People are skillfully built mechanisms belong. Philosophy. In educating people, we want to make them intelligent, kind and talented, so beatings and all other forms of degrading corporal punishment are not appropriate measures of discipline, and these

08.12.2020

The teaching of the French materialists on the internal activity of matter, on the universal character of motion, was a progressive achievement of the philosophical thought of the eighteenth century. However, these views bear the stamp of mechanism. In the XVIII century. chemistry and biology were still in their infancy, and therefore mechanics continued to be the basis of the general worldview. The laws of the mechanics of solid bodies, the laws of gravity, were elevated by the materialists of the Enlightenment to the rank of universal and claimed that biological and social phenomena develop according to the same laws. The most striking example of mechanism is the views of the French philosopher Julien de La Mettrie (1709-1751), set forth by him in an essay with the characteristic title "Man is a machine." In this work, La Mettrie argued that people are skillfully built mechanisms and called for studying a person, relying only on the mechanics of his body. At the same time, he believed that the study of the mechanics of the body would automatically lead to the disclosure of the essence of human sensual and mental activity.

The most generalized and systematic mechanistic worldview of the materialism of the Enlightenment is expressed in the work of P. Holbach "The System of Nature". Holbach explicitly states that we can explain physical and spiritual phenomena, habits, with the help of pure mechanism. Nothing in the world happens without a reason. Every cause produces some effect; there can be no effect without a cause. The effect, once having arisen, itself becomes a cause, giving rise to new phenomena. Nature is an immense chain of causes and effects, continuously flowing from each other. The general movement in nature gives rise to the movement of individual bodies and parts of the body, and the latter, in turn, supports the movement of the whole. This is how the order of the world is formed.

It is easy to see that the so-called universal laws of the world are absolutizable laws of solid mechanics. “According to these laws,” Holbach wrote, “heavy bodies fall, light ones rise, similar substances are attracted, all beings strive for self-preservation, a person loves himself and strives for what is beneficial to him, as soon as he knows this, and has an aversion to that might be harmful to him. Movement and change in the world, according to the views of the materialists of this era, is not a constant generation of the new, that is, not development in the proper sense, but some kind of eternal cycle - a consistent increase and decrease, the emergence and destruction, creation and destruction. Everything that happens in the world is subject to the principle of continuity. There are no jumps in nature.

This view, directed against theological ideas about the free creation of God and miracles, was based on the recognition of universal and immutable material conditioning. An uninterrupted, constant and indestructible chain of causes and effects subordinates everything that happens in nature to universal necessity. Necessity, understood absolutely and mechanically, develops into the idea of the predestination of everything that happens, into fatalism. As a conclusion, this implies the denial of chance in nature and freedom and human behavior. “We,” wrote Holbach, “called random phenomena, the causes of which are unknown to us and which, due to our ignorance and inexperience, we cannot foresee. We ascribe to chance all phenomena when we do not see their necessary connection with the corresponding causes ”(Golbach P. Selected philosopher, past. In 2 vols. T. 1.-M., 1963-S. 428).

Fatalism, the belief in the predestination of everything that exists, contrary to the general trend of the philosophy of the Enlightenment, led to the conclusion that everything that exists is predetermined, to the passive submission of a person to everything that happens in the reality around him.

The materialistic solution of the worldview question about the relation of consciousness to matter, led to a sensationalistic interpretation of the cognitive process. The materialists considered the sensations generated in a person by the influence of material objects on his sense organs to be the source of all knowledge. Without sensations, without feelings, they believed, nothing is available to our knowledge. The main body of knowledge of reality is the human brain. D. Diderot compares the brain with a sensitive and living wax, capable of taking on all kinds of forms, imprinting on itself the impact of external objects. La Mettrie, on the other hand, wrote about the “brain screen”, on which, as from a magic lantern, objects imprinted in the eye are reflected. Man, according to the views of the materialists, feels through the peripheral nerves that connect in the brain. At the same time, experience shows, Holbach emphasizes, that those parts of the body in which communication with the brain is interrupted lose the ability to feel. If there is any disturbance in the brain itself, then the person either feels imperfectly or completely ceases to feel. Thus, sensations take place when the human brain can distinguish between the effects produced on the sense organs.

Sensationalism of the 18th century materialists. is not in conflict with the general rationalist philosophy of the Enlightenment. The essence of reality, from their point of view, can only be known by reason. Sensory direct knowledge is only the first step on this path. “The mind tends to observe, to generalize its observations and draw conclusions from them,” wrote Helvetius in his treatise On the Mind. Helvetia reduces all operations of the human mind to the use of the ability to compare. He believed that this ability alone was sufficient for the knowledge of nature.

The recognition of the similarity of the world and human life activity also predetermines the epistemological optimism of eighteenth-century materialism. Its representatives are convinced of the unlimited cognitive possibilities of a person. There is nothing that people could not understand, says Helvetius. That which for our grandfathers was an amazing, miraculous and supernatural fact, becomes for us a simple and natural fact, the mechanism and causes of which, we know, are echoed by Holbach. Thus, the paternalists of the 18th century, despite some nuances, on the whole, share the main principles of the philosophy of their era.

Early 18th century. European culture is still on the verge of a great upheaval, as a result of which religion will finally fade into the background, giving way to technological progress. There are still some two or three centuries left until science, having doubted the existence of the Almighty, itself will begin to claim the role of a universal deity. But it will be later, and now an unknown field doctor, as a result of long observations of the suffering of crippled soldiers, puts forward a theory: a person, in essence, is nothing more than an ordinary machine.

And everything in it, like in a car, is interconnected. While the whole world is struggling with the solution of the "soul", this doctor claims that everything in a person, even morality and conscience, is the result of ordinary chemical reactions. About the divine, he prefers to speak condescendingly. Decades before religion was proclaimed the opiate of the people, he declared that the masses needed religion, not the individual. And it is not surprising that all his life he was accompanied by bonfires from his own compositions. True, after many years this doctrine, like a phoenix bird, will be revived, but in a different form - in an attempt to create a similar person, a person will begin to design complex Machines in which everything is interconnected and controlled ...

It is possible and even necessary to admire the works of geniuses. But what are the fruits of their deep reflections, if they could not explain even themselves - people? Well, let's "pick up the staff of experience, leave alone the history of all the fruitless searches of philosophers" and listen to Julien Offre de La Mettrie. He believed that "the doctor is the only philosopher" and that only a doctor is able to understand the nature of man.

Julien Ofray de La Mettrie was born in 1709 in Brittany, in the small port town of Saint-Malo. The father of the future scientist was a wealthy merchant, so La Mettrie studied at the best colleges in France. After deciding to devote himself to medicine, he entered the University of Paris, where he studied anatomy and surgery. However, having received the best medical education for France in those years, the young La Mettrie was very skeptical about his knowledge: he believed that one could become a full-fledged doctor only by getting acquainted with the latest foreign achievements. At the age of twenty-three, La Mettrie entered Leiden University, a recognized center of European medicine. He chooses his own teacher - an outstanding naturalist and medical scientist Herman Boerhaave. It was Boerhaave, who argued that life processes can be reduced to formulas and expressed in chemical terms, who had the greatest influence on the creative path of the future scientist. It is noteworthy that Boerhaave was an ardent atheist, and this gave rise to endless disputes between him and his student La Mettrie, then very devout.

Returning to Saint-Malo after a two-year stay in Leiden, La Mettrie becomes a regimental doctor and gets the opportunity to practically apply his knowledge. The young doctor's long stay in the cold barracks ends with a severe cold, which soon turns into a prolonged fever. La Mettrie does not reach out to his colleagues, but rather self-medicates. Observing the course of his illness, he comes to the conclusion that a person's spiritual activity is determined solely by his bodily condition.

In 1742, having recovered from his illness, La Mettrie returned to Paris, where he immediately received the honorary and highly paid position of regimental doctor of the royal guard and, as part of the German army, took part in the War of the Austrian Succession. With sufficient support in medical circles, he publishes his first philosophical essay, The Natural History of the Soul, based on reflections during a fever.

In this work, La Mettrie tries to prove that the vital forces, called the soul, perish with the body. It was an incredibly bold idea for those times, clearly proclaiming materialism. Even before the book is published, the scientist is warned that the ideas expressed in it could cross out his entire medical career. La Mettrie refuses authorship and publishes the work under the guise of a translation into French of an essay written by a fictitious person - a certain Englishman D. Cherp. But this precaution did not help: the real name of the author is quickly becoming known, the number of ill-wishers and enemies is growing every day. As a result, by the decision of the Parliament of July 9, 1746, on the Place Greve in Paris, the entire circulation of the "ungodly work" was publicly burned. The author is shamefully deprived of academic titles and expelled from the guard.

La Mettrie moved to Holland and, away from his homeland, anonymously published his main work, Machine Man.

On the cover of the book there is a dedication: "To Mr. Haller, professor of medicine in Göttingen." Galler was also a student of Boergava and, throughout his own life, accused La Mettrie of plagiarism and distortion of the teacher's ideas. However, in fact, the God-fearing Haller, until the end of his days, could not forgive Boerhaave and his more capable comrade for encroaching on the foundations of Christianity. Regarding the book, mockingly dedicated to him, Galler wrote: "Reverence for the creator, religion and truth does not allow me to see without horror and shudder a creature that dares to rebel against its father and builder."

However, Haller could not have tried - on the initiative of the Dutch clergy, La Mettrie's next work was burned, and the priests demanded that the scientist be executed. However, long before the publication of the book, La Mettrie turns to the "northern Solomon" - the Prussian king Frederick II for patronage. Waiting for an answer, the scientist instructs the printers to publish the book only a year after it was written - in 1748 (this is the date indicated on it). However, anticipating a sensation, the publishers immediately set to work, and the book appears a year earlier. La Mettrie has to leave Holland, and on February 8, 1848, a Berlin newspaper reports the arrival of the "famous Dr. de La Mettrie." Friedrich immediately provides him with the posts of court physician and his personal reader, and soon appoints him a member of the Academy of Sciences.

La Mettrie was distinguished by incredible causticity and vindictiveness. Being under the protection of Friedrich, he sends Haller the article "The Art of Pleasure", and then a new pamphlet - "Little Man with a Big Tail", full of ridicule and mockery of his colleague. To Haller's indignant letter, La Mettrie simply answers: "Let him come, I will give him satisfaction." He understood that this was humiliating for Haller, but he was sure that the Prussian king would not allow anyone to harm his beloved court scientist. In Germany, La Mettrie published his numerous works: "The Man-Plant" (1748), "On Freedom" (1749), "The System of Epicurus" (1751) and others, in which he developed the ideas expressed in the book "Man-Machine".

At one of the receptions at Frederick II, La Mettrie was poisoned by roast pork. Remaining convinced that the body is a self-sufficient machine capable of repairing itself, the philosopher refuses medicines and, as many years ago, begins to heal himself again. Three days later, on November 11, 1751, in despair, he resorted to the last measure, which in those years was considered a panacea for all diseases - bloodletting. However, unable to cope with the tourniquets, he dies from blood loss.

Julien Offray de La Mettrie died at the age of 42, although he predicted himself no less than 73. Three weeks later, one of the German newspapers published an epitaph: “Here lies de La Mettrie, of Gallic origin; all his machine shop remained here. He caught a fever at court; she removed him from the world, where he left behind a lot of nonsense. Now, since his machine body has disintegrated, he will be able to draw a reasonable conclusion at rest. There is only one reasonable conclusion: a person does not consist of machines.

thinking machine

We must have all the shortcomings in the past
and the suffering of the animal state,
to take advantage of them,
characterizing a person

One of the most important features of the philosophy of the era in which La Mettrie lived was a gradual transition to rationalism. The decline of feudal relations and the emergence of capitalism actively stimulated the development of science and technology. Despite the vain attempts of the church to maintain the status quo, religion, the laws of nature, the political system - everything was subjected to severe criticism from the mind. And it is intelligence, or rather, logic and cause-and-effect mechanisms that have become the measure of everything that exists.

Man as a rational being, from the point of view of rationalism, is called upon to become the ruler of the world. Everything that happens around is the result of human activity, dictated by his own mind. There is nothing inexplicable - everything has its reasons.

All these ideas, sooner or later, had to find their most radical supporters, who were looking for the imprint of a mechanistic device in everything, not only of the surrounding world, but also of man himself. Julien Offray de La Mettrie became a kind of prophet of these views. He argued that people are skillfully built mechanisms and called for studying a person based on the relationships observed in his body.

The main ideas of La Mettrie are set forth in the work "Man-machine". It reflects the experience of a doctor who really treats a person as a machine. However, in many respects this corresponds to the model of man proposed by Descartes. Like him, La Mettrie compares a person to a machine into which fuel-food is loaded, lungs-furs pump air, a heart-pump pumps nutrient fluid (blood) through all cells, used lubricants and useless slags are thrown out. The most interesting thing is that La Mettrie was sure until the end of his life that the system he proposed was just a simplified model of the real structure of the human body, admitting this only to himself. “Man is such a complex machine,” he wrote, “that it is absolutely impossible to form a clear idea about it, and therefore give an exact definition.”

Meanwhile, the most sensational were La Mettrie's conclusions about the spiritual life of a person, which, according to the scientist, is determined by his bodily organization. According to this concept, the soul as an intangible substance does not exist. All processes in a person are due to cause-and-effect relationships; his thoughts, emotions, impulses come from his materiality and are the result of mechanical interaction. Such an exclusively material relationship, La Mettrie believed, is necessary, and it does not depend on free will or spiritual impulse. Later, this rigid, consistent expression of the materialistic concept was developed by many scientists of the 20th century, especially psychologists. Sigmund Freud many years later created almost the same theory, based on sexual attraction.

Long before Darwin

Soul and body were created at the same time,
with one stroke of the brush...

Since the soul is a fictional concept, it is necessary to take a different look at morality. According to La Mettrie, there can be no religious concept of morality, because there is no eternal life, and morality exists insofar as the moral sense is innate. There is a certain moral law, like the laws of nature. This moral law is peculiar even to animals, and since man is a product of the animal world, there is nothing strange here, just man is the highest form of animal development.

It was La Mettrie who was one of the first philosophers to suggest that humans are descended from animals. In his recent works, the scientist approached the idea of evolution, expressing thoughts about the unity of the origin of the plant and animal worlds, about the gradual improvement of matter and all living things. “Who was man before he became man? An animal of a special kind, which had less natural instinct than other animals, of which he did not then consider himself king; he differed from the monkey and other animals in what the monkey differs at the present time, that is, in a physiognomy that testifies to greater understanding.

Religion for the honest

Despite the fact that the clergy severely persecuted the scientist and his works, La Mettrie was convinced until the end of his days that faith in God was essential for humanity. Truth and the institution of God, he considered only as a tool. According to his teaching, for people of science, religion sooner or later becomes "an aggravating circumstance inherited from a caveman." “Happy is he who has managed to break the chains of all his prejudices; only such a person can experience pleasure in all its purity; only he alone can experience the pleasant peace of mind, the complete satisfaction of a strong but unambitious soul, which is, if not happiness itself, then its source.

At the same time, "black religion is as necessary as air." One can only guess for what purposes in La Mettrie's ideal society the "mob" would be made a duty to believe in God. The philosopher himself explained everything very humanely: “Religion is necessary only for those who are not capable of experiencing feelings of humanity. Experience and observation clearly show that it is useless in the relations of honest people.

bunch of ants

For a man endowed with intelligence,
the best is one's own society,
if he cannot find a society of his kind.
But he must live for everyone

“The whole difference between bad and good people is that in the former, private interest prevails over the general, while the latter sacrifice their own good for the sake of a friend or for the sake of society,” wrote de La Mettrie. And for people who are able to go beyond the limits of exclusively their own good, “things should be presented in the same form as a person who would look at the earth from the height of heaven and for whom all the greatness of other people would disappear and the most beautiful palaces would turn into huts , and the most numerous armies would look like a bunch of ants fighting with ridiculous fury over a seed.

The teaching of the French materialists on the internal activity of matter, on the universal character of motion, was a progressive achievement of the philosophical thought of the eighteenth century. However, these views bear the stamp of mechanism. In the XVIII century. chemistry and biology were still in their infancy, and therefore mechanics continued to be the basis of the general worldview. The laws of the mechanics of solid bodies, the laws of gravity, were elevated by the materialists of the Enlightenment to the rank of universal and claimed that biological and social phenomena develop according to the same laws. The most striking example of mechanism is the views of the French philosopher Julien de La Mettrie(1709 -1751), set out by him in an essay with a characteristic title "Man is a machine". In this work, La Mettrie argued that people are skillfully built mechanisms and called for studying a person, relying only on the mechanics of his body. At the same time, he believed that the study of the mechanics of the body would automatically lead to the disclosure of the essence of the sensual and mental activity of man.

The most generalized and systematic mechanistic worldview of Enlightenment materialism is expressed in the work P. Holbach "The System of Nature". Holbach explicitly states that we can explain physical and spiritual phenomena, habits, with the help of pure mechanism. Nothing in the world happens without a reason. Every cause produces some effect; there can be no effect without a cause. The effect, once having arisen, itself becomes a cause, giving rise to new phenomena. Nature is an immense chain of causes and effects, continuously flowing from each other. The general movement in nature gives rise to the movement of individual bodies and parts of the body, and the latter, in turn, supports the movement of the whole. This is how the order of the world is formed.

This view, directed against theological ideas about the free creation of God and miracles, was based on the recognition of universal and immutable material conditioning. An uninterrupted, constant and indestructible chain of causes and effects subordinates everything that happens in nature to universal necessity. Necessity, understood absolutely and mechanically, develops into the idea of the predestination of everything that happens, into fatalism. As a conclusion, this implies the denial of chance in nature and freedom and human behavior. “We,” wrote Holbach, “called random phenomena, the causes of which are unknown to us and which, due to our ignorance and inexperience, we cannot foresee. We attribute to chance all phenomena when we do not see their necessary connection with the corresponding causes. (Holbach P. Selected philosopher, produced in 2 vols. T. 1.-M., 1963-S. 428).

End of work -

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Personalist concept of knowledge. Knowledge and Faith
The methodology of rationalism is dominant in the theory of knowledge. In line with rationalism solves the problems of epistemology and dialectical materialism. However, in modern philosophy there is

Development of the methodology of scientific knowledge in positivism and neo-positivism
A prominent place in the development of the methodology of scientific knowledge belongs to positivism. The concept of "positivism" (derived from Latin positiv - positive) means prizes

The concept of science in critical rationalism
The post-positivist stage in the development of the problems of the methodology of scientific knowledge is most clearly represented by critical rationalism. I K. Popper (1902-1988), T. Kuhn (b. 1922). I. Lacato

Philosophical irrationalism as a mindset and philosophical direction
As noted earlier, since the middle of the XVIII century. in European philosophy, the dominant position is occupied by the rationalist direction. The installations of rationalism continue to provide

Philosophy of life and its varieties
We have given a general description of irrationalism as a philosophical trend. We now turn to the consideration of specific teachings in this direction. A prominent place in Western European philosophy

The evolution of psychoanalytic philosophy. The structure of the human personality. Consciousness and the unconscious
The irrationalist tendencies of the "philosophy of life" are continued and deepened by psychoanalytic philosophy. The empirical basis of psychoanalytic philosophy is psychoana

Existentialism: main themes and teachings. Freedom and responsibility of the individual
One of the largest and most influential currents of modern philosophy is existentialism (philosophy of existence). Existentialism is represented in modern philosophy

The specifics of philosophical reflection
social life Society in its various aspects is the object of study of many humanitarian and social disciplines: history, economic theory,

Methodological principles of studying society. Diversity of social experience - cultures and civilizations in A. Toynbee's philosophy of history
The ideological orientation in understanding social processes was also actively developed by the largest representative of the modern philosophy of history A. Toynbee (1889 -1975). According to him

The meaning of history and its comprehension in the philosophy of history of K. Jaspers
A peculiar concept of the historical process of the development of society was proposed by the German philosopher K. Jaspers (1883-1969). Unlike A. Toynbee, Jaspers emphasizes that humanity has a single

Concepts of culture and civilization. Culture as a form of human self-realization
The philosophy of history portrays the historical process as a process of cultural development. In order to understand the content side of the historical process of the development of society, it is necessary to understand what

Features of Western and Eastern cultures. Russia in the Dialogue of Cultures
Philosophical-historical research always has a certain practical orientation. Comprehending the past, we strive to understand the present, to determine the development trends of modern

In the previous topic, various approaches to the problem of the unity of human development were considered. These approaches are more concerned with the analysis of the historical past of mankind. Regarding infusion

Origin and essence of global problems
In the previous topic, various approaches to the problem of the unity of human development were considered. These approaches are more concerned with the analysis of the historical past of mankind. About Us

Humanism as a value basis for solving global problems of our time
Solving the global problems of our time is the common cause of all mankind. Mankind must develop effective forms of cooperation that would allow all countries to

A cosmocentric view of solving the global problems of mankind - the "philosophy of a common cause" by N. F. Fedorov
The above concepts and approaches are within the framework of the new planetary thinking. However, in the depths of philosophy already at the end of the 19th century. began to form a new view on the development of modern

1/ Rationalism as a mindset and methodology

,)pohi Enlightenment

2/ Mechanistic materialism and sensationalism in the philosophy of the ^ Enlightenment

Rationalism as mindset and methodology of the Enlightenment

18th century in the history of Western Europe is called the era

Enlightenment. In English philosophy, the ideas of this era

The most striking expression was found in the work of J. Locke

1ka, J. Toland and others, in France - in the works of F. Volte-

1ra, J.-J. Rousseau, D. Diderot, P. Holbach, in Germany - in

"the works of G. Lessing, I. Gerder, the young Kant and

One of the most important characteristics of the philosophy of the Enlightenment is rationalism. In the last 1 topic, we have already met with the rationalistic teachings of R. Descartes. In relation to the teachings of Descartes, the term rationalism is used to characterize epistemological and logical-methodological attitudes. Rationalism is interpreted as an epistemological doctrine, stating that the main tool of knowledge is the mind. Sensations and experience are of secondary importance in cognition. In this sense, rationalism is opposed to sensationalism and

[empiricism. Sensationalism attaches decisive importance to human feelings, sensations and perceptions, while empiricism puts experience first in cognition. However, in the history of philosophy there is a broader approach to the concept of rationalism. Then it is considered as a broad ideological and theoretical current, expressing the views, needs, public sentiments of a certain

nyh social classes, layers, groups at a certain stage of social development. And on the basis of these mindsets, he develops certain methodological guidelines for guiding a person in practical activity and cognition. Rationalism, as a rule, is associated with the ideological aspirations of the advanced, progressive forces of society, which are at an ascending stage of their development. It is characterized by the exaltation of the human individual as an active, free and equal being, historical optimism, faith in the boundless possibilities of man in the knowledge and transformation of nature.

In this sense, the opposite of rationalism is irrationalism. He moves to the forefront of history during the crisis of social structures. Representatives of irrationalism are more characterized by a pessimistic assessment of the cognitive and active-transformative capabilities of a person, denial of historical and social progress, skepticism and agnosticism.

Irrationalism will be discussed when characterizing the philosophy of the late 19th - mid-20th centuries. For the philosophy of the Enlightenment, as noted earlier, the mentality of rationalism is characteristic.

Why did this happen? The answer to this question should be sought in the socio-economic, political and ideological processes that took place during the Enlightenment. First of all, it should be noted that the Age of Enlightenment was a period of the disintegration of feudal relations and the intensive development of capitalism, profound changes in the economic, socio-political and spiritual life of the peoples of Western Europe. The needs of the capitalist mode of production stimulated the development of science, technology, culture, enlightenment and education. Changes in social relations and public consciousness served as a prerequisite for the emancipation of minds, the liberation of human thought from the feudal-religious ideology, the formation of a new worldview. F. Engels gave a vivid description of the rationalism of the Enlightenment. “The great people who in France enlightened their heads for the approaching revolution, acted extremely decisively.

evolutionarily. They did not recognize any external authorities of any kind. Religion, the understanding of nature, the state system - everything was subjected to the most merciless criticism, everything had to stand before the court of reason and either justify its existence or abandon it. The thinking mind has become the only measure of everything that exists ”(Marx K., Engels F. Soch. T. 20. - P. 16).

During this period, rationalism, which consisted of doctrines of various philosophical, ideological and political radicalism, reflecting the views, moods, needs of the bourgeoisie in its struggle against feudalism, absolutism and their support - the Catholic Church, spoke on a number of important issues with general positions. At the center of all philosophical schools, systems, currents of that time is, as a rule, an active subject, capable of cognizing and changing the world in accordance with his mind. The mind is considered in rationalistic systems as the source of all human subjective activity. Man, according to this theory, in his essence, in his "nature" is a rational being. Reason, as an essential characteristic of the subject, appears in rationalism as a prerequisite and as the most vivid manifestation of all other characteristics: freedom, self-activity, activity, etc. Man, as a rational being, from the point of view of rationalism, is called upon to become the ruler of the world rebuild social relations on reasonable grounds. On this basis, the right of a person to be equal to another, to be free in his decisions and actions was declared, and measures were developed to ensure civil and political freedoms. These freedoms were considered “as an inalienable right of any nation and any society, in view of the fact that they are essential for the preservation and prosperity of social unions” (Holbach P. Selected philosopher, produced in 2 vols. Vol. 2. - M., 1963. - S. 533)

However, the general position of representatives of different philosophical schools, currents and directions of the Enlightenment did not exclude their different solutions to both worldview issues and specific problems of the theory of knowledge. Therefore, when analyzing methodological

Rationalism of the Enlightenment and Metaphysical Materialism of the 18th Century 115

The theory of rationalism along with the isolation of general provisions, it is necessary to focus on the difference of teachings.

All rationalism in the construction of a philosophical theory proceeds from the installation of the similarity and final coincidence of the mind and the results of human activity. Based on this attitude, the characteristics of human subjective activity and, above all, human consciousness (rationality, expediency), were taken by them as a prototype, model of the entire world order. The world appears in rationalistic systems as law-like, self-ordered, self-reproducing.

But in a specific interpretation of the structure of this world, representatives of different worldview orientations find different approaches. Idealistic rationalism mystifies the rational aspect of man's relationship with the world and seeks to prove that the reasonable, rational exists outside and independently of human activity and its objectivization. In these teachings, the mind as a specific, essential characteristic of a person is separated from its owner, then it is endowed with an independent existence, that is, it is objectified. As a result, an image of a substance is obtained, which, according to its main characteristics, is similar to human activity, in which the goal and the means, the result and the action, the implementation and the intention are inextricably linked.

Representatives of materialistic rationalism, on the other hand, associate the substantial, law-like structure of the world with the inherent properties of matter. “The Universe,” Holbach writes, “is a colossal combination of everything that exists, everywhere it shows us matter and motion ...”, and further - “nature exists by itself, acts by virtue of its own energy and never can be destroyed ”(Holbach P. Elected philosopher, produced in 2 vols. T. 1. - M., 1963. - S. 88, 504). The eternal spatio-temporal existence of matter and its continuous motion are for the French materialists of the 18th century. an indubitable fact.

Mechanistic materialism and sensationalism in the philosophy of the Enlightenment

The teaching of the French materialists about the internal activity of matter, about the universal character of motion, was a progressive achievement of the philosophical thought of the eighteenth century. However, these views bear the stamp of mechanism. In the XVIII century. Chemistry and biology were still in their infancy, and therefore mechanics continued to be the basis of the general worldview. The laws of mechanics of solid bodies, the laws of gravitation, the materialists of the Enlightenment elevated to the rank of universal and argued that biological and social phenomena develop according to the same laws. The most striking example of mechanism is the views of the French philosopher Julien de La Mettrie (1709-1751), set forth by him in an essay with the characteristic title "Man-machine". In this work, La Mettrie argued that people are skillfully built mechanisms and called for studying a person, relying only on the mechanics of his body. At the same time, he believed that the study of the mechanics of the body would automatically lead to the disclosure of the essence of human sensory and mental activity.

The most generalized and systematic mechanistic worldview of Enlightenment materialism is expressed in the work of P. Holbach “The System of Nature”. Holbach directly states that we can explain physical and spiritual phenomena, habits with the help of pure mechanism. Nothing in the world happens without a reason. Every cause produces some effect; there can be no effect without a cause.

The effect, once having arisen, itself becomes a cause, giving rise to new phenomena. Nature is an immense chain of causes and effects, continuously flowing from each other. The general movement in nature gives rise to the movement of individual bodies and parts of the body, and the latter, in turn, supports the movement of the whole. This is how the order of the world is formed.

It is easy to see that the so-called universal regularities of the world are absolutizable laws of the mechanics of solids. “According to these laws,” Holbach wrote, “heavy bodies fall, light ones rise, similar substances attract, all beings strive to

Rationalism of the Age of Enlightenment and Metaphysical Materialism of the 18th Century 117

rush to self-preservation, a person loves himself and strives for what is beneficial to him, as soon as he knows this and has an aversion to what can be harmful to him. Movement and change in the world, according to the views of the materialists of this era, is not a constant generation of the new, that is, not development in the proper sense, but some kind of eternal cycle - a consistent increase and decrease, the emergence and destruction, creation and destruction. Everything that happens in the world is subject to the principle of continuity. There are no jumps in nature.

This view, directed against theological ideas about the free creation of God and miracles, was based on the recognition of a universal and immutable material conditionality. An unbroken, constant and indestructible chain of causes and effects subordinates everything that happens in nature to universal necessity. Necessity, understood absolutely and mechanically, develops into the idea of the predetermination of everything that happens, into fatalism. As a conclusion, this implies the denial of chance in nature and freedom in human behavior. “We,” Holbach wrote, “called random phenomena, the causes of which are unknown to us and which, due to our ignorance and inexperience, we cannot foresee. We attribute all phenomena to chance when we do not see their necessary connection with the corresponding causes ”(Golbach P. Selected philosopher, produced in 2 vols. Vol. 1. - M., 1963. - P. 428).

Fatalism, belief in the predestination of everything that exists, contrary to the general trend of the philosophy of the Enlightenment, led to the conclusion about the predestination of everything that exists, to the passive submission of a person to everything that happens in the reality around him.

The materialistic solution of the worldview question about the relationship of consciousness to matter, led to a sensationalistic interpretation of the cognitive process. The materialists considered the sensations generated in a person by the impact of material objects on his sense organs as the source of all knowledge. Without sensations, without feelings, they believed, nothing is available to our knowledge. The main body of knowledge of reality is the human brain. D. Diderot compares the brain with the senses

a vibrant and living wax capable of assuming all sorts of forms, imprinting on itself the influence of external objects. La Mettrie, on the other hand, wrote about the “brain screen”, on which, as from a magic lantern, objects imprinted in the eye are reflected. Man, according to the views of the materialists, feels through the peripheral nerves that join in the grave. At the same time, experience shows, Holbach emphasizes, that those parts of the body in which communication with the brain is interrupted lose the ability to feel. If there is any disturbance in the brain itself, then the person either feels imperfectly or completely ceases to feel. Thus, sensations take place when the human brain can distinguish between the effects produced on the sense organs.

Sensationalism of the 18th century materialists. is not in conflict with the general rationalist philosophy of the Enlightenment. The essence of reality, from their point of view, can only be known by reason. Sensory direct knowledge is only the first step on this path. “It is natural for the mind to observe, generalize its observations and draw conclusions from them,” wrote Helvetius in his treatise On the Mind. Helvetia reduces all operations of the human mind to the use of the ability to compare. He believed that this ability alone was sufficient for the knowledge of nature.

Recognition of the similarity of the world and human activity predetermines the epistemological optimism of eighteenth-century materialism. Its representatives are convinced of the unlimited cognitive capabilities of man. There is nothing that people could not understand, says Helvetius. What for our grandfathers was an amazing, miraculous and supernatural fact, becomes for us a simple and natural fact, the mechanism and causes of which, we know, are echoed by Holbach. Thus, the materialists of the 18th century, despite some nuances, on the whole share the main principles of the philosophy of their era.

But in a concrete interpretation of the structure of this world, representatives of different worldview orientations find different approaches. Idealistic rationalism mystifies the rational aspect of man's relationship with the world and seeks to prove that the rational, rational exists outside and independently of human activity and its objectivizations. In these teachings, the mind as a specific, essential characteristic of a person is separated from its owner, then it is endowed with an independent existence, that is, it is objectified. As a result, an image of a substance is obtained, which, according to its main characteristics, is similar to human activity, in which the goal and the means, the result and the action, the realization and the intention are inextricably linked.

The representatives materialistic rationalism the substantial, law-like structure of the world is associated with the inherent properties of matter. “The universe,” Holbach writes, “is a colossal combination of everything that exists, everywhere it shows us matter and movement ...”, and further - “nature exists by itself, acts by virtue of its own energies and can never be destroyed (Holbach P. Selected philosopher-product. In 2 vols. T. 1. - M., 1963. - S. 88, 504). The eternal space-time existence of matter and its continuous movement are for the French materialists of the XVIII century. an undeniable fact.

Mechanistic materialism and sensationalism in the philosophy of the Enlightenment

The teaching of the French materialists on the internal activity of matter, on the universal character of motion, was a progressive achievement of the philosophical thought of the eighteenth century. However, these views bear the stamp of mechanism. In the XVIII century. chemistry and biology were still in their infancy, and therefore mechanics continued to be the basis of the general worldview. The laws of the mechanics of solid bodies, the laws of gravity, were elevated by the materialists of the Enlightenment to the rank of universal and claimed that biological and social phenomena develop according to the same laws. The most striking example of mechanism is the views of the French philosopher Julien de La Mettrie(1709 -1751), set out by him in an essay with a characteristic title "Man is a machine". In this work, La Mettrie argued that people are skillfully built mechanisms and called for studying a person, relying only on the mechanics of his body. At the same time, he believed that the study of the mechanics of the body would automatically lead to the disclosure of the essence of human sensual and mental activity.

The most generalized and systematic mechanistic worldview of Enlightenment materialism is expressed in the work P. Holbach "The System of Nature". Holbach explicitly states that we can explain physical and spiritual phenomena, habits, with the help of pure mechanism. Nothing in the world happens without a reason. Every cause produces some effect; there can be no effect without a cause. The effect, once having arisen, itself becomes a cause, giving rise to new phenomena. Nature is an immense chain of causes and effects, continuously flowing from each other. The general movement in nature gives rise to the movement of individual bodies and parts of the body, and the latter, in turn, supports the movement of the whole. This is how the order of the world is formed.

It is easy to see that the so-called universal laws of the world are absolutizable laws of solid mechanics. “According to these laws,” Holbach wrote, “heavy bodies fall, light ones rise, similar substances are attracted, all beings strive for self-preservation, a person loves himself and strives for what is beneficial to him, as soon as he knows this, and has an aversion to that yomset be harmful to him.” Movement and change in the world, according to the views of the materialists of this era, is not a constant generation of the new, that is, not development in the proper sense, but some eternal ^ angle - a consistent increase and decrease, emergence and destruction, creation and destruction. Everything that happens in mi-R 6 is subject to the principle of continuity. There are no jumps in nature.

This view, directed against theological ideas about the free creation of God and miracles, was based on signs of universal and immutable material conditioning. An uninterrupted, constant and indestructible chain of causes and effects, under, repair everything that happens in nature to universal necessity. Necessity, understood absolutely and mechanically, develops into the idea of the predestination of everything that happens, into fatalism. Katz conclusion, hence the denial of randomness in nature and freedom and human behavior. “We,” wrote Holbach, “called random phenomena, the causes of which are unknown to us and which, due to our ignorance and inexperience, we cannot foresee. We attribute to chance all phenomena when we do not see them necessary connection with the corresponding reasons" (Holbach P. Elected philosopher, about. Izv. In 2 vols. T. 1. - M "1963 - S. 428).

Materialistic solution of the worldview question about the relation of consciousness to matter, led to a sensationalistic interpretation of the cognitive process. The materialists considered the sensations generated in a person by the influence of material objects on his sense organs to be the source of all knowledge. Without sensations, without feelings, they believed, nothing is available to our knowledge. The main body of knowledge of reality is the human brain. D. Diderot compares the brain with a sensitive and living wax, capable of taking on all kinds of forms, imprinting on itself the impact of external objects. La Mettrie, on the other hand, wrote about the “brain screen”, on which, as from a magic lantern, objects imprinted in the eye are reflected. Man, according to the views of the materialists, feels through the peripheral nerves that connect in the brain. At the same time, experience shows, Holbach emphasizes, that those parts of the body in which communication with the brain is interrupted lose the ability to feel. If there is any disturbance in the brain itself, then the person either feels imperfectly or completely ceases to feel. Thus, sensations take place when the human brain can distinguish between the effects produced on the sense organs.

Sensationalism of the 18th century materialists. is not in conflict with the general rationalist philosophy of the Enlightenment. The essence of reality, from their point of view, can only be known by reason. Sensory direct knowledge is only the first step on this path. “It is natural for the mind to observe, generalize its observations and draw conclusions from them,” wrote Helvetius in his treatise "About the Mind". Helvetius reduces all operations of the human mind to the use of the ability to compare. He believed that this ability alone was sufficient for the knowledge of nature.

Recognition of the similarity of the world and human life activity also predetermines the epistemological optimism of materialism in the 3rd 8th century. Its representatives are convinced of the limitlessness of human cognitive capabilities. There is nothing that people "I could not understand," Helvetius declares. What for our grandfathers was an amazing, wonderful and supernatural fact, chanovtsya For us, a simple and natural fact, the mechanism and causes of which, we know, is echoed by Holbach. Thus, the materialists of the 18th century, in spite of some nuances, on the whole, share the basic tenets of the philosophy of their era.

The evolution of British empiricism in the late 17th and mid-18th centuries:

D. Locke, D. Berkeley, D. Hume

I. D. Locke's theory of knowledge

II. 2/ Subjective idealism. D. Berkeley

III. 3/ D. Hume's skepticism

The foundations of British empiricism were formulated by Francis Bacon. His doctrine of the experiential source of human knowledge, as well as the inductive method he developed, were considered;

earlier, in the process of comparing the various methodological approaches of rationalism and empiricism. The time has come to study in more detail the development of F. Bacon's views in the context of the development of the theory of knowledge based on the principles of empiricism.

D. Locke's theory of knowledge The first, in the most general form, the task of studying the origin, reliability and scope of human knowledge was set by an English philosopher, a doctor by education and a politician by the nature of his practical activity, John Locke(1632-1704). In his main philosophical work "Experiment on the human mind" (1690) D. Locke set out to comprehensively substantiate the position on the experimental origin of all human knowledge. The first question that he had to solve on the way to the implementation of his plan was to express his attitude to the widespread theory of "innate ideas". D. Locke categorically rejects the possibility of the existence of such ideas.

Proponents of the theory of "innate ideas" usually referred to the general agreement of people on certain issues. “However,” D. Locke wrote, “an argument with reference to universal agreement, which is used to prove the existence of innate principles, rather proves that they do not exist: for there are no principles that would be recognized by all mankind” (Locke D. El. philosopher. prod. T.I.-M., 1960.-S. 76). To prove this position, D. Locke gives numerous examples from his medical practice, data from ethnographic observations. Certain ideas, according to the English thinker, are approved by people not because of their innateness, but because of their usefulness. So, for example, the idea of God and worship of God is not innate, since there are atheists in the world who deny the existence of God, as well as entire nations in which one cannot find concepts of either God or religion. The emergence and spread of these ideas is by no means explained by their innateness, but by the influence of upbringing, education, common sense and constant interest in the name of God.

Since D. Locke rejected the existence of innate ideas, the following question naturally arose: what is the source of these ideas? Answering this question, the English philosopher clearly formulates the initial principle of empiricism. “All our knowledge is based on experience, from it, in the end, comes our observation, directed either at external objects, or at the internal actions of our soul, perceived and reflected by ourselves, deliver to our mind all the material of thinking” (Toii. same. - From 128).

As can be seen from the statement of D. Locke, he distinguishes between two types of experience: outside experience, consisting of a set of definitions, and inner experience, formed from the mind's observations of its inner workings. The source of the external is the objective material world, which affects the human senses and causes sensations. On this basis, the English thinker argues, simple ideas arise in us that have a real (ie, objective) content, consistent with the things themselves.

External experience or reflection- this is the activity of our mind when it is processing the acquired ideas. Explaining his understanding of internal experience or reflection, D. Locke emphasizes the idea that "every person has this source of ideas entirely within himself", that he "has nothing to do with external objects, and although this source is not a feeling ..., ... nevertheless, it is very similar to it and can be quite accurately called an inner feeling "(There same. - S.129). This characteristic of inner experience is intended to emphasize the great importance of the activity of the mind, reflection. But still, justifying the main position of empiricism, D. Locke repeatedly emphasized that the activity of the mind, which becomes the subject of reflection, proceeds only on the basis of sensory data that arise in a person before the ideas of reflection. And in general, the soul cannot think before the senses provide it with ideas for thinking.

However, when receiving ideas of reflection, our mind is not passive, but active. He performs certain actions of his own by which, from simple ideas as the material and foundation for the rest, others are built. Thanks to this faculty, the mind has more opportunity to diversify and reduce the objects of its thinking indefinitely longer than what sensations or reflection have delivered to it. At the same time, D. Locke clearly indicates that the mind cannot go beyond those primary ideas that are formed on the basis of sensations. External experience is the basis, the base of all subsequent knowledge.

According to the methods of formation and formation of the whole idea, according to Locke, they are divided into simple and complex. Simple Ideas contain monotonous ideas and perceptions and do not break up into any constituent elements. Locke refers to simple ideas as ideas of space, form, rest, movement, light, etc. In terms of content, simple ideas, in turn, are divided into two groups. To the first group, he refers ideas that reflect the primary or original qualities of external objects, which are completely inseparable from these objects, in whatever state they are, and which our senses constantly find in every particle of matter, enough to perceive the volume. Such, for example, are density, extension, form, movement, rest. These qualities act on the sense organs by impetus and give rise in us to simple ideas of solidity, extension, form, movement, rest, or number. Locke claims what only the ideas of the primary qualities of bodies are similar to them and their prototypes really exist in the bodies themselves, that is, the ideas of these qualities accurately reflect the objective properties of these bodies.

To the second group, he includes ideas that reflect secondary qualities, which, in his opinion, are not in the things themselves, but are forces that cause different sensations in us with their primary qualities (i.e. volume, shape, cohesion and movement of imperceptible particles of matter). Locke refers to secondary qualities such qualities of things as color, sound, taste, etc. Thus, the manifestation of secondary qualities is associated by the English thinker not with the objective world itself, but with its perception in the human mind.

complex ideas, According to Locke, they are formed from simple ideas as a result of the self-activity of the mind. D. Locke identifies three main way formation of complex ideas:

1. Combining several simple ideas into one complex idea;

2. Bringing together two ideas, whether simple or complex, and comparing them with each other so as to survey them at once, but not combine them into one;

3. Separation of ideas from all other ideas accompanying them in their actual reality.

In accordance with the nature of education, Locke distinguishes three types of complex ideas according to their content.

1. Ideas modes or "empirical substances". Here it includes ideas that are either dependent on substances(primary bases), or their properties of the latter.

2. Ideas rel about solutions, consisting in considering and comparing one idea with another and bringing to the ideas of the relationship "brother, father" cause and effect, identity and difference, etc.

3. Idea substances , that is, a certain "substrate", "carrier", "support" of simple ideas that do not have independent beings:

The definitions of substance are divided into simple ("man") and collectively (army, people).

For a better understanding of the followers of the teachings of Locke, it is necessary to take a closer look at his concept of substance. As stated earlier, Locke meant substance a substrate, a carrier of a known quality or set of qualities. What is the nature of this substratum: material or spiritual? He recognizes the presence of corporeal and thinking substance. But it does not establish an unambiguous relationship between them. They seem to be side by side, although they do not touch each other.

Of particular interest is also developed by Locke abstraction concept or the theory of formation of the most general concepts (concepts). It is the nature of this theory that makes it possible to define Locke's doctrine of complex ideas as conceptualism.

The problem of abstraction in the history of philosophy was considered, first of all, as the problem of the relationship between the general and the individual in cognition, closely related to the definition of the role of language. In medieval philosophy, this problem was solved from two diametrically opposed positions - nominalism and realism. Nominalists argued that the common is "just a name - nomen(name). In reality, there are only single things. Realists, on the other hand, argued that the general idea exists in reality, and the individual is only a reflection of the real existence of the idea of these things. D. Locke seeks to find a new way to solve this problem based on the theory of knowledge. According to Locke's views, general ideas are formed by abstracting from those simple ideas or features of objects that are common to all objects of a given group. So, for example, if from the complex ideas of specific people Peter, Paul, Ivan, etc. to exclude only that which is special in each of them, and to keep only that which they have in common, and then to denote this common by the word "man", then the abstract idea of "man" will be obtained.

Thus, according to Locke, there are only ideal single things. General ideas are the product of the abstracting activity of the mind. Words that express the general are only signs of general ideas. Locke's conceptualism represents a seriously weakened medieval nominalism by strengthening materialistic tendencies. We have repeatedly emphasized that Locke was an empiricist, but his empiricism was not simplistic. The theory of abstraction shows that Locke attached great importance to the rational form of knowledge. This rationalistic bias is clearly manifested in his doctrine of three kinds of knowledge: intuitive, demonstrative and experimental.

The most reliable kind of knowledge, according to Locke, is intuition. Intuitive knowledge is a clear and distinct perception of the correspondence or inconsistency of two ideas through their direct comparison. In second place after intuition, in terms of reliability, Locke has demonstrative knowledge. In this kind of knowledge, the perception of the correspondence or inconsistency of two ideas is not made directly, but indirectly, through a system of premises and conclusions. The third kind of knowledge sensual or sensitive cognition. This kind of knowledge is limited to the perception of individual objects of the external world. In terms of its reliability, it stands at the lowest level of knowledge and does not achieve clarity and distinctness. Through intuitive cognition we cognize our being, through demonstrative cognition - the existence of God, through sensitive cognition - the existence of other things.

Subjective idealism D. Berkeley The most intensive development and original interpretation of the ideas of D. Locke were in the works of the English philosopher, Bishop D. Berkeley (1685-1753). Locke's conceptualism was based on the assumption that the general is not only a nomen (a verbal designation created by our mind), but is a mental abstraction of common, repetitive features of things. D. Berkeley, in fact, returned to the position of nominalism. "Everything that exists is singular," he states in his treatise "On the principles of human knowledge" (Berkeley D. Works. - M; 1972. - S. 281). The general exists only as a generalized visual image of the individual. From these positions, Berkeley criticizes Locke's theory of abstraction, which explains the way in which general ideas are formed. abstraction, distraction, according to Berkeley, is impossible because the qualities of objects are inextricably linked in the object. The human mind can consider separately from others only those qualities with which they are united in some object, but without which they can really exist. Thus, one can imagine a head without a body, a color without movement, a figure without weight, etc., but one cannot imagine a person in general; a man who was neither pale nor swarthy, neither short nor tall. In the same way, Berkeley argues, it is impossible to imagine a triangle in general, that is, a triangle that would not be greater or smaller, neither equilateral nor scalene. In other words, there is not and cannot be an abstract idea of a triangle, but there is only an idea of a triangle with certain specific properties. Thus, Locke's "general ideas" acquired from Berkeley the form of sensual visual representations or images of specific objects.

The rationale for this provision is formulated by D. Berkeley the concept of representative (representative) thinking. According to this concept, there are not and cannot be abstract general ideas, but there can be and are particular ideas that are similar ideas of a given kind. So, any particular triangle that replaces or represents all right-angled triangles can be called general, but a triangle in general is absolutely impossible.

Berkeley believed that the erroneous notion that there are abstract general ideas in the soul arises from a misunderstanding of language. A person uses general concepts in his speech and, as a result, it seems to him that he must also have general ideas corresponding to these words. But these general ideas are invented by people to explain that they give common things the same names. If there were no identical names, then it would never occur to anyone to talk about abstract general ideas.

Berkeley's theory of representativeness is based on the confusion of concept with representation, speech with thinking. The concept of a triangle is indeed always associated with specific triangles. But this does not at all exclude the possibility of developing the concept of a triangle on the basis of highlighting its common, recurring, essential features. It should also be recognized as true such a premise that the transition to general abstract ideas is connected with speech, with the word. But being a form of thinking, the word is not identical with thinking. The word serves as a form of objectification of human thought. Therefore, in the dialectical interaction of thinking and speech, the leading role belongs to the content side of this interaction - the process of thinking. By correctly emphasizing that abstractions as such have no objective existence, Berkeley thus tried to exclude such a powerful cognitive tool as the abstraction procedure from the sphere of cognition.

The pathos of the Berkeleian criticism of the theory of abstraction becomes clear when we are convinced that its main thrust was to free philosophy and science from the deceit of words, the purification of consciousness "from the thin and intricate network of abstract ideas" (Ibid.-S. 168). As "the most abstract and incomprehensible of all ideas," Berkeley considered idea of matter or bodily substance. "The denial of it does not bring any damage to the rest of the human race, which will never notice its absence. The atheist really needs this ghost of an empty name to justify his godlessness, and philosophers will find, perhaps, that they have lost a strong reason for idle talk" (Ibid. - S. 186). Thus, one of the most important reasons why Bishop Berkeley returns to the position of nominalism is that nominalism allows us to assert that such most general concepts as. matter, bodily substance- it's only names of things existing only in the mind and not in reality. The edifice of Berkeleian idealism is based on this proposition. But the teaching of D. Berkeley in solving the main worldview issue is not just idealism, but subjective idealism. Berkeley argues that the main mistake of philosophers before him was that they sharply contrasted each other with existence in itself and existence in the form of perception. Berkeley's subjective idealism lies primarily in the fact that he seeks to prove that existence as such and existence in perception are identical. "To exist ~ means to be perceived." From this it follows logically that the direct objects of our cognition are not external objects as such, but only our sensations and ideas, and therefore, in the process of cognition, we are not able to perceive anything but our own ideas. “It is obvious to anyone who looks at the objects of human knowledge that they are partly ideas actually imprinted in our sensations, partly ideas perceived through observation of the states and actions of the soul, partly ideas formed with the help of memory and imagination, finally, ideas arising through connection, separation or ... representation of what was originally perceived in one of the above ways," he states in "A Treatise on the Principles of Human Knowledge".

One cannot but agree with Berkeley's opinion that the objects of our knowledge are certain states of our consciousness, and above all, sensations and perceptions. But materialistic epistemology, recognizing that our sensations are direct objects of cognition, assumed at the same time that sensations nevertheless give us knowledge of the external world, which generates these sensations by its influence on our sense organs. Berkeley, defending subjective-idealistic attitudes, argues that the cognizing subject deals only with his own sensations, which not only do not reflect external objects, but actually constitute these objects. "In fact, object and sensation are one and the same and therefore cannot be abstracted from one another" (Ibid. - S. 173). Thus, Berkeley comes to two subjective-idealistic conclusions. First, we know nothing but our sensations. Secondly, the totality of sensations or "collection of ideas" is what is objectively called things. It turns out, according to Berkeley, that things or single products are nothing but modification of our consciousness. So Berkeley turned into a fiction, into a "phantom of consciousness" not only general ideas, such as matter, but also individual things. All sensually perceived objects were declared non-existent outside of human consciousness. The result of the subjective-idealistic theory of knowledge of D. Berkeley was solipsism - a doctrine that makes the existence of the objective world dependent on its perception in the consciousness of the individual "I". So, from his point of view, cherry exists and is a reality only insofar as this individual sees, touches, tastes it. "I see this cherry- wrote Berkeley, - I touch it, I taste it; and I am convinced that nothing can be seen, felt, or tasted, therefore it is real. Eliminate the feeling of softness, moisture, beauty, astringency, and you will destroy the cherry. Since it is not a being distinct from sensations, the cherry, I maintain, is nothing but a combination of sensory impressions or representations perceived by different senses; these representations are combined into one thing (or have one name given to them) by the mind, for each of them is observed accompanied by another.

Such a point of view, if adhered to to the end, leads to the transformation of the world into an illusion of the perceiving subject. D. Berkeley understood the vulnerability of such a position and tried to overcome the extremes of subjectivism. To this end, he was forced to admit the existence "thinking things" or "spirits" the perception of which determines the continuity of the existence of "unthinkable things". For example, when I close my eyes or leave the room, the things that I saw there can exist, but only in the perception of another person. another individual spirit, but as a whole collection of spirits. Therefore, it does not follow from the above principles that bodies are instantly destroyed and created anew, or that they do not exist at all in the interval between our perceptions of them. (Ibid. - S. 192-193).

But in this case, the question naturally arises, what about existence before man arose? After all, even according to the teachings of Christianity, of which Bishop Berkeley was an adherent, the real world arose before man. And Berkeley was forced to retreat from his subjectivism and, in fact, to take the position of objective idealism. According to Berkeley, God is the creator of the entire surrounding world and the guarantor of its existence in the mind of the subject. "In three conversations between Hylas and Philonus" he builds the following chain of reasoning. “Sensible things cannot exist otherwise than only in the mind or in the spirit. ... And it is no less clear that these ideas or things perceived by me ... exist independently of my soul ... They must therefore exist in some other Spirit, by whose will they appear to me. ... From all this I conclude that there is a spirit that at any moment causes in me those sensory impressions that I perceive. And from their diversity, order, and peculiarities, I conclude that their creator is unparalleledly wise, mighty, and good.” (Ibid. - S. 302, 305, 306). Thus, the English bishop not only refutes materialism, but, using a subjective-idealistic methodology, builds an original version of the proof of the existence of God. Traditional theology, according to Berkeley, argues as follows: "God exists, therefore he perceives things." One should reason like this: “Sensible things really exist, and if they really exist, they are necessarily perceived by an infinite spirit, therefore an infinite spirit or God exists” (Ibid. - S. 305).

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