Today, there are numerous discussions around the world regarding various areas of science that explains the world. The object of philosophy is society, often nature or an individual. In other words, the central systems of reality. Science is very multifaceted, so it would be advisable to study all its aspects.
The subject and object of philosophy
Being a method and form of spiritual activity, philosophy originated in China and India, but it reached the classical nature in ancient Greece. This term was first used by Plato to refer to an innovative direction. If we study the process of cognition as a system structure, then as its elements we can single out the subject and object in philosophy. The first is a carrier of objective-practical activity, a source of activity in relation to the knowledge of the world or other object. This means that the second directly opposes the subject (after all, the energy of the subject is directed precisely at the object of philosophy). Historically, it is customary to divide the object of study of philosophy into three categories: a person (absolutely any rational being and its structure), the world around (including the world of ideas and other, even possible, worlds), as well as the person’s attitude to himself and everything around him.
The subject of philosophical research is the properties of the object of reality, which cause the greatest interest of specialists in the scientific field. It is important to note that the concrete aspect of an object with all its manifestations can also play the role of a subject of philosophy.
Main idea of science
At the beginning of its development, philosophy concentrated on all areas of the study of reality and generated specific sciences, including chemistry, physics, geometry, and so on. Later, the direction began to deal with the specific aspects of the research. So, the basis for the formation of philosophical knowledge are the fields and disciplines of research, approaches to research, as well as methods for searching, checking and integrating information. Philosophy is developing thanks to the following areas:
- A reality that has a material nature: everything that surrounds a person, excluding himself. It is important to note that the field represented by the sciences of natural science is recognized, however, special methods of philosophy appropriately supplement it.
- Metaphysical reality, the research of which is exclusively carried out by this science, since the object of philosophy and its subject have corresponding features that are not accessible to other areas of knowledge.
- The social and social sphere is considered together with the humanities.
- General or private attitudes of a person, which are a system of relations between a specific individual and social groups, which is studied by philosophy along with other scientific areas.
Key Philosophy Functions
The object of study of philosophy and its main features determine the areas of activity in which interest is manifested and a scientific action is performed. The functions of science constitute the totality of the fulfillment of specific tasks and goals in accordance with changing factors. So, the key areas of philosophy are the following areas:
- The worldview function determines the research as well as the applied landmarks of the individual or society as a whole by studying the worldview.
- The epistemological function involves the comprehension of reality, which surrounds a particular object of philosophy, and its absolute knowledge.
- The methodological function is to control the formation and verification of methods for science to achieve its goals and research.
- The information and communication function controls the transmission and content of information between any agents that are involved in these processes.
- The value-orientating function performs an assessment of the activity in which a particular object of philosophy directly participates.
What else?
Additional functions of philosophy are the following categories:
- A critical function involves evaluating a phenomenon or process, as well as comparing it with the opinion of knowledge, that is, working according to the “criticism – conclusions – conclusion” scheme.
- The integrating function suggests that philosophy accumulates knowledge and forms a single system of them.
- The ideological function distributes and evaluates complex views in relation to various social groups. In other words, this function studies ideologies.
- The predictive function provides forecasts based on known information. It is important to note that the models corresponding to this function integrate much better both in culture and in the scientific field (in comparison with similar directions).
- The design function is responsible for the formation of designs, complexes and images. In this case, the object of philosophy allows you to make forecasts, as well as carry out modeling and design.
- The educational function involves the impact on the creation of a certain system of views of both a person and society as a whole.
Philosophy Features
Naturally, each direction of knowledge, to which one or another time period corresponds, is determined by its characteristics and features. So, in the pre-Socratic era, the main feature of philosophy was a systematic scheme of reflection and debate as an explanation of one’s opinion on a particular issue. Then dogmas were often formed, that is, science was built on philosophies of a subjective nature, and evidence, as a rule, was based on authority. Later, Socrates formed a new methodological complex, which suggested that any object of science, philosophy should be studied in detail. The next stage was distinguished by the definition of innovative sources of inspiration and motivation. It coincided with an absolute decline in culture due to the denial of old principles and customs (including gods). In addition to nihilism, the key features of this period of time can be noted the ultimate exaltation of the individual in science, which often reached the point of absurdity. The Roman period is characterized by a focus on ethics and aesthetics, as well as the role of man in society. But the Hellenistic era ended with the transition from secular culture to a worldview of religious nature, which led to complete stagnation of culture and the degradation of society.
Urgent problems of philosophy
Like any science, philosophy is engaged in the study of various hypotheses regarding the resolution of certain issues. So, the main problems of the considered scientific knowledge are the following categories:
- The problem of creation, which is the most relevant.
- The problem of knowledge, which involves maintaining the reliability of knowledge.
- A temporary problem is distinguished by the simplicity of its expression, but the relative complexity of the solution, because time is a subjective quantity. It measures the extent of processes or phenomena relative to other similar categories.
- The problem of truth involves dividing everything into true and false.
- The problem of the subject and method of scientific direction is explained by different approaches to solving issues and opposing views on the applied methodology.
- The problem of the meaning of life.
- The problem of personality regarding its formation and education (not the same as training).
What else?
Recently, a number of problems that philosophical knowledge is actively solving have expanded significantly. So, it was supplemented by the following categories:
- The problem of death, which is the answer to questions regarding the existence of death and life after it.
- The problem of society as a whole, closely related to the personal issue. This is where social groups and the relationships between them are examined, because the collective is not a crowd, and society is far from being a society.
- The problem of freedom is usually familiar to any individual.
- The problem of faith and reason, which has nothing to do with religion. Here we are talking about a measure of knowledge of the mind.
- The problem of the ideal is generated by the existence of views that have come from natural science, where the rejection of the ideal is relevant.
- The problem of the formation of philosophical knowledge.
Acute Philosophy Issues
The main question of philosophical knowledge is reduced to the formation of relationships and laws of existence, as well as the principles of its organization or disorganization. In addition, there are additional questions that arise within certain branches of philosophy:
- Ethics issues: A measure of the objectivity of moral perception? What does justice mean? What is the degree of permissible?
- Aesthetics: What role does art play? What is beauty? The boundaries of the beautiful?
- Questions of metaphysics: What are the criteria for intangible? Where is the localization of the soul? What does the being of an individual mean?
- Axiology Issues: What are the criteria for value? What is valuable? How subjective is the value guide?
- Questions of philosophical science: What is the criterion of the scientific? The degree of subjectivity in the process of assessing theoretical knowledge? What is scientific knowledge?
- Questions of a socially oriented philosophy: The importance of ideology in the effective rationality of man? Criteria for reuniting an individual with a social group? The reasons for the formation of a social group?
Philosophy of science
In addition to considering philosophy at the level of general perception, it is advisable to present specific areas of knowledge, among which is the philosophy of science. This discipline studies the ways, boundaries of competence and the essence of science, and also carries out research in relation to nature, methods of development and justification of scientific knowledge, its functions and structure. The object of cognition of the philosophy of science is a system of absolutely all scientific areas known over the period of time the formation and improvement of the culture of the peoples of the world. The subject of the philosophy of science are laws of a general and private nature, as well as trends in the current and future changes in the special activity of the mind in relation to the production of scientific knowledge. The following points should be referred to topical issues of the category in question:
- What criteria does knowledge have?
- What is the difference between scientific, pseudoscientific and unscientific knowledge?
- Types of knowledge.
- What is science?
- The competence of individual methods and the level of their scientific nature.
Human philosophy
Philosophical anthropology deals with issues related to the individual, social groups formed by him and, of course, with society as a whole. It is important to note that the human problem took place long before the formation of this direction, that is, it served as the subject of reflection outside the system of scientific understanding. In reality, there are many objects in the presented problem. The main ones are considered to be a person, his attitude to the world and to himself, the criteria for these connections, actions, as well as the formation of certain social groups. It should be noted that being in modern knowledge is considered together with the achievements of progress, because it has significantly raised society to new heights of existence. This progress is not the result of the activities of the layman. A person is considered only a consumer who, without supplying thinkers and creators, is doomed to degradation to a tribal system and return to the caves.
