35 levels and forms of social consciousness. Forms of public consciousness

As an aggregate spiritual product, it is important to understand how the relative independence of social consciousness in relation to social being is manifested.

Social consciousness acts as a necessary side of the socio-historical process, as a function of society as a whole. Its independence is manifested in development according to its own internal laws. Social consciousness can lag behind social being, but it can also get ahead of it. It is important to see continuity in the development of social consciousness, as well as in the manifestation of the interaction of various forms of social consciousness. Of particular importance is the active feedback of social consciousness on social being.

There are two levels of social consciousness: social psychology and ideology. Social psychology is a set of feelings, moods, customs, traditions, motives, characteristic of a given society as a whole and for each of the large social groups. Ideology is a system of theoretical views that reflects the degree of knowledge by society of the world as a whole and its individual aspects. This is the level of theoretical reflection of the world; if the first is emotional, sensual, then the second is the rational level of social consciousness. The interaction of social psychology and ideology, as well as the relationship between ordinary consciousness and mass consciousness with them, is considered complex.

Forms of public consciousness

With the development of social life, the cognitive abilities of a person arise and are enriched, which exist in the following main forms of social consciousness: moral, aesthetic, religious, political, legal, scientific, philosophical.

Morality- a form of social consciousness, which reflects the views and ideas, norms and assessments of the behavior of individuals, social groups and society as a whole.

Political consciousness there is a set of feelings, stable moods, traditions, ideas and integral theoretical systems that reflect the fundamental interests of large social groups, their relationship to each other and to the political institutions of society.

Right is a system of social norms and relations protected by the power of the state. Legal awareness is the knowledge and evaluation of law. At the theoretical level, legal consciousness appears as a legal ideology, which is an expression of the legal views and interests of large social groups.

Aesthetic consciousness there is an awareness of social being in the form of concrete-sensual, artistic images.

Religion is a form of social consciousness, the basis of which is belief in the supernatural. It includes religious ideas, religious feelings, religious actions.

Philosophical consciousness- this is the theoretical level of worldview, the science of the most general laws of nature, society and thinking and the general method of their knowledge, the spiritual quintessence of its era.

scientific consciousness- this is a systematic and rational reflection of the world in a special scientific language, based and finding confirmation in the practical and factual verification of its provisions. It reflects the world in categories, laws and theories.

And here one cannot do without knowledge, ideology and politics. In the social sciences, there have been various interpretations and opinions about the essence and meaning of these concepts since their inception. But it is more expedient for us to begin the analysis of the problem posed with philosophy. This is justified not so much by the fact that philosophy precedes all other sciences in time of appearance, but by the fact - and this is decisive - that philosophy acts as the foundation, the basis on which all other social, i.e. engaged in the study of society, science. Specifically, this is manifested in the fact that since philosophy studies the most general laws of social development and the most general principles for the study of social phenomena, their knowledge, and most importantly, their application, will be the methodological basis used by other social sciences, including ideology and politics. . So, the defining and guiding role of philosophy in relation to ideology and politics is manifested in the fact that it acts as a methodological basis, the foundation of ideological and political doctrines.

Ideology

Now let's see what is ideology when and why it arose and what function it performs in the life of society. For the first time the term "ideology" was introduced into use by the French philosopher and economist A. de Tracy in 1801 in his work "Elements of Ideology" for the "analysis of sensations and ideas." During this period, ideology acts as a kind of philosophical trend, which meant the transition from enlightenment empiricism to traditional spiritualism, which became widespread in European philosophy in the first half of the 19th century. During the reign of Napoleon, due to the fact that some philosophers took a hostile position towards him and his reforms, the French emperor and his entourage began to call "ideologists" or "doctriners" persons whose views were divorced from the practical problems of social life and real life. politicians. It is during this period that ideology begins to move from a philosophical discipline to its current state, i.e. into a doctrine more or less devoid of objective content and expressing and defending the interests of various social forces. In the middle of the XIX century. a new approach to clarifying the content and social knowledge of ideology was made by K. Marx and F. Engels. Fundamental in understanding the essence of ideology is its understanding as a certain form of social consciousness. Although ideology has a relative independence in relation to the processes taking place in society, but in general its essence and social orientation are determined by social life.

Another point of view on ideology was expressed by V. Pareto (1848-1923), an Italian sociologist and political economist. In his interpretation, ideology differs significantly from science, and they have nothing in common. If the latter is based on observations and logical comprehension, then the former is based on feelings and faith. According to Pareto, it is a socio-economic system that has an equilibrium due to the fact that the antagonistic interests of social strata and classes neutralize each other. Despite the constant antagonism caused by the inequality between people, human society nevertheless exists and this happens because it is controlled by ideology, belief system by the chosen people, the human elite. It turns out that the functioning of society to a large extent depends on the ability of the elite to bring their beliefs, or ideology, to the consciousness of people. Ideology can be brought to the consciousness of people through clarification, persuasion, and also through violent actions. At the beginning of the XX century. the German sociologist K. Mannheim (1893-1947) expressed his understanding of ideology. Based on the position borrowed from Marxism about the dependence of social consciousness on social being, ideology on economic relations, he develops the concept of individual and universal ideology. Under the individual or private ideology is meant "a set of ideas that more or less comprehend the reality, the true knowledge of which conflicts with the interests of the one who offers the ideology itself." More generally, ideology is the universal "vision of the world" by a social group or class. In the first, i.e. on an individual plane, the analysis of ideology should be carried out from a psychological perspective, and in the second, from a sociological perspective. In both the first and second cases, the ideology, according to the German thinker, is an idea that is able to grow into the situation, subjugate and adapt it to itself.

“Ideology,” says Manheim, “is ideas that have an impact on the situation and which in reality could not realize their potential content. Often ideas act as well-intentioned goals of individual behavior. When they are tried to be implemented in practical life, there is a deformation of their content. Denying class consciousness and, accordingly, class ideology, Mannheim essentially recognizes only the social, particular interests of professional groups and individuals of different generations.Among them, a special role is assigned to the creative intelligentsia, supposedly standing outside classes and capable of an impartial knowledge of society, although only on level of possibility. Common for Pareto and Mannheim will be the opposition of ideology to positive sciences. For Pareto, this is the opposition of ideology to science, and for Mannheim, ideology to utopias. Given the way Pareto and Mannheim characterize ideology, its essence can be characterized as follows: any belief is considered an ideology , through which collective actions are controlled. The term faith should be understood in its broadest sense and, in particular, as a concept that regulates behavior and which may or may not have an objective meaning. The most detailed and reasoned interpretation of ideology, its essence was given by the founders of Marxism and their followers. They define ideology as a system of views and ideas through which people’s relationships and connections with reality and with each other, social problems and conflicts are comprehended and evaluated, and the goals and objectives of social activity are determined, which consist in consolidating or changing existing social relations.

In a class society, ideology has a class character and reflects the interests of social groups and classes. First of all, ideology is a part of social consciousness and belongs to its highest level, since it expresses the main interests of classes and social groups in a systematized form, clothed in concepts and theories. Structurally, it includes both theoretical attitudes and practical actions. Speaking about the formation of ideology, it should be borne in mind that it does not arise by itself from the daily life of people, but is created by social scientists, political and statesmen. At the same time, it is very important to know that ideological concepts are not necessarily created by representatives of the class or social group whose interests they express. World history shows that among the representatives of the ruling classes there were many ideologists who, sometimes unconsciously, expressed the interests of other social strata. Theoretically, ideologists become such by virtue of the fact that they express in a systematic or rather explicit form the goals and the need for political and socio-economic transformations, to which empirically, i.e. in the process of their practical activity, one or another class or group of people comes. The nature of ideology, its orientation and qualitative assessment depend on whose social interests it corresponds to. Ideology, although it is a product of social life, but, having a relative independence, has a huge feedback impact on social life and social transformations. In critical historical periods in the life of society, this influence in historically short periods of time can be decisive.

Policy is a historically transient phenomenon. It begins to form only at a certain stage in the development of society. So, in primitive tribal society there were no political relations. The life of society was regulated by centuries-old habits and traditions. Politics as a theory and management of social relations begins to take shape as more developed forms of the division of social labor and private ownership of tools of labor appear. tribal relations were not able to regulate new relations between people by the old folk methods. Actually, starting from this stage of human development, i.e. from the emergence of a slave-owning society, the first secular ideas and ideas about the origin and essence of power, state and politics appear. Naturally, the idea of ​​the subject and essence of politics has changed, and we will focus on the interpretation of politics that is currently more or less generally accepted, i.e. about politics as a theory of the state, politics as a science and the art of government. The first of the well-known thinkers who raised the issues of development and organization of society, expressed ideas about the state, was Aristotle, who did this in the treatise "Politics". Aristotle forms his ideas about the state based on an analysis of the social history and political structure of a number of Greek states-polises. At the heart of the teachings of the Greek thinker about the state is his conviction that man is a "political animal", and his life in the state is the natural essence of man. The state is presented as a developed community of communities, and the community as a developed family. His family is the prototype of the state, and he transfers its structure to the state system. Aristotle's doctrine of the state has a clearly defined class character.

slave state- this is the natural state of the organization of society, and therefore the existence of slave owners and slaves, masters and subordinates is fully justified. The main tasks of the state, i.e. , should be the prevention of excessive accumulation of wealth among citizens, as this is fraught with social instability; the immeasurable growth of political power in the hands of one person and the keeping of slaves in obedience. N. Machiavelli (1469-1527), an Italian political thinker and public figure, made a significant contribution to the doctrine of the state and politics. The state and politics, according to Machiavelli, do not have a religious origin, but represent an independent side of human activity, the embodiment of free human will within the framework of necessity, or fortune (fate, happiness). Politics is not determined by God or morality, but is the result of the practical activity of man, the natural laws of life and human psychology. The main motives that determine political activity, according to Machiavelli, are real interests, self-interest, the desire for enrichment. The sovereign, the ruler must be an absolute ruler and even a despot. It should not be limited by either moral or religious precepts in achieving its goals. Such rigidity is not a whim, it is dictated by the circumstances themselves. Only a strong and tough sovereign can ensure the normal existence and functioning of the state and keep in his sphere of influence the cruel world of people striving for wealth, prosperity and guided only by selfish principles.

According to Marxism, politics- this is the area of ​​human activity, determined by the relations between classes, social strata, ethnic groups. Its main goal is the problem of conquest, retention and use of state power. The most important thing in politics is the structure of state power. The state acts as a political superstructure over the economic basis. Through it, the economically dominant class secures its political dominance. In essence, the main function of the state in a class society is to protect the fundamental interests of the ruling class. Three factors ensure the power and strength of the state. Firstly, it is a public authority, which includes a permanent administrative and bureaucratic apparatus, the army, the police, the court, and houses of detention. These are the most powerful and effective bodies of state power. Secondly, the right to collect taxes from the population and institutions, which are necessary mainly for the maintenance of the state apparatus, power and numerous governing bodies. Thirdly, this is the administrative-territorial division, which contributes to the development of economic ties and the creation of administrative and political conditions for their regulation. Along with class interests, the state to a certain extent expresses and protects national interests, regulates mainly with the help of a system of legal norms the entire set of economic, socio-political, national and family relations, thereby contributing to the strengthening of the existing socio-economic order. One of the most important levers by which the state carries out its activities is law. Law is a set of norms of behavior enshrined in laws and approved by the state. According to Marx and Engels, law is the will of the ruling class elevated to law. With the help of law, economic and social or socio-political relations are fixed, i.e. relationships between classes and social groups, family status and the position of national minorities. After the formation of the state and the establishment of law in society, political and legal relations that did not exist before are formed. Political parties express the interests of various classes and social groups as spokesmen for political relations.

Political relations, the struggle between parties for power is nothing but a struggle of economic interests. Each class and social group is interested in establishing the priority of its interests in society with the help of constitutional laws. For example, workers are interested in an objective remuneration for their work, students are interested in a scholarship that would at least provide them with food, owners of banks, factories and other property are interested in maintaining private property. We can say that the economy at a certain stage gives rise to politics and political parties because they are needed for a normal existence and development. Although politics is a product of the economy, nevertheless it has not only relative independence, but also has a certain influence on the economy, and in transitional and crisis periods this influence can even determine the path of economic development. The influence of politics on the economy is carried out in various ways: directly, through the economic policy pursued by state bodies (financing of various projects, investments, prices for goods); establishment of customs duties on industrial products in order to protect domestic producers; pursuing a foreign policy that would favor the activities of domestic producers in other countries. The active role of politics in stimulating economic development can be carried out in three directions: 1) when political factors act in the same direction as the objective course of economic development, they accelerate it; 2) when they act contrary to economic development, then they hold it back; 3) they can slow down development in some directions and accelerate it in others.

Carrying out the right policy directly depends on the extent to which the political forces in power are guided by the laws of social development and take into account in their activities the interests of classes and social groups. So, we can say that in order to understand the socio-political processes taking place in society, it is important to know not only the role of social philosophy, ideology, politics separately, but also their interaction and mutual influence.

Basic forms of social consciousness.

1. Social being and social consciousness. Patterns of development of public consciousness. The position that the social existence of people determines their social consciousness is fundamental in the theory of the materialistic understanding of history. The concepts of "social being" and "public consciousness" are introduced to address the fundamental question of philosophy in relation to society. Its content is expressed in the Marxist principle of the primacy of social being and the secondary nature of social consciousness.

The category "social being" denotes a part of the material world, which K. Marx isolated from nature and presented as a social reality. He considered the development of society as a special material process, different from the physical and biological, and subject to specific social laws in its development. It is the principle of the primacy of social being and the secondary nature of social consciousness, the idea of ​​social laws and the position on the determining role of material production in the life of society that constitute the essence of historical materialism.

social being- these are the material conditions of life of society, the material relations of people to each other and to nature (tools of labor, geographical environment, man himself, production relations).

public consciousnessis a complex set of feelings, moods, customs, traditions, views, ideas, theories that reflect social life, the real process of people's lives.

Social consciousness is inextricably linked with social being. Social consciousness is the main attribute of human activity and reveals itself in all manifestations of social life.

In the study of public consciousness, several methodological approaches have been outlined. Of particular interest are the epistemological and sociological aspects of the study of social consciousness.

Gnoseological approach is based on an assessment of public consciousness and its constituent elements as perfect reflection objective world, which indicates the focus of this methodology on the truth. In this case, all levels and forms of social consciousness are classified depending on whether they reflect the objective-content side of things, processes, and if they reflect, then what is the degree of depth of this reflection.

Sociological approach is aimed at assessing the public consciousness and its elements, taking into account their role and significance for the activities of the social subject. The key point of this approach is not objective truth as such, but the expression of the interests of a certain social subject and its role in substantiating the life of a person and society.

It should be borne in mind another important methodological provision associated with the comprehension of the consciousness of society, the consciousness of man. Its essence is that consciousness acts not simply as a reflection of being, but as human life itself, i.e. we are talking about the real existence of consciousness itself. From this point of view, social consciousness acts not only as an ideal image of the social being, a regulator of its activity, but also as the very life of society. In other words, social consciousness is a part of social being, and "the very being of people is social, because social consciousness functions."

Considering the relationship between social being and social consciousness, K. Marx opened the main patterns of development of public consciousness . The first rule is that social consciousness depends on social being, is determined by the material conditions of society. The dependence of social consciousness on social being can be traced in the epistemological and sociological aspects. Wherein epistemological aspect means that social consciousness is a spiritual mental reflection of social life in a variety of social feelings, moods, interests, ideas, views and theories that arise in concrete historical societies for most people. Sociological aspect means that the role of social consciousness is determined by social being.

Social consciousness is generated by the material conditions of people's lives, in the system of which the mode of production of material goods plays the main role. It arose on the basis of labor activity and is aimed at serving this activity. As the founders of Marxism noted, “people who develop their material production and their material communication, along with this reality of theirs, also change their thinking and the products of their thinking. It is not consciousness that determines life, but life determines consciousness.”

Reflection of social life is a complex, often mediated process. It is influenced by the economic state of society, class and other social relations. In a class society, this law is also manifested in the class character of social consciousness, since the social, including economic, position (being) of different classes is not the same. Attention should also be paid to the fact that social existence affects social consciousness not mechanically, but through material and spiritual needs (personal and social) that arise in the process of people's lives, are realized by them and give rise to personal and public interests, i.e. the desire to satisfy these interests (hidden behind practical needs). It is by this that people are guided in their practical activities, and not only by thoughts, ideas, as they themselves are used to explaining. The activity of people is determined by the needs, which are interpreted as personal, corporate, class interests.

The second regularity of the functioning of public consciousness is its relative independence from social life. The relative independence of social consciousness is its ability to break away from the existence of society and, following the internal logic of its own existence, develop according to its specific laws within the limits of the ultimate and general dependence of social consciousness on social existence.

The question arises: what determines the relative independence of social consciousness? IN epistemological aspect- the nature of consciousness itself as a reflection of being, its active, creative character. Consciousness not only copies reality, but strives to cognize, penetrate into its essence, as if to “ideally” transform it. IN sociological aspect- the separation of mental labor from physical, as a result of which spiritual production is to some extent "separated" from material, although, in the end, they are in organic unity.

The relative independence of public consciousness is manifested:

- V continuity spiritual development of mankind. Public ideas and theories in each new era do not arise from scratch. They are developed on the basis of the achievements of previous eras. For example, the Renaissance would hardly have taken place without the support of its "titans" on the humanistic traditions of ancient philosophy and culture;

- that the public consciousness is capable of get ahead of social life. This ability is especially inherent in theoretical consciousness (science and ideology). When the non-Euclidean geometries of Lobachevsky and Riemann appeared, their contemporaries did not know the objects to which the discoveries made would be applicable. And only later, as the space of the microcosm and megaworld (cosmos) was mastered, these geometries received wide practical application;

- that public consciousness can fall behind from social life. Examples of lagging behind are remnants of the past, which are especially long and stubbornly retained in the field of social psychology, where habits, traditions, and established ideas that have great inertial power play a huge role;

- V active role social ideas and theories, human feelings, desires, aspirations, will. The strength and effectiveness of social ideas depends on the extent to which they are disseminated among the masses, on the readiness of people to apply practical efforts to implement them. In other words, social consciousness has the ability to actively, inversely influence social being;

- during interaction various forms of social consciousness. Political, legal, philosophical, religious, moral, artistic consciousness are interconnected and influence each other. At the same time, one of the forms can be a priority or even a monopoly in the spiritual life of a particular society. So, in a totalitarian society, as a rule, political consciousness (and political practice) dominates, all the rest are in a position dependent on them or are forced out.

Thus, these regularities allow us to consider social consciousness as an integral spiritual phenomenon in its dynamic state.

2. The structure of public consciousness, its main elements. Public and individual consciousness. Public consciousness is a complex structure, multi-qualitative education. The structure of public consciousness - this is its structure, a device that includes its various elements, sides, faces, aspects and mutual connections between them.

The division of public consciousness into separate elements can be carried out according to different grounds.“First, in terms of carrier, the subject is distinguished by individual, group (class, national, etc.), public, universal consciousness. Secondly, in terms of concrete historical approach- mythological, religious, philosophical; by epoch - antique, medieval, etc. Thirdly, based on various forms of activity, in the process of which it is developed, or the spheres of activity within which it is formed - environmental, economic, legal, political, moral, religious, philosophical, aesthetic, scientific. Fourth, by level and depth penetration into activity – ordinary and theoretical”.

It follows from this that in the public consciousness there are such various elements as levels, spheres, forms; they are all interconnected and interact with each other. And therefore consciousness is not only differentiated, but also holistic.

levels public consciousness are ordinary and theoretical consciousness. They correspond to such spheres public consciousness as social psychology and ideology.

Ordinary consciousness- this is everyday, practical consciousness, it is a function of the directly practical activity of people and most often reflects the world at the level of phenomena, and not its essential deep connections. In the course of the development of society, ordinary consciousness undergoes changes. Under the influence of the scientific and technological revolution, the life of society is significantly changing, which cannot but affect everyday consciousness. At the same time, the daily life of society does not require the service of its consciousness at the level of science. For example, it is possible to use electricity, machines, computers in everyday life without knowing the scientific principles that underlie the creation of these technical phenomena. Ordinary consciousness fully satisfies the requirements of everyday life. And within this local space, the comprehension of objective truth is available to him.

It is necessary to distinguish between concepts "ordinary consciousness" and "mass consciousness". In the first case, we are talking about the degree of "science" of consciousness, in the second - about the degree of its prevalence in a particular society. Mass consciousness reflects the conditions of everyday life of people, their needs, interests. It includes the views, ideas, illusions, social feelings of people that are widespread in society. It intertwines the ordinary-psychological and theoretical-ideological levels of social consciousness. The question of what proportion of each of them depends on the historical conditions and the degree of development of the masses as subjects of social creativity. Mass consciousness also expresses a collective assessment of the actions of people, their customs, thoughts, feelings, customs, habits, which are manifested in the recognition of some and the condemnation of others.

Ordinary consciousness also has forms: worldly-empirical consciousness(formed in the process of cognition) and social psychology(formed in the course of evaluative reflection of reality).

Public psychologyis a set of feelings, moods, emotions, as well as illusions, superstitions, traditions, which are formed spontaneously under the influence of the immediate conditions of people's social life on the basis of life experience and personal observations.

It is no coincidence that social psychology acts as a spiritual stimulus for people's practical activities. It is also formed taking into account the specific features of their spiritual development, national traditions, cultural level.

theoretical consciousness includes science and ideology. At the level of theory, knowledge is presented in the form of a clear, hierarchical system of principles, laws, categories, programs for the practical transformation of reality. Science reflects the world in a logical form, revealing the essential side of things, processes, and phenomena.

A special place at the theoretical level of public consciousness is given to ideologies. The term "ideology" has many meanings. First, there is a broad and narrow sense of the concept. In a broad sense ideology is understood as the theoretical substantiation of the goals and objectives of a long-term (strategic) nature. It can refer to any kind of human activity that provides goals, objectives and end results.

Under the ideology in the narrow sense understand the theoretical and systematized consciousness, expressing the interests of a particular class or large social group. "If the physical world is subject to the laws of motion, then the spiritual world is no less subject to the law of interest." Since interest is always pragmatically oriented, ideology has a large share of goal-setting associated with the development of activity programs. The main thing in ideology is that it selectively relates to reality, refracting it through the prism of the corresponding interest.

Thus, ideology - this is a system of views, ideas, theories, principles that reflect social life through the prism of interests, ideals, goals, social groups, classes, nations, society.

V.S. Barulin considers it the main watershed that makes it possible to identify the qualitative specifics of ideology, its relationship with science, knowledge in general. If for scientific knowledge the main thing is the reflection of objective laws, objective truth with a certain abstraction from the interests of people, then for ideology, on the contrary, it is this interest, its expression, implementation that is the main thing. In other words, science is aimed at obtaining objectively meaningful knowledge, and the better it does this, the more valuable science is. Ideology, on the other hand, is focused on a deeper reflection and expression of the subjective interest of a certain social community. And this is its main value. However, it would be wrong to absolutize this difference and thereby deprive ideology of a cognitive moment, and knowledge - of an ideological one.

Comparing the two named levels of social consciousness, it is necessary to trace relationship between ideology and social psychology. They are connected, respectively, reflecting the rational and sensual (emotional) levels of social consciousness. Ideology is precisely called upon to clarify what is vaguely grasped by psychology, to penetrate deeply into the essence of phenomena. In addition, if social psychology is formed spontaneously, directly under the "pressure" of life circumstances in which a certain social community is located, then ideology acts as a product of the theoretical activity of "specially authorized" persons who serve this community - professional theorists, ideologists.

If until recently the role of ideology in our society was hypertrophied, at present it is clearly underestimated. In this regard, it is important to emphasize that it is equally detrimental to society both to replace all other forms of social consciousness with ideology, and to abandon ideology altogether. In the case when ideology as the highest level of social consciousness ceases to function normally, its place is taken by the lower layers of consciousness: social psychology, worldly-empirical knowledge, myths, collective and mass consciousness, which by their nature are amorphous, superficial, unsystematic. All this leads to the anomie (lawlessness) of society, its fragmentation. Thus, the rejection of ideology hinders the normal development of society, the consolidation of people's efforts to solve historically pressing problems.

It is necessary to pay attention to characteristic public and individual consciousness and the problem of their relationship. It is known that social consciousness is a product of people's activity and does not exist outside and independently of individual consciousness. individual consciousness of a person is his inner spiritual world, which is constantly enriched, changing. The consciousness of the individual is of a social nature, since its development, content and functioning are determined by the social conditions in which he lives. At the same time, the consciousness of an individual person is not identified either with the consciousness of society as a whole, or even with the consciousness of the social group to which he belongs.

individual consciousness- this is a single consciousness, in which in each individual carrier (subject) the characteristics common to the consciousness of a given era are refracted in a peculiar way; features that fix the belonging of a person to a particular social group; and individual traits due to upbringing, abilities and circumstances of personal life.

Thus, we can conclude that individual consciousness is a kind of fusion of the general, special and singular in the consciousness of the individual. And yet, social consciousness in its quality is fundamentally different than a simple aggregate, the sum of individual consciousnesses. This relatively independent spiritual education includes levels of everyday and theoretical exploration of the world, social psychology and ideology, as well as forms of political, legal, moral, religious, scientific, aesthetic and philosophical consciousness.

3. Basic forms of social consciousness. In modern philosophical literature, a large number of forms of social consciousness stand out. criterion to highlight them: object of reflection, public needs, which caused the appearance of these forms, reflection methods being in the world role in the life of society nature of assessment social life.

The main forms of social consciousness include:

As can be seen from the table, the first four forms of social consciousness are aimed at forming a picture of the world, while the last four are aimed at regulating social relations. Religious consciousness is dual in its functions and belongs to both subgroups.

Let us dwell on the characteristics of the above forms in more detail.

1. Scientific consciousness. Among the forms of social consciousness, science has a special status. If in religion, morality, politics and other forms of social consciousness rational cognition of reality is a concomitant goal, then in science the criterion of rational comprehension of the world occupies a central place. This means that the priority value in science is Truth.

Unified Science as a form of social consciousness and activity includes a number of specific sciences, which in turn are subdivided into many scientific disciplines. Modern sciences can be classified on various grounds. First, according to the subject and method of cognition, natural, public, Humanities(human sciences), mental sciences And cognition; occupy a special place here technical Sciences. Secondly, by "remoteness" from the practice of science can be divided into fundamental who learn the basic laws of reality, not directly focusing on practice, and applied which materialize fundamental knowledge into subject forms, into technologies and techniques that correspond to the interests and needs of people.

The sciences of nature (physics, biology, chemistry, etc.) are taken as the criterion of scientific character, since they were the first to take shape in independent scientific disciplines, standing out from the once common syncretic knowledge. The social and humanitarian disciplines acquired the status of science much later, being supplemented, in addition to the criteria used in the natural sciences, with new ones corresponding to their specificity.

Social Sciences in contrast to the sciences of nature, they are ideologized in their object. They are bipolar in a certain sense: on the one hand, their task is to reveal the essence of social phenomena (that is, they must follow the principle of objectivity as the fundamental principle of science); on the other hand, their representatives cannot investigate these phenomena outside and independently of social-class and group predilections, i.e. from ideological assessments of these phenomena. In any case, this bipolarity brings the social sciences (at least partially) into the realm of non-scientific knowledge.

Attention should also be paid to the specifics of humanitarian knowledge. Humanitarian sciences- these are sciences about a person, his spiritual inner world and human relationships. The spirit is immaterial, immaterial, it actually reveals itself in a symbolic, textual expression. Humanitarian knowledge is inseparable from hermeneutics as the art of interpreting a text, the art of comprehending someone else's individuality. From here - dialogue as a characteristic feature of the humanities.

The understanding of the specifics of the scientific-rational consciousness is connected with the understanding of other, in particular, complex sciences. These include: medical, agricultural, technical sciences, in which special interdisciplinary knowledge is formed.

In the last decade, the situation has changed technical knowledge in the general system of sciences. Previously, this knowledge was considered exclusively applied, as it is the sphere of application of the laws of physics, chemistry and other natural sciences to the solution of specific problems that arise in practical life. From the middle of the twentieth century as a result of the increased trend towards the integration of sciences and the coordination of their methods, combination-synthesizing method. By creatively applying this method in close connection with the methods of modeling, thought experiment, etc., technicians have made significant progress in understanding the numerous laws and properties of nature and have identified relationships that do not originally exist in nature. In nature, untouched by man, there are neither the laws of powder metallurgy, nor the law of amplification of electromagnetic oscillations in laser devices, and many others. But both natural laws and laws revealed by a technical engineer, which are applied in a certain combination directed by human creative thought, make it possible to obtain fundamentally new knowledge and a new material construction. Based on the use of the combination-synthesizing method, new theories began to develop: the theory of automatic control, the theory of ideal engineering devices, the theory of technology, theoretical radar, and many others. All this indicates that the technical sciences have reached a higher theoretical level of development, they form the core of fundamental knowledge.

The difference between the activity of a natural scientist and the activity of a specialist in the field of engineering was successfully noticed by E. Creek: the scientist studies what exists, and the engineer creates what has never been. Technical sciences - both fundamental and applied - are aimed at creating something that does not exist in nature.

The complexity of the technical sciences is also manifested in the fact that the humanitarian, psychological, economic, environmental, social, philosophical (especially moral) aspects are now more and more clearly revealed in them. The latter takes on a special urgency. Technique brings not only benefit to people, but also fraught with many threats, dangers, uncertainties. We are talking about the disastrous consequences of the use of technology for man, society, nature. This is the danger of turning a person into an appendage of the machine, the impoverishment of his thinking, the "technicalization" of the soul, the subordination of human interests and aspirations to profit, the predominance of the material over the spiritual, the catastrophic death of nature.

2. Philosophical consciousness. The question of the specifics of philosophy as a form of social consciousness is inextricably linked with the more general question of the specifics of philosophy itself as a special area of ​​spiritual activity aimed at posing and solving worldview problems.

As noted in the first topic, any philosophy is a worldview, i.e. a system of the most general views on the world as a whole and on a person's attitude to this world, allowing him to find his place, to find the meaning and purpose of life. However, the concept of "worldview" is wider than the concept of "philosophy". It includes other types of worldview, primarily mythological, religious.

The specificity of the philosophical worldview is the conceptual reflection of reality, this is the deepest level of comprehension of the world, carried out on the basis of rational thinking. The worldview at this level is already called worldview. Philosophy is always framed in the form of a theory that combines into a single whole a system of relevant categories, patterns, methods and principles of cognition, which simultaneously apply to nature, society, man and thinking itself. In the latter case, philosophy appears as thinking about thinking. This specificity of philosophy was successfully noticed by V.I.Vernadsky: “Philosophy is always based on reason; reflection and deep penetration into the apparatus of reflection - the mind - inevitably enters into philosophical work. For philosophy, reason is the supreme judge; the laws of reason determine her judgments. Consonant with this defines philosophy and the modern Russian philosopher V.V. Sokolov. His interpretation is as follows: philosophy is the most systematized, most rationalized worldview of its era.

Philosophical wisdom manifests itself in a continuous, never-ending process of searching for truth. We emphasize that it is not the mastery of truth, not the construction of any truths into dogma, but the search for it - that is the main goal of philosophy. And in this respect, philosophy is the opposite of science. If science seeks to purify knowledge from subjectivity, then philosophy, on the contrary, puts man at the center of its quest.

In modern conditions, when the flow of scientific information is growing rapidly, the ancient philosophical maxim is of particular importance - "much knowledge does not teach the mind." Commenting on this interpretation of wisdom, I.Kant wrote: "Multiple knowledge alone is cyclopean learning, which lacks the eye of philosophy." Cyclopean learning is one-sided learning, limited by the subject, distorting the picture of the world. Here the essence of wisdom is rightly noticed. The wise understands, and not only knows, he is able to embrace life as a whole with his thought, not limited to ascertaining its empirical manifestations, establishing only what “really exists”. The purpose of philosophy is to teach a person to think, to philosophize. Unlike science, it is more important for philosophy to pose a problem or draw the attention of public consciousness, culture as a whole to it.

3. Aesthetic consciousness. The term "aesthetics" (from the Greek 'αίσJησις - sensing, feeling, sensual) was first introduced Alexander G. Baumgarten. Since the Enlightenment, aesthetics has become an independent field of knowledge, acquiring its own subject of study - human sensibility, the ability of the individual to figuratively, holistically comprehend the world, to see the universal in the unique. However, already in ancient Greece, thinkers specified a number of aesthetic concepts: beautiful, ugly, comic, tragic, sublime, base, artistic, aesthetic, etc. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that, along with these fundamental categories, antiquity also formulated more “technical” aesthetic concepts that have not lost their significance in our time. This refers to the concepts of mimesis (imitation) and catharsis (purification). In concept mimesis a special form of imitation of the world is fixed, which is characteristic of crafts and art, which create a second - along with natural nature - reality. concept catharsis contains an idea of ​​the purifying psychological power of art, which, through emotional shock, induces a person to empathy, aesthetic pleasure.

Aesthetic consciousness is a set of feelings, tastes, values, views and ideals, containing ideas about the beautiful and the ugly, the tragic and the comic, the sublime and the base. Aesthetic consciousness is divided into objective-aesthetic and subjective-aesthetic. Objective aesthetic associated with the harmony of properties, symmetry, rhythm, expediency, orderliness, optimal functioning of the systems themselves. Subjective aesthetic appears in the form of aesthetic feelings, tastes, ideals, judgments, views, theories. A person, faced with manifestations of the aesthetic both in the objective and subjective world, acutely experiences them. The beautiful causes feelings of satisfaction, joy, pleasure, reverence, delight, having a cleansing effect on a person.

Aesthetic feelings are an integral part of aesthetic consciousness. aesthetic feeling- this is an emotional experience of pleasure, pleasure or, on the contrary, displeasure, rejection - depending on how the object of perception corresponds to the tastes and ideals of the subject. A positive aesthetic feeling is an enlightened feeling of enjoying the beauty of the world and its individual phenomena. Aesthetic feelings belong to the highest forms of emotional experiences. They differ in the degree of generalization and in the strength of their impact: from moderate pleasure to aesthetic delight. A developed aesthetic sense not only makes a person individually unique, but also harmonizes his spiritual qualities. Such a person is not indifferent to nature, knows how to see and create beauty in work, in relations between people.

aesthetic taste is a kind of sense of proportion, the ability to find the necessary sufficiency in a personal attitude to the world of culture and values. The presence of aesthetic taste is manifested in the correspondence of the internal and external, the harmony of the spirit and social behavior, the social realization of the individual.

Aesthetic ideals- one of the forms of aesthetic reflection of reality, containing "visual due". The aesthetic ideal is closely related to social and moral ideals, being a prototype for creating aesthetic values ​​and a standard for aesthetic assessments.

Aesthetic consciousness can reveal itself in any manifestation of human activity - in scientific thinking, production activities, the domestic sphere. The aesthetic attitude to reality becomes the subject of special reproduction. Such a special kind of human activity, in which the aesthetic, embodied in the artistic, is the content, and the method, and the goal, is art.

Art- this is a professional field of activity of artists, poets, musicians, in which aesthetic consciousness turns from an accompanying element into the main goal. Unlike other types of cognitive attitude to the world, art is no longer addressed to the mind, but to feelings. Art can reproduce both the essential and sometimes hidden sides of reality, but it reflects them in a sensually visual form, which allows it to have an unusually strong influence on a person. Art (as a way of realizing aesthetic consciousness) differs from other forms of cognitive activity in the non-utilitarian nature of the reflection of reality. Art is aimed not so much at transforming reality as at improving the person himself, making his feelings, behavior and actions more humane and highly moral. The fundamental function of art is to “humanize a person” by introducing him to the world of the sublime and beautiful.

Summing up the analysis of aesthetic consciousness, it should be noted that it is the object of study of such a branch of philosophical knowledge as aesthetics. In addition, the term "aesthetics" is used in modern scientific literature and in everyday life and in a different sense - to refer to the aesthetic component of culture. In this case, one speaks of the aesthetics of behavior, one or another activity of a church rite, a military ritual, an object, etc. Aesthetics is also divided into theoretical and applied (musical aesthetics, technical aesthetics).

4. Religious consciousness. Understanding the specifics of religious consciousness is necessarily connected with the question of the origin and essence of religion itself. Based on the idea of ​​doubling the world, religion considers the earthly, empirical world not independent, but the creation of an almighty God. It is God who is the highest religious value for a believer. He is the creator of all things, the object of faith and highest worship, indisputable and unconditional authority. Religion, having arisen in antiquity and having undergone various changes associated with the evolution of mankind, continues to influence the consciousness and behavior of modern man. The majority of the population of our planet is involved in religion even today.

Religion is usually understood as a special spiritual and practical connection between people, arising on the basis of a common belief in higher values ​​that provide them with the acquisition of the true meaning of life. The term "religion" should be interpreted as the restoration of the lost connection, because, for example, according to the Christian tradition, after the fall of the first man, such a connection was lost and is rehabilitated by the Resurrection of Christ, and is finally restored after the second coming and the complete renewal of man and the world.

The main way of religious perception of the world is faith. Faith is considered as a worldview position and at the same time a psychological attitude, spiritually oriented towards acquiring the highest meaning of life, unrestricted by earthly biological and social needs. Faith instills in a person absolute confidence in achieving the desired goal (salvation of the soul, resurrection, eternal life, etc.) in the sense that it does not require any arguments other than itself.

The question of the origin and essence of religion does not have an unambiguous solution in modern science. There are anthropological, psychological, socio-cultural, social and theological (religious-philosophical) concepts of the origin of religion.

Representative anthropological concept is L.-A. Feuerbach, who defended the position that religion is a reflection of human existence. Psychological concept the essence of religion found itself in a position Z. Freud. He defined religion as a collective obsessional neurosis, a mass illusion based on an unsatisfied repressed unconscious drive. W. James considered religious ideas to be innate, their source is something supernatural. From positions sociocultural concept spoke E. Durkheim, who ranked social ideas, ideas and beliefs as religion, which are binding on all members of society and connect the individual with society, subordinate him to the latter. social concept can be illustrated by the example of Marxist philosophy. Its founders believed that religion is a fantastic reflection in the minds of people of those external forces that dominate them in their daily lives, a reflection in which earthly forces take the form of unearthly ones. Religion arises on the basis of man's dependence not only on natural, but also on social forces. Religion is the hope of salvation from the inhumanity of the social world.

Acquaintance with numerous theological concepts limit the point of view of the archpriest A.V.Me, who wrote: “It is not by chance that the word “religion” comes from the Latin verb religare, “to bind”. She is the power that binds the worlds, the bridge between the created spirit and the Divine Spirit. And a person strengthened by this connection turns out to be an active participant in world creation. A.V. Men He argued that in unity with God, a person acquires the fullness of being, the true meaning of life, which consists in serving the highest objective Good and courageous opposition to evil. “Religion,” in his opinion, “is the true foundation moral life". So religion is connection a person with the very Source of being, which makes his life full of meaning, inspires him to serve, permeates his entire existence with light, determines his moral character.

Thus, religion is a complex historical and spiritual formation. There are three main elements in its structure: religious consciousness, religious cult, religious organizations.

religious consciousness is defined as a way of the believer's attitude to the world, connection with it through a system of views and feelings, the meaning and significance of which is faith in the supernatural. Religious consciousness can be characterized through such inherent features as figurativeness, symbolism, dialogue, deep intimacy, a complex and contradictory combination of the illusory and realistic, emotional richness, as well as a special strong-willed focus on the subject of faith.

Religious consciousness is represented by two relatively independent levels: religious psychology and religious ideology.

Religious psychology- this is a combination of religious ideas, feelings, moods, habits, customs, traditions inherent in believers and formed under the influence of carriers of religious consciousness, the entire environment associated with religion. Religious ideas and feelings act as a motive for the practical activity of believers. Being in interaction with each other, beliefs and feelings mutually reinforce each other, thereby strengthening the religious worldview of believers.

Religious ideology is a system of religious ideas, the development and dissemination of which is carried out by religious institutions represented by professional theologians and clergymen. The religious ideology of modern developed religions includes theology, various philosophies, social theories, etc. The central part of religious ideology - theology(from Greek Jεός - God, λόγος - teaching), or theology. This is a system of theological disciplines that expound and substantiate certain provisions of the dogma on the basis of sacred books containing "revealed truths." Religious philosophy seeks, firstly, to substantiate the truth and special significance of the religious path of life, and secondly, to harmonize the relationship between faith and reason, religion and science. Early religious philosophy made a significant contribution to the formation of religious dogma, while modern philosophy performs mainly apologetic functions.

An integral part of any religion is religious cult. This is a whole system of symbolic actions, with the help of which believers try to influence imaginary supernatural forces or real-life objects. The cult includes: rituals, sacraments, rituals, sacrifices, divine services, mysteries, fasting, prayers. This is served by religious buildings, sacred places and objects involved in the cult action. The role of the cult in any religion is great. With the help of a cult, religious organizations bring religious ideas to the minds of believers in an accessible, sensually concrete form. In the process of cult actions, the religious worldview is strengthened, special ties arise between believers, a feeling of unity is formed, and in some cases, superiority over non-believers and non-believers.

Religion plays an important role in the functioning religious organizations, among which the most important is church- an autonomous, strictly centralized institution, served by professional priests. The church is inherent in the hierarchical principle of governance, the division into clergy (that is, clergy who have received special professional training) and laity. Associations of believers who opposed themselves to the dominant religion are organizations in the form sects. The sect is distinguished by a number of characteristic features: the absence of a rigid division into clergy and laity, conscious entry into the community, and active missionary activity. In the process of development, a sect can turn into a church, or a transitional organization that has features of both a sect and a church ( denomination).

Almost every religion, to a greater or lesser extent, contains socially heteronomous norms of behavior of believers, i.e. contains such requirements that are strictly regulated and the implementation of which is supported by a certain form of prohibitions (taboos), sanctions, prescriptions (the ten commandments of Moses, the commandments of love, Christ's Moral Sermon on the Mount).

5. Moral consciousness (morality). concept morality means the quintessence of the mental and practical experience of people, namely customs, laws, norms, rules of conduct, through which the highest values ​​of being and duty are expressed. Only through them does a person manifest himself as a rational, self-conscious and free being.

Morality as a system of norms, principles, values ​​expresses and consolidates the rules of behavior that are developed by people spontaneously in labor and social relations. Morality is a generalized result of centuries-old mass everyday practice. The origins of morality are in the mores, customs, which consolidated those actions that, according to the experience of generations, turned out to be the most useful for the preservation and development of society and man and which met the interests of historical progress ( A.G. Spirkin). Morality is the rules and patterns of behavior that are entrenched in the historical memory of mankind and are aimed at reconciling the interests of individuals with each other and with the interests of society as a whole.

Morality as a special form of social consciousness includes moral standards, including, behavioral norms - prescriptions(take care of parents, do not swear, do not lie, etc.), moral principles(fairness / injustice, humanism / anti-humanism, individualism / collectivism, etc.), values(good, good / evil), moral ideal(an integral idea of ​​the norms of morality), as well as moral and psychological self-control mechanisms personality (duty, conscience, responsibility). Therefore, the main evaluation categories become the subject ethics as a science that studies the moral attitude and moral consciousness.

Taking into account the named structural elements of morality, it is necessary to point out the specific features of morality: comprehensive nature, non-institutional, imperative.

Comprehensive character morality means that moral requirements and assessments permeate all spheres of human life and activity (everyday life, work, science, politics, art, family and personal relationships, etc.). Each sphere of social consciousness, each specific historical stage in the development of society, and each everyday situation has its own “moral profile”, is tested for “humanity”.

Extra-institutional morality means that, unlike science, art, religion and other forms of social consciousness, morality does not have specialized institutions that ensure its functioning and development. Unlike law, morality is based not on state, external coercion, but on self-esteem and public opinion, established customs and traditions, and a system of moral values ​​accepted in a given society.

The imperative of morality means that morality is in the form of an imperative, a direct and unconditional command, an obligation (for example, the “golden rule of morality”, a categorical imperative I. Kant). However, experience shows that strict adherence to the rules of morality does not always lead to the life success of an individual. Nevertheless, morality insists on strict observance of its requirements. And this has its own explanation. After all, only in the total result, at the level of society as a whole, the rules of morality work.

Human norms mean elementary norms of morality and justice, the social purpose of which is to protect people from everything that threatens their life, health, safety, dignity, and well-being. Universal norms of morality condemn murder, theft, violence, deceit, slander as the greatest evil. The elementary norms of morality also include the care of parents for the upbringing of children, the care of children for their parents, respect for elders, and courtesy.

The theoretical basis of morality is ethics as a science that studies, as noted, the phenomenon of morality and the moral consciousness of the individual and society associated with it. In the history of ethics, various ideas about the foundation of morality (moral actions and moral relations) have developed: the ethics of the good, the ethics of law, the ethics of love, the ethics of duty, the ethics of creativity, the ethics of utility, etc.

On the basis of general ethics, applied ethics are formed, including professional ones, which are “a set of moral norms that determine a person’s attitude to his professional duty, and through it to people with whom he is associated due to the nature of his profession, and, ultimately to society as a whole." We will return to the question of the specifics of technical ethics in the last topic of this manual.

The main functions of morality are regulatory, restrictive, axiological, cognitive.

Regulatory function lies in the fact that morality acts as a universal and unique way of regulating the behavior of people in society and self-regulating the behavior of an individual. The uniqueness of this method lies in the fact that morality does not need reinforcement from various organizations, institutions, punitive bodies, but appeals to the moral sense, reason and conscience of a person.

Restrictive The (prohibitive) function of morality expresses specific restrictions, the effectiveness of which is ensured not by external control over human actions by social institutions, but by the internal will of the subject of activity himself.

Axiological function is to develop a system of moral values. The moral assimilation of reality by a person is carried out on the basis of the criterion of good and evil. With the help of these fundamental categories, an assessment is given to any phenomenon of social life, the actions of an individual.

Cognitive the function of morality is closely related to the axiological one and consists in the desire of people to find the most humane, worthy and promising ways of development and improvement of both the whole society and each person. Moral approval or indignation is an indication that the current form of life is outdated or, on the contrary, promising for development. The state of morals in each particular era is a self-diagnosis of society, i.e. his self-knowledge, expressed in the language of assessments, ideals.

Morality also performs educational, orienting, prognostic and communicative functions. Taken together, they give an idea of ​​the social role of morality.

6. Political consciousness. A pronounced form of social consciousness of the regulating subgroup is political consciousness, which is understood as "a set of ideas, theories, views that express the attitude of the social community to the political system, state system, organization of the economy of society, power, as well as to other social communities, to parties."

The philosophical approach presupposes the allocation of two levels in the political consciousness - the ordinary and the theoretical. Ordinary consciousness is formed spontaneously on the basis of everyday experience with the direct influence of the media and political technologies. It is a combination of an individual's ideas about current political events, about the role of the institution of the state in public life, about the activities of political parties, public organizations, interest groups, the media, etc., formed on the basis of the worldview stereotypes he has learned, the prevailing political myths and mythologemes, emotional-sensual, irrational refraction of the political process, common sense.

However, the leading role in the political consciousness is played by ideological attitudes, principles related to the theoretical level of reflection of political realities. Theoretical level political consciousness, which is the content of political ideology, appears as a system of views, scientific in form, concepts based on a certain interpretation of the phenomenon of power (power of a class, race, elite, people) and related mechanisms for the reproduction of power political relations. Political ideology is developed consciously by political leaders, ideologists, political scientists, and specialists from relevant research institutes. General theoretical and general methodological issues of political life are generalized and developed by political philosophy.

It is generally accepted that any political ideology is subordinated to its leading component, which is interests as rationally realized needs: political (the need for power), economic (the need to establish control over resources), social (the need to increase status, to dominate others people). The question of the relationship between political and economic interests is of the most dramatic nature. History knows several options for its resolution:

- the political superstructure is primary in relation to the economic basis, determines and directs the development of economic processes;

- the economy is primary in relation to politics, politics is a concentrated expression of certain economic interests;

- the equilibrium ratio of the two components, which is the best option for their interaction.

It is very important to bear in mind the following circumstance. Due to its specificity (close connection with the economy, focus on solving the problems of power), political consciousness tends to subjugate all other forms of social consciousness. In certain real models of government, political ideology seeks to establish total control over other forms of social consciousness, including legal consciousness, morality, aesthetic, philosophical, scientific and even religious consciousness. The mechanisms of such control are various kinds of sanctions, prohibitive acts, verdicts, censorship, restriction of civil rights and freedoms. A vivid example of the pressure of political ideology on spiritual culture is the principle of a class approach to the evaluation of scientific and artistic creativity.

On the other hand, in real practice there is also a liberal model of the minimum state, the role of which is reduced to arbitration of the processes taking place in society.

In modern conditions, the concepts of social and ecological states are being developed in political theory. The first of them is based both on taking into account private interests and on the principle of solidarity, which ensure the coordination of the individual and collective aspects of socio-political life. The second model of the state aims at solving urgent problems of economic and technological development in the face of a shortage of natural resources and exacerbation of global contradictions.

7. Legal consciousness. Legal consciousness is a specific reflection of the moral, political and proper legal practices that have developed throughout the history of mankind. It is a system of obligatory social norms, rules established in laws, and a system of views of people (and social groups) on the law, their assessment of the existing norms of law in the state as fair or unfair, as well as an assessment of the behavior of citizens as lawful or unlawful.

At the same time, legal consciousness is defined as a set of rights and obligations of members of society, beliefs, ideas, theories, concepts about the legitimacy or illegality of actions, about the legal, proper and obligatory in relations between people of a given society. The core of legal consciousness is the concept justice, which, although historically variable, is at the same time absolute.

Etymologically, the Russian word "justice" (from Latin justitia, Greek dikais) goes back to the word "truth". The principle of justice is associated with the regulatory relationship between people regarding the distribution and redistribution, including mutual exchange (donation, gifting) of social values. Social values ​​themselves are freedom, favorable opportunities, income and wealth, signs of prestige and respect.

In legal consciousness, as in any other form of social consciousness, it is distinguished psychological (ordinary-practical) and theoretical (or ideological) levels.

Psychological level constitute legal feelings, emotions, skills, habits, unsystematized knowledge of law by individuals, allowing them to navigate the legal norms and, on a legal basis, regulate their relations with other people, the state and society as a whole. This is the level of ordinary or "practical" legal consciousness. Fulfilling the legal requirements accepted in society in the process of everyday life, people acquire the so-called "practical knowledge" of legal norms, master the skills of legal relations and legal activities. It must be borne in mind that at the level of legal psychology there is also a sensory assessment by the individual not only of legal phenomena in society, but also of his legal status. Legal feeling, according to the Russian philosopher and historian of law I.A. Ilyina, manifests itself as the "rightness instinct" or "rightness intuition". He believed that to reveal and describe the content of this vague instinctive feeling, to transfer it from an unconscious feeling to the plane of knowledge means "to lay the foundation for a mature natural sense of justice." Thereby I.A. Ilyin pointed to the presence of a close, genetic connection between the psychological and more mature, theoretical level of legal consciousness.

Theoretical level legal consciousness is represented by legal ideology. If the state of individual legal consciousness is reflected at the psychological level, then legal ideology represents theoretical knowledge that expresses the legal views and interests of large social groups. At the theoretical and methodological level, there is a comprehension of the very essence of law, its capabilities and boundaries, an analysis of the experience of legal life, the activities of legal institutions. This is already the sphere of professional activity of lawyers, legal theorists, ideologists. They develop a system of legal sciences, scientific and practical recommendations to state, judicial and executive authorities.

A higher theoretical level of the study of legal consciousness provides philosophy of law. This direction of philosophy integrates philosophical ideas, achievements of theoretical jurisprudence, as well as practical experience of real legal life and activity. This level of knowledge synthesis contributes to the clarification, adjustment and, most importantly, the formation of philosophical legal ideas. Thus, the philosophy of law is the theory and methodology of legal knowledge.

Legal consciousness is closely connected with other forms of social consciousness, primarily with political consciousness and morality. It is influenced by historical traditions, the established way of life of people, etc. Law is based on moral standards. Far from everything related to morality is enshrined in law: law is a “minimum of morality”, which is legally formalized in the relevant laws. The origins of the moral principle are in the conscience of a person, in his good will. Law, on the other hand, is a compulsory demand for the realization of a certain minimum of good and order, which does not allow known manifestations of evil. It should be noted that if a high level of morality and culture of legal consciousness is necessary for an ordinary citizen, then their even higher level should be supported by the state and its officials. Law is equally obligatory both for those who rule and for those who are subject. In addition, power is a force authorized by the people to control others, which implies an educational influence on them.

The problem of the relationship between power and personality is the key to understanding the essence of the rule of law. Its decision is related to the implementation ideas of popular sovereignty. This idea includes the recognition that only the people are the source of the power of the state.

An element of the legal reality in which a person lives, and, accordingly, an element of legal consciousness that correlates with it, are legal regulations. They are the embodiment of behavioral, psychological and mental stereotypes that indicate what a person should (permissive norms) and what a person should not do (prohibitive norms).

Summing up the topic, it should be emphasized that all forms of social consciousness do not exist in isolation, they are interconnected with each other, complement each other, being a manifestation of a broader phenomenon. spiritual life of society- the active creative activity of people in the development and transformation of the world, consisting in the production and consumption of spiritual values ​​and ideal meanings. It is connected with the satisfaction of spiritual needs, relations between people, various forms of their communication. The spiritual life of society includes a set of not only ideal phenomena, but also the subjects of spiritual life themselves, with certain needs, interests, ideals, as well as social institutions engaged in the production, storage, distribution of spiritual values ​​(clubs, libraries, theaters, museums, educational institutions). institutions, religious and public organizations, etc.). That is why it is impossible to reduce the spiritual life of society only to the functioning of social consciousness.

public consciousness. Essence. Levels. Forms.

PUBLIC CONSCIOUSNESS- this is the spiritual life of society in the totality of feelings, moods, views, ideas, theories that reflect social life and influence it. Reflection in the spiritual activity of people of interests, representations of various social groups, classes, nations, society as a whole.

Social consciousness is a set of psychological properties inherent in society, considered as an independent integrity, a system that cannot be reduced to the sum of its constituent individuals.

Almost any society, regardless of its size, stability and degree of integration, has one or another consciousness (some of its features can also be found at the queue in the store). Historical reality, reflected in the minds of people, gives rise to social moods, ideologies, social psychologies, national characters, and so on. Those, in turn, have an effective impact on reality. Social consciousness serves as the basis of cultural activity and influences the individual psychology of each person entering the society.

The subject of social consciousness is the society, not the individual. An individual is able to invent an ideology or give impetus to a certain phenomenon of social psychology, but it will enter the public consciousness only when it “takes possession of the masses”.

Its structure: it consists of two parts - the poles of "Ideology" - conscious, theoretically processed, reflected. "Social psychology" or "mentality", which is the sphere of the collective unconscious, is characterized by concealment, depth, spontaneity. (

At the same time, "social psychology and ideology are in some contradiction with each other, but do not exist without each other" and mutually penetrate each other.

Public consciousness is part of culture in the broadest sense of the word.

Being preserved in the culture of society, social psychology / mentality reflects the historical path it has traveled. “The mentality of an individual is determined by the principles and structural features of the language and culture that determined its development and formation.< ...>Language and culture, in turn, are formed in the course of the historical development of a certain people. Thus, the historical experience, processed and deposited in the language and culture, then affects the formation of the deep features of the human psyche, mastering the world through language and culture. Way of thinking can therefore be seen as an internalized experience of linguistic and cultural history. The well-known historian P.N. Milyukov wrote about this: “The national character itself is a consequence of historical life.” What has been said in this case about the ethnos can, in our opinion, be extended to other types of societies.

The existence in culture of different parts of social consciousness is different. Ideology requires special development, cultivation, fixation (because it is based on theoretical, scientific thinking) and, because of this, is concentrated in an integral form in the minds of a few. The existence of social psychology / mentality is largely spontaneous (although there are ways to control, manipulate), it is inherent in all members of society.

The content of the pole of ideology are theories, scientific, religious, philosophical systems and teachings, conscious worldview. The content of the pole of spontaneous, unaccountable social psychology / mentality is mental, behavioral, emotional stereotypes; latent value installations; pictures of the world and perception of oneself in the world; all kinds of automatisms of consciousness; public performances, etc.

The mechanism of preservation and transmission of social psychology / mentality, as well as its assimilation by each new member of society, is similar to the mechanism of life of living natural languages. Through the environment (linguistic or, respectively, mental) and from older generations to younger ones. “Culture and tradition, language, way of life and religiosity form a kind of "matrix" within which the mentality is formed. The era in which the individual lives leaves an indelible imprint on his worldview, gives him certain forms of mental reactions and behavior, and these features of spiritual equipment are found in the "collective consciousness".

Public consciousness is historically changeable. An ideology can change instantly, although it always takes time to spread widely. As for mentality, representatives of the Annales School have always noted the slowness of the changes taking place in it. BF Porshnev in his "social psychology" identifies a more or less stable "mental warehouse" (for example, national character) and dynamic "mental shifts", social moods (for example, fashion).

To comprehend public consciousness, it is necessary to analyze the broadest possible cultural context: texts and objects of “material culture”, a system of social ties and relationships, everyday life and the history of everyday life. In feedback: understanding the mentality and ideology of society will help to correctly assess all the processes taking place in it, adequately perceive the behavior of its members and better understand the cultural phenomena developed by it.

Essence of public consciousness

For many centuries, heated debates around the essence of consciousness and the possibilities of its cognition have not ceased. Theologians see consciousness as a tiny spark of the majestic flame of the divine mind. Idealists defend the idea of ​​the primacy of consciousness in relation to matter. Pulling consciousness out of the objective connections of the real world and considering it as an independent and creative essence of being, objective idealists interpret consciousness as something primordial: it is not only inexplicable by anything that exists outside of it, but is called upon to explain everything that happens in nature, history and behavior of each individual. The supporters of objective idealism recognize consciousness as the only reliable reality.

If idealism digs out the abyss between the mind and the world, then materialism seeks commonality, unity between the phenomena of consciousness and the objective world, deriving the spiritual from the material. Materialistic philosophy and psychology proceed in solving this problem from two cardinal principles: from the recognition of consciousness as a function of the brain and a reflection of the external world.

Levels of public consciousness

The structure of social consciousness is very complex: first of all, there are levels in it - ordinary-practical and scientific-theoretical. This aspect of the consideration of social consciousness can be called epistemological, since it shows the depth of penetration of the subject of knowledge into objective reality. As is known, everyday practical consciousness is less structured, more superficial than scientific and theoretical. Social consciousness at the everyday practical level manifests itself as social psychology, at the scientific and theoretical level - as an ideology. It should be emphasized that ideology is not the whole scientific and theoretical consciousness, but only that part of it that has a class character. But this will be discussed below.

The next aspect of consideration of social consciousness is according to its carrier or subject. Thus, there are types of social consciousness - individual, group and mass consciousness. The carrier of individual consciousness is an individual, the carrier of group consciousness is a social group, the carrier of mass consciousness is an unorganized group of people united by some idea, goal. For example, fans of some pop singer, regular listeners of the Mayak radio station can be attributed to the phenomenon of mass consciousness. It is sometimes said that the bearer of mass consciousness is the crowd, but many sociologists believe that it is more correct to single out both the consciousness of the crowd and the consciousness of the masses. In passing, we note that the crowd is people who are in direct contact with each other, gathered to achieve some goal, but the crowd is distinguished from the mass by direct contact, the presence of a leader and joint activities, for example, at a rally, demonstration, etc.

Forms of public consciousness

Public consciousness is a combination of various spiritual phenomena that reflect all spheres of society and the wealth of individual human life, therefore, its various forms are distinguished - moral, aesthetic, religious, legal, political, philosophical, scientific, environmental, economic, etc. Of course, such structuring is conditional, since the types, forms, levels of social consciousness are in constant interaction and mutual influence.

Analyzing public consciousness, social F pays special attention to ideology. Ideology is a system of ideas and theories, values ​​and norms, ideals and directives of action. It contributes to the consolidation or elimination of existing social relations. In its theoretical content, ideology is a set of legal, political, moral, aesthetic and other ideas that ultimately reflect the economic relations of society from the standpoint of a certain social class.

Let us dwell in more detail on the spiritual life of society. It can be understood as the sphere of being in which the objective, supra-individual reality has been transformed into an individual, subjective reality, inherent in every person.

Here is a definition of the category under consideration can be given. Consciousness is presented by philosophers as the highest function, peculiar only to the human brain and associated with speech. It consists in a purposeful and generalized reflection of reality. Consciousness exists in two forms - individual and social. The latter will be discussed in more detail.

Below we will consider what levels and forms of social consciousness are distinguished by such a science as philosophy. But first I would like to note that it is an integral part of the socio-historical process and, in fact, a function of human society as a whole. It is generated by being, however, it develops according to its own laws, therefore it can both lag behind being, and even outpace it.

It is customary to single out 3 levels of the category under consideration, namely ordinary consciousness, social ideology and social psychology.

Ordinary consciousness appears spontaneously in the process of carrying out daily activities. It directly reflects the everyday (external) side of the life of society and does not have such a goal as the search for truth.

Ideology is presented as a set of theoretical views that reflect the degree of knowledge by society of this whole world and its different aspects. This level of consciousness is also called rational.

Social psychology is a system of feelings, customs, moods, motives, traditions that are characteristic of society as a whole and for various social groups. This level of consciousness is also called emotional.

At the same time, it should be noted that the interaction of these three levels of social consciousness is very complex and ambiguous. However, they are all part of the psyche, which encompasses conscious, unconscious and subconscious processes.

Well, now let's consider what, in fact, forms of social consciousness philosophy singles out. As being developed, arose and enriched to knowledge, they gradually appeared. Here is what we have today.

Forms of social consciousness: moral and legal consciousness

Morality is a system of views, ideas, norms and assessments of the behavior of the whole society, various social groups and individuals.

Law is presented as a system of certain social relations and norms, the observance of which is regulated and controlled by the state and authorities. At the theoretical level, this form is a legal ideology that expresses the interests and views of large social groups.

Forms of public religious and artistic

The basis of religious consciousness is society's belief in the supernatural. This includes various religious teachings with their ideas about the world order, the feelings and actions of believers, in particular rituals, traditions, norms of behavior, and a system of prohibitions.

Artistic consciousness is presented as the spiritual activity of society in the cultural sphere. It excites, touches the strings of the soul, delivers or, conversely, dissatisfaction, prompts reflection. This includes works of literature (prose, poetry), architecture, sculpture, painting, etc.

The structure of public consciousness includes two levels:

1) social psychology, i.e. ordinary mass consciousness, formed empirically in the process of everyday everyday practice. This is largely a spontaneous, spontaneous reflection by people of the entire flow of social life without any systematization of social phenomena and the discovery of their deep essence.

2) scientific and theoretical consciousness, including ideology as a spiritual expression of the fundamental interests of social classes. At this level, social reality is reflected conceptually, in the form of theories, which is associated with active, active thinking, with the operation of concepts.

Theoretical consciousness is the comprehension of the phenomena of social life by discovering their essence and the objective laws of their development. Not all people act as subjects of theoretical consciousness, but only scientists, specialists, theorists in various fields of knowledge. Because of this, it appears as a higher, in comparison with the ordinary, level of O.S. Ordinary consciousness interacts with the theoretical one, developing and enriching itself at the same time. Forms O.S. represent various ways of spiritual development of social life; there are six of them: political and legal consciousness, morality, religion, art and philosophy. Today, this list often also includes economic, natural-mathematical, engineering, medical, technological, environmental and other consciousness. Such an increase in the number of forms of O.S. is erroneous, it contradicts the criteria for the existence of these forms, namely: their conditionality by social being, its aspects; the presence of an ideological level in their content; their roles as prerequisites acc. ideol. relations.

Forms of O.S., their specificity differ from one another in the subject of reflection (this is the main criterion for their selection; for example, legal consciousness includes mass and scientific views, ideas, assessments of the current or desired law), in forms, methods of reflection (for example, , science reflects the world in the form of concepts, theories, teachings; art - in the form of artistic images), according to its role in society. In the latter case, we are talking about the fact that each form of O.S. characterized by def. a set of functions performed (cognitive, aesthetic, educational, ideological, regulation of people's behavior, preservation of spiritual heritage).

In the implementation of these functions, the significance in the life of society is manifested. OS, its forms, for all their dependence on social life, have relative independence, their own special patterns of development. The latter are manifested, firstly, in continuity, the existence of certain ideological traditions (for example, the development of philosophical, artistic and other ideas depends on the previously accumulated mental material). Secondly, in the mutual influence of various forms. All forms of social consciousness are interconnected and interact with each other, because those aspects of the life of society that are directly reflected in them interact with each other. Thus, social consciousness acts as a kind of integrity that reproduces the integrity of social life itself. Thirdly, in the backlog of O.S. from social being (because the spiritual ideas of people are characterized by a significant force of inertia, only the struggle between new and old ideas naturally leads to the victory of those that are caused by the decisive needs of a changed material life, a new being). Fourthly, in the social-class, ideological nature of the O.S., which, however, does not exclude universal human elements. Fifth, in the activity, the reverse influence of O.S. on society, its foundations (an idea becomes a material being when it takes possession of the masses).