Basic epistemological positions. The role of epistemology in philosophy

Epistemology

Dictionary foreign words L.P. Krysina.- M: Russian language,

. Synonyms:

Books

Patristic “theory” of the knowledge of God. Systematic essay, Sergei Loginovsky, The monograph is devoted to patristic epistemology, which is considered as an original system of knowledge and actions, all elements of which are interconnected and interdependent. Revealed... Category: Publisher: LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, Buy for 6602 rub.
, S. K. Abachiev Category: Fundamentals of Philosophy. General work Publisher: Krasand, Buy for 871 rub.
Evolutionary theory of knowledge. Basic concepts and laws. Epistemological theory of labor and technology, S.K. Abachiev, This book attempts to systematically present evolutionary theory knowledge as a theory of scientific quality, not philosophical. A line is drawn consistently... Category: Fundamentals of Philosophy. General work Publisher: Krasand, Buy for 505 rub.
Grace Almanac by Yuri Linnik, Linnik Yuri, Epistemology of the twentieth century has revealed an extremely interesting relationship: the deeper the truth, the more paradoxical the form it takes - it combines the seemingly incompatible. Opportunity… Category:

from Greek gnosis - knowledge, cognition and logos) - the doctrine of knowledge; according to the modern German philosopher Nikolai Hartmann, the founder of critical ontology, epistemology is a metaphysical component of the theory of knowledge along with logical and psychological. Epistemological - related to the process of cognition (see also epistemology).

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

EPISTEMOLOGY

Greek gnosis - knowledge, logos - teaching) - a philosophical discipline dealing with research, criticism and theories of knowledge - theory of knowledge. In contrast to epistemology, G. considers the process of cognition from the point of view of the relationship of the subject of cognition (the researcher) to the object of cognition (the object under study) or in the categorical opposition “subject - object.” The basic epistemological scheme for the analysis of cognition includes a subject endowed with consciousness and will, and an object of nature opposing him, independent of the consciousness and will of the subject and connected with him only by a cognitive (or praxeo-cognitive) relationship. The main range of epistemological problems is outlined through such problems as the interpretation of the subject and object of knowledge, the structure cognitive process, the problem of truth and its criterion, the problem of forms and methods of knowledge, etc. If ancient philosophy is characterized by the idea of the unity of an object and knowledge about it, as well as the cognitive process as a meaningful configuration of objects and, accordingly, focusing on the functional transformation of objectivity in content knowledge, then, within the framework of medieval scholasticism, the problematics of G. receive a more differentiated development, many components of the categorical apparatus of classical G. are formalized, and attempts to substantiate the possibility of combining the teachings of Aristotle with Christian dogma lead to the formulation of the concept of dual truth, which actually explicitly forms the idea of the paradigmatic nature of cognitive procedures and possible multiplicity of paradigms, and such directions of scholasticism as realism, nominalism and conceptualism set different models of the cognitive process. The formation of experimental natural science, acutely fixing the problem of the method of achieving true knowledge, inspired the constitution of the opposition “sensualism-rationalism”, and then “empiricism-rationalism” (17-18 centuries). The problem of the subject's activity in the cognitive process acquires the status of relevance (Berkeley, Hume). Gnoseologism, as an orientation given by Kant to highlighting the subjective foundations of knowledge, played an important role in overcoming the value systems of naturalistic epistemology, which affirmed the goal of knowledge to be the achievement of absolute truth, as well as in the criticism of metaphysical philosophical constructions. The distinction between the content and forms of thinking in the works of representatives of German classical philosophy raised the problem of the plurality of the foundations of knowledge and the relativity of truth. Refusal of metaphysics, on the one hand, and rapid development natural sciences, on the other hand, they put forward the cognitive attitude towards the world to the center of philosophy. Epistemological issues become decisive for neo-Kantianism and positivism. Grounds cognitive activity classical G. associates it with an “isolated subject.” The consciousness of such a subject is transparent to itself and is the last source of reliability. In such assumptions, the reality of knowledge and its content turn out to be limited by the framework of individual consciousness. This prevents the identification of categorical characteristics of knowledge and leads to psychologism (subjectivism). Trying to overcome the limitations of the original abstractions, philosophers were forced either to accept formal ontological assumptions and principles (Descartes’ “innate ideas”, Kant’s “a priori forms”), or to generalize the category of “self-consciousness”, giving it the status of ontology (Fichte, Hegel, Schelling) . Nevertheless, the fundamental limitations of the original epistemological abstractions and assumptions were increasingly realized. A special role in this process was played by methodological reflection of development humanities, in which the interaction of the researcher with the reality under study is structured fundamentally differently than in the natural sciences. Criticism of the foundations of classical philosophy, which unfolded from the end of the 19th century. and continuing to this day, led to a breakdown of traditional ideas of G. and the rejection of the abstractions of a “self-conscious” and “isolated” subject. Modern research cognition, fixing the limitations of subject-object schemes, introduce other structural divisions and abstractions as initial ones: objective activity (“practice”), cultural norm (“paradigm”), language, etc. Traditional epistemological problems are included in the broader sociocultural context, and, accordingly, a broader system of concepts. The central position within the framework of geography is occupied by the methodology of science and epistemology (see also Science, scientific picture peace).

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

Epistemology is reliable knowledge. Epistemology in philosophy deals with the study of methods of obtaining knowledge and the cognitive capabilities of the human mind. Without this science, the development of philosophy itself would be impossible. The critical approach, which is used in all areas of teaching, allows us to separate true knowledge from fiction.

Features of the teaching

The formation of this section of philosophy began in the era of antiquity. Then, the doctrine of cognition dealt only with the consideration of objects - their appearance, functions, and the ability to transform the received information into knowledge. In the Middle Ages, epistemology gradually began to develop and turned into a doctrine of life, close to the classical understanding of knowledge.

In the 17th century, the key issue in philosophy became the need for a precise way of separating truth from error. Two developing trends: realism and empiricism are opposed to each other, but neither of them becomes the main one. In the 19th century, the development of epistemology depended on Kant. The task of the philosopher is to identify the subject as the basis of the cognitive process. Natural philosophy, being the main branch of philosophy at the time, has undergone significant changes. Natural sciences began to develop much faster, and metaphysical knowledge became a thing of the past. Life and its manifestations became the center of philosophical research.

The development of science was uneven. Scientists have come to the conclusion that this is due to the personality of the scientist himself, and not to the lack of necessary resources. It is important to organize the conditions in which it is possible to study the world around us, and constantly update the available ways, as well as methods for obtaining and preserving knowledge.

In the 21st century, it is important to study the problems of science, relationships scientific activity and scientists. Research is aimed at finding the source of knowledge, the situations in which it is formed. The task of science becomes the acquisition of new knowledge, expansion cognitive abilities.

Epistemology does not develop in isolation from other disciplines. They help in studying the relationship between man and the world. Thanks to the influence of the humanities, it became clear that fundamental approaches need to be revised, since they limit the possibilities of science. Joint research has made it possible to identify differences between the methods used in the natural sciences and the humanities, and to propose new ways of development.

Subject of teaching

The subject of epistemology is scientific knowledge. In parallel with the main question, she studies the specifics scientific knowledge, its difference from ordinary knowledge, features of types of cognitive activity, their relationship.

Epistemology is concerned with comparing types of study in order to identify the optimal way to interact with the outside world. Knowledge itself is not a goal, but a means of study, therefore, the specific types of studying the world are not interesting for science. Much more important are the opportunities and means that it uses.

Being an independent discipline, epistemology remains closely related to ontology. The worldview is formed on the basis of learned principles of life, the study of which is carried out by ontology. The doctrine of existence would be impossible without an integrated approach and the use of numerous methods for studying reality.

Characteristics

Criticality - main feature epistemology. Philosophy, considering the relationship between reality and illusion, criticizes the very possibility of studying the world. Each direction of epistemology uses criticism, assessing the objective properties of an object and its compliance with common sense.

Another special feature of the doctrine is normativism. It is believed that there is a certain fundamental knowledge on the basis of which the abilities of the human mind and the limits of knowledge available to it are determined. Depending on the direction of epistemology, a scientist can use experiments, ready-made formulas or an ideal model.

This science is also characterized by subject-centrism. Main role in the study it is assigned to the subject - the one who knows. Without the subject, the learning process would be impossible.

Science-centrism is an important feature of epistemology. She affirms the indispensability of the scientific approach, and the need to conduct research based on scientific facts.

Sections of science

Separate sections of epistemology study 2 approaches and methods of study. They are based on opposing views and are opposed to each other.

Epistemological optimism

Adherents of this approach believe that all world processes are accessible to study and awareness. Even if modern science is not able to explain individual phenomena, this will be possible in the future. This position is fundamental for materialists and, in part, idealists. For them, the process of cognition is a reflection real world in consciousness, but this human ability has its limitations.

The theory is based on the principle of continuity - an increase in the amount of knowledge deepens and changes consciousness. Phenomena and objects are equally important and interesting for study. At the same time, there is no difference between them, but the studied and the unstudied are different. The source of knowledge is objective and exists outside of man, it does not depend on the actions of scientists.

The task of the optimistic approach is to erase the boundaries of the knowable and increase the instrumental capabilities of studying the world.

Epistemological pessimism

For pessimists, the possibility of studying the world remains doubtful. In their opinion, the capabilities of the human mind are limited, and there will always be questions to which scientists will not have answers. There are 2 types of the pessimistic approach:

Skepticism. In philosophy, it is used as a special method of obtaining information. He questions the very possibility of distinguishing objective reality from fiction.
Agnosticism. It took shape as an independent movement, thanks to Kant. Outer world- the source of knowledge, a person cannot study its essence, since it is beyond his understanding. Every object is a closed area of cognition, and it can only be partially known with the help of the senses. The result of the study is the experience of sensations.

In the 20th century, agnosticism developed new concept- conventionalism. It became a kind of agreement between scientists. According to him, scientific theories- this is not an objective reflection of world processes, but the result of an agreement between scientists different countries peace.

Philosophers who contributed to the development of the doctrine

Each individual era had its own bright representatives of epistemology:

Antique period. Parmenides was one of the first to ask questions of knowledge. He distinguished between truth and opinion, calling truth unchangeable, consistent and timeless. The authorship of one of the first methods of cognition - maieutics - belongs to Socrates. Aristotle developed the basic principles of rationalism and analytics as one of the methods of knowledge.
Medieval era. During this period, scholastics were engaged in the study of knowledge. The philosopher Origen puts forward a theory of three levels of understanding.
New European period. The scientific approach becomes the main method of cognition. Rationalists, represented by Descartes and Leibniz, are in conflict with empiricists - Locke, Hume, Bacon. They put forward opposing methods - deduction and experience. The deductive approach relies on logical conclusions based on observations, while experience is based on personal perception.
German classical philosophy. The possibility of knowing the world is called into question. Kant asks the question about the premises of knowledge. Hegel appeals to logic as the only method of knowledge. He presents other types of cognitive abilities as underdeveloped methods of thinking.
Classical neo-Kantianism. Thanks to neo-Kantianism, epistemology acquires the status independent science. Representatives of various branches of this school agreed that epistemology is the doctrine of knowledge and the boundaries of knowledge. The definition of epistemology was formulated by the Russian philosopher Vvedensky.
Marxism. Engels identifies the doctrine of thinking as a separate branch of philosophy, which is based on formal logic. All other areas of science are based on the analysis of history and culture.

In modern philosophy, two ways of developing methods for obtaining information have emerged. The first is based on irrational ways of knowing, the second - on the abstract structure of knowledge and social prerequisites. Sociology had the greatest influence on the formation of the modern form of teaching.

The task of scientific knowledge, according to Democritus, is to reduce observed phenomena to the realm of “true existence” and give them an explanation based on the general principles of atomism. This can be achieved through the joint activity of the senses and the mind. Marx formulated the epistemological position of Democritus as follows: “Democritus not only did not withdraw from the world, but, on the contrary, was an empirical naturalist.” The content of the initial philosophical principles and epistemological guidelines determined the main features of the scientific method of Democritus:

a) In knowledge, proceed from the individual;

b) Any object and phenomenon can be decomposed to the simplest elements (analysis) and explainable based on them (synthesis);

c) Distinguish between existence “in truth” and “according to opinion”;

d) Phenomena of reality are individual fragments of an ordered cosmos, which arose and functions as a result of the actions of purely mechanical causality.

Mathematics should rightfully be considered by Democritus the first section of physics proper and follow directly after the canon. In fact, atoms are qualitatively homogeneous and their primary properties are quantitative in nature. However, it would be wrong to interpret the teachings of Democritus as a type of Pythagoreanism, since Democritus, although he retains the idea of dominance in the world of mathematical law, but criticizes the a priori mathematical constructions of the Pythagoreans, believing that number should not act as a legislator of nature, but be extracted from it. Mathematical regularity is revealed by Democritus from the phenomena of reality, and in this sense it anticipates the ideas of mathematical natural science. The initial principles of material existence appear in Democritus to a large extent as mathematical objects, and in accordance with this, mathematics is given a prominent place in the system of worldview as the science of the primary properties of things. However, the inclusion of mathematics in the basis of the worldview system required its restructuring, bringing mathematics into conformity with the original philosophical principles, with logic, epistemology, and the methodology of scientific research. The concept of mathematics created in this way, called the concept of mathematical atomism, turned out to be significantly different from the previous ones.

- Social philosophy;

The teaching of Democritus was a natural result of the entire previous development of philosophical thought. According to the teachings of Democritus, the Universe, consisting of atoms of substances and emptiness, is moving matter. It is real, just like existence. Atoms that are in constant movement, connecting, form all things. When atoms are separated, things die. Atoms are the carriers of multiplicity, and emptiness is the embodiment of unity. Emptiness is limitless, but the atom has a certain shape and size. The atom is not perceived sensually and is similar in appearance to specks of dust floating in the air, only much smaller. The number of atoms and their configurations is infinite. Atoms are in constant motion, which is the basis of world formation. Eternal motion consists of constant collision, repulsion, coupling, splitting, and falling of atoms. This movement is caused by a vortex. This movement is caused by the initial vortex. The theory of the atomic structure of the world of Democritus was the most convincing in its principles of those created earlier. The idea of an infinite number of worlds in the Universe is inextricably linked with the name of Giordano Bruno. However, it was only a revival of the ideas of Leucippus and Democritus. They argued that many different and identical worlds simultaneously exist in the Universe. They are located at different distances from each other and are at different stages of development. Everything in the Universe, according to Democritus, occurs according to the law of necessity. By this concept he understood an endless chain of cause-and-effect relationships. And to find the causes of various phenomena, according to Democritus, is the main task of a sage.

Education in our world was driven by necessity. Its diversity was due to the variety of atoms and their combinations. They formed the primary substances: fire, water, earth, air. Water and earth are a mixture of elements from which any other elements, including living ones, can be obtained. Fire atoms are directly related to movement. When moving quickly, the atoms become heated, that is, they take in atoms of fire. Conversely, fast-moving fire atoms impart motion to other atoms. The movement of fire atoms for Democritus constitutes the essence of life, mind and human psyche. Atoms of fire make up the mind, and therefore the soul of man.

All life on Earth arose from inanimate matter. According to Democritus, the surface of the still semi-liquid Earth swelled from the sun's rays. “Some of the damp substances have swelled in many places; putrefactive blisters covered with thin skin appeared in these places...” In these bubbles, as a result of heating, living organisms arose. When the bubbles grew to the appropriate size, they burst and animals appeared. Those animals in which fire atoms predominated became birds, those in which there were more earthy substances became land animals, animals with a predominance of wet substances became fish. Trees and grass appeared straight from the ground. When the earth dried up, it stopped giving birth to large animals, which began to “be born from mutual mixing.”

Man always strives to experience life in all its breadth of manifestations. Having come a long way, humanity is increasingly penetrating into the essence of existence. And epistemology came to help man in this difficult path. What kind of teaching is this and what is it about?

In antiquity, epistemology, this philosophical doctrine of knowledge, considered the subject as a single whole with knowledge about it, and much attention was paid to focusing on the functional transformation of the subject in knowledge. And only in the Middle Ages epistemology - this teaching about life - begins to expand and deepen, and come closer to the formulation of the classical theory of knowledge. And the combination of the teachings of Aristotle and Christian dogmatic postulates led to the emergence of a dual truth.

With the advent of experimental natural science in the 17th and 18th centuries, the question of how to determine the truth, in what way, became acute. At this time, the oppositions “empiricism - realism”, “sensualism - realism”, etc. appear. Then the activity of the subject in the process of cognition becomes relevant.

In the 19th century, epistemology, this philosophical doctrine of knowledge, was directed by Kant to identify the subjective basis of knowledge, which led to a revaluation of the principles of natural philosophy, which was focused on knowledge and identification. As a result of the rapid development of the natural sciences and the rejection of metaphysical knowledge, the cognitive attitude to life.

The subject of classical epistemology was associated with his isolation and was decisive. However, the consciousness of this subject was transparent to itself and therefore was not a criterion of reliability.

Modern epistemology is the doctrine of the problem of relationships to science. Scientific research determined the emergence of the social nature of cognition. Realizing that the growth of science is ineffective, it was concluded that science does not develop formally socially, but at the expense of researchers and their personal resources, and the organization of conditions for communication in which it becomes possible to advance knowledge forward, its constant development and renewal. All further research in this area, they lead to the understanding that the prospects for the development of epistemology are connected in the present with studies of situations of the emergence of knowledge. And in these situations one can trace the role in cognition and the manifestation of personal social forms subject in the emergence of knowledge. Based on the study of these situations, the social function of cognition, that is, the acquisition and assimilation of new knowledge and epistemology, clearly emerges.

Joint research carried out with other disciplines makes it possible for epistemology to describe the types of relationships of a person to the world around him. After much debate and friction, the understanding of the limitations of the initial statements of epistemological philosophy has become increasingly clear. The development of the humanities, where the methodology was fundamentally different from research methods in the natural sciences, played an important role in this.

Currently, epistemology, this philosophical doctrine of knowledge, continues to develop and helps us in acquiring and mastering new knowledge.