Worldview trends. Types of worldview and life goals

Orientation in life, reflection, actions and behavior of a person are determined by his worldview. This is a rather complex philosophical concept that covers the psychological, cognitive, logical and social spheres of human existence. Different sciences define this phenomenon in their own way; philosophy seeks to unite all existing approaches, creating an integral concept.

Concept of worldview

Human consciousness has a complex structure, the basic part of which is the worldview. The main types of worldview are formed as the personality develops and are an integral part of it, along with character. It is a person’s concentrated ideas about the world, his experience, his cognitive reserve.

Worldview is a general category that in philosophy denotes a person’s acquisition of a theoretical basis in his ideas about life. It includes the results of a person’s understanding of global issues of existence: the meaning of life, the concept of happiness, what good and evil are, what truth is, etc. These are the most general principles of the existence of an individual person.

Signs of worldview

At the same time, the worldview, despite its pronounced subjective nature, has historical and social aspects, therefore this phenomenon acts as a sign of the human species as a whole and has objective, generalized characteristics. The main characteristic of a worldview is its integrity; it is a complex formation and is a form of social and individual human consciousness. It is also characterized by generality, since from experience a person draws universal conclusions, explaining the universe.

Structure

Since a worldview is a complex formation, it has several levels, at least two of them: these are types of worldviews of a theoretical and practical order. The first are the result of an abstract understanding of the most general principles of the existence of the world, which is usually formed in the course of training, philosophical and scientific knowledge, the second are spontaneously formed ideas about the order of things in the world, they are determined by individual experience. The components of the structure of worldviews are knowledge, interests, aspirations, principles, ideals, stereotypes, norms, beliefs.

Worldview, its types and forms are the result of a person’s understanding of the surrounding reality. The main structural elements are worldview and worldview as the implementation of two basic ways of mastering reality.

Worldview is the result of cognition through the senses, perception and emotions. Worldview is the result of a logical, rational understanding of the facts of the objective and subjective worlds.

Complex formation process

A person does not receive all types of worldviews from birth; they can only be formed during his lifetime. Socialization is directly related to the formation of a worldview. When a person begins to ask universal and philosophical questions, then a worldview begins to take shape. This is a complex process that occurs in several planes simultaneously. A person accumulates experience and knowledge, his interests and skills are formed, all of this will become components of his worldview.

The main point in the formation of a worldview is the search for one’s place in society; self-esteem and personality orientation play an important role here. Gradually, the system of assessments of the world and oneself in it is consolidated and moves into the category of beliefs and ideas, which form the basis of the worldview.

The process of forming a worldview is long, and perhaps even endless. It begins in childhood, when basic life ideas are laid and stereotypes are formed. In youth, a system of principles appears that will be the basis for a person’s actions, and in adulthood, the crystallization of the worldview occurs, its awareness and correction. This process can last a lifetime. Education plays an important role. The various ways and types of worldview formation lead to the fact that it takes on numerous forms and options.

Traditional types of worldviews

A broad view of the world is a worldview; in the early stages it can develop spontaneously, based on life experience, but is usually subject to social factors of influence, primarily the family has the most important influence.

It is traditional to distinguish such types of worldviews as ordinary, philosophical, scientific, historical, religious, mythological. There are also attempts to distinguish types on various grounds, for example, optimistic and pessimistic worldview, rational and intuitive, systemic and chaotic, aesthetic. There can be countless such examples.

Mythological worldview

Primitive awareness and exploration of the world took different forms and types, and a person’s worldview was formed on their basis. Mythological ideas about the world are characterized by syncretism and metaphorical form. They combine beliefs, knowledge, and convictions in an undifferentiated form. That is why science, religion, and philosophy grew out of myths in their time.

The mythological worldview is built on direct experience; even in the early days of life, man could not penetrate into the depths of things, but he needed answers to the questions of existence, and he creates a system of explanations, which he puts in a mythopoetic form.

The mythological worldview is characterized to a lesser extent by knowledge, and to a greater extent by ideas and beliefs. It reflects the insurmountable dependence of man on the forces of nature. Mythological ideas originate from primitive antiquity, but they do not disappear from the life of modern man - social mythology successfully uses the simplest explanatory mechanisms today. Each of us, in our individual development, goes through the stage of mythological knowledge, and elements of the mythological worldview are relevant in any historical era.

Religious worldview

The mythological worldview is being replaced by a religious picture of the world. They have a lot in common, but the religious worldview is a higher stage of human development. If the mythological was based only on sensory images and was expressed in a worldview, then the religious adds logical knowledge to sensory perception.

The main form of existence of a religious worldview is faith; it is on it that the believer’s picture of the world is based. It gives a person answers to the basic questions of existence, relying not only on emotions, but also on logic. The religious worldview already contains an ideological component and establishes cause-and-effect relationships between phenomena, people’s actions and the world.

The main types of religious worldview - Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism - embody different pictures of the world and ideals. Religion, unlike myth, not only explains the world, but also dictates certain behavioral rules. The religious picture of the world contains moral ideals and norms; this worldview is already being built in the course of answering questions about the meaning of life and the place and significance of an individual person in the world.

The central place in the religious worldview is occupied by the person and idea of ​​God; he acts as the source of all phenomena and the main explanatory argument. A person is offered the only form of realization of religiosity - this is faith, that is, despite the presence of logic in religious texts, the believer’s picture of the world is still built on emotions and intuition.

Historical worldview

In the process of development, humanity undergoes significant changes in its attitude and understanding of the world. In this regard, we can talk about the worldview of various historical eras, which are associated with the dominant view of the world. Thus, antiquity is a time of dominance of aesthetic and philosophical ideals. They are the main reference point for a person in perceiving the world.

In the Middle Ages, the religious worldview dominated; it was faith that became the source of world understanding and answers to the main questions. In modern times, the scientific picture of the world becomes the basis for the formation of a worldview; natural sciences answer the main questions of existence in line with their discoveries and hypotheses.

The 19th century is the time of the formation of a multipolar picture; in parallel, there are several philosophical and scientific concepts that become the main ideological principle for people. In the 20th century, the mosaic of worldviews is only increasing, and today one can see that they are formed on various grounds - from mythological to scientific.

Everyday worldview

The simplest type of worldview is the everyday, which unites ideas about everyday life. This is the part of consciousness that directly follows from human experience. It is formed on the basis of sensory-emotional perception of the world.

The main source of ideas of the everyday worldview is participation in practical activities, labor and social activity. A person observes the surrounding reality: nature, other people, himself. He establishes patterns that become the starting points of the everyday worldview. It is often also called common sense. A characteristic feature of the everyday worldview is traditionalism. Today, the media is primarily responsible for its formation, and the main form of existence is stereotypes. It is often realized in the form of superstitions, since it is based on ideas passed down from generation to generation, which are not always confirmed by science or practice.

Philosophical worldview

Reflections on the meaning of life, on the foundations of being and the purpose of man lead us to the emergence of a philosophical worldview. It is constantly developing and expanding, like any theoretical knowledge, and is enriched with ever new reflections. A characteristic feature of the philosophical worldview, in contrast to the mythological and religious, is that it is based on knowledge. Philosophy comes from objective knowledge about the world, but interprets it through a subjective method - reflection. It is also common for philosophical reflection to rely on the laws of logic, while operating with its own categories and concepts. The philosophical worldview is characterized by systematicity; instead of sensory experience, the leading method of cognition is reflection.

The philosophical worldview has gone through three evolutionary stages of formation:

• cosmocentrism, when the search for answers to questions about the origin of the universe was carried out;
• theocentrism, God is recognized as the primary cause of all things;
• anthropocentrism, when human problems come first, this stage has lasted from the Renaissance to the present day.

The main types of philosophical worldview: idealism and materialism. They arose at the dawn of humanity. The idealistic worldview considers the ideal to be the main principle of the world: spiritual, mental, mental phenomena. Materialism, on the contrary, refers to matter as the primary principle, that is, things, objects and bodies. Thus, philosophy not only comprehends questions about man’s place on Earth and his significance, but also reflects on the primary sources of the world.

There are also other types of worldview in philosophy: agnosticism, skepticism, and more specific ones: positivism, irrationalism and rationalism, existentialism and others.

Scientific worldview

In the course of the development of human thought, new types of worldviews appear. The scientific explanation of the world is presented in the form of general knowledge about its organization and structure. It strives to answer the main questions of existence reasonably and rationally.

Distinctive features of the scientific worldview: systematicity and integrity, based on logic, and not on faith or feeling. It is based solely on knowledge, tested and confirmed, or on logical hypotheses. The scientific worldview answers questions about the laws of existence of the objective world, but, unlike other types, does not reflect on the attitude towards them.

Since a worldview is always realized in the form of values ​​and life guidelines, science creates a cognitive reserve that becomes the basis for behavior.

Conventionally, all types of worldview are divided into two groups: socio-historical types and existential-personal types.

Already described earlier. You just have to refresh your memory: a worldview is a set of concepts, beliefs, values ​​about life, about the person himself, about his position in life.

Types of worldview and life goals

Depending on what worldview we use, we set the corresponding life (), and, accordingly, according to the type of our understanding of the world, we choose a way to realize such a goal.

Unhappy and unsuccessful people usually take the goal from one worldview context, and the path to it from another. For happy and successful people, the goal and the path to it are in the same coordinate system (in the same context of their worldview).

Types of worldview, historical and social

They were formed in chronological order. It is very good to understand what the difference is - knowing the history of all mankind. From the Stone Age to the present day. Each period of time reflected the principles that lay in each of these types of worldview.

Another interesting fact: humanity developed - and its thinking developed, its worldview changed. And exactly the same thing happens with the development of a child. That is, in fact, every person, growing up, develops his own worldview by choosing appropriate goals.

Archaic type of worldview

This is humanity’s earliest understanding of the world, of man himself in it.

It is characterized by the fact that realism and fantasy are not separated from each other. These two concepts merged in the form of early beliefs: animism, fetishism, totheism. There is no clear division from your “I” and the world around you. As such an understanding, “Soul” does not exist at all. At the same time: all living things are endowed with life, like humans: from stone to the sun.

Life goals are not formed consciously: it is to please oneself and other animate beings (sacrifice, rituals, idols ....)

Mythological type of worldview

At this point in history, there is a clear separation of “oneself” from the world around us. And if there is an “I,” then there is a “He,” whose actions and thoughts may not coincide with mine. From such views, confrontation (confrontation) already occurs.

This is the era of cults and pantheons of gods. Just as life itself is full of confrontation and competition for a place in the sun, so myths are born about exactly the same confrontation between the gods.

Life goals are already acquiring a clearer structure and meaning: to be with the Powerful Ones of this world, to have power... to achieve the favor of a certain god or person...

Religious

Even more her division of the world. What is this world And that world. The concepts of soul, spirit and body appear. To God is God, to Caesar what is Caesar's.

The concept of faith appears - in the invisible, without critical analysis of the latter. Ideas common to all religions: about God’s creation of the world, about the concepts of good and evil, about the consequences of not following certain rules of behavior.

Life goals - according to the concept of faith that a person professes - are “correct” in its understanding of actions and thoughts.

Philosophical type of worldview

With an increase in knowledge about the person himself and the world around him, a collapse occurs (critical mass), when this knowledge needs to be rethought. This is how various schools of philosophy are formed.

If the knowledge is reinterpreted in the context of such a school, then they believe that the philosophy is the same, but is developing... If the contradictions with the old school are obvious, a new philosophical movement is formed.

Life goals in this context are personal growth, self-development, self-actualization, search for truth...

Exponential-personal types of worldview

It is formed according to the maturation of the person himself. From uncritical, not separating yourself from your mother to a teenage existential crisis... plus the external environment of influence is imposed.

The basis of each person’s worldview is a collective image from many types of worldviews. This can be either a harmonious combination of philosophy, faith and traditions, or without much criticism, various worldview laws are perceived as axioms.

Take the previously described types - mix something from the bottom into a pile, and you will have a modern person like this.

The goals will be different depending on which worldview concept dominates... The most interesting thing happens: when the goals are on one plane, and the paths to them are on another...

Dogmatic

Dogma is not critical, but conscious adherence to rules and laws, according to some worldview.

Pursuing goals - according to dogmas and rules.

Reflex

Reflexes are the subconscious following of certain rules. If the mind still takes part in dogmas, in reflection it is following the principles and rules without the participation of consciousness, reflexively, impulsively.

In this situation, reflection plays an inconspicuous but, sometimes, very significant role.

Choosing the right goal, according to the type of worldview

Many concepts from the listed types are firmly woven into our consciousness.

Some examples - then and now.

Archaic type: before - open worship of idols (all living things), now - baubles, beads, talismans... bringing good luck, the concept of many new people is “the living universe”...

Mythological type of worldview: earlier - worship of the pantheon of gods: Zeus, Veles, Iris..., now - from challing (receiving sacred knowledge from unearthly forms of being) to the influence of the stars, the concepts of fate and karma, implicit and subtle worlds.

If a person fails, he cannot achieve success, here is the answer why this happens:choosing a goal not from one’s own type of worldview.

The fact is that changing your vision of the world is quite difficult, but choosing the right one that corresponds to the type of worldview is quite simple. It will only bring its own goal! From other people's goals, not your own, you will only be unhappy...

Good luck to you and choosing the right goals!

Sources of knowledge.

Who has ever wondered where people's knowledge comes from and how people's worldview and consciousness are formed and how all this affects the development of our society? Meanwhile, this is the main reason for our life today, good or not so good. Whoever has a decisive influence on the minds of people rules the World. More precisely: the one who controls the flows of information that shape people’s worldviews rules the World. Consequently, the consciousness and worldview of people depends on the purity of information sources, that is, the state of our society - our life, with you... So let's look into this issue.

The concept of worldview is one of the key concepts in philosophy and in the educational system. It is impossible to do without this concept when studying history, philosophy and such subjects as “Man and Society”, “The Spiritual World of Man”, “Modern Society”, “Science and Religion”, etc.

Worldview is a necessary component of human consciousness and cognition. This is not just one of its elements among many others, but their complex interaction. Heterogeneous blocks of knowledge, beliefs, thoughts, feelings, moods, aspirations, hopes, united in a worldview, appear as a more or less holistic understanding of the world and themselves by people.

The life of people in society is historical in nature. Either slowly, or accelerated, all the components of the socio-historical process change intensively over time: technical means and the nature of labor, relationships between people and the people themselves, their thoughts, feelings, interests. The worldview of human communities, social groups, and tactical individuals is subject to historical changes. It actively captures and refracts large and small, obvious and hidden processes of social change. When talking about a worldview on a large socio-historical scale, we mean the extremely general beliefs, principles of knowledge, ideals and norms of life that prevail at a particular stage of history, that is, they highlight the common features of the intellectual, emotional, spiritual mood of a particular era.

In reality, a worldview is formed in the minds of specific people and is used by individuals and social groups as general views that determine life. This means that, in addition to typical, summary features, the worldview of each era lives and operates in many group and individual variants.

The worldview of education is integral. What is fundamentally important in it is the connection of its components, their alloy, and just as in an alloy, different combinations of elements, their proportions give different results, so something similar happens with the worldview.

The worldview includes and plays an important role in generalized everyday, or life-practical, professional, and scientific knowledge. The more solid the stock of knowledge in a particular era, among a particular people or individual, the more serious support the corresponding worldview can receive. A naive, unenlightened consciousness does not have sufficient means for a clear, consistent, rational substantiation of its views, often turning to fantastic fictions, beliefs, and customs.

The degree of cognitive richness, validity, thoughtfulness, and internal consistency of a particular worldview varies. But knowledge never fills the entire field of a worldview. In addition to knowledge about the world (including the human world), the worldview also comprehends the entire way of human life, expresses certain value systems (ideas about good and evil, and others), builds images of the past and projects for the future, and receives approval (condemnation) of certain ways of life , behavior.

Worldview is a complex form of consciousness that embraces the most diverse layers of human experience, capable of expanding the narrow boundaries of everyday life, a specific place and time, and relating a given person to other people, including those who lived before and will live later. In the worldview, experience is accumulating in understanding the semantic basis of human life, all new generations of people are joining the spiritual world of their great-grandfathers, grandfathers, fathers, contemporaries, carefully preserving something, resolutely abandoning something. So, a worldview is a set of views, assessments, principles that determine the most general vision and understanding of the world.

The essential role of beliefs in the composition of a worldview does not exclude positions that are accepted with less confidence or even distrust. Doubt is an obligatory moment of an independent, meaningful position in the field of worldview. Fanatical, unconditional acceptance of one or another system of orientations, merging with it without internal criticism or one’s own analysis is called dogmatism.

Life shows that such a position is blind and flawed, does not correspond to the complex, developing reality; moreover, religious, political and other dogmas have often turned out to be the cause of grave troubles in history, including the history of Soviet society. That is why, in establishing new thinking today, it is so important to form a clear, unbiased, courageous, creative, flexible understanding of real life in all its complexity. Healthy doubt, thoughtfulness, and criticality play an important role in shaking dogmas. But if the measure is violated, they can give rise to the other extreme - skepticism, disbelief in anything, loss of ideals, refusal to serve high goals.

Thus, from all of the above, as well as from the history course, the following conclusions can be drawn:

1. The worldview of humanity is not permanent; it develops along with the development of humanity and human society.

2. A person’s worldview is greatly influenced by the achievements of science, religion, as well as the existing structure of society. The state (state machine) influences a person’s worldview in all ways, restrains his development, trying to subordinate him to the interests of the ruling class.

3. In turn, the worldview, as it develops, influences the development of society. Having accumulated qualitatively (i.e., having changed radically) and quantitatively (when a new worldview takes hold of a sufficiently large mass of people), the worldview leads to a change in the social structure (to revolutions, for example). By developing the worldview of people, society ensures its development; by inhibiting the development of the worldview, society dooms itself to decay and death.

Thus, by influencing the development of people’s worldview, one can influence the development of human society. People have always been dissatisfied with the existing system. But can people with an old worldview build a new society? Obviously not.In order to build a new society, it is necessary to form a new worldview in people, and the role of educators, teachers and professors in this matter cannot be overestimated. But in order for a teacher to be able to form a new worldview, he himself must possess it. Therefore, the most important condition for building a new society is the formation of a new worldview among educators and teachers.

But maybe we don’t need to change the current state of society, maybe it suits everyone? It seems to me that this issue does not require discussion.

We all live in a very complex and contradictory world, in which it is easy to lose our bearings. Now everyone agrees that society is going through a crisis. However, one can often hear the opinion that this crisis has affected only our country, while in Western countries everything is in order. Is this really true? This opinion is true only if we consider the purely material side of life. If we take its spiritual side, then it is not difficult to see that the crisis in the spiritual sphere of human existence has gripped the whole world, all of humanity.

In all countries of the world, regardless of the social system, such phenomena as alcoholism, drug addiction, crime, and moral degradation are on the rise; The number of suicides associated with disappointment with life is growing, especially among young people. All these phenomena became widespread earlier in Western countries and in America, that is, in those countries where the material standard of living was and remains many times higher than ours.

In the last two or three decades, these phenomena have become widespread in our country. Material wealth does not provide a solution to the problem and does not eliminate the crisis, because... its reason lies in people’s loss of understanding of the meaning of their existence. Figuratively speaking, lately humanity has been reminiscent of train passengers, whose only concern is to get comfortable, to get comfortable inside the carriage, but who have completely forgotten where and why they are going. That is, humanity has lost more distant – spiritual guidelines for its life.What is the reason? The reason is only in the imperfection of a person’s inner world. Man destroys not only himself, but the entire planet. Our planet is seriously ill, and we ourselves are to blame for this. Man is destroying his planet not only with his technocratic activities, but also with his perverted thinking.

“Our modern world is a sinking ship. The only difference between a sinking ship and the modern world is that on a sinking ship everyone is already aware of the inevitability of death, while in the modern world many still do not want to admit this...

The very people who caused its illness are trying to heal the sick world. The same ones, not personally, but according to their worldview, and the means offered for cure are the same ones that marked the beginning of the disease." (A. Klizovsky "Fundamentals of the worldview of a new era")

The reasons that brought down such a colossus as the Roman Empire still exist. The main reason must be recognized as the fall of morals, the demoralization of society and the demoralization of the main pillar of statehood - the family, for with the fall of morals and the demoralization of the family, the destruction of any moribund world begins.

When any moribund world is replaced by a new one, the most important thing is not the political or social changes that occur at the same time, but in the need for a change in worldview and all outdated views and views on new ones, in the need to change one’s beliefs and, in general, the entire way of life to new ones, for what is truly new, what replaces the old world, is new in all respects and is never like the old.

The difficulty is further aggravated by the fact that a person is forced to accept a political or social change by the very course of events, often after the fact, while the acceptance or non-acceptance of a new worldview, or a new belief and a new way of life seems to depend on each individual. In reality, a person has only two options: either wisely go with the flow of evolution, or wait until developing life throws him overboard as unnecessary ballast.

“When the Higher Mind and Higher Powers give a push and impulse for a new phase of life, for a new stage of evolution, then no human forces can stop this movement. The struggle against the flow of a new life is obvious nonsense, promising nothing but inglorious death, for when it begins The law of replacing obsolete energies with new ones comes into force and begins to operate, then everything that is not progressing is subject to destruction." (A. Klizovsky “Fundamentals of the worldview of a new era”).

Any new construction begins with the destruction of the old, it cannot be otherwise. It is this moment that is most difficult for people, from a psychological point of view. They do not know that the time has come for humanity to rise to the highest level of knowledge; they do not know either about the Builder, or how the Builder of a new life plans to carry out his reforms. They see destruction, and the first solution that comes to mind for most is protest and opposition. In reality, they oppose evolution, dooming themselves to all the blows and vicissitudes of fate that come with opposing cosmic laws.

Ignorance is man’s main enemy and the source of much of his suffering. Unfortunately, people are lazy and don't like to study. Many people live their whole lives with the knowledge they acquired in childhood, in primary school.

In the coming era, such knowledge is needed that should illuminate that area of ​​​​our existence, about which most people have very vague or very misleading ideas, in which many are interested in entertainment or amusement, and others for deception and profit.

The coming era requires knowledge of the cosmic laws of both the visible and invisible world. It requires recognition of the invisible world. But the recognition of the invisible world, which, thanks to its invisibility, has hitherto been recognized as non-existent, must radically change all the foundations of the existing materialistic worldview, all existing concepts and beliefs.

The situation cannot continue foreverthe crown of creation, man, lives without knowing the purpose and meaning of his existence. He must finally cognize the foundations of Existence, must cognize the laws of the higher spiritual world, cosmic laws.

Knowledge of laws is a necessary condition for life in all human organizations and groups. Most legislative codes of various states begin with the formula: “No one can excuse themselves by ignorance of the law. Violating the law out of ignorance does not exempt a person from punishment.”

Meanwhile, most people live in Space in complete ignorance of cosmic laws, violating them at every step of their lives, with every action, word and thought, and are surprised that their life is full of vicissitudes and shocks.

Throughout the observable history of mankind, one can trace the desire of people to build in their consciousness a fairly harmonious system of the universe, to determine their place in it and to further live, focusing on these ideas. For this purpose, many different religions and teachings have been created. All these religions and teachings have a lot in common. For example, they all claim that a person has a soul that does not die, but is preserved after the death of the physical body and after some time is reincarnated on Earth. Meanwhile, historians have long noticed that all these religions and teachings arose on Earth almost simultaneously (by historical standards) in different parts of the Earth: in Europe, India, China, when there was no communication between these parts of the world. The conclusion suggests itself that all these religions and teachings were given to people by someone.

There are several facts that cannot be refuted. For example, the well-known science of Astrology has existed for many hundreds of years. Astrologers have long been calculating the movements of planets such as Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, but modern science discovered Uranus and Neptune only in the 19th century, and even then on the basis of calculated data from Astrology, and Pluto was discovered in 1930! Where do astrologers get this cosmic knowledge? But modern science cannot explain astrology! But the predictions of astrologers about the destinies of people come true! Unless, of course, these are real astrologers.

Scientists have discovered the Dogon tribe in Africa, which is at a very low level of development (according to our concepts), but they have long known that Sirius is a double star and the orbital period of this double star is known. While modern science established this only a few years ago.

Well, how to evaluate the legacy left by the Miami civilization, which disappeared without a trace 600 years before the coming of Christ? Scientists are still puzzling over the mysteries of their cultures and are amazed at their high knowledge of space. Miamians knew something we still don't know. What about the Egyptian pyramids?

Anyone who is interested in these things begins to understand well that all this rich knowledge was given to people by aliens from outer space. What, they were given before, but now they are not? They are given, and practically without hiding from people! But do people want to receive this knowledge, or are they more interested in the prices of vodka? Or maybe people think that the processes occurring in Space will not affect them? Maybe it’s not necessary to know the Laws of Space? What is a person, where did he come from and why does he live on Earth? This is the worldview of modern man.

TOPIC 1 The origin of philosophy. Philosophy as a science.

Mentality and Worldview

Recently, in Russian literature, the concept of “mentality” has been used to characterize the spiritual side of human existence and society.

Mentality– a stable way of perceiving the world, characteristic of large groups of people (ethnic groups, nations or social strata), which determines the specific ways of their response to the phenomena of the surrounding reality.

Mentality includes knowledge, beliefs, values, patterns of thinking and behavior. It develops under the influence of geographical, historical, economic, religious and other factors over large periods of time, therefore it is largely not recognized by its bearers and is very stable, difficult to be influenced by external influences. In the mentality, the historical clearly prevails over the modern, the social over the individual, the unconscious over the conscious. Speaking about large masses of people and about long periods of time, we can use such phrases as “spirit of the era”, “character of the nation”, etc. The “theoretical” part of the mentality, the one that can be expressed in concepts and ideas, is the worldview. This is a generalized model of the human world, a way of understanding oneself in the world.

Worldview – a person’s system of views on the world, on himself, on his place in the world.

If a person does not have his own, independent worldview, he is not able to comprehend his place in it, choose the goals and direction of his activities, easily falls under the influence of other people, and becomes an object of manipulation. The same applies to large social groups, society as a whole.

Worldview structure:

2. A way of understanding reality, constructing a picture of the world (can be mythological, religious, philosophical, scientific, everyday, etc.)

3. Principles of life that determine the nature of activity.

4. Ideals as decisive life goals.

Worldview is not equivalent to knowledge, it does not consist only in it. This is an inseparable fusion of knowledge, morality and faith, where each component is special, irreplaceable, but at the same time should not suppress the others and should be kept within its own boundaries.

Worldview in the modern era

The role of worldview in the life of society has always been great, since people’s activities are not directly determined by the circumstances of their lives, but are mediated by their perception and understanding of these circumstances. At the present time, in the era of globalization, a universal worldview is taking shape before our eyes. There is a growing understanding of the responsibility of man, who has become a planetary force, for the consequences of his activities. Under these conditions, managing the life of society should not be the work of a narrow circle of people. Therefore, democracy is not a fashion, but an urgent need of the time. All people should take part in discussing problems and making decisions on the most important issues of public life. And for this, at a minimum, you need to have an idea about these issues and problems, i.e. have knowledge and own opinion.

But society is heterogeneous, it is divided into large groups with different, often opposing interests: rich and poor, entrepreneurs and wage workers, urban and rural residents, believers and non-believers, etc. Each such group has its own views on life, goals, life principles - its own ideology.

Ideology- a system of views on the world through the prism of state, class, religious and similar interests.

In society there is a constant struggle between these groups for power, influence, and the degree of participation in the management of society. Accordingly, we are also observing a struggle in the sphere of ideology; as a result of a clash of views and different approaches to solving problems, the opportunity arises to choose the best option. But sometimes, under certain historical conditions, one group of people seizes power in society and imposes its ideology on all other groups, prohibiting the rest. In this case we are dealing with total ideologization society. Such a society is doomed to stagnation and, sooner or later, loses in the historical competition. The totalitarian system is being destroyed, and in the ideological sphere it begins de-ideologization, i.e. abolition of total ideology and admission pluralism.

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1. Worldview, its role in the modern world……………………..….3
2. Philosophical understanding of the concept of being……………………………....7
3. Specifics, social functions and the role of religion………………....…10
List of references……………………………………………………….15

1. Worldview, its role in the modern world

Separate ideas about the worldview itself, reflecting its various aspects and properties, began to take shape much earlier. As a rule, these were ideas about some higher knowledge, the most valuable and difficult to comprehend, the possession of which makes a person wise, since it not only equips him with an understanding of everything that happens in the world and himself, but also teaches him to live correctly, to coordinate his actions with the actions universal forces or with eternal laws ruling in the world and over people themselves. The beginnings of such ideas can be found in the poems of Homer.
For several dozen centuries, thinkers have raised the question of the source of worldview knowledge and the criteria of their truth. However, the problem of worldview was most definitely formulated in Germany at the end of the 18th century. The German naturalist and philosopher I. Kant, who introduced the concept of “worldview,” came to the conclusion that if there is a science that a person really needs, then it is the one that gives him the opportunity to know “how to properly take his place in the world and correctly understand, what you have to be to be human."
In modern literature, worldview is considered as “a system of views on the objective world and man’s place in it, on man’s attitude to the surrounding reality and to himself, as well as the basic life positions of people, their beliefs, ideals, principles of cognition and activity, and value orientations determined by these views.” "
The worldview accumulates a wide variety of knowledge about the world and man. But not all knowledge, even the most scientifically proven, is part of a worldview. Its specificity lies in the fact that it does not create some kind of model of reality and human existence generalized by people, but mainly involves a rethinking of various types of the “man - world” relationship. From this point of view, it is customary to distinguish four aspects in the worldview - ontological, epistemological (cognitive), axiological (value) and practical. They record and reveal the main ways and facets of human existence. The ontological (ontology is the doctrine of being) attitude of man to the world is manifested in the desire to explain the origin of the world and man, to reveal their structural features, the nature of the relationship. A person’s cognitive attitude to the world is characterized by a focus on reflecting material reality in its objective, universal dimensions. In this regard, views are formulated on the possibilities of knowledge, its boundaries, the most optimal forms and methods of cognitive activity.
A practical or praxeological attitude towards the world is a person’s attitude towards the world and himself from the point of view of possibilities, boundaries and methods of human activity.
The dominant one is the value (axiological) attitude - a person’s attitude to the world and his life activity through the idea of ​​the meaning of life. Through it, all other worldview knowledge about the world and man is refracted, and the values ​​of human life (moral, aesthetic, socio-political, etc.) are comprehended.
Thus, in the worldview, through various forms of reflection, the entire set of relationships “man - world” is revealed, which are called spiritual-practical. Sometimes they are divided into spiritual and practical. With this approach, ontological and praxeological relations are recognized as a reflection of practical relations, epistemological and axiological relations - spiritual ones. However, it is possible to draw a clear line in the relationship “man - world” and define them as purely practical and spiritual only with large assumptions, i.e. dividing, for example, knowledge and practice into independent, autonomous, and essentially not interconnected realities.
By their nature, the spiritual and the practical are two inseparable moments of human existence. On the one hand, human practical activity (transformation of nature, man by man) is based on knowledge and conscious activity (goal setting, self-awareness), i.e. man's spiritual assimilation of reality. On the other hand, consciousness (knowledge and values) as the spiritual development of reality arises and develops in the process of production and socio-historical activity.
In each of the modern people, “in sublated form” (in Hegel’s terms), all historical ideological types of man are present: primitive, primitive religious, mythological, philosophical, religious and scientific. They form often unconscious deep “archetypes” of the human soul, manifesting on the surface of feelings, thoughts, words and deeds in forms modified by modern culture. Each person invisibly contains within himself all the people who have lived before and who live now. Worldview connects everyone with everyone with invisible threads. We see behind the bodily shell of a “spiritual person”, his true “I”, “worldview soul” (their spiritual nature, their “I”).
Worldview is an individual subjective creative principle, as the basis of the entire diversity of human spiritual existence.
Worldview is the spiritual bridge through which the immaterial soul influences the spiritual world of man. Worldview is the totality of those feelings and thoughts of a person that, firstly, are invariant at all ages and with all other natural, social and spiritual changes; secondly, feelings and thoughts, which are necessarily connected by each person with himself and with other feelings and thoughts: a worldview is a system of beliefs organically welded together. Only conviction, based on emotional and personal trust in knowledge, builds it up to an element of a worldview, becoming an attribute, a way of being of worldview consciousness; thirdly, feelings and thoughts about the social and natural world through the prism of space and time of the culture where a person was born and became a thinking social being. The core of human spirituality - the worldview complex - does not arise by the will of God or the a priori ability of the spirit, but is the ability to feel and think humanly, acquired in a social environment, or more precisely, the ability to be human. Without a worldview, a person loses his bearings and begins to wander both in the mental world, and in the social and natural.

2. Philosophical understanding of the concept of being

Being is one of the most important categories of philosophy. It captures and expresses the problem of existence in its general form. The word "being" comes from the verb "to be." But being as a philosophical category appeared only when philosophical thought posed the problem of existence and began to analyze this problem. Philosophy has as its subject the world as a whole, the relationship between the material and the ideal, the place of man in society and in the world. In other words, she seeks to clarify the question of the existence of the world and the existence of man. Therefore, philosophy needs a special category that captures the existence of the world, man, and consciousness.
In modern philosophical literature, two meanings of the word “being” are indicated. In the narrow sense of the word, this is an objective world that exists independently of consciousness; in the broad sense, it is everything that exists: not only matter, but also consciousness, ideas, feelings and fantasies of people. Being as an objective reality is designated by the term matter."
So, being is everything that exists, be it a person or an animal, nature or society, a huge Galaxy or our planet Earth, the imagination of a poet or the strict theory of a mathematician, religion or laws issued by the state. Existence has its opposite concept - non-existence. And if being is everything that exists, then non-existence is everything that is not.
The word “being” receives a special meaning in philosophy, which can only be understood by turning to the consideration of the philosophical problems of being.
This term was first introduced into philosophy by the ancient philosopher Parmenides (V - IV centuries BC) to designate and at the same time solve one real problem. During the time of Parmenides, people began to lose faith in the traditional gods of Olympus, and mythology increasingly began to be viewed as fiction. Thus, the foundations and norms of the world, the main reality of which were gods and tradition, collapsed. The world, the Universe no longer seemed strong and reliable: everything became shaky and shapeless, unstable; the person has lost his life support. The modern Spanish philosopher Ortega y Gasset wrote that the anxiety and fear that people probably experienced when they lost the support of life, the reliable world of traditions, and faith in the gods were undoubtedly terrible.
In the depths of human consciousness, despair and doubt arose, seeing no way out of the impasse. It was necessary to find a way out to something strong and reliable. People needed faith in a new force. Philosophy, in the person of Parmenides, realized the current situation, which turned into a tragedy for human existence, reflected the emotional intensity and tried to calm the troubled soul of people, replacing the power of the gods with the power of reason, the power of thought. But not ordinary, otherworldly thoughts about things and objects of the world, about the needs and necessities of everyday existence, but absolute thought (later philosophers will call it “pure”, meaning the content of thought that is not associated with the empirical, sensory experience of people). Parmenides seemed to notify people of the discovery of a new power, the power of Absolute thought, which keeps the world from falling into chaos, provides the world with stability and reliability, and therefore, a person can again gain confidence that everything will necessarily be subordinated to some kind of order .
Parmenides called necessity Divinity, Truth, Providence, Fate, Eternal and Indestructible. “Everything is necessary” meant that the established course of things in the universe cannot suddenly, by chance, change; day will always come, replacing night, the sun will not suddenly go out, people will not all die out one fine day, etc. In other words, Parmenides postulated the presence behind the things of the objective-sensory world of something that would serve as a guarantor of the existence of this world and what the philosopher himself sometimes called the Divinity, that which really exists. And this meant that there was no reason for people to despair caused by the collapse of the stability of the old world.
To designate the described existential-life situation and ways to overcome it, Parmenides introduced the concept and problem of “being” into philosophy. The term itself was taken from the ordinary language of the Greeks, but its content received a new content that does not follow from the meaning of the verb “to be” in its everyday use: to be - to exist in existence. So, the problematic of being was a unique response of philosophy to the needs and demands of the era.
How does Parmenides himself characterize being? Being is what exists behind the world of sensory things, and this is thought. It is one and unchangeable, absolute, has no division within itself into subject and object, it is all possible completeness of perfections, among which Truth, Good, Good, Light are in the first place. Defining being as a true being, Parmenides taught that it did not arise, is indestructible, unique, motionless, endless in time. It needs nothing, is devoid of sensory qualities, and therefore can only be comprehended by thought, by the mind.
To facilitate the understanding of what being is for people who are not experienced in the art of philosophical thinking, Parmenides gives the following interpretation of being: being is a ball, a sphere that has no spatial boundaries. Comparing existence with a sphere, the philosopher used the belief that developed in antiquity that the sphere is the most perfect and beautiful form among other geometric figures.
Arguing that being is thought, he did not mean the subjective thought of a person, but the Logos - the cosmic Reason through which the content of the world is revealed to a person directly. In other words, it is not man who reveals the Truth of existence, but, on the contrary, the Truth of existence is revealed to man directly.

3. Specifics, social functions and role of religion

Religion is a complex social and spiritual phenomenon, the roots of which come from the deep thorns of social history. The social nature and features of religion indicate its connection with the development of society - a certain self-reproducing system, where one element is connected with another. The word comes from Lat. Religio means connection. Processes of progressive changes or decline in spiritual values ​​in society as a whole certainly affect the historical evolution of religious teachings, the content of which forms the basis of religious beliefs. Hence the need arises for a comprehensive study of religious teachings, taking into account their dogmatic content and those social factors that determine the historical characteristics of the emergence and functioning of certain religious ideas.
In religious studies, there are 2 important directions, or sections, - theoretical and historical. Theoretical religious studies consists of philosophical, sociological and psychological aspects. Historical - studies the history of the emergence and evolution of individual religions and religions of belief in their interrelationships, focusing on the sequence of development of religious cults. Both directions constitute an integral system of scientific research of religion. However, theoretical and historical issues of religious studies have their own specificity and are not completely merged or identified. This point of view reflects the objective processes of integration and differentiation of scientific knowledge about the social essence of religion and its functions.
Let us point out that religion is a very complex phenomenon and has a social character, that is, it arose in society entirely naturally and exists with it. Religion is one of the oldest forms of social consciousness - one of the forms of displaying the world, but displaying a unique one.
From the perspective of sociology, religion appears as a necessary, integral part of social life. It acts as a factor in the emergence and formation of social relations. This means that religion can also be considered from the standpoint of identifying the functions that it performs in society. The concept of “functions of religion” in religious studies means the nature and direction of the influence of religion on individuals and society, or, more simply, what religion “gives” to each individual person, this or that community and society as a whole, how it influences people’s lives.
One of the most important functions of religion is worldview or, as it is also called, meaning-making. As already indicated above, from the point of view of functional content, the religious system includes ideally transformative activity as the first subsystem. The goal of this activity is the mental transformation of the world, its organization in the mind, as a result of which a certain picture of the world, values, ideals, norms is developed - what, in general, constitutes the main components of a worldview. Worldview is a set of views, assessments, norms and attitudes that determine a person’s attitude to the world and act as guidelines and regulators of his behavior. The functional approach to religion involves deriving the characteristics of a religious worldview from the tasks that religion solves in the social system. However, the function of a religious worldview is not only to paint a person a certain picture of the world, but, first of all, to enable him to find meaning in his life thanks to this picture. That is why the ideological function of religion is also called the meaning-making function or the function of “meanings”.
Religion, many of its researchers argue, is what makes human life meaningful and fills it with the most important components of meaning.
The fundamental function of religion was not only active in the past, but is also active today. Religion not only harmonized the consciousness of primitive man, inspired the Apostle Paul to solve the universal goal - “the salvation of mankind,” but also constantly supports individuals in their everyday life. A person becomes weak, helpless, at a loss if he feels emptiness, loses understanding of the meaning of what is happening to him. On the contrary, knowing a person, why he lives, what is the meaning of events, makes him strong, helps him overcome life’s hardships, suffering, and even accept death with dignity. Since this suffering and death are filled with a certain meaning for a religious person.
The doctrine of the social functions of religion is most actively developed in religious studies by functionalism (it received its name from the predominant emphasis on this aspect of the study of society). Functionalism views society as a social system: in which all parts (elements) must work internally harmoniously and coordinated. Moreover, each part (element) of society performs a specific function. Functionalists consider various factors of social life to be functional if they contribute to the preservation, “survival” of the existing society. The survival of society, in their opinion, is directly related to stability. Stability is the ability of a social system to change without destroying its foundations. Stability is ensured on the basis of integration, unification and coordination of the efforts of people, social groups, institutions and organizations. From the point of view of functionalists, religion performs the function of an integrator of the social organism and its stabilizer. Closely related to the integrating function of religion is the legitimizing (legitimizing) function. The theoretical justification for this function of religion was carried out by the modern representative of functionalism, the greatest American sociologist T. Parsons. In his opinion, no social system is capable of existing if a certain limitation (restriction) of the actions of its members is not ensured, placing them within a certain framework, if their behavior can be varied arbitrarily and without limit. In other words, for the stable existence of a social system it is necessary to observe
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