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Файл:Philosophy. Educational manual
.pdf
51
Definitions of consciousness
1. Consciousness is a unique ability inherent only to people
3. Indicate approach of understanding consciousness in the
history of Western philosophy.
Approach of understanding
Historical stage
This is the effect of consciousness when the
object leaves a trace or imprint on the
"tablet" of the mind
Middle Ages
The mind is a non-physical substance
distinct from the body.
Classical German
philosophy (I. Kant)
Consciousness in its essence is not so much
a reflection as a comprehension (foundation
of meaning) of reality in the conditions of
a certain socio-cultural, linguistic, symbolic
reality
4. List the main problems of consciousness in philosophy.
5. Indicate the concepts and its description.
Concept
Description
1.
Philosophical discipline, the subject of
which, first of all, is the nature of
consciousness, as well as the relationship
between consciousness and physical reality
2.
The question of the relationship between
mind and body
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Concept
Description
3.
The scientific theory that explains world as
consists of two kinds of substances: material
and spiritual. At the same time, the main
attribute of matter is extension, and the main
attribute of spirit is thinking
4.
Explanation of consciousness has a special
nature, fundamentally irreducible to physical
material reality
5.
Explanation of consciousness as an element
of material reality. There is only the brain,
and consciousness is its creation
6.
Some qualitative subjective experience,
thanks to such things cannot be reduced to
anything physical
6. Read about psychophysical problem in the Ben Duprés book
(07 The mind-body problem. P. 33–41) and answer the questions.
6.1. What is the difference between approaches to solving the
psychophysical problem from the point of view of the theory of
dualism of substances (Descartes) and the theory of dualism of
properties (Spinoza)?
6.2. Who are physicalists? How do they understand
consciousness? Do you think physicalism is monism or dualism in
matters of consciousness?
6.3. Indicate the thought experiments to understanding
consciousness and its examples.
Examples
What does this example prove?
1. What is it like to be a bat?
2. Ryle’s Ghost
3. What Mary didn’t know?
4. The masked man
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6.4. Which model of consciousness do you follow and why?
7. Indicate characteristics of consciousness with notions.
Characteristics of consciousness
Notions
The core of consciousness, the way of
its existence
knowledge
A subjective image of the objective
world
The mental selection of a separate
object, relationship, property from the
totality of objects, relations, properties
The incompleteness of reflection,
which is due to the fact that in
sensations not a mirror copy is given,
but a more or less approximate
reproduction of the properties of the
object
The epistemological relation of
consciousness to being, revealing the
fundamental difference between
reflection and reflected, image and
object
A special, non-material essence of
consciousness
A focus of consciousness on an object
The ability to create and reproduce
ideas is an internal independent work
of consciousness that goes beyond
simple reflection
8. What forms of the unconscious do you know?
9. Give evidence for and against human free will.
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There is free will
No free will
10. Specify the key explanation the problem of free will.
The key theories
Explanation
Causal
determinism
Compatibilism
Incompatibilim
11. What functions of consciousness do you know?
12. What function of consciousness is responsible for the
possibility of self-consciousness?
13. What function of consciousness is responsible for the
possibility of creativity?
14. What function of consciousness is responsible for the
possibility of social relations?
References
1. Dupre, B. 50 Philosophy Ideas You Really Need to Know ;
Publishing house: Quercus Publishing ; Binding: Hardback ;
Weight. — 208 p.
2. Marcu, G. To What Extent Is Free Will Actually Free? The
Answer of Neurosciences, 2007. — URL: https://
www.researchgate.net/publication/325055873_To_What_Extent_Is_
Free_Will_Actually_Free_The_Answer_of_Neurosciences (дата
обращения: 10.07.2023).
3. Singh, P. The Great Illusion: The Myth of Free Will,
Consciousness, and the Self. Elsevier Inc. 2009. — 276 р.
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3. KNOWLEDGE, OPINION, DELUSION.
CAN PEOPLE KNOW EVERYTHING?
Content of the topic:
Knowledge as a subject of philosophical analysis. Subject and
object of cognition. Cognition and creativity. Basic forms and
methods of cognition. The problem of truth in philosophy and
science. The variety of cognitive forms and types of rationality.
Truth, Evaluation, Value. Knowledge and practice.
After the topic completion students should:
1) know:
- notions of gnoseology and epistemology;
- main issues of gnoseology;
- classical and non-classical gnoseological traditions;
- such concepts as: gnoseological optimism, agnosticism,
scepticism, solipsism, rationalism, empirism;
- forms of knowledge;
- structure of knowledge;
- main stages of cognition;
- difference between knowledge and opinion;
2) be able to:
- reproduce the studying material of philosophy in definitions,
judgements and conclusions;
- use philosophical and socio-political terminology;
- navigate in philosophical systems easily, understand their
basis;
- practise tolerance to another views and points;
3) have:
- skills of logical construction of public speech (message,
report) structure;
- skills of abstraction in order to select the significant features,
specificities and relationships in studying issues and doctrines;
- skills of reasonable written presentation of their own points of
view;
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- skills of comparing, generalizing, systematizing of
information for further goal and task setting;
- skills to demonstrate the ability and availability for dialogue,
perception of alternatives and participation in the discussions about
social and world-view issues.
Main lines
1. Epistemology as a theory of knowledge.
Epistemology (from other Greek γνῶσις "knowledge",
"knowledge" + λόγος "word", "speech") is a branch of philosophy
that studies the possibilities of human knowledge of the world, the
structure of cognitive activity, forms of knowledge in its relation to
reality, criteria the truth and reliability of knowledge, its nature and
boundaries.
Categories of epistemology: truth, reliability, consciousness,
cognition, subject, object, sensuality, rationality, intuition, faith.
Epistemology studies the general in cognitive activity, regardless of
what this activity is ordinary, professional, or others. All
philosophical systems are somehow connected to epistemology.
Epistemology is divided into two sections. The first section is
devoted to general questions of the theory of knowledge like:
Do we know the Universe?
What are the methods of cognition?
What is the structure of the cognitive attitude to the world?
What is knowledge?
How do subject and object interact in the process of cognition?
The second section of epistemology is devoted to issues of
scientific knowledge like:
What is truth?
What is the difference between science and pseudoscience and
what are the criteria for scientific knowledge?
Is there a universal language of science?
2. Historical stages of epistemology.
As we said before, philosophy as a science until the 17
th
century developed primarily as ontology — the doctrine of being.
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Nevertheless, questions of knowledge also worried scientists.
One of the first epistemological problems was identified by
Parmenides who introduced the distinction between true knowledge
and opinions.
In the theory of Parmenides, knowledge is that which
corresponds to true being, and opinion is that which is misleading
about reality.
Socrates developed one of the first methods of cognition —
"Maieutic". It is based on the idea of the pre-existence of truth which
is hidden in the soul of the cognizing subject.
Socrates’s method for leading people to knowledge was so
effective that it has become one of the classic techniques of
education commonly known as the "Socratic method" or "Socratic
questioning".
The most powerful feature of this method is that instead of
simply being given information students discover for themselves
their own ignorance and are skillfully led to discover the truth on
their own.
Socrates claimed that he did not have answers or wisdom to
give but could help others to find the truth within themselves.
A conclusion that can be drawn from this metaphor is that Socrates
believed the truth was not something to be found outside of us,
through the senses. On the contrary, we already possess the truth, it is
deep within us and written in our souls. All we need is an assistance
in discovering the truth within and bringing it to the light of ideas.
This later became known as the doctrine of innate ideas and became
one of the dominant theses within the rationalist theory of
knowledge.
Plato developing the ideas of Socrates proposed the theory of
anamnesis.
He interpreted true knowledge as the soul's recollection of the
truth. This truth is preserved in the human soul since before birth the
soul belonged to the world of ideas.
Plato believed that fundamental truth existed beyond our
physical world in what he called the Realm of Ideas, and we should
devote our minds to studying this realm. Plato further argued that
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studying this realm would produce wise governors and virtuous
citizens.
For some, tea is sweet, for others it is not very good, etc.
Therefore, true knowledge according to Plato is the knowledge of the
Realm of ideas, not the world of things. And not with the help of the
senses, but with the help of the soul. Plato also offers a method of
cognition — recollection (anamnesis).
Aristotle laid the foundations of rationalism and developed
such a method of cognition as analytics.
We can say that Aristotle taught us to define the essence of
everything using 10 categories: (1) substance or essence;
(2) quantity; (3) qualification or quality; (4) relative; (5) where or
place; (6) when or time; (7) being-in-a-position; (8) having or state,
condition; (9) doing or action; and (10) being affected or affection.
For example, (1) "essence" a horse; (2) "how much" is, for
example, a meter long; (3) "which" — for example, white; (4) "in
relation to something" — for example, taller; (5) "where" — for
example, on a field; (6) "when" — for example, yesterday; (7) "to be
in some position" — for example, stands; (8) "to possess" — for
example, big body (9) "to act" — runs; (10) "endure" — for example,
it is saddled.
Medieval European philosophy viewed knowledge as a grace
that came from God. God reveals himself in creation and revelation
so epistemology becomes hermeneutics — the art of interpreting the
Bible and other holy texts. Knowledge in medieval science was
always certified by faith. Questions of ontology ceased to occupy
a central position in medieval philosophy as they were resolved
through the act of creation described in the Bible. This appeal to the
authority of the Bible was called as the principle of creationism
(from Latin — "creatio" — creation) according to which the
universe, the world and man appeared as a result of an act of divine
will (creation). The process of creation is described in sufficient
detail in the Bible and took seven days.
In modern European philosophy an epistemological turn took
place, that is, questions of knowledge become the central problem of
philosophy instead of questions of ontology. Since the 17th century,
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epistemology can be considered the main branch of philosophy. The
results of the activities of such scientists as N. Copernicus, Tycho de
Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, were: the
development and justification of the heliocentric picture of the world
(instead of Ptolemy's geocentric system), the development of the
theory of planetary motion (the Earth and other planets revolve
around the Sun, and not vice versa), the discovery of the law of
universal gravitation, the formulation of the laws of classical
mechanics.
Such discoveries set in front of scientists and humanity the task
of explaining their nature, with which faith and religion one could no
longer cope, which led to the final secularization of science from
religion and the emergence of a new natural science.
In addition, the scientists of the New Age were rather
enthusiastic about these discoveries and possibilities of scientific
cognition. Such mentality in philosophy was called as
"epistemological optimism".
The first scientist who formulated these new tasks of science
was Francis Bacon. He wrote the work "New Organon" (or a new
method of cognition).
In this work he proposed to remove the old organon of
Aristotle, and he considered his method of obtaining truth through
logical reasoning incorrect and inaccurate.
Francis Bacon proposed that there should be experience in the
foundation of true knowledge. It was not any experience but
systematized one through an experimental (practical) method —
induction. Such direction in philosophy where the experience
prevails under theoretical construction was called empiricism.
Bacon emphasized that science finds its justification only in the
fact that it serves life and practice. The purpose of scientific
knowledge is the benefit of humanity. Everyone knows Bacon's
famous thesis "Knowledge is power!".
The inductive method is a method of research and presentation
where one moves from observed particular facts to the selection of
principles, then, to formulation general provisions of the theory, and
finally, to the establishment of patterns.
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The great French thinker, scientist and philosopher
R. Descartes took a different path than Bacon in developing the
method of scientific research.
Like Bacon, R. Descartes sought to achieve such true
foundation of knowledge that would strengthen the power of man
over nature and would be effective in finding new knowledge.
The direction in the philosophy of New Age was called
rationalism and was built on the usage of deduction or deductive
method.
The essence of the method of deduction is the systematic use of
doubt in relation to any knowledge until such unshakable foundations
are found that can be used as prerequisites for building the entire
system of knowledge. This deductive method requires the clarity of
thinking itself, the division of the objects of thinking into the
simplest elementary parts, and, first, studying them separately, and
then the movement of thought from simple to complex.
So, R. Descartes' rationalism was based on the fact that he tried
to apply to all sciences the features of the mathematical method of
cognition. R. Descartes being one of the great mathematicians of his
time put forward the idea of universal mathematization of scientific
knowledge. At the same time, the French philosopher interpreted
mathematics not just as a science of quantities but also as a science
of order and measure that reigns in all nature.
In mathematics R. Descartes most of all appreciated the fact
that with its help one can come to firm, precise, reliable conclusions.
Experience cannot lead to such conclusions in his opinion. The
rationalistic method of R. Descartes is, first of all, a philosophical
understanding and generalization of those methods of discovering
truths that mathematics operated on.
The essence of Descartes' rationalistic method boils down to
two main propositions. First, in cognition, one should start from
some intuitively clear, fundamental truths, or, in other words, at the
basis of cognition intellectual intuition should lie. He found such
fundamental truths in the expression "cogito ergo sum" (Latin —
I think therefore I exist). From here he derives a judgment about the
indisputable and true nature of two substances: mental (I think) and
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