Философия. Учебное пособие (практикум) на английском языке

Philosophy ●

6.In the Classical German philosophy the problem of Being was solved from the idealistic position. According to the views of Kant, Being is an ideal category of thinking. According to Fichte, real Being is the absolute freedom of action. For Hegel, Being is an objectively developing idea as the first position of the absolute thought.

7.In the Marxist philosophy Being is identified with nature. The

dialectical materialism considers the Being as the existence of matter which is independent of consciousness.

8. In the philosophy of the 20th century two approaches were formed. The first approach was based on the ideas of positivism. According to this approach the problem of Being mustn’t be included in the subject area of the philosophical knowledge. The second approach presented by phenomenology, existentialism, postmodernism, accepts the subjective understanding of existence.

The examples of the subjective understanding of Being are might be the following.

Existentialism maintains that only a man is a real Being, and the problem of Being is identified with the problem of the sense of the authentic existence of a man.

The founder of Phenomenology Husserl sees the true being as intuitively clear components.

Postmodernism (Lyotard, Baudriyard, Foucault, Derrida) approves the verbal-linguistic form of human Being.

So the evolution of Western philosophical thought has identified different approaches to the understanding of the problem of Being that can be reduced to two basic tendencies.

The first tendency prevailed in the philosophy up to the Renaissance. The main idea was based on the identification of the Being with the Absolute and the dependence of human existence on Absolute (The Mind, or God).

The second tendency was formed in the Renaissance period and Modern times. In this era in the ontology the substantial approach to the study of being was the main. According to this approach Being was considered from the point of view of materialistic, or idealistic worldview.

As part of preparation for the third question it is important to memorize that one of the central problems of ontology is the problem of the understanding Being as “Substance”.

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The phenomenon of substance designates the real basis of the world, which is manifested in various forms of objects and phenome- na. The main problem is connected with the determination of the material or ideal substance of the world.

The first interpretation of a substance is identified with the material substrate that all things consist of. These are the first matter foun- dations as water, air, fire. Later in Aristotle philosophy substance was named as matter.

The second interpretation of the category of the substance relates to its interpretation as an effective spiritual beginning, with the cause being in itself. Here the substance is not a passive object of exposure but a conscious volitional beginning, like Leibniz’s monad.

The third interpretation of the category of the substance is based on the understanding of the substance as the integral category. It means that Substance on one hand is the ground of everything, on the other hand substance is the condition of communication (interaction) of the latter. Here the substance turns out to be equally and substrate and active. Such approach is the main one in the version presented by Spinoza.

The opposition between spirit and matter as two different substances raises idealistic and materialistic conceptions. In materialistic type of philosophy the substance is understood as: a) concrete matter, b) as something homogeneous and discrete, e.g. atoms, elementary particles, quarks and so on and c) a particular interpretation of the matter presented in Marxist philosophy.

Among the idealistic approach wecanmarkouttheobjectiveideal- istic and subjective idealistic interpretation of the substance.

The representatives of the objective idealism manage to cre- ate a metaphysical model of existence which is based on a common non-material foundation. As the examples of such theory can be Hegel self-development absolute ideas, the world soul (Gnostic ontology).

In subjective idealism the substance is interpreted as an active foundation which is connected with individualistic attitudes and takes the form of solipsism. (J. Berkeley).

Another problem which is closely connected with the problem of substance is based on determining the number of substances.

1. The philosophical approach which regards only one substance as the foundation of the world is called monism. Monistic understanding

Philosophy ●

of the unity of the world in the history of philosophy was presented in materialism (the French materialists XVIIIth century, the philosophy of dialectical materialism) and idealism (the most consistently – the absolute idealism of Hegel).

2.An attempt to overcome the materialistic and idealistic approaches was given in philosophy of dualism. According to dualism the material and spiritual substances exist as spirit equal beginnings. A classic example of dualism is the teaching of R. Descartes.

The spiritual substance is indivisible, eternal, in fact it is thinking, from which derives all other attributes, called modi (модусы) of thinking, feelings, imagination, etc. The ideas of such immaterial substances are innate, they cannot be acquired in the experience. Such ideas can be the idea of God, the idea of number etc.

On the contrary, material substance is infinitely divisible. It produces physical qualities of the world and the knowledge of the world, that develop according the natural laws can be regarded as a result of an experienced knowledge.

The true being and the true substance are possessed only by God. The spiritual and material substances need for his being in God. Thus, Descartes’ substantial dualism is quite relative, because after all, the philosopher considers the being of God as the original and perfect being.

3.Pantheism was another attempt to combine materialistic and idealistic approaches towards the problem of substance. Pantheism declares the existence of the only one substance and the single substances has binary attributes – spirit and matter. In Spinoza’ theory the substance is the cause of itself, and God is identified with the substance.

4.The pluralistic position was formed as an attempt to overcome the drawbacks of Pantheism. The pluralistic conception was developed byLeibniz.Leibnizunderstoodthesubstanceasanactivespiritualunit

(Monad). Monads are simple, out of space “spiritual points” which are inherent to specific individual things.

The main attribute of the Monad is force or energy. Leibnitz be- lieved that the world inhabited by monads is not passive, as it was showed in Descartes or Spinoza theories, but dynamic one. The substance is the active beginning of the world and the center of his life force.

Leibniz criticized Descartes’s dualistic gap of spirit and matter, he also

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criticized the Spinoza’s picture being which was deprived of life and activity.

The main categories of Leibniz’s metaphysics were the category of

Substance and the category of God which were closely related. God has three attributes: power, knowledge and will. God was interpreted as a over natural creature and as a creative and thinking power which created endless active substances.

So, in the pluralistic theory world is understood as a constantly developing unit, where is no identity and no gap between the material and spiritual components, but there are various kinds of interaction between them at different levels of being.

Finally it can be concluded that in the history of philosophy there was no single interpretation of this phenomenon. Monistic, dualistic and pluralistic approaches demonstrated the attempt to find the acceptable model of The Being.

As part of preparation for the fourth question it is important to analyze such concepts as thing, attitude, relation.

Considering the features of a thing as a philosophical category, which denotes a separate subject, possessing a certain stability of ex- istence, it is necessary to identify its qualitative and quantitative characteristics. It should be noted that for the first time the category of a thing in scientific discourse was introduced by Aristotle. The philosopher interpreted a thing as something which possesses signs and independently exists in space and in time.

The qualitative characteristic of a thing is expressed in its certainty, the disappearance of which entails the termination of the existence of the thing itself.

Quantitative features of things may change, but the thing itself retains its qualitative distinctness. Being an element of the system, a thing, being in relationship with other things, acquires the so-called systemic qualities.

In the cultural area, a person faces things perfectly-information content (symbol, sign). Therefore, the world of culture can be considered as a created world of things-symbols, which is endowed with ideal meanings and has an ideal functional purpose. This conclusion is of- ten used to justify the idealistic interpretation of things, the nature of which goes back, for example, to the Absolute idea of Hegel.

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According to materialism, the whole world is a set of material things, ideal phenomena are secondary formations derived from material processes.

The definition of a thing was transformed from the notion of a thing as an external body or object to its division into a semantic (or symbolic), ontological and gnoseological definition.

In ontological terms –the thing is any carrier of signs. In gnoseological – any object of thought. In semantic –something that can be designated or named.

Despite the isolation from each other, all things of the world of nature and the world of culture are in close interaction, which is manifested in their attributes and relation. An attribute as a separate feature characterizes one carrier. A relation is a separate feature that belongs to multiple carriers. Thus, the relation as though connects all things, and attribute, on the contrary, separates them, allocating from other things.

For example, natural things in the process of interaction generate new attributes and at the same time reveal the relative independence of things. Similarly, the symbols of culture as ideal-material formations are always included in the system of human relations, showing only in this process their immanent qualities and only in it gaining new systemic attributes.

Characterizing the category of Being, it is necessary to consider its fundamental attributes.

1.First of all, Being inherent structural organization, which is based on the unity of the whole and part. In philosophy have formed two antinomic directions: merism and holism, which in the modern doctrines reflect different levels of integrity of the object.

2.An important component of the study of Being is a systematic approach by which the concept of the whole is interpreted through the concept of a system that is an ordered set of elements. An element is a unit of objects, a simple formation within the system. The “element” and “system” are the categories that make more exact the philosophical categories of the “part and the whole”.

Next, you need to indicate a structure, a function which is giving the system the integrity and sustainability. On one hand, the structure

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connects the elements into the whole. On the other hand, it makes elements to function according to the laws of the system.

The systems are divided into the following types:

•summative systems, in which the elements are autonomous, the relationship between them is random;

•integral systems, in which the internal connection of the elements creates a special systemic quality inherent in only one element (examples can be elements of inorganic and organic systems).

Thus, the system principle means such an approach to the study of the object, when the latter is considered as a holistic system and in- vestigated through the selection of elements and relationships between them.

Modern synergetic researches clarify the basics of systemic functioning and systemic evolution. In particular, it becomes necessary to take into account the existence of a certain chaos in the system, which ensures the system survivability and flexibility. It means that in the world the entropy processes exist and a man with the help of targeted impact on the causal components can determine their direction.

The existence of different systems with their specific relations structures the Being. The structural levels of existence are: inorganic nature, wildlife, society, the structural level of ideas, ideals, values.

The category of being presupposes the existence of various forms.

Forms of existence are:

•Material Being, connected with existence of material as independent reality in the form of things and the phenomena of the nature and the surrounding world;

•Ideal Being, connected with existence of the ideal as an inde- pendent reality in the form of individualized and objective (non-indi- vidual) spiritual existence;

•Being of a man, defining the existence of an individual as an independent reality in the form of the life-sustaining activity of a separate man.

•Being of social, means the existence of social as independent reality in the form of all historically developed forms of activity of society. Economic Being, social Being with its inherent structure (ethnic, class, etc.), political Being, legal Being, spiritual Being include in the social Being.

Philosophy ●

Also in philosophy the following forms of Being are highlighted:

•Noumenal Being (the “noumenon”- a thing in itself) denotes the being which exists independently of the mind;

•Phenomenal Being (“the phenomenon” – the phenomenon given in experience) is the apparent Being, that is the Being, which is seen by the subject of cognition.

So, the philosophical problem of being is the problem of the way, purpose and meaning of existence of the world in its integrity, consistency and development of the world, which determines the meaning of human existence.

Test questions and tasks

1.What is the meaning of the concept of “picture of the world”. What does it matter to solve ontological problems?

2.Call the kinds of pictures of the world. What differs the religious picture of the world from the philosophical one?

3.Why is the category of Being is universal? What is ontology? Why Being and Nothingness are considered as two ontological principles?

4.What historical approaches to solving the problem of Being can you name? Describe the early philosophical interpretations of life.

5.Give the definition of substance. What was historically the first interpretation of the substance?

6.Name idealistic interpretations of the substance. What is the dif- ference between objective-idealistic and subjective-idealistic interpre- tations?

7.What place in ontology takes the category of “thing”?

8.What is the system and the principle of consistency?

9.Name the types of systems, give a description of each type.

10.What does the expression “Time is characterized by the unity of its discontinuity and continuity” mean?

11.What are the characteristics of motion as an attribute of Being?

12.What is the role of synergy in the formation of a new world

view?

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13.Comment the statement: “Being only then begins to be when he is threatened with non-existence”. (F. M. Dostoevsky). Describe the philosophical problem.

14.Fill in the table

Literature

Basic: 1–2.

Additional: 1–4.

Internet-resources: 1–5.

Philosophy ●

6. The Philosophy

of Consciousness

The aim: to reveal the essence of consciousness, its origin and structure, to investigate the problem of consciousness in world philosophy, to consider the interaction of consciousness and language.

The formed competences: ОК-1,ОК-5.

Knowledge and skills which the students acquire as a result of mastering of the theme, the formed competences or a part of it.

As a result of mastering the theme, students acquire:

•knowledge of the basic characteristics of philosophical problems of consciousness;

•skills to use the acquired knowledge in professional and research activ-

ities;

•ability of critical analysis of modern problems of consciousness and unconscious.

The actuality of the theme is conditioned by the importance of study-

ing the philosophical theories of consciousness for modern science, critical rethinking of the basic teachings of consciousness in order to use them in scientific and practical activities.

Plan

1.The definition of the consciousness.

2.The History of the problem of the Consciousness.

3.The structure of consciousness.

4.Self-consciousness. Reflexion.

5.Consciousness and Language.

Theoretical part

In the first question it is important to notice that explaining the nature of consciousness is one of the most important and perplexing areas of philosophy, but the concept is notoriously ambiguous. The abstract noun “consciousness” is not frequently used by itself in the

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contemporary literature, but is originally derived from the Latin con (with) and scire (to know). Can consciousness be explained in terms of brain activity? What makes a mental state be a conscious mental state? The problem of consciousness is arguably the most central issue incurrentphilosophyofmindandisalsoimportantlyrelatedtomajor traditional topics in metaphysics, such as the possibility of immortality and the belief in free will.

The two broad, traditional and competing theories of mind are dualism and materialism (or physicalism). While there are many versions of each, the former generally holds that the conscious mind or a conscious mental state is non-physical in some sense, whereas the latter holds that, to put it crudely, the mind is the brain, or is caused by neural activity.

It is against this general backdrop that many answers to the above questions are formulated and developed. There are also many familiar objections to both materialism and dualism. For example, it is often said that materialism cannot truly explain just how or why some brain states are conscious, and that there is an important “explanatory gap” between mind and matter. On the other hand, dualism faces the problem of explaining how a non-physical substance or mental state can causally interact with the physical body.

Consciousness is variously defined as subjective experience, or awareness, or wakefulness, or the executive control system of the mind. It is an umbrella term that may refer to a variety of mental phenomena. Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and one’s environment.

Consciousness is notoriously difficult to define or locate. Many cultures and religious traditions place the seat of consciousness in a soul separate from the body. Conversely, many scientists and philosophers consider consciousness to be intimately linked to the neural functioning of the brain.

Thus, consciousness can be seen as a subjective image of the objective world, as the ability of the brain to reflect reality in perfect images and operate these images in the process of thinking in order to influence the outside world.