Do you sometimes think that life is a continuous series of some problems that need to be solved, diluted with permanent turmoil and vanity? After work, you go online or turn on the TV to relax and now not think about anything.
We offer a little change in tactics. We’ll tell you that you were probably taught at the university, and you just might have heard somewhere with your ear. Yes, it’s not about light films or weak literature. We will talk about the basic concepts and laws of philosophy. We hope that this article will give you food for thought - in some places you really have to think about it.
Some simple definitions
You probably learned about such a science back in school. We remember that something was said there about the transience of being or the self-determination of consciousness - some abstruse things that probably would not be needed in life (as it seemed to us). But now is the time of thinking people. For now, let's start with simple basic concepts and leisurely go deeper into the subject and analyze 3 basic laws of philosophy.
Philosophy (Greek: “love of wisdom”) is the study of knowledge or “thinking about thinking”. In other words, a discipline related to questions about how one should live, what things exist and what their essence is, what is considered genuine knowledge, what are the correct principles of reasoning.
Speaking in a very simple language, this term means the pursuit of knowledge for our own sake and covers such areas of human activity as art, science and religion.
From the side of ordinary people, it often seemed that philosophy itself refers to unproductive and frivolous thinking. But look broader - for many centuries, the followers of this science have made an invaluable contribution to the development of mathematics, literature, politics and sociology through important and original ideas.
Industry structure
Philosophy is so broad and multifaceted that it does not obey a single logical classification. It is divided into eastern and western, each of which was formed separately, and due to radical differences in cultures, customs, life and mentality, they represent opposite directions and bring completely different ideas about humanity, individuality and nature.
It is also very important to divide the discipline into separate doctrines, which can be diametrically different or interconnected. For example, metaphysics is a matter of the existence of reality; epistemology - the study of our knowledge; ethics - a section on how people should act, which is a value; aesthetics - the problems and the importance of art and beauty. In addition, there is a philosophy of logic and political philosophy.
The division of science according to the historical period is quite expected: ancient, medieval and modern.
One of the most extensive classifications is in schools, in each of which the goals of a person, explanations of the existence of reality or even its absence, the form of organization of society and the path of development of civilization can be interpreted differently. Vivid examples are pluralism, skepticism, sophism, cynicism, hedonism, stoicism, scholasticism and so on.
And, of course, all the great followers of this science left a contribution that we are studying to this day, and their names are known to you from the school bench: Aristotle, Avicenna, Cicero, Plato, Socrates, Kant, Leibniz, Bacon, Pascal, Marx, Sartre. What is noteworthy - each of the listed and other figures are also known in completely different industries such as mathematics, physics, literature, economics or politics. This fact indicates the inextricable connection of philosophy and science.
Now you understand the importance and seriousness of the subject? Move on.
Fundamental law of philosophy
Given the vastness of the entire field, it is difficult to single out a separate aspect, especially since this principle contradicts the system itself, which considers reality from different angles and approaches that are different from each other. But in any case, the followers of this science need some kind of center, a kind of fulcrum, from which each of them can push in the direction close to it.
The law of the struggle of opposites and unity, the name of which already reflects duality and complexity, is singled out as such a basic law of philosophy. It is a doctrine of the development of nature, society and thinking. The basic postulate states that all objects, events and processes are characterized by internal contradictions, which are the source and power of growth and development. Thus, the movement of reality is created not due to external factors, but due to the causes that arise and are in all objects and in ourselves.
The law emphasizes the possibilities of knowing the world and the Universe through an approach to understanding any holistic system as fragmented and complex, elements and tendencies that are incompatible with each other (at the same time they are in a state of struggle, but form unity). Such an interpretation explains that it is in the growth of contradictions that the fact of development lies, which at a certain stage destroys the old and creates the new.
The Three Fundamental Laws of Philosophy
We talked about the central postulate, which can help you form an idea of science itself and its principles. He is the first law. Now we will talk about more advanced concepts.
The law of transition of quantitative changes into qualitative ones is a kind of accumulative system. It is said that small permanent quantitative changes step by step form a transition to a new quality by the type of jump. At this moment, the former state is eliminated, and the new one is created depending on the nature of things and the conditions for their development. If such a leap has occurred, then all quantitative changes before this stage are canceled and the process begins anew, right up to the formation of a new quality.
The law of negation of negation is a direction of development based on the negation of previous experience, but with the preservation of the positive content of past stages. Thus, this postulate is a manifesto of upward progress, which destroys the old and creates the new, while the growth chain has no end. Such a continuous denial is characteristic of all processes and phenomena observed in nature, society and thinking.
Development aspect
It is he who unites all three of the postulates described above. That is, if you look closely, you will see that they are all isolated parts of a single process or system. Therefore, they are also called the basic laws of development in philosophy.
So, the first installation says about the source, the impulse of the force that is inside the system and is responsible for movement and growth. The second is about the process of transition from the previous level to the next, about how it happens. The third is about the direction of this process, how the whole system is able to move progressively upward, denying the excess.
Dialectical principle
In confirmation of the vastness of not only the objects and processes studied by philosophy, but even the approaches to defining it, we will tell you about another aspect that will help to consider this science from a different perspective.
Dialectics is a doctrine that embraces the processes taking place in the Universe and in a diverse reality, containing certain postulates into which this entire system obeys. This theory consists of ideological and material levels. And if the first speaks for itself: general ideas and concepts, then the second is also divided into two groups of laws.
The first group is the very postulates that are the basic laws of dialectics in philosophy, which are briefly stated by us above. They are responsible for describing the development mechanism and the transition process. But the second group deciphers those attitudes that explain to us the presence of opposites in each object or phenomenon, the essence of their interaction in reality.
Place of logic
We owe this term and definition to Aristotle. It was he who first formed this concept, which provides the basis for proof and demonstration using natural language. In ancient Greece, mathematics was widespread, it stood at the forefront of the whole scientific theory and used arithmetic and geometric means to prove theories. Aristotle, on the other hand, created a whole theory of fundamental principles that helped to apply formal analysis to real human language. So philosophy and science set foot on the common path of knowledge of the world.
The great scientist formed certain rules that govern the art of logic. They are also referred to the basic laws of philosophy, which do not contradict the above and form a common system of understanding.
Three principles of thinking according to Aristotle
Here we describe the norms that explain how the thought in general arises, how this process should occur and what conditions are necessary for this. These are fundamental postulates that are necessary for clear and sound thinking.
So, the basic laws of logic in philosophy are as follows:
- The law of identity or identity - states the existence of absolute truth. Otherwise: if you sometimes have the feeling that you perceive things differently, you can even speak about different things at the same time at different times. This law puts forward the requirement that one cannot perceive identical thoughts as different, and different ones as identical. This principle eliminates the substitution of concepts in the context and incorrect, arbitrary interpretation.
- The law of non-contradiction - in the original translation it sounds like: "Nothing can exist and not exist at the same time, no statement is both true and false in the moment."
- The law of the excluded third - something either exists or does not exist; each statement is either true or false. This postulate works only in the two-valued logic of Aristotle, but the theory uses abstractions, and many elements of the reality system and examples are infinite.
Why do I need to know all this?
We talked briefly about the basic laws of philosophy, but you still do not understand what to do with all this?
Most importantly, this teaching will expand your world and perception of reality. Discipline, which seems irrelevant and outdated, can help change the angle of view on many material and spiritual values, which permeate our life and reality. You have the opportunity to understand the topic a little and, perhaps, choose for yourself a certain direction of philosophy and go deeper, because each branch of this science, regardless of the principle of classification, is so expanded and closely interconnected with others that many great thinkers of a lifetime not enough to comprehend this science perfectly. Although even this concept itself, some areas of this discipline are also rejected.
