Metaphysical doctrines of rationalism by Spinoza Leibniz. Leibniz philosophy - the theory of monads

Rationalism (from lat. ratio - reason) - the direction of philosophical thought, oriented towards mathematics, considering reason as a source of knowledge and the highest criterion of its truth.

An orientation toward mathematics directly followed the main thesis of rationalism that experience cannot be the source and criterion of truth, since sensory experience is unreliable, unstable, changeable. Rationalists believed that, just as mathematical knowledge is deduced and substantiated in a rational-deductive way, philosophical knowledge should also be derived from reason and justified by it. Rationalism of the 17th century. was inherent in the belief in the omnipotence of reason and in its ability to achieve absolute truth, that is, such knowledge, which has a universal and obligatory character. The efforts of the creators of the great rationalistic systems of the 17th century were directed to the search for these absolute foundations of human knowledge.

Western European rationalism has its origins in the philosophy of the French scientist and philosopher René Descartes (1596 - 1650). R. Descartes was one of those thinkers who closely linked the development of scientific thinking with general philosophical principles. He emphasized that a new type of philosophy is needed that can help people in practical matters. Genuine philosophy must be unified both in its theoretical part and in its method. This thought of R. Descartes explains using the image of a tree, the roots of which are philosophical metaphysics, the trunk is physics as part of philosophy, and the branched crown is all applied sciences, including ethics, medicine, applied mechanics, etc.

At the heart of human knowledge lies philosophy, or metaphysics, as it was customary to call philosophy in those days. For R. Descartes, it is obvious that the truth of the starting points of metaphysics will guarantee the truth of human knowledge in general. The problem is how to find such a position, the truth of which is self-evident.

In his search, R. Descartes took the position of skepticism, or doubts about everything. His skepticism is methodological in nature, since R. Descartes needs radical skepticism only in order to arrive at an absolutely reliable truth. R. Descartes's line of reasoning is as follows. Any statement about the world, God and man can raise doubts. There is only one thing that is unquestionable: “I think, therefore I am,” since the act of doubt in it means both the act of thinking and the act of being.

The very philosophical system of Descartes is a vivid example of a rationalistic method of cognition, since all philosophical statements are deduced by him in a rational-deductive way from a single foundation, from a thinking subject.

The position “I think, therefore I am” is a combination of two corresponding ideas: “I think” and “I exist”. From the position "I think" it follows that "I" is something thinking, something spiritual, or a soul in the terminology of R. Descartes. The soul is a kind of non-extended essence or substance. A person's own soul is the first subject of his knowledge. The soul contains ideas, some of which are acquired by a person in the course of his life, while others are innate.

Descartes believes that the main rational ideas of the soul, the main of which is the idea of \u200b\u200bGod, are not acquired, but innate. And since man possesses the idea of \u200b\u200bGod, the subject of this idea exists.

The philosophy of R. Descartes was called dualistic, since the existence of two substances is postulated in it: material, which has extension, but does not have thinking, and spiritual, which has thinking, but does not have extension. These two substances, independent of each other, being a product of God's activity, are united in a person who can cognize both God and the world created by him.

The rationalism of R. Descartes asserts that the mind is able to extract from itself the highest ideas necessary and sufficient for understanding nature and guiding behavior. A person sees these ideas with "inner" vision (intellectual intuition) due to their distinctness and clarity. Using further precisely formulated method and rules of logic, he deduces all other knowledge from these ideas.

In his work "Discourse on the Method" R. Descartes formulated the basic rules that must be followed in order to "lead your mind to the knowledge of the truth."

The first rule: to accept as true what is self-evident, perceived clearly and distinctly and does not give rise to doubt.

The second rule: every complex thing should be divided into simple components, reaching the self-evident things (analysis rule).

The third rule: in cognition, go from simple, elementary things to more complex ones (synthesis rule).

The fourth rule requires the completeness of the enumeration, the systematization of both the known and the known, in order to be sure that nothing is missing.

Thus, intuition and deduction from what is intuitively comprehended is the main path leading to the knowledge of everything possible. In his rationalistic methodology, R. Descartes proposes to go from the most general philosophical provisions to more particular provisions of specific sciences, and already from them - to the most specific knowledge. We can say that the rationalistic method of R. Descartes is a philosophical understanding of the methodology of a mathematician.

Spinoza, like Descartes, sought to build a philosophy on the basis of reliable starting points. Spinoza chose geometry with its axioms and rigorous derivation of theorems as a model of reliability and rigorous provability. Therefore, he presented his main work, Ethics, in a geometric manner. First, in this work, Spinoza gives definitions, after that he forms the axioms, and then, on the basis of the definitions and axioms made earlier, he proves the theorems. Axioms thinker

considers as provisions, the truth of which is perceived intuitively. Truths are derived from definitions and axioms as from a logical foundation. However, not all of Spinoza's philosophical conclusions are the result of the application of his "geometric method." A significant part of the volume of "Ethics" is presented in the form of additions and explanations to the main text, written in free form. In his doctrine of knowledge, Spinoza acts as a rationalist. He considers the world to be knowable. Knowledge, according to Spinoza, is hierarchical. Its lowest kind is knowledge based on imagination, which is formed on the basis of sensory perception of the world. The second, higher kind of knowledge is represented by the knowledge produced by the mind. Such knowledge is characterized by clarity and distinctness, as well as the reliability of its inherent truths. The third, highest kind of knowledge represents knowledge that, although based on the mind, is not an indirect proof. This kind of knowledge gives truth as the fruit of direct contemplation of the mind. As you can see, the second and third kinds of knowledge are intellectual knowledge. The first kind of knowledge is sensory knowledge. Spinoza, like some other rationalists, paid less attention to the problems of sensory cognition than to the issues of rational cognition.

Leibnizrelying on familiarity with the old philosophy, he created his own method, imbued with "dialectical intuition."

The rationalism of Leibniz's philosophy was manifested in his desire to identify and establish the principles of methodology, that is, the doctrine of method. The subordination of these principles is a difficult task that has not been solved by researchers of Leibniz's work until now. Reflecting on the problem of principles in Leibniz's philosophy, researchers propose to pay attention to the following principles: “(1) universal differences; (2) the identity of indistinguishable things; (3) universal continuity; (4) monadic discreteness ”.
The first the principle draws attention to the dissimilarity of things that fall into the field of vision of a person. Second - requires the assumption of the existence in the world of identity between things. Third the principle means the recognition of the divisibility of all things in connection with the fact that it is based on a special kind of spiritual atoms that have independence.

In addition to the above, Leibniz also distinguishes principles: (5) completeness and (6) universal perfection. " Fifth and sixth principles applied to the process of cognition mean that the cognizing subject at every moment of his being possesses the clarity of perception and completeness of knowledge possible for this moment, and in the future his knowledge grows in the direction of the cognitive maximum, that is, to what is called absolute truth ”. Further there are such principles: (7) fixing the transition of the possible into the real; (8) based on the law of united identity, which is a synthesis of formal-logical laws of contradiction, identity and the excluded third; (9) arising from the law of sufficient reason, according to which “both the existence and change of any thing, and the truth or falsity of this or that statement can take place only on a certain basis”; (10) the principle of universal communication; (11) maximum and minimum (everything in the world comes to maximum results with a minimum of funds). According to Leibniz, "nature is generous in its actions and thrifty in the reasons it uses." The essence of the principle is in the orientation towards achieving maximum results with a minimum of correctly chosen techniques.

Leibniz, criticizing Locke's sensationalism, defended the idea that reason and intellect are not reducible to sensuality. The thinker believed that ideas in humans are innate. But it takes mental effort to extract knowledge from them. For this, according to Leibniz, one must rely on logic. In this case, the truths of phenomena must be correlated with the truths of the essence, the truths of the fact with logical truths.

rationalism (R. Descartes, B. Spinoza, G. Leibniz) considers thoughts and concepts inherent in the mind from birth (innate ideas) or in the form of inclinations, predispositions of the mind to be the main source of knowledge. The founder of rationalism R. Descartes believed that I am a substance, the whole essence and nature of which consists in thinking (“I think, therefore I exist”). In contrast to Bacon and Hobbes, he put reason first. He strove to develop a universal deductive method for all sciences. In deciding the question of the possibility of reliable knowledge, he had to overcome philosophical skepticism. The nature of knowledge lies in the fact that it is the requirement of doubt, which extends to all knowledge, that leads to the assertion of the possibility of reliable knowledge. Through the certainty of thought and being of a thinking being, he goes to the certainty of the being of things. Descartes was one of the first to develop the ideas of evolution. He rejected the animality of animals, that is, the soul is inherent only in man. Descartes divided the world into two kinds of substance - spiritual and material.

The materialistic side of Descartes's teachings developed Spinoza, opposed to Descartes' dualism the principle of monism (all the diversity of the world is explained with the help of a single substance - matter or spirit). Substantiates an important distinction between essence and existence. Leibniz believed that the world consists of the smallest elements, or monads, - the spiritual elements of being. As substances, monads are independent of each other. There is no physical interaction between them. However, being independent, monads are not isolated: each monad reflects the entire world order, the entire set of monads.

Gottfrich Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) adheres to rationalism. According to him, the world is based on a substance, which is understood as a set of monads (constructive elements of being). God created monads, gave them the necessary strength and left them to act independently. In addition to monads, God also created matter as the outer shell of monads. There is a pre-established harmony between monads, they develop. In man there is a dominant monad, that which is called the soul. Self-development of the knowledge inherent in the monad takes place in the soul. The content of the main rational truths in cognition is given intuitively and is based on the laws of logic.

33. Creation of a mechanical-materialistic picture of nature. The problem of substance. At the end of the 17th century, experimental mathematical natural science was formed, which for a long time became the basis of all European science. Its leading branch was mechanics, created by I. Newton and later called classical. On the basis of Newtonian mechanics and some ideas of the scientist and philosopher R. Descartes, a scientific picture of the world was formed for all natural science, and at first for the social sciences and humanities. As you know, Newton formulated three laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation, created the theory of calculus infinitely small (simultaneously with Leibniz, but independently of him) and the theory of the color composition of natural light. His physical theories substantiated previous theories both in astronomy (Keplerian laws of planetary motion) and mechanics (Galilean law of free fall). Newtonian physics is a study of nature based on a hypothetical-deductive method, in which the decisive role belongs to experiment. It uses the concepts of a material particle, empty space, and mechanical forces (causes) acting at a distance, expressed in mathematical form. The idea of \u200b\u200baction at a distance is at odds with the usual idea, which, among other things, can be found in Descartes (Newton carefully studied him in his youth). Newton also developed a system of principles that became fundamental for finding answers in the modern era. The content of Newton's scientific method (method of principles) is reduced to the following basic "train of thought":

1) conduct experiments, observations, experiments;

2) by means of induction, isolate in a pure form the individual aspects of the natural process and make them objectively observable;

3) to understand the fundamental laws governing these processes, principles, basic concepts;

4) carry out the mathematical expression of these principles, i.e. to formulate mathematically the relationship of natural processes;

5) to build an integral theoretical system through the deductive deployment of fundamental principles, i.e. “Come to laws that have unlimited power in the entire cosmos” (V. Heisenberg);

6) "to use the forces of nature and to subordinate them to our goals in technology" (V. Heisenberg).

On the basis of Newton's method, in the period under review, a huge "arsenal" of various methods was developed and used. This is primarily observation, experiment, induction, deduction, analysis, synthesis, mathematical methods, idealization, and others. There was more and more talk about the need to combine different methods. Benedict (Baruch) Spinoza is the author of the most developed and well-grounded philosophical system of modern times, a follower of Descartes and a prominent representative of European rationalism.

The basis of Spinoza's philosophical system is the doctrine of substance. FROM spinoza understands the station as a single, eternal and infinite nature... The substance is one, it is the cause of itself (causa sui). This single substance does not need anything else in order to exist. Nature is divided into creative nature and created nature. The creative nature is God, a single substance. Identifying nature and God, Spinosa denies the existence of any supernatural or supernatural supreme being. This approach is called pantheism.

A substance has two main attributes (properties): thinking and extension (spatiality), through which the human mind perceives the substance in its concreteness, although the number of attributes inherent in the substance is limitless. There is no reason that would stimulate a substance to act, except for itself.

Lecture 6. Philosophy of modern times. Sensationalism. Rationalism.

Basic concepts:

Sensationalism; Sensory perception; Rationalism; Induction; Deduction; Monads; Epistemology; Sbstation;

Lecture text.

F. Bacon.

Empiricism - a trend in philosophy, whose adherents believe that knowledge is based on experience: "there is nothing in the mind that would not have been in experience (in feelings)", "knowledge is power". Widespread in England in the 17th century. and subsequently in the USA.

Francis Bacon is considered the founder of empiricism.

Prominent representatives were Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, John Dewey (USA).

Empiricists, as a rule, were opponents of rationalists.

Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626) - English philosopher and politician (in 1620 - 1621 - Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, the second official in the country after the king).

The essence of the main philosophical idea of \u200b\u200bFrancis Bacon - empiricism - is that the basis of knowledge is exclusively experience. The more experience (both theoretical and practical) accumulated by humanity (and the individual), the closer it is to true knowledge. True knowledge, according to Bacon, cannot be an end in itself. The main tasks of knowledge and experience are to help a person achieve practical results in his activities, to contribute to new inventions, the development of the economy, and human domination of nature.

In this regard, Bacon put forward an aphorism that succinctly expressed his entire philosophical credo: "Knowledge is power."

Bacon put forward an innovative idea, according to which the main method of cognition should be induction. By induction, the philosopher understood the generalization of many particular phenomena and obtaining general conclusions based on the generalization (for example, if many individual metals melt, then all metals have the property of melting).

Bacon contrasted the method of induction to the method of deduction proposed by Descartes, according to which true knowledge can be obtained based on reliable information with the help of clear logical methods.

The advantage of Bacon's induction over Descartes's deduction lies in the expansion of possibilities, the intensification of the cognitive process. The disadvantage of induction is its unreliability, probabilistic nature (since if several things or phenomena have common characteristics, this does not mean at all that all things or phenomena from their given class have these characteristics; in each individual case, there is a need for experimental verification, confirmation of induction ).

The way to overcome the main disadvantage of induction (its incompleteness, probabilistic nature), according to Bacon, is in the accumulation of as much experience as possible in all areas of knowledge by humanity.

Having determined the main method of cognition - induction, the philosopher identifies specific paths through which cognitive activity can take place. It:

"the path of the spider";

"the way of the ant";

"the way of the bee".

The "path of the spider" is the acquisition of knowledge from "pure reason", that is, in a rationalistic way. This path ignores or significantly diminishes the role of specific facts and practical experience. Rationalists are divorced from reality, dogmatic and, according to Bacon, "weave a web of thoughts from their mind."

"The way of the ant" is a way of acquiring knowledge when only experience is taken into account, that is, dogmatic

Empiricism (the complete opposite of rationalism divorced from life). This method is also imperfect. "Pure empiricists" focus on practical experience, collecting disparate facts and evidence. Thus, they receive an external picture of knowledge, see problems "from the outside", "from the outside", but they cannot understand the inner essence of the things and phenomena being studied, and see the problem from the inside.

"The way of the bee", according to Bacon, is an ideal way of knowing. Using it, the philosopher-researcher takes all the virtues of the "path of the spider" and the "path of the ant" and at the same time gets rid of their shortcomings. Following the "path of the bee", it is necessary to collect the entire set of facts, generalize them (look at the problem "from the outside") and, using the power of reason, look "inside" the problem, understand its essence.

Thus, the best way of cognition, according to Bacon, is empiricism, based on induction (collection and generalization of facts, accumulation of experience) using rationalistic methods of understanding the inner essence of things and phenomena by reason.

Francis Bacon not only shows in what ways the process of cognition should take place, but also highlights the reasons that prevent a person (humanity) from gaining true knowledge. The philosopher allegorically calls these reasons "ghosts" ("idols") and defines four types of them:

Ghosts of the genus;

Ghosts of the Cave;

Market ghosts;

The ghosts of the theater.

The ghosts of the family and the ghosts of the cave are innate delusions of people, which consist in mixing the nature of knowledge with their own nature.

In the first case (ghosts of the genus)we are talking about the refraction of knowledge through the culture of a person (kind) as a whole - that is, a person realizes knowledge, being within the framework of a common human culture, and this leaves an imprint on the final result, reduces the truth of knowledge.

In the second case ( ghosts of the cave) we are talking about the influence of the personality of a particular person (cognizing subject) on the process of cognition. As a result, a person's personality (his prejudices, delusions - "cave") is reflected in the final result of cognition.

Market ghosts and theater ghosts are acquired delusions.

Market ghosts - incorrect, inaccurate use of the speech, conceptual apparatus: words, definitions, expressions.

The ghosts of the theater - influence on the process of cognition of existing philosophy. Often, in cognition, the old philosophy interferes with an innovative approach, directs cognition not always in the right direction (example: the influence of scholasticism on cognition in the Middle Ages).

Proceeding from the presence of four main obstacles to cognition, Bacon advises to abstract as much as possible from the existing "ghosts" and receive "pure knowledge" free from their influence.

Thomas Hobbes.

Thomas Hobbes(1588 - 1679), who became a disciple and continuer of the philosophical tradition of F. Bacon:

Strongly rejected theological scholastic philosophy;

I saw the goal of philosophy as achieving practical results in human activity, promoting scientific and technological progress;

In the dispute between empiricism (experiential knowledge) and rationalism (knowledge with the help of reason), he took the side of empiricism; criticized the rationalistic philosophy of Descartes;

He was a convinced materialist;

He considered the issues of society and the state to be the most important philosophical problem;

Developed a theory of the state;

He was the first to put forward the idea that the emergence of the state was based on public (joint) contract.The main subject of Hobbes's philosophical interests is epistemology (the doctrine of knowledge) and the problem of the state.

T. Hobbes believed that a person realizes knowledge mainly through sensory perception. Sensory perception- this is the receipt by the senses (eyes, ears, etc.) of signals from the surrounding world and their subsequent processing. T. Hobbes calls these signals "signs"and gives them the following classification:

Signals - sounds emitted by animals to express their actions or intentions ("singing" of birds, roaring of predators, meowing, etc.);

Tags - various signs invented by a person for communication;

Natural signs are "signals" of nature (thunder, lightning, clouds, etc.);

Arbitrary communicative signs - words of different languages;

Signs in the role of "marks" are special "encoded" speech, understandable to a few (scientific language, the language of religion, jargon, etc.);

Signs of signs - names of names - universals (general concepts). As a method of cognition, T. Hobbes advocated the simultaneous use of both induction and deduction.

The problem of society and the state, according to Hobbes, is the main one in philosophy, since the goal of philosophy is to help a person achieve practical results in his activities, and a person lives and acts in society and a specific state.

Man has an inherently evil nature;

Self-interest is the driving force behind human actions

and egoism, passions, needs, affects;

These qualities lead to the awareness of every person of the right to everything;

The right of every person to everything and disregard for the interests of others leads to a "war of all against all", in which there can be no winner and which makes it impossible for people to live together normally and to make economic progress;

In order to survive together, people concluded public (joint) contract,in which they limited their claims and "the right of all to everything";

To prevent the "war of all against all," the suppression of extreme egoism, a common institution (mechanism) arose to regulate life in society - state;

To effectively carry out its very difficult functions, the state must become omnipotent;

The state is an unshakable, many-sided, omnipotent miracle-beast - "Leviathan", which "devours and sweeps away everything in its path" - a force that cannot be resisted, but which is necessary to maintain the vitality of society, order and justice in it.

John Locke.

John Locke(1632 - 1704) developed many of the philosophical ideas of Bacon and Hobbes, put forward a number of his own theories, continued the empirical and materialistic tradition of modern English philosophy.

The following basic provisions of the philosophy of J. Locke can be distinguished:

The world is materialistic;

Cognition can be based only on experience ("there is nothing in the thoughts (mind) of a person, which was not previously in the feelings");

Consciousness is an empty cabinet, which is filled with experience throughout life (in this regard, Locke's world-famous statement about consciousness as "clean board"on which the experience is recorded - tabula rasa);

The external world is the source of experience;

The goal of philosophy is to help a person achieve success in their activities;

The ideal of a person is a calm, law-abiding, respectable gentleman who improves his level of education and achieves good results in his profession;

The ideal of the state is a state built on the basis of the division of powers into legislative, executive (including judicial) and federal (foreign policy). Locke was the first to put forward this idea, and this is his great merit.

Rationalists (R. Descartes, B. Spinoza, V.G. Leibniz).

Rationalism (from Lat. ratio - mind) - the direction in philosophy, according to which the basis of both being and cognition is reason.

Rationalism has two main directions - ontological and epistemological.

According to ontological rationalism, existence is based on a rational principle (that is, being is rational). In this sense, rationalism is close to idealism (for example, Plato's doctrine of "pure ideas" that precede the material world and the embodiment of which this material world ("the world of things") is). However, rationalism is not identical with idealism, since the meaning of rationalism is not in the primacy of ideas in relation to matter (being), but in the rationality of being. For example, materialists, convinced of divine or other rationality, the internal consistency of being, are rationalists (Democrat, Epicurus, etc.).

The main idea of \u200b\u200bepistemological rationalism is that reason is also the basis of cognition. Accordingly, the epistemological rationalists opposed medieval theology and scholasticism, whose representatives saw the basis of knowledge

The founder of rationalism is considered Rene Descartes (1596 - 1650) - a prominent French philosopher and mathematician.

Descartes' merit before philosophy is that he:

He substantiated the leading role of reason in cognition;

He advanced the doctrine of substance, its attributes and modes;

He put forward a theory about the scientific method of cognition and about "innate ideas".

That reason is the basis of being and cognition, Descartes proved as follows:

There are many things and phenomena in the world that are incomprehensible to man (are they there? What are their properties? For example: is there a God? Is the universe finite? Etc.);

But absolutely in any phenomenon, any thing, one can doubt (does the surrounding world exist? Does the sun shine? Is the soul immortal? Etc.);

Therefore, doubt really exists, this fact is obvious and does not need proof;

Doubt is a property of thought, which means that a person, doubting, thinks;

A real person can think;

Therefore, thinking is the basis of both being and cognition;

Since thinking is the work of reason, then only reason can lie at the basis of being and cognition.

Studying the problem of being, Descartes tries to derive a basic, fundamental concept that would characterize the essence of being. As such, the philosopher deduces the concept of substance.

Substance - this is all that exists, not needing for its existence in anything but itself. Only one substance possesses such a quality (the absence of the need for its existence in anything other than oneself) and it can only be God, who is eternal, uncreated, indestructible, omnipotent, is the source and cause of everything.

As the Creator, God created the world, also consisting of substances. Substances created by God (individual things, ideas) also have the main quality of a substance - they do not need anything in their existence except themselves. Moreover, the created substances are self-sufficient only in relation to each other. In relation to the higher substance - God, they are derivative, secondary and dependent on him (since they were created by him).

Descartes divides all created substances into two kinds:

Material things);

Spiritual (ideas).

At the same time, he highlights the fundamental properties (attributes) of each kind of substances:

Stretching is for material;

Thinking is for the spiritual.

This means that all material substances have a common feature for all - extension (length, width, height, depth) and are divisible to infinity.

Yet spiritual substances have the property of thinking and, on the contrary, are indivisible.

The rest of the properties of both material and spiritual substances are derived from their root properties (attributes) and were called by Descartes modes (For example, the modes of extension are form, movement, position in space, etc.); modes of thinking are feelings, desires, sensations .)

A person, according to Descartes, consists of two, distinct from each other substances - material (bodily-extended) and spiritual (thinking).

Man is the only being in which both (both material and spiritual) substances are combined and exist, and this allowed him to rise above nature.

In general, Descartes's doctrine of substance can be expressed in the following scheme:

Proceeding from the fact that a person combines two substances in himself, the idea of \u200b\u200bhuman dualism (duality) follows.

From the point of view of dualism, Descartes also resolves the "fundamental question of philosophy": the dispute about what is primary - matter or consciousness, is meaningless. Matter and consciousness are united only in a person, and since a person is dualistic (he combines two substances in himself - material and spiritual), then neither matter, nor? consciousness cannot be primary - they always exist and are two different manifestations of a single being.

At the same time Descartes puts forward the doctrine about innate ideas... The essence of this theory is that most knowledge is achieved through knowledge and deduction, but there is a special kind of knowledge that does not need any proof. These truths (axioms) are initially obvious and reliable. Such axioms Descartes calls "innate ideas" that always exist in the mind of God and the mind of man and are passed down from generation to generation.

These ideas can be of two types:

Concepts;

Judgments.

Examples include the following:

Inborn concepts - God (exists); "number" (exists), "will", "body", "soul", "structure", etc .;

Congenital judgments - "the whole is greater than its part", "nothing happens from nothing", "one cannot be and not be at the same time." Descartes was a supporter of not abstract, but practical knowledge.

The goals of cognition, according to Descartes, are:

Expansion and deepening of a person's knowledge of the world around him;

Using this knowledge to maximize the benefits of nature for humans;

Invention of new technical means;

Improvement of human nature.

The philosopher saw the domination of man over nature as the ultimate goal of knowledge.

Benedict (Baruch) Spinoza (1632 - 1677) became the author of the most developed, complete and grounded philosophical system of Holland in modern times, a follower of Rene Descartes and a prominent representative of European rationalism.

The subject of Spinoza's philosophical research was:

The problem of substance;

Theory of knowledge;

Ethics, the question of the relationship between freedom and necessity.

An important philosophical merit of Spinoza is a detailed development of the theory of substance, in which the essence of being was considered. The basis was the theory of Descartes' substance (see question 27 "Rationalist philosophy of Descartes. The doctrine of substance"), with which Spinoza generally agreed, but tried to overcome its shortcomings and create his own, more perfect.

The main disadvantage of the Cartesian theory of substance, Spinoza considered its dualism, seeing in it an inconsistency, which consisted in the fact that, according to Descartes: a substance is an essence that for its existence does not need anything but itself; all essences (substances), which do not need anything for their existence except themselves, are nevertheless created by someone (something) other - the highest and only true substance - God and in their existence is completely dependent on him.

Hence, there is a contradiction between the independence of substances from all other substances and the simultaneous dependence of all of them (both in relation to creation and in relation to existence) on another substance - God.

Spinoza tried to solve this contradiction by putting forward an independent doctrine of a single substance, the essence of which is as follows:

There is no difference between the highest substance - God and other Substances created by him;

There is only one single substance that contains all that exists;

This substance contains the surrounding world (Nature) and God;

Nature and God are one;

There is no God who is and creates outside of Nature, rises above nature;

God is within Nature;

Only one Nature-God has the ability to create, is a "creative world" and creates a "created world" - single things;

Individual things do not exist by themselves, they are just manifestations - "modes" of a single substance - Nature-God;

The external reason for the existence of modes is a single substance (Nature-God), they (modes) are completely dependent on it, which means that they are subject to changes, move in time and space, have the beginning and end of their existence.

The very same substance (Nature-God) has the following qualities:

Exists;

Self-reliant and independent from anyone;

Has an internal (and not external, like modes) reason for itself;

It has many properties (attributes), the main of which are thinking and extension (in this case, thinking and extension are the properties of the whole substance, and not of individual modes, as in Descartes);

Endless in space and time;

Eternal (uncreate and indestructible);

Immobile.

Spinoza's theory of substance can be represented in the following diagram.

To achieve a greater degree of freedom, Spinoza believes, a person needs:

To know as much as possible the necessity in the form of a substance (Nature-God) - the external cause of all that exists;

Get rid of affects (sadness, joy, inclinations, etc.) - since they also interfere with freedom, subdue a person and force him to act as needed.

For these reasons, Spinoza's motto is: "Do not laugh, do not cry, do not curse, but understand."

Gottfried Leibniz (1646 - 1716) - German scientist-mathematician, lawyer, philosopher - is considered the last prominent representative of modern philosophy and the predecessor of German classical philosophy.

Leibniz belonged to the philosophical direction of rationalism. In the field of his research, the main problems were:

Substances;

Knowledge.

Having studied the theories of Descartes and Spinoza about substance, Leibniz came to the conclusion about their imperfection.

First, he did not accept the dualism of Descartes in the sense of his division of all substances (entities that do not need for their existence in anyone or anything but themselves), on the one hand, into the higher - God and those created by him, but independent substances, on the other hand, all created ones - into material (extended) and spiritual (thinking).

Secondly, according to Leibniz, Spinoza, having combined all substances into one (Nature-God), did not overcome the dualism of Descartes, since he divided all modes (single things - manifestations of a substance) into two classes - extended and thinking; that is, what Descartes acted as two types of substances, in Spinoza it became analogous types of modes (manifestations) of a single substance.

In contrast to the theory of Descartes and Spinoza, Leibniz put forward the theory of monads (or the plurality of substances).

The main provisions of this theory (monadology) are as follows:

The whole world consists of a huge number of substances,

having a non-dualistic (dual, like Descartes and

Spinoza), but a single nature;

These substances are called monads (translated from Greek - "one", "unit");

The monad is simple, indivisible, has no extension, is not

material education;

The Monad has four qualities: striving, attraction, perception, representation;

At its core, a monad is an activity, a single, continuously changing state;

By virtue of the continuity of its existence, the monad is aware of itself;

Monads are absolutely closed and independent from each other (according to Leibniz: "they do not have windows through which something could enter and exit from there").

Leibniz divides all existing monads into four classes:

"naked monads" - underlie inorganic nature (stones, earth, minerals);

Monads of animals - have sensations, but undeveloped self-consciousness;

Monads of a person (soul) - have consciousness, memory, the unique ability of the mind to think;

The highest monad is God.

The higher the class of the monad, the greater its intelligence and degree of freedom.

Another area of \u200b\u200bLeibniz's philosophical interests, along with the problems of being and the doctrine of substances (monads), was epistemology (philosophy of knowledge).

Leibniz tried to reconcile empiricism and rationalism and did it as follows:

He divided all knowledge into two types - "truths of reason" and "truths of fact";

"truths of reason" are derived from reason itself, can be proven logically, have a necessary and universal character;

"truths of fact" - knowledge obtained empirically (experimentally) (for example, magnetic attraction, boiling point of water, melting point of various metals); as a rule, this knowledge only states the fact itself, but does not talk about its causes, is of a probabilistic nature;

Despite the fact that experimental (empirical, "truths of fact") knowledge is probabilistic, and not reliable (like "truths of reason"), nevertheless it cannot be ignored as knowledge. Thus, according to Leibniz, cognition can be carried out not only by obtaining only one type of knowledge - either rational or experimental, but both of them, and one of them - rational (obtained on the basis of reason) - will be reliable, and the other - empirical (based on experience) - only probabilistic.

Questions:

1. Who is Thomas Hobbes's disciple?

2. Who came up with the idea of \u200b\u200ba social contract?

3. Thanks to what Hobbes believed that knowledge is carried out?

4. What is the main problem of philosophy according to Hobbes?

6. What are the main provisions of Locke's philosophy?

7. What is common and different in the philosophy of Hobbes and Locke?

Similar information.

Rationalism, in contrast to empiricism, is more closely related to the medieval tradition. But unlike scholasticism, rationalism is focused on methodological and epistemological problems.

Rene Descartes- founder of the philosophy of modern times and rationalism. Descartes's philosophy was dualistic. He recognized the existence of 2 essences: extended and thinking, the problem of their interaction was solved by introducing a common source (God). For Descartes, God becomes the guarantor of the comprehensibility of the world and the objectivity of human knowledge. Descartes believes that all possible things are 2 independent substances - soul and body. We cognize these substances in their main attributes: for bodies - extension, for soul - thinking. The soul is one and indivisible. The body is extended, divisible and complex. In opposition to Bacon's induction, Descartes put forward deduction. Descartes's rules: first, what is obvious is true, second, divide complex problems into simple ones, third, think moving from simple to complex, fourth, take into account all the stages of cognition passed. For Descartes, thinking is primary, existence is secondary. "I think, therefore I am." Cartesianism is the philosophy of Descartes, the main thing is reason.

Spinoza- introduces the concept of a single and infinite substance, calling it both God and Nature at the same time. This substance has many attributes, but only 2 attributes are open to a person: extension and thinking. An attribute is what constitutes the essence of a substance. In his philosophical treatise "Ethics" Spinoza distinguishes 2 classes of ideas. Some arise in our representation, imagination, others arise in our mind. To the dualism of Descartes' philosophy, he opposes the doctrine of a single substance (it is identical with nature, equal to God). God is a self-generating force of nature. God is not above nature, but in nature itself. Pantheism- identification of God and nature.

Leibniz-The central concept of Leibniz's philosophy is the concept of a monad. A monad is a simple indivisible entity, and the whole world is a collection of monads. Each of them is closed in itself and is unable to influence the others. The whole world of monads is ultimately a reflection of God as the supreme monad. Since every soul is a monad, and its activity is directed only towards itself, then cognition is only a process of gradual awareness of what is in the state of the unconscious. Thus, Leibniz introduces some changes in the Cartesian theory of innate ideas.

Sensualism by D. Locke and skepticism by D. Hume

The sensualist believes that only sensory data have the quality of immediate truth, all knowledge should be isolated from sensory perception. Sensualism is a constituent part of empiricism, in the understanding of which cognition is only through experience, primarily sensory.

Rejecting the point of view about innate ideas, Locke believed that we draw all our knowledge from experience, sensations. The head of a newborn is a blank board (tabularasa) on which life draws its patterns - knowledge. There is nothing in the mind that was not previously in the sensation - Locke's main thesis.

Locke identified three types of knowledge according to the degree of its obviousness: initial (sensory), giving knowledge of individual things; demonstrative knowledge through inference, for example, through comparison and relation of concepts; the highest kind is intuitive knowledge, i.e. direct assessment by the mind of the correspondence and inconsistency of ideas to each other.

Hume: Often calling himself a skeptic and his philosophy skeptical, Hume literally imposed such an idea of \u200b\u200bhimself on the readers of his works.

Hume identifies four types of skepticism:

1) Pyrrhonism, or extreme skepticism, professing total doubt.

The Pyrrhonic must, sooner or later, awaken from his skeptical sleep. Hume's negative attitude towards Pyrrhonism grows from "Treatise on Human Nature" to "Investigation of Human Cognition"

2) Descartes' methodical skepticism. It is a doubt developed in order to find the certainty. Hume approves of this approach and generally accepts the rationalistic method of Descartes, which, by the way, does not allow thoughtlessly to classify it as an empiricist tradition.

3) Academic philosophy, or "softened" skepticism. Academic skepticism boils down to a demand for caution in reasoning.

4) Consequent - consistent skepticism, i.e. skepticism about the possibility of solving a number of philosophical questions, resulting from a thorough study of human cognitive abilities.

What is the bottom line? Hume rejects skepticism in the only sense that corresponds to the original meaning of the term, but takes it in a guise that has nothing to do with real skepticism.

The question of skepticism is essential for understanding Hume's philosophy in general. His correct interpretation allows one to change the usual attitudes when reading Hume's texts and tune in to understanding the positive essence of his philosophical program.

The main ideas of the philosophy of the Enlightenment. French materialism of the thirteenth century

Rousseau, Diderot, Holbach

They believed that a person should be moral and reasonable.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1718-1778) "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"

Opposed social inequality caused by private property.

The ideal of the state is the republic.

He considered the causes of inequality, believed that to solve these problems it is necessary to create a social contract. "Man is born free, but everywhere he is in the trenches." The reasons for inequality are the state, private property, the presence of science and art (may be dependent on vices). The solution to problems is to bring people together.

Ideas:1) the idea of \u200b\u200bnatural law - a person has all rights, above all the right to life, allows natural inequality. 2) the idea of \u200b\u200ba social contract. The philosophy of the Enlightenment is directed against the church, but not against God.

French materialism is a new historical stage in the development of materialist philosophy, which is significantly different from the previous materialist teachings. English. The mother had a largely aristocratic character, his teaching was intended for the elite, and the French materialists carry their ideas into wide circles of urban society. They present their philosophical views mainly in the form of widely available publications. They relied on the widespread development of free-thinking in England. Another important source for them was the physical material of Descartes, as well as the teaching of Spinoza about nature, substances and its attributes, about man, about the soul and its relation to the body. John Locke does not exclude the role of reason, but limits it to simple empirical judgments. He denies the existence of hostile ideas (principles). Soul of the child-tabula race (blank board, sheet of paper), on the cat. nature writes down her letters.

Epistemology of I. Kant.

Epistemology - a philosophical doctrine of knowledge... The main works of Kant are "Critique of Pure Reason", "Critique of Practical Reason", "Critique of Judgment". All of these work deals with the intellectual work of the subject. He divides things in two. “Things in themselves” - as it were, nature itself, we do not know it, but it influences us and a second world is formed - “things for us”. This world is not objective, but simply systematized knowledge about the world and nature. Kant asks how much what we see and hear corresponds to "things-in-themselves." He was an agnostic and said that one cannot know the world objectively. Kant studies the boundaries of the human mind. Kant calls his philosophy transcendental. Kant's method of work is critical.

Theory of knowledge.

"Critique of Pure Reason". The essence of science, the essence of human knowledge, according to Kant, lies in the fact that man is not dragged along by nature. Kant sees a revolutionary change in revealing the creative, constructive nature of human cognition, thinking, and the activity of the human mind. Man is by nature a creative being, capable of producing new knowledge. Kant brings about a kind of revolution in philosophy, considering knowledge as an activity that proceeds according to its own laws. The subject of theoretical philosophy, according to Kant, should not be the study of things in themselves - nature, the world, man - but the study of cognitive activity, the establishment of the laws of the human mind and its boundaries. Kant distinguishes between two types of knowledge (and knowledge): experimental, based on experience (a posteriori) and extra-experience (a priori). Sensuality and its universal forms - space and time. The doctrine of sensuality Kant calls transcendental aesthetics.Kant defines experience as the interaction of sensuality and reason. That which in phenomena corresponds to sensations Kant calls the matter of phenomena; Kant calls something ordering, organizing the world of sensations forms of sensuality. In other words, there is something in us that immediately sets the form of objectivity - “gives” the object in space and time. Kant considers space and time primarily as forms of sensuality. Kant also calls them a priori forms of sensuality. Reason is the ability for the highest generalization, synthesis, unity of knowledge. The doctrine of the mind transcendental dialectics.

Panlogism by G. Hegel.

Panlogism is a metaphysical theory according to which everything that exists is the embodiment of reason .

Hegel paid great attention to dialectics. His logic is dialectical. Dialectic laws:

1. The law of contradiction. That is, there are contradictions everywhere, and this principle explains why changes occur.

2. The law of the transition from quantity to quality... Explains exactly what changes are taking place.

3. The law of negation of negation... Explains how everything develops - development happens in a spiral.

Hegel developed not only the logic of dialectics, he was generally the creator of the philosophical system. He tried to answer all the questions: how the world arose, how it develops and where it is moving. Here it is necessary to note the difference between the system of Hegel's philosophy and dialectics. The system claims to be infinite when dialectics speaks of infinite development. Proceeding from the dialectical position on the unity of essence and phenomenon, Hegel rejected the Kantian doctrine of the unknowability of "the thing-in-itself"; in the nature of things there are no insurmountable obstacles to knowledge. According to G., the universe is based on the Absolute Idea, an unchanging spiritual essence that does not depend on anyone or anything. This is nothing other than God.

The foundations of a rationalist tradition alternative to empiricism were laid by the French philosopher René Descartes. René Descartes is the founder of modern philosophy. He deserves the credit for a clear and deep formulation of the basic intuitions and assumptions of the classical period of No European philosophy we are considering.

The starting point of Descartes's philosophizing is the problem of the reliability of knowledge, which he and Bacon shared. But unlike Bacon, who prioritized the practical thoroughness of knowledge and emphasized the importance of the objective truth of knowledge, Descartes is looking for signs of the reliability of knowledge in the sphere of knowledge itself, its internal characteristics. Rejecting, like Bacon, authority as evidence of truth, Descartes seeks to unravel the mystery of the highest reliability and compelling appeal of mathematical proofs. He rightly associates their clarity and distinctness with the radically profound work of analysis. As a result, it is possible to decompose complex problems into extremely simple ones and reach the level at which the truth or falsity of the statement can be seen directly, as in the case of mathematical axioms. With such obvious truths at your disposal, you can confidently carry out evidence related to complex and notoriously obscure cases.

Descartes develops a special teaching about method, which he himself summarizes in the following four rules: 1) Do not take anything for granted, of which he is obviously not sure. Avoid any haste and prejudice and include in your judgments only what appears to the mind so clearly and distinctly that in no way can give rise to doubt; 2) divide each problem chosen for study into as many parts as possible and necessary for its best solution; 3) arrange your thoughts in a certain order, starting with the objects of the simplest and easily recognizable, and ascending little by little, as in steps, to the knowledge of the most complex, allowing the existence of order even among those that do not precede each other in the natural course of things; 4) make lists so complete and reviews so comprehensive throughout that you can be sure nothing is missing.

These rules can be designated, respectively, as the rules of evidence (achieving the proper quality of knowledge), analysis (going to the last foundations), synthesis (carried out in its entirety) and control (allowing to avoid mistakes in the implementation of both analysis and synthesis).

The first problem was to discover the obvious truths underlying all our knowledge. Descartes suggests using methodical doubt for this purpose. Only with its help can one find the truths, which are impossible to doubt. It should be noted that extremely high requirements are imposed on the test for certainty, obviously exceeding those that fully satisfy us, say, when considering mathematical axioms. After all, one can doubt the justice of the latter. We need to find such truths that are impossible to doubt. Can you doubt your own existence, the existence of the world. God? Is it that a person has two hands and two eyes? Such doubts may be ridiculous and strange, but they are possible. What cannot be doubted? The conclusion of Descartes only at first glance may seem naive when he discovers such an unconditional and indisputable evidence in the following: I think, therefore I am. The validity of the undoubtedness of thinking is here confirmed by the very act of doubt as an act of thought. Thinking answers (for the thinking "I" itself) a special,

unavoidable certainty, which consists in the immediate givenness and openness of thought for itself.

The whole system of Descartes' argumentation makes his idea of \u200b\u200bthe existence of innate ideas quite understandable as one of the foundations of the rationalistic theory of knowledge. It is the innate nature of the idea that explains the very effect of clarity and distinctness, the effectiveness of intellectual intuition inherent in our mind. Deeper into it, we are able to cognize things created by God.

Rationalism in the theory of knowledge of the 17th century. represented by the teachings of R. Descartes, B. Spinoza, G. Leibniz. The central concept of rationalist metaphysics is the concept of substance, which is rooted in ancient ontology.

Descartes' dualistic doctrine of substance was overcome by the Dutch philosopher Benedict Spinoza (1632-1677), who developed the monistic doctrine of the world. His monism appeared in the form of pantheism: in his ontology / he identified God and nature, which acts as nature - creative and nature - created. At the same time B. Spinoza declared that there is only one material substance, the main attributes of which are extension and thinking. "Thus, all nature is living nature not only because it is God, but also because it is inherent Thinking. Having spiritualized all nature, Spinoza thereby acted as a philosopher-hylozoist. He believed that the attributes of material substance are as eternal as matter itself: they never arise or disappear. The philosopher pays a lot of attention to specific states of substance - modes. He divided them into two groups: modes - eternal, infinite and modes - temporary, finite. Infinite modes are determined by the attributes of substance - thinking and extension, and finite - by all other phenomena and things. Spinoza argued that movement is not a consequence of some divine impulse, because nature is “the cause of itself.” At the same time, Spinoza is a consistent determinist. He believes that the emergence, existence, and death of a phenomenon th is due to objective reasons. B Spinoza, distinguishes three types of cognition: 1) sensory, which gives only vague and untrue ideas, 2) cognition through reason, which gives knowledge about modes, and 3) the highest type of cognition - intuition, which reveals truth.

The German scientist and philosopher Gottfried-Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) added to the Spinoza concept of substances the principle of active force, or "initiative".

In his work "Monadology" he declared material phenomena to be the manifestation of indivisible, simple spiritual units - monads. The indivisible monad has no extension and is not in space, since space is infinitely divisible. The Monad is an immaterial, spiritual center of active force. Monads are eternal and indestructible; they cannot arise or perish naturally. They do not change under external influence. Every single monad is the unity of soul and body. The external expression of the spiritual essence of the monad is the number. Activity, movement is a property of the monad. Nature, Leibniz believes, cannot be explained by the laws of mechanics alone; it is also necessary to introduce the concept of a goal. For each monad is at once both the basis of all its actions and their goal. The soul is the goal of the body, what it strives for. The interaction of the soul and body of the monad is God "pre-established harmony". Leibniz divided the monads into three categories: the monads of life, the monads of the soul, and the monads of the spirit. Hence, he divided all complex substances into three groups: from monads-lives inorganic nature arises; of the monads-souls - animals; from the monads-spirits people are formed. Leibniz recognized the immortality of the soul and the eternity of substances.