Ideas about matter as substance and substratum. Structural aspect of being: matter, substrate, substance

It is unlawful to equate being with the concepts of reality, reality, existence, since the concept of being is abstracted from all the specific differences between things, objects and processes and is associated with them with only one feature - existence. This gives the world integrity and makes it the subject of philosophical reflection.

Already the ancient Greeks formed their ideas about the unifying principle of the universe. To designate such a basis in philosophy, two categories have been developed: substratum and substance. The substrate is what everything is made of. The ancient Greeks, depending on belonging to one or another philosophical school, understood the substratum or the beginning of the world as:

Water: Thales argued that all things arise from water and, collapsing, turn back into water;

Air: Anaximenes, choosing this element, argued that air, condensing, can form liquid, fire and a solid medium;

Apeiron ("infinite"): Anaximander considered the indefinite, eternal and infinite, constantly, in motion, to be the origin;

Fire: Heraclitus of Ephesus considered fire as the substrate-genetic beginning of the Universe. All objects and phenomena of nature are born from fire and, disappearing, again turn into fire.

At a higher generalizing level, the basis of being is no longer understood as a substrate, but as a substance (from the Latin substatia - essence, that which underlies), which means not only the fundamental principle of everything that exists, but also the internal unity of the diversity of specific things, events, phenomena.

In philosophy, reality is understood as everything that exists in reality. Distinguish between objective and subjective reality. Objective reality is what exists outside of human consciousness: space, time, movement; subjective reality can be defined as a phenomenon of consciousness, sensation, perception by a person of something and everything that is connected with it.

To determine the objective reality that a person can feel, copy, photograph, display (but which exists outside of his consciousness and sensations) in philosophy there is the concept of matter. Conventionally, matter can be divided into two groups: what is known by man and what is beyond his knowledge. This division is conditional, meanwhile, its necessity is obvious: speaking of matter, we can analyze only what is known by man.

The concept of "matter" appeared as a concretization of the concept of substance. First of all, matter is opposed to consciousness. This is very important, because matter is not only a physical reality (substance), it can act in the form of energy and not be physically felt (for example, x-rays, radioactivity). However, all forms of matter are opposite to consciousness, are outside it and independent of it, that is, matter is an objective reality that is qualitatively diverse.

In the context of the materialistic tradition, matter is a philosophical category that denotes a substance that has the status of the beginning (objective reality) in relation to consciousness (subjective reality).

Historical and philosophical excursion into the genesis and development of the category "matter" is carried out, as a rule, by analyzing the three main stages of its evolution, which are characterized by the interpretation of matter as: 1) things, 2) properties, 3) relations. The first stage was associated with the search for some specific, but universal thing, which is the fundamental principle of all existing phenomena. For the first time, such an attempt to comprehend the world was made by the Ionian philosophers (Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes), who thereby made fundamental changes in the mythological picture of the world. They came to the realization that behind the fluidity, variability and diversity of the world is some kind of rational unity and order. In their philosophical concepts, the role of the fundamental principle of matter as a substance was performed by one or another substrate - that which is the material basis for the unity of all processes and phenomena.

Within the framework of the substantial approach, atomism as a doctrine of the special structure of matter has become a new strategy for interpreting the structure of the Universe. This concept developed through the teachings of Anaxagoras about qualitatively different homeomeria, the ideas of Leucippus and Democritus, according to which the world consists of uncreated and unchanging material atoms. Later, the atomistic version of the structure of the material world developed in the teachings of Epicurus and Lucretius. As a result, atoms have become the rational means by which one can cognize the mechanism of the Universe. The rational meaning of the material understanding of matter is seen in the fact that the existence of the natural world, in fact, is associated with the presence of some universal principles (of course, having not an absolute, but a relative character), infinite combinations of which make up an inexhaustible set of observable objects.

The second stage in the formation of the category "matter" is associated with the era of the New Age, the period of the birth of classical science, the purpose of which was to give a true picture of nature as such by identifying obvious, illustrative principles of being arising from experience. For the cognizing mind of that time, the objects of nature were presented as small systems, as a kind of mechanical devices. Such systems consisted of a relatively small number of elements and were characterized by force interactions and rigidly determined connections. As a result, the thing began to be presented as a relatively stable body moving in space over time, the behavior of which can be predicted by knowing its initial conditions (i.e., the coordinates and forces acting on the body). The science of modern times did not qualitatively change the substantive idea of matter, it only deepened it somewhat, as it endowed it with attributive properties that were revealed in the course of scientific research. The universal essence of things is seen not so much in the presence of a single substrate in them, but in certain attributive properties - mass, extension, impenetrability, etc.

The preparatory stage for a new interpretation of the category of matter can be considered the concept of Marxism, which is emerging as a rationalist theory that assimilated Hegel's dialectical method, and as a philosophical program for the metatheoretical support of disciplinary natural science (the result of the scientific revolution of the first half of the 19th century). Therefore, Marx and Engels revise the concept of primary matter, pointing to its concrete scientific, and not philosophical meaning; treat matter as a philosophical abstraction; they introduce practice as a criterion for cognition and the formation of concepts. Under the conditions of the fundamental revolution in natural science of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which radically changed man's ideas about the universe and its structure, the concept of matter was introduced as "that, acting on our sense organs, causes certain sensations in us" (Plekhanov). According to Lenin's position, "matter is a philosophical category for designating an objective reality that is given to a person in his sensations, which is copied, photographed, displayed by our sensations, existing independently of them."

If we analyze this definition of matter, it is easy to come to the following conclusions:

1. In contrast to objective idealism, it asserts that only matter exists objectively, apart from it there is no other objective reality given to us in sensations.

2. The position that matter is an objective reality is directed against subjective-idealistic views, asserting in various versions that the world is a complex, a combination of "my sensations", that to exist means to be perceived, etc. In contrast, it is emphasized that matter exists outside of us, independently of us, independently of our sensations.

3. The conclusion that matter is copied, photographed, reflected by our consciousness (existing independently of it), is directed against all varieties of agnosticism and skepticism that deny (or question) the ability of the human mind to know, correctly reflect the world, comprehend objective truth.

4. Finally, this definition of matter shows the limitations of metaphysical materialism, the essence of which in the issue under consideration was to identify the philosophical understanding of matter with one of its types (substance, "primary matter", etc.).

Philosophy, abstracting from the specific forms and properties of the world, focuses on matter as an objective reality. Natural science, consciously or spontaneously based on the philosophical concept of matter, studies its structure, structure, levels, properties, connections and relationships, reveals the patterns of the material world in its specific forms, etc.

Matter also has a complex structural structure. Based on the achievements of modern science, we can indicate some of its types and structural levels. It is known that until the end of the XIX century. natural science did not go further than molecules and atoms. With the discovery of the radioactivity of electrons, a breakthrough in physics into deeper regions of matter began. By systematizing the known information about the structure of matter, we can indicate the following structural picture of it.

First, three main types of matter should be distinguished, which include: matter, antimatter and field. Electromagnetic, gravitational, electronic, meson and other fields are known. Generally speaking, each elementary particle is associated with its corresponding field. An illustration of this is the discovery in 1922 by Louis de Broglie of the dual nature of the existence of elementary particles, which in some conditions reveal their corpuscular nature, and in others - wave qualities. Substance includes elementary particles (excluding photons), atoms, molecules, macro and mega bodies, i.e. everything that has a mass of rest.

All these types of matter are dialectically interconnected. Secondly, in the most general form, the following structural levels of matter can be distinguished:

1) elementary particles and fields;

2) atomic-molecular level;

3) all macro-objects, liquids and gases;

4) space objects: galaxies, nebulae, etc.;

5) biological level, wildlife;

6) social level - society.

Each structural level of matter in its movement, development is subject to its own specific laws. So, for example, at the first structural level, the properties of elementary particles and fields are described by the laws of quantum physics, which are of a probabilistic, statistical nature. Their laws operate in wildlife. Human society operates according to special laws. There are a number of laws that operate at all structural levels of matter (the laws of dialectics, the law of universal gravitation, etc.), which is one of the evidence of the inseparable interconnection of all these levels.

Every higher level of matter includes its lower levels. For example, atoms and molecules include elementary particles, macrobodies consist of elementary particles, atoms and molecules. However, material formations at a higher level are not simply a mechanical sum of elements of a lower level. These are qualitatively new material formations with properties that are fundamentally different from the simple sum of the properties of the constituent elements, which is reflected in the specifics of the laws that describe them.

Thirdly, based on the above classification, three different spheres of matter can be distinguished: inanimate, living and socially organized - society.

The most important attribute of matter is movement. In different periods, philosophers developed the doctrine of movement. Heraclitus taught that there is nothing immovable in the world ("you cannot enter the same river twice").

In the 17-18 centuries. the only form of movement was considered mechanical: in philosophy and in natural science, a metaphysical, mechanistic view of movement dominated. Matter was understood as a mechanical inert mass, and motion as an active force coming from outside.

The dialectical view testifies to the opposite: motion is the mode of existence of matter. This is confirmed by natural science. Modern physics reveals the inseparability of matter and motion in a strict quantitative form. For matter, to exist means to be in motion. One of the main philosophical problems is the problem of the indestructibility of motion. It cannot disappear, just as it cannot be created from nothing. It changes from one form to another. For example, mechanical motion turns into thermal motion, and it turns into chemical, electrical, etc. That is why motion is absolute - matter cannot exist outside motion.

At the same time, movement, like a never-ending change in matter, does not exclude moments of rest, temporal stability, and balance. Peace is relative.

Motion as a universal property of matter manifests itself in qualitatively diverse forms. The richness and variety of forms of motion is due to the variety of types of matter. According to modern natural science, all forms of movement can be divided into three classes: in living nature, in inanimate nature and in society.

1. Movement in inanimate nature:

a) Movement of elementary particles and fields (gravity);

b) The movement of atoms and molecules, which underlies chemical processes;

c) Movement of microscopic bodies (heat, sound, crystallization);

d) Movement in space systems (planets, stars, galaxies).

2. Movement in wildlife:

a) metabolism;

b) Functional connections in organisms;

c) Processes of reflection of external conditions;

d) Intraspecific and interspecific relations.

3. Movement in society:

a) Methods of production;

b) Human consciousness;

c) Various forms of human activity.

F. Engels singled out the following main forms of movement:

Mechanical (masses, objects);

Physical (molecules);

Chemical (atoms);

Biological (proteins);

Social (activities of people).

All forms of movement are interconnected. Historically, lower forms give rise to higher ones, while at the same time higher forms transform lower forms of movement, therefore an analysis of higher forms cannot be made without knowledge of the lower ones. For example, physical motion is the mechanics of molecules; chemical is the physics of atoms; biological is the chemistry of proteins.

The social form of movement requires special attention, since it cannot be understood as human biology: the laws of social life are not explained by the laws of nature. This is a fundamentally different form of movement associated with conscious forms of human activity.

Thus, motion is the main attribute of matter. The forms of motion are very diverse and capable of mutual transformations with strict observance of the laws of conservation of matter and its basic properties.

The most important forms of existence of matter are space and time. Space is an attribute of matter, which characterizes its extent, structure and interaction of elements of material systems. Time - expresses the duration of the existence of matter, the sequence of changes in its states. These categories are extremely general abstractions. In the history of philosophy, two models of representation of space-time have developed, later called the concepts of "Democritus-Newton" and "Aristotle-Leibniz". The first concept is called substantive, the second relational. The first concept allowed the existence of space as a kind of emptiness not associated with material objects. At the same time, it was also believed that time is an independent entity, not connected with matter and space. From the point of view of the second concept, space and time were not conceived as separated from things. In science until the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. the first concept prevailed. The ancient Greek philosophers Democritus, Epicurus, Lucretius Carus and others came to understand space as a void based on their atomistic teachings. They believed that for the existence and movement of atoms, a certain receptacle is required, where atoms, combined in various ways in motion, form a variety of bodies. With the development of classical physics, the ideas of Democritus about the essence of space and time were developed in the works of Bruno, Galileo, Descartes, and others. An especially great contribution in this regard was made by Newton, who, when creating classical mechanics, was looking for a universal frame of reference, relative to which the mechanical motion of bodies occurs. Newton chose space as such a universal system. According to Newton, space is an empty absolute receptacle in which all bodies are located as something external to it. All bodies have extension regardless of the existence of other bodies. Newton believed that space is three-dimensional, continuous, homogeneous and isotropic. Its various parts do not differ from each other in any way, and, therefore, the spatial relations were the same everywhere and were described by a single geometry - the geometry of Euclid. Time is pure duration inherent in any single phenomenon in itself. It is also absolute.

As new ideas about the nature of space and time are formed, ideas about their properties also change. It became clear that within the boundaries of the microcosm, space and time differ significantly from their counterparts at the level of the macrocosm or the mega world. Biological space and biological time, specifically social space and social time have their own rhythm and tempo.

Thus, neither the substantial nor the relational concepts have absolute truth, since we are dealing with both absolute and relative characteristics of space and time.

17. The essence of the doctrine of matter. Evolution of the content of the category "matter"

Matter (from Latin materia - substance) is a philosophical category for designating an objective reality that is displayed by our sensations, existing independently of them (objectively).

Matter is a generalization of the concept of material and ideal, due to their relativity. While the term "reality" has an epistemological connotation, the term "matter" has an ontological connotation.

The concept of matter is one of the fundamental concepts of materialism and, in particular, such a trend in philosophy as dialectical materialism.

The term was used by Plato to refer to the substratum of things that opposes their idea. Aristotle recognized the objective existence of matter. He considered it eternal, uncreated and indestructible. In the era of the first atomistic concepts of antiquity, matter was understood as a substance, the basis of everything that exists in the world, from which all other bodies in the Universe are "built". The classical expression of this understanding of matter was the atomism of Leucippus and Democritus.

In medieval philosophy, matter was seen as the principle of plurality and individuation.

In the era of enlightenment, in understanding matter, the emphasis shifted to the infinitely developing diversity of the world in its unity. From this point of view, matter as a substance exists not "before" and not "along with" other bodies, but only in this very variety of concrete phenomena and only through them. A prominent representative of this trend was D. Diderot.

Paul Holbach believed that matter is everything that acts on our senses.

The impossibility of sensually perceiving the objects of the microworld made me turn to mathematical models. They talked about the "disappearance of matter", about the victory of idealism. This was also led to by the fact that materialism has traditionally been associated with a mechanical-material understanding of matter.

The modern definition was given by V.I. Lenin in his work “Materialism and Empiriocriticism” (1909): “matter is “... a philosophical category for designating an objective reality that is given to a person in his sensations, which is copied, photographed, displayed by our sensations, existing independently of them.”
^ 18. Matter as substratum and matter as substance.

substrate- this is what everything is made of. The ancient Greeks, depending on belonging to one or another philosophical school, understood the substratum or the beginning of the world as:

water: Thales argued that all things arise from water and, collapsing, turn back into water. Evaporation of water nourishes the heavenly bodies, and then. when it rains, the water goes back into the ground.
air: Anaximenes, choosing this element, argued that air, condensing, can form a liquid and a solid medium.
apeiron (“infinite”): Anaximander considered the indefinite, eternal and infinite, constantly, in motion, to be the origin;
fire: Heraclitus of Ephesus considered fire as the substrate-genetic beginning of the Universe. After all, fire always remains equal to itself, unchanged in all transformations, and the eternal and infinite world has always been, is and will be an ever-living fire, naturally igniting and naturally extinguishing. All objects and phenomena of nature are born from fire and. disappearing, they turn back into fire.

As you can see, most of the views correspond to the naturalistic understanding of the basis of Being.

At a higher generalizing level, the basis of Being is no longer understood as a substratum, but substance(from Latin substatia - essence, that which underlies), which means not just the fundamental principle of everything that exists, but also the internal unity of the diversity of specific things, events, phenomena. So, for example, Heraclitus, who considers the Universe as consisting of fire in its transformations (substrate), at the same time said that all these transformations are subject to fate, that is, to necessity, to the universal law - the Logos (λογος - Greek - word, mind, law, fate, teaching ....). According to Heraclitus, the Logos is the essence of Being, that is, its substance. This is the logical structure of the Cosmos, the World, given to living contemplation.

The question of substance is most important for monistic teachings (directions), among which two stand out in the history of philosophy: idealistic monism (objective idealism - substance - Absolute Spirit; subjective idealism - substance - subjective Spirit), materialistic monism. If the substance is understood as Will (A. Schopenhauer. The World as Will and Representation), then this direction is called voluntarism; etc.
^ 19. The concept of movement. Movement. Change. Peace.

Motion is the mode of existence of matter.

Movement is a contradiction between the absolute and the relative, the finite and the infinite, the discontinuous and the continuous. Contradiction is such a relationship between opposites, when each of them posits its other in itself, receives certainty (objective and subjective) because of this, denies its other, and thereby denies itself.

Motion is absolute and at the same time it is relative. Rest is a moment of motion, fixing its relativity. All peace is relative.

Movement is the main attribute of matter. It is intrinsic to her. Matter cannot exist without motion. According to dialectics, the source of motion of matter (self-motion) is its inherent contradictions. The constant formation and resolution of contradictions acts precisely as self-movement.
^ 20. Worldview and methodological significance of the doctrine of the basic forms of motion of matter.

The idea of the forms of motion of matter and their interconnections was put forward by Engels. He put the following principles as the basis for the classification of the forms of motion: 1) the forms of motion are correlated with a certain material level of organization of matter, i.e. each level of such an organization must have its own form of movement; 2) there is a genetic connection between the forms of movement, i.e. the form of movement arises from the lower forms; 3) the higher forms of movement are qualitatively specific and irreducible to the lower forms.

Based on these principles and relying on the achievements of the science of his time, Engels singled out 5 forms of motion of matter: 1) mechanical; 2) physical (thermal, electromagnetic, gravitational, nuclear, atomic); 3) chemical 4) biological; 5) social.

As new forms of matter are discovered, science makes adjustments to the classification of the forms of motion of matter. These include, for example, the movement of microparticles, physical vacuum processes, and others. Dialectical materialism proceeds from the principle of the unity of matter and motion: there is no matter without motion and there is no motion without matter.
^ 21. Space and time as forms of existence of matter. Philosophy and science about the absoluteness and relativity of space and time.

Time and space are the basic forms of the existence of matter. Philosophy is primarily interested in the question of the relation of time and space (in n p) to matter, i.e. whether v and p are real, or are they pure abstractions that exist only in the mind? Philosophers-idealists deny the dependence of v and p on matter and consider them either as forms of individual consciousness (Berkeley, Hume, Mach), or as a priori forms of sensual contemplation (Kant), then so are the categories of absolute spirit (Hegel), Materialism emphasizes the objective nature of v and p in that their universality and everything is inseparable from matter. generality. Space expresses the arrangement order

simultaneously coexisting objects, while time is the sequence of existence of successive phenomena. Time is irreversible, that is, every material process develops in one direction - from the past to the future. Natural science of the 18-19 centuries, speaking of the objectivity of v and p, considered them, after Newton, in isolation from each other and as something independent, existing completely independently of matter and

movement. In accordance with the atomistic views of the ancient natural philosophers

(Democritus, Epicurus) up to the age of 20, natural scientists identified space with emptiness, considered it absolute, always and everywhere the same and motionless, and time flowing evenly. Modern physics has discarded the old notions of space as an empty receptacle of bodies and of time as one for the entire infinite universe. The main conclusion of Einstein's theory of relativity lies precisely in establishing that time and space do not exist on their own, in isolation from matter, but are in such a universal relationship in which they lose their independence and act as sides of a single and diverse whole.

them gravitational fields. The ideas of Lobachevsky, Riemann, Gauss, and Bolyai played an important role in the creation of the modern theory of u and n. The discovery of non-Euclidean geometry refuted the Kantian doctrine of v and p as non-experimental forms of sensory perception. The study of Butlerov, Fedorov and their followers discovered the dependence of spatial properties on the physical nature of material bodies, the conditionality of the physicochemical properties of matter by the spatial arrangement of atoms. Human consciousness in its development is an ever deeper and more correct idea of an objectively real V.I.P.,

Space and time are philosophical categories, by means of which the forms of being of things are designated and reflecting, on the one hand, their event, coexistence (in space), on the other hand, the processes of replacing them with each other, the duration of their existence (in time), The named categories are interconnected, Common characteristic features of space and time as attributes of matter are. their absoluteness, objectivity and independence from human consciousness, inextricable connection with each other, quantitative and qualitative infinity. However, there are differences between them. Thus, philosophers refer to the specific properties of space as the extension and rank (coexistence) of various elements, connectivity, continuity manifested in the separate existence of material objects and systems that have certain sizes and boundaries, three-dimensionality (all material processes and interactions are realized in space in three dimensions). Local properties of space are symmetry (asymmetry), shape and size, distance between bodies, location, spatial distribution, boundaries separating various systems.

The specific properties of time include objectivity,

inextricable connection with matter and space, movement and other attributes of matter, duration, a pronounced sequence of existence and change in the state of bodies. Specific periods of the existence of bodies from inception to transition to qualitative forms, the simultaneity of events, which is always relative, the rhythm of the process, the rate of measurement of the state, the pace of development are local properties of time.
^ 22. Reflection as an attribute, an integral property of a substance, the world as a whole. The reason for the development of forms of reflection.

Reflection, a universal property of matter, which consists in reproducing, fixing what belongs to the reflected object. "... It is logical to assume that all matter has a property that is essentially related to sensation, the property of reflection ..." (V. I. Lenin, Complete Works, 5th edition, volume 18, page 91). Any O. carries information about the object of O. The ability to O., as well as the nature of its manifestation, depend on the level of organization of matter. O. appears in qualitatively different forms in inanimate nature, in the world of plants, animals, and, finally, in humans. The interaction of various material systems results in mutual reflection, which appears in the form of a simple mechanical deformation (for example, a body print on the sand), contraction or expansion depending on fluctuations in the ambient temperature (for example, a thermometer), O. of light, changes in electromagnetic waves (for example, photography), O. of sound waves (for example, echo), chemical changes (for example, the color of litmus paper), physiological processes (for example, constriction of the pupil in bright light, etc.). The creation of electronic computers capable of recognizing images, distinguishing things, performing formal logical operations, and developing conditioned reflexes, i.e., reflecting the relationships of things and orienting themselves in the world, confirms the idea of O. as a universal property of matter.

An integral property of a living organism is irritability - O. influences of the external and internal environment in the form of excitation and a selective response. Irritability is a prepsychic form of O., acting as a means of regulating adaptive behavior. The next stage in the development of sensation is associated with the emergence in higher species of living organisms of a new property—sensitivity, that is, the ability to have sensations, which are the initial form of the animal psyche. The formation of the sense organs and the mutual coordination of their actions led to the formation of the ability to reflect things in a certain set of their properties - the ability to perceive. Animals not only differentially perceive the properties and relationships of things, but also reflect a significant number of biologically significant connections in the surrounding world. This is elementary thinking, reaching its highest level in great apes and dolphins.

The formation of man and human society in the process of labor activity and communication with the help of speech led to the emergence of a specifically human, social in its essence form of speech in the form of consciousness and self-awareness. Human objectivity of reality differs from human objectivity by its animal nature both in the way and in the object of objectivity, in the desire of a person not only to satisfy his natural needs, but also to understand the objective connections of things in themselves. O., characteristic of man, is characterized by the fact that it is something ideal. It involves not only the impact on the subject from the outside, but also the active action of the subject himself, his creative activity, which manifests itself in the selectivity and purposefulness of perception, in the abstraction from some objects, properties and relationships and the fixation of others, in the transformation of feelings, an image into a logical thought, in operating with conceptual forms of knowledge. The creative activity of a knowing person is also revealed in acts of productive imagination, fantasy, in search activities aimed at revealing the truth by forming a hypothesis and testing it, in creating a theory, producing new ideas, plans, goals.

V. I. Lenin made a significant contribution to the doctrine of cognition as the object of reality; Therefore, the dialectical-materialist theory of O. rightfully bears the name of the Leninist theory of O. The Leninist principle of O. is attacked by some revisionists and bourgeois ideologists (A. Lefebvre, R. Garaudy, G. Petrovich, and others), who assert that the theory of O. allegedly limits a person to the framework of the existing (because it is impossible to reflect the future - that which does not yet exist), underestimates the creative activity of consciousness, and proposes to replace the category of O. with the concept of practice. The inconsistency of this criticism, which replaces the dialectical-materialist concept of O. with its mechanistic understanding, is obvious. Lenin never denied the creative activity of consciousness; in his words, "human consciousness not only reflects the objective world, but also creates it" (ibid., vol. 29, page 194). But only on the basis of an adequate O. of the objective world is the creative activity of a person transforming the world possible.

O.'s principle is the cornerstone of the materialistic theory of knowledge, proceeding from the recognition of the primacy of the external world and its reproduction in human consciousness. Lenin noted that the concept of objectivity is included in the very definition of dialectical, consistent materialism, and from this standpoint he criticized the epistemology of subjective and objective idealism.

"Matter" is one of the most fundamental concepts of philosophy. However, in different philosophical systems its content is understood differently. Idealistic philosophy, for example, is characterized by the fact that it either completely rejects the existence of matter or denies its objectivity. Thus, the outstanding ancient Greek philosopher Plato considers matter as a projection of the world of ideas. In itself, matter in Plato is nothing. In order to turn into reality, some idea must be embodied in it. For the follower of Plato, Aristotle, matter also exists only as a possibility, which turns into reality only as a result of its combination with form. Forms ultimately originate from God. In G. Hegel, matter manifests itself as a result of the activity of the absolute idea, the absolute spirit. It is the absolute spirit, the idea that gives rise to matter. In the subjective-idealistic philosophy of J. Berkeley, it is openly stated that there is no matter, and no one has ever seen it, that if this concept is expelled from science, then no one will notice it, because it does not mean anything. He wrote that you can use the concept of "matter" if you really want to, but only as a synonym for the word "nothing". For Berkeley, to exist is to be potentially perceived. To the question of whether nature existed before man, Berkeley would answer yes, in the mind of God. Other representatives of subjective idealism (E. Mach, R. Avenarius, and others) do not openly deny the existence of matter, but reduce it to "a set (complexes) of sensations." Matter, thing, object, by; in their opinion, is a complex of human sensations. It is the sensations of a person that create, construct them. In materialistic philosophy, there are also different ideas about matter. True, all materialist philosophers are characterized by the recognition of the matter of its objective, independent of consciousness (sensations) existence. Already the ancient philosophers (Chinese, Indian, Greek) considered as matter some of the most common sensually concrete substance, which they considered the fundamental principle of everything that exists in the world. This approach to the definition of matter can be called substantial, because its essence was the search for the foundation (substance) of the world. The attributes of matter, the universal forms of its existence are movement, space and time, which do not exist outside of matter. In the same way, there can be no material objects that would not have spatio-temporal properties. Friedrich Engels singled out five forms of motion of matter: - physical; - chemical; - biological; - social; - mechanical. The universal properties of matter are: - indestructibility and indestructibility; - eternity of existence in time and infinity in space; - matter is always characterized by movement and change, self-development, transformation of one state into another; - determinism of all phenomena; - causality - the dependence of phenomena and objects on structural relationships in material systems and external influences, on the causes and conditions that give rise to them; - reflection - manifests itself in all processes, but depends on the structure of interacting systems and the nature of external influences. The historical development of the property of reflection leads to the emergence of its highest form - abstract thinking. Universal laws of existence and development of matter: - The law of unity and struggle of opposites; - The law of transition of quantitative changes into qualitative ones; - The law of denial. Forms of motion of matter- the main types of movement and interaction of material objects, expressing their integral changes. Each body has not one, but a number of forms of material movement. In modern science, three main groups are distinguished, which in turn have many of their specific forms of movement: 1. in inorganic nature: spatial movement; motion of elementary particles and fields - electromagnetic, gravitational, strong and weak interactions, processes of transformation of elementary particles, etc.; movement and transformation of atoms and molecules, including chemical reactions; changes in the structure of macroscopic bodies - thermal processes, changes in aggregate states, sound vibrations, and more; geological processes; change in space systems of various sizes: planets, stars, galaxies and their clusters; 2. in wildlife: metabolism, self-regulation, management and reproduction in biocenoses and other ecological systems; interaction of the entire biosphere with the natural systems of the Earth; intraorganismal biological processes aimed at ensuring the preservation of organisms, maintaining the stability of the internal environment in changing conditions of existence; supraorganismal processes express the relationship between representatives of various species in ecosystems and determine their abundance, distribution zone (range) and evolution; 3. in society: diverse manifestations of the conscious activity of people; all higher forms of reflection and purposeful transformation of reality.

Question number 41. Consciousness as a reflection. Origin and essence of consciousness. Consciousness is the second, after matter, extremely broad philosophical category. F. M. Dostoevsky believed that man is a mystery. So mysterious is the consciousness of man. And today, when a person has penetrated into many secrets of the universe, the secrets of his own being, and, consequently, the secrets of his consciousness, in many ways still remain mysterious and arouse general interest. This problem is inexhaustible. And although you already have certain knowledge, we will try to systematize and deepen it, focusing on the natural and social factors that determined the emergence and development of consciousness. There have been and are different points of view in the interpretation of consciousness. Everything depends on how certain philosophers solve the basic question of philosophy and, above all, the question of the nature of the world. Objective idealism separates consciousness from nature, matter and endows it with a supernatural essence (Plato, Hegel, etc.). Some subjective idealists have declared that our brain is not the abode of thinking (Avenarius).

Materialism proceeds from the fact that matter is primary, and consciousness is secondary. It is a property of matter. However, this property itself was understood in different ways. Hylozoism(from the Greek hyle - matter, zoe - life) believed that consciousness is a property of all matter (B. Spinoza, D. Diderot, etc.). Panpsychism(from Greek pan - everything, psuche - soul) also recognizes the universal animation of nature (K. Tsiolkovsky). From the point of view of dialectical and modern materialism Consciousness is a function of the brain, a reflection of the external world.

The inseparability of consciousness from matter does not mean their identity. They really exist. But these are different realities. Matter - objective reality, and consciousness is subjective reality. The subject of thought and the thought of the subject are not the same thing. The image of a needle does not prick, the image of a knife does not cut, the image of water does not quench thirst. Matter, its types, levels - material prototype, consciousness is the ideal Image, an ideal copy of the material. This already shows the groundlessness of the views of vulgar materialists, who believed that the brain secretes thought in the same way that the kidneys secrete urine, the liver - bile, the stomach - gastric juice (K. Vogt, L. Büchner, J. Moleschott). But the opposition of matter and consciousness is possible only within the framework of the main question of philosophy (which is primary), outside of this issue such opposition is relatively and simply unscientific.

What is consciousness and what is its structure? Consciousness is the highest function of the brain, peculiar only to man and associated with speech, the essence of which lies in a purposeful, meaningful and generalized reflection of reality in the form of ideal images, in its creative transformation, in the reasonable regulation of human behavior, its relationship with the natural and social environment. The structure of consciousness:

1. The totality of knowledge acquired by man about the natural and social world.

2. Conscious sensory elements - sensations, perceptions, ideas.

3. Rational elements - concepts, judgments, conclusions, memory, will, reason, reason.

4. Emotional elements - internal feelings and sensations of a person: love and hate, grief and joy, likes and dislikes, cheerfulness, cheerfulness, optimism, pessimism, etc.

5. Self-consciousness is knowledge of oneself, focus on reflection and understanding of one's inner feelings, interests, motives of behavior, actions, etc. Here the inner world of a person acts object his own knowledge. Thanks to self-consciousness, a person is ultimately aware of himself as a person. A number of authors express the idea that self-consciousness is not an independent element of consciousness, but only a facet of consciousness, “directed” at itself.

Consciousness does not exhaust the entire content of the human psyche, it also has an unconscious layer (the sphere of instincts and unconscious drives). The study of the unconscious layer of the human psyche is associated with the name of the Austrian doctor, neuropathologist, psychiatrist Z. Freud.

How did consciousness arise? From the standpoint of dialectical materialism Consciousness – It is the product of a long historical development matter itself, which in the course of evolution from inanimate to living gave rise to more and more complex forms Reflections. Consequently, the origins of the highest form of reflection (consciousness) should be sought in matter itself, its evolution. Reflection- this is a universal property of matter, it is the ability of all matter to retain, preserve traces, the results of interaction in its internal state, its structure. Reflection is a kind of Memory» material objects about the previous interaction. Reflection is always Result interactions.

Substrate (philosophy)

substrate(primary matter, primary substance, primary element, primary element, single beginning, materia prima) (from Latin substratum - foundation, foundation) - in a broad sense, the basis of everything that exists. At the same time, the substrate is often identified with matter and substance. In a narrower sense, a substrate is understood as those simple structures or formations that remain stable, unchanged during any transformations of a thing and determine its specific properties (for example, atoms in chemical reactions).

In ancient philosophy

In Hinduism

The primary elements, according to the Hindu tradition: air - a blue circle, earth - a yellow square, fire - a red triangle, water - in the shape of a crescent, spirit - a black oval shape

In Chinese philosophy

Wu-sin - ( five elements; five elements; five actions) is one of the main categories of Chinese philosophy; a five-member structure that determines the main parameters of the universe. In addition to philosophy, it is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine, divination, martial arts, and numerology. It includes five classes (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) characterizing the state and interconnection of all existing objects and phenomena.

In European idealism

In various philosophical idealistic schools, ancient ideas and Christian religious ideas about the original have undergone further development.

In Hegel's philosophy

At the heart of the world lies the absolute spirit. Only he, due to his infinity, can achieve true knowledge of himself. For self-knowledge, he needs manifestation. The self-disclosure of the Absolute Spirit in space is nature; self-disclosure in time - history.

In Russian religious philosophy

Philosophy of S. Bulgakov

Bulgakov's performances largely repeat Plato's Timaeus. As a being immersed in a whirlpool of emergence and annihilation, transitions and transformations, created being is "being". But behind the multiplicity and diversity of being, it is necessary to assume a single sub-foundation, in the bosom of which only all appearances and transformations can take place. This universal underpinning existence, from which immediately arises everything that arises, all things of the world, and there is matter. Bulgakov accepts the provisions of the ancient tradition related to it. Matter is the “third kind” of being, along with the things of the sensual world and their ideal prototypes, ideas. It is an unformed, indefinite "first matter", materia prima potentially existing, the ability to reveal in the sensible. In its ontological being, it, like created being in general, is meon, "being non-being." But these positions are supplemented by others connected, first of all, with the generative role of matter. According to Bulgakov, she acts as the "Great Mother Earth" of the ancient pagan cults of Greece and the East, as well as the "earth" of the first verses of the Book of Genesis. “Earth” and “mother” are Bulgakov’s key definitions of matter, expressing its conceiving and giving birth power, its fruitfulness and fruitfulness. The earth is "saturated with limitless possibilities"; it is "all-matter, for everything is potentially contained in it." Although after God, according to His will, but matter is also a creative principle. Following Gregory of Nyssa, Bulgakov considers the existence of the world as a process that directly continues the source creative act of God, an unceasingly ongoing creation, performed with the indispensable active participation of matter itself. Here Bulgakov's concept turns out to be on the basis of patristics, diverging from Platonism and Neoplatonism; it receives its final meaning in the context of Christology and meriology. Mother Earth not only gives birth, but also brings forth everything that exists from its bowels. At the pinnacle of her generative and creative effort, in its ultimate tension and ultimate purity, she is potentially the “God-Earth” and the Mother of God. Mary comes from her depths and the earth becomes ready to receive the Logos and give birth to the God-man. The Earth becomes the Mother of God, and only in this is the true apotheosis of matter, the rise and crowning of this creative effort. Here is the key to Bulgakov's entire "religious materialism".

Philosophy of V. S. Solovyov

Solovyov distinguishes three sides from which living beings are considered:

"i) an intrinsic entity, or prima materia, life, the desire or desire to live, that is, to eat and multiply - hunger and love (more passive in plants, more active in animals); ii) the mode of this life, that is, those morphological and physiological conditions that determine the nutrition and reproduction (and, in connection with them, other secondary functions) of each organic species; and, finally, iii) biological purpose - not in the sense of external teleology, but in terms of comparative anatomy, which determines, in relation to the whole organic world, the place and significance of those particular forms that in each species are supported by nutrition and perpetuated by reproduction. The biological goal itself is twofold: on the one hand, organic species are steps (partly transient, partly permanent) of the general biological process, which from water mold reaches the creation of the human body, and on the other hand, these species can be considered as members of a universal organism that have an independent significance in the life of the whole.

Notes

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Philosophical Encyclopedia

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"Substance" redirects here; see also other meanings. Substance (Latin substantia essence; that which underlies) is something that exists independently, in itself, in contrast to accidents that exist in another and ... Wikipedia is one of the main components of the world history of philosophy, characterized by a pronounced originality. Radical demythologization was carried out in ancient Chinese culture, as it were, from within the mythological consciousness through the rethinking of the mythological ... ... The latest philosophical dictionary