Functions of philosophy: ideological and methodological. Functions of philosophy

Philosophy cannot create a worldview. Worldview, like any other social phenomenon, develops objectively. But it can create its analogue - a picture of the world. The picture of the world, in contrast to the worldview, is consciously constructed through the efforts of people. But, being an artificial formation, the picture of the world is capable of temporarily restoring the “connection of times” and promoting the formation of ideological attitudes that will allow people to live and act together. However, philosophy is not the only form of worldview and does not fill the entire ideological structure.

We can rightfully say that the study of philosophy is a school that helps to cultivate a culture of rational thinking, the ability to freely guide the movement of thought, to prove and refute. It is clear that the science of thinking cannot be rented; mastering this science requires effort and strain of intellectual abilities. Of course, this is not at all simple and requires, in particular, acquaintance with the history of philosophy in order to trace step by step how “ eternal problems"for many centuries, and most importantly, to prepare yourself to understand the ways to solve them in modern philosophy.

The central task of philosophy is to solve a whole complex of worldview problems, to develop, from the standpoint of reason, a system of generalized views on the world as a whole. The very existence of human society contains a most complex contradiction. On the one hand, we understand that without joint activities with other people we cannot continue to exist. On the other hand, every person, every act of human thinking is unique and cannot be translated into a “common” language. It seems to us that we understand the other person, his thoughts, actions, that the other person adequately understands us. But is it? Most often, understanding another is a difficult, almost insurmountable obstacle.

In order for people to recognize their differences and organize meaningful joint actions, a common basis is necessary. Such common basis and a worldview emerges. Worldview, therefore, is a system of collective ideas about the world, man’s place in the world and the principles of common human activities.

When solving worldview problems, a person, as it were, sketches out a coordinate grid within the framework of which both his activities and the work of his thoughts will unfold. The purpose of philosophy lies in a theoretically based solution to these and other worldview problems.

We can say that worldview is the core, the core of consciousness and self-awareness of an individual. It acts as a more or less holistic understanding by people of the world and themselves, their place in it. Everyone has it. But its level, its content, form, etc. are different. But more on that later. Here we note, firstly, that the worldview is historically specific, since it grows on the soil of the culture of its time and, along with it, undergoes serious changes. Secondly, society in every era is socially heterogeneous; it is divided into various groups and communities with their own interests. In addition, people themselves differ not only in their place in society, but also in their development, their aspirations, etc. In other words, the worldview of each era is realized in many group and individual variants.

In addition, the worldview as a system includes a number of components. First of all, this is knowledge that is based on truth, and along with this, values ​​that are most clearly expressed in the moral and aesthetic components of the worldview, which have goodness and beauty as their basis.

Not only our mind, but also our feelings participate in developing a worldview. This means that the worldview includes, as it were, two sections - intellectual and emotional. The emotional and psychological side of the worldview is represented by attitude and worldview, and the intellectual side by worldview. These three levels make up the structure of the worldview.

Naturally, the ratio of these sides is different depending on various levels worldviews, their representation in the worldview is different in different eras, and finally, the proportions of these sides are different in the worldview of different people. Moreover, the emotional coloring of the worldview itself, expressed in feelings, moods, etc., can be different. The second level of worldview is worldview, based primarily on knowledge, although worldview and attitude are not given simply next to each other: they, are usually united. This unity of theirs is visible in beliefs, where knowledge and feeling, reason and will are given together, where a social position is formed, for the sake of which a person is sometimes capable of much. The power of beliefs lies in a person’s trust in their essence and meaning. This means that the worldview includes in its structure confidence, and therefore faith (this can be religious faith, faith in ghosts and miracles, faith in science, etc.). Reasonable faith does not exclude doubt, but is alien to both dogmatism and boundless skepticism, which completely deprives a person of support points both in knowledge and in activity. Now let's turn to the typology of worldview.

First of all, two levels of worldview should be distinguished: vital - everyday and theoretical. The first develops spontaneously, in the process of everyday life. This is the worldview of broad sections of society. This level of worldview is important and must be taken into account, although it is different:

1) insufficient latitude;

2) a peculiar interweaving of sober positions and attitudes with primitive, mystical, philistine ideas and prejudices;

3) a large emotional load. Such disadvantages are overcome at the theoretical level of worldview and worldview. This is the philosophical level of worldview, when a person approaches the world from a position of reason, acts based on logic, justifying his conclusions and statements. If we approach it historically, then philosophy as a special type of worldview was preceded by mythological and religious types worldview. Myth how special shape consciousness and worldview arises in a situation of lack of information about the world, allowing one to navigate it without understanding the meaning of occurring phenomena.

Philosophy as a special type of spiritual activity and a system of knowledge is connected with the socio-historical practice of people, being focused on solving certain social problems, it strives to give a holistic idea of ​​the world, of material and ideal processes, of their interaction, of knowledge and transformation of reality in the course of practical activity The fulfillment of its purpose by a philosophy presupposes its implementation of a number of interrelated functions through which its purpose is realized. The most significant of them are:

ideological

epistemological

methodological

information and communication

value-oriented

critical

integrating

ideological

educational

prognostic

design

Worldview function

The worldview function of philosophy is considered one of the most important. It reveals the ability of philosophy to act as the basis of a worldview, which is an integral, stable system of views about the world and the laws of its existence, about the phenomena and processes of nature and society that are important for maintaining the life of society and man. The worldview of an individual appears in the form of a set of feelings, knowledge and beliefs. A special role in a person’s worldview is played by ideas about the principles that determine his relationship to the world, society and himself.

A worldview in its form can be:

mythological

religious

philosophical.

It depends on what basis it is based on - mythological, religious or philosophical ideas. The basis mythological worldview constitute myths, that is, fantastic stories about the world order and the place of man in the system of the universe. This worldview comes from an artistic and emotional experience of the world or from social illusions. Religious worldview able to be based on the results of people’s cognitive and practical activities. An important role in the system of modern philosophical worldview is played by the data of science, synthesized in ideas about the scientific picture of the world. Often in modern conditions, mythological, religious and scientific ideas are simultaneously combined in the worldview of individuals. These ideas give specificity to the worldviews of specific people. Worldview and worldview In worldviews that differ in form and nature, the intellectual and emotional-psychological experience of people is combined in a special way and is reflected in them differently attitude, worldview and worldview of people. Attitude constitutes the emotional and psychological side of the worldview. It expresses the sensations, perceptions, and experiences of people. worldview Based on visual representations, the world appears in its reality, the images of which are mediated by a combination of emotional, psychological and cognitive experience of people. Worldview develops on the basis of attitude and worldview. As science develops, the nature of the worldview is increasingly influenced by the knowledge it acquires. The importance of worldview lies in the fact that it is the basis for the formation of a person’s needs and interests, his ideas about norms and values, and therefore his motives for activity. The development and improvement of the worldview, worldview and understanding of the world leads to an increase in the quality of the content of the worldview and an increase in the power of its influence on living life. As a system of views, people’s worldview is formed on the basis of a wide variety of knowledge, but it is given its final form by philosophy, which, as noted earlier, generalizes the contained installations in it and produces extremely general principles both knowledge, understanding, and transformation of the world. The foundation of a worldview is information about normative formations that mediate its orientation and give it effectiveness. Philosophy is a means of forming and justifying the content of the most general, fundamental and therefore essential normative formations of the worldview that mediate the entire life support system of people. In this sense, it is justified to consider it as the basis of the worldview that a person uses in his interactions with the world and to endow it with ideological function epistemological or theoretical-cognitive. The essence of this function lies in the ability of philosophy to carry out theoretical research cognitive activity of a person in order to identify mechanisms, techniques and methods of cognition. In other words, the theory of knowledge, by developing the principles and norms of knowledge, provides a person with the means by which people have the opportunity to comprehend the world, that is, to obtain true knowledge about it and thereby have a correct worldview that meets the requirements of modern times, on the basis of which effective practice. Methodological function Philosophy, being a means of developing the principles of human relations to the world and the custodian of knowledge about these principles, is able to act as a methodology, that is, as a doctrine of methods of cognition and transformation of reality. This means that philosophy has methodological function . , in the role of which these principles act. Evaluative activity, possible on the basis of people's awareness of the criteria proposed by philosophy for the optimality and usefulness of a particular set of phenomena and actions, acts as a means of orienting these people in the world. Philosophy as a means of developing knowledge about values ​​and a carrier of this knowledge, from the point of view of axiology, or the theory of values, is capable of performing a value-orienting function. Critical function This direction of realizing one of the purposes of philosophy is associated with the manifestation of its other purpose, expressed in the performance of a critical function. Within the framework of philosophy, an assessment of what is happening in the world is carried out on the basis of the general ideas contained in philosophy about the norm and pathology of the phenomena and processes of reality surrounding a person. Philosophy's critical attitude to what is negatively assessed in spiritual and material life contributes to the development of measures aimed at overcoming what does not suit a person, seems pathological to him and therefore worthy of transformation. The critical function of philosophy can manifest itself not only in people’s relationships to the world, but also be realized in the course of self-assessment by specialists of its own content. Thus, the critical function of philosophy can be realized both in terms of stimulating the development of knowledge about the world and updating the world as a whole, and in terms of improving the content of philosophy itself. Integrating function As is known, philosophy generalizes the knowledge accumulated by humanity, systematizes and integrates it into a single system. develops criteria for its subordination. This allows us to talk about the integrative function of philosophy in relation to knowledge. In addition, philosophy formulates extremely general principles of the world order, as well as requirements for a person’s relationship to the world, society and himself. Having been learned during upbringing and becoming the property of different people, such principles ensure that they form positions that are similar in content, which promotes integration social community into a single whole. This reveals another plan for the implementation of the integrating function of philosophy. Ideological function In close connection with the indicated functions, philosophy This function may have specificity depending on the interests of which social groups this philosophy expresses. As we know, group interests can be progressive or reactionary. Depending on this is the direction of the implementation of the ideological function, which can have a great influence on the manifestation of other functions of philosophy. Reactionary ideologies are able to slow down the development of philosophy, deform and distort its content, reduce its social value, and reduce the scope of its application in practice. Educational function An important role is played by the educational function of philosophy, which stems from the ability of this discipline to provide, as knowledge about it is acquired, a formative influence on human intelligence. Personality Mastery knowledge of philosophy , the formation of beliefs and activity skills corresponding to it is able to encourage a person to be active, creative and effective for people. If a person masters a reactionary philosophy, this can give rise to a passive attitude towards affairs, alienation from people, from the achievements of culture, or turn into activity directed against society or part of it. Predictive function Along with the above functions philosophy deals with forecasting, performs a prognostic function. Many philosophers of the past acted as prophets, predicting the future. Some of the forecasts were utopian, far from reality, but sometimes the prophecies of individual outstanding thinkers achieved great adequacy.. Such influence must be organized to ensure its clear focus and obtain certain results. Preliminary design social environment

, for example, in the conditions of territorial development, urban planning, construction of plants and factories, it requires the participation of philosophy, which, together with other sciences, is designed to develop the most general principles and norms that make up the normative framework for the creation and functioning of objects used to organize the life of people in urbanized and other environments.

Ticket No. 9.1. Idealism is the opposite direction of philosophy to materialism, the initial principle of which is the assertion that the basis of things and phenomena of objective reality is not the material, but the ideal, spiritual principle: the world mind, idea, feelings, etc. When solving the main question of philosophy - the relationship of thinking to being - idealism proceeds from the recognition of the primacy of consciousness, spirit and the secondary nature of nature and matter.

I. Fichte (1762-1814) was the first to try to solve the problems posed by Kant in German classical philosophy. His philosophical system is based on the recognition of the active, practically active essence of man. The initial concept of Fichte's system is the “I,” which asserts itself as such in the act of self-consciousness. Such intuition is not available to all mortals; it is given only to especially gifted people, geniuses. According to Schelling, intellectual intuition is the highest form of philosophical creativity and serves as the instrument with the help of which the self-development of identity is possible.

There are two forms of idealism: objective and subjective. Objective idealism places consciousness as the basis of everything that exists, the world spirit, the absolute idea. The most complete system of objective idealism in ancient times was given by Plato. Objective idealism reached its highest development in the philosophy of Hegel, who developed a system of idealistic dialectics. In Ukraine, the philosophical principles of objective idealism were defended by S. Gotsky, A. Novitsky, G. Chelpanov. Modern schools of objective idealism, neo-Thomism and personalism, are widespread. Subjective idealism comes from the recognition that only our sensations, our “I”, are primary and really existing, and everything that surrounds us is only a product, a complex of our sensations. Subjective idealistic views can lead to solipsism, i.e. recognition of the existence of only one’s “I”. The system of subjective idealism was most fully expounded in the 18th century. in the philosophy of the English bishop J. Berkeley. In the form of skepticism and agnocystism, subjective idealism was developed by the English philosopher D. Hume and the German philosopher I. Kant. A famous representative of subjective idealism was J. Fichte. In Ukraine, subjective idealism was promoted by P. Yurkevich and others. Modern subjective idealism falls into numerous schools: empirio-criticism, pragmatism, semantic idealism, logical positivism, empirical realism, existentialism and others. Most currents of modern idealism are characterized by irrationalism - the denial of the objective content of logical thinking and its replacement with intuition. Subjective idealism of J. Fichte and objective idealism of F. Schelling A world in constant motion and development is matched by equally dynamic thinking about it. “If everything develops... then does this belong to the most general concepts thinking? If not, then thinking is not connected with being. If yes, then there is a dialectic of concepts and cognition that has an objective meaning.” The concepts of categories and laws in their correlation contain such a “dialectic of cognition.”

Even the simplest thought: “A black car drove up to the entrance” contains such concepts as “object” (car, entrance), “quality” (black), “movement” (drive up). If we, when perceiving objects, do not subsume them under any concepts or categories, then we are generally doomed to look at things meaninglessly. The categorical structure of thinking acts as a necessary prerequisite and condition for any cognitive act.

The categories of dialectics are formed at certain stages of the historical development of society. Gradually, humanity’s knowledge of the universal connections of existence deepens, enriches, and is brought into the system. This was the case, for example, with the knowledge of the connections between the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of objects. Starting from naive conjectures, it eventually reached mature expression. Special philosophical concepts were developed (quality, quantity, measure, leap) and with their help the corresponding law was formulated. With the development of material and spiritual culture, human thinking is enriched with new categories. Knowledge about categorical relations, the results of understanding the universal connections operating in the world mature, crystallize, polish, and are stored in language. Thus, from a spontaneously working categorical apparatus, it turns into a thoughtful, conscious one., namely, firstly, they are connected in such a way that each of them can be understood only as an element of a system of categories.

It is impossible, for example, to understand material and spiritual reality through one category of “matter”, without resorting to the categories of “movement”, “development”, “space”, “time” and many others. Otherwise, we will not go beyond a simple statement of reality. To comprehend reality, we are forced to involve the entire system of philosophical categories and concepts, where one is characterized through the other, in unity with the other, sometimes merging into a whole, sometimes diverging. Secondly, in the categories of dialectics, objective knowledge about the corresponding form of connection of phenomena (causality, law, etc.) and the form of thought - a cognitive technique through which such a connection is comprehended and comprehended - are closely connected. And the more perfect the conceptual means, the ways of understanding certain connections, the more successfully their real discovery and interpretation can, in principle, be carried out. One presupposes the other. In this regard, philosophers talk about the unity of the ontological (objective knowledge of being) and epistemological (cognitive techniques) meaning of categories. Among the infinite variety of connections in the real world Philosophical knowledge has historically identified various types of universal connections.“Single - general”, “many - single”, “similarity - difference”, “quality - quantity”, “simple - complex”, “part - whole”, “finite - infinite”, “form - content” and other concepts about this kind of connections can be combined into a group of categories expressing

“device”, “organization”

being. In the history of knowledge, another categorical series can also be traced, expressing the universal connections of determination: “phenomenon - essence”, “cause - effect”, “accident - necessity”, “possibility - reality” and others. The first approach to the analysis of universal connections can be conditionally called “horizontal”, the second - “vertical”. In this work, we would like to provide a semantic explanation of universal connections using the example of such categorical pairs as “individual - general”, “phenomenon - essence”, “necessity - accident”, “possibility - reality”, “part - whole”, “content - form”, “quality - quantity and measure”.

There is an endless variety of things in the world. All things and events are different from each other, individual in their existence. Although people have the expression “like two peas in a pod”, which is usually applicable to people, science knows such a phenomenon as genes, which contain unique, always individual information, indicating that it is impossible in the whole world to find two people who are completely identical in everything, identical to each other. A myriad of unique conditions and a mass of accidents are involved in the “sculpting” of an individual. Thus, the dissimilarity of any pair of maple leaves is determined by differences in lighting, nutrition, temperature, and energy microclimate, which, in turn, determines differences in their sizes, shades of color, form, etc. Single , Thus, there is an object taken in its difference from other objects in their unique specificity. The individual characterizes an object, phenomenon, process that differs in its spatial, temporal and other properties from other objects, phenomena, processes, including similar ones. Not only a separate object, but also a whole class of them can be considered as a single object, if it is taken as one thing, as well as a separate property or sign of an object, if it is taken in its individual uniqueness.

However, infinite diversity is only one side of existence. Its other side lies in the commonality of things, their structures, properties and relationships. With the same certainty with which we asserted that there are no two absolutely identical things, we can say that there are no two absolutely different things. One cannot but agree that, although all people are individual, we nevertheless easily capture the generic essence inherent in all of them, thereby highlighting behind their uniqueness, uniqueness, something common to all of them, expressed in general concept"Human". General is one thing in many ways. Or, in other words, general - objectively existing similarity of characteristics of individual objects, their similarity in some respects, belonging to the same group of phenomena or unified system connections.

The dialectic of the individual and the general is manifested in their inextricable connection. The general “rules” over the individual, which mercilessly “forces” the individual to consistently perish as something transitory in the name of preserving the general as something stable: the individual dies, but the race lives.

Why is the general internally “tied” to the individual? Yes, because due to the discreteness of the world, the general does not exist and is not given to us except through the individual. They are not side by side things, and dialectics does not lie in the fact that one exists and the other exists and somehow they interact with each other, but in the fact that something exists and manifests itself as existing (in one way or another) due to the material unity of the world .

Therefore, the general does not exist separately, but as the law of the birth and life of the individual.

It contains the pattern of processes in any single phenomenon of a given class. The action of law, the anonymous power of the general, is expressed only in the individual and through the individual. In this way, how the individual is impossible without the general, and the general is impossible without the individual, which serves as a prerequisite and substrate for the general. Essence and phenomenon.

The development of knowledge is a constant movement of thought from the superficial, visible, from what appears to us, to the ever deeper, hidden - to the essence. The essence has true reality only due to certain forms of its self-detection. Just as leaves, flowers, branches and fruits express the essence of a plant in appearance, so, for example, ethical, political, philosophical, scientific, aesthetic ideas express the essence of a certain social system. What is the social system in its essence, such are the forms of its manifestation in domestic and foreign policy, in the nature of the expression of the people's will, in the forms of justice, in labor productivity, etc. A phenomenon, as a rule, expresses only a certain facet of the essence, one of its aspects . For example, many manifestations of a malignant tumor (cancer) have been studied in sufficient detail, but its very essence still remains largely an ominous secret. Sometimes their discrepancy is pronounced: the external, superficial features of an object mask and distort its essence. In such cases they talk about appearance, appearance. An example of visibility is a mirage - a visual vision that occurs due to the bending of light rays by the atmosphere. Pricing can significantly distort the value relationship, the manifestation of which it, in principle, serves.

The categories of phenomenon and essence are inextricably linked. One of them presupposes the other. The dialectical nature of these concepts is reflected in their flexibility, relativity. The concept of essence does not imply some rigidly fixed level of reality or some limit of knowledge. Human knowledge moves from phenomena to essence, deepening further from the essence of the first order to the essence of the second order, etc., more and more thoroughly revealing causal relationships, patterns, trends of change, development of certain areas of reality. Thus, Darwin's theory was an important step in understanding the laws of biological evolution, but their study did not stop there. And today science, taking into account evolutionary genetics and other studies, has a deeper knowledge of living nature. There are many such examples. The relative nature of the concepts “essence and phenomenon” thus means that

this or that process acts as a phenomenon in relation to deeper processes, but as an essence (of a “lower” order) - in relation to its own manifestations. This, to a certain extent, makes it possible to understand that we are not talking about some rigid concepts that can be assigned to constant levels of reality.

Phenomenon and essence are concepts that indicate the direction, the path of the eternal, endless deepening of human knowledge.

Necessity and chance.

Very often people ask the question: how does this or that event happen - by chance or by necessity? Some argue that only chance reigns in the world and there is no place for necessity, while others claim that no chance exists and everything happens out of necessity. However, in our opinion, it is impossible to answer this question unambiguously, because both chance and necessity have their share of the “right” to being. What is meant by both concepts? Let's start with the concept of “randomness”. Randomness is a type of connection that is caused by unimportant, external, incidental reasons. As a rule, such a connection is unstable. In other words, chance is a subjectively unexpected, objectively incidental phenomenon; it is something that, under given conditions, may or may not happen, may happen one way or another.

There are several types of randomness:

External. It is beyond the power of this necessity. It is determined by the circumstances. A man stepped on watermelon rind and fell.

The reason for the fall is obvious. But it does not at all follow from the logic of the victim’s actions. Here there is a sudden invasion of life by blind chance. Internal.

This randomness follows from the very nature of the object; it is, as it were, “swirls” of necessity. Randomness is considered internal if the situation of the birth of a random phenomenon is described from within any one causal series, and the cumulative effect of other causal sequences is described through the concept of “objective conditions” for the implementation of the main causal series.

Subjective, that is, one that arises as a result of a person having free will when he commits an act contrary to objective necessity.

Objective. The denial of objective randomness is false and harmful from both a scientific and practical point of view. Recognizing everything as equally necessary, a person turns out to be unable to separate the essential from the inessential, the necessary from the accidental. With this view, necessity itself is reduced to the level of chance. So, to put it briefly

, random is possible under appropriate conditions. It opposes the natural as necessary under appropriate conditions. Necessity is a natural type of connection between phenomena, determined by their stable internal basis and the set of essential conditions for their occurrence, existence and development. Necessity, therefore, is a manifestation, a moment of lawfulness, and in this sense it is a synonym for it. Since a pattern expresses the general, essential in a phenomenon, necessity is inseparable from the essential. If the random has a cause in something else - in the intersection of various series of cause-and-effect relationships, then the necessary has a cause in itself. that is, generated by the object’s own nature or by a combination of external circumstances. It can be characteristic of many objects or only of a single object. Necessity is an essential feature of the law. Like the law, she can be dynamic and statistical.

Necessity and chance act as correlative categories in which a philosophical understanding of the nature of the interdependence of phenomena, the degree of determinism of their occurrence and existence is expressed. The necessary makes its way through the accidental. Why? Because it is realized only through the individual. And in this sense, randomness is correlated with singularity.

It is accidents that influence the course of the necessary process: they accelerate or slow it down. So, chance is in diverse connections with necessity, and the border between chance and necessity is never closed. However, the main direction of development is determined precisely by necessity.

Taking into account the dialectics of necessity and chance is an important condition for correct practical and theoretical activity. The main goal of cognition is to identify what is natural.

In our ideas, the world is revealed as an endless variety of things and events, colors and sounds, other properties and relationships. But to understand it, it is necessary to identify a certain order. And for this we need to analyze those specific forms of chance in which the necessary is manifested.

Cause-and-effect relationships that implement the principle of causality arise when a phenomenon—the cause—gives rise to a random or necessary consequence.

If the phenomenon has not yet become, but can become a cause, they say that it contains the possibility of becoming an actual cause. In other words, possibility is a prerequisite for the occurrence of a particular phenomenon, process, its potential existence. Thus, possibility and reality are two successive stages in the development of a phenomenon, its movement from cause to effect, two stages in the formation of causal relationships in nature, society and thinking. This understanding of the connection between the possible and the actual reflects the objective continuity of the development process of any phenomenon.

In each specific process of transforming possibility into reality, as a rule, both necessary and random cause-and-effect relationships are realized. It follows from this that reality embodies heterogeneous possibilities and contains a multitude of not only necessary, but also accidentally formed properties.

Part and whole.

Many centuries ago, there was a belief that to understand a particular object means to know what it consists of. The philosophical concepts with the help of which, first of all, and for a long time, the “structure” of being was comprehended, were the concepts of “simple - complex”, “part - whole”.

These pairs of categories are closely related to each other, because simple has long been thought of as elementary, not having parts, and complex - as composed of parts, decomposable into simple components. Parts were understood as “objects” that in their totality form new, more complex objects. The whole was considered as the result of a combination of parts of an object. playing an important role in the development of knowledge and practice. Socrates also noticed that the face connects its parts into a single whole: lips, mouth, nose, eyes, ears, chin, cheeks. And no matter how different in appearance and function all parts of the face may be, and no matter how similar they may be, they themselves do not form a face. The face is something unified, a whole. It is indivisible and irreducible to those parts, of which it consists, without losing its qualitative certainty as a person. It unites the parts, embraces them all and forms a unique whole with new integrative properties.

The role of the principle of integrity in modern scientific and philosophical analysis, as well as in other forms of understanding reality, is exceptionally great. Orientation towards this principle allows one to overcome the limited methods of understanding that prevailed at previous stages of cognition: elementalism (dividing the complex into simple components), mechanism (understanding the whole as only the sum of parts), reductionism (reducing the complex, higher level of development, to the simple).

Within certain limits, the method of understanding complex objects in the concepts of “part - whole” and today, in general, has not lost its significance, but has received serious deepening, enrichment, and has taken an important place in modern systematic approach to a wide variety of objects.

The enrichment of the “part - whole” categories with the concept of connection opened the way to the gradual formation of new categories: element, structure, system. The concept of connection, first of all, gave impetus to the clarification and development of ideas about the ways of ordering various objects.

Content is the identity of all elements and moments of the whole with the whole itself; this is the composition of all elements of an object in their qualitative certainty, interaction, functioning, the unity of its properties, processes, connections, contradictions and development trends. Not everything that is “contained” in an object constitutes its content. For example, it would be meaningless to consider the atoms that make up the molecules that form cells to be the content of an organism. You will never know what a pigeon is if you carefully study every cell of its body under an electron microscope. TO, forming the content, include parts of the whole, that is, such elements that are the limit of divisibility of an object within the framework of a given qualitative certainty.

Therefore, the canvas cannot be included in the content of the painting, for example, although without it it is impossible to imagine the painting.

The content of an organism is not just the totality of its organs, but something more - the entire real process of its life, occurring in a certain form. The content of society is the entire wealth of the material and spiritual life of the people acting in it, who make up this society, all the products and tools of their activities. Having defined content as the identity of the components of the whole with the whole itself, let us move on to form. What is form? When we perceive and think of an object, we isolate it from the surrounding background, thereby fixing its appearance, external form. When used in the sense of external appearance, the shape of an object is expressed in the category of boundary. The boundary indicating the difference between a given content in its entirety and everything else is the form - external shape of an object.

The external form expresses the connection of a given object with others. In addition, the category of form is also used to mean the method of expression and the existence of content. Here we are dealing not with external, but with internal form.

Inner form The abstraction of form from content can never be absolute, because there are no “pure” forms that are indifferent to content. Each change in form is a reflection of transformations in content and internal connections of the subject. This process, unfolding in time, is carried out through a contradiction expressed in the lag of form from content, that is, the presence of such a state of the system when the new content does not have an adequate new form, but resides in the old one, oriented towards the content that has already become obsolete. The contradiction here is expressed in the multidirectionality of these moments of a single whole and is always resolved by the breakdown of the old form and the emergence of a new one. And it cannot be otherwise due to the irreversible nature of development.

Quality, quantity and measure.

Quality is such a certainty of an object (phenomenon, process) that characterizes it as a given object, possessing a set of inherent properties and belonging to the class of objects of the same type with it. With the loss of qualitative certainty, an object ceases to be itself and acquires new features that determine its belonging to another class of objects. For example, molten ore turns into slag and metal; a teenager, growing up, becomes a young man, a young man becomes a man, a man eventually becomes an old man;

a village, growing, can become a city, etc.

Quantity is a characteristic of phenomena, objects, processes according to the degree of development or intensity of their inherent properties, expressed in quantities and numbers. Assessing the quantitative characteristics of real “things” begins with identifying common properties in them that are inherent in both “things” that are homogeneous and qualitatively different in nature. Such properties by which dissimilar objects can be compared can be linear dimensions , speed of movement, mass, temperature of bodies. For human organisms

Considering various objects from a quantitative point of view on the basis of some common property, as it were, erases their qualitative differences. Thus, qualitatively different goods - bread, clothing, cars - are “equalized” during their loading, unloading, and transportation based on the fact that they all have weight and dimensions.

“Equalizing” the qualitative differences of objects, bringing them to some unity makes it possible to measure, which involves establishing the appropriate unit of measurement (meter, kilogram). Quantitative characteristics of objects, phenomena, processes are widely used in social practice: in planning and financing production, construction, social development, in drawing up transport schedules, etc. That is, qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis, study, and evaluation are widely used in various areas of science and practice. In addition, the concepts of “quality” and “quantity” are important for understanding the conditions for the transition of the economy from an extensive to an intensive path of development. In the first case, product output increases due to the introduction of new enterprises, an increase in acreage, production capacity

, number of workers, etc. In the second case, an increase in output is ensured by an increase in labor productivity with the same or even fewer number of workers and means of production by improving the quality of technological equipment, improving the skills of workers, etc. Today, specialists in various fields are faced with the task of mastering the most promising, qualitatively new forms of activity

, searching for ways to transfer the entire economy to a new qualitative state. This requires the most effective solutions to economic and management problems.

From here it is clear how important it is to imagine what, in principle, ensures qualitative changes in the state of the system, to understand the dialectical relationship between quality and quantity. Quality and quantity express opposite and at the same time inextricably linked characteristics of objects., within which the qualitative certainty of the object is preserved. The measure acts as a “third member” that connects quality and quantity into a single whole. For example, labor productivity as a measure has two sides: the quality of labor and its productivity (the amount of product produced). But it is not enough to say that measure is the unity of quality and quantity, and also that it is the limit within which quality manifests itself in its definiteness. Measure is deeply connected with essence, with law, regularity. Let us pay attention to the fact that the meaning-forming root element of the word “regularity” is precisely measure. A measure is a zone within which a given quality is modified, varies due to changes in quantity and individual non-essential properties, while maintaining its essential characteristics.

So, we looked at some categorical pairs. And in conclusion, we can say that interdependence, the transitions of one phenomenon to another reflect the universal property of moving matter, act as a manifestation of the worldwide universal connection of objects, “everything in everything.”

These are the main directions of application of philosophy, through which its goals, objectives and purpose are realized.

Philosophy is characterized by a system of interconnected and complementary functions that are designed to realize the entire formed spiritual potential into reality. The whole variety of functions of philosophy can be classified on different grounds and into different groups, each of which is intended to solve a particular circle philosophical problems and tasks.

According to their purpose, all the functions of philosophy can be reduced into two large groups - ideological functions And methodological functions, which are aimed at both contemplative and creative activities.

Worldview functions manifest themselves in the process of forming a universal, systemic view of the whole world as a whole, of its unity and diversity, of determining the place of man and all humanity in this endless world.

Worldview function of philosophy lies in the fact that, by equipping people with knowledge about the world and about man, about his place in the world and the possibilities of his knowledge and transformation, it influences the formation of life attitudes, the awareness social actors goals and meaning of life.

Often, when we talk about worldview, its characteristics as a generalized system of ideas and views on the world, man, his place in the world, etc. come to the fore.

Among the ideological functions, it is worth noting such subfunctions as humanistic, informational-reflective, ideological, social-moral, educational, artistic-aesthetic, etc.

1. G humanistic subfunction - one of the eternally living in philosophy, but it also increased and decreased in importance, realizing in different areas of life the historically actualized problems of humanity and social harmony.

2. AND informationally-reflective subfunction intended to organize a universal substantial basis in which all the infinite complexity and diversity of the world could be expressed in a simple and clear way. One of the ways for this is the special world of symbols, the use of signals, signs, models, etc.

3. AND theological subfunction is expressed in the fact that it helps the entire society, as well as social groups, to develop and use guiding ideas and principles aimed at developing political, legal, socio-economic processes in a direction that leads to achieving set goals and solving problems.

4. WITH socially-moral subfunction consists in the fact that it affirms in social life a person’s conscious-normative attitude towards himself and towards other people.

5. X artistically-aesthetic subfunction affirms in the mind images and concepts associated with the formation of harmonious unity and beauty.

6. A xiological(value) subfunction (translated from Greek axios - valuable) is to evaluate things, phenomena of the surrounding world from the point of view of various values ​​- moral, ethical, social, ideological, etc. The purpose of the axiological function is to be a “sieve” through which to pass everything necessary, valuable and useful and discard what is obsolete and obsolete. The axiological function is especially strengthened during critical periods of history (the beginning of the Middle Ages - the search for new (theological) values ​​after the collapse of Rome; the Renaissance; the Reformation; the crisis of capitalism at the end of the 19th - 20th centuries, etc.).

7. P practical subfunction - is associated with the development of meaning, goals, rules, principles and mechanisms of human practical life.

8. Social subfunction - explains society, the reasons for its emergence, evolution, current state, its structure, elements, driving forces; reveals contradictions, indicates ways to eliminate or mitigate them, and improve society.

9. Culturally-broadcast function - is associated with the generalization and transmission from generation to generation of the most important achievements of the spiritual culture of mankind.

10. Educational and humanitarian function philosophy is to cultivate humanistic values ​​and ideals, instill them in people and society, help strengthen morality, help a person adapt to the world around him and find the meaning of life.

Methodological functions manifest themselves in the organization of the most common ways and methods of human activity. The method itself is a special form of knowledge about ways of organizing means of activity for the purposeful transformation of things and objects of the surrounding world. The method always appears when it is necessary to organize activities in order to achieve set goals. Therefore, human activity always relies on some method.

Selection methodological function as the initial one is due to the fact that philosophy occupies a special place in the process of awareness of existence in the structure of social consciousness.

Methodology should be understood as a system of initial, fundamental principles that determine the method of approach to the analysis and assessment of phenomena, the nature of the attitude towards them, the nature and direction of cognitive and practical activity. These principles contain, expressed in a general form, ideas about the essence of the world and man, about the ultimate foundations of their existence, about man’s relationship to the world and to himself.

What methodological foundations does philosophy open for human activity? In a broad sense, the methodological function of philosophy continues and complements its ideological function, for a person’s views on the means of his activity also have ideological significance. In turn, worldview is an integral part of any methodology.

First of all, it should be noted here that in philosophy all the most general methods knowledge, but a special role is played by the so-called universal methods, used only in philosophy. This includes the dialectical method (about the laws of motion and development), the metaphysical method (about the eternal properties of being), the relativistic method (about the changeable properties of the world), etc. Each such method has its own methodological specificity of functioning. Among the methodological functions, it should be noted such as logical, epistemological, heuristic, selective, integration, etc.

1. L ogical subfunction consists in the use of philosophical categories, ideas and principles as methods that organize the process of thinking in a direction predetermined by the goal.

2. E vristic subfunction organizes the search for new realities and promotes the discovery of new knowledge about them in different spheres of life.

3. WITH elective subfunction is associated with solving philosophical problems of choice and conscious selection of necessary characteristics, properties, things and relationships in the process of activity.

4. AND integrational subfunction is aimed at combining different methods of activity, at subordinating them to one problem-based goal, at forming a single and coordinated result in multifaceted activities. In this regard, it should be noted that classical philosophy proceeded from a direct correspondence between subject and method.

The classical requirement states that a given object must be cognized only by a method appropriate to it, which cannot be used for other objects. Postclassical philosophy has developed a methodological mechanism in which one subject can be diversified by several methods, and several different objects can be known by one universal method.

5. P rognostic subfunction - is to predict development trends, the future of matter, consciousness, cognitive processes, people, nature and society, based on existing philosophical knowledge about the surrounding world and man, achievements of knowledge.

6. TO critical subfunction , whose role is to question the world and existing knowledge, look for their new features, qualities, reveal contradictions. The ultimate goal of this function is to expand the boundaries of knowledge, destroy dogma, ossification, modernize it, and increase the reliability of knowledge.

Philosophy performs a number of cognitive functions, related functions of science. The immediate goal of science is to describe, explain and predict the processes and phenomena of reality that constitute the subject of its study, based on the laws it discovers. Philosophy has always, to one degree or another, performed in relation to science the functions of a methodology of knowledge and ideological interpretation of its results.

Philosophy also shares with science the desire for a theoretical form of constructing knowledge, for logical proof of its conclusions.

To summarize what has been said, it should be noted that all the functions of philosophy reveal the richness and diversity of its capabilities in understanding the world.

Control questions

1. How do you answer the question “What is philosophy?”

2. How do philosophy and worldview relate to each other?

3. Is every worldview a philosophy?

4. Name the levels of reflection of reality.

5. What is the subject of philosophy?

6. What questions does philosophy begin with?

7. Explain what the philosophical method is.

8. Name the functions of philosophy and explain how they are connected.

9. What is the methodological function of philosophy?

10. How do philosophy and science relate to each other?

11. What is the relationship between knowledge and faith?

Photographer Chris Wells

The function of science is the sphere of activity where interest is shown and scientific action (research) is carried out; or a complex of execution of assigned tasks and goals depending on changing conditions and quantities.

• The worldview function of philosophy is the determination of the exploratory and applied guidelines of man in particular and humanity in general through the study of worldview. That is, it is a set of criteria for assessing the perception of the world by a person and the culture created by him as a community (society);
• The epistemological function of philosophy is a scientifically correct understanding of the surrounding reality and its reliable knowledge. It is responsible for determining whether it is scientific, non-scientific and the lack thereof, that is, it carries out an expert assessment of knowledge;
• The methodological function controls the development and testing of ways for philosophy to achieve its goals and research. She develops methods and approaches used in philosophical research, and also evaluates and tests them;
• Information and communication – this function controls the transfer and content of transmitted data between any agents involved in its processes. That is, it carries out the dissemination of knowledge between different disciplines both within philosophy and outside it, supporting cooperation between other sciences and their disciplines;
• The value-orienting function is specific and related to a number of disciplines, including axiology, ethics and aesthetics, and plays the role of evaluative activity according to various criteria of a wide range of phenomena, including the creation or exclusion of value itself. To put it simply, it is responsible for defining, justifying and disseminating values ​​other than knowledge, which by default is the goal and value of any science. For example, aesthetic values ​​like the concept of “beautiful” are unattainable for understanding or justifying certain sciences such as chemistry or physics. In the last example, without the participation of philosophy, the study of culture will be formal and poor;
• The critical function evaluates a phenomenon or process and compares it with the opinion of philosophy, that is, as the name suggests, it criticizes, draws conclusions and gives a conclusion. Expert review philosophy is broader than in other sciences and is guided by various criteria that do not make sense for some other disciplines;
• The integrating function is that philosophy accumulates, compiles and accumulates knowledge, including it in its concepts, that is, integrates. In cooperation with the other functions described above, it carries out the dissemination of knowledge, hypotheses and theories in the scientific community;
• The ideological function deals with the study, classification and evaluation of the belief systems and opinions of various social groups. That is, this function of philosophy examines ideologies. It is easy to understand that it is closely related to social science disciplines, such as sociology;
• Forecasting is a function of philosophy that provides forecasts based on known data. Models and forecasts generated using this feature. wider and better integrated into both culture and scientific knowledge than other theoretical constructs;
• The design function of philosophy is responsible for the creation of plans, systems of ideas and images. It is very similar to the previous one, in reality they act as a pair, interacting in the process of theoretical forecasting, design and modeling;
• The educational function aims to influence the formation of the views of a person and his groups. One of the most ancient functions that became obvious from the very appearance of philosophizing, which initially involved teaching something meaningful and understandable. Thus, in ancient times, scientific knowledge was spread for obvious reasons (a limited number of literate people, the absence or closedness of educational institutions, etc.).

The functions of philosophy come from its disciplines and are closely related to the subjects and objects of each specific direction, at the same time they have their own unique specificity. When considering them, it is necessary to take into account the above.

The question of the functions of philosophy is the question of what role it plays in people’s lives, how and for what it is used by them philosophical knowledge. Let us consider the following main functions of philosophy: worldview, social and methodological.

Worldview function

The concept of worldview does not lend itself to a sufficiently clear definition. In everyday speech and in philosophical literature its meaning is interpreted differently. However, the absence of a generally accepted definition of this concept does not mean that when it is used it is not known what is meant.

The following main characteristics of the worldview can be identified:

• * it includes a certain set of a person’s general views on the world and his place in the world;
• * these views represent not just knowledge about reality, but knowledge that has become beliefs;
• * worldview determines the orientation of a person, her life positions, the purpose and meaning of her life; it manifests itself in the behavior of the individual.

There are various types and variants of worldviews in which specified characteristics perform differently. People of primitive society were characterized by a mythological worldview. One of the most widespread in society from antiquity to the present day is the religious worldview. In opposition to it, an atheistic worldview develops. The desire to solve worldview issues on the basis of science leads to the formation scientific worldview. They also talk about more particular forms of the latter - natural science, geo- and heliocentric, mechanistic and other variants of the scientific worldview.

People's worldview is formed under the influence of a variety of circumstances: upbringing, education, life experience, individual life impressions. It is affected by living conditions, common features eras, national characteristics culture.

What does philosophy have to do with worldview? Philosophical reflection is a means of developing a worldview. In the systems, teachings, and concepts created by philosophers, various variants of worldviews and beliefs that people have are ultimately expressed, generalized, systematized, and argued. This allows ideas born in the heads of philosophers to gain recognition and spread in society.

Thus, the ideological function of philosophy is that philosophy acts as a means of expressing, systematizing and substantiating the worldview, as a theory for solving ideological issues.