Fundamentals of Philosophy

INTRODUCTION

Chapter I. WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?

1. On the subject and nature of philosophical knowledge.
Philosophy and the modern epoch. Etymology of the term “philosophy.” The subject of philosophy. On the nature of philosophical knowledge. The problem of the scientific character of philosophy and the limitations of scientism. Language and style of philosophical thinking. Philosophy and its human dimension.
2. Philosophy as the theoretical foundation of worldview.
Worldview: essence and life meaning. The main question of philosophy. Materialism and idealism. Partisanship of philosophy.
3. Philosophy as a general methodology.
Method and methodology. Theory and method. Dialectics as theory and method. Dialectics and metaphysics.

Chapter II. HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY

1. The history of pre-Marxist philosophy.
Philosophy of the ancients. Philosophy of the Middle Ages. Philosophy of the Renaissance. European philosophy of the 17th—18th centuries. German classical philosophy. Russian philosophy.
2. The emergence and development of Marxist philosophy.
Historical conditions for the emergence of Marxism. Theoretical sources of Marxist philosophy. The essence of the revolutionary transformation made by Marxism in philosophy. The creative character of Marxist philosophy. The development of Marxist philosophy by V. I. Lenin.
3. Foreign philosophy of the 20th century.
Neo-positivism. Pragmatism. Existentialism. Philosophical anthropology. Personalism and neo-Thomism. New currents in contemporary Western philosophy.

BEING AND CONSCIOUSNESS

Chapter III. MATTER: UNITY AND DIVERSITY OF FORMS OF MANIFESTATION

1. The general concept of matter.
What is being. From the history of the formation of the category “matter.” The dialectical-materialist concept of matter. The principle of the material unity of the world. Contemporary science on the material unity and diversity of the world. The principle of the conservation of matter.
2. Motion—the mode of existence of matter.
The concept of motion. Unity of matter and motion. Dialectics of motion and rest. Philosophical disputes around the principle of the unity of matter and motion. Diversity of forms of motion and their relationship. Reductionism: its necessity and danger.
3. Space and time.
The general concept of space and time. Unity of matter, motion, space, and time. On the multidimensionality of space. Dialectics of the finite and the infinite. Concepts of the infinite and the unbounded in natural science.

Chapter IV. CONSCIOUSNESS: ESSENCE AND ORIGIN

1. The general concept of consciousness
Definition of consciousness. Consciousness and the brain. Material and ideal. Image and object. Activity of consciousness. Structure of consciousness. Self-consciousness, reflection. Conscious and unconscious.
2. From animal psyche to human consciousness.
Reflection as a universal property of matter. Reflection and information. On the psyche of animals. The origin of consciousness.
3. Consciousness. Language. Communication.
The acquisition by humans of the gift of speech. Language—the means of communication. Language—the instrument of thought. The unity of language and consciousness. Sign systems.

THEORY OF DIALECTICS

Chapter V. CONNECTION AND DEVELOPMENT—BASIC PRINCIPLES OF DIALECTICS

1. On universal connections and interaction.
The concepts of connection and relationship. The philosophical principle of universal connection. The concept of interaction.
2. The idea of development and the principle of historicism.
A general idea of development. Development and time. The principle of historicism in its general methodological interpretation. The principle of historicism in its social interpretation.
3. The principle of causality and objective expediency.
The concept of causality in relation to the principles of universal connection and development. Causality and time. Causality and interaction. Types of cause-and-effect relations. Determinism and indeterminism. Objective expediency. Causality and development.
4. The principle of systemness.
System, element, structure. Structure and function, whole and part. Genetic causality and systemic correlation. The relation between the principle of systemness and the principle of development. Metaphysical interpretations of the systems approach.
5. Law and lawfulness.
The concept of law. Law and philosophical determinism. Classification of laws. Law and lawfulness.

Chapter VI. BASIC CATEGORIES AND LAWS OF DIALECTICS

1. On the unity and difference of categories and laws of dialectics
Categories—steps and forms of knowing the world. The relation between categories and the basic laws of dialectics.
2. Essence and phenomenon
The concept of essence and phenomenon. Philosophical disputes about the dialectics of essence and phenomenon. Being and seeming. Phenomenon and essence, external and internal.
3. Individual, special, and general
The concepts of individual and general. Dialectics of individual and general.
4. Necessity and chance
The concepts of necessary and accidental. Necessity and freedom.
5. Possibility, actuality, and probability
The concepts of possibility and actuality. Types of possibilities. The idea of probability.
6. Part and whole. System
A historical resolution to the problem of the relation between categories “part” and “whole.” Dialectics of whole and part. Whole and system.
7. Content and form
The history of the formation of the categories of content and form. The concepts of content and form. Dialectics of content and form.
8. Quality, quantity, and measure
The concepts of quality, properties, and states. The concept of quantity. Measure. Mutual transition of quantitative and qualitative changes.
9. Contradiction and harmony
Unity of opposites and contradiction. The main types of contradictions. Contradiction as a source of development.
10. Negation, continuity, and innovations
Negation as a regular moment of development. Continuity in development. A progressive, spiraling character of development. Criteria of progress.

COGNITION AND CREATIVITY

Chapter VII. ON THE ESSENCE AND MEANING OF COGNITION

1. What does it mean to know?
The theory of cognition and its subject. Reflection of objective reality—the fundamental principle of cognition. Unity and diversity of types of knowledge. On the possibility of cognition: optimism, skepticism, agnosticism. Subject and object of cognition.
2. Practice—the basis and the goal of cognition
On the unity of theory and practice. The internal logic of development of knowledge.
3. What is truth?
The beauty and value of truth. Truth, delusion, and falsehood. Relative and absolute truth. The concreteness of truth. On criteria of true knowledge.

Chapter VIII. PHILOSOPHY OF THINKING

1. Intellective-sensory contemplation
Sensation, perception, representation. The cognitive meaning of sensory impressions.
2. Thinking: essence, levels, and forms
Transition from sensation to thought. Features of thinking. Unity of the sensory and the rational. Main forms of thinking. On logicality of thought: dialectical and formal logic.
3. Creative activity of the human spirit
What is creativity. Productive power of imagination. Intuition. Creativity and personality.
4. On techniques and methods of thinking
Analysis and synthesis. Abstraction and idealization. Generalization and limitation. Abstract and concrete. Historical and logical. Analogy. Modeling. Formalization and mathematization.
5. Empirical and theoretical levels of scientific cognition
The concepts of empirical and theoretical. Setting a problem and a research program. Observation and experiment. The role of instruments in scientific research. His Majesty, the gentleman Fact. Description and explanation. Hypothesis and its role in the development of scientific knowledge. Theory as the highest form of integral scientific knowledge. On scientific foresight.

QUESTIONS OF SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY

Chapter IX. HISTORY OF SOCIO-PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT

1. From the history of pre-Marxist social philosophy. Socio-philosophical thought in Western Europe. Socio-philosophical thought in Russia. General characteristics of pre-Marxist social philosophy.
2. The essence of the materialist understanding of society
Formation and subject of social philosophy of Marxism. Interrelation of dialectical and historical materialism. Development of society— a lawful historical process. Objective and subjective in the historical process. The problem of social determinism. Spontaneous and conscious in history.
3. Foreign social philosophy of the 20th century
Philosophy of history. The Frankfurt School of neo-Marxism. Empirical sociology. Sociology of structural-functional analysis. Crisis of bourgeois social-philosophical thought.

Chapter X. NATURE AND SOCIETY

1. Interaction between society and nature
Emergence of society. Natural environment— the natural condition of society’s life. Ecological problems.
2. Demography: socio-philosophical problems
The concept of the demographic system of society. The contemporary demographic situation in the world.

Chapter XI. THE ECONOMIC SPHERE OF SOCIETY’S LIFE: A SOCIO-PHILOSOPHICAL ASPECT

1. Material production: concept and main elements
General characteristics of social production. Needs and interests in the system of material production. Productive forces.
2. Technology and scientific-technical progress
The concept of technology. Scientific-technical progress: essence and main directions.
3. Production relations: essence and structure
The concept of production relations. Dialectics of productive forces and production relations.
4. Socio-economic formation
The concept of socio-economic formation. Base and superstructure. The concept of historical epoch.
5. Social revolution
The concept of social revolution. Types of social revolutions. “Perestroika” as a special form of revolutionary transformation of our society.

Chapter XII. THE SOCIAL SPHERE OF SOCIAL LIFE

1. Classes and class relations
General characteristics of the social sphere of society. Emergence of classes and their main characteristics. Lenin’s definition of classes. Classes and other social groups of society.
2. Nations and national relations
Tribe, people, nationality, nation. Nationalism and internationalism. Nations under socialism.
3. Family and everyday life
Marriage and family. The sphere of everyday life.

Chapter XIII. THE POLITICAL SPHERE OF SOCIETY’S LIFE

1. Politics, state, law
Politics: content and functions. The state: essence and origin. The concept of law. Main historical types of state and law. Forms of government and state structure. Political regime.
2. Political system of modern society
The political system of bourgeois society. Political system of the transition period from capitalism to socialism. The people’s state. The party in the political system of Soviet society. Development of socialist democracy. Democracy and discipline.

Chapter XIV. SOCIAL MANAGEMENT

1. Social information and management
Society and the problem of management. The concept of social information. The concept of social management. Subject and object of management.
2. Types of management and their impact on social development
Types of social management. Principles of social management under socialism. Management as a factor of social development.

Chapter XV. PHILOSOPHICAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE HUMAN BEING

1. Human—individual—society
General concept of the human being. The human as a biopsychosocial being. Human and the environment where they live: from Earth to the cosmos. Human as an individual. Individual, collective, society.
2. Human in the flow of history
A concrete-historical understanding of the individual. The phenomenon of alienation. Activating the human factor and harmonious development of the individual.

Chapter XVI. THE SPIRITUAL SPHERE OF SOCIETY’S LIFE

1. Social consciousness: essence and levels
Social consciousness and its transformative power. Social and individual consciousness. The everyday-practical and theoretical levels of social consciousness. Social psychology and ideology.
2. Political consciousness
The concept of political consciousness. Levels of political consciousness. Main types of contemporary political consciousness.
3. Legal consciousness
The concept of legal consciousness. Legal consciousness in bourgeois and socialist societies.
4. Moral consciousness
The concepts of moral consciousness and morality. Morality and freedom of will as a moral category. The structure of moral consciousness and categories of morality. Historical types of moral consciousness and morality.
5. Aesthetic consciousness
The history of the formation of aesthetic consciousness. Nature and functions of aesthetic consciousness. Art: essence and social functions. Specificity of art. Art and science. Art and philosophy.
6. Religious consciousness
Religion, religious consciousness, and atheism. Religious consciousness: causes of emergence and stability. Religion and philosophy.
7. Scientific understanding of the world and the world of science
The concept of science. Social functions of science. Its transformation into an immediate productive force. Science, philosophy, and worldview.
8. Philosophy of culture
The concept of culture. The world of values. Culture and nature. Culture and civilization. Culture and consciousness. The problem of cultural typology.

Chapter XVII. HISTORICAL PROGRESS AND GLOBAL PROBLEMS OF THE PRESENT

1. Progress— a historically necessary direction of society’s development
History of the development of the idea of social progress. The Marxist concept of progress and the problem of its criteria. The meaning of history and the ideals of progress.
2. Dialectics of world development in the modern era
Specifics of the modern historical situation. Dialectics of socialism’s development at the present stage. Global problems of humanity and the fate of social progress.