Abstract: Spiritual culture. Philosophy as a form of spiritual culture Philosophy in the field of spiritual culture

PHILOSOPHY

Lecture notes

Topic 1. Philosophy in the system of spiritual culture 2

Topic 2. Subject and functions of philosophy 2

Topic 3. Worldviews 3

Topic 4. Philosophy of antiquity 5

Topic 5. Medieval philosophy 7

Topic 6. Philosophy of the Renaissance 8

Topic 7. Philosophy of the New Age 9

Topic 8. Modern foreign philosophy 13

Topic 9. Domestic philosophy 17

Topic 10. The problem of being 21

Topic 12. Movement, space and time 22

Topic 13. Dialectics and metaphysics 24

Topic 14. The problem of consciousness 25

Topic 15. Human cognitive abilities 27

Topic 16. The problem of truth 29

Topic 17. Scientific knowledge 30

Topic 18. Man and nature 33

Topic 19. Man and society 34

Topic 20. Man and culture 36

Topic 21. The meaning of human life 37

Topic 22. Society as a system 38

Topic 23. The problem of social development 40

Topic 24. Technology and society 42

Topic 25. Global problems of our time 44

Topic 1. Philosophy in the system of spiritual culture

Philosophy is a special type of worldview.

Worldview– a person’s system of views on the world, on himself and on his place in the world; includes attitude, attitude and understanding of the world.

Mythology - This is historically the first form of a holistic and imaginative worldview. Function of myth consolidation of established traditions and norms.

Religion - a type of worldview defined by belief in the existence of supernatural forces. Religion is aimed at comprehending the sacred world. Religious values ​​are expressed in commandments. In the life of society, religion is the guardian of timeless values.

Philosophy is a systemically rationalized worldview , i.e. a system of rationally based views on the world and the place of man in it. Philosophy arose in the 7th-6th centuries. BC. through overcoming the myth. Philosophy was originally understood as “the love of wisdom.” European philosophy originated in Ancient Greece. The first to use the term “philosophical”, i.e. began to call himself a philosopher, was Pythagoras. Until the middle of the 19th century. The conviction reigned that philosophy was the “queen of the sciences.”

Philosophy as a doctrine about the first principles of existence is called metaphysics. Philosophy is aimed at comprehending universal connections in reality. The most important value in philosophy is true knowledge.

Philosophy theoretically substantiates the basic principles of a worldview. Philosophy is the theoretical core, the core of the spiritual culture of man and society, an expression of the self-awareness of a historical era. Philosophical knowledge, used in various spheres of people’s lives as a guide for activities, acts as a methodology

Mastering philosophical thinking contributes to the formation of such personality qualities as criticality and self-criticism.

Philosophy and science. As rational knowledge, in which the essential connections of reality are revealed, philosophy acts as Sciences. The role of philosophy in science lies in the methodology of scientific knowledge. Unlike science, philosophy is characterized by the fact that most philosophical statements are empirically unprovable; philosophy comprehends the world in its universal integrity.

Philosophy and art. Implementing a personal approach to understanding reality, philosophy appears as art. Like philosophy, art is personal. Unlike philosophy, in art experience is translated in images (in philosophy - in concepts and theories).

Philosophy and religion. The difference between philosophy and religion is that it is a theoretical form of mastering the universe, and also that in philosophy the cognitive function is the leading one for it.

Topic 2. Subject and functions of philosophy

Specific object of philosophy is being as a whole. Philosophy explores the universal relationships in the “man – world” system. Philosophical problems characterized by the fact that they have a universal, ultimate character and are fundamentally open to new solutions (“eternal questions”).

Sections of philosophical knowledge:

    Ontology- the doctrine of being.

    Epistemology– the doctrine of knowledge and cognition.

    Anthropology- the doctrine of the origin, essence and evolution of man.

    Praxeology– the doctrine of human activity.

    Axiology– teaching about values .

    Aesthetics- the doctrine of beauty.

    Logics– the doctrine of basic laws and forms of thinking.

    Epistemology– the doctrine of scientific, reliable knowledge.

    Ethics- the doctrine of morality, morality, virtue.

    Social philosophy– the doctrine of society as a special kind of reality.

    History of philosophy– philosophy studied in the process of its prehistory, emergence, formation and development.

    Philosophy of history– the doctrine of the process of social life.

Functions of philosophy:

ideological(forms a picture of the world and the existence of man in it; helps a person in resolving the question of the meaning of life);

epistemological(accumulates, generalizes and transmits new knowledge; helps a person understand his place in nature and society);

methodological(analyzes ways of knowing, clarifies the problems of specific sciences, acts as the basis for guiding activities);

logical-epistemological(justifies the conceptual and theoretical structures of scientific knowledge);

explanatory and informational, ideological(forms a worldview in accordance with the latest achievements of science and existing social reality);

critical(teaches not to immediately accept or reject anything without deep and independent reflection and analysis);

heuristic(capable, in conjunction with science, of predicting the general course of development of existence; this function is associated with the methodological significance of philosophy);

integrating(combines the achievements of science into a single whole);

axiological(forms value orientations and ideals);

humanistic(gives justification for the value of man and his freedom, “purification of the soul”; helps to find the meaning of life in crisis situations);

practical(develops strategies for the relationship between man and nature).

Topic 3. Worldviews of the world

Picture of the world– the intellectual component of any type of worldview, a system of ideas about the general structure of the universe. Any picture of the world highlights the essential aspects of reality, but at the same time simplifies and schematizes reality.

For mythological picture of the world Characteristic: anthropomorphism, humanization of nature, i.e. transfer of the main features of humanity to the universe; artistic imagery, syncretism, cosmocentrism.

For religious picture of the world Characteristic: belief in the existence of a supernatural world, theocentrism, the principle of creationism (the creation of the world by God), reliance on the sacred scriptures, the principle of revelation, the unconditional influence of authority.

For scientific picture of the world characterized by: mathematical design, focus on true knowledge of causes, validity by facts, the ability to make correct predictions. First classical scientific the picture of the world of the 17th century was mechanical in nature. Transition to non-classical The (modern) scientific picture of the world began at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. in connection with the discoveries of the presence of randomness and the evolution of nature (quantum physics, theory of relativity, synergetics).

Philosophical picture of the world is associated with the question of the relationship of thinking to being (the “fundamental question of philosophy”, according to F. Engels). Depending on which sphere of existence is attributed primacy - nature or spirit - philosophers are divided into materialists and idealists.

Materialism – a philosophical direction that considers the material principle to be the basis of being (“matter is primary, consciousness is secondary”; “being determines consciousness”). According to materialism, there is nothing outside nature and man, and higher beings are just our fantasies. Being is the revelation of the essential forces of matter itself, its self-motion as a substance. Types of materialism: metaphysical (mechanistic) and dialectical materialism.

Metaphysical (mechanistic) materialism – a trend in philosophy, according to which nature does not develop, is qualitatively unchanged (Democritus, Leucippus, Epicurus, F. Bacon, J. Locke, J. La Mettrie, Helvetius, etc.).

Dialectical materialism – a movement in philosophy, according to which everything that exists is considered as the self-development of matter (the natural world) according to dialectical laws (Marx, Engels, Lenin, Plekhanov, etc.).

Idealism a philosophical direction that considers the spiritual principle to be the basis of being (“spiritual is primary, matter is secondary”; “consciousness determines being”). Types of idealism: objective, subjective, solipsism.

Objective idealism believes that the origin of all things is an ideal essence that exists objectively, i.e. regardless of human consciousness (God, the Absolute, the Idea, the World Mind, etc.). The most famous representatives: Plato, Aurelius Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Hegel.

Subjective idealism believes that all reality exists only in the consciousness of the knowing subject; the world is a projection of a complex of human sensations (J. Berkeley, D. Hume).

Solipsism claims that we can only speak reliably about the existence of my own “I” and my feelings.

Theism(Greek Theos - God) - a direction that recognizes the existence of God as an independent spiritual reality, independent of human consciousness (“God created man”). Proponents of theism are idealists.

Atheism- a direction in which God is declared to be a figment of human imagination (L. Feuerbach) and it is argued that the essence of religion is in the fantastic reflection in the heads of people of external forces that dominate them in their social life (Marx, Engels, Lenin).

According to monism, everything that exists has one origin, a single basis (substance) either material or ideal.

According to dualism, at the basis of everything that exists are two equal and irreducible principles (substances): material and ideal (for example, in Descartes – thinking and extended substances).

According to pluralism, supposed a bunch of the original foundations and principles of being, either material (Democritus) or ideal (Leibniz).

Rationalism (Latin ratio - reason) asserts that the world is arranged rationally, according to the laws of logic, and therefore reason is the main instrument of knowledge and the criterion of truth (Plato, Hegel, etc.).

Irrationalism (Latin irrationalis - unreasonable) - a direction that denies the rational structure of existence and the possibility of its rational, logical knowledge and improvement. The main type of knowledge here is recognized as will, instinct, intuition, experience, faith, revelation, etc. (Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Bergson, etc.).

Determinism(lat. determino - I determine) - the doctrine of the objective, necessary relationship and interdependence of the phenomena of the material and spiritual world. The central core of determinism is the position of the existence of causality.

Indeterminism- a doctrine in which causal relationships in nature, society, and knowledge are somehow denied. Indeterminists emphasize human will and freedom of choice and accuse determinists of fatalism.

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Spiritual culture in philosophy


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The concept of spiritual culture:

Contains all areas of spiritual production (art, philosophy, science, etc.),
shows the socio-political processes occurring in society (we are talking about power structures of management, legal and moral norms, leadership styles, etc.).

The ancient Greeks formed the classic triad of the spiritual culture of humanity: truth - goodness - beauty.

Accordingly, three most important value absolutes of human spirituality were identified:

Theoreticism, with an orientation towards truth and the creation of a special essential being, opposite to the ordinary phenomena of life;

This subordinates all other human aspirations to the moral content of life;

Aestheticism that achieves the maximum fullness of life based on emotional and sensory experience.

The above-mentioned aspects of spiritual culture have found their embodiment in various spheres of human activity: in science, philosophy, politics, art, law, etc. Spiritual culture involves activities aimed at the spiritual development of man and society, and also represents the results of this activity.

Spiritual culture is a set of intangible elements of culture: norms of behavior, morality, values, rituals, symbols, knowledge, myths, ideas, customs, traditions, language.

Spiritual culture arises from the need for comprehension and figurative-sensual mastery of reality. In real life it is realized in a number of specialized forms: morality, art, religion, philosophy, science.

All these forms of human life are interconnected and influence each other. Morality fixes the idea of ​​good and evil, honor, conscience, justice, etc. These ideas and norms regulate the behavior of people in society.

Art includes aesthetic values ​​(beautiful, sublime, ugly) and ways of creating and consuming them.

Religion serves the needs of the spirit; man turns his gaze to God. Philosophy satisfies the needs of the human spirit for unity on a rational (reasonable) basis.

The concept of “spiritual culture” has a complex and confusing history. At the beginning of the 19th century, spiritual culture was viewed as a church-religious concept. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the understanding of spiritual culture became much broader, including not only religion, but also morality, politics, and art.

During the Soviet period, the concept of “spiritual culture” was interpreted by the authors superficially. Material production gives rise to material culture - it is primary, and spiritual production gives rise to spiritual culture (ideas, feelings, theories) - it is secondary.

In the 21st century “spiritual culture” is understood in different ways:

As something sacred (religious);
as something positive that does not require explanation;
as mystical-esoteric.

At present, as before, the concept of “spiritual culture” is not clearly defined or developed.

The relevance of the problem of the formation of personal spirituality in the modern situation is due to a number of reasons. Today, many ills of social life: crime, immorality, prostitution, alcoholism, drug addiction and others - are explained, first of all, by the state of lack of spirituality in modern society, a condition that causes serious concern and progresses from year to year. The search for ways to overcome these social vices puts the problem of spirituality at the center of humanitarian knowledge. Its relevance is also due to economic reasons: as social, economic, and political reforms are implemented in society, the conditions and nature of human labor and its motivation are rapidly changing.

True spirituality is “the trinity of truth, goodness and beauty” and the main criteria of such spirituality are:

Intentionality, that is, “outward focus, on something or someone, on a business or person, on an idea or on a person”;
reflection on the basic life values ​​that constitute the meaning of a person’s existence and act as guidelines in a situation of existential choice. It is the ability to reflect, from the point of view of Teilhard de Chardin, that is the main reason for the superiority of man over animals. One of the conditions for the formation of the ability to reflect is seclusion, exile, voluntary or forced loneliness;
freedom, understood as self-determination, that is, the ability to act in accordance with one’s goals and values, and not under the pressure of external circumstances;
creativity, understood not only as an activity that generates something new that did not previously exist, but also as self-creation - creativity aimed at finding oneself, at realizing one’s meaning in life;
developed conscience, which coordinates the “eternal, universal moral law with the specific situation of a particular individual,” because existence is revealed to consciousness;
the responsibility of the individual for the realization of his meaning in life and the realization of values, as well as for everything that happens in the world.

These are the main criteria for personal spirituality as interpreted by Russian and foreign philosophers: N.A. Berdyaev, V. Frankl, E. Fromm, T. de Chardin, M. Scheler and others.

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PHILOSOPHY AS AN IMPORTANT COMPONENT OF THE SPIRITUAL CULTUREbTOURS

Specificity of philosophy

philosophy subject spiritual culture

Philosophy reproduces the world in the greatest possible depth and interconnectedness. It is based on extremely universal laws and principles, as well as on the most fundamental value orientations.

Philosophical culture is culture VObegging.

She struggles with the most fundamental questions:

Where does the human race come from and where is it going?

Hamlet's “to be or not to be”?

And Socrates’ “what is good?”

Do people have innate aggressiveness?

Are they ruled by the passion for pleasure?

Philosophy is a scout of what lies beyond the horizon of any knowledge and has experiencedAnia.

She poses problems more often than she solves them. Moreover, as a rule, the problem posed by philosophy does not have final solutions at all. Disturbing inquisitive minds, philosophy carries them along with it into the unknown.

Philosophy studies extreme (“borderline”) situations, the most universal and the most unique, the innermostnno...

It has the highest degree of generality (and abstractness), as well as uniqueness (and concreteness).

Its subject is the fundamental principlesOyou are a subject-object and subject-subject relationshipeny.

Philosophy lifts a person to such metaphysical heights and takes him to such limits that at times it takes his breath away. But one can only talk about philosophical problems in this way: painfully making our way through the seemingly insurmountable mysterious complexities of existence, flexibly weighing the boundlessness of ontological universals with the bottomlessness of human uniqueness.

The connection between philosophy and other areas of sciencecow culture

Not only science, but also morality, art, religion, language, and myth determine spiritual culture.

This is why philosophy and worldview are oriented towards culture as a whole.

The role of philosophy in the development of the spiritual culture of society and individuals is extremely great.

Philosophy experiences fruitful influence from all major spheres of spiritual culture and itself influences them.

B. Russell in The History of Western Philosophy, speaking of traditional philosophy, likened it n And someone's land between science and religion.

However modern world philosophy to some extent reproducesl recognizes the “emptiness” not only between science and religion, but between all spheres of culture. It helps to “build bridges” between Andmi.

Philosophy itself experiences fruitful influence from major writers, artists, scientists, progressive political and public figures.

The diversity of understandings of the subject of philosophy

Philosophy (philo) - love of wisdom. Does anyone really like stupidity? This means that by loving wisdom, we all love philosophy.

However, philosophy can be practiced both amateurishly and professionally. Accordingly, there are professional and everyday (everyday-practical) philosophy.

Philosophy of everyday practical experience . Aristotle said that those who understand something well themselves will be able to explain it to a child.

But how to explain to a child what philosophy is?

Philosophy seeks to provide answers to the last “whys” in a long chain of them.

The hero of M. Gorky “For the sake of boredom”: “Anyone who is born with the habit of thinking and looking for a beginning and an end in everything can be a philosopher... and he can even serve on the railway.”

Everyday practical philosophy allows you to rise above the bustle of everyday life, use the wisdom of the past, and take a closer look at future prospects.

Professional and theoretical phil O Sofia

At this level, philosophy already exists in the form of teachings and theoretical systems. And only philosophically educated people can judge them.

Unfortunately, this is not always the case. In Dostoevsky’s story “Bobok” we read: “Civilians like to judge military and even field marshal subjects, but people with an engineering education judge more about philosophy and political economy...” F.M. Dostoevsky. "Bobok"

Existentialism. The subject of philosophy is the innermost mysteries of human existence, life and death, the highest meaning or the complete absurdity of existence. Is it worth living on if the world is absurd and life is insignificant? The main thing is to spiritually help a person to survive in a hostile and absurd existence.

According to Heidegger, the subject of philosophy is “being”, and the subject of science is “being”. By being he means everything that relates to the empirical world, from which true being should be distinguished. It is comprehended directly, and not through rational thinking. This true being is revealed to a person thanks to a special personal existence - existence.

Religious philosophy

Theology and theology are primarily interested in the problem of God, and religious philosophy is interested in the problem of man in God's world. Theology deals with the supra-rational. One of the important tasks of Catholic theology is to prove the existence of God.

Neopositivism.

Neopositivists believe that modern philosophy must first of all be a “philosophy of science.”

If philosophers are to be of real benefit to the sciences, they must focus their efforts on:

a) integrate the knowledge obtained by individual special sciences into a single synthetic knowledge;

b) streamline the language of science, as well as study deeply hidden linguistic meanings Russell: a philosopher is a “policeman” of language. Wittgenstein. It only seems to a person that he speaks with the help of language. In fact, language speaks through humans. A ball of thread playing with a cat. .

Recognizing certain values last philosophy, neopositivists assign them the same place in spiritual culture as religion, art and other non-scientific forms of human activity.

Let us generalize the diverse approaches to philosophy, adding to the above a dialectical-materialist approach.

We can say that the subject of philosophy is:

limit manifestations of man in the world andAndra in man;the relation of consciousness to being,spiritVnogo - to the material,subject - to an object and another subject,having survivedAniya—to the world;

This the most universal laws, principles and concepts expressedAthose seeking the development of nature, society and thinking; This fateful value orientations, life meanings and ideological positionsAndtions.

Knowledge of philosophy will lead to fewer fatal life mistakes and to better orientation in both personal and professional activities.

Is philosophy a science?

Since there are many different philosophical teachings, the answer cannot be unambiguous. Speaking about world philosophy as a whole, we can say that it the science , And nonscience , And metascience (at least in the sense that philosophy can make science itself the object of its study).

Scientifically-oriented philosophers study primarily the universal, the natural, using mostly rational methods of cognition.

Such a philosophy strives for a fundamental substantiation of knowledge from the standpoint of socio-historical, cultural and general scientific contexts. This is one of the most important Adacha philosophy of science.

Value-wise-oriented philosophers try to comprehend the unique, transcendental. Here philosophy appears as n e the science .

Metascientific-oriented philosophers: a) either engage in scientific and philosophical research of sciences (i.e., they are associated with the philosophy of science);

b) either go beyond the boundaries of scientific research and engage in the consideration of purely metaphysical problems (i.e., they join the non-scientific variety of philosophy).

At the same time, all these differently oriented philosophies complement each other and need othersatg in friend.

In solving its problems, philosophy strives explain (like natural sciences), understand (as humanities sciences), With O suffer (like art) cry (as morality) preach (as a creed).

The structure of philosophy and its main functions

Main sections of philosophy:

ontology (the study of being);

axiology (the study of values);

epistemology (the study of knowledge);

philosophical methodology (the doctrine of metOdah);

philosophical anthropology (the study ofeLoveke);

social philosophy (the doctrine of socialesocial life);

history of philosophy and panorama of modern philosophical schoolseny.

Now let's look at the functions of philosophy.

Integrative (synthetic) function. It is directly related to the philosophy of science.

Aristotle: “A philosopher is one who has, as far as possible, ts e luster knowledge".

Sometimes this function is called ontological. It consists in the fact that philosophy studies the most general patterns and principles of reality, searches for universals, strives to build a holistic picture of the world (i.e., it cognizes the world, if possible, in its integrity). It integrates and systematizes spiritual culture. In particular, philosophy connects two cultures - the natural sciences and the social and humanitarian ones, and helps them mutually understand and mutually enrich each other.

The story of the blind men and the elephant.

The most unique can turn into universal. A somewhat simplified example: everyone has their own pain, but everyone has pain.

Axiological function.

It connects philosophy with a value system and worldview.

"Let the gods look blankly

The life of the Earth is theirs forever.

But only passionate is beautiful

In you, instant man!(V. Bryusov)

As already mentioned, philosophy is a world and an era, however, not only “captured in thought” (Hegel), but also experienced in feeling.

Philosophy comprehends the original moral foundations of existence, fundamentaleli and values.

It helps you understand the complex interweaving of events, assess the situation, find your meaning and your place in life, and develop an active attitude towards everything that happens in the world.

Unlike science, philosophy allows itself to be biased.

A. Camus said something like this:

there was a time when a philosopher could live in an elephant towerO bone howl; but now, when the fate of all subsequent human history is at stakeequality, non-participation or silence itself becomes criminal.

Everyone is guilty not only of beingehe was wrong, but also in what he didn’t do, although he could have done it...

The highest values ​​and principles have won more victories than all the armies in the world.

Philosophy by its very nature it is focused on the highest spiritual values, on intimately personal and global problems. Often a philosopher acts as a preacher (and his sermon is confessional). Don’t show where to go, but go yourself, and so that others will follow you.

The philosopher explicitly or implicitly imbues any topic with higher meanings and orientations. Otherwise it is not philosophy.

To the greatest extent with fIlosofiya Sciences related axiological problems of ethics of science.

Methodological function:

it is associated with the necessary development of the most optimal forms of human activity (including scientific).

Let us clarify the concept of method. A method is also a theory, but a special theory.

A method is, first of all, a theory of obtaining new results about reality, while a conventional theory is a reproduction of reality itself.

“It’s not so valuable to know that the Earth is round, but it’s valuable to know how we got to this point” (L. Tolstoy).

Lichtenberg also said that when people are taught, first of all, the wrong thing, What they have to think, and then How they must think, then many misunderstandings will disappear.

Epistemological function.

“So in life, others, like slaves, are born greedy for fame and profit, while philosophers are born greedy for only the truth.” Diogenes Laertius. About the life, teachings and sayings of famous philosophers. - M.: Mysl, 1979. - P. 334. .

Realizing the epistemological function, philosophers study knowledge itself and the fundamental principles of knowledge.

Cognizes any sphere of spiritual culture. But the process of cognition itself is fundamentally and holistically studied only by philosophy. It solves the most important problem - how thinking and being interact. Philosophical knowledge strives for extreme universality and uniqueness.

Philosophy seeks the fundamental basis for the reliability of human knowledge.

Therefore, the doctrine of truth, about the endless path of knowledge “...For us, the demand for final decisions and eternal truths loses all meaning once and for all... all the knowledge we acquire is necessarily limited and conditioned by the circumstances under which we acquire it” (Engels). .

One of the tasks of philosophy is extremely unusual. She studies human history misconceptionseny so that it is better to avoid them in the future. According to Montaigne, any stupidity has already been expressed by one or another philosopher before us, considering it the truth... However, any wisdom has a share of stupidity (and vice versa).

Along with the problem true And false There is a problem true And fake. Processes related to by deception, lies, disinfoRmation.

It is important to think “without anger and partiality”(Tacitus).

The most important task of philosophy is to be a shaker of habitual meanings, to give rise to doubts, to resolve them, but at the same time to give rise toOhigh

We have already said that Questions in philosophy are no less important than answers.. "Bernard Shaw on Science and Religion".

Philosophical and anthropological funTotion

This function is particularly related to all the others. It aims at studying the whole person, his fate, purpose, personal meanings.

Protagoras: man is the measure of all things.

Kant's 3 questions and his 4th question.

According to Vl. Solovyov, philosophy has a special role in spiritual liberation and awakening freedom. Its liberating activity is explained by the fundamental property of the human soul “by virtue of which it does not stop within any boundaries, does not put up with any externally given definition, with any external content, so that all the blessings and bliss on earth and in heaven are not for There is no price for her if they are not obtained by her herself...” Soloviev V.S. Collection Op. in 10 volumes. 2nd ed. T. 2, p. 412 (lecture “Historical Affairs of Philosophy”).

Philosophy strives to penetrate into the hidden depths of human existence, to reveal its highest, “transcendental” meanings. Thus, existentialism tries to comprehend the mysterious unique human existence, thanks to which a person finds his authenticity, becoming an absolutely free person.

Dostoevsky: “Man is a mystery that must be solved. If you spend your entire life solving it, don’t consider that you lived it in vain. I am engaged in this mystery because I want to be a man.”

The connection between philosophy and human life and society

In the centuries-old history of philosophy one can find a considerable number of philosophers who have chosen the path of dispassionate humility and detachment from at this earthly life (they seem to..."close their eyes, plug their ears" of their soul...).

But there were many who saw their destiny in passionate service as philosophically meaningful goals And ideals, not only for our own, but also for the public.

They gave their lives for philosophical ideas, drinking a cup of poison (Socrates) or burning at the inquisitorial fire (Bruno).

In the name of philosophical ideas, philosophers refused intimate pleasures. Kant never had intimate relationships with women... and men. In his declining years, he used to say: “I’m very glad that I avoided monotonous mechanical bodily movements, devoid of deep metaphysical meaning.” or parted forever with their pricelessly beloved chosen ones (Kierkegaard - Regina Olsen - Schlegel).

In the name of philosophical ideas, philosophers broke with their social circle, high society and wealth (Engels, Tolstoy), awakened the revolutionary spirit, believing that a philosopher should not only explain the world, but also remake it in accordance with the ideals of social justice (Herzen, Lenin) .

But one of the main life goals of a philosopher at all times is to be a free thinker.

“The Magi are not afraid of powerful rulers and they do not need a princely gift...”

Kipling about man.

In 399 BC, Socrates was on trial, accused of spreading socially dangerous ideas. The sage explained that he studies philosophy primarily because “it’s not worth living without understanding life.” According to his observations, the majority of fellow citizens devote all their activities to achieving fame, wealth, and pleasure. But they don’t think at all how valuable all this is to them.

Further, see Plato.

The philosopher always seems to be fighting the current, swimming against it or overtaking it.

He is somewhat reminiscent of Ivan the Fool, who cried bitterly at weddings and laughed merrily at funerals.

Its task is to warn against one-sided extremes.

When life flows blissfully and peacefully, the philosopher must awaken society from its selfless slumber.

If everything that exists seems indisputable and stable, philosophy is designed to excite minds and shake established meanings.

But if the ground begins to slip away from under your feet, if age-old norms and traditions are cracking and falling apart at the seams and there is no light at the end of the tunnel, philosophy is called upon, no, not to calm, to lull you with beautiful deception...

It is designed to help you find worthy life guidelines again and gain courageous confidence in yourself and those around you.

(We are not talking about rapid catastrophes of the Chernobyl type; in such a situation there is no time for philosophy; however, even in these cases, “evening” comes, and Minerva’s owl sets off on its flight: after all, in connection with such catastrophes, philosophical “why” and “into” also arise name of what?)

Philosophy has a special role in times like ours.

One involuntarily recalls the lines: “Blessed is he who visited this world in its fatal moments...”. When civilization is going through a deep crisis, many people are forced to look for a way out of it.

Inevitably thinking about the most fundamental problems, they involuntarily turn to philosophy.

Aristotle said that “philosophy begins with amazement,” with the understanding that we live in a very strange, inexhaustibly diverse world... It gives an unexpected perspective on the world. The teacher, the hero of the film “The Dead Poets Club,” unexpectedly climbed onto the table in front of the startled students, to demonstrate an outlandish angle to the audience. .

Philosophy, no less than physics, needs “crazy ideas.” But how different is philosophical madness from the madness of a March cat, overwhelmed by unbearable passion, or the fevered imagination of a drug addict...

After all, philosophy enlightens the world; it suggests the most optimal and humane path to the desired goals.

Good philosophical preparation allows you to avoid ill-conceived decisions, no matter who makes them - a sea captain, the president of a country, or a dental technician.

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    Biography of Nikolai Onufrievich Lossky and his philosophical system, defined as the science “about the world as a whole.” Range of interests: epistemology, ontology, philosophical anthropology, ethics, axiology (the study of values). Epistemological individualism.

    abstract, added 03/22/2009

    Subject, structure and functions of philosophy. The main stages in the development of philosophy: early Hellenism, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and Modern times. Characteristics of German classical philosophy. Ontology, epistemology, social philosophy, doctrine of development.

    presentation, added 09/24/2012

    Love of wisdom. A brief outline of the history of philosophy. Philosophical picture of the world. Philosophy of man. Philosophy of activity. Philosophical pluralism, diversity of philosophical teachings and directions. Practical philosophy.

    book, added 05/15/2007

    Structure of philosophy: ontology, epistemology, methodology, axiology and its functions. Worldview as a set of results of metaphysical thinking, research and cognition of the world. Results of comparison of philosophy with science, art and religion.

    course of lectures, added 08/10/2009

    The purpose of this work is to consider the essence of philosophy, its subject, place in the culture and life of man and society. The place of philosophy in the system of social and spiritual culture. The subject of philosophy is universal connections in the “man - world” system.

    abstract, added 12/27/2008

    The system of spiritual culture of the Kazakh people, its evolution and current state. The phenomenon of Kazakh philosophy, its significance in the development of the country’s society, outstanding representatives and directions of their research. National ontology of existence and values ​​of society.

    abstract, added 04/05/2013

    Philosophical anthropology, identifying the nature and essence of man. Sensory cognition: memory and imagination. Rational cognition and thinking. Conscious and unconscious, supraconscious. What is truth. Axiology is a philosophical doctrine of values.

    abstract, added 01/28/2010

    The concept of worldview. Its historical types. Philosophy in the cultural system. Functions and the main question of philosophy. The concept of matter. Philosophical thought of Ancient India. Ancient Chinese philosophy. Materialism of ancient Greek philosophy. Medieval scholasticism.

    book, added 02/06/2009

    Specifics of the religious structure and psychological characteristics of thinking, spiritual orientation in China. Taoism is the most important philosophical school that arose in the second half of the 1st millennium BC. Prominent representatives of medieval Taoist thought, the function of religion.

1.3 Philosophy - as part of spiritual culture

Philosophy is a special form of knowledge of the world, a specific form of human spiritual activity, developing a system of knowledge about the fundamental principles and foundations of human existence, about the characteristics of human relations to nature, society and spiritual life in all its manifestations. In its searches, philosophy starts from literature, art, art criticism, political and legal consciousness, everyday thinking, which constitutes the spiritual part of culture and society.

Being a spiritual expression of human activity, philosophy tries to understand various aspects of the world through the prism of the unique personality of a particular person. In philosophy, the main place is given to attempts to rationally explain the world.

Among the diverse functions of philosophy, its prognostic function, its active and active participation in foreseeing and forecasting the ideals of the future, a more perfect structure of human life, and in the search for new ideological orientations, is becoming increasingly important in modern conditions. There is an urgent need to develop such models and scenarios for the development of mankind, when the tendency towards increasing unity and integrity of the human community does not contradict the national interests of states, historically formed spiritual and cultural traditions, and the way of life of each people.

The development of universal human values ​​has become extremely important. Almost all the greatest thinkers of our time pose and discuss this problem in one way or another. It is possible that in the near future there will be an intensification of the tendency for philosophy to acquire its status as a kind of body of practical wisdom. During its formation, philosophy had this status, but then lost it, abstracted from the real demands and needs of a specific living person. Philosophy, apparently, will try to once again become - of course, taking into account all the realities of our time - necessary for a person to understand and solve problems that arise in the course of his daily life.

spiritual humanistic society personality

1.4 Religion - as part of spiritual culture

Religion arose in ancient times and, having undergone various changes, continues to influence the behavior and actions of many people today. This is due to the fact that in the history of mankind there was not a single people who did not know religion. In any society, religion, as part of culture, is one of the main social factors.

Religion is a necessary component of social life, including the spiritual culture of society. In religion, as a form of spiritual exploration of the world, a mental transformation of the world is carried out, its organization in the mind, during which a certain picture of the world, norms, values, ideals are developed that determine a person’s attitude to the world and act as guidelines and regulators of his behavior. In modern conditions, the role of religion cannot be considered initial and determining, although religion has a great influence on economic relations and other spheres of social life. The religious factor influences the economy, politics, interethnic relations, family, culture through the activities of religious individuals, groups, organizations, sanctioning certain views. Religion influences society in accordance with its specific features, reflected in doctrine, cult, organization, ethics, and rules of attitude towards the world.

Both philosophy and religion, in competition with art, strive to master and assimilate its forms, its technology of communication with the widest (as well as with the narrowest, most selected) audience. And if religious and church directions in the course of the development of the culture of society are oriented in influencing the organization and self-organization of society on the standards and examples of the past, then art and artistic culture in its objective meaning, the real sense serve precisely in the direction of overcoming the past, self-renewal, self-organization and self-development. What philosophy develops theoretically as an understanding of the world, art and religion strive to master it practically. But if religion masters the traditional, stable world, then art masters the world of movement, development, self-renewal, self-organization, the world of contradictions, the world of forecasts and foresight, an intuitive sense of the future and accurate highlighting of its smallest sprouts and signs in the modern.

Analysis of innovative experience in organizing theatrical mass events (using the example of the Tyumen region)

Spiritual culture

The concept of spiritual culture: · contains all areas of spiritual production (art, philosophy, science, etc.), · shows the socio-political processes occurring in society (we are talking about power structures of management...

Spiritual culture

Science and law are part of culture, therefore any scientific picture reflects the mutual influence of all elements of culture in a given era. In the system of human culture, consisting of material, social and spiritual culture...

Spiritual culture

The role of religion in the history of mankind, in general very significant, cannot be assessed unambiguously. There are two vectors of influence of religion on social development: religion as a stabilizing factor and religion as a factor of change...

Spiritual culture

Spiritual culture is not isolated from other spheres of culture and society; it penetrates into all spheres of human activity, including material and practical ones, giving them value guidelines and stimulating them...

Spiritual culture in the context of historicism

Spiritual culture has some important features that distinguish it from other areas of culture. 1. Unlike technological and social culture, spiritual culture is non-utilitarian. This is the face of culture that is most distant from practice (although...

In the spiritual culture of society, art occupies a special, important place - the sphere of spiritual and practical activity of people, aimed at artistic comprehension and mastery of the world; one of the ways to aesthetically explore the world...

Spiritual culture and art as factors of self-organization of society

Morality is a special area of ​​culture and it differs from other forms. Morality is a system of norms of behavior of people accepted in society. Morality is a special form of social consciousness and a type of social relations...

Spiritual culture of the individual

Comprehensive personal development, the formation of aesthetic, environmental, moral and creative elements of spiritual culture among schoolchildren is one of the tasks of career guidance work at school...

Culture and religion of India - history and modernity

Indian monuments of thought and worldview are distinguished by their richness and diversity, range of colors, abundance of forms that could only have developed in this world of bizarre nature. Like many other cultures...

Material and spiritual culture

material spiritual culture artistic The priority in a democratically oriented culture is the summit ideal of humanism...

Features of the spiritual culture of the European Middle Ages

The entire cultural life of European society of this period was largely determined by Christianity, which already in the 4th century. becomes the state religion in Rome...

Features of the formation of Russian culture

For Russian culture, as well as for European culture as a whole, Christianity has become one of the main reference points. It ensured the continuity of Russian history, the spiritual life of Russian society...

Another important type of spiritual production is art. Creating artistic images that, with a certain degree of convention, can be equated to scientific models, experimenting with them using one’s own imagination...

The role of spiritual culture in personality development

As for religion, as a type of spiritual production, the theories and ideas created with its help played a big role in the development of society, primarily in the early, pre-scientific stages of its development, forming abstract thinking in people...

Introduction

culture spiritual society

Culture is closely related to society. If society is understood as a set of people, then culture is the totality of the results of their activities. Culture is a concept as important for human cognition as gravity, matter, evolution, society, personality. In Ancient Rome, where this word came from, culture meant cultivating the land and cultivating the soil. In the 18th century culture acquired a spiritual, or rather, aristocratic connotation. This term has come to mean the improvement of human qualities. A person who was well-read and refined in his behavior was called cultured. To this day, we associate the word “culture” with fine literature, an art gallery, an opera house and good education.

In the 20th century Scientists studying primitive peoples have discovered that the Australian Aborigines or African Bushmen, living according to primitive laws, have neither an opera house nor an art gallery.

But they have something that unites them with the most civilized peoples of the world - a system of norms and values, expressed through the appropriate language, songs, dances, customs, traditions and manners of behavior, with the help of which life experience is ordered and the interaction of people is regulated.

Culture is the basis for the spiritual health of the population. The spiritual health of the population is characterized by such concepts as spirituality, social ideals and values.

Spirituality is the individual expression in the system of personal motives of two fundamental needs: the ideal need for knowledge; social need to live and act “for others.”

A spiritual crisis is a crisis of social ideals and values ​​that constitute the moral core of culture and give the cultural system the quality of organic integrity and authenticity.

The state of spiritual health of the Russian population can be described as a crisis. This is explained by the socio-political and economic events that took place in our society in connection with changes in government policy in the country and changes in the political status of the state.


Definition of spirituality and spiritual culture


Culture is usually divided into material and spiritual. Material culture refers to everything that is created by people for utilitarian purposes. These are also methods, technologies of production activities, knowledge and skills necessary for its implementation. Material culture also includes physical culture, attitude towards one’s own health, and one’s place of residence.

The concept of spiritual culture is more complex and multifaceted. These are cognitive (in the broad sense of the word) and intellectual activity, ethical standards and aesthetic ideas, religious beliefs. Spiritual culture also includes a number of aspects of pedagogical activity and legal ideas. In general, it is impossible to draw a clear boundary between material and spiritual culture. For example, the same objects can play the role of utilitarian and aesthetically valuable, being, in fact, works of art (for example, carpets, dishes, architectural structures). Obviously, in some cases such objects will satisfy primarily utilitarian needs, in others - spiritual (aesthetic) needs. Intellectual activity can also be directed both at solving purely practical problems and at philosophical understanding of the world.

The concept of spiritual culture:

contains all areas of spiritual production (art, philosophy, science, etc.),

shows the socio-political processes occurring in society (we are talking about power structures of management, legal and moral norms, leadership styles, etc.). The ancient Greeks formed the classic triad of the spiritual culture of humanity: truth - goodness - beauty. Accordingly, three most important value absolutes of human spirituality were identified:

theoreticism, with an orientation towards truth and the creation of a special essential being, opposite to the ordinary phenomena of life;

thereby subordinating all other human aspirations to the moral content of life;

aestheticism, achieving the maximum fullness of life based on emotional and sensory experience. The above-mentioned aspects of spiritual culture have found their embodiment in various spheres of human activity: in science, philosophy, politics, art, law, etc. They largely determine the level of intellectual, moral, political, aesthetic, and legal development of society today. Spiritual culture involves activities aimed at the spiritual development of a person and society, and also represents the results of these activities. Thus, all human activity becomes the content of culture. Human society stood out from nature thanks to such a specific form of interaction with the surrounding world as human activity. Activity is a form of socio-cultural activity aimed at transforming reality. There are two types of activities:

practical (i.e. materially transformative, aimed at changing the nature and existence of a person, and socially transformative, changing social reality, including the person himself);

creative (i.e., aimed at the formation of a “second nature”: the human environment, tools, machines and mechanisms, etc.);

destructive (associated with various wars, revolutions, ethnic conflicts, destruction of nature, etc.).

There are certain guidelines in human activity. They are called values. Value is what is significant for a person, what is dear and important to him, what he focuses on in his activities. Society builds a certain system of cultural values, which grows from the ideals and needs of its members. It may include: - main life values ​​(ideas about the purpose and meaning of life, happiness);

values ​​of interpersonal communication (honesty, goodwill);

democratic values ​​(human rights, freedom of speech, conscience, parties);

pragmatic values ​​(personal success, entrepreneurship, desire for material wealth);

worldview, moral, aesthetic and other values. Among the most important values ​​for a person, the one that largely determines is the problem of the meaning of his life. A person’s view of the problem of the meaning of life is formed through his awareness of the finitude of his existence. Man is the only living creature who understands the inevitability of his death. Regarding the problem of the meaning of human life, two different points of view have emerged. The first is atheistic. It has a long tradition and dates back, in particular, to Epicureanism.

Its essence is that if a person is a mortal being, then the meaning of life is in life itself. Epicurus denied the significance of the phenomenon of death for a person, arguing that it simply does not exist, since while a person is alive, it does not exist, and when he dies, he is no longer able to realize the very fact of his death. Appointing life itself as the meaning of life, the Epicureans taught that the ideal of human existence is ataraxia, or avoidance of suffering, a calm and measured life, consisting of spiritual and physical pleasures given in moderation. The end of this process means the end of human existence. Materialistic philosophy, which continues the ancient tradition of Epicureanism, in all its manifestations proceeds from the denial of the afterlife and orients a person towards the fullest possible realization of himself in the existing reality. However, this does not exhaust the entire content of this concept. Another point of view on the problem of the meaning of life is religious. Religion solves this problem quite simply, affirming the fact of human existence after death. In its various modifications, religion teaches that earthly, human existence is only a preparation for death and the acquisition of eternal life. This is a necessary stage for the purification and salvation of the soul. The highest form of human activity is creativity.

Creativity is a human activity that creates qualitatively new, never before existing, material and spiritual values. Almost all types of human activity include elements of creativity.

However, they are most clearly manifested in science, art and technology. There is also a special science - heuristics (gr. heurisko - I find), with the help of which you can not only study creative activity, but also create various models of the creative process. There are four main phases of creativity:

concept (this is the primary organization of the material, identifying the central idea, core, problem, outlining the stages of future work);

maturation of ideas (the process of constructing an “ideal object” in the creator’s imagination),

insight (a solution is found where no attempt was made to look for it);

verification (experimental or logical assessment of the novelty of the solution found). The process of creating something new brings the creator a sense of satisfaction, stimulates his inspiration and moves him towards a new creation.


Approaches to defining the concept of “spiritual culture”


Spiritual culture is often defined as a system of spiritual values. However, such a definition is tautological, because it does not remove the need to expand the word “spiritual”. At its inception, the concept of “spiritual culture” was closely related to the idea of ​​material culture. This two-way understanding of culture was born in the last century. If material culture was understood as the objective-physical world (means of labor, housing, clothing, natural raw materials and objects processed by human hands), then spiritual culture was understood as phenomena associated with consciousness, as well as with the emotional and psychological activity of a person - language, customs and morals, beliefs, knowledge, art, etc.

This understanding of spiritual culture came into Russian practice from German scientific literature of the 19th century. Among English and French evolutionary ethnographers of that period, a similar division into material and mental (related to consciousness, mind) culture was also common. Thus, E. Tylor in his book “Primitive Culture” in many cases clearly divides culture into two parts - “material” and “mental”, meaning by the latter ideas, customs, myths, views and beliefs.

On the domestic basis of philosophical and socio-cultural analysis of the pre-revolutionary period, the name “spiritual culture” was established. This can be explained, in particular, by the deep rootedness in the life of Russian people of traditional ideas about the spirit as the immaterial essence of the world, ascending to God, and about the human soul, which is an individual manifestation of the spirit. At this time, from the words “spirit” and “soul” many concepts are formed, applicable mainly to church and religious life, as well as to the inner world of man.

V. Dahl, explaining the word “spirit” in his dictionary, writes about its wide distribution not only in church and religious practice, but also in colloquial language (“as if on spirit”, “gave up the ghost”, etc.). He defines the spirit of man as the highest spark of the Divine, as the will or desire of man for the heavenly. At the same time, Dahl definitely speaks about the two-sided nature of the human spirit, highlighting in it not only the will to unite with God, but also the mind (ratio), i.e. the ability to form abstract concepts.

In the established by the end of the 19th century. understanding of spiritual culture, the meaning of “spiritual” is much broader and more meaningful than Dahl’s. In the interpretation by Russian authors of the end of the past - beginning of the 20th century. This term reflected not only their adherence to the Orthodox religion, but also their knowledge and deep assimilation of the ideas of German philosophers about the objective spirit. In addition to spreading in the world, being rooted in the soul of an individual, the spiritual basis is also seen in social existence; The social properties of the spiritual are manifested in mass feelings, beliefs, skills, inclinations, views, and methods of action. This understanding of the nature of spiritual culture allows us to differentiate it against the background of both material and social aspects of culture, recognizing at the same time that the material and social act as the external expression and embodiment of the spiritual.

The spiritual, by definition, permeates all forms of social life, ennobling and introducing a higher meaning, morality, a sense of love, an understanding of freedom into politics, into national and international relations, into legal practice, into work and the economy. Thus, spiritual culture consists of phenomena that are not limited only to the framework of art, religion, science, etc., but affect all aspects of the life of society, social groups, and a specific person.

At the same time, it should be emphasized that Russian scientific and philosophical thought was characterized by features of the understanding of spiritual culture, which distinguished its position against the background of the scientific analysis of the phenomena of consciousness by Western thought. Firstly, domestic analysts persistently warn against the danger of diminishing the spiritual aspect of culture at the expense of material or social aspects. Secondly, the understanding of spiritual culture by Russian analysts was syncretic, saturated with the highest manifestations of both social and group, individual positions.

This approach to the analysis of spiritual culture had its strong and vulnerable moments. The essence of the spiritual is associated with objective, supra-individual reality, which is also rooted in the heart of a believer, revealing itself to him through internal work on himself, through cultivating a sense of love and moral attitude towards the world around him and loved ones, through religious experience. This is the reality of Good, Beauty, Truth, Freedom and ultimately the reality of God. Therefore, the concept of spiritual culture is broader and more defined than the understanding of the ideal (or ideational, from ideation - the ability to form concepts, to think) in culture. Spiritual culture absorbs a rich layer of people’s positive aspirations, lofty social values, religious attitudes towards the world and the individual. Thus, this category acquires an axiological character, i.e. requires agreement with the tenets of faith, direct and not distant participation of the researcher in the procedure of its attribution. Spiritual culture is studied through a number of scientific ideas and moral and psychological concepts (spiritual love, freedom of spirit, kindness, grace, affection, sympathy, conscience, etc.), which allows it to be interpreted as the living fabric of society, saturated with the creative energy of millions of people belonging to to many generations. This approach to the study of spiritual culture, of course, helped to realize in the process of analysis what M. Weber wanted to see in his time in “understanding sociology” - a moment of empathy, identification of dialogue interaction between the subject and the object of humanitarian knowledge.

At the same time, such a position limited spiritual culture to only those phenomena that are in one way or another connected with religious orientation, with the sublime aspirations of people, with intimate psychological experiences, leaving outside the analysis of manifestations of everyday cultural practice, atheistic positions, movements of the soul of an individualistic orientation, which never ceased to belong to the ideal, psychological, value-labeled phenomena of the inner world of man.

The period of revolution and civil war, as well as the victory of the atheistic government in Russia, forces many domestic philosophers and social analysts (I.A. Ilyin, S.L. Frank, N.O. Lossky, N.A. Berdyaev, F.A. Stepun , G.P. Fedotova, etc.) make some adjustments to their understanding of spirituality and spiritual culture. Already in emigration, many of them were forced to admit that the spiritual culture of society, as well as the spiritual in a person, can be damaged and defective. In the works about Russia that they wrote in exile, such characteristics of the phenomena of spiritual culture appeared that they had not done before. Speaking about the destructive qualities of a certain part of Russian people, they write about the “lack of spiritual-volitional self-discipline,” about “spiritual infection,” about “damage to the sense of spiritual dignity,” etc. Thus, the understanding of spiritual culture is complemented by the ability to talk about the illness of the spirit not only of one person, but in certain conditions, under certain preconditions, and about the illness of the spirit of a part of the people.

Does this mean that in understanding spiritual culture, criteria other than the highest and positive assessments have begun to be accepted? Most likely, this cannot be said, since we are still talking about the spirit, albeit “damaged” (it is no coincidence that the indicated authors did not resort, for example, to such concepts as the “spirit of Satan”). In other words, the evaluative criterion continues to be the main, if not the only, criterion for analysts, and this allows them to harbor hope for the revival of Russian spiritual culture. Such a position led to the sacralization of the understanding of spiritual culture, which, in particular, did not allow us to assume the possibility of developing such a culture in the USSR - the revolution, in the opinion of these analysts, could not give a positive creative impetus to the development of even some areas of national culture.

Recognizing the correctness of assessments about the destructiveness of the practice of persecuting religion and believers for Russian culture, today all Russian analysts are unlikely to agree with such a conclusion. In any case, adult citizens of post-Soviet Russia, especially those whose spiritual world was formed on the best examples of artistic culture, science, and philosophy of the Soviet period, can (unlike foreign exiles) view Soviet culture in all its completeness and contradictions, which allows them to see in its dynamics not only defects, but also design qualities. We are talking about the development of scientific ideas of cosmism, the creation of high artistic values, the rapid development of the culture of many peoples of the CIS, etc. At the same time, it should be recognized that the deep conviction of the above authors in the inevitability of the fall of the dictatorship of communist ideas gave them the strength to create works about the future spiritual revival of the country, so consonant with the aspirations of modern Russian society.

In the USSR, the fate of the concept of “spiritual culture” was different. Soviet authors used it, closely correlating it primarily with the philosophical-materialist, and later with the sociological interpretation. In the teachings of K. Marx, the dichotomous division of culture corresponds to two types of production - material and spiritual. Material production is considered as determining in relation to the social superstructure, within the framework of which spiritual culture developed - ideas, feelings, artistic images, scientific concepts, etc. Thus, spiritual culture is considered here as a secondary phenomenon. The creative potential of spiritual culture is not denied (“Man not only reflects reality, but also creates it.” - V. Lenin), but the origins of creativity are also seen only in production and labor activity. The tendency to underestimate the spiritual in society and man passed through the entire philosophy and social sciences of the Soviet period.

Soviet scientific and philosophical thought demonstrated several stages in the development of the concept of “spiritual culture.” At the early stages of the development of Soviet science and philosophy, in understanding this category, the emphasis was on overcoming the religious-idealistic nature of its interpretation. In general, turning to it during this period is, as it were, under suspicion; it requires explanation and justification for its use. The application of this concept in relation to an individual is often limited. It is emphasized that in the formation of the consciousness of each person, his material and labor activity acquires paramount importance, which creates the basis of human culture, and also determines the specific development of a social person.

Later, in the 60-70s, within the framework of Soviet social scientific and philosophical thought, the emphasis of analysis shifted to the complexity, diversity of manifestations and creative potential of spiritual culture. At this time, in domestic social science, in the course of intense discussions, concepts such as “consciousness,” “ideal,” “thinking,” “psyche,” and “culture” are being rethought. As a result, in domestic analytics there are shifts in the interpretation of a number of fundamental philosophical categories related to consciousness. Gradually receives all the rights of “citizenship” and the concept of “spiritual culture”, applied to an individual, a group, and society as a whole.

In the research of those years, it becomes possible to reveal the complex structure and procedural nature of spiritual culture. Such phenomena as “spiritual processes”, “spiritual goods”, “spiritual production”, “spiritual life” are beginning to be analyzed. It is assumed that individual phenomena of spiritual culture can perform an anticipatory prognostic function in relation to material and production activities. In general, spiritual culture is no longer derived directly from material and production activity, but is considered as an immanent side of the social-productive organism, as a function of society as a whole.

However, it should be noted that this process of rethinking the categories “spiritual”, “consciousness”, etc. is half-hearted. The concept of “spirituality” still remains under an unspoken ban, although the “ideal” is included in the “Philosophical Encyclopedia”. In addition, introducing a religious element into the understanding of spiritual culture continues to be considered unacceptable. On the contrary, the meaning of the concept expands due to the strengthening of elements of politics and ideology. There is a convergence of the interpretation of the spiritual culture of socialist society with the understanding of the culture of communism. Common features include such characteristics as nationality, communist ideology, party spirit, collectivism, humanism, internationalism, patriotism, ensuring cultural continuity and the possibility of spiritual creativity. All this allows us to say that Soviet analytical thought in most cases understands the spiritual as the ideal, i.e. the thought processes and analytical abilities of people, as well as the highest manifestations of the rational and psychological in the public consciousness.

It is known that Soviet social and humanitarian thought could turn to the results of research by Western authors mainly only in a critical manner. Only through criticism did one become familiar with those areas of cultural analysis that took place in Western social and cultural anthropology and sociology.

However, through the indirect influence of foreign thought in Soviet social psychology, sociology, pedagogy, propaganda theory, etc. in the 70s, many constituent elements of the spiritual culture of the West were studied - knowledge, assessments, social dispositions (attitudes), psychological states, individual aspects of creative process, motivational aspects of behavior, etc.

Most often, such studies were carried out within the framework of system-functional concepts, information-semiotic approach, conflictology, and the theory of symbolic interaction (although the conceptual and methodological apparatus of these foreign directions was not fully articulated, but was clothed in the form of Marxist theory).

This trend of analysis made it possible to reach the level of objectified knowledge of spiritual culture, but at the same time the very possibility of penetrating into its integrity and the depth of individual personal development was lost.

Thus, only one of the trends in domestic analytics, associated with the study of mainly rationalistic and to a lesser extent psychological manifestations in culture, found its way into this direction of analysis.

Along with this trend and approach to the study of culture, humanitarian cultural studies was revived in Soviet science and achieved brilliant results. A number of historians, philosophers, literary scholars (D. Likhachev, S. Averintsev, A. Losev, M. Bakhtin, etc.) on a new, deeper methodological basis developed the value-understanding approach to the study of spiritual culture, bequeathed by Russian analysts of the past, when under the spiritual one sees a syncretic aspiration of man and society towards a high and perfect state.

By that period, within the framework of foreign thought, the division of culture into material and mental, as ethnographers of the last century did, had become irrelevant. Concepts of culture become more complex; its understanding is now based not on two, but on three foundations - material, social and value-semiotic. At the same time, the greatest attention was paid to social characteristics. The analysis of the value-semantic aspect was reduced to a description and explanation of the social significance of ideas and concepts. In this analysis, the following concepts and categories were developed: images, knowledge, values, meaning, semantic fields, information, models, conscious-unconscious, etc. The analytical and methodological apparatus of sociology, social and cultural anthropology has achieved high recording and measuring accuracy; it is sophisticated and differentiated.

However, the “living”, hidden core of culture turns out to be reduced to informational-cognitive, interpretative, sociological aspects. As noted above, these aspects can be defined as ideational. However, their analysis does not allow us to achieve a holistic coverage and depth of understanding of spiritual culture. At the same time, one cannot help but see that such a loss of the essence of spiritual culture occurs in Western science due to the isolation and study of its individual aspects, without which they could not have received such a detailed disclosure. Nevertheless, as rationalism in the process of studying culture reached ever greater proportions, within the framework of Western science itself the danger of such a process was realized. M. Weber’s wishes about the need to develop “understanding sociology”, expressed by him at the beginning of the century, were finally heard. Antipositivist reaction of the 70s of the XX century. to objectivism and abstraction in the study of the highest manifestations of culture, as well as demands to restore the study of culture in all its manifestations, move on to considering the whole person, recognize the criterion of subjective interpretation as adequate, etc. manifest themselves in the development of such areas as phenomenology, sociology of culture, in interest in the analytical foundations of Eastern thought, etc.

The nature of the concept of “spirituality” is more closely connected than the concept of “spiritual culture” with religious and church life, with some forms of esoteric (mystical, secret) practice. Spirituality (from the French Spiritualite) is a special mental and intellectual state of an individual or large groups of people, associated with the desire to know, feel and identify oneself with a higher reality, which is inseparable from everything that exists, including from the person himself, but the comprehension of which it is difficult for a person due to the imperfection of his nature. At the same time, it is assumed that such comprehension is fundamentally possible, because there is a connecting common principle between the highest reality and man.

The concept of spirituality developed in those cultures and religious systems in which the Supreme Reality (God, Brahman, Heavenly Father, etc.) is understood as the embodiment of the Spirit and in which God is thought of as absolute Good, Light, Love, Freedom. The most profound approach of this kind to the world and to man is developed in Christian religious ideology and practice. This approach assumes a strict dualism of the earthly and the heavenly, for example, the opposition of body and spirit, good and evil, sin and innocence, which allows us to talk about the spiritual evolution of society or an individual.

Ideas about spirituality are unknown to pagan cultures. This concept is also difficult to apply to a number of religious and philosophical systems that consistently defend the incomprehensibility and ineffability of the highest reality, which is encrypted here by such concepts as “the unknown path of things” (in Taoism), “emptiness” (in Chan/Zen Buddhism), “ nagual" (understanding of true reality by the Yaqui Indians, presented in the interpretation of the American anthropologist C. Castaneda).

There is a distinction between individual spirituality and spirituality understood as an integrated state of many people and society as a whole. The state of individual spirituality appears as a process of internal development of a person, overcoming his passions, animal instincts, everyday and selfish aspirations, as well as the search for the meaning of life, comprehension of the essence of a higher being through coming into contact with it, through connecting with it. The development of individual spirituality involves the highest abilities of the individual: the sense of the higher “I” (higher self-identity), imagination and ideas (the latter often in the form of visions), intelligence, mystical intuition. Special states of the soul leading to individual spirituality are the highest unselfish love, boundless freedom, and wisdom. These states, in turn, presuppose the development by a person of a higher moral principle, the ability to discern the Truth, to see the world as a universal harmonious integrity, etc.

Each of the indicated states or abilities of the individual, taken in isolation from the others, is not capable of generating spiritual enlightenment; This can only be achieved by their holistic and harmonious actualization. In this case, it is advisable to take into account the understanding of spirituality by one of the leading Indian mystical philosophers of the 20th century. Sri Aurobindo Ghosham: “Spirituality is not intellectualism, not idealism, not a turn of the mind to ethics, to pure morality or asceticism; it is not religiosity, not a passionate emotional uplift of the spirit - not even a mixture of all these excellent things... Spirituality in its essence is the awakening of the inner reality of our being, our soul - the inner aspiration to know, feel and identify ourselves in it, to come into contact with the highest reality, immanent in the Cosmos and outside the Cosmos, as well as in our being." Here, an understanding of spirituality is developed, which acquires an ontological-absolute, but not event-empirical character, which makes it difficult to understand from the standpoint of theoretical or any other partial analysis.

The most preferable from the point of view of achieving the final result, but difficult for the implementation of higher forms of spirituality, are the areas of individual activity that involve a break with the everyday world. In each culture, special institutions and forms of activity have developed that create the conditions for such a gap, facilitating entry onto the path of ascetic existence and intense spiritual activity. Entering a monastery, implementing a solitary lifestyle, wandering - these are the consistent forms of achieving higher spirituality common in different cultures. A Franciscan monk, a Sufi dervish, a Russian wanderer or an old hermit - they all embarked on this path of rupture, thus achieving a similar spirituality.

According to the canons, worked out over the centuries in religious and mystical practice among different peoples, the implementation of higher spiritual forms of activity is associated with the fulfillment of a number of requirements. A person should first of all submit to the requirement of purification - to make moral efforts or special spiritual technologies to curb sensual passions. Next, it is necessary to master the stage of enlightenment, achieved through systematic prayers and meditation, which help to concentrate thought and imagination on the Supermundane principle.

Only a few of those who embarked on this path managed to realize unity with God. From among such individuals came the greatest thinkers, prophets, and founders of religions. Such forms of spirituality have acquired enormous importance in the development of culture, which today is not questioned both in the assessment of analysts and in broad public opinion. Therefore, interest in them throughout the world has always remained high; Such interest has now found its way into our society.

The above methods of developing individual spirituality are very difficult for the vast majority of people. In different cultures there was also a spirituality that was more accessible to a wide range of people without breaking with the world. Individual development and search in this case was carried out in the process of a person engaging in any type of activity, including everyday work (especially creative work in art, philosophy, science, transfer of knowledge and experience to younger generations), while maintaining his social responsibilities and family ties. With a decrease in the intensity and depth of spiritual practice, a person was required to maintain its general direction: to overcome selfish inclinations, cultivate religious faith, develop selfless love for people, for all living things and for the world on the basis of moral aspirations, maintain a sense of inner freedom and harmonious unity with the whole world. It was precisely this understanding of spirituality in relation to the individual that was developed by domestic analysts in the pre-revolutionary period and in emigration.

Finally, one should take into account the interaction of spirituality with the everyday practice of wide circles of the population, when there is no intensive or even conscious cultivation of spirituality, but the highest requirements of wisdom, love, and selflessness act as general guidelines with which the everyday life and actions of many ordinary people are correlated. However, in days of social catastrophe or personal trials, the average person often began to think more deeply about issues of faith and to respond sensitively to the imperatives of spirituality.

There is no doubt that the everyday level of practice, at which the life activity of the main part of people unfolds, is, in turn, capable of, through folk wisdom and the accumulation of cultural and historical experience, having a reverse impact on the spiritual experience of religious mentors, hermits, and monks. Thus, all three forms of spirituality - withdrawal from the world in order to understand the Higher reality, spiritual and creative activity in the world, everyday life of the vast majority of people - are interconnected with each other and create in a particular society unique features of spiritual practice that acquire cultural and national , regional or civilizational in nature. The scientific literature talks about different types of spirituality, for example, the spirituality of ancient, eastern, Islamic, Christian, Russian Orthodox, etc. In this regard, Christian spirituality differs from Hindu or spirituality in Islamic culture, and the spirituality of Russian Orthodox culture differs from Western European spirituality.

In Russian philosophical thought of the first half of the 19th century. the concept of “spirituality” was used mainly as a derivative of the state of the spiritual, i.e. closely correlated with religious and church life, at least as indicated in V.A.’s dictionary. Dalia. By the end of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. this term acquires exceptional depth and semantic content. Domestic analysts of Russian culture (S. Frank, I. Ilyin, N. Lossky, N. Berdyaev, G. Fedotov, etc.) studied the uniqueness of Russian Orthodox spirituality in especially detail. They associated it with a special - conciliar - type of collectivism, which did not oppose the personal principle, but acted as the primary indivisible unity of people, from which the “I” grows, with religious passion and the desire to find a path to common salvation, with the search for the meaning of life. Important characteristics of Russian spirituality, in their opinion, are also such features as the desire for a holistic perception of the world, for an all-encompassing and specific totality, and a closely related developed sense of the cosmic.

Spirituality and spiritual culture in modern society


In the last decade, in the context of intensive searches by Russian society for its cultural identity, the appeal to the concepts of “spiritual culture” and “spirituality” has become widespread among domestic authors. There would be nothing remarkable in this - in conditions of cognitive and informational freedom and a cultural explosion (as Yu. Lotman understood it), the emergence of new or newly revived concepts is natural, if not for certain circumstances. Firstly, the authors often give these concepts a higher, almost sacred meaning, which, as it were, should be understood by everyone immediately, without any explanation. Secondly, an analysis of their use shows that different authors themselves understand them far from the same. Thirdly, an appeal to the scientific literature of the Soviet period allows us to see that even then these concepts were not “lucky” - they were very superficially interpreted as analytical categories, although they were often used in scientific and propaganda use.

The concept of “spirituality” is especially noteworthy in this regard. Until the end of the 80s of the XIX century. it was not presented in scientific and philosophical reference literature, although it was found in texts related to the study of the inner world of man, the analysis of art, etc. And at the same time, the words “spirituality”, “spiritual” were used in the 60-70s close to the terms “ideological”, “ideological”, i.e. determined the qualities of consciousness associated with people’s conviction in the correctness of communist ideals. Meanwhile, in modern Western works on society and culture, they almost never resort to the concept of “spiritual culture,” and the term “spirituality” is usually used in world literature of religious and philosophical content.

The fact that the concepts of “spiritual culture” and “spirituality” continue to be widely used in our science and philosophy indicates that they remain living, in-demand categories of analysis. However, their semantic scope and analytical thesaurus are not defined; concepts differ in their content in the interpretation of different authors of the past and present, and, consequently, in the presentation of the readership. In this work, we set a goal to take a step in overcoming this uncertainty, which is achieved through elucidating the genesis of their use, comparing their interpretation and understanding in different periods of the history of Russian scientific and philosophical thought, as well as by comparison with the apparatus of Western European philosophical and cultural analysis.

In modern conditions, attempts to define spirituality within the framework of not a religious, but exclusively scientific, secular interpretation deserve attention. Ideas about spirituality are also being developed, according to which it acts as a way of self-construction of the individual and is constituted in the form of the vocation of its bearer. These approaches stem from the recognition of the importance of the highest social and moral manifestations of society and the individual. And although in this case there is no fundamental ontological criterion for the positive manifestation of spirituality (God, Brahman, etc.), such an understanding of spirituality reflects a constructive beginning in the cognitive-analytical quest of our time.

It is a different matter when today, against the backdrop of the spread of theories analyzing totalitarian socio-political systems, as well as within the framework of interest in magic and mystical experience, ideas about “negative spirituality” begin to be developed. One hears the expressions “satanic spirituality”, “black spirituality of Nazism”, etc. Such an understanding of spirituality undermines the essence of this phenomenon. Recognizing that the negative moral aspirations of people (egoistic, consumerist, hedonistic and other types) can accumulate negative psychological energy, we believe that in these cases it is more acceptable to use not the concept of “spirituality”, but the concept of “spirit”. By its nature, “spirit” is a loose, more flexible metamorphic concept that does not reflect as unambiguously as the concept of “spirituality” the ontological nature of the phenomenon being defined. There is an expression “Holy Spirit” - this is one understanding of the word “spirit”. At the same time, people used to say and say today “the spirit of Satan,” knowing full well that behind these words there is hidden something completely different than in the first case. To say “the spirituality of Satan” means to distort the essence of the category “spirituality” and not to take into account the hierarchy of phenomena, fundamental and derivative, established in religion and religious philosophy.

In general, today our scientific and philosophical thought faces the need to clarify the meaning of the categories under consideration, to stabilize their use, without losing the results that were achieved in previous periods. Apparently, such a synthesis can be expected only after a certain stabilization of the social context occurs and the contours of the cultural guidelines of our society become clearer. Only then will these categories receive more specific semantic content and accommodate the problematic nature of the new Russian culture.

Analysts, in turn, are obliged to feel these changes, to consolidate their content in the new cognitive guidelines of science, in its updated methodology, in the formulation of new problems and research hypotheses. At the intersection of sociocultural and cognitive processes, a new understanding of spirituality and the spiritual culture of a renewing Russia will crystallize. There is no reason to expect that the analyzed concepts will disappear from analytical or public use, as happened in the West.

Conclusion


Summing up the analysis, it can be noted that today the previous understanding of spiritual culture and spirituality, characteristic of the Soviet period, continues to be widespread, although without an emphasis on political and ideological certainty. In this understanding, analytical apparatus and research facilities are widely used.

For example, speaking about spiritual culture, the authors turn to the Marxist neologism “spiritual production,” which certainly introduces inadequacy into its understanding; spiritual culture itself is often interpreted as “the sum of human achievements and high morality.”

Spirituality is often understood one-sidedly, only as the highest manifestation of morality.

The next trend comes down to recreating the understanding of spiritual culture and spirituality characteristic of our pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary analytics abroad. At the same time, attempts to return to the religious interpretation of these categories dominate. Such a position, while restoring an important criterion for the analysis of spiritual culture and spirituality, at the same time leads to the loss of objective scientific results in the research of these categories.

Another trend is related to the mastery of the methodology for analyzing Western sociological and cultural thought with all their pros and cons, which were mentioned above. In this case, essentially the manifestations of the rational and ideal are studied, while there may be no actual reference to the categories of “spiritual culture” and “spirituality” (although the analysis focuses on individual elements and qualities of the phenomena they reflect).

The practice of applying these categories is not limited to the three highlighted positions. There are frequent attempts to synthesize their different understandings and divergent interpretations. For example, the position of pre-revolutionary analysts is combined with the achievements of the Soviet period, or the result of Soviet science is associated with the search for Western European thought.


List of used literature


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Tags: Spiritual culture Abstract Culturology