and die only through destruction, while what is complex begins or ends in parts. Monads cannot undergo changes in their internal state from the action of any external causes other than God. Leibniz, in his one of the final works, "Monadologies" (1714), uses the following metaphorical definition of the autonomy of the existence of simple substances: "Monads do not have windows and doors at all through which something could enter in or go out." The monad is capable of changing its state, and all the natural changes of the monad come from its internal principle. The activity of the inner principle which produces change in inner life monad is called aspiration.
All monads are capable of perception or perception of their inner life. Some monads, in the course of their inner development, reach the level of conscious perception or apperception.
In each monad, the whole Universe is folded in potential. Leibniz bizarrely combines the atomism of Democritus with the difference between actual and potential in Aristotle. Life appears when the atoms awaken. These same monads can reach the level of self-consciousness (apperception). The human mind is also a monad, and familiar atoms are sleeping monads. The monad has two characteristics - aspiration and perception.
The philosophy of modern times, in short, developed in a difficult period of the rapid rise of technology and the formation of capitalist society. The time frame is the 17th and 18th centuries, but sometimes the 19th century is included in the philosophy of this period.
Considering the philosophy of the New Age, briefly outlined, it should be noted that during this period the most authoritative philosophers lived, who largely determined the development of this science today.
Great modern philosophers
One of them is Immanuel Kant, who is called the founder of German philosophy. In his opinion, the main task of philosophy is to give mankind answers to four basic questions: what is a person, what should he do, know, and what to hope for.
Francis Bacon - created the methodology of experimental natural science. He was one of the first to point out the importance of experience in the matter of comprehending the truth. Philosophy, in the understanding of Bacon, must be practical.
Rene Descartes - the starting point of the study considered the mind, and experience for him was only a tool that must either confirm or refute the conclusions of the mind. He was the first to come up with the idea of the evolution of the living world.
Two philosophical directions of modern times
The great minds of philosophy in the 17th and 18th centuries divided into two groups: rationalists and empiricists.
Rationalism was represented by Rene Descartes, Gottfried Leibniz and Benedict Spinoza. They put the human mind at the head of everything and believed that it was impossible to gain knowledge only from experience. They held the view that the mind initially contains all the necessary knowledge and truth. Only logical rules are needed to extract them. They considered deduction as the main method of philosophy. However, the rationalists themselves could not answer the question - why errors in cognition arise, if, according to them, all knowledge is already contained in the mind.
Empiricists were Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. For them, the main source of knowledge is the experience and sensations of a person, and the main method of philosophy is inductive. It should be noted that the supporters of these different trends in the philosophy of the New Age were not in a tough confrontation and agreed with the significant role of both experience and reason in cognition.
In addition to the main philosophical currents of that time, rationalism and empiricism, there was also agnosticism, which denied any possibility of human knowledge of the world. His most bright representative— David Hume. He believed that a person is not able to penetrate deep into the secrets of nature and know its laws.
7. German classical philosophy: Kant, Hegel, Feuerbach
German classical philosophy developed mainly in the first half of the 19th century. The origins of this philosophy were the teachings of Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau, and the immediate predecessors were I. Goethe, F. Schiller, I. Herder. In the German classics, dialectics was greatly developed as a theory of the development of everything that exists and as a method of philosophical thinking. Its essence lies in a comprehensive consideration of the world as a single, contradictory and dynamic whole. German classical philosophy has become the pinnacle of dialectical thought. She also made a significant contribution to the understanding of man as a spiritual and active being, an active creator of a new reality - the world of culture.
German classical philosophy is a major and influential trend in the philosophical thought of modern times, summing up its development in this segment of Western European history. Traditionally, this trend includes the philosophical teachings of I. Kant, I. Fichte, F. Schelling, G. Hegel and L. Feuerbach. All these thinkers are brought together by common ideological and theoretical roots, continuity in the formulation and resolution of problems, direct personal dependence: the younger ones learned from the older ones, contemporaries communicated with each other, argued and exchanged ideas.
German classical philosophy has made a significant contribution to the formulation and development of philosophical problems. Within the framework of this trend, the problem of the relationship between subject and object was rethought and re-formulated, and a dialectical method of cognition and transformation of reality was developed.
Immanuel Kant was born in 1724 in Keniksberg. He was not only a philosopher, but also a great scientist in the field of natural science.
Phil development K. is divided into 2 periods. In the first period (until the beginning of the 70s) tried to solve f problems - about being, philosophies of nature, religion, ethics, logic based on the belief that f. m.b. developed and substantiated as a speculative science. (without reference to experimental data)
In the 2nd lane (critical) tries to strictly separate phenomena from things in themselves. The latter cannot be given in experience. Things are unknowable. We know only phenomena or the way the cat. these things in themselves act upon us. This teaching is agnosticism
Cognition begins with the fact that "things in themselves" vozd. on our sense organs and the evoking of sensation, but not on the sensation of our sensibility, nor on concepts and judgments. of our understanding, nor the concepts of reason, can give us theories. knowledge about “things-in-themselves” (vvs). Reliable knowledge of entities is mathematics and natural science.
The doctrine of knowledge. Knowledge is always expressed in the form of judgment. There are 2 types of judgments: 1) analytical persuasion. Example: all bodies have extensions
2) synthetic judgments. Ex: some bodies are heavy.
There are 2 classes of synth judgments. 1. is found in the experiment (nek swans are black) - a posteriori 2.This connection cannot be based on experience - a priori judgments. (everything that happens has a reason). Apr. K. attaches to judgments b. Meaning
Sense cognition. U K is wide and time ceases to be forms of the essence of things. They become a priori forms of our sensibility.
A priori forms of reason. Apr. synth of judgments in the theory of natural sciences categories. It is independent of experience-supplied content concepts of reason, under the cat reason brings any content obtained from experience. Those. categories are not forms of being, but concepts of reason. Categories are a priori. According to K, neither sensations nor concepts themselves give knowledge. Feelings without concepts are blind, and concepts without sensations are empty.
Ethics. The contradiction between necessity and freedom is not real: a person acts necessarily in one respect and freely in another. It is necessary, since a person is a phenomenon among other natural phenomena and in this respect is subject to necessity. But the person is also a moral being, the subject of moral consciousness, and therefore free.
The highest achievement of German classical philosophy was the dialectic of Hegel (1770-1831). whose great merit lies in the fact that he first presented the entire natural, historical and spiritual world in the form of a process, i.e. in continuous movement, change, transformation and development, and made an attempt to reveal the inner connection of this movement and development ...
Hegel formulated the laws and categories of dialectics. Categories of quality and quantity. Quality is something without which an object cannot exist. Quantity is indifferent to the object, but up to a certain limit. Quantity plus quality is the measure.
Three laws of dialectics (the essence of the history of development). 1. The law of transition of quantitative relations into qualitative ones (when the quantitative relations change after a certain stage, the quality changes due to the non-destruction of the measure). 2. The law of development direction (negation of negation). Naked negation is something that comes after the given object, completely destroying it. Dialectical negation: something from the first object is preserved - a reproduction of this object, but in a different capacity. Water is ice. Grinding the seed is a bare negation, planting the seed is a dialectical negation. Development proceeds in a spiral. 3. The law of unity and struggle of opposites. The contradiction between form and content, possibility and reality. The struggle leads to three outcomes: mutual destruction, illumination of one of the parties, or compromise.
The German philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach (1804 - 1872) was initially fond of Hegel's philosophy, but already in 1893 he sharply criticized it. From Feuerbach's point of view, idealism is nothing more than a rationalized religion, and philosophy and religion, in their very essence, Feuerbach believes, are opposite to each other. Religion is based on belief in dogmas, while philosophy is based on knowledge, the desire to reveal the real nature of things. Therefore, Feuerbach sees the primary task of philosophy in critiquing religion, in exposing those illusions that constitute the essence of religious consciousness. Religion and idealistic philosophy close to it in spirit arise, according to Feuerbach, from the alienation of human essence, by attributing to God those attributes that actually belong to man himself. “The infinite or divine essence,” Feuerbach writes in The Essence of Christianity, “is the spiritual essence of man, which, however, is separated from man and presented as an independent being.” Thus, an illusion that is difficult to eradicate arises: the true creator of God - man - is considered as a creation of God, made dependent on the latter, and thus deprived of freedom and independence.
According to Feuerbach, in order to free oneself from religious delusions, it is necessary to understand that man is not a creation of God, but a part - and, moreover, the most perfect one - of eternal nature.
This statement is the essence of Feuerbach's anthropologism. The focus of his attention is not an abstract concept of matter, as, for example, among the majority of French materialists, but a person as a psychophysical unity, the unity of soul and body. Proceeding from such an understanding of man, Feuerbach rejects his idealistic interpretation, in which man is viewed primarily as a spiritual being, through the prism of the famous Cartesian and Fichtean “I think”. According to Feuerbach, the body in its entirety is precisely the essence of the human I; the spiritual principle in a person cannot be separate from the corporeal, the spirit and the body are two sides of that reality, which is called the organism. Human nature, therefore, is interpreted by Feuerbach predominantly biologically, and for him a separate individual is not a historical and spiritual formation, as in Hegel, but a link in the development of the human race.
Criticizing the interpretation of knowledge by previous German philosophers and being dissatisfied with abstract thinking, Feuerbach appeals to sensual contemplation. Thus, in the theory of knowledge, Feuerbach acts as a sensualist, believing that sensation is the only source of our knowledge. Only what is given to us through the senses - sight, hearing, touch, smell - has, according to Feuerbach, true reality. With the help of the senses, we know both physical objects and the mental states of other people; not recognizing any supersensible reality, Feuerbach also rejects the possibility of purely abstract cognition with the help of reason, considering the latter an invention of idealistic speculation.
Feuerbach's anthropological principle in the theory of knowledge is expressed in the fact that he interprets the very concept of "object" in a new way. According to Feuerbach, the concept of an object is initially formed in the experience of human communication, and therefore the first object for any person is another person, You. It is love for another person that is the way to the recognition of his objective existence, and thereby to the recognition of the existence of external things in general.
From the inner connection of people, based on a feeling of love, altruistic morality arises, which, according to Feuerbach, should take the place of an illusory connection with God. Love for God, according to the German philosopher, is only an alienated, false form of true love - love for other people.
Feuerbach's anthropologism arose as a reaction, first of all, to the teachings of Hegel, in which the dominance of the universal over the individual was brought to an extreme degree. To the extent that a separate human personality turned out to be a vanishingly insignificant moment that had to be completely overcome in order to take the world-historical point of view of "absolute spirit". Feuerbach defended precisely the natural-biological principle in man, from which German idealism after Kant abstracted to a large extent, but which is inalienable from man.
Philosophy of the New Age- the period of development of philosophy in Western Europe in the XVII-XVIII centuries, characterized by the formation of capitalism, the rapid development of science and technology, the formation of an experimental mathematical worldview. This period is sometimes referred to as the era of the scientific revolution. Sometimes the philosophy of the New Age also includes, in whole or in part, the philosophy of the 19th century.
At the end of the eighteenth century, Immanuel Kant created a fundamentally new philosophical system that claimed to combine rationalism and empiricism. Kant stimulated the rapid development of philosophical thought in Germany in the early nineteenth century, beginning with German idealism. characteristic feature idealism was the idea that the world and reason should be understood on the basis of the same categories; this idea culminated in the work of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, who said among other things that real is reasonable, reasonable is really.
Rationalism Empiricism |_______________________________________________| | | Kantianism Positivism ____________|____________________________________| | | | Hegelianism Philosophy of life Empirio-criticism | MarxismMain Representatives
Francis Bacon
The first explorer of nature in modern times was the English philosopher Francis Bacon (1561-1626). He is considered the founder of the methodology of experimental natural science. Pointed out the importance of experience in comprehending the truth. He believed that philosophy should be practical in nature, and that the highest goal of philosophy is the domination of man over nature, and "you can dominate nature only by obeying its laws." Comprehension of the laws of nature is possible by analyzing and generalizing individual manifestations, that is, proceeded from induction. He believed that in order to comprehend the truth, it is necessary to get rid of the "ghosts" (idols) that interfere with this. The “ghost of the family” lies in the desire of a person to describe the world by analogy with the life that dominates society; "ghost of the cave" - depending on their subjective preferences; “ghost of the market” (“ghost of the square”) - depending on the popular opinion of the rest; "the ghost of the theater" - in blind obedience to authorities. He was a deeply religious person, divided science into theology (dealing with the study of the higher, which is impossible to know with the mind, but only through divine revelation) and philosophy (studying nature with the help of experience and reason).
“In order to penetrate deeper into the secrets of nature itself ... we must not hesitate to enter and penetrate into all such hiding places and caves, if only we have one goal - the study of truth.”
Thomas Hobbes
“People depart from custom when their interest requires it, and act against reason when reason is against them. This explains why the doctrines of right and injustice are constantly disputed with both pen and sword, while the doctrines of lines and figures are not subject to dispute, because the truth about these latter does not affect the interests of people, not colliding either with their ambition or with their interests or desires. For I have no doubt that if the truth that the sum of the angles of a triangle is equal to the sum of the two angles of a square were contrary to anyone's right to power or the interests of those who already have power, then, since it would be in the power of those whose interests are affected by this true, the teaching of geometry would be, if not challenged, then by burning books on geometry it would be ousted.
In his treatise "Leviathan" compares the state with this biblical character, belittling people, limiting their needs. He believes that the state was created as a result of a social contract, but then moved away from the people and began to dominate them. The essence of good and evil is determined by the state, and the rest of the people must adhere to these criteria, since the activities of the state should be aimed at ensuring the welfare of the people. The state must take care of the interests and happiness of the people.
Rene Descartes
Blaise Pascal
David Hume
see also
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See what the "Philosophy of the New Age" is in other dictionaries:
PHILOSOPHY OF NEW AND MODERN TIMES period in the development of philosophical thought (17-19 centuries), which gave a constellation of outstanding thinkers from various countries and peoples Despite the uniqueness of the creative contribution of each of them, it is possible to single out the main ideas and ... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia
INDIAN PHILOSOPHY OF NEW AND MODERN TIMES. The formation and development of the Indian philosophy of the New Age is usually associated with the name of R. M. Roy, the founder of the direction that dominated the philosophical life of India in the 19th century, later called ... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia
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TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE NEW TIME- The first awareness of the independent role of technology dates back to antiquity, where the concept of "techne" was introduced and discussed, the next - to the New Age (the formation of ideas about engineering), but the main stage falls at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th ... ... Philosophy of Science and Technology: Thematic Dictionary
- (from Greek phileo love, sophia wisdom, philosophia love of wisdom) special form public 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
In the most general sense, 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
