The Marxist concept of the essence of man and its contradictions. Marxist concept of man Marxist philosophy is a new concept of man and society

· The problem of man in modern European philosophy. Marxist concept of man.

· The influence of the dominance of private interest on ideas about a person, the motives of his behavior and life attitudes are clearly expressed in the concept of T. Hobbes (1588-1679). In contrast to Aristotle, he argues that man by nature is not a social being. On the contrary, “man is a wolf to man” (homo homini lupus est), and “the war of all against all” is natural state society. The deep basis of this state is the general competition between people in the conditions of new economic relations.

· B. Pascal (1623-1662), who argued that all the greatness and dignity of a person “lies in his ability to think.” However, R. Descartes is rightfully considered the founder of modern European rationalism in general and anthropological rationalism in particular. According to him, thinking is the only reliable evidence of human existence, which follows from the fundamental thesis of the French philosopher: “I think, therefore I exist” (“cogito ergo sum”). In addition, in the teachings of Descartes there is an anthropological dualism of soul and body, viewing them as two substances of different quality, which had great value to develop a psychophysical problem. According to Descartes, the body is a kind of machine, while the mind acts on it and, in turn, is influenced by it. This mechanistic view of man, viewed as a machine, became widespread during this period. The most indicative in this regard is the title of J. La Mettrie’s work, “Man-Machine,” which presents the point of view of mechanistic materialism on man. According to this concept, there is only a single material substance, and the human body is a self-winding machine, like a clockwork. Other distinguishing feature their philosophical anthropology- consideration of man as a product of nature, absolutely determined by its laws. Standing on the principles of consistent mechanistic determinism, they, of course, could not in any way recognize human free will. Another characteristic feature of these thinkers was that, criticizing the Christian dogma about the original sinfulness of man, they argued that man by nature is initially good and not sinful.

· representatives of German classical philosophy. The founder of this direction, I. Kant, believed that the subject of philosophy is not just wisdom, but knowledge addressed to man. Answering the question of what a person is, Kant noted that a person is evil by nature, but has the rudiments of good. To make a person kind, he needs to be educated, guided by certain guidelines, requirements, imperatives. The main one among them is the unconditional command (categorical imperative), which primarily has the meaning of an internal moral law, which can be considered as main symbol autonomy of each individual human person. The formula of the categorical imperative can be reproduced as follows: “act as if your action could become universal law for everyone." A person who follows the categorical imperative and avoids the temptation to violate it in the name of imaginary love for one’s neighbor is truly free.

· the representative of German classical philosophy G. Hegel introduced the principle of historicism into the consideration of man. If earlier a person was considered as an abstract being, unchangeable in its essence, then G. Hegel pointed out the need to take into account, when studying human essence, those specific socio-historical conditions in which the formation of this or that person took place.

· The pinnacle of the sociological interpretation of man in the 19th century. became a Marxist philosophical and anthropological concept. Man was considered in line with the dialectical-materialistic approach in unbreakable connection with the natural and social environment. Man is a product of the evolution of eternal, uncreated and indestructible matter, he is biosocial being endowed with consciousness. Man emerged from the animal world thanks to labor and the ability to create tools. It is characterized not only by adaptation to environment, but also adaptation of nature, changing it in one’s own interests. In its essence, man is not a natural being, but a social one. The natural basis is only a prerequisite for man, but his essence lies in the fact that he “is the product of all social relations.” Based on this understanding of man, the founders of Marxist philosophy concluded that in order to “change” a person, it is necessary to change society, to replace some social relations with others

1. The subject of philosophy.

2. Worldview and philosophy.

3. Historical types worldview.

4. Philosophical worldview.

5. Philosophy and science.

6. Formation and historical development ancient philosophy

7. Ancient atomism and philosophical worldview.

8. Plato in the development of ancient philosophy.

9. Philosophy in the Middle Ages.

10. The emergence of scholastic philosophy. Thomas Aquinas.

11. Renaissance and philosophy.

12. Anthropocentrism and humanism of Renaissance philosophy.

13. Scientific revolution 17th century and problems of epistemology.

14. The Great French Bourgeois Revolution and the French Enlightenment.

15. Kant in the development of German classical philosophy.

16. Philosophy of Hegel.

17. Formation of the philosophy of Marxism.

18. Materialistic understanding history. Philosophy of activity.

19. The theory of dialectics in Marxism.

20. The formation of neoclassical philosophy in the 20th century.

21. Man as a problem of philosophy.

22. The concept of anthroposociogenesis.

23. Marxist concept of the essence of man.

24. The problem of consciousness in philosophy.

25. Marxist concept of the origin and essence of consciousness.

26. The problem of man’s relationship to the world in philosophy.

27. The concept of a practical attitude towards the world.

28. Cognition as a problem of philosophy.

29. Forms and levels of knowledge.

30. The problem of truth in philosophy.

31. The concepts of “individual” and “individuality” in the understanding of human social qualities.

32. Philosophical concept personality.

33. The problem of man in neoclassical philosophy of the 20th century.

34. Man in the philosophy of M. Scheler.

35. Man in the philosophy of A. Gehlen.

36. Man in the philosophy of existentialism.

37. Specifics philosophical understanding public life, stories.

38 Marxist concept of social life. The principle of materialism.

39. Integrity and systematicity of society in the philosophy of Marxism.

40. The problem of periodization of the historical process. The concept of "socio-economic formation".

41. Historical types of society in the philosophy of Marxism.

42. Dialectics of productive forces and production relations.

43. Development of society as a result of human activity Structure of activity.

44. K. Popper and his criticism of “historicism”.

45. The concept of local civilizations and cultures. O. Spengler.

46. ​​Philosophy of history A. Toynbee

47. Theory of ethnogenesis Gumileva L.N.

48. History in the theory of K Jaspers.

49. The theory of a unified industrial society. R.Aron.

50. Theory of post-industrial society. D. Bell.

51. Theory of the information society

52. Philosophical content categories of being.

53. Problem of substance. Dualism, monism and pluralism.

56. Dialectics and metaphysics.

58. Laws of dialectics.

59. The problem of being in the 20th century.

60. Religious-idealistic concepts of existence in the 20th century.

61. Reports of the Club of Rome and understanding of being.

62. Ideas of synergetics.

1. Formation of Marxist philosophy

2. Basic ideas of the philosophy of Marxism

3. The concept of man in Marxist philosophy

References

1. Formation and development of Marxist philosophy, its characteristic features

Marxist philosophy arose in the 40s of the 19th century. The prerequisites for its creation are divided into those that emerged during the development of social existence, and those that appeared during the development of social consciousness.

The socio-economic and class-political prerequisites for the formation of the philosophy of Marxism are contained in the peculiarities of the development of Europe in the first half of the 19th century. The discrepancy between the production relations of capitalism and the nature of the productive forces was manifested in the economic crisis of 1825. The antagonistic contradiction between labor and capital was revealed in the actions of the working class: in the uprisings of French workers in Lyon (1831 and 1834), Silesian weavers in Germany (1844), in the development of the Chartist movement in England (30-40s of the 19th century). A need arose for a theory capable of revealing the essence and prospects of social development, serving as a means of building a society free from capitalist exploitation, a means of transforming social structures. What was required was a scientific generalization of the experience of the class struggle of the proletariat, the development of its strategy and tactics.

The Marxist concept of society and social relations, created as a result of understanding the lessons of socio-political movements, developed in conjunction with the formation of a new worldview. The formation of such a worldview required setting tasks for the assimilation and processing of everything valuable that was in the scientific thought of that era.

The natural scientific prerequisites for the formation of Marxist philosophy include a number of discoveries, starting with the cosmogonic theory of Immanuel Kant in 1755. The most important for identifying the dialectics of nature were:

1) the discovery of the law of conservation and transformation of energy (it turned out that mechanical and thermal motion, thermal and chemical, etc. are not separated from each other, but interconnected);

2) the creation of a cellular theory that revealed connections between all organic systems and outlined connections with inorganic formations (the reproduction of crystals and their structure at that time seemed very close to cells);

3) the formation of the evolutionary concept of the organic world by J.-B. Lamarck and especially Charles Darwin; it showed the connection of organic species and their upward development based on contradictions.

The social-scientific, theoretical prerequisites for the emergence of Marxism are as follows: classical English political economy (the teachings of A. Smith and D. Ricardo), French utopian socialism (C.A. Saint-Simon, R. Owen, C. Fourier), French history of the Restoration period ( F.P.G. Guizot, J.N.O. Thierry and others); in the works of the latter, for the first time, an idea of ​​classes and class struggle in society was given.

The philosophical prerequisites were French materialism of the second half of the 18th century. and German classical philosophy represented by the dialectician Hegel (1770-1831) and the anthropological materialist L. Feuerbach (1804-1872).

Important milestones on the path to the formation of Marxist philosophy were the works of K. Marx “On the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Law” (1843), “Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts” (1844), the book “The Holy Family” created together with F. Engels (1845) and written by K. . Marx “Theses on Feuerbach” (1845); in 1845-1846 K. Marx, together with F. Engels, prepared the manuscript “German Ideology”, and in 1847 K. Marx wrote the book “The Poverty of Philosophy”. Subsequent works of the founders of Marxism, including “Capital” by K. Marx and “Dialectics of Nature” by F. Engels, can be considered a further development of the principles of the new philosophy and, at the same time, an application of dialectical-materialist principles to the knowledge of society and nature.

The essence of the new introduced by Marxism into philosophy can be traced along the following lines:

1) according to the functions of philosophy;

2) according to the relationship between partisanship, humanism and science;

3) on the subject of research;

4) according to the structure (composition and correlation) of the main aspects, sections of content;

5) according to the relationship between theory and method; 6) in relation to philosophy and private sciences.

The creation of Marxist philosophy also meant the establishment of a new relationship between universal and frequently scientific knowledge. The application of materialist dialectics to the reworking of the entire political economy, from its foundations - to history, to natural science, to philosophy, to the politics and tactics of the working class - this is what interests Marx and Engels most of all, this is where they contribute the most essential and most new , this is their brilliant step forward in the history of revolutionary thought.

The dialectical-materialist interpretation, being a continuation of the dialectical tradition, is aimed at establishing a close connection between these spheres of mastering reality. This is a position leading to the establishment of integrative connections between scientific philosophy and private sciences about nature and society. It was assumed that a close connection with the natural (as well as technical) and social sciences would allow Marxist philosophy, on the one hand, to have a positive impact on scientific progress, and on the other, to have an open wide source for its own development.

But it should be noted that, along with the noted positive aspects, Marxism has significant shortcomings in its philosophy: underestimation of the problem of man as an individual, overestimation of the class factor when analyzing its essence and economy - when considering society, a distorted idea of ​​the law of negation (emphasis on negotiations in the process of application, and not the synthesis of all aspects of previous development), absolutization of the struggle of opposites in development (instead of the theoretical “equality” of “struggle” and “unity” of opposites), absolutization of leaps-explosions (revolutions in society) and underestimation of gradual leaps (in society - reforms ) etc.; in practice, Marxism was characterized by a retreat from humanism and from the principle of the unity of partisanship with objectivity proclaimed by it.

2. Basic ideas of the philosophy of Marxism

There are 3 groups of basic ideas of Marx's philosophy:

1. - a combination of materialism and dialectics.

2. - dialectical-materialistic understanding of history.

3. - new understanding social role philosophy.

Marx and Engels were influenced by Feuerbach at the beginning of their careers. In 1843-1845. Marx began to move away from the influence of Feuerbach. Marx's materialism differed from Feuerbach's. The main position of the dialectical understanding of history is social existence determines public consciousness. Social consciousness also has an active reverse impact on the social existence that gave birth to it. Social existence - the material life of society - consists of 3 elements:

1) Social production of material and spiritual goods.

2) the material condition of a person’s direct existence, not related to production (everyday life, family).

Marx united these 2 moments and called them the production and reproduction of man as a spiritual and physical being.

3) The process of interaction between society and nature, the nature of natural conditions, the nature of interaction between nature and society. The defined element has an active influence on the defining element and vice versa.

The core of social production is the mode of production - the unity of two elements: productive forces and production relations, connected in a dialectical way and interacting with each other. Productive forces (means of production) consist of:

1) Man is the main productive force of society; in the unity of spiritual and physical development, man is the total worker and the main channel for the infusion of science into production,

2) Means of labor - production equipment - this is the second channel for the infusion of science into production.

3) Subject of labor.

Industrial relations consist of elements:

1) The relationship of ownership of the means of production: the relationship of exchange, distribution and consumption. They are connected by the law of correspondence of the level and nature of other forces and other relations: a certain level of other forces requires a certain level of other relations.

2) The basis of society - was considered by Marx within the framework of the entire society and in relation to any of its components.

The superstructure includes cultural institutions and organizations (institutes, schools), among them the most important element of the superstructure is the state, the oasis is the determining element, and the superstructure is the determined element.

The pinnacle of the system of provisions of dialectical knowledge is the theory of “Socio-economic formations” - this is a historically defined type of society with all its inherent features of spiritual and social life, formed on the basis of a number of modes of production:

1) Primitive communal formation.

2) Ancient formation.

3) Asian formation. -2) and -3) - Slave-owning obsh-ek. formation. 4) Feudal formation.

4) Capitalist formation,

5) Communist formation - includes 2 phases: 1) socialism and 2) communism.

The concept of formation played a large methodological role in Marxism:

Social consciousness influences social existence:

1) the relative independence of social knowledge, manifested in the lag or advance of social existence.

2) is subject to the law of continuity - previously accumulated mental material can become the reason for the takeoff of a person. consciousness with retarded o. being. A pattern emerges: each of the spheres o. consciousness has its own internal laws of development, not related to o. being.

3) during the historical process, the degree of active influence of o. consciousness on about. being increases (the law of increase).

4) Culture, according to Marx, is a way of communication between people. This gives him grounds to assert that the degree general culture a person can only be judged by “the extent to which another person, as a person, has become a need for him.” Hence Marx’s conclusion that for every person the greatest wealth “is another person.”

3. The concept of man in Marxist philosophy

Marxist philosophy presents the original concept of man. According to Marx, a person not only lives, feels, experiences, exists, but, first of all, realizes his strengths and abilities in an existence specific to him - in production activity, in labor. He is what society is like, which allows him to work in a certain way and conduct production activities. Man is distinguished by his social essence.

The concept “man” is used to characterize the universal qualities and abilities inherent in all people. Using this concept, Marxist philosophy seeks to emphasize that there is such a special historically developing community as the human race, humanity, which differs from all other material systems only in its inherent way of life.

Marxist philosophy proposes to reveal the essence of man not only as a natural biological being, but also on the basis of the concept of the social, practical, active essence of man.

From the point of view of this concept, man stood out from the animal world thanks to work. Marxist anthropology defines the beginning of such a distinction as the beginning of man's production of tools. However, this point of view needs clarification. The fact is that animals already exhibit elements labor activity, and the initial forms of making primitive tools take place. But they are used to support and as an auxiliary means of animal life. In essence, this method, based on a system of conditioned and unconditioned reflexes and instincts, can be considered a prerequisite for the transition from animal to human, but they cannot yet be considered as a human principle.

Thus, it is possible to formulate such a synthetic characteristic of a person.

Man is an animal, a corporeal being, whose life activity is based on material production. carried out in the system of social relations, a process of conscious, purposeful, transformative influence on the world and on the person himself to ensure his existence, functioning, and development.

So, Marxist philosophy affirms the existence of man as a unique material reality. But at the same time he notes that humanity as such does not exist. There are separate representatives - “individuals”.

An individual is a single representative of the human race, a specific bearer of all the psychophysiological and social traits of humanity: reason, will, needs, interests, etc.

Personality is the result of the development of an individual, the most complete embodiment of human qualities.

The use of the concepts of “individual” and “personality” in this context allows Marxist anthropology to apply a historical approach to the study of man, his nature, to consider both an individual person and humanity as a whole.

A similar process occurs in individual human development. Initially, a child is simply a biological being, a bundle of biomass, instincts and reflexes. But as he develops and assimilates social experience, the experience of humanity, he gradually turns into a human personality.

But Marxist philosophy makes a distinction between the individual and the personality not only in terms of human evolutionary development, but also as special types of human sociality.

An individual is a mass creature, that is, a person who is a bearer of stereotypes mass consciousness, mass culture. A person who does not want and cannot stand out from the general mass of people, who does not have his own opinion, his own position. This type was dominant at the dawn of humanity, but is also widespread in modern society.

The concept of “personality” as a special social type is most often used as the opposite in its main characteristics to the concept of “individual”. A person is an autonomous person capable of opposing himself to society. Personal independence is associated with the ability to control oneself, and this, in turn, presupposes that the individual has not just consciousness, that is, thinking and will, but also self-awareness, that is, introspection, self-esteem, and self-control over one’s behavior. The self-awareness of an individual, as it develops, is transformed into a life position based on ideological attitudes and life experience.

Implementation method life position- social activity, which is a process and method of self-realization by a person of his essence

Marxist philosophy society

References

1. Alekseev P.V., Panin A.V. Philosophy: Textbook. Second edition, revised and expanded. - M.: “Prospekt”, 2002. - 322 p.

2. Bobrov V.V. Introduction to philosophy: Textbook. - M., Novosibirsk: INFRA-M, Siberian Agreement, 2000. - 248 p.

3. Glyadkov V.A. The phenomenon of Marxist philosophy. M., 2001. - 293 p.

4. Spirkin A.G. Philosophy: Textbook. - M.: Gardarika, 2003. - 325 p.

5. Philosophy: Textbook for higher educational institutions / Ed. V.P. Kokhanovsky. - 5th edition, revised and expanded. - Rostov n/d: “Phoenix”, 2003. - 576 p.

6. Shapovalov V.F. Fundamentals of the philosophy of modernity - M. Flint: Science, 2001. - 185 p.

Brain development determines a person's ability to carry out various types activity, the release of the upper limbs allows a person to perform primitive tool activities. The brain allows you to perform higher psychological functions, that is, reflect reality in complex images. If there is no society, then all higher functions human body cannot realize the potential of consciousness; only in society, thanks to joint work, is a person able to think and interact with other people. Thus, the biological nature of man is fully realized and develops in social conditions supplemented by new social functions. According to Marx, the essence of man is determined by the level of development of social relations. The separation of the essence and existence of man. The development of social relations leads to the development of human essence. The level of development of society is determined by the level of development of production relations, that is, relations of ownership of the means of production, but property relations have not yet been developed, since there is no equal treatment of property. This means that the principle of social justice has not been realized, therefore human essence cannot be fully realized in these socio-historical circumstances. The result is an alienation of the human essence. Human existence will be complete when we build a communist society on the principles social justice. The dual nature of human essence creates difficulties in precisely defining existence. The essence of man is primarily social when the biological side of existence is oppressed. In Marxism, man is a social animal capable of work. In Marxism, man is viewed as a being with an essence that is always beyond the limits of existence. The essence of man is separated from existence, which means objectified. The essence is determined by the norm of social justice. Consequently, human existence turns out to be an ideal that is created outside of man. The main problem of Marxism is the connection of essence with human existence. Alienation of a person from his own essence. Bridging the gap is only possible in a way social change. A person achieving ideality with essence loses his own features, becomes a unified element in social system. A person becomes a replicated individual. Behaviorism reflects everything in human behavior.