The subject matter and the nature of philosophy
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF UKRAINE
NATIONAL AVIATION UNIVERCITY
PHILOSOPHY
HISTORICAL - PHILOSOPHICAL INTRODUCTION
The course of lectures
Kiyv 2004
УДК 1(091) (042.4)
ББК Ю3(0) я 7
Р 57
Reviewed by professor Onoprienko V.I., associated professor Sukhodub T.D. National Academy of Science of Ukraine.
English language adviser: L.V. Budko.
Approved by the NAU Humanities Institute Scientific Methodical Editorial Council on June15, 2004.
Р 57 Philosophy. Historical-Philosophical Introduction: The course of lectures/Author Kadnikova L.V. K.: NAU, 2004.-172 p.
This course contains lectures on the history of Ancient Eastern Philosophy, European Philosophy, Ukranian and Russian Philosophy.
This course is intended for technical specialities full time students studying in English.
Філософія. Історико-філософський вступ:
Курс лекцій (англійською мовою)/Укладач: Кад-
нікова Л.В. - К.:НАУ, 2004.-172с.
Пропонований курс вміщує лекції з історії філософії Стародавнього Сходу, Європейської філософії, філософії України та Росії.
Призначений для студентів технічних спеціальностей, які навчаються англійською мовою.
УДК 1(091) (042.4)
ББК Ю3(0) я 7
PREFACE
The course of lectures is intended for technical specialities full time students studying in English.
It includes lectures on various periods of the history of European philosophy: Antiquity, Middle Ages, Renaissance, Modern Ages and Contemporary Philosophy. Ancient Eastern philosophies are also included as they contributed divergent themes to the sum of human thought. The issue of Ukrainian and Russian philosophies is very important for understanding the mode of cultural evolution and philosophical thinking on a regional basis, namely in our native country.
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The main purpose of the course is to expose the evolution of philosophy in the widest possible way – to cover worldviews which are both collective and individual, traditional and critical, religious and ideological, affirmative and skeptical; to show the plural character of human thinking. It is necessary for young people to be conscious of the ancestors who have helped to shape human living and human ideas, who can be our critics and who can remain sources of ideas and new slants of things.
To understand better the process of the history of philosophy development each period is given on the grounds of its historical and cultural analysis, the continuity with the previous stage is preserved; the spectrum of philosophical views, schools, ideas, providing philosophers and modes of their philosophizing are represented.
The course is also intended to increase students’ cultural and educational level, to enrich their terminological and lexical base and to master their spoken language.
LECTURE 1.
THE SUBJECT OF PHILOSOPHY AND THE RANGE OF PHILOSOPHICAL PROBLEMS.
1. Philosophy as a specific type of knowledge.
2. Philosophy as a theoretical basis of worldview.
3. Philosophy as a general methodology.
Man is a speculative being. He looks at the heavens and wonders whether they have an end. He ponders on the cause of the universe, puzzles over the fundamental constituents of things, searches for a meaning in the cycle of seasons and the distribution of good and evil fortune among men.
Man is also a reflective being. He acts, and then reflects on the principles of his actions. He reasons, and then reflects on the rules of correct reasoning. He judges a story to be true or a painting to be beautiful, and then reflects on the criteria of truth and beauty.
From these two impulses, speculation and reflection, there has developed in our civilization an extensive tradition of precise, systematic, sophisticated thought which is called philosophy.
Etymologically, the word philosophy means “love for sophia”, which is often translated as love for wisdom. In actual fact, the old Greek concept of “sophia” is much more complex and comprehensive than just wisdom. Plato who made the term of philosophy part of the European terminology did not see sophia as an acquired subjective human property, but a great objective quality becoming only a deity (God) inherent in a reasonable ordered and harmonious world. Man could not really merge with sophia because of his innate mortality and cognitive inadequacy, thought Plato, so man could only love it respectfully and at a distance. That is why it would be more correct to translate it as love for truth, although it is not quite exact either.
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Philosophy is not conceived of as a mere collection of truths, but as a desire for the truth, as an ideal attitude of man’s soul and mind, that can lead to a harmonious equilibrium between both his inner physical life and his complex relationships with the world. Philosophy is, as it were, a guardian and indicator of the truth, one that is embedded in the soul of man himself and does not permit him to bow down before some partial of subjectively attractive knowledge, constantly reminding man of the need to correlate his actions and opinions with some deeper truth about himself and the world.
To clarify the essence of philosophy it is necessary to look through the typology of knowledge.
Each discipline is a certain system of knowledge, which applies both to practical realization, and to further production of new knowledge. The reason and purpose of any knowledge production is the need to understand the object of knowledge (things, processes and phenomena) within the limits of its subject for effective practical satisfaction of man’s vital needs. The subject of knowledge is a system of problems of the given discipline. Learnt understanding can be defined as the knowledge of essence, of the main in the subject. Only when we correlate essence that is learnt with man – his requirements, vital activity, desires, interests, purposes etc. – the essence gets meaning of sense.
The purpose of each sphere of cognition is the exposure of its subject essence, but not all of them take into account the vital activity of man’s existence as a whole as a source, content, purpose and sense of cognition.
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This circumstance requires researching the general structure of cognition, as man’s activity in producing knowledge.
Schematically this structure can be represented as a unity of such elements:
RELATION
/ \
MAN------WORLD
The consideration of any element of such system as the subject of cognition forms the base of the appropriate types of knowledge.
The concept of knowledge has various meanings.
Knowledge means:
· An ideal (from the Greek “idea” meaning image, similarity) product of man’s vital activity in space and time – in the world;
· An ideal image of the world – natural, social, personal;
· An ideal image of man’s vital activity in the world – being of man;
· A substantial base of all forms of man’s activity.
The process of cognition as production of new knowledge in gnoseology (in the Greek “gnosis” meaning knowledge and “logos” meaning theory – theory of cognition) is analized with the help of the concepts of “object” and “subject”. The object in gnoseology means at what the processes of cognition is directed and subject means who realizes the processes of cognition.
Coming back to the above mentioned general structure of cognition activity we can work out the typology of knowledge.
(3) RELATION
(2) MAN------WORLD (1)
1. The WORLD as an object of cognition – is the basis of the first type of knowledge – SCIENCE – the system of knowledge about the world, its structure, properties and laws. The concept of the “world” applies in the wide sense as the universe, and in the narrow sense as nature, geosphere.
The modern interpretations of science are:
1. fundamental knowledge – mathematics and related disciplines;
2. natural knowledge – mechanics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, geology, geography, biology and related disciplines;
3. technical knowledge - applied disciplines, derivatives of the first two.
The purpose of science is the understanding of the world. The maximum forms of its theoretical level are the natural-scientific pictures of the world according to the levels of world organization.
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The general attribute of initial fundamental principles of science is the axiomatic character of their bases, which can not be formalized within the limits of systems, derivative of them. K.Goedel’s theorems of incompleteness of formal systems summerise this idea as: “Verity and conclusiveness do not coincide”. This proves the impossibility of complete formalization of human thinking and its products in principle.
An evident example of the axiomatic character of fundamental science is the concept of infinity-eternity – the existence of an objective analogue of the concept is taken on trust, but the concept itself exists and practically functions in science, mathematics in particular.
Thus, concepts of science need necessarily the concept of belief, which its modern researchers define differently.
In general belief is the acceptance of any thesis as veritable, if a man, who trusts, wishes it, i.e. by means of the will, while will may be subject to suggestion and self-suggestion, emotional self-determination of action, and behavior on the basis of desire. Desire is an emotional choice of action, behavior motivation.
The problem of the will, belief and essence of knowledge, their interaction and interrelation is most important in the study of man’s vital activity in all its forms. It is also the basis for solving the cardinal problem of man’s life – the problem of essence of freedom and creativity, freedom-creativity as the purport of his life.
And there is one more important thing as to “objective” cognition of the “external” in man’s world. Science in itself, by definition, does not contain subjective, “human” characteristics, including the main of them – morals as its basis and criterion it causes neutrality of science to human values and, thus, potential and real animosity to its creator – to man. To prevent manifestations of such animosity, society has been historically producing specific mechanisms of self-defense – ethics of cognition, ethics of science, humanistic worldview, for scientists, in particular. An evident example of this is the wonderful exact concurrence of creative, moral and civil evolution of two giants of science and morals of the 20th century - A.Einstein and А.D.Sacharov.
2. MAN as an object of cognition is the basis of the second type of knowledge – ANTHROPOLOGY (from the Greek “anthropos” – man and logos – doctrine – doctrine about man) –the system of knowledge about man, his origin, structure, properties, laws of existence.
The modern interpretations of anthropology are as follows:
1. The complex of medical and biological disciplines is the knowledge of corporal structure, functions and functioning of man.
2. Psychology is the knowledge of man’s mental activity:
a) general psychology is the knowledge of general laws of man’s mental activity;
b) specific types of man’s mental activity: psychology of feelings, of recognition, of thinking, of emotions, of creativity, of the person and so on.
3. Linguistics.
4. Pedagogics.
5. History of man and mankind: natural, ethic, social, political, cultural, spiritual.
The purpose of anthropology is the understanding of man’s essence. The maximum form of its theoretical level is a generalized, systematized study of human nature on the basis of all the above mentioned areas.
The study of human nature, historically and logically, was formed on a qualitatively different basis of understanding man’s essence:
1. Man is a social human being, an element of the world, its derivation, and, hence, man only reflects laws and structure of the world. Freedom of man is acknowledged necessity.
2. Man is the creation of God, simultaneously both a means of God’s will and the free human being that himself makes free choice between good and evil and is responsible for it. Freedom of man is responsibility.
3. Man is the free human being, who creates the world by the activity of his own consciousness he is the creator of himself, of his own history, of his own sense of life, the sourse of good and evil. Freedom is realized opportunity.
In anthropology also belief has fundamental significance, which cannot be reduced only to religious forms. Belief for man is the choice of a model of vital activity, comparison – intuitive and realized – of vital activity with own unique essence, his soul. Such unique essence inspires and guides man’s life, but it is not realized by everybody and serves as the criterion of distinction between the concepts of “man” and “person”.
Obvious examples of usual faith are present in our behavior:
· Is man able to give a rational account of the bases of his own liking – aesthetic, ethic, domestic, interpersonal, even scientific?
· Is man able to give a rational account of the bases of his own emotions – of sympathy-antipathy, love-hatred, kindness-malignancy, peace of mind – unease and so on?
· Is this important in man’s life?
· Is science able to answer these questions or to formulate more important problems in man’s life?
3. Man’s RELATION to the world as the object of cognition is a basis of the third type of knowledge – PHILOSOPHY – the system of knowledge of the most general nature of man’s relation to the world, its structure, properties, functioning laws.
The contemporary interpretations of the philosophy structure are in:
· Ontology - a theory of being;
· Gnoseology - a theory of cognition;
· Logic - a theory of veritable thinking;
· Ethics - a theory of moral;
· Aesthetics - a theory of art and artistic activity;
· Social philosophy - a theory of society;
· History of philosophy - a systematized account of philosophical views by chronological, logical, contansive and other principles.
The aim of philosophy is understanding the purport of man’s relation to the world. The higher forms of its theoretical level are the methodology systems (from the Greek “methodos”meaning the way to something, and “logos” - teaching about means, methods of man’s activity.)
The personally-individualized form of philosophy is the worldview.
Philosophy is a kind of knowledge that is based on faith even more, because the relation between the two open systems – man and the world – is the object of greater uncertainty and vagueness, than of its elements.
Worldview, methodology of activity, philosophy, anthropology, science are the viable unity of will, faith and knowledge in their decisive factors.
So, philosophy is a system of theoretical knowledge, the unity of:
· Principles: of humanity, activity, consciousness, spirituality;
· Categories: of humanity, world, relation;
· Laws of development and cognition of its object – man’s relation to the world.
The subject matter and the nature of philosophy.
Philosophy is an area of intellectual activity which is based both on a special type of thought (philosophical knowledge as we have discussed) and on the autonomy of its subject matter.
Philosophy is not localized in a concrete domain of knowledge and reality as biology, geography or other sciences. But philosophy does have its own subject matter and the fundamental impossibility of such a localization is part of its specificity. This is an area of underlying intellectual activity which is a reflection on that activity and, thus, on its meaning, purpose and forms; ultimately a reflection on the essence of man himself, as the subject of culture, on his essential relationships with the world.
Philosophy is a form of man’s intellectual activity where the focus is centered on the idea of man in his relation to the world. Philosophical knowledge has always been oriented towards clarifying the links between man and the world, towards the inherently human inner goals, causes and modes of cognizing and transforming the world. Man is an active beihg, who transforms his life, changes conditions of his being and asks himself questions as for senses of his activity.
Thus, philosophy is not just a specific scientific discipline: it is also a specific type of thought and even a special kind of emotional attitude, a system of worldview, emotions, immersed in his state of spirit. Man thinks deeply about the universe, about good and evil, the beautiful and the ugly, about social justice, truth and lie, and the meaning and purpose of human history. Philosophical creativity answers man’s deep need for a rational explanation of his place in the flow of being, of his historical destiny, personal freedom and the essence of the surrounding world. Philosophy gives man a chance to find his place in the limitless ocean of events, to gain a deep understanding not only of the external world but also of his own spiritual world.
Philosophy is not only a reflective theoretical system, expressing the most general vision of the world, but also a system of principles which teaches the art of living rationally.Its study offers not only intellectual but also aesthetic and moral delight and even inculcates civil attitudes in man.
Philosophy occupies a special place in culture being simultaneously the focus in which the rays from all the other areas of man’s cognitive and practical activity (political, emotional, aesthetic and so on) meet and a kind of general energy impulse for all these forms of his intellectual activity The question of whether philosophy is a science should be considered in greater detail.Although it is based on the thinker’s immediate experiences, it has no empirical research devices at its disposal. The truth and effectiveness of philosophical theory are verified as a rule by the entire stream of life events rather then by separate experiments and observations. There is difference in the very subject matter of science and philosophy. The basic philosophical problems – the principles on which the relationship between man and the world are founded, are not similar to natural-scientific methods, theoretically convincing formulations and an orderly systematic presentation of philosophical concepts, categories, principles and laws. It is similar to science at the level of general theory, provided it is considered as an integral entity.
Philosophical thought develops due to logical comparisons, confrontations, passing the bounds of different branches of science. It is reflective, it does not study only the object but also the very process of investigation.
The specificity of the cognitive process in philosophy is underlined by the role of the individual creating a philosophical work. Philosophy is closer to art than to science. Man in his relation to the world is the principal subject matter of philosophy, man as personality is the only possible subject of it. Philosophy asserts man as the highest value of the world, as the starting point of philosophical knowledge and this knowledge must therefore inevitably assume a personality oriented form.
Philosophy has got its human dimension. What does it mean? 1) Philosophy does not regard man as an object (like psychology) but only as a subject. 2) The subject matter of philosophy is not an individual subject with his particular qualities but the subject as a general universal category opposed to the category just as universal as of the object. 3) Philosophy purports to free man’s thought from various traps (rational, formal, intuitive) for an adequate perception of the world, to remove obstacles inherent in the mind itself. 4) Philosophy meditates not just on man as subject but on man in his relation to the world. It strives to find common features in the world of objects and in the world of the subject, i.e. the universal laws of being, it attempts to determine man’s concrete and unique place in the universe.
. Philosophy is closely connected with value orientation and vital purports. While science attempts to answer the question “why”, philosophy tacles the questions of “what for, what purport”. Therein lies its worldview function.
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