Consciousness in philosophy and philosophy of consciousness. Consciousness as a philosophical concept

Consciousness is our thoughts, feelings, ideas, will. All this makes up a very important ability of a person to understand the environment, to realize his place in society, his actions, feelings, thoughts, interests. Animals are known to be unaware of their behavior or their place in the world. Because of this, they do not possess any consciousness, much less self-consciousness. This is the monopoly of man.

The problem of consciousness in last years is the focus of attention of many scientists from different fields of knowledge - sociology, logic, psychology, cybernetics, physiology, mathematics, etc. The problem of consciousness attracts especially close attention of philosophers, because determining the place and role of man in the world, his relationship with the environment involves changing the nature of human consciousness.

THE PROBLEM OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN PHILOSOPHY. THE GENESIS OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND ITS ESSENCE

The problem of consciousness is one of the most difficult and mysterious. The main difficulty in understanding and studying it is largely due to the fact that we cannot observe the phenomena of consciousness directly, sensually, we cannot measure it, explore it with the help of various instruments. Therefore, for many centuries, consciousness remained a mystery. This has always given rise to mystifications regarding its nature and essence. So, even in antiquity, the idea arose of consciousness as a manifestation of the soul - a mysterious "sensory-supersensitive" entity, which was considered responsible for human life and some important states of the human body. Characteristic of these views was that the soul was not separated from the body, there was no division into the material and the ideal yet. This also applies to the first philosophical theories. In the initial stages of its development, the Greek philosophical thought did not know the concept of "ideal" as a special contrast to the sensual-objective material. Over time, the soul began to be considered as a kind of non-material substance, independent of matter, capable of leading an independent existence, immortal and eternal. For the first time these views were theoretically substantiated and fixed in the philosophy of Socrates and his student Plato. Heraclitus defined the basis of human conscious actions by the concept of "logos", which was understood as a word, thought, the essence of things themselves. The value of the human mind was determined depending on the degree of belonging to this logos - the objective universe. In general, in ancient philosophy, consciousness is involved in the mind, which is cosmic and looks like a generalization of the real world, a synonym for universal regularity.

In the subsequent historical and philosophical process, the problem of consciousness was interpreted in different ways, and many philosophers explained consciousness depending on what position they took on the issue of the relationship between matter and consciousness. Let us briefly characterize these positions in the main directions of philosophy (Scheme 6.1).

Scheme B.1. The problem of consciousness in philosophy

Idealistic views on the nature of consciousness over the centuries acquired different content, but boiled down to the following: consciousness is primary, matter is secondary. Thus, objective idealism endowed consciousness with a supermaterial, supernatural character: it exists independently of the world, somewhere outside the world and outside of man, has nothing to do with the brain; the spirit is not born and does not arise, it lives its own life, develops, gives rise to phenomena of nature and history. Such a statement of idealism about the existence of consciousness is directly connected with theology, which claimed that human consciousness is God's gift: creating a person, God "breathed a living spirit into him", endowing him with a particle of Divine light. This means that this is a gift of the Divine mind, which lives its own life, in its development gives rise to natural phenomena and guides the history of society.

From the point of view of dualists, matter and consciousness are independent, equivalent principles (M II C). This means that consciousness was recognized as completely independent of matter. Like matter, consciousness is eternal, it did not arise and was not born. Accordingly, there was no need to resolve the issue of its origin. One of the prominent representatives of dualism was Rene Descartes, who believed that the world is based on two substances: spiritual (thinking) and corporeal (extended).

Dualism was also inherent in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Close to the dualistic interpretation of consciousness is the concept of the French philosopher, scientist and theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. He believed that a certain mass of elementary consciousness, psychic energy, was contained in earthly matter. After all, consciousness is as original as matter. Therefore, it is not surprising that it made its way into the world from the darkness of the subconscious. No one, including our ancestors, noticed the appearance of intelligence on Earth, "man entered the world silently." The dialectical concept can be justified on the grounds that between consciousness and being there really are such clear boundaries that it is almost impossible to reduce them one to the other or to any common root. I. Kant wrote about this: “There are two main stems of human knowledge, which grow, perhaps, from a single, common, but unknown to us root ...”

In the 50s. 19th century the vulgar-materialistic view of consciousness has spread quite widely. This name is explained by the fact that its adherents (the German philosophers L. Buchner, K. Vogt and the Dutchman J. Moleschott) considered consciousness roughly, simplified, vulgar. They believed that consciousness, thought is "excreted" by the brain in the same way that bile is excreted by the liver or urine by the kidneys (M=C). Climate, food, etc., in their opinion, directly determine the way a person thinks. Despite the fact that the vulgar materialistic point of view is rejected by the achievements modern science, attempts to reduce consciousness to a certain type of matter are still being made. For example, in connection with the advances in electrophysiology, the position was put forward that thought is simply electromagnetic vibrations emitted by the brain. Indeed, the brain continuously emits electromagnetic waves, which change their character if the brain begins to work actively. The study of these waves in the case of a person's illness makes it possible to detect which parts of the brain are damaged. However, it is impossible to determine the content of thoughts from the recordings on the film, since they are not matter.

Mechanistically interpreted consciousness and hylozoism(from Greek hyle - substance and zoe - life). Its adherents assumed that inanimate objects also had sensations (M

A new approach to understanding consciousness was associated with the emergence of dialectical materialism. From the point of view of this direction, consciousness is derived from matter, it is secondary and active in relation to it (M -> C). The origins of both all living things and consciousness are in matter, which is capable of moving and self-developing. Dialectical materialism viewed consciousness as a product of a natural historical development matter, his social form movement; as a function, a special property not of all matter, but only in a special way of socially organized matter (the human brain); as a subjective image of the objective world, which a person needs for adequate practical activity.

As for modern world philosophy, the study of consciousness is carried out by such an area as phenomenology. It originated in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. and had several versions (Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Max Scheler, Jean-Paul Sartre, Maurice Merleau-Ponty), among which the theory of E. Husserl is considered the main one. The term "phenomenology" is formed from two concepts - phenomenon and logos, which are of Greek origin: "phenomenon" is something that manifests itself, demonstrates itself, and "logos" is a doctrine. Within the boundaries of phenomenology, consciousness is considered as a specific area of ​​being, which cannot be reduced to any relationship: neither to the objective, nor to the special, nor to the unconscious basis of consciousness itself. E. Husserl is talking about various phenomena of consciousness, M. Heidegger - about the phenomenon of human existence, J.-P. Sartre - about the reflexive (for being - oneself), in M. Merleau-Ponty - about the spiritualized human body.

Representatives of phenomenology tried to resist the naive naturalistic view of consciousness and the world, which reduces consciousness to an object, an object and establishes only causal and functional connections between them. According to E. Husserl, the existence of consciousness is fundamentally different from the objective world as a pure awareness. M. Heidegger spoke about the difference between human existence and being. But both consciousness and human existence exist only in unity with the world. This means that the absolute is meant, the stream of consciousness that forms phenomena - the meanings of the objective world.

The problem of consciousness occupies an important place in other foreign philosophical directions. Among them are hermeneutics, existential

socialism, psychoanalysis, linguistic philosophy, structuralism, philosophy of life, etc. They achieved significant results in the process of studying various meaningful aspects of consciousness, its internal logic. Today, the research of philosophers has focused on the relationship between "spirit" and "body", physical and mental states, and so on. Much attention is paid to issues that arise at the border of philosophy and language, cognitive psychology and computer modeling of consciousness. The problem of the origin of consciousness remains relevant.

The modern materialistic approach to this problem is unchanged: matter in the process of development under the influence of certain circumstances gives rise to mind. Let's consider this point of view in more detail. And to begin with, let's ask ourselves the question: thanks to what properties does matter come to the top of its development - the generation of "spirit"; what is this internal force in the “foundation” of matter, which naturally induces the emergence of thinking, will, emotions, etc.?

The natural sciences answer this question unequivocally: "This property of matter is the property of reflection." So, reflection is that “thread”, holding on to which you can reach a solution to the problem of consciousness. What is a reflection? Reflection - the universal quality of matter, the process and result of interaction, in which the features of one object in a different form are recreated in the features of another object. Since interaction is inherent in all material objects, then reflection should be considered as a universal property of matter. The interaction of objects never passes without a trace, there are always consequences. Moreover, the necessary condition for reflection is similarity, correspondence with reflection.

In the development of reflection as a general property of matter, three major stages can be conventionally distinguished: reflection in inanimate nature, reflection in wildlife and reflection at the social level. These stages correspond to the following forms of reflection (Scheme 6.2):

Scheme 6.2. Evolution of forms of reflection

Physico-chemical reflection occurs according to the laws of mechanics, physics, chemistry. This reflection is passive. The trace is not evaluated by the object on which it appeared. A feature of physicochemical reflection is that it can only be carried out in direct contact. The consequences of such contacts contain certain information about the nature of the interaction. Annual rings on a cut of a tree, for example, can tell about climatic conditions in different years. Therefore, an important feature of any reflection is informativeness. One object leaves a memory of itself in another, and this memory is preserved for a certain time. So, reflection is a general property of matter, which consists in the information reproduction of the features of the reflected object.

Physiological reflection arises at the initial stage of the development of living nature and is inherent in unicellular structures. A simpler form of reflection is irritability. This is a property of living organisms to selectively respond to physical and chemical influences and be found in active reactions to factors that are of direct biological significance for the organism. At the same time, the body does not notice them if the action is not directed directly at it. On the basis of irritability, only passive adaptation to the environment is possible. This means that the simplest organism only chooses more favorable conditions for existence among those available, but does not seek them itself, much less creates them.

Psychic reflection occurs at a higher stage in the development of living nature. Of particular importance is the emergence of nerve cells that receive signals from external stimuli. Gradually, there is a differentiation of functions between nerve cells: some specialize in the perception of light signals, others - sound, others - taste, etc. Thus, separate specialized sense organs and an extensive nervous system arise, which coordinates their work. This marks the emergence of a separate form of reflection - sensitivity, i.e. reflections in the form of sensations, perceptions and ideas. The appearance of sensitivity means a transition from passive adaptation to active-search orientational activity, which is carried out in the form of hereditary instinctive or personally acquired behavior. Instinctive reflection is characteristic of all invertebrates. It lies in the fact that in stereotypical situations, all representatives of a certain biological species behave in the same way. At first glance, their actions seem conscious and purposeful, but in fact they are due to hereditary mechanisms and lose all meaning if the conditions change.

The reflection of vertebrates rises to a qualitatively higher level, in which a brain and a central nervous system appear. The method of reflection of the surrounding world with the help of the brain is called the psyche. Its essence lies in the fact that in highly organized animals, in addition to unconditioned reflexes (instincts), there are also conditioned reflexes, which become the basis for more complex personality-acquired and orientational behavior. Conditioned reflexes are temporary neural connections resulting from the fact that the body is exposed to the same or similar factors for a certain time. The mechanism of their action is based on the principle of “feedback” discovered by Ivan Pavlov, the task of which is to constantly inform the brain about what is happening in the system and environment controlled by it. Moreover, there is a notification not only about the work of a particular body, but also about the effect of this work, which allows you to correct behavior. So, conditioned reflexes act as a signaling device, warning about events that are about to happen, which is a necessary condition for "anticipatory reflection."

Reflection in the form of consciousness. Its carrier is a person who came out of the bowels of the animal kingdom. The psyche of animals acted as the biological prerequisite on the basis of which human consciousness developed. Despite the genetic commonality of the human psyche and the psyche of animals, their reflection should not be identified. Consciousness is the highest form of reflection. It has a fundamentally different character than the psyche of animals, and manifests itself:

• firstly, that sensual reflection filled with deeper and more conscious content. A kind of superstructure arises over it - abstraction, which consists in the mental separation of a separate object, relationship, property from the totality of objects, relations, properties. Abstraction is a way of turning observations and representations into concepts. It dismembers, breaks, schematizes an integral mobile reality. In a single abstraction, the subject departs from reality. But this is precisely what ensures the study of individual aspects of the subject in its pure form and, thus, penetration into their essence;
• secondly, consciousness reflects the world not in sensually visual, but in ideal images. What are these images? What is ideal? When considering the category “ideal”, one must keep in mind that the ideal characterizes, first of all, the epistemological attitude of consciousness to being, revealing the fundamental difference between reflection and reflected, image and object. This difference lies in the fact that ideal images, reflecting the properties of real objects, do not have these properties themselves. Ideal images are not characterized by any physical, chemical and other signs of material objects. They have neither spatial dimensions, nor geometric shapes, nor volume, nor mass, etc. The image of a rose does not smell, and from the image of fire you cannot even light a cigarette. The ideal is that which exists and does not exist at the same time. It does not exist as a special substance that exists along with matter, but it exists as subjective reality. Subjectivity means that the ideal always belongs to a subject, a person or a group of people and does not exist without its carrier, therefore, the content of images and concepts of consciousness reflects the features of the life experience of its carrier, its interests, feelings, disposition, feelings, etc. Subjectivity also means the incompleteness of reflection, which is due to the fact that sensations do not give a mirror copy, but a more or less approximate reproduction of the properties of an object.

It should be noted that two interrelated approaches have developed in understanding the problem of the ideal. The first is conditionally referred to as "an active interpretation of the ideal." It is associated with the name Russian philosopher Evalda Ilyenkova(1924-1979). Proponents of this approach derive the properties of the ideal from the inherent properties of matter. Psychologism, or information approach, the formation of which is associated with the name of another Russian philosopher David Dubrovsky(b. 1929), considers the ideal as a special property of subjectivity, spirituality, relatively independent of the material, neuronal, subject-practical. Both approaches have positives and negatives;

Thirdly, human reflection is not adaptive, but actively transformative. A person is not satisfied with what is given by nature, and he seeks to change this given so that it meets his needs. This person realizes first of all in his mind. One way or another, the content of consciousness is practically realized. But before that, it acquires the character of a plan or idea. An idea is not only knowledge, but also a planning of what should be. An idea is a concept focused on practical implementation. A person first creates in his mind, constructs something new - projects of buildings, machines, technological processes, and then embodies them in reality with the help of labor. Human needs, reflected in consciousness, acquire the character of a goal, i.e. ideal model of the desired future. Realized in practical activity, the goal materializes in the objective form, in the forms of real-life objects that did not exist in nature before.

Takova a brief description of consciousness as the highest form of reflection. It appeared as a result of the evolutionary complication of matter. In this complex development spanning billions of years, two qualitative leaps can be distinguished: the transition from the inanimate to the living and the transition from the living to the thinking. Consciousness arose as a result of the second leap. This became possible because certain biological prerequisites and social conditions appeared.

to immediate biological prerequisites for the emergence of consciousness relate (Scheme 6.3)

Scheme V.Z. Biological prerequisites and social conditions for the emergence of consciousness

• 1) bodily organization of human beings. First of all, upright posture, development and release of the forelimbs played a role here. This made it possible for humanoid beings to perform labor operations;
• 2) the first signaling system of higher animals(development of sound and motor media). In historical terms, the signaling system of monkeys was a kind of prelude to linguistic communication;
• 3) herd form of life of anthropoid apes. Under the conditions of herd communication, their viability increased, connections with the environment became more complicated, and an internal hierarchy of individuals in the herd was formed. Herd ties are a prerequisite for the communal organization of people;
• 4) brain, developed nervous system of higher animals. The evolution of the brain in higher animals can be traced in such examples. The brain volume of a dryopitecus or a chimpanzee was 400 cm 3 ; in Pithecanthropes (Java Island) - 900 cm 3; among Chinese ancient people, or synanthropes, - about 1050 cm 3; in the Neanderthal - 1300-1400 cm 3. Brain modern man has the following parameters: volume - 1400-1600 cm 3, average weight - 1400 g, the ratio of brain weight to body weight - 1:40, the complexity of the internal structure of the brain - 12-15 billion cells.

The listed biological prerequisites for the emergence of human consciousness only prepared the possibility of the formation of a new phenomenon. However, they were absolutely not enough to turn the possibility into reality. decisive role social conditions played a role in the emergence and development of consciousness.

The first factor in the formation of consciousness was work(Scheme 6.3). During the process of making elementary tools of labor, a person constantly singled out common connections and relationships in the objects of labor. For example, over time, he began to realize that he cuts not only a given sharp object, but also a sharp object in general, fire gives not only the friction of these pieces of wood, but friction in general, and so on. The labor process pushed the future person to abstraction, generalization, i.e. taught to separate the main features of an object from the object itself and form concepts. With the help of the means of labor, which at the same time were the means of cognition, a person comprehended the properties of the objective world. By making means of labor, in which the revealed properties of objects were fixed, a person learned to mentally isolate them. The logic of sensory-objective activity was fixed in the head and turned into the logic of thinking. Man learned to think. Thus, a logical image of the object was gradually formed, and the work of a person acquired a conscious character. Archaeological finds show that human thinking was associated with his labor activity, and with the development of consciousness it became more mediated and abstract. Originating and developing in labor, consciousness was embodied in labor, creating the objective world of humanized nature, the world of culture.

The second factor in the emergence and development of consciousness is language communication, speech(Scheme 6.4).

Language arose in a collective of primitive people. In order to dig and disguise a hole by joint efforts, drive an animal into it and kill it, the hunters had to tell each other a lot. And life forced them to learn this. The variety of information that our ancestors had to transmit to each other required certain signs.

The sign was supposed to become the same for a certain class of things and actions and common to all participants in the labor process. Gestures did not meet these requirements. They can be accepted and understood only if you see them. Of course, those who do not see each other also participate in collective labor. That is why there was a need for a sound system of signs with the help of which communication is carried out. Such a system of signs is speech. It consists of different words, conventional sound signs and performs a dual function: it acts both as a means of communication and as an instrument of thinking. Words are not only conventional signs of various objects and processes - they also fix our thoughts about these objects. Only with the help of speech (oral, written or artistic) can a person formulate and express his thoughts. Of course, in order to think, it is not necessary to speak aloud. Deaf-mutes, for example, do not speak a spoken language, but this does not mean at all that they lack language and thinking. These people can express their thoughts through gestures and written language. I must say that the expressive language of gestures is used in one way or another by all people, especially for conveying emotions and feelings, concretizing the meanings of words.

Scheme 6.4. Unity of consciousness and speech

At the same time, speech is not just a way of fixing and transmitting thoughts, it is a necessary condition and tool for thinking. The process of thinking is the process of operating with abstract concepts that are conditionally encoded in the corresponding words. Formulating a thought, a person, as it were, pronounces certain words to himself, looking for best form her incarnation. It is impossible to complete a thought without an appropriate verbal (verbal) design. Sometimes, however, the illusion may arise that the formation of a thought to oneself precedes its verbal formulation. It seems to a person that the thought has fully matured, but he cannot express it clearly yet. However, the fuzziness and inexpressiveness of statements testify to the fuzziness and immaturity of thought. And vice versa, a thought that is clear and precise in meaning, harmonious in form, is expressed in intelligible and understandable judgments. Thus, the process of thinking is impossible without speech, which acts as a form of the reality of thought.

The third factor in the emergence of consciousness is communal nature of people's lives. Consciousness is a product of society and social development. There was not, is not and will not be consciousness outside of society. The fact that consciousness is impossible without communal relations is evidenced by more than 50 cases of “education” of children by animals. These children showed no signs of consciousness. How did sociality shape the consciousness of people? In the process of labor activity, people enter into one or another form of relationship, mutual communication, which can be industrial or personal. Communication is one of the necessary prerequisites for the formation and development of the individual, his consciousness, society as a whole. After all, if by communication we mean the interaction of social subjects (classes, groups, individuals), then between them, no doubt, there is an exchange of information, experience, abilities, skills, abilities, etc. Communication is one of the conditions for the socialization of the individual. In communication, a person not only receives rational information, forms ways of activity, but through imitation and inheritance, he assimilates human emotions, feelings, forms of behavior.

Thus, for the emergence of consciousness, certain biological prerequisites were necessary, which, however, do not themselves directly create it. Consciousness arises on a social basis, is a product of society and social development. But above all, consciousness is a function of the human brain. What are the physiological foundations of consciousness, what is the mechanism of its functioning?

The doctrine of brain activity was developed by a galaxy of prominent domestic scientists, such as Ivan Sechenov, Ivan Pavlov, Nikolai Vvedensky, Alexey Ukhtomsky, Levon Orbeli. In their work, they proved that consciousness is a function of that particularly complex piece of matter called the human brain. The human brain, according to I. Sechenov, is "the most wonderful machine in the world." This is the finest nervous apparatus, the highest form of organized matter in the part of the Universe known to us. It is also the central point of the body. With the help of numerous sensitive and mobile nerves (peripheral nervous system), the brain is connected with the system of sensations, which draws information from the external environment and organs that perform certain functions of the body (muscles, glands, blood vessels, etc.). Having received nerve impulses that indicate the state of the external environment and the internal state of the body, the brain regulates the complex relationship of the body with changing environmental conditions.

In the apparatus of the brain itself, several parts, or “blocks”, are distinguished, which differ from each other in structure, connections and functions. The common work of all blocks creates a complex higher nervous activity. This is a kind of psychophysiological process. The mental does not exist separately from the physiological. The physiological is the material substrate, the material carrier of the psychic, while the psychic is the result, the product, the property of this physiological. They are connected with each other, constituting a single psychophysical process, conditioning each other with their existence. It is impossible to separate thinking from thinking matter.

The brain is not the source of consciousness. Between the thinking brain and thinking itself there is a relation not of cause and effect, but of an organ and function. The human brain is the organ of consciousness, and consciousness is its main function. Moreover, it is not the brain itself that thinks and realizes, but a person with the help of the brain. Consciousness reflects not the structure and content of the brain and not the physiological processes that occur in it, but primarily the external world. Otherwise, as L. Feuerbach aptly noted, instead of throwing themselves at mice, cats would tear apart their own pupils with their claws. Thus, the consciousness of a person, his psyche is a product of the physiological activity of the brain, its property, and outside of this physiological activity it does not exist.

Concluding the consideration of the first question of the section, we highlight the main thing (Scheme 6.5):

Scheme 6.5. The concept of consciousness

• 1) consciousness is a property of highly organized matter;
• 2) consciousness - the highest form of reflection of reality, the ideal image of the material world;
• 3) consciousness is a product of socio-historical development and the complication of matter;
• 4) consciousness - the regulator of purposeful human activity.

So, consciousness is a specifically human reflection and spiritual

mastery of reality, a property of highly organized matter - the human brain, which consists in creating subjective images of the objective world, in retaining, storing and processing information, in developing an activity program aimed at solving certain problems, in the active management of this activity.

Consciousness is a socio-historical product. It arises together with human society in the process of formation and development of labor activity and speech, being formed only in the conditions of the social environment, constant communication of individuals with each other.

1. Spirit and consciousness as a philosophical problem.

2. The history of ideas about consciousness and the main concepts of its understanding.

3. Reflection and consciousness. Animal psyche.

4. Structure of consciousness: components and levels.

1. Matter and all the processes associated with it, including the processes of vital activity of the human body, are only one of the aspects of being. The development of nature, the formation of living matter, leading to the emergence of man and society, are prerequisites for the emergence of another equally important side - the spirit. The concept of "spirit" is used to unite all non-material processes that have an ideal nature - consciousness, society, culture. Prof. L.P. Stankevich identifies the following main characteristics of the spirit:

1. Spirit is a form of existence characterized by creation and temporality.

2. Spirit is inseparable from matter, but at the same time it is opposite to it. Matter is objective, spirit is subjective, being the internal state of material objects. Consequently, if matter is corporeal, then the spirit is incorporeal, but at the same time it is the spirit that controls material objects. The highest form of such control (through material means within the framework of existence) is human activity, for which consciousness is an element as necessary as the presence of artificial tools.

3. Spirit is a system. There is no spirit in its pure form as some substance, it exists in the form of separate images, ideas that form a higher system, which is sometimes defined as the world mind, which carries the laws of existence and development of the world as a whole.

4. Spirit and matter are in constant motion, changing and improving. Spiritual development consists in the enrichment of spiritual images, the models of the world and oneself contained and formed by the spirit.

5. The highest stage of the development of the spirit, represented by the consciousness of man and mankind, is understood as the comprehension of the world in which we live and act. Such spiritual activity is aimed at building each person's own life and activity in accordance with the understanding of the basic characteristics of being 46 .

The problem of consciousness is one of the key problems of the philosophy of science. To date, there has not been a definition of consciousness that could unite various research strategies. This means that the thousand-year tradition of philosophy continues to be in demand as never before. If the psychological approach to consciousness consists in elucidating the mechanism of its functioning, identifying natural and social components in it, then the task of philosophy is reduced to a comprehensive study of consciousness, in the unity of its historical roots, psychological, physiological and social aspects. This implies questions about the nature of consciousness, its main contradictions, structure, as well as an analysis of consciousness as part of the ideal as a whole (spirit). Philosophy seeks to identify common prerequisites for the study of consciousness: What do we know about our own consciousness? Among these, it is customary to single out the following:

1. Self-evidence of consciousness. Upon closer examination, it turns out that consciousness is the first thing that is given to us. Everything else is perceived through the prism of consciousness, and therefore dependent on it.

2. Consciousness can be freely controlled and changed, i.e. a person can direct his thought to any object (for example, a memory or fantasy or a real object in front of you).

3. The presence of one's own consciousness serves as a means of mastering all other forms of existence, i.e. the whole surrounding world is given to us through the mediation of consciousness.

The last property of consciousness, according to V.V. Mironov and A.V. Ivanova, 47 poses a number of difficulties in its analysis:

1. "The paradox of elusive objectivity": since consciousness is intentional, i.e. always directed at some object, it is always "consciousness about something." The problem is that behind this “consciousness about something” we cannot evaluate our consciousness itself as it is (just as we cannot fully account for all our actions in life).

2. "The paradox of logical means of comprehending consciousness": in order to rationally understand something, it is necessary to outline the boundaries of the object under study, i.e. show what it is not, and then compare. However, how can one outline the boundaries of consciousness if through it all the objects of the world are “given” to us, including consciousness itself as an elusive objectivity?

3. The Problem of Objective Methods for the Study of Consciousness: no matter what methods of analysis are used, at the moment it is not possible to eliminate the influence of the features of the inner world of a scientist on the receipt and interpretation of data. This is due to the emotional and psychological state, facts of personal biography, basic value and intellectual preferences, national and cultural environment.

4. The Problem of Language Means for Describing Consciousness: even if certain objective methods for the study of consciousness are found, how to describe them? The difficulty is caused by the fact that consciousness is continual, inseparable, it is a living stream of intersecting thoughts, while any language is a discrete phenomenon, broken into separate concepts and words 48 .

The philosophical approach to consciousness focuses on the main contradictions in the existence of consciousness. It turns out that consciousness is a synthesis of seemingly completely incompatible opposites: consciousness appears as an intermediary between the inner world of a person and external reality, it changes under the influence of circumstances and at the same time has fairly stable stereotypes of behavior and thinking, according to which a person can act all the time. life; it consists of conscious and unconscious components that intertwine in different ways in each person.

With the help of consciousness, human activity itself becomes possible. This is due to the fact that almost all conscious actions of a person always have a specific goal. Goals are formed, saved, and also adjusted in the process of activity thanks to consciousness.

From the point of view of philosophy, consciousness can be defined as the highest function of the brain, peculiar only to man and associated with speech, which consists in the ability to ideally reproduce the reality of the real world, which includes not only generalization and evaluation of ongoing processes, but also a preliminary mental construction of actions, as well as purposeful creative change of reality.

2. In modern history philosophy, it is generally accepted that one of the first to pose the problem of consciousness in European philosophy was Plato. This does not at all mean its absolute primacy (in the East, consciousness has always, in fact, acted as the most important object of reflection). At the same time, the ancient Greeks did not use the term “consciousness” itself. The problem of consciousness was studied by them in the context of the problems of thinking and the soul. So, for example, the philosopher Democritus considered the soul as a special formation, consisting of a special variety of atoms. Developing the ideas of Socrates about the innateness of true knowledge to the soul before its incarnation in a human body, Plato for the first time singles out the ideal as a special essence that does not coincide and is opposite to the sensual, objective, material world of things. At the same time, consciousness was not yet an independent phenomenon, and the soul (as a carrier of consciousness) was perceived as part of the world cosmos, absolutely accurately reproducing the phenomena of the surrounding world.

IN the Middle Ages the religious orientation of philosophy has left its mark on the study of the soul, thinking and consciousness. This made it possible to separate the soul and spirit as different manifestations of the divine in the human.

IN modern era in the context of the general turn of science from general problems of understanding the world to specific issues of natural science and technology, there is a change in the perspective of the study of consciousness. It was at this time that the turn from the concept of the soul to the concept of "consciousness" actually takes place, and the latter is interpreted as the cognitive ability of a person, as "I" - a personal formation. Consciousness is understood as 1) a product of the internal development of thinking in Rene Descartes and as 2) the result of external influences, called sensations in John Locke And Thomas Hobbes. IN fphilosophyXIXcentury consciousness receives a fundamentally new interpretation. Thus, the irrationalists Schopenhauer and Nietzsche make consciousness dependent on unconscious processes. It will be proven later Z. Freud in the psychology of the unconscious. K. Marx And F. Engels analyze the influence of social prerequisites on consciousness.

In philosophy, they have developed and retain their importance in contemporary culture the following concepts of consciousness.

Objective-idealistic interpretation consciousness as a superhuman, transpersonal, ultimately transcendental phenomenon (the world of ideas for Plato; the absolute idea for Hegel; God for theologians; extraterrestrial mind for ufologists), which underlies all forms of earthly existence. Human consciousness in this case is a particle, product or otherness of the world mind.

Subjective-idealistic systems consider human consciousness as an independent and self-sufficient entity that contains a picture of itself and is the substance of the material world (R. Descartes, J. Berkeley, E. Husserl).

Hylozoism(reified life) claims that all matter thinks, consciousness is an attributive property of the entire material world. From the point of view of hylozoism, matter is animated and has the prerequisites for thinking (Thales, Anaximander, Aristotle, J. Bruno, B. Spinoza).

Vulgar materialism- this is the identification of consciousness with material formations in the human brain. Consciousness has an absolutely material character, since it is the result of the functioning of certain parts or formations of the brain (K. Vogt, L. Buchner, J. Moleschott).

Sociologization of consciousness. Consciousness is placed in absolute dependence on the external, including the social environment (J. Locke, Voltaire, P.A. Holbach).

Dialectical materialism approaches the study of consciousness as a complex, internally contradictory phenomenon of the unity of the material and ideal, objective and subjective, biological and social (K. Marx, F. Engels).

3. Modern difficulties with the definition of consciousness can be largely resolved in the context of studying the problems of the biological prerequisites of consciousness. In modern psychology and physiology of higher nervous activity, such "biological" prerequisites include:

1) the complex mental activity of animals associated with the functioning of the central nervous system and brain;

2) the beginning of tool activity, the instinctive labor of humanoid ancestors, freeing the forelimbs in combination with upright posture;

3) the herd form of animal habitation, as well as the emergence of sound signaling for the transmission of information.

These prerequisites are necessary but not sufficient for the emergence of human consciousness. In this section, we are interested in the first component. Questions arise: what is the mechanism of the functioning of consciousness? How does he appear?

An important role in explaining this issue continues to be played by the theory of reflection, according to which consciousness is a product of the evolution of the brain, which in turn is one of the highest forms of development of organic matter. Understood as the result of the evolution of all living things, the human brain is a genetic continuation of simpler forms and ways of connecting living things with the outside world, including the inorganic world.

Thus, matter at all levels of its organization has reflection property, which develops in the process of its evolution, becoming more and more complex and multi-qualitative. The ability for self-organization and self-development of material systems is one of the most important reasons for the complication of reflection forms. The evolution of reflection forms acts as a prehistory of consciousness: as a link between inorganic matter and matter expressed in organic and, above all, in human form.

What is a reflection? ABOUTreflection there is a process and result of interaction in which some material bodies reproduce the properties and structure of other material bodies with their properties and structure, while maintaining a trace of interaction. That is, reflection as a result of the interaction of objects does not stop after the completion of this process, but is stored in the reflecting object as a trace, an imprint of the reflected phenomenon. Such a reflected variety of structures and properties, interacting phenomena is called information, which is understood as the content of the reflection process. It is absolutely fair to speak about different qualitative levels of manifestation of reflection and about different measures of information saturation of reflection.

Such multidimensionality of reflection fundamentally changes its properties in the conditions of inanimate and living nature. If in inanimate nature the variety of forms of interaction and reflection is minimal, and the threshold of sensitivity in relation to the specified diversity remains low, which is the source of a weak ability to use the information received for self-organization, then in wildlife a higher degree of intensity of the information content of reflection is available and much more its wide range. The intensity of information exchange in living nature has a powerful effect on the extended self-reproduction of properties, as well as the formation of new features, their coding and hereditary transmission. Thus, the complication of forms of reflection expresses not only the fact of the development and complication of matter, but also the acceleration of this development.

The levels of reflection in living nature are the phenomena of irritability, sensitivity, as well as the mental form of reflection.

Irritability - this is the ability of the organism to the simplest reactions to the influence of the environment, manifested in the form of responses. We are talking about the selective response of the living to external influences. This form of reflection does not passively perceive information, but actively correlates the result of the reaction with the needs of the organism. Irritability is expressed only in relation to vital influences: nutrition, self-preservation, reproduction.

Sensitivity- this is the ability to reflect individual properties of the external environment in the form of sensations, based on the emergence of a set of receptors that significantly enrich the information content of the reflection of the surrounding world. The development of sensations has accelerated the process of evolution of living things even more.

Psychic form of reflection- this is a special form of reflection, based on the nervous system and the functioning of its special center - the brain, and manifested in the ability to analyze complex complexes of simultaneously acting external stimuli. This form is designed to create a holistic image of the situation, individual behavior based on the experience of an individual, on conditioned reflexes, in contrast to intuitive behavior based on unconditioned reflexes.

The mental form of reflection is characterized not so much by a significant richness in the reflection of phenomena, but by a more active "participation" in the process of reflection of the reflecting one. In this case, the selectivity of reflection, the concentration and choice of the object of reflection, or even its individual properties and features, increase significantly. At the same time, such selectivity is determined not only by biophysical relevance for reflecting certain properties and signs, but also by emotional and mental preference. It should be noted that the complication of the properties of mental reflection is directly related to the development of the brain, its volume and structure. At this level of development, memory resources expand, the ability of the brain to capture specific images of things and their inherent connections, to reproduce these images in various forms of associative thinking.

Thus, the most important prerequisite for the emergence of consciousness is the fact of the natural-historical evolution of matter and one of its most important properties - reflection. In the process of evolutionary development, matter, becoming more and more complex in its structural organization, gives rise to such a substrate as the brain. Further transformation of the psyche into human consciousness occurs as a result of various factors of anthroposociogenesis, the most important of which are tool activity and the herd form of animal habitation.

4. The structure of consciousness is well represented by A. V. Ivanov in the form of a circle consisting of four parts, each of which is a separate sphere of consciousness:

- sphere of bodily-perceptual abilities : these abilities include sensations, perceptions and specific ideas, with the help of which a person receives primary information about the outside world, about his own body and its relationship with other bodies. The main goal and regulator of the existence of this sphere of consciousness is the usefulness and expediency of the behavior of the human body in the world of natural, social and human bodies surrounding it.

- logical-conceptual components of consciousness : with the help of thinking, a person goes beyond the limits of the directly sensually given into the essential levels of objects; it is the sphere of general concepts, analytical-synthetic mental operations and rigid logical proofs. Truth is the main goal and regulator of the logical-conceptual sphere of consciousness.

- emotional component of consciousness : it is rather a sphere of personal, subjective-psychological experiences, memories, premonitions about situations and events that a person has encountered, is facing or may face. It is deprived of direct connection with the external objective world. These include:

1) instinctive-affective states (indistinct experiences, forebodings, vague visions, hallucinations, stresses);

2) emotions (anger, fear, delight, etc.);

3) feelings that are more distinct, conscious and have a figurative-visual component (pleasure, disgust, love, hate, sympathy, antipathy, etc.).

The main regulator and goal of the "life activity" of this sphere of consciousness will be what 3. Freud once called the "pleasure principle".

- value-motivational (or value-semantic) component of consciousness . Here are rooted the highest motives of activity and spiritual ideals of the individual, as well as the ability to form them and creatively understand them in the form of fantasy, productive imagination, intuition of various kinds. Beauty, truth and justice are the goal and regulator of the existence of this sphere of consciousness, i. not truth as a form of coordinating thought with objective reality, but values ​​as a form of coordinating objective reality with our spiritual goals and meanings 49 .

These components of consciousness are supplemented levels of consciousness, which in modern philosophy and psychology, it is customary to distinguish three - the unconscious, the conscious and the superconscious.

IN unconscious traditionally include a set of bodily sensations and drives, as well as instinctive-affective experiences, memories and complexes that are outside the field of awareness and control by our "I". At the same time, the unconscious can be both individual and collective. An important contribution to the development of the latter was made by the Swiss psychologist K.G. Jung in his concept of the archetypes of the collective unconscious, i.e. relatively stable figurative-symbolic structures that determine and canalize the course of our unconscious processes.

Realm of the conscious represents a dynamic unity of some bodily-perceptual abilities, as well as logical-conceptual means of understanding reality. This is a certain set of knowledge and assessments implemented in actions controlled by our "I".

To the phenomenon superconscious It is customary to attribute objective and supratemporal processes and acts of consciousness. For example, categories can be assigned that provide the possibility of generating and understanding any meanings (space, time, movement, quality, quantity), a stable framework of knowledge as such (mathematical truths, logical rules, laws of nature, universal moral, aesthetic and social values), creative insights. In the sphere of the superconscious, the property of consciousness is manifested to ascend from individual forms to collective forms, i.e. not depend on the preferences and predilections of individuals.

1. Philosophy: textbook. for universities / under the general editorship. V.V. Mironov. – M.: Norma, 2008.

2. Spirkin, A.S. Consciousness and self-awareness. - M.: Nauka, 1972.

3. Spirkin, A.S. Philosophy. - M.: Gardariki, 1998.

4. Mamardashvili, M.K. Consciousness as a philosophical category // Questions of Philosophy. - 1990. - No. 10.

5. Philosophy: a textbook for universities / ed. A.F. Zotov, V.V. Mironov, A.V. Razin; Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov. – 5th ed., revised. and additional – M.: Acad. project: Culture, 2008.

Consciousness human- this is a subjective experience of external reality, which is expressed in the self-report of these events. A broader definition of the concept of consciousness is a property of the psyche through which external events are displayed, regardless of the level of implementation (biological, social, sensual or rational). In a narrower sense, this is a function of the brain, peculiar only to people, which, associated with speech, is expressed in a purposeful and generalized reflection of the phenomena of reality, preliminary construction of actions in the mind and prediction of results, manifests itself in rational management and actions through.

The concept of human consciousness is the subject of research in many sciences (psychology, philosophy, sociology), scientists are trying to reveal the meaning of the existence and occurrence of such a phenomenon.

Consciousness is a synonym: reason, comprehension, clarification, comprehension, thought, mind, further they will be used in the text.

Forms of consciousness

There is individual and social consciousness. The first, individual, is the consciousness of each individual about his individuality of being, through his social being. It is an element of social consciousness. Consequently, the second, the concept of social consciousness is the generalized individual consciousness of various personalities. Such a generalization occurs historically, in the process of a long time. Therefore, it is also considered a group.

In group consciousness, two features must be considered - this is the social contact of people as an important factor and the general strength of these people when combining their individual forces.

Each collective is a group of different personalities, however, not every group of personalities will be a collective. Proceeding from this, the manifestation of the collective consciousness will always be group, and the group will not always be collective. The collective mind is, firstly, a manifestation of social consciousness as a social idea, and secondly, this idea determines the activity of individuals in this team.

The individual awareness of typical individuals always determines the group awareness. But only what is typical for a certain group, which is suitable for the frequency of manifestation, the power of expression at any time, that is, that which is ahead, directs the development of this group.

The collective and group forms of consciousness are under the dependence of social consciousness and are conditioned by the relations between the members of the group. Thus, those mental phenomena that are characteristic of the process of communication represent different phenomena in the group consciousness.

The latter, in turn, is divided into several forms of consciousness. The most specific are mass-like phenomena; they make up public moods and create a group psychological climate. These moods are mostly caused by interpersonal relationships. If there are good, warm and trusting relations in the group, then, accordingly, the psychological climate will be favorable and it will be easier for such a group to solve problems. But if a person is introduced into such a team, dispelling hostility between members of the group, naturally, the psychological climate will worsen, labor efficiency will begin to fall. Also, mass moods in the group can be affected by didactogeny - these are changes in mood, reaching a painful state and are caused by rude behavior and the influence of the leader.

Another form of group consciousness is panic. Panic is a manifestation, a state that captures a whole group and, under the influence of mutual imitation, intensifies even more.

Fashion is a form of group consciousness, when people begin to imitate each other, equal to public opinion and rely on the media's announcement of what they should wear, dress, wear, what music to listen to.

Collective thinking is also a form of group consciousness, it reinforces the purposefulness of each member in solving the task of the team, makes it possible to think it over and highlight it from different angles, and also promotes initiative. Collective thinking adds criticality to decisions, and this contributes to the development of self-criticism in each member of the group, enriches the knowledge and experience of some by acquiring knowledge from others, creates a positive emotional tone, creates situations of competition, increasing efficiency, and reduces time to solve the task. The solution of one task contributes to the emergence of new ones and thus stimulates the development and progression of the group, collective thinking moves the team forward.

The form of social consciousness is divided into several types: religion, science, law, morality, ideology and art. Forms such as religion, law, morality and art, such as social phenomena are relatively independent and are studied by different sciences. Moral and aesthetic consciousness have a connection that can be observed daily, for example, moral actions are often characterized as beautiful, and vice versa, immoral actions are called disgusting or ugly.

Religious art through church painting, music is used to deepen religious feelings and, in general, the religious consciousness of each individual and entire groups. In small groups, religious awareness is a phenomenon from religious psychology that includes religious outlook individual and groups.

The philosophical view of consciousness is a theoretical worldview, knowledge of the laws of nature, man and society, it highlights the methods of their knowledge. Displays being in a conceptual form, performs epistemological and ideological functions.

The scientific nature of consciousness is a rational systematized display of the surrounding world through the application of scientific theories, arguments and facts, is displayed in the minds of people in the categories of laws and theories. It allows a person to think in categories, to apply various principles of knowledge in order to make new discoveries. The application of scientific consciousness can be seen in various spheres of human existence.

Morality, as a form of awareness, appeared and changed, as well as the moral psychology of the group, which generalizes the socially useful experience of communication in groups and in appropriate conditions.

The morality of consciousness is based on the category of morality, it is the most ancient form of social consciousness, it also passes through all areas human activity(profession, life, family). It is reflected in the categories that a person thinks and is guided by: good, evil, conscience, dignity, and others. Morality is determined by the horizons of specific societies and classes. IN moral standards are displayed universal, that is, independent of the social class, moral values Keywords: humanism, honor, responsibility, compassion, collectivism, gratitude, generosity.

The political consciousness began to appear with the formation of the state, classes and the sphere of politics. It reflects the interactions of classes and social groups, place and their role in state power, relations between nations and states, oriented economic motives. It integrates all forms of social consciousness. It is influenced by various spheres: religion, science, law, but the political one remains the leading one. It is also an element of the functioning of the political system of the country. It has two levels: the ordinary-practical level and the ideological-theoretical. At the ordinary theoretical level, experience and tradition, emotional and rational, experience and traditions are interconnected, it appears spontaneously, from the activity and life experience of people. It is also unstable, because it exists under the influence and dependence on the conditions of life, people's emotions and constantly changing experiences.

The use of everyday consciousness is important because it is characterized by the integrity of life understanding, and in creative processing it is the basis of theoretical consciousness. Theoretical political consciousness is characterized by the completeness and depth of reflection of political reality, which is distinguished by the ability to predict and systematize views. It can develop a political program based on the economic and social spheres. Such a political ideology is capable of actively influencing the level of public consciousness. Only specially trained people work on the creation of an ideology, who are engaged in comprehending the patterns of social life and occupy themselves with “political creativity”. A well-formed ideology can have an impact on the consciousness of society as a whole, since it is not just a system of views, but well-structured propaganda that permeates all layers and spheres of society, which uses state power and uses the media, science, culture, religion.

There is a very strong connection with the political consciousness in the legal consciousness, since in it there are political, as well as economic interests of various social groups. It affects various spheres of public life, in which it performs the following functions: regulatory, cognitive and evaluative.

It is also legal, has a historical character, and its development occurs depending on economic and political circumstances and living conditions, it arises along with the first manifestations of the political organization of society, law and division into classes and reflects the relationship of people, organizations, state bodies that are bound by rights and duties, their guarantor is the law.

Economic awareness reflects the knowledge and theories of economic activity and social needs. It is formed under the influence of historical conditions and is conditioned by the need to realize economic and social changes. It also aims to improve economic reality.

Environmental aspects of human consciousness perform public functions. First of all, cognitive and educational functions. It is interconnected with other forms of consciousness: moral, aesthetic and legal. The state of ecology requires a person to have an aesthetic and moral attitude to the surrounding nature, otherwise, a person is influenced by legal consciousness in order to pay for the damage caused to nature.

Ecological awareness lies in a humane attitude towards nature, awareness of a person himself, as part of this nature. The criterion for this is the spiritual need for respect and the desire to preserve the beauty of nature.

Consciousness and the unconscious

The state of awareness is the state of a person in which he is able to clearly see and comprehend everything that is happening around him and what is happening directly to him, is able to control his actions and follow the development of events around him.

The unconscious is uncontrolled, unconscious actions and special mental manifestations. These are two different poles of the psyche, but they are in connection and interaction.

He was the first in psychology to study individual consciousness and the unconscious, their relationship and how they manifest themselves in behavior. According to this trend, human awareness is only one tenth of the psyche. Most of it is the unconscious, which stores instincts, desires, emotions, fears, they are always with a person, but only sometimes they manifest themselves and at that moment guide a person.

Consciousness is synonymous with consciousness, and this term will also be used. So, the conscious is that which is controlled by a person, the unconscious is that which cannot be controlled, only it itself is able to influence a person. Illumination, dreams, associations, reflexes - appear without our will, also intuition, inspiration, creativity, impressions, memories, obsessive thoughts, slips of the tongue, slips of the tongue, illnesses, pains, urges - manifestations of the unconscious, sometimes some of them can manifest themselves in a completely inappropriate way. moment or if the person does not expect it at all.

Thus, there is a connection between the unconscious and the conscious, and today no one dares to refute it. Both the conscious and the unconscious are intertwined in a person and influence both him and each other. The unconscious sphere can open up to a person, which establishes what inner impulses and forces drive a person, his thoughts and actions, outside of consciousness.

Guided by this knowledge, you can greatly improve your life, learn to trust your intuition, become open to creativity, work on your fears, open up, listen to your inner voice, work through oppressed desires. All this requires a reserve of strength and desire, but then in order to fully understand yourself, develop, achieve goals, get rid of complexes, you need to engage in introspection and deep self-knowledge.

The unconscious relieves the mind of unnecessary load, protects against information overload. It contains negative experiences, fears, information that traumatizes the psyche and, thanks to this, protects a person from psychological overstrain and breakdowns. Without such a mechanism, people would not be able to withstand all the pressures from the outside world. Thanks to the liberation from negative experiences or outdated unnecessary information, a person is able to fully realize himself.

The protection of a person's consciousness is manifested in the release of him from constant control over the actions that he performs every day. Actions such as brushing your teeth, using appliances, riding a bicycle, and many others become automatic and do not require comprehension of actions. Also, an adult does not notice how he makes words out of letters when he reads, does not think about what actions need to be performed in order to walk. Similarly, actions become automatic in professions.

Because some information goes into the unconscious area, much more space is freed up for the assimilation of new information, the mind more easily concentrates on new important tasks. But we must not forget that even what went into the unconscious did not disappear without a trace, it is stored, and under the influence of some stimulus it can break out, because, in any case, it is part of a person.

The conscious and unconscious minds are of equal importance to humans, and the functionality of either should not be underestimated.

Consciousness and self-awareness

The concept of human consciousness is also used in the context of self-consciousness. The properties of consciousness are that it, as a personal core of a person, contains feelings, sensations, thoughts and emotions. The meaning of self-consciousness is that it is the relation of man to himself. It turns out that both concepts are parts of a single whole.

If you look back at the history of mankind, then primitive people had only an underdeveloped awareness, which developed in stages. It began with the fact that a person felt his body on a physical level, understood the limitations of his abilities. After exploring his body, he began to explore the outside world, from which his mind acquired new information, which stimulated his development. How more people gets acquainted with different items, the more he is able to find their differences and learn new properties.

Formation of self-consciousness happened a little later. At first, man was guided only by innate instincts (reproduction, self-preservation). Thanks to self-awareness, a person managed to rise above such primitivism, and this was facilitated by the emergence of hierarchy in communities. Each group had a leader, whom everyone listened to, carried out his instructions, accepted criticism and praise. Thus, people became above their instincts, because they began to do something not specifically for themselves alone, but for the whole group and the leader. Such a manifestation of self-consciousness in the outer world, and not inside the consciousness of a person. Even later, the individual began to listen to his own voice and act in relation to "heard", this allowed him to rise above instincts, fleeting desires and other factors that interfered with personal development.

In the development of modern man, the formation of consciousness and self-awareness also appears in stages. At first, the child gradually becomes aware of himself, then he finds himself under the guidance of adults. Later external leaders replaced by internal ones. But this development has not reached everyone. In the undeveloped countries, there are such people who still live according to the old instinct.

Without self-consciousness, a person cannot go further in his personal development achieve goals, get along with others, become successful. With the help of self-consciousness, a person sees and makes his life the way he wants. All successful people own this property. Otherwise, they could not become intelligent, develop intellect.

By the way, categories such as consciousness and are often compared. Many people believe that if there is consciousness, then this also speaks of intelligence, but these categories have different meanings. An intelligent person is not always conscious. The level of consciousness in not very educated people may be higher. Therefore, consciousness and intellect are non-identical concepts. But with the help of self-consciousness, the development of intellectual capabilities occurs. The properties of self-consciousness and consciousness make up the life of a modern person, help him in gaining freedom, otherwise it would remain only within the framework of desires.

Consciousness in philosophy

The concept of consciousness in philosophy is difficult topic to study, it was pondered by great men. The relationship between the concepts of consciousness and the brain in philosophy is an even more difficult topic, since the two concepts are presented as completely different. The definition of consciousness is the idea, and the brain is the material substratum. However, there is definitely a connection between them.

Modern philosophers are confident in the existence of consciousness and, regarding the sources, distinguish several of its factors. First, the external and spiritual world, the natural and the spiritual, are reflected in consciousness under the guise of certain sensory-conceptual representations. Such information is the result of the interactions of a person and a situation that provides contact with her.

Second, the socio-cultural environment, aesthetic and ethical attitudes, legal acts, knowledge, ways and means cognitive activity It allows a person to be a social being.

Thirdly, this is the spiritual inner world of the individual, her life experience and experiences, rethinking which a person makes plans.

Fourth, the brain is such a factor because it ensures the functioning of consciousness at the cellular level.

Fifth, the cosmic information field is also a factor, the link of which is the functioning of human consciousness.

It turns out that the source of consciousness is not only the ideas themselves (behind the theory of idealists), and not the brain itself (behind the materialists), but objective and subjective reality, which reflects a person with the help of the brain in transpersonal forms of consciousness.

Consciousness and the brain in philosophy is studied from several approaches. One of these is physicalism - a materialistic direction that denies the existence of consciousness as an independent substance, since, first of all, it is generated by matter.

Solipsism is also an approach that studies the concept of consciousness and presents extreme views. It says that the awareness of each person exists as a single reliable reality. The material world is a product of consciousness.

The described approaches present moderate materialism and objective idealism. Regarding the first, the category of consciousness in it is defined as a unique manifestation of matter, which allows you to display yourself. The second, insists that in consciousness there is a certain connection with matter, the existence of consciousness is defined as initial.

Indeed, a person's awareness of the brain, or how, in itself, is not explained by the approaches described above. Other avenues need to be explored. For example, there is a cosmic view, according to which the meaning of consciousness independent of the material carrier is a gift from the cosmos, and is indivisible.

According to biological theory, the ability to be aware is a product of wildlife and is inherent in absolutely everyone, even the simplest organisms. Because life is not spontaneous, and patterns flow from consciousness. All living creatures have innate instincts and acquired in the process of their life, accumulated with experience, they are also capable of performing actions that are complex in structure, and some animals even have a peculiar morality.

But there is also a view, in relation to which, the property of consciousness is considered to be inherent exclusively in man. But, even coming out of such different versions, definitions, philosophy does not give a single answer to the question of the source of the origin of consciousness. The human mind is in constant motion, development, because every day different events happen to it, which a person tries to comprehend, to realize.

Consciousness and language in philosophy can be briefly described as another issue of concern to philosophers. Mind and language directly have mutual influence that can be controlled. When a person works on improving speech data, he also changes his own properties of consciousness, thereby developing the ability to objectively perceive information and make decisions. Ancient philosophical thinkers such as Heraclitus, Plato, Aristotle studied the relationship of consciousness, thinking and language. This can even be seen in the Greek word logos, which literally means that thought is inseparable from the word.

Consciousness and language in philosophy can be briefly determined through such a philosophical trend as “philosophy of language”, it asserts that the ability of consciousness directly affects the perception of the world of a person, in particular, his speech, which also results in communication with others.

In modern times, many scientists are trying to find new relationships in consciousness and language. For example, recent studies have confirmed that visual pictures that have been formed under the influence of consciousness are used in each person's thinking. Thus awareness directs the thought process. Close to such a definition was the thinker Rene Descartes, who gave such an explanation, which was forever entrenched in philosophy and other sciences, that it can be found dominant.

Descartes believed that there are two substances - thinking and corporeal, fundamentally different from each other. Things and events of bodily substance are considered spatial and accessible to external contemplation, then consciousness and events in it are not spatial, that is, they cannot be observed, but they can be realized by the internal experience of the bearer of this consciousness.

Idealists did not support such an idea, but argued that a person is a state of consciousness, like a spirit, in which the bodily and biological do not matter much. Contemporaries are not satisfied with such a view, so philosophers who discuss the psychophysical problem of consciousness adhere to a greater degree of variants of materialism.

The most consistent version of the materialistic direction is the theory of identity, which believes that thought processes, perceptions and sensations are identical with the state of the brain.

Functionalism, as another view on the definition of consciousness, considers phenomena and processes as functional states of the brain, and not physical ones. The brain is defined as a complex multilevel system with physical, functional and system properties. This approach has several disadvantages, of which the main one is that such a definition is very much in the spirit of Cartesian dualism.

Some supporters of modern philosophy believe that it is necessary to turn away from Descartes' ideas about personality as a "spirit in a machine", based on the fact that initially a person is a rational animal capable of conscious behavior, a person cannot be divided into two worlds, therefore there is a need for a new interpretation of concepts related to the ability of consciousness - from simple sensations to intellectual processes and self-consciousness.

So, consciousness is the highest form of reflection of the real world, it is peculiar only to people and the function of the brain is associated with speech, which consists in a generalized and purposeful reflection of reality, in a preliminary mental construction of actions and anticipation of their results, in reasonable regulation and self-control of human behavior. consciousness concept origin

The core of consciousness, the way of its existence is knowledge. Consciousness belongs to the subject, to the person, and not to the surrounding world. But the content of consciousness, the content of human thoughts is the whole world, all its aspects, connections, laws. Therefore, consciousness can be characterized as a subjective image of the objective world.

Man, unlike animals, knows and realizes himself, he is able to improve. His consciousness is inherent in such aspects as self-consciousness, introspection, self-control. Their formation occurs when a person separates himself from the environment. Self-consciousness is the most important difference between the human psyche and the psyche of the most developed animals. Consciousness is not just a mental state, but the highest human form of reflection of reality. Human consciousness is structurally organized and is an integral system consisting of various elements that are in regular relations with each other.

It is traditionally believed that the merit of a holistic formulation of the problem of consciousness, or rather the problem of the ideal, belongs to Plato. Before Plato such a problem did not exist in the form. The soul, which was reduced to the fundamental principle of the whole world, was considered the bearer of thoughts and feelings of a person. Atomists ( Democritus) consider the soul as a formation consisting of special rounded atoms and emptiness, i.e. as a special material formation. Developing the ideas of Socrates about the innateness of true knowledge to the soul before its incarnation in a human body, Plato for the first time singles out the ideal as a special essence that does not coincide and is opposite to the sensual, objective, material world of things. However, for the ancient Greek consciousness was not yet an independent phenomenon. The soul (consciousness) was a part of the world cosmos, and absolutely accurately reproduced the surrounding phenomena. The idea of ​​consciousness as an internal spiritual experience of a person appears in philosophy of the Middle Ages, where it is analyzed through the prism of religious issues. IN modern era, when actually there is a turn from the concept of the soul to the concept of consciousness, the latter is interpreted as the cognitive ability of a person, as "I" - a personal formation. Consciousness is understood as a product of internal development (thinking for Descartes) and as a result of external influences (sensations for Locke and Hobbes). Philosophy XIX century opens new horizons of consciousness. The irrationalists Schopenhauer and Nietzsche make consciousness dependent on unconscious processes. It will be proven later Z. Freud in the psychology of the unconscious. K. Marx And F. Engels analyze the influence of social prerequisites on consciousness.

In philosophy, the following concepts of consciousness have developed and retain their significance in modern culture:

• · Objective-idealistic interpretation consciousness as a superhuman, over personal, ultimately transcendental idea (the world of ideas for Plato; the absolute idea for Hegel; God for theologians; extraterrestrial mind for ufologists), which underlies all forms of earthly existence. Human consciousness is a particle, product or otherness of the world mind.
• · Subjective-idealistic systems consider human consciousness as a self-sufficient entity that contains a picture of itself and is the substance of the material world (R. Descartes, J. Berkeley).
• · Hylozoism (reified life) claims that all matter thinks, consciousness is an attributive property of the entire material world. From the point of view of hylozoism, all matter is animated or, at least, has the prerequisites for thinking. This concept goes back to early teachings Milesian school, its elements are contained in the teachings of Aristotle, J. Bruno, B. Spinoza. The data of modern science on the elements of the rational activity of animals, the successes of physiology in diagnosing diseases of the central nervous system, the achievements of cybernetics in the creation of "thinking machines" revive the ideas of hylozoism and psychophysiological parallelism, according to which both mental and physiological are two independent entities, the study of which should be carried out through own substantiality.
• · Vulgar materialism as a reductionist identification of consciousness with material formations in the human brain. Consciousness is purely material in nature, it is the result of the functioning of certain parts or formations of the brain. The denial of the qualitative specificity of consciousness, human thinking, with its origins goes back to ancient culture and was especially clearly manifested in ancient atomism, but the materialization of consciousness gained particular popularity in the late 18th - early 19th centuries in connection with the spread of the idea of ​​Darwinism. Its most prominent representatives K. Vogt, L. Buchner, J. Moleschott, propagating the achievements of science in the middle of the 19th century, coarsened and simplified the most complex philosophical and psychophysical problem, the problem of the relationship between matter and consciousness. In the 20th century, in connection with the success of solving the technical problems of constructing artificial intelligence, philosophical discussions about the problem "can a machine think?", studies that found a direct relationship between the content side of thinking and the structure of the processes occurring in the brain, the ideas of characterizing thinking as attribute of the material substrate.
• · Sociologization of consciousness consciousness is placed in absolute dependence on the external, including the social environment. The sources of these ideas are J. Locke and his followers, the French materialists of the 18th century, who believe that a person is born with a soul, consciousness, like a blank sheet of paper. Criticizing the concept of "innate ideas" of Descartes, they believed that the content of ideas, concepts, with the help of which a person analyzes the data of the senses about the individual properties of things, forms a society, education. The beginnings of this concept can be found already in Aristotle, who puts the formation of human abilities, virtues in dependence on the needs of society, the interests of the state - the policy. These ideas deny the individuality of human thinking, the dependence of the abilities of a thinking individual on the features of the structure and functioning of his central nervous system.
• · Dialectical materialism approaches the study of consciousness as a complex, internally contradictory phenomenon of the unity of the material and ideal, objective and subjective, biological and social. Based on the achievements of classical and modern science, the dialectical-materialist concept of consciousness reveals the essential features and characteristics of human consciousness.
• v Consciousness- an ideal phenomenon, function, special property, a product of a highly organized material substrate - the human brain, thinking matter.
• v Consciousness- an ideal image, snapshot, copy, reflection in the brain of the subject of a material object.
• v Consciousness possesses creative activity, which is manifested in the relative independence of its functioning and development and the reverse effect on the material world.
• v Consciousness- a product of socio-historical development, outside of society it does not arise and cannot exist.
• v Consciousness as an ideal reflection of the material world does not exist without language as a material form of its expression.

All six considered concepts contain a share of truth in understanding the nature of consciousness, have their supporters, advantages and limitations, answer some questions, but do not give answers to others, and therefore have equal rights to exist within the framework of philosophical knowledge. In non-classical and post-non-classical philosophy, a paradoxical situation is emerging: theoretically, the question of the specifics of consciousness and, consequently, the philosophical status of the phenomenon of consciousness is called into question, and the practical study of consciousness by objective, including scientific, methods is activated, which indicates the enduring significance and the importance of human thought. Throughout the 20th century, some participants in disputes about the nature of consciousness reproduce ideas about the irreality, transcendence of consciousness, while others reduce consciousness to language, behavior, to neurophysiological processes, denying the specifics and the special structure and essence inherent in consciousness itself.

Consciousness in philosophy and its definition have long been a serious terminological problem. To date, there are a large number of interpretations of this issue. The understanding of consciousness changed depending on the worldview prevailing in a certain era.

Consciousness in the philosophy of antiquity

In the culture of the ancient world, as is known, the worldview of cosmocentrism dominated. All human attention was directed to the world that surrounds him. And consciousness itself was perceived as a link between cognizable objects and the mind of a single individual. Ancient philosophy revealed one side of perception - focus on objects and objects.

Consciousness in the philosophy of Christianity

The culture of Christianity brought with it new needs. The idea of ​​inner concentration during prayer arose, that is, the communication of man and God. Along with prayers, there is also the practice of confession to a priest. During confession, the ability to self-control and even introspection was manifested. The idea arises that consciousness is the knowledge of spiritual individual experience. The content of consciousness includes passions, reflexes, instincts, reasoning. Up to merging with the Creator. The worldview that arose during the Christianization of Europe was geocentric.

Consciousness in the philosophy of modern times

During this period, mankind itself decided to approach God and even become God, relying on Gnosis (“knowledge”). Man, refusing supersensible perception, agreed to accept his origin exclusively through evolution and nature. The philosophy of modern times laid the foundation for the anthropocentric worldview. It was man who became the Alpha and Omega of everything that is happening in the world. Such theses as “man is the creator of the world”, “I think, therefore I exist”, and became the basis for the development of such a direction as anthropocentric philosophy. Consciousness was identified as much as possible with rationalized thinking. It was consciousness and self-consciousness in the philosophy of modern times that put forward the thesis that the world is constructed according to the rules of mathematics and logic.

Sources of Consciousness

In the process of researching such a complex issue as consciousness in philosophy, several research strategies have developed: objective-idealistic, realistic, vulgar-materialistic, phenomenological, and others. The vulgar-materialistic source considers consciousness and thinking in relation to some material changes determined by food, which affects the brain through blood chemistry. The objective-materialistic strategy defines awareness and consciousness as a kind of spiritual factor independent of the activity of the brain. The philosophical-realistic direction in such a question as consciousness in philosophy distinguishes the following sub-points:

1. The spiritual and objective world, social and natural phenomena are reflected in the form of concrete images in the mind.
2. Ideas, ethical ideals, aesthetic attitudes, knowledge and legal norms make it possible to look at the world through the prism of society.
3. The spiritual world of each individual and his inner experiences are unique.
4. The source of consciousness is the cosmic information field, and man is only a small part of it.