Famous philosophers of modern times. The main features of the philosophy of the new time

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 turns into 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 spiritual life of modern times.

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 the first an impetus to the world movement and no longer interfering in its course. A characteristic feature of deism was the reduction to a minimum) of the function 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 mainly on the natural sciences, then rationalism focused on the mathematical ones.

Opening the third question: "Methods of cognition: F. Bacon's induction and R. Descartes' deduction", indicate that the formation of the empirical method is 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 is based 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 The meaning of "enlightenment" is that it must create a political system that 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 Enlightenment in the 18th century associated with the name of Voltaire (1694-1778).

Voltaire entered 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, the 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.

Francis Bacon(1561-1626) - English materialist philosopher, founder of the methodology of experimental science, developed the doctrine of "natural" philosophy, substantiated empirical methods of knowledge (induction, experiment), proposed a detailed classification of sciences (later this classification was adopted by French encyclopedists). Main works: “On the Beginnings and Sources”, “On the Wisdom of the Ancients”, “On the Dignity and Multiplication of the Sciences”, “New Organon, or True Directions for the Interpretation of Nature”, “History of the Winds”, “History of Life and Death”, “Experiments or Instructions moral and political”, “New Atlantis”.

Rene Descartes(1596-1650, Latinized name Cartesius) - French philosopher and mathematician, a representative of classical realism. Descartes is a dualist, he recognizes two substances as primary - bodily and thinking; the author of the theory of "innate ideas" (he believed that some knowledge is in the human mind initially, before experience); dealt with the problems of systematization of science and the development of a universal scientific method. Proceedings: "Reasoning about the method", "Metaphysical reflections", "Beginnings of philosophy".

Thomas Hobbes(1588-1679) - English materialist, created a complete system of mechanistic materialism, put forward the task of scientific understanding of society and its management, in connection with this put forward the theory of social contract and natural law. Major works: “Elements of laws, natural and political”; the philosophical trilogy “Fundamentals of Philosophy”, “About the Body”, “About a Man”, “About a Citizen”; "Leviathan".

John Locke(1632-1704) - English materialist, enlightener and political thinker, developed the empirical theory of knowledge and the ideological and political doctrine of liberalism; criticized Descartes' theory of innate ideas. Works: "Experience on the human mind", "The rationality of Christianity", "Two treatises on state government".

Benedict (Baruch) Spinoza(1632-1677) - a Dutch materialist, pantheist, justifying the principle of the unity of the world, puts forward the idea of ​​a single, eternal and infinite substance (extension and thinking, unlike Descartes, he considers not independent substances, but two main attributes of a single one); as a follower of mechanistic determinism, he considered mathematics to be a single method of cognition, even the philosopher sets forth ethics with the help of a “geometric, axiomatic method. Works: "Theological and political treatise", "Ethics".

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz(1646-1716) - German idealist philosopher, mathematician, physicist and inventor, lawyer, historian, linguist. In explaining the essence of the world, Leibniz proceeds from pluralism - real world, according to Leibniz, consists of countless active substances, indivisible primary elements of being - monads, which are among themselves in relation to pre-established harmony. In the theory of knowledge, he substantiated the dialectic of sensory experience and rational knowledge. In logic, he developed the doctrine of analysis and synthesis, formulated the laws of sufficient reason and identity, created the most full classification definitions in the work “On the Art of Combinatorics” anticipated some ideas of modern mathematical logic. Works: “Discourses on Metaphysics”, “ New system nature”, “New experiments on the human mind”, “Theodicy”, “Monadology”.

George Berkeley(1685-1753) - English philosopher, representative of subjective idealism, bishop, sought to refute materialism and justify religion. Rejecting the existence of matter, Berkeley recognized the existence of only spiritual existence, which he divided into “ideas” and “souls”. Works: “Experience of a new theory of vision”, “Treatise on the beginnings of human vision”, “Three conversations between Hylas and Philonus”, “Alsifron, or “Petty philosopher””, “Seiris, or the Chain of philosophical reflections and studies ...”

David Hume(1711-1776) - English philosopher, historian, economist and publicist, formulated the basic principles of modern European agnosticism, a forerunner of positivism. In insisting on the experiential origin of judgments about existence, Hume understands experience itself idealistically. According to Hume, reality is a stream of "impressions". The reasons that give rise to these impressions in us are fundamentally unknowable. We also cannot know whether the outside world exists. Works: "Treatise on human nature", "Experiments moral and political".

French materialism XVIII century, unlike English materialism of the 17th century, it relies on more developed natural sciences (not only on mechanics and astronomy, but also on medicine, physiology, biology), and is also focused on penetrating the public consciousness of wide circles of urban society. The French materialists present their philosophical views in a literary form accessible to many in the form of dictionaries, encyclopedias, pamphlets, political articles.

Julien-Ofret La Mettrie(1709-1751) - recognized the existence of a single material substance; spirit, consciousness - nothing but a manifestation of this substance, man - a natural being, nothing different from the rest of nature. Compositions: “Treatise on the soul”, “Man is a machine”, “Man is a plant”, “Epicurus' system”.

Claude Adrian Helvetius(1715-1771) - materialist, ideologist of the French bourgeoisie. His main work "On the Mind" was banned and burned. Helvetius sharply criticized the idea of ​​the existence of God, the creation of the world, the immortality of the soul.

Paul Henri Holbach(1723-1789) in his main work "The System of Nature" substantiated the main provisions and principles of the mechanistic scientific picture of the world, using versatile natural science knowledge.

Denis Diderot(1713-1784) - materialist philosopher, writer, art theorist, organizer and editor of the French Encyclopedia. Diderot approached the dialectical idea of ​​self-movement of matter closer than other materialists, expressed some ideas of self-movement of matter, expressed some ideas of evolutionary theory (man, like everything else, has a history of his formation), formulated the initial idea of ​​the theory of reflection, assuming that reflection is a universal property of matter , developing along with it leads to the emergence of human consciousness. Works: “Philosophical Thoughts”, “Alleys, or Skeptic’s Walk”, “Letter on the Blind for the Edification of the Sighted”, “Thoughts on the Explanation of Nature”, “D’Alembert’s Conversation with Diderot”, “The Nun”, “Monument to Rameau”, “ Jacques the Fatalist and his master.

In general, materialistic concepts prevail in European philosophy of the 17th-18th centuries. By studying the problems of the theory of knowledge and methodology, philosophers made a significant contribution to the development of the science of their time.

The dilemma of empiricism and rationalism

In modern philosophy

The scientific revolution determined two directions, two poles of the philosophy of modern times. The development of experimental natural science brought to life the methodology of empiricism, the mathematization of scientific knowledge - rationalism.

Empiricism(from the Greek. emperia - experience) - a direction in the theory of knowledge, recognizing sensory experience as the only source of knowledge, considering that the content of knowledge can be presented either as a description of this experience, or reduced to it. Bacon, Hobbes, Locke, Condillac acted from the standpoint of materialistic empiricism, arguing that feelings reflect objectively existing things in cognition. In contrast to this position, subjective-idealistic empiricism (Berkeley, Hume) recognized subjective experience as the only reality.

close to empiricism sensationalism (from Latin sensus - feeling, feeling) - a direction in the theory of knowledge, according to which feelings are the main form of reliable knowledge.

The empiricism of modern times grew out of criticism of medieval scholasticism, the futility of its method, based on uncritical adherence to authority, dogmatism, speculation, and the absence of systematic observation and experiment. The creed of the materialist-philosophers and naturalists of the New Age is not “science for the sake of science”, but an increase in man's power over nature, improvement, growth of man's strength, health, and beauty. Francis Bacon's motto is famous: "scientia est potentia" - Knowledge is power! Bacon argued that only that science is capable of conquering nature and dominating it, which itself "obeys" nature, i.e. guided by the knowledge of its laws. He compares dogmatics with a spider that spins a web of itself, and empiricism with an ant or a bee that collects sweet juices from flowers, but does not leave them like that, but processes them into honey by their own activity. It is not passive contemplation that expands man's knowledge, but experiment, i.e. intentional, active testing of nature. Bacon divides all knowledge into: 1) fruitful experience, directly beneficial to the individual, and 2) luminiferous experiments , the purpose of which is not immediate benefit, but the knowledge of the laws of nature.

Bacon considers the cleansing of the mind from delusions as a condition for the reform of science and gives an extremely interesting classification of them: calling delusions idols that “besiege” the minds of people, the philosopher identifies 4 types of idols: idols of the clan, cave, square and theater.

"Idols of the Family" find their foundation in the very nature of man, in the tribe or in the very kind of people, for it is false to assert that the feelings of man are the measure of things. On the contrary, all perceptions, both of the senses and of the mind, rest on the analogy of man, and not on the analogy of the world. The human mind is likened to a nervous mirror, which, mixing its own nature with the nature of things, reflects things in a distorted and disfigured form.

Cave idols essence of the delusion of the individual. 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. This happens either from the special - innate properties of each, or from education and conversations with others, or from reading books and from their authorities ... So the human spirit, depending on how it is located in individual people, is a changeable, unstable thing. and kind of random. That is why Heraclitus rightly said that people seek knowledge in the small worlds and not in the big or general world.

There are also idols that appear, as it were, due to the mutual connection and community of people. We call these idols, having in mind the fellowship and fellowship of people that gives rise to them, the idols of the square . People are united by speech. Words are established according to the understanding of the crowd. Therefore, the bad and absurd establishment of words miraculously besieges the mind... Words directly force the mind, confuse everything and lead people to countless and empty disputes and interpretations.

Finally, there are idols that have taken root in the souls of people from various dogmas of philosophy, as well as from the insidious laws of evidence. We call them theater idols , for we believe that as many philosophical systems are accepted or invented, as many comedies are staged and played, representing fictional and artificial worlds. ... At the same time, we mean here not only general philosophical teachings, but numerous principles and axioms of sciences, which received strength as a result of tradition, faith and carelessness.

Analyze your experience of knowing being from these positions. Which of the idols are peculiar to you? How to get rid of them?

Within the framework of empiricism, inductive and experimental methods knowledge. Induction - this is the movement of thought from individual facts to general principles, from the concrete to the abstract. Distinguish between complete and incomplete induction. Complete (or perfect) induction is based on the enumeration of all elements of the set under consideration. More often in science, incomplete induction is used, when, based on the observation of a finite number of facts, a general conclusion is made regarding the entire class of given phenomena. In the application of this method, there is a need to justify the correct choice of the objects under study, to prove the non-randomness of the observed regulation. Trying to make the method of incomplete induction as rigorous as possible, Bacon considers it necessary to look not only for facts confirming a certain conclusion, but also for facts refuting it - “negative instances”. For example, the inductive conclusion: “all swans are white” seems to be true until we have found at least one black swan.

The empiricist philosophers also posed an interesting epistemological problem of the relationship between the “primary” and “secondary” qualities of things. Locke, following Galileo and Hobbes, calls the primary qualities the mechanical and geometric properties of bodies - length, figure, density, movement. The ideas of primary qualities “really exist in the bodies themselves”, they are inherent in all of them and always, no matter how the bodies change, these qualities cannot be separated from them by any physical effort. Ideas of secondary qualities - color, taste, smell, heat, cold, pain, etc. - arise in the mind of the subject only under appropriate conditions of perception. In the problem of the correlation of primary and secondary qualities, the main contradiction of the process of cognition was seen - the contradiction of the subjective and the objective. Later (in German classical philosophy, in particular) the analysis of this contradiction led to important discoveries in the theory of knowledge.

What is your opinion on the problem of primary and secondary qualities of things? Do you think that things have color, smell, taste, if the cognizing subject does not interact with them?

Rationalism(from lat. ratio - mind) - a philosophical direction that recognizes the mind as the basis of knowledge and behavior of people.

In contrast to religious dogmatism, the rationalists of modern times (Descartes, Spinoza, Malebranche, Leibniz) proceeded from the idea of ​​a natural order - an infinite causal goal that permeates the whole world. In the XVII-XVIII centuries, the cult of reason became one of the philosophical sources of the ideology of the Enlightenment.

In rationalism, reason is both the source and criterion of the truth of knowledge. For example, to the main thesis of sensationalism: “There is nothing in the mind that was not previously in the senses,” the rationalist Leibniz added: “Except for the mind itself.” The mind is able to overcome the limitations of the senses, capable of comprehending only partial, accidental, visible, and to know the universal and necessary. Justifying the unconditional reliability of scientific principles and provisions of mathematics and natural science, rationalists tried to solve the question: how does knowledge acquire an objective, universal and necessary character. Solving this problem, Descartes came to the conclusion about the existence of innate ideas, which included the ideas of God as an all-perfect being, the ideas of numbers and figures, as well as some general concepts and axioms.

Rationalism is based on deductive and axiomatic methods of cognition world, declaring mathematics a model of rigorous and precise knowledge, which should be imitated by philosophy. Descartes, for example, put forward a grandiose project for the restructuring of "universal mathematics." Descartes compared modern science to him with an ancient city, which is characterized by chaotic, diverse buildings. The philosopher sees the science of the future as a big beautiful city, built up according to a single plan. The central organizing link in this regard is a method capable of freeing knowledge from accidents, subjective errors, turning scientific knowledge from handicraft into industry, from accidental discovery of truths into their systematic and planned production. Descartes formulates the basic principles of the rationalistic method as follows:

"... Instead of more rules that make up logic, I concluded that the following four would suffice...

First: not accept anything as true until you have recognized it as undoubtedly true, that is, diligently avoid error and prejudice and include in your judgments only what appears to my mind so clearly and distinctly that it cannot in any way give rise to doubt.

Second: divide each of the difficulties under consideration into several parts, as necessary, in order to better solve them.

Third: to guide the course of one’s thoughts, starting with the simplest and easily cognizable objects, and ascending, little by little, as if by steps, to the knowledge of the most complex, allowing the existence of order even among those that in the natural order of things do not precede each other.

And the last: to make such complete lists everywhere and such extensive surveys as to be sure that nothing is omitted.

Spinoza also believed that the whole world is a mathematical system and can be fully known in a geometric way. His "geometrical method" is: firstly, in the formulation of axioms - obvious propositions, the truth of which is seen intuitively and, secondly, in the proof of theorems obtained by strict deductive derivation from the axioms (axiomatic method).

Both rationalists and empiricists, developing the problems of the scientific method, influenced the development of science and education.

After reviewing the fragments of philosophical texts, determine what methodological position the author stands on - empiricism or rationalism. Justify your answer. What do you agree with the author and what do you disagree with?

Option 1.

“The human mind, by virtue of its inclination, easily assumes more order and uniformity in things than it finds them. And at a time when many things in nature are single and have absolutely no resemblance to themselves, he invents parallels, correspondences and relationships that do not exist. Hence the rumor that everything in the heavens moves in perfect circles. Spirals and dragons are completely rejected, except for the names. From here the element of fire is introduced with its circle in order to form a quadrilateral together with the other three elements that are accessible to the senses. Arbitrarily invested in what is called elements, a measure of proportion of one to ten to determine the degree of sparseness, and the like nonsense. These useless statements take place not only in philosophical teachings, but also in simple concepts.

Bacon F. New Organon // Anthology of World Philosophy. - Kyiv, 1991. - T.1. - Part 2. - P.11.

Option 2.

“Two ways exist and can exist for finding and discovering truth. One soars from sensations and particulars to the most general axioms and, starting from these foundations and their unshakable truth, discusses them and discovers the middle axioms. This is the way they use it today. The other path, on the other hand, derives axioms from sensations and particulars, ascending steadily and gradually until it finally arrives at the most general axioms. This is the true path, but not tested.

Both of these paths emerge from sensations and particulars and end in higher generalities. But their difference is immeasurable. For one touches only briefly on experience and particulars, the other properly dwells on them. One immediately establishes some generalities, abstract and useless, the other gradually rises to that which is really more in accordance with nature.

Bacon F. New Organon // Anthology of World Philosophy. - Kyiv, 1991. - T.1. - Part 2 - P.7-8.

Option 3.

“The reason why many are convinced that it is difficult to know God and understand what the soul is, is that they never rise above what can be known by the senses, and are so accustomed to considering everything with the help of the imagination, which is only a certain a kind of thinking about material things, that everything that cannot be imagined seems incomprehensible to them. This is also clear from the fact that philosophers adhere to the rule in their teachings that nothing can be in the mind that was not previously in the senses, and the ideas of God and the soul never existed. It seems to me that those who want to use the imagination to understand these ideas do so if they want to use the sight to hear a sound or smell a smell, but with this difference, however, that the sense of sight convinces us of the certainty of the subject no less than the senses of hearing and smell, while neither our imagination nor our senses can ever convince us of anything unless our reason intervenes.”

Descartes R. Reasoning about the method // Anthology of world philosophy. - Kyiv. 1991. - V.1. - Part 2. – P.89.

Option 4

“From the fact that we compare things with each other, certain concepts arise, which, however, outside of things represent nothing but modes of thought. This is obvious from the fact that if we wanted to consider them as things outside of thinking, then the clear concept that we have about them would immediately turn into a vague one.

Such concepts are: opposition, order, agreement, difference, subject, predicate, and some others. These concepts are clearly presented to us, as long as we do not accept them as something different from the essence of things opposite or in order, but consider them only modes of thought, through which we more easily hold or represent them.

Spinoza B. Application containing metaphysical thoughts // Anthology of world philosophy. - Kyiv, 1991. - T.1. - Part 2. - P.63.

Option 5.

“The properties of truth or true idea are:

that it is clear and distinct, 2) that it eliminates all doubt, or, in a word, is certain. Whoever seeks certainty in the most general things is mistaken, just as if he were looking for truth in them. And when we say that a thing is doubtful, we rhetorically take the object for an idea, just as we call a thing doubtful; however, if by inaccuracy we do not mean an accident or a thing that causes uncertainty or doubt in us.

Spinoza B. Application containing metaphysical thoughts // Anthology of world philosophy. - Kyiv, 1991. - T.1. - Part 2. - P.65.

Option 6.

“Suppose that the mind is, so to speak, white paper without any knowledge and ideas. But how does he get them? From where does he acquire this vast store, which the active and boundless human imagination has drawn with almost infinite variety? Where does he get almost all the material of reasoning and knowledge? I will answer this in one word: from experience. All our knowledge is based on experience, and from it it ultimately comes. Our observation, directed either at external sensible objects or at the internal actions of our mind, which we ourselves perceive and about which we ourselves reflect, delivers to our mind all the material of thinking. These are the two sources of knowledge, whence come all the ideas that we have or may naturally have.”

Locke D. Experience about human understanding. - Op. In 3 vols. - M., 1985. - T.1. - P.154.

Option 7.

“Dark chamber. I do not want to teach, but to investigate, and therefore I cannot admit here again that external and internal sensations are the only paths of knowledge to the mind that I can discover. As far as I can open, these are the only windows through which light enters this dark room, for, to my mind, the mind is very much like a chamber completely closed to light, with only one small hole left to let in visible likenesses, or ideas, of external things. And if only the images penetrating into such a dark room could remain there and lie in such an order that in case of need they could be found, then it would be very similar to the human mind in its relation to all visible objects and their ideas.

Locke D. Experience about human understanding. - Op. In 3 vols. - M., 1985. - T.1. - P.212.

Option 8.

Proof of the immortality of the human soul through continuous sorite:

“The human soul is a being, some action of which consists in thinking. If a certain action of a being is thinking, then a certain action of this being is a thing directly created without representation of parts.

If some action of some object is a thing without parts, then some action of this object is not movement.

For every movement has parts, according to the proof of Aristotle and universal recognition.

If some action of some object is not movement, then this object is not a body.

For every movement of the body is movement.

What is not a body does not exist in space.

For the definition of a body is to exist in space.

For movement is a change of space.

What is not capable of movement is inaccessible to disintegration.

For disintegration is movement in parts.

What is inaccessible to disintegration is indestructible.

For destruction is internal disintegration.

Everything indestructible is immortal.

For death is the destruction of a living being, or the disintegration of its mechanism by which it is self-moving.

Therefore, the human soul is immortal, which was required to be proved.”

Leibniz GV Evidence of nature against atheists. // Op. In 4 volumes - M .: Thought. 1982. - V.1. - P.83-84.

Option 9.

“... That for this reason everything happens in accordance with established predestination, is just as certain as the fact that three times three is nine. For predestination lies in the fact that everything is connected with something else, like chains, and therefore everything will happen as inevitably as it has been from time immemorial, and how unmistakably it happens now, if it happens.

The ancient poets Homer and others called it a golden chain suspended under the heavens by the command of Jupiter, which cannot be broken no matter how much they hang on it. This chain consists of a successive series of causes and effects...

Hence, therefore, it can be concluded that in our vast world everything happens mathematically, that is, without error, so that if anyone has managed to penetrate sufficiently into the deeper constituent parts of things and, moreover, had sufficient memory and understanding to take into account all circumstances and leave nothing unattended, then he would be a prophet and see the future in the present, as in a mirror.

After all, just as we can say that flowers, and indeed animals, are already formed in the seed, although they can, it is true, undergo some changes due to various circumstances, just as we can say that the whole future world is already given in the modern world and completely reshaped, so that no circumstance from the outside can interfere with anything, because nothing exists outside the world.

Leibniz G. V. On predetermination // Works. In 4 volumes. - M .: Thought, 1982. - V.1. - P.237-238.

Option 10.

The power of an image or representation

“... Some poor fellow - guilty or innocent - was imprisoned on a charge of a crime. They started looking into his case. The judges came to the idea of ​​the need to further investigate it, and since the votes were divided to mitijrem partem (to a less strict approach). But then one adviser approached, who had never been present at the hearing of the case and had not heard its discussion. The matter is briefly presented to him. He advocates the use of torture. And so they begin to torture, torment, torment this unfortunate man, from whom, however, no complaint, no sigh, not a word. The executioner tells the judges that this man is a sorcerer. Meanwhile, he was a sorcerer or insensible, no more than any other. How to explain this unparalleled firmness of character and endurance? Guess if you can. It was a peasant. In preparation for the forthcoming torture, he drew a gallows on one of his wooden shoes, and while he was being tortured, he did not take his eyes off this gallows.

But what difference does it make whether the image is inscribed on a wooden shoe or in the Brain?

On the basis of some historical examples, we know what the power of images, ideas, honor, shame, fanaticism, prejudices can bring people to.

The mind controls our feelings. If I think I hear a sound, then I hear it; if it seems to me that I see some object, then I see it. Do the eye and ear in these cases experience the same irritation as if I actually saw and heard? I think yes. Or are these organs at rest, and everything happens in consciousness? It is difficult to resolve this issue.”

Diderot D. Elements of Physiology // Works. In 2 volumes. - M .: Thought, 1986. - V.1. - P.533.

Option 11.

“People will always be deceived if they neglect experience for the sake of imaginative systems. Man is a product of nature, he exists in nature, is subject to its laws, cannot free himself from it, cannot - even in thought - get out of nature. In vain his spirit desires to rush beyond visible world, he is always forced to fit within it. For a being created by nature and limited by it, there is nothing but that great whole, of which it is a part, and whose influence it experiences. Supposed beings, as if different from nature and standing above it, always remain ghosts, and we will never be able to form correct ideas about them, as well as about their whereabouts and mode of action. No, and there can be nothing outside of nature, embracing everything that exists in itself.

Holbakh P.A. The system of nature // Anthology of world philosophy. - Kyiv, 1991. - T.1. - Part 2. - P.164.

Philosophy of the New Time: main ideas and representatives.

General characteristics of the Enlightenment. main representatives.

1. Philosophy of the New Time: main ideas and representatives. The philosophy of the New Age took the main ideas of the Renaissance and developed them. It had an anti-scholastic orientation and was largely non-religious in nature. Her focus was on the world, man and his relationship to the world. The 17th century is the scene of discussions between rationalism and empiricism. On the one hand: the great empiricist philosophers - F. Bacon, T. Hobbes, D. Locke. On the other - the great rationalist philosophers - R. Descartes, B. Spinoza, G. Leibniz.

Francis Bacon(1561 - 1626) - English philosopher, founder of English empiricism, known primarily as a philosopher obsessed with the idea of ​​​​practical use-application of knowledge. “Scientia est potentia” (“Knowledge is power”), he proclaimed. This emphasized the practical orientation of scientific knowledge, that it increases the power of man. Scholastic knowledge, from the point of view of Bacon, is not really knowledge. He contrasted his philosophy with medieval scholasticism. (Indeed, his motto “Knowledge is power” is in clear contradiction with the famous saying of the biblical preacher “in much wisdom there is much sorrow; and whoever increases knowledge, increases sorrow” - Ecclesiastes, 2, 18). Bacon's main work is the New Organon. In it, he tried to create a new scientific method, contrasting Aristotle's deductive logic with inductive logic. Deduction is the movement from the general to the particular. Bacon suggested the opposite course - we go to general knowledge through particular, through observation and experiment. Bacon believed that people have many prejudices and delusions. He classified these prejudices by putting forward the theory of the four idols (ghosts) of the mind.

F. Bacon developed methods scientific induction . He believed that a person should not just generalize, that is, go from some facts to general conclusions, but analysis facts and only on this basis to draw a general conclusion. The inductive method does not give a 100% guarantee of the truth of a statement, but it allows you to determine the degree of truth of a particular statement. F. Bacon believed that only through observation and experiment can any scientific conclusions be drawn. He died as a research scientist, having caught a cold during an experiment on freezing a chicken (he stuffed its insides with snow). Bacon was a very respected man in England, Lord Chancellor. He wrote his main philosophical works after his retirement. The most popular of his work is called "Experiments". - This is a real storehouse of practical, worldly wisdom. In the "Experiments" Bacon actively used one of the main methods practical philosophy- method of antithesis. He laid out the arguments for and against the thesis, leaving the final conclusion to the reader.

Rene Descartes(1596 - 1660) - French philosopher. Many consider him the father of modern philosophy. In contrast to F. Bacon, Descartes emphasized the importance of mind-thinking and was a rationalist philosopher. His rationalism was expressed primarily in the thesis "I think, therefore I am" (cogito ergo sum). This thesis has two meanings:

the first, which Descartes invested: the fact that a person thinks is the most obvious and most reliable; hence the fact of existence follows from the fact of thinking;

the second meaning: “only a thinking person truly lives” or “as we think, so we live.” Man thinks, therefore he exists.

Descartes' "I think, therefore I am" is the basis not only of rationalism, but also of idealism. After all, the existence, the being of a person is derived from the fact of his thinking. Thinking is primary, being is secondary. In the field of thinking, Descartes considered the most important doubt. He put forward the principle of methodological doubt. A person should not immediately take on faith everything that is said to him or what he sees and feels. He must question whether it really exists? Without the procedure of doubt, one cannot understand the nature of things and arrive at a correct conclusion. Descartes was not a skeptic, he only believed that it was necessary to doubt, but not in general, but only at a certain stage of knowledge, reflection: approval and criticism of this statement; denial and criticism of this denial; as a result, we will avoid many mistakes. Descartes is a dualist philosopher. He believed that the basis of the world is not one principle, material or spiritual, but two - both material and spiritual: extension and thinking. The spiritual exists next to the physical, and the physical (material) exists next to the spiritual. They do not intersect, but interact with each other thanks to a higher power, which is called God. Cartesian dualism served as the basis for the theory of psychophysical parallelism, which played a constructive role in psychology and in general in the human sciences. Since Descartes was a rationalist, he believed that the human mind initially contains some ideas that do not depend on the actions and deeds of a person, the so-called "innate ideas". Descartes partly revives the Platonic theory.

Benedict (Baruch) Spinoza (1632-1677) - Dutch rationalist philosopher, considered himself a student of Descartes, took from the latter many concepts of his philosophy, first of all, the idea of ​​​​two principles - thinking and extension. But, unlike R. Descartes, he thought not as a dualist, but as a monist philosopher. (A monist is a person who holds a view of the world as something unified, a whole, based on some one principle.) Spinoza believed that the basis of the world is a substance, which he usually called God or, more rarely, Nature. Substance, God, Nature are interchangeable concepts for him, meaning the same thing. God as a substance has two attributes: thinking and extension. Extension is a spatial category, meaning that something material has some dimensions and is separated from something else by some distance. Spinoza also said that a substance can have an infinite number of attributes, but he knows only two. Comprehending the world through the prism of substance, attributes (thinking, extension), modes (modifications of attributes), Spinoza builds a certain hierarchy of concepts-categories, which can be called a categorical picture of the world. He analyzed many philosophical concepts, thereby reviving the Aristotelian tradition of categorical analysis. The famous formula originates from Spinoza: “freedom is a recognized necessity” (it sounds like this: freedom is the knowledge “with some eternal necessity of oneself, God and things” [Ethics, Theorem 42]). Hegel comprehended this formula in his own way, then in Marxism it was the main one in defining the concept of freedom. The negative point of Spinoza's doctrine of freedom: it is largely fatalistic; according to him, a person's life is predetermined; a person must realize this and follow his destiny without resistance. In the Theological-Political Treatise, Spinoza subjected the Bible to a thorough analysis and criticism, showed that it contains many contradictions, and criticized the idea of ​​God as a personal being. Through this criticism of the Bible, he was called the prince of the atheists. Of course, he was not a 100% atheist. His position is pantheism, he identified God and nature. Spinoza's philosophy carried the light of reason, was life-affirming. “A free man,” he wrote, “thinks of nothing less than death; and his wisdom consists in thinking not about death, but about life.” This statement of his contradicted what Plato and the Christian philosopher-theologians wrote on this issue.

Thomas Hobbes(1588-1679) - English thinker, consistent materialist. He even understood the human soul as some kind of material body, as a collection of light, invisible particles. Major works: “On the Body”, “On Man”, “On the Citizen”, “Leviathan” (this is the biblical monster with which Hobbes compared the state). Hobbes left behind a systematic teaching, in which he considered all sections of philosophy: about the world, nature, about man and society. Like Bacon, Hobbes was an empiricist, he believed that knowledge is based on experience, that is, direct sensory contact with the outside world. Hobbes was one of the first to consider the problem of the social contract. He believed that people are in conflict with each other in their natural state. It was he who said: "The war of all against all." In order for people to stop conflicting and killing each other, they had to come to an agreement, to conclude a social contract. As a result of the social contract, the state arose - an institution designed to harmonize human relations. As an empiricist philosopher, Hobbes understood morality in the spirit of individualism. He argued that the "golden rule of conduct" is the law of all people, the basis of morality. Hobbes is the author of the essentially legal formulation of the golden rule.

John Locke(1632 - 1704) - English philosopher-educator, the most prominent representative of empiricism, the founder of materialistic sensationalism. He adhered to the formula: "There is nothing in the mind that was not previously in the senses" (Nihil est in intellectu quod non fuerit prius in sensu). In his opinion, on the basis of sensations, a person forms his knowledge, and thanks to this, he thinks. Locke put forward the "blank slate" theory (tabula rasa) . According to this theory, a person is initially a blank slate, and when he encounters life, he receives a lot of impressions that paint over this blank slate. Locke contributed to the development of a trend that believes that a person is shaped by circumstances and that by changing the circumstances, you can change the person himself. Locke was father of liberalism. He made a real revolution in the field of political thinking. According to him, human rights are natural and inalienable. Man by nature is a free being. The freedom of one person, if limited, is limited only by the freedom of another person. Locke put forward the idea of ​​separation of powers (legislative, executive, judicial). He believed that state power should not be unlimited. It can only be limited by division into three branches of power. In the history of political ideas, this is the most powerful idea. Like Hobbes, Locke considered the "golden rule of morality" to be the foundation of morality.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz(1646 - 1716) - German rationalist philosopher. Simultaneously with Newton, he developed the foundations of differential and integral calculus, anticipated some ideas of mathematical logic, and put forward the idea of ​​mechanization of the thought process. He put forward the doctrine of monads (substantial units). The latter are spiritual entities that have no parts and exist independently of each other. There are a huge number of people on Earth and each soul is a unique monad. Leibniz's monadology is a peculiar theory of idealistic pluralism. His main work is "New experience about the human mind". In this essay, he argues with John Locke, in particular, he spoke out against Locke's teaching about the soul as a "blank slate", and added "except the mind itself" to the formula of sensationalism - "There is nothing in the mind that was not previously in the senses". Leibniz believed that initially a person has a predisposition to one way or another thinking - a natural logic that operates even at an unconscious level. This natural logic of thinking allows you to streamline experience. Leibniz emphasized the uniqueness of every natural phenomenon, every monad. He put forward a theory about the original difference of things, that there are no absolute copies, no absolute identities and repetitions. Leibniz is the author of the fourth law of logic (sufficient reason). This is an important law of thought against authority worship and blind faith. He also put forward the doctrine of pre-established harmony.

George Berkeley (1685-1753) - an extreme empiricist, put forward the thesis: "to exist means to be perceived" (esse est percipi). He went further than Locke, arguing that there is nothing in the world but experience. And experience is perception. The imperceptible does not exist - its main idea. People cannot know what is behind their feelings-sensations. Berkeley was inconsistent in his views. Not recognizing the existence of the objective world, matter, he at the same time recognized the existence of God, was in fact an idealist. His teaching can be characterized as subjective idealism. He was an ardent opponent of materialism, wrote a book in which he gave arguments against materialistic philosophy, against the existence of matter. He allowed the existence of God, because he believed that his soul ascends to the soul that exists outside of his consciousness, individuality, in God. If Berkeley had consistently pursued his empiricism, then such a subjectivist position could be called solipsism(literally "alone with oneself") - the point of view of a philosopher who believes that there is no one else besides him. Berkeley, however, was not a solipsist. David Hume (1711-1776) - philosopher of the English Enlightenment, criticized religious and philosophical dogmatism, all sorts of doctrines and beliefs that are rooted in the minds of people. He was a skeptical, anti-rationalist philosopher. Hume is famous for his idea that there is no objective causal connection of things, that causality is established only as a fact of mental experience. When we observe: one is followed by another and this is repeated in different situations, the conclusion is drawn that one is the cause of the other. Hume believed that the connection between things is the result of mental experience. Hume questioned many Christian dogmas. All of Hume's activities were aimed at emancipating the human mind.

PHILOSOPHY OF NEW AND MODERN TIMES- a period in the development of philosophical thought (17-19 centuries), which gave a constellation of outstanding thinkers 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 typological features of the philosophy of this period.

I. It “expresses in thought” a large-scale historical era, the civilizational meaning of which is to initiate scientific and technological development based on machine technology, in the subsequent modernization of various aspects of human life, in the gradual liberation of individuals from serfdom, estate privileges, in upholding and legislative consolidation of human rights and freedoms, protection of the dignity of the individual, in the development of culture on the basis of enlightenment, in the reform of Christianity and other faiths. The answer to the needs and demands of the era was the socio-philosophical, philosophical-legal and socio-political teachings and ideas of the philosophers of the New and Contemporary times:

7) the strongest influence of mechanics Newton (including, for example, in the early works of Kant) in the 18th and even 19th centuries, especially in the interpretation of such concepts as “matter”, “motion”, “space”, “time”, - from the point of view the universal principle of action and reaction, the law of universal gravitation;

8) outlined already in the 1st to. 19th century Schopenhauer and Kierkegaard and then embodied in the teachings of Nietzsche, in philosophy of life , pragmatism opposition of "classical", traditional, and non-classical tendencies in philosophical thinking (in philosophical anthropology , the doctrine of values, ethics, philosophy of religion, etc.). In defense of the philosophical classics, supporters Neo-Thomism , neo-kantianism , neo-Hegelianism . The metaphysical foundations of philosophical classics were criticized by representatives positivism and neopositivism . At the same time, a number of natural scientists and philosophers came out in support of metaphysics, the traditions of systematic philosophy ( R.G.Lotze , F.Trendelenburg and etc.).

III. The doctrine of man, which has become a key one in the philosophy of modern and contemporary times, is permeated with a characteristic contradiction. On the one hand, it considers human body as one of the bodies of nature in the physical and biological (physiological, anthropological) aspects, so that a person appears here as a part of nature, subject to its laws. On the other hand, in the philosophy of modern times, a specific doctrine of human essence, or human nature, was developed (Spinoza, Hobbes, Locke, French enlighteners): the power of nature is also understood as the power of all individuals taken together; the “natural” right of an individual, an individual person to self-preservation and satisfaction of fundamentally necessary needs is affirmed; are postulated as the values ​​of the innate equality of people, "the natural freedom of man", the right of private property, "the social essence of man" ( D. Hume ). At the same time, equality is understood not as property or estate, not as equality of inclinations and abilities, but as an equal right of individuals to protect life, property, to resist violence and suppression. The most important feature of human essence is rationality, understood broadly (from reason as the ability to judge, prove, argue to reason as thinking, intellect, scientific knowledge). A person is endowed not only with feelings and reason, but also with passions, affects, from which arises the problem of the confrontation between reason and passions and the possibilities of curbing them with the help of reason.

II. Philosophy of modern times as a whole can be characterized as rationalism in a broad sense: confidence in the ability of the mind to unravel the mysteries of nature, to know the world around us and man himself, and ultimately to transform nature, to remake society and man on a reasonable basis. Rational comprehension of God was considered the highest goal of rationalism. Within rationalism, two approaches fought - empiricism and rationalism (in the narrow sense). Without denying the role of reason, supporters of empiricism emphasized the initial significance of sensory experience and brought to the fore the observing and experimental reason. In turn, supporters of rationalism, without denying the importance of sensory knowledge and experience, considered the ideas of reason to be the initial and foundational ideas (for example, as innate ideas or rational aspirations, originally contained both in nature itself and in sensory knowledge). In the 18th century and especially in the 19th century. there was a real cult of reason. The decisive (although not the only) trend in the philosophy of modern times was the orientation towards science and scientific knowledge as the highest form of culture. Philosophy strove to consolidate itself into science, to develop for itself and other sciences a "genuinely scientific" method. This gave grounds to speak of "classical" (modern) rationality as an extreme scientism . Meanwhile, in the philosophy of this period there was another trend - a critical attitude towards reason, which found a vivid expression in the large-scale criticism of reason (its inevitable errors and antinomies) by Kant and his followers.

V. The merit of the philosophy of modern and recent times is a large-scale study of the problems of cognition and method, which included, firstly, the doctrine of the purification of the mind, of "ghosts" (idols), of doubt as the initial step towards achieving clear and distinct knowledge, and, secondly, the actual epistemological and methodological analysis. On the border between general metaphysics and the theory of knowledge, there was a philosophical doctrine of substances , modes, attributes, there were disputes about whether one substance (monism) should be accepted, or two (dualism), or whether the substance should be declared simultaneously one and multiple (“plurality” of substances in monadology). There was a tendency initiated by Descartes towards the (relative) separation of “body” and “soul”, the concept of which was filled with non-traditional content and later (especially in German idealism of the 18th and 19th centuries) resulted in a multifaceted study of the concepts of “spirit”, “mind”, “ reason”, “reasoning”, “thinking”, “intellect”, “intuition”, etc.

Less common in the 17th-18th centuries. there was the concept of "consciousness", although its subject matter was considered mostly within the framework of the concept of "reflection". But since the time of Kant, Fichte, Hegel, the concepts of consciousness and self-consciousness have been at the center of philosophical research: as individual consciousness and its universal structures; as the theme of "I", or the individual subject (transcendentalism); as a question of forms (“gestalts”) of consciousness and self-consciousness capable of objectification and alienation from specific individuals, acquiring transhistorical significance (for example, in "Phenomenology of Spirit" Hegel); as a study that has passed into experimental psychology and physiology various forms and structures of consciousness in their relationship with the reactions of the body; as an analysis of the "countermember" of consciousness - the unconscious ( E. Hartman , early Freud ).

An important role in the epistemology of Modern and Contemporary times was played by the doctrine of the method, closely connected with the philosophy of science, logic, and the concepts of language. Starting with the aspirations of F. Bacon and Descartes to develop a few simple and clear rules of method, this doctrine then became more and more complicated, turning into the concept of dialectical categories for Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel and their followers. At the same time, the relationship between logic and epistemology changed. If at first logic acts as an integral, but relatively independent part of philosophical knowledge (for example, in Leibniz), and then it is transformed into a meaningful theory of knowledge (dialectics of categories), then at the end of the period (formal) logic again leaves philosophy, everything closer to mathematics (mathematical logic) and linguistics. Philosophical comprehension of logic, its laws and forms (as well as language) is a constant subject of research for thinkers of Modern and Contemporary times.

Disputes about the essence and specifics of the philosophy of the New and Modern Times, or the “epoch of modernity” (German die Moderne, English modernity), began even in this philosophy itself. J. Habermas believes that its most mature self-consciousness can be found in Hegel, who identified such features as anxiety, internal fermentation, dynamics, differentiation and isolation, combined with the desire for unification and integration, the assertion of the principle of "subjectivity", deciphered through freedom, individualism, rationality, autonomy of activity. Along with this, Hegel and other thinkers of the 19th century. emphasize the alienation of individuals from society and from themselves - moments that have become central to Marx and neo-Marxism. Critical Kierkegaard and Nietzsche emphasize such negative aspects of the “modern project” as the instrumental-manipulatory power of reason, science, official religion, the hypocrisy of morality, etc. Criticism of "classical" thought was picked up in the 20th century. Husserl , Heidegger , Russell , popper and others, and finally "postmodernism" .

In Russian thought, the most profound understanding of the crisis of classical philosophy begins in the last decades of the 19th century, primarily in the works Vl.Soloviev , and continues in the writings of other prominent Russian philosophers of the Silver Age, a number of ideas of which turned out to be an anticipation of those new trends that appeared later in Western thought (ontologism, personalism, existential accents).

In the beginning. 70s 20th century Russian philosophers M.K.Mamardashvili, E.Yu.Soloviev, V.S.Shvyrev saw the fundamental difference between classical (modern) and non-classical philosophical thinking in that if the classics are characterized by a utopia of absolute transparency (and fundamental comprehensibility) of being and consciousness for a reflective subject (the slogan of the classics: not “everything in the subject”, but “everything through the subject”), then for non-classical philosophy, on the contrary, the idea of ​​impenetrability, density of being and consciousness, the concept of non-subjective philosophy is typical. At the end of the 20th century the search for new paradigms that differ from the philosophy of modern and modern times, and to a certain extent, opposed to it, continues.

Literature:

1. Hegel G.W.F., Works, vol. XI. M. - L., 1934;

2. Mamardashvili M.K., Solovyov E.Yu., Shvyrev V.S. Classical and modern bourgeois philosophy. - "VF", 1971, No. 7; 1972, no. 2;

3. Stepin V.S. Formation scientific theory. Minsk, 1976;

4. Gaidenko P.P. The evolution of the concept of science (XVII-XVIII centuries). M., 1987;

5. Nikulin D.V. Space and time in metaphysics of the 17th century. Novosibirsk, 1993;

6. Ogurtsov A.P. Philosophy of Science in the Age of Enlightenment. M., 1993;

7. Schelling F.W.J. Zur Geschichte der Neueren Philosophie. Lpz., 1966;

8. Hosle V. Die Krise der Gegenwart und die Verantwortung der Philosophie. Munch., 1990.

N.V.Motroshilova

Philosophy of the New Age

The period of modern times is often called the era of the scientific revolution. It is marked by significant discoveries in various fields. natural sciences where mechanics is at the forefront. The philosophy of modern times owes its achievements partly to the in-depth study of nature, partly to the ever-increasing combination of mathematics and natural science. Responding to the needs of scientific knowledge, the philosophy of this period put the problem of the method of cognition at the center of comprehension, based on the fact that there is an infinite amount of knowledge, and the method of achieving it must be the same, applicable to any science, including philosophy. Ideas about such universal method and divided the philosophers of the New Age into a number of different directions.

Rationalism. Rationalists actually offered a deductive method of cognition (from the general to the particular). To do this, they had to recognize the existence of innate ideas. From these ideas one can derive any knowledge, up to the knowledge of the existence of God. Ideas exist before sensations and independently of them. It is clear that we receive information about nature from sensations. Thinking uses experience and experiment, but it is attached to their results and serves as the only criterion of truth. The model for the methods of all sciences and philosophy are mathematical methods given outside of experience and proceeding from a priori axioms, on the basis of which mathematical conclusions are drawn.

Empiricists (sensualists). The main method proposed by the sensualists is induction. They considered the experience given to us in sensations, perceptions, and ideas to be the only source of knowledge. A priori innate knowledge is completely denied. The human soul is a tabula rasa (blank slate) on which nature writes its writings. Empiricists recognized the possible deception of sensations, but believed that experiment should be used to verify them. Based on verified knowledge gained from experience, we can build theories. They, like the realists, considered their method to be universal for all sciences.

subjective idealism. Subjective idealists believe that there is no reality behind such concepts; they are fiction. Based on the main postulate of subjective idealism, put forward by its main representative J. Berkeley, “to exist means to be perceived”, any objective reality expressed by these fiction concepts does not exist.

But such concepts, which subjective idealists considered fictions, include the main categories of philosophy - matter, substance, etc. Since they underlie all sciences, are their categories, on which the whole building of knowledge is built, subjective idealists considered science to be impossible in principle, since it was initially built on false foundations.

In addition, we do not perceive the things themselves, but only their properties, and therefore, in principle, we cannot “capture” the very essence of any thing. Human sensations are only phenomena of the psyche. This means that we do not cognize objective things and phenomena, but their subjective images that arise in our perception. In other words, in cognition we deal only with the totality of our sensations. The grain of truth in these arguments lies in the fact that a person's perceptions are indeed relative and depend on his subjective state.

Agnosticism. The foundations of the agnostic position are in contradiction: knowledge can only be logical, and the subjects of research can only be taken from experience that is not amenable to logical analysis. Experience is a stream of impressions, the causes of which are incomprehensible. Cause-and-effect relationships are formed immanently in our mind and do not correspond to real ones, at least we cannot know anything about the degree of correspondence. Therefore, even to the question “Does the outside world exist?” Hume replied: "I don't know."

Denying objective causality, the agnostics recognized subjective causality in the form of the generation of ideas by sensory impressions. The source of knowledge for them can only be faith (such as confidence in the sunrise). Science and philosophy are possible only as experimental studies that do not pretend to deduce theoretical laws.

The main representatives of the philosophy of modern times

Francis Bacon (1561-1626). He is the founder of empiricism. Cognition is nothing but the image of the external world in the mind of man. It begins with sensory knowledge that needs experimental verification. But Bacon was not a supporter of extreme empiricism. This is evidenced by his differentiation of experience into fruitful experience (brings direct benefit to a person) and luminous experience (the purpose of which is knowledge of the laws of phenomena and the properties of things). Experiments should be carried out according to a certain method - induction (the movement of thought from the particular to the general). This method provides for five stages of the study, each of which is recorded in the corresponding table:

1) Table of presence (listing of all occurrences of the phenomenon)

2) Table of deviation or absence (here all cases of absence of this or that sign, indicator in the presented subjects are entered)

3) Table of comparison or degrees (comparison of increase or decrease this sign in the same subject)

4) Rejection table (exception of individual cases that do not occur in this phenomenon, are not typical for it)

5) Table of "discarding fruits" (forming a conclusion based on what is common in all tables)

He considered the clogging of people's consciousness with idols - false ideas about the world - as the main obstacle to the knowledge of nature.

Idols of the genus - attributing properties to natural phenomena that are not inherent in them.

The idols of the cave are caused by the subjectivity of human perception of the surrounding world.

Idols of the market or the square - are generated by the wrong use of words.

Theater idols - arise as a result of subordinating the mind to erroneous views.

René Descartes (1596-1650). The basis of the philosophical worldview of Descartes is the dualism of soul and body. There are two substances independent of each other: non-material (property - thinking) and material (property - extension). Above these two substances, God rises as the true substance.

In his views on the world, Descartes acts as a materialist. He put forward the idea of ​​the natural development of the planetary system and the development of life on earth according to the laws of nature. He views the bodies of animals and humans as complex mechanical machines. God created the world and by his action preserves in matter the amount of movement and rest that he put into it during creation.

At the same time, in psychology and epistemology, Descartes acts as an idealist. In the theory of knowledge, he stands on the position of rationalism. Illusions of the senses make the readings of the senses unreliable. Errors in reasoning make the conclusions of reason doubtful. Therefore, it is necessary to start with a universal radical doubt. What is certain is that doubt exists. But doubt is an act of thinking. Maybe my body doesn't really exist. But I know directly that as a doubter, a thinker, I exist. I think, therefore I am. All reliable knowledge is in the mind of a person and is innate.

Knowledge is based on intellectual intuition, which gives rise to such a simple clear idea in the mind that it is not in doubt. Reason, on the basis of these intuitive views on the basis of deduction, must deduce all the necessary consequences.

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679). The substance of the world is matter. The movement of bodies occurs according to mechanical laws: all movements from body to body are transmitted only by means of a push. People and animals are complex mechanical machines, whose actions are entirely determined by external influences. Animated automata can store the impressions received and compare them with the previous ones.

The only source of knowledge can be sensations - ideas. In the future, the initial ideas are processed by the mind.

He distinguishes two states of human society: natural and civil. The state of nature is based on the instinct of self-preservation and is characterized by a "war of all against all". Therefore, it is necessary to seek peace, for which everyone must give up the right to everything and thereby transfer part of his right to others. This transfer is accomplished by means of a natural contract, the conclusion of which leads to the emergence of civil society, that is, the state. Hobbes recognized absolute monarchy as the most perfect form of the state.

Baruch (Benedict) Spinoza (1632-1677) taught that essence is only one substance - nature, which is the cause of itself. Nature is, on the one hand, creative nature, and on the other, created nature. As a creative nature, it is a substance, or, which is the same thing, a god. By identifying nature and God, Spinoza denies the existence of a supernatural being, dissolves God in nature, and thereby substantiates the materialistic understanding of nature. Substantiates an important distinction between essence and existence. The being of a substance is both necessary and free, since there is no cause that would impel a substance to action, except its own essence. The individual thing does not follow from substance as from its proximate cause. It can only follow from another finite thing. Therefore, every single thing does not have freedom. The world of concrete things must be distinguished from substance. Nature exists by itself, independent of the mind and outside the mind. An infinite mind could comprehend the infinity of substances in all its forms and aspects. But our mind is not infinite. Therefore, he perceives the existence of substance as infinite only in two aspects: as extension and as thinking (attributes of substance). Man as an object of knowledge is no exception. Man is nature.

John Locke (1632-1704). The human mind has no innate ideas. It is like a blank slate on which knowledge is written. The only source of ideas is experience. Experience is divided into internal and external. The first corresponds to sensation, the second to reflection. Ideas of sensation arise from the action on the sense organs of things. Ideas of reflection arise when considering the inner activity of the soul. By means of sensations man perceives the qualities of things. Qualities are primary (copies of these qualities themselves - density, length, figure, movement, etc.) and secondary (color, taste, smell, etc.)

Ideas acquired from sensation and reflection constitute only the material for knowledge. To gain knowledge, it is necessary to process this material. Through comparison, combination and abstraction (abstraction), the soul transforms simple ideas of sensation and reflection into complex ones.

Locke distinguishes between two kinds of certain knowledge: indisputable, exact knowledge and probable knowledge, or opinion.

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), who spoke in his reflections against the rational idea of ​​God. He wrote: "We comprehend the truth not only with the mind, but also with the heart." Pascal taught that God is unknowable and human knowledge itself is limited. A person is in a contradictory position, because he is not capable of either complete ignorance or comprehensive knowledge. For man, truth is always partial, relative.

Man needs not the idea of ​​God, but a living, personal God. This idea of ​​Pascal is briefly and vividly expressed in the famous "Memorial" or "Pascal's Amulet".

A person who cognizes nature inevitably comes to the idea of ​​infinity, to the feeling of being lost in infinite worlds. Man in the Universe is doomed to live between two abysses - the abyss of infinity and the abyss of non-existence. As if objecting to Descartes, Pascal suggested abandoning the search for reliable knowledge, i.e. scientific truth. Knowledge is limited, the time of human life is short-lived, by chance the very appearance of a person into the world - for Pascal, all this is a reason to think about the highest destiny of a person in front of the "eternal silence of endless spaces."

If a person is only a "receptacle of delusions", and knowledge is useless for him, then you need to look for a criterion, a true principle human existence. Pascal to some extent follows the logic of Descartes, from the negation of the vague and illusory to the authentic. But, if for Descartes the thought of existence is reliable, then for Pascal the truth is outside of man. The search for God is what gives meaning to human life.

In the search for God, Pascal, above all, criticizes those philosophers who do not notice the dual position of man. The highest greatness, Pascal believed, can be achieved not in self-blindness by one's own knowledge, but through the gift of Divine grace. A person makes a choice - if he chooses God, then he gains confidence, and if he chooses the world and knowledge, then he gains doubts about the truth of what is known. For Pascal, this choice was decided unequivocally - in favor of God.

Knowing his nothingness, man knows God. The Holy Scriptures become available to people who have cleansed their hearts, and through it the greatness of Christian teaching. Through the heart, and not through the mind, a person finds the way to God. According to Pascal, Christianity consists of two truths:

1. that there is a God whom people are able to partake of;

2. That they are defiled by original sin and are unworthy of it.

Christianity, and not science, was chosen by Pascal, believing that everything reasonable, taken together, is not worth the slightest impulse of Christian mercy. However, Pascal, of course, failed to turn back the "wheel of history". The rational direction in philosophy and science became predominant. The system of B. Spinoza became the apotheosis of rationalism.

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