Philosophy: what is primary - matter or consciousness?

Philosophy is an ancient science. It arose in the time of the slave system. And interestingly, somehow once in such countries as China, India and Greece. The history of science is more than 2500 years old. During this period, many different exercises were formed, reflecting the levels of political, social and economic development of society. To explore all possible directions of philosophy is certainly interesting and important. But they all lead to the cornerstone - the problem of being and consciousness.

Different formulations of one problem

The initial question of philosophy, on which all directions are based, is formulated in different versions. The connection between being and consciousness is the problem of the relationship of spirit and nature, soul and body, thinking and being, etc. Each philosophical school sought answers to the question: what is primarily matter or consciousness? What is the relation of thinking to being? Such a ratio among the German thinkers Schelling and Engels was called the main issue of philosophy.

The importance of this problem lies in the fact that from its correct solution depends the construction of an integral science about the place of man in the surrounding world. Mind and matter are inseparable. But at the same time this pair of opposites. Consciousness is often called spirit.

Two sides of one question

The main philosophical question: "What is primary - matter or consciousness?" - there are moments - being and cognitive. The ontological side, in other words, is the search for the solution of the main problem of philosophy. And the essence of the cognitive, or epistemological aspect, is to resolve the question of whether we know or do not know the world.

Depending on these two sides, there are four main directions. This is a physical view (materialism) and idealistic, experiential (empiricism) and rationalistic.

Ontology has the following directions: materialism (classical and vulgar), idealism (objective and subjective), dualism, deism.

The epistemological side is represented by five directions. This is Gnosticism and later agnosticism. Three more - empiricism, rationalism, sensualism.

Line of Democritus

In literature materialism is often called the line of Democritus. His supporters considered it a correct answer to the question of what is primary - matter or consciousness, matter. In accordance with this the postulates of materialists sound like this:

• Matter really exists, and it is independent of consciousness;
• Matter is an autonomous substance; It needs only itself and develops according to its own internal law;
• Consciousness is a property of reflecting itself, which belongs to highly organized matter;
• Consciousness is not an independent substance, it is being.

Among the material philosophers who put before themselves the main question about what is primarily matter or consciousness, one can single out:

• Democritus;
• Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes (Miletus school);
• Epicurus, Bacon, Locke, Spinoza, Diderot;
• Herzen, Chernyshevsky;
• Marx, Engels, Lenin.

Passion for the natural

Separately, vulgar materialism is singled out. He is represented by Focht, Moleschott. In this direction, when one starts talking about the fact that matter or consciousness is primary, the role of matter is absolutized.

Philosophers are fond of exploring the material with the help of the exact sciences: physics, mathematics, chemistry. They ignore consciousness as an entity and its ability to influence matter. According to representatives of vulgar materialism, the human brain produces an idea, and consciousness, like the liver, secretes bile. This direction does not recognize the qualitative difference between mind and matter.

According to modern researchers, when the question is raised about what is primarily matter or consciousness, the philosophy of materialism, based on exact and natural sciences, logically proves its postulates. But there is a weakness - a scant explanation of the essence of consciousness, the lack of interpretation of many phenomena of the world. Materialism dominated the philosophy of Greece (the era of democracy), in the states of Hellenes, in England in the 17th century, in France in the eighteenth century, in the socialist countries of the twentieth century.

The Platonic Line

Idealism is called the Platonic line. Supporters of this trend believed that consciousness is primary, matter is secondary in solving the main philosophical problem. Idealism distinguishes two autonomous directions: objective and subjective.

Representatives of the first direction - Plato, Leibniz, Hegel and others. The second was supported by such philosophers as Berkeley and Hume. The founder of objective idealism is Plato. The views of this direction are characterized by the expression: "Only the idea is real and primary." Objective idealism says:

• The surrounding reality is the world of ideas and the world of things;
• The sphere of eidos (ideas) exists initially in the divine (universal) mind;
• The world of things is material and has no separate existence, but is the embodiment of ideas;
• Every single thing is the embodiment of eidos;
• The most important role for transforming an idea into a specific thing is assigned to God the Creator;
• Individual eidos exist objectively, regardless of our consciousness.

Feelings and reason

Subjective idealism, saying that consciousness is primary, matter is secondary, states:

• Everything exists only in the mind of the subject;
• Ideas are in the human mind;
• Images of physical things also exist only in the mind due to sensory sensations;
• Neither matter nor eidos live separately from the consciousness of man.

The drawback of this theory is that there are no reliable and logical explanations for the very mechanism of eidos transformation into a concrete thing. Philosophical idealism dominated the time of Plato in Greece, in the Middle Ages. And today it is common in the US, Germany and some other countries of Western Europe.

Monism and Dualism

Materialism, idealism - is attributed to monism, ie, the doctrine of one primary principle. Descartes founded a dualism, the essence of which lies in the theses:

• There are two independent substances: physical and spiritual;
• The physical has extension properties;
• The spiritual has thought;
• In the world everything is derived either from one or from the second substance;
• Physical things come from matter, and ideas from spiritual substance;
• Matter and spirit are interrelated opposites of one being.

In search of an answer to the basic question of philosophy: "What is primary - matter or consciousness?" - can be briefly formulated: matter and consciousness exist always and complement each other.

Other directions in philosophy

Pluralism asserts that the world has many initials, like the monads in the theory of G. Leibniz.

Deism recognizes the presence of God, who once created the world and no longer participates in its further development, does not affect the actions and lives of people. Deists represent the French philosophers-educators of the XVIII century - Voltaire and Rousseau. They did not oppose matter to consciousness and considered it spiritualized.

Eclecticism confuses the concepts of idealism and materialism.

The founder of empiricism was F. Bacon. In contrast to the idealistic statement: "Consciousness is primary in relation to matter" - empirical theory says that knowledge and experience can be based only on experience and feelings. In the mind (thoughts) there is nothing that has not been extracted by experience.

Denial of knowledge

Agnosticism is a direction completely rejecting even a partial possibility of comprehending the world through one subjective experience. This concept was introduced by TG Huxley, and the bright representative of agnosticism was I. Kant, who argued that the human mind has great opportunities, but they are limited. On this basis, the human mind gives rise to riddles and contradictions that do not have a chance of being resolved. In total, there are four such contradictions, according to Kant. One of them: God exists - God does not exist. According to Kant, even that which belongs to the cognitive possibilities of the human mind can not be known, since consciousness has only the ability to reflect things in sensory sensations, but it is beyond the power to know the inner essence.

Today, supporters of the idea "Matter is primary - consciousness is derived from matter" can be met very rarely. The world has become religiously oriented, despite a significant difference in views. But despite the many centuries of searching for thinkers, the fundamental question of philosophy has not been unequivocally solved. To him, neither Gnosticism nor adherents of ontology could answer. This problem actually remains for the thinkers unresolved. In the twentieth century, the Western school of philosophy shows tendencies of decreasing attention to the traditional basic philosophical question. It gradually loses its relevance.

Modern Direction

Such scientists as Jaspers, Camus, Heidegger, say that in the future a new philosophical problem - existentialism - can become relevant. It is a question of man and his existence, the management of the personal spiritual world, internal social relationships, freedom in choice, the meaning of life, his place in society and the feeling of happiness.

From the point of view of existentialism, human being is a completely unique reality. It can not be applied to inhumane measures of cause and effect. Nothing external has power over people, they are the cause of themselves. Therefore, existentialism speaks of the independence of people. Existence is the receptacle of freedom, the basis of which is a person who creates himself and is responsible for everything that he does. It is interesting that in this direction there is a fusion of religiosity with atheism.

Since ancient times man tries to know himself and find his place in the world around him. This problem has always interested the thinkers. The whole life of the philosopher sometimes went to search for answers. The theme of the meaning of being is closely connected with the problem of the essence of man. These concepts are intertwined and often coincide, since together they deal with the highest phenomenon of the material world - man. But even today philosophy can not give a single clear and correct answer to these questions.