The development of socio-philosophical thought. The main stages of the historical development of philosophical thought. The period of development of classical philosophy

The main stages of formation and development philosophical thought.
Since European philosophy developed in parallel with culture, its history is usually divided into 5 stages.
Philosophy of antiquity (VI century BC - III century BC). This is the stage of the birth of philosophical thought as such. specificity Greek philosophy, especially in the initial period of its development, is the desire to understand the essence of nature, space, the world as a whole. This is what the first Greek philosophers - Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, a little later - the Pythagoreans, Heraclitus, Democritus, and others aspired to. Then, thanks to Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, as well as their followers and opponents from later eras, philosophy acquires features that will be inherent in her throughout her history.
Ancient philosophy arose as a spontaneous-dialectical natural philosophy. It is to her that ancient thought owes two remarkable ideas: the idea of ​​a universal, universal connection of all things and phenomena of the world and the idea of ​​infinite, world development. Already in ancient philosophy there are two alternative epistemological directions: materialism and idealism. The materialist Democritus, ahead of centuries and millennia, put forward the brilliant idea of ​​the atom as the smallest particle of matter. The idealist Plato, relying not only on the power of abstract thought, but also on amazing artistic intuition, brilliantly developed the dialectic of individual things and general concepts, which is of enduring importance in all areas of human creativity to this day.

Often, historians of ancient philosophy draw a line between earlier and later ancient philosophers, referring the former to the "pre-Socratics", and the latter to Socratic schools. This really emphasizes the key role of Socrates (5th century BC) as a philosopher who moved the center of philosophical knowledge from the problems of natural philosophy to the field of human knowledge, primarily ethics. Ideas late antiquity(epochs of Hellenism) inherited the humanistic thought of Socrates. At the same time, deeply experiencing the impending death of ancient culture, the philosophers of this period made an undoubted step from Socratic rationalism towards irrationalism and mysticism, which became especially noticeable in the philosophy of Plato's followers - the Neoplatonists.

Philosophy of the Middle Ages (IV - XIV centuries). The philosophy of this era was closely associated with theology, making up its integral part. It can be said that philosophy was the "servant of theology." In fact, the philosopher, sage, theologian, prophet and teacher of ethics at this time were represented by one figure. The main problem of the philosophy of this period is the existential relationship between God and man. .). In spirit and content, it is a religious (Christian) philosophy that substantiated and strengthened in all countries Western Europe Christian (Catholic) faith. For more than a thousand years, the orthodox ideology of Christianity, relying on the power of the church, waged a stubborn struggle against "heresies", "free-thinking", that is, with the slightest deviations from the dogmas and canons of the Vatican. Although in these conditions, philosophy defended the rights of reason, but on the condition of recognizing the dominance of faith over reason. Those who did not agree with this were waiting for the fires of the Inquisition.

Philosophers and theologians who developed in the first centuries new era basic tenets Christian religion, in the eyes of their successors and followers received the highest measure of recognition - they began to be revered as the "fathers" of the Church, and their work began to be called "patristics". One of the most prominent "fathers of the church" was Augustine the Blessed (4th-5th centuries AD). God, in his opinion, is the creator of the world, and he is also the creator, the engine of history. The philosopher and theologian saw the meaning and destiny of history in the worldwide transition of people from paganism to Christianity. Each person bears the full measure of responsibility for his deeds and deeds, since God gave man the ability to freely choose between good and evil.

If Augustine is a bright representative of the early Middle Ages, then the existing system of Christian medieval philosophy most fully and significantly expressed in the writings of Thomas Aquinas (XIII century). His philosophy is the pinnacle of scholasticism. (So ​​by this time they began to call philosophy, served in schools and universities.) Putting Aristotle above all his predecessors, Thomas made a grandiose attempt to combine, organically link ancient wisdom with the dogma and dogma of Christianity. From these positions, reason (science) and faith do not contradict each other, if only it is the “Correct” faith, that is, the Christian faith.

Philosophy of the Renaissance (XV-XVI centuries). secularization - liberation from religion and church institutions. In this era, the focus is on a person, which characterizes philosophy as anthropocentric. The most important distinguishing feature of this era is its orientation towards art. This is directly related to changes in attitude towards people. - this is actually the creator who creates the world, and therefore, he is equal to God. The third, transitional stage in the history Western philosophy is the philosophy of the Renaissance. Distinguish Early Renaissance(XIII-XIV centuries) and Late Renaissance (XV-XVI centuries). The very name of the era is very eloquent; we are talking about the revival (after a thousand-year break) of the culture, art, philosophy of the ancient world, the achievements of which are recognized as a model for modernity. The great representatives of this era were comprehensively developed people (Dante, Erasmus of Rotterdam, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Montaigne, Cervantes, Shakespeare). Ingenious artists and thinkers put forward in their work not theological, but humanistic system of values. The social thinkers of that time - Machiavelli, Mor, Campanella - created projects of an ideal state, expressing, first of all, the interests of a new social class - the bourgeoisie.

Philosophy of the New Age (XVII - XIX centuries). The philosophy of the New Age (at least in the first periods of its existence) is characterized by an almost unlimited faith in the omnipotence of reason, which, as it seems to philosophers, is able to cognize nature and lead people. to a great future. New time is a period of development and formation of science, which is presented as a means of improving human life. The problems of epistemology come to the fore, and, consequently, philosophy becomes the “servant of science”: philosophers are concerned about the problems of the methods by which we cognize the world. In the XVI-XVII centuries. capitalism began to take hold in Western Europe. The great geographical discoveries unusually expanded the horizon of man, the development of production required a serious formulation of scientific research. The science of modern times relied more and more on experiment and mathematics. Young science of the XVII-XVIII centuries. achieved outstanding success, especially in mechanics and mathematics.

The philosophy of modern times - the fourth historical stage in the development of European philosophy - not only relied on the data of the natural sciences, but also acted as their support, arming science with logic, a method of research. The empirical-inductive method of F. Bacon (1561-1626) was the philosophical justification for experimental knowledge, while mathematical science found its philosophical methodology in the works of R. Descartes (1596-1650).

Philosophy of the XVII-XVIII centuries. was predominantly rationalistic. In the XVIII century. first in France, then in other countries of Western Europe, the socio-philosophical movement Enlightenment, which played prominent role in the ideological preparation of the French action of 1789-1793.

From the last quarter of the 18th century and until the middle of the XIX century. Germany comes to the forefront in the field of philosophical creativity. Being backward at that time economically and politically, this country became the birthplace of great artists and thinkers; Kant, Goethe, Fichte, Hegel, Beethoven, Schiller, Schelling, Heine, Feuerbach. The outstanding theoretical merit of classical German philosophy and overcoming the contemplative, naturalistic view of the world, the awareness of man as a creative, active subject, the in-depth development of the general concept of the development of dialectics.

In the middle of the XIX century. in the same place (in Germany) Marxism arises, the philosophical successor of the German classics and European rationalism. Marx's main contribution to philosophy was the discovery and substantiation of the materialistic understanding of history and in-depth development - based on the material of his contemporary bourgeois society - materialistic dialectic. However, in real social life humanity (in the 20th century in particular), Marxism entered mainly by its other - not scientific and philosophical, but ideological path, as the ideology of open and tough class confrontation, justifying (in the name of abstract class interests) extreme forms class struggle and violence.

European rationalism (from Bacon to Marx) in the dialectic of the social and the individual gave undoubted priority to the social (general). The study of classes, formations, historical epochs was brought to the forefront, while the problems of the individual - the internal organization of the personality - remained in the shadows (the phenomenon of the unconscious also remained in the shadows). But the real experience of life convinced that the mind is not the only force that controls the behavior of man and society. On this basis, in the XIX century. An irrationalist philosophy arises (A. Schopenhauer, S. Kierkegaard, F. Nietzsche), which began to assign the leading role in the life and destinies of people not to reason, but to passion, will, and instincts. Philosophers - irrationalists saw and with great force expressed the shadow side of life, progress. But from this they drew different conclusions. Schopenhauer's ideal is nirvana, that is, renunciation of life as unconditional evil. Kierkegaard demands to recognize that the highest truths (these include deeply intimate experiences of fear and the expectation of death) cannot be expressed, but can only be experienced by each person alone with himself and in his own way. Nietzsche's voluntarism is only superficially "optimistic" because it asserts the will to power as the fullness of life. But this is a blind life, without any reasonable purpose. Nietzsche made no secret of his extremely hostile attitude towards Christianity.

The latest philosophy (XX - XXI century), which is also called modern. Modern philosophy is a very complex phenomenon that combines all the questions that philosophy has ever asked. (see ticket about rationalism)

Domestic philosophical thought is an organic part of world philosophy and spiritual culture in general. At the same time, it is distinguished by national identity, and to a certain extent, uniqueness. The peculiarity of Russian philosophy lies in the fact that it represents an element of the dialectical relationship between the individual and the general, which in turn is determined by the specifics of the sociocultural development of the first forms of Russian statehood and spirituality during the transition from the primitive communal type of society to the feudal one, from paganism to the Christian religion.

Philosophical knowledge in Kievan Rus, during the periods of the Mongol yoke and the centralized Moscow state was fragmentary, not independent and not systematized. But it existed, developed, formed the basis for the formation of philosophy as a science in the 18th century. Subsequently, it was represented by a variety of directions, orientations and schools, which was due to the genesis of Russian philosophy and changing social conditions. In this context, the main worldview, methodological, epistemological, axiological principles were considered from the standpoint of materialism, both Marxist and non-Marxist (Plekhanov, Herzen, Chernyshevsky), and idealism in secular (Vvedensky, Shpet) and religious (Soloviev, Berdyaev) forms. It should be noted that philosophical ideas were considered not only in the works of philosophers, but also in the works of prominent representatives of world and domestic science (Lomonosov, Vernadsky, Tsiolkovsky, etc.), as well as artistic culture(Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, etc.)

As in the entire system of world philosophy, in Russian philosophical thought materialism and idealism express the unity of opposites; they do not so much oppose each other as complement and enrich scientific philosophical knowledge.

There are alternative points of view on the formation and development of ancient Russian culture as a whole, especially ancient Russian philosophical thought. It seems that the process of formation of philosophical thought in Ancient Rus'(1X-XIII centuries AD) was controversial. The main ideological and theoretical factor in the formation of ancient Russian philosophical thought was Christianity. At the same time, the pagan heritage underlay the worldview of the broad masses of the people, a kind of "folk philosophy". If we take the culture of ancient Russian society as a whole, then pagan elements played a big role in it even after the adoption of Christianity by Russia in 988.

The first Russian philosopher can be considered Metropolitan Hilarion of Kyiv (XI century), the author of the famous “Sermon on Law and Grace”. Along with purely theological dogmas, the work contained philosophical ideas proper. These are the historiosophical propositions about the "two-stage linear" world history, based on the idea of ​​changing the state of "Law" to the state of "Grace" along the path of mankind to the metahistorical " eternal life". Hence the conclusion is drawn about the divine equality of the "new peoples", about the inclusion of the history of the Russian people in world history. Characteristic is Hilarion's solution of the epistemological problems of "knowledge of God", as well as people's comprehension of the truth. He identifies two types of truth, corresponding to old testament Bible ("Law") and the New Testament of the Bible ("Grace"), defends the position of theological rationalism. Many other church figures, monks, princes also contributed to the development of Russian pre-philosophy.

Domestic philosophy was formed and developed over a number of historical epochs, from the Middle Ages to the present. There are a number of stages in the history of Russian philosophy:

1. XI-XVII centuries. - formation of Russian philosophy (pre-philosophy);

2. Philosophy in Russia in the 18th century;

3. The formation of Russian philosophy as a science - the end of the 18th - the first half of the 19th centuries;

4. The philosophy of the "Silver Age" in Russia - the second half of the XIX - 20s. XX centuries;

5. Modern domestic philosophy - after 20 years. 20th century

It should be noted that after 1917 Russian philosophy had two wings: foreign and domestic development of the philosophy of the Soviet period.

First stage. XI-XVII centuries - Old Russian philosophy (philosophy of the pre-Petrine period or Russian medieval philosophy). Its features are: religious and Christian orientation; understanding of statehood and citizenship, the "symphony of authorities" - church and state, as well as fragmentation, the lack of an independent status. The philosophical understanding of the historical process, the place and role of Rus' in the world community is substantiated.

Second phase. 18th century - historically associated with the Europeanization of Russia and the reforms of Peter I. national idea"Holy Rus'" reincarnates into the idea of ​​"Great Russia". Philosophy is gradually moving away from scholastic forms, becoming more free from the church, thereby starting the process of secularization and enrichment of its content. scientific knowledge. The teaching of philosophy begins in the first domestic universities.

The first propagandists philosophical ideas F. Prokopovich, G. Skovoroda, A. Kantemir and others became prominent representatives of this period in Rus'. philosophical views were M.V. Lomonosov and A.N. Radishchev.

M.V. Lomonosov (1711-1765) - "the universal mind of Russia". In Russian philosophy, he laid the foundations of the materialistic tradition and natural philosophy. He understood matter only as a substance, substantiated its structure, attributive properties, regularities.

A.N. Radishchev (1749-1802) was the first to proclaim the idea of ​​humanity not in the spirit of religious philosophy, but as the main core of a secularized, secular public thought. He criticized the social existence of monarchical Russia.

Third stage. Late 18th - first half of the 19th century - Independent philosophical creativity is affirmed in Russia. It manifested itself primarily in the confrontation between the Slavophiles and the Westernizers. Noticeable was the appeal to European philosophy. One of the directions of Russian philosophy of the early XIX century. gravitated toward Schelling. Its representatives were D.M. Vellansky, M.G. Pavlov, A.I. Galich. There were supporters of the philosophy of Kant, French thinkers. However, the main discussions took place around the main problem of that time. It was connected with the determination of the ways of development of Russian culture. Early and late Westernism and Slavophilism, the teachings of peasant utopian socialism, populism, anarchism, revolutionary and raznochinstvo democratism, monarchism offered various options for the development of Russia. Domestic philosophy accumulated a rich theoretical content, improved the scientific methodology of research.

Fourth stage. Second half of the 19th - 20s of the 20th century . The philosophy of this period is predominantly religious-Christian in nature, and anthropocentrism and humanism become the main directions of development. The stage is characterized by stormy and creative development the main directions and types of domestic spiritual culture. He received the designation of the "Silver Age". There are mature, fundamental philosophical systems. N.F. became known among thinkers. Fedorov, V.S. Solovyov, B.N. Chicherin, N.O. Lossky, N.A. Berdyaev and others. The development of natural science in Russia gave rise to another feature of philosophy - the emergence of Russian cosmism . Principles are approved philosophical inquiry Keywords: integrity, catholicity, real intuition, "truth-righteousness", positive all-unity, ethical personalism, nationality, sovereignty and others.

Domestic philosophy reached its greatest successes in the 18th-20th centuries. Its characteristic features and peculiarities were: 1) emphasis on anthropological issues; 2) generally humanistic in nature philosophical concepts; 3) the presence of personal philosophical creativity of thinkers; 4) a combination of general philosophical, worldview, methodological, epistemological problems with axiological problems; 5) strengthening of natural-philosophical research, development of the concepts of cosmism.

It should be noted that these features were inherent in the teachings of most representatives of Russian philosophy, which once again emphasizes its integrity, unity, combined with the diversity of manifestation. This position is also typical for the study of more specific problems. It took place in the works of representatives of various areas of Russian philosophical thought: “the problem of the nature and structure of consciousness” (Herzen, Chernyshevsky, Dostoevsky, Solovyov), “the problem of the method of cognition” (Herzen, Lavrov), “the problems of society and the state” (Herzen, L. . Tolstoy, Berdyaev), "the problem of culture" (Chernyshevsky, Dostoevsky, Solovyov, Danilevsky and others). Many features and directions of development of Russian philosophy were integrated in humanism and anthropologism.

The philosophy of the "Silver Age" had a pronounced social activism. Theoretical problems were considered as a means of solving practical contradictions in the course of the country's social transformations. Therefore, anthropologism and humanism often acted as the fundamental methodological principles of any philosophical analysis. So, A. Herzen, solving the problem of the determinism of human behavior as a natural being and his free will as a social being, called this contradiction a “circle”, and saw the solution not in going beyond this “circle”, but in its secular anthropological and humanistic understanding. N. Chernyshevsky proceeded from the fundamental, integral nature of a person, residing in history and possessing a set of properties: selfishness, benevolence, diligence, the desire for knowledge, etc. These potential properties are realized in a certain social and historical context, which can be both favorable and not good for humans. However, the preservation of the eternal humanistic, spiritual "nature" of man guarantees progress in history. Thus, within the framework of the Russian tradition, secular anthropologism was combined with the active humanistic orientation of philosophical theory.

An activity-humanistic orientation also characterized Russian religious-philosophical anthropologism, resolved, of course, primarily in the sphere of the spirit. Characteristic in this regard were the teachings and activities of the “wandering philosopher” and preacher G.S. Pans (1722-1794). He was called "the first philosopher in Rus' in the exact sense of the word" (V. Zenkovsky). His work had a great influence on the religious and philosophical ideas of the Eastern Slavs. The philosophical and ethical system of Skovoroda was based on the interpretation biblical texts, Christian-Neoplatonist ideas and norms of Christian morality. It included a wide range of problems: good, evil, justice, conscience, moral perfection, worship of God, humility, holiness, etc.

The integrating beginnings of this system were the ideas of "affinity" and human happiness. Skovoroda proceeded from the existence of a general law of "affinity" as a kind of guarantor of the balance of nature, which includes the balance of various parts of being: things, objects and beings - from lower forms of life to forms of the state. A person acquires this "affinity" as a result of reasonable creative activity, the improvement of personality. It is the universal law of a happy human life. Biblical principles help in assimilation of the law, as well as self-knowledge, which he explained anthropologically.

At the same time, considering a person as a philosophical problem, Skovoroda, as it were, set up a kind of philosophical and religious experiment, modeling the type of corresponding behavior. It is embodied in the personal religious and moral experience of G. Skovoroda himself, when his philosophical teaching was organically connected with his personal life.

The activity character of Russian religious philosophical anthropologism is also represented in the works of N. Fedorov, Vl. Solovyov and other thinkers. Philosophy was considered by them as a "philosophy of the creative spirit", a philosophy of values, "shrines" and love. Characteristic was the interpretation of Vl. Solovyov known formula F.M. Dostoevsky "beauty will save the world." Beauty as a criterion of artistry is included in his fabric of life, real being. There is a certain commonality with the aesthetic ideas of N.G. Chernyshevsky.

Elements of the concept of Vl. Solovyov are interconnected. So the concept of "catholicity" expresses the unity of the general (social) and the individual (individual). Man himself is perceived as both an individual and a universal creation. Such was the man, according to Vl. Solovyov, before he separated himself from the eternal unity of divine life. After the fall of man, a complex process of separation of the human principles of life from the universal divine begins.

Within the framework of cosmism, the idea was put forward of the universal involvement and cosmic responsibility of man while maintaining his individuality. In Russian philosophy, there is a steady tendency to overcome extreme anthropologism, elevating a person above other types of being. This position is of great methodological significance for the analysis of our society, which is experiencing a spiritual crisis.

28. Ethical and humanistic content of G. Skovoroda's philosophy.

In the development of Ukrainian ethical thought, an important place belongs to the work of the outstanding Ukrainian thinker Grigory Skovoroda(1722 - 1794) . He wrote 18 works and translated 7 works from Latin. From it, in fact, the history of Ukrainian philosophy begins, which becomes on a par with the philosophy of the Western European Enlightenment. He inherits the educational traditions of the Kiev-Mohyla Academy, but not literally. While the main attention was focused on the knowledge of nature, G. Skovoroda turns to man. At the center of his teachings are ethical and humanistic problems. The central problem of Skovoroda's ethics is the problem of self-knowledge, ĸᴏᴛᴏᴩᴏᴇ has a pronounced moral content. The philosopher explains his understanding of spirituality (which is identical to humanism) by the doctrine of two worlds: the visible, external and invisible, internal. The invisible present in all things as eternal, unchanging, true. Man - ϶ᴛᴏ is also the unity of the visible and the invisible. Through his invisible nature, man is identical with God: true man and God are ϶ᴛᴏ one and the same. God is known not so much through mastering nature, but through knowing himself, an invisible person, through moral self-improvement. The moral improvement of the inner world brings a person closer to freedom - ϶ᴛᴏ one of the principles of the philosophy of the Enlightenment, ĸᴏᴛᴏᴩᴏᴇ was fully in philosophical system G. Frying pans. European philosophical thought of the XVIII century. clearly separated the ancient spiritual heritage from the spirit of Christianity in the sphere of morality (ancient philosophy came from the idea of ​​happiness within the boundaries of the human, and Christian morality was based on the preaching of happiness in other world). In the ethics of G. Skovoroda, ancient and Christian traditions are intertwined. He repeated: if happiness and truth are possible, then not somewhere and sometime, but here and now. Happiness must be found, which is why the main task is to know yourself. Man's knowledge of himself is the final condition for the happiness of each individual and of the whole society. At the same time, for self-knowledge of knowledge alone, you need to have a good heart - high morality.

Thinking about spiritual and bodily, divine, earthly, eternal and fleeting, G. Skovoroda proves that the main thing in a person is his soul. In order to know ourselves, we need to delve into ourselves, fly with our hearts from the earthly to the invisible, heavenly - so we can comprehend our heart and soul. The heart, in his statements, is a sensitive mind, as opposed to purely rational knowledge. G. Skovoroda called people who have achieved self-knowledge, recognition and love of other people true people.

Revealing the essence of happiness, he points out that satiety of the stomach and other bodily satisfactions do not provide it. Achievements in the sciences also do not make a person happy. Real spiritual satisfaction, ĸᴏᴛᴏᴩᴏᴇ gives a person a feeling of happiness, is self-knowledge. To be happy, it is extremely important to know, to find yourself.

At first, the person seemed to be turning his whole being outward, in pursuit of the joys of the earthly world. Potomon comprehends the knowledge of his own nature, himself, his abilities and develops a way of life corresponding to his nature. G. Skovoroda saw the basis of such a way of life in "kind work" as a real manifestation of human life, self-affirmation of a person.

The philosopher did not consider the consumption of material goods, the enjoyment of them, the basis of human happiness. The highest bliss and real happiness is given to a person by calling work, ĸᴏᴛᴏᴩᴏᴇ reflects the natural inclinations of a person. The cause of everything immoral, disfigured in society, he considered work without a vocation, work of the utmost unimportance, forced or radio enrichment work. So, condemning the social shortcomings of society, he called for moral improvement, being convinced that happiness is available to everyone, since nature did not deprive anyone. From this he came to the conclusion that the ideal society is one in which everyone can realize their natural inclinations, bring them to life through education.

Relevant was his idea of ​​the spiritual power of individuals capable of carrying the truth to other people and asserting it by their own activities. Turning to the image of the Old Testament Moses, G. Skovoroda saw in him a person who, by his will, united Jewish people and made him happy.

Vividly moral orientation in the work of G. Skovoroda had social problems. He saw the value of human life in activities that were aimed at establishing justice in society, ĸᴏᴛᴏᴩᴏᴇ would make life a paradise and God's house. In this new, ideal, highly moral world, the country and kingdom of love, equality, love and general justice will rule. This state of affairs can be achieved through the self-organization of the people, dismissal from social and spiritual slavery, for which the spiritual unity of the ethnos, faith in one's own strengths and the will to achieve a goal are important.

The purpose of G. Skovoroda's life was the joy and fun of the heart, a rich inner world, the strength of the soul. The achievement of this blissful peace was for him the art of life. Another principle of the ethical and philosophical doctrine of the thinker is the penetration of morality, the expansion of the boundaries of the functioning of morality in the whole society. At the same time, for self-knowledge of some knowledge, you need to have a good heart - high morality.

Although the ethical views of G. Skovoroda, his thoughts and life itself were far from the essence of life, the ideals that he sowed among the Ukrainian people were pure and convincing. Τᴀᴋᴎᴍ ᴏϬᴩᴀᴈᴏᴍ, the ethical orientation of the philosophy of G. Skovoroda continues and develops the national tradition of moral enlightenment and education that have developed in the practice of fraternal schools and the Kiev-Mohyla Academy.

The history of philosophy is an integral part of the history of culture. It is possible to periodize in different ways the path traversed by philosophy over two and a half thousand years (from the time of the daytime Greeks and the ancient Romans). But in the most general sense, large periods, stages historical development philosophies are based on socio-economic formations, methods of social and spiritual production. Following this view, they speak of ancient philosophy (the philosophy of a slave-owning society), medieval philosophy (the philosophy of the era of feudalism), the philosophy of modern times (the philosophy of the bourgeois formation) and modern philosophy, meaning by it the philosophical thought of the 20th century, ideologically and politically extremely ambiguous. Nor should one underestimate the national originality of philosophical ideas. In this context, German, French, Russian philosophy (which is comparable to national art) is considered as relatively independent spiritual constructions.

The first historically major stage in the development of philosophy is ancient philosophy(VI century BC - VI century AD). Its creators are the ancient Greeks and the ancient Romans (the latter - in late antiquity). The greatest achievement of these philosophers was the very formulation of eternal, always accompanying human problems: about the beginning of all things, about the existence and non-existence of the world, about the identity of opposites, about freedom and necessity, life and death, freedom and necessity, the place and role of man on earth and in cosmos, moral duty, the beautiful and sublime, wisdom and human dignity, love, friendship, happiness and many other things that cannot but excite the mind and soul of a person. The ancient thinkers had one "tool" of knowledge - contemplation, observation, subtle speculation.

Ancient philosophy arose as a spontaneous dialectical natural philosophy. It is to her that ancient thought owes two remarkable ideas: the idea of ​​a universal, universal connection of all things and phenomena of the world and the idea of ​​infinite, world development. Already in ancient philosophy, two alternative epistemological trends emerged: materialism and idealism. The materialist Democritus, ahead of centuries and millennia, put forward the brilliant idea of ​​the atom as the smallest particle of matter. The idealist Plato, relying not only on the power of abstract thought, but also on amazing artistic intuition, brilliantly developed the dialectic of individual things and general concepts, which is of enduring importance in all areas of human creativity to this day.

Quite often, historians of ancient philosophy draw a line between earlier and later ancient philosophers, classifying the former as "pre-Socratics", and the latter as Socratic schools. This really emphasizes the key role of Socrates (5th century BC) as a philosopher who moved the center of philosophical knowledge from the problems of natural philosophy to the field of human knowledge, primarily ethics. The ideas of late antiquity (the era of Hellenism) inherited the humanistic thought of Socrates. At the same time, deeply experiencing the impending death of ancient culture, the philosophers of this period made an undoubted step from Socratic rationalism towards irrationalism and mysticism, which became especially noticeable in the philosophy of Plato's followers - the Neoplatonists.

The second stage in the development of European philosophy - the philosophy of the Middle Ages(V-XV centuries AD). In spirit and content, it is a religious (Christian) philosophy that substantiated and strengthened the Christian (Catholic) faith in all countries of Western Europe. For more than a thousand years, the orthodox ideology of Christianity, relying on the power of the Church, waged a stubborn struggle against "heresies", "freethinking", that is, with the slightest deviations from the dogmas and canons of the Vatican. Although even under these conditions philosophy defended the rights of reason, but on the condition of recognizing the dominance of faith over reason. Those who did not agree with this were waiting for the fires of the Inquisition.

Philosophers and theologians, who developed the main tenets of the Christian religion in the first centuries of the new era, in the eyes of their successors and followers received the highest measure of recognition - they began to be revered as the "fathers" of the Church, and their work began to be called "patristics". One of the most prominent "fathers of the church" was Augustine the Blessed (4th-5th centuries AD). God, in his opinion, is the creator of the world, and he is also the creator, the engine of history. The philosopher and theologian saw the meaning and destiny of history in the worldwide transition of people from paganism to Christianity. Each person bears the full measure of responsibility for his deeds and deeds, since God gave man the ability to freely choose between good and evil.

If Augustine is a bright representative of the early Middle Ages, then the established system of Christian medieval philosophy is most fully and significantly expressed in the works of Thomas Aquinas (XIII century). His philosophy is the pinnacle scholastics.(So ​​by this time they began to call the philosophy taught in schools and universities.) Putting Aristotle above all his predecessors, Thomas made a grandiose attempt to combine, organically connect ancient wisdom with dogma and the dogma of Christianity. From these positions, reason (science) and faith do not contradict each other, if only it is the “correct” faith, that is, the Christian faith.

In medieval scholasticism we find the germs of real problems. One of them was the problem of dialectics, the connection between the general and the individual. Does the common really exist? Or does only the individual really exist, and the general is only a mental abstraction from individual objects and phenomena? Those who recognized the reality of general concepts formed the direction realists, which considered the general only a “name”, and only the individual as really existing, constituted the direction nominalism. The nominalists and realists are the forerunners of the materialists and idealists of modern times.

The third, transitional stage in the history of Western philosophy is the philosophy of the Renaissance. There are Early Renaissance (XIII-XIV centuries) and Late Renaissance (XV-XVI centuries). The very name of the era is very eloquent: we are talking about the revival (after a thousand-year break) of the culture, art, philosophy of the ancient world, the achievements of which are recognized as a model for modernity. The great representatives of this era were comprehensively developed people (Dante, Erasmus of Rotterdam, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Montaigne, Cervantes, Shakespeare). Brilliant artists and thinkers put forward in their work not theological, but humanistic system of values. The social thinkers of that time - Machiavelli, Mor, Campanella - created projects of an ideal state, expressing primarily the interests of a new social class - the bourgeoisie.

In the XVI-XVII centuries. capitalism began to take hold in Western Europe. The great geographical discoveries unusually expanded the horizon of man, the development of production required a serious formulation of scientific research. The science of modern times relied more and more on experiment and mathematics. Young science of the XVII-XVIII centuries. achieved outstanding success primarily in mechanics and mathematics.

Philosophy of the New Age- the fourth historical stage in the development of European philosophy- not only relied on the data of the natural sciences, but also acted as their support, arming science with logic, a method of research. The empirical-inductive method of F. Bacon (1561-1626) was the philosophical justification for experimental knowledge, while mathematical science found its philosophical methodology in the works of R. Descartes (1596-1650).

Philosophy of the XVII-XVIII centuries. was predominantly rationalistic. In the XVIII century. first in France, then in other countries of Western Europe, the socio-philosophical movement widely and powerfully declared itself Education, who played an outstanding role in the ideological preparation of the French Revolution of 1789-1793.

From the last quarter of the 18th century and until the middle of the XIX century. Germany comes to the forefront in the field of philosophical creativity. Being economically and politically backward at that time, this country became the birthplace of great artists and thinkers: Kant, Goethe, Fichte, Hegel, Beethoven, Schiller, Schelling, Heine, Feuerbach. The outstanding theoretical merit of classical German philosophy was the overcoming of the contemplative, naturalistic view of the world, the awareness of man as a creative, active subject, the in-depth development of the general concept of development - dialectics.

In the middle of the XIX century. in the same place (in Germany) Marxism arises, the philosophical successor of the German classics and European rationalism. Marx's main contribution to philosophy consisted in the discovery and substantiation of the materialist understanding of history and in the in-depth development - on the material of his contemporary bourgeois society - of materialist dialectics. However, Marxism entered the real social life of mankind (in the 20th century in particular) mainly with its other - not scientific and philosophical, but ideological side, as the ideology of open and tough class confrontation, justifying (in the name of abstract class interests) extreme forms of class struggle and violence.

European rationalism (from Bacon to Marx) in the dialectic of the social and the individual gave undoubted priority to the social (general). The study of classes, formations, historical epochs was brought to the forefront, while the problems of the individual - the internal organization of the personality - remained in the shadows (the phenomenon of the unconscious also remained in the shadows). But the real experience of life convinced that the mind is not the only force that controls the behavior of man and society. On this basis, in the XIX century. arises irrationalistic philosophy (A. Schopenhauer, S. Kierkegaard, F. Nietzsche), which began to assign the leading role in the life and destinies of people not to reason, but to passion, will, instincts. Irraionalist philosophers saw and expressed with great force the shadow side of life and progress. But from this they drew different conclusions. Schopenhauer's ideal is nirvana, that is, renunciation of life as unconditional evil. Kierkegaard demands to recognize that the highest truths (these include deeply intimate experiences of fear and the expectation of death) cannot be expressed, but can only be experienced by each person alone with himself and in his own way. Nietzsche's voluntarism is only superficially "optimistic" because it asserts the will to power as the fullness of life. But this is a blind life, without any reasonable purpose. Nietzsche made no secret of his extremely hostile attitude towards Christianity.

The comprehension of society as an integral organism continued throughout the development of philosophical thought. In the history of the development of socio-philosophical thought, 3 main stages can be distinguished:

· From antiquity to the 19th century when the accumulation of the socio-philosophical idea took place). For Plato and Aristotle, society is the state. They discussed ideal forms of government, the state was the starting point in which a variety of phenomena were considered public life. important place in the development social philosophy played by T. Hobbes and J. Locke. Both philosophers refuse the Aristotelian identity of the general and the particular in the conditions of human society, from their point of view, all people are primarily guided by their own interests, and only then are united into a state. Therefore, they proceeded from the recognition of the ascent from nature to society and call it the natural state. Hobbes writes about this in his work Leviathan. On this basis, a deeper comprehension of the essence of society as an integral organism, the definition of its functional main connections, gradually begins. Jean Jacques Rousseau considers the problem of social inequality and the origin of social inequality. The French thinker Saint-Simon was the first to pay attention to the development of industry, forms of ownership and class in society. The economic life of society becomes the subject of A. Smith's study. Thus, society increasingly became a special subject of philosophical reflection. In the course of the philosophical revolution, a special subject area of ​​social philosophy stands out - this is the philosophy of history.

· 19th century(when powerful integration processes take place and holistic concepts of social philosophy take shape). Hegel (“Philosophy of History”) developed a philosophical picture of society, the dialectics of man and society, amazing in its depth and richness of ideas. There is not a single major problem that Hegel would not comprehend: the structure of society as a whole, labor, property, morality, the family, the management system, the form of government, the relationship between social and individual consciousness, the world-historical process. That. a breakthrough in knowledge is associated with Hegel philosophical foundations society, its history and the social existence of man. All these problems are considered from the standpoint of objective idealism. Marx - material understanding of history. In his concept, society appeared as a complex entity, the basis of which is social production. The laws of society are regarded as objective, and history as a progressive process.

· since the 20th century(this is the period when there are new splits in the philosophical analysis of society along a broad front, many new directions). Durkheim substantiated the idea of ​​social solidarity on the basis of the division of labor. M Weber creates the theory of ideal types. In the 20th century, sociology developed not so much in the direction of social depths as it tried to penetrate deeper into various states and strata of society, the meaning of history, i.e. comprehension of its individual phenomena and facets.