German classical philosophy is an influential movement in modern philosophical thought. It sums up its development in this period of Western European history. The philosophical teachings of I. Kant, I. Fichte, G. Hegel, F. Schelling, L. Feuerbach belong to this trend. They posed in a new way many philosophical and worldview problems that neither rationalism, nor empiricism, nor enlightenment were able to solve. These thinkers are brought together by common ideological and theoretical roots, continuity in the formulation and resolution of problems. By “classical” we mean the highest level of its representatives and the significance of the problems solved by this philosophy.
The formation of the classical form of philosophy is discussed in one of the textbooks, starting with Descartes, and this has its own logic. The authors of the textbook highlight the following directions in the classical philosophical tradition
Kant's work is divided into two periods: pre-critical (from 1746 to the 1770s) and critical (from the 1770s to his death). In the pre-critical period, Kant was mainly concerned with cosmological problems, i.e. questions of the origin and development of the Universe. In his work “General Natural History and Theory of the Heavens,” Kant substantiates the idea of the self-formation of the Universe from the “primordial nebula.” Kant gave an explanation of the origin of the solar system, based on Newton's laws. According to Kant, Cosmos (nature) is not an immutable, ahistorical formation, but is in constant motion and development. Kant's cosmological concept was further developed Laplace and went down in history under the name of the “Kant-Laplace hypothesis.”
The second, most important period Kant's activity is associated with the transition from ontological, cosmological issues to issues of epistemological and ethical order. This period is called “critical”, because it is associated with the publication of two of Kant’s most important works - “Critique of Pure Reason”, in which he criticized the cognitive capabilities of man and “Critique of Practical Reason”, in which the nature of human morality is examined. In these works, Kant formulated his main questions: “What can I know?”, “What should I do?” and “What can I hope for?” The answers to these questions reveal the essence of his philosophical system.
In "Critique of Pure Reason" Kant defines metaphysics as the science of the absolute, but within the boundaries of human reason. Knowledge according to Kant is based on experience and sensory perception. Kant questioned the truth of all human knowledge about the world, believing that man tries to penetrate into the essence of things, cognizes it with distortions that come from his senses. He believed that the boundaries of human cognitive abilities should first be explored. Kant argued that all our knowledge about objects is not knowledge about their essence (to denote which the philosopher introduced the concept of “thing in itself”), but only knowledge of the phenomena of things, i.e. about how things reveal themselves to us. The “thing in itself,” according to the philosopher, turns out to be elusive and unknowable. In historical and philosophical literature, Kant’s epistemological position is often called agnosticism.
Kant's theory of knowledge is based on the recognition of the existence of pre-experimental knowledge or a priori knowledge, which is congenital. The first pre-experimental forms of consciousness are space and time. Everything that a person knows, he knows in the forms of space and time, but they are not inherent in the “things in themselves”. From the senses the process of cognition passes to reason, and from it to reason. Reason that goes beyond its boundaries, i.e. the boundaries of experience are already the mind. The role of reason, according to Kant, is higher than other human cognitive abilities. The ability for supersensible knowledge, he called transcendental apperception. This meant that a person was already given the ability to navigate in space and time at birth. And even animals have innate instincts (for example, little ducklings go to the water and begin to swim without any training). Thanks to transcendental apperception in human consciousness, a gradual accumulation of knowledge is possible, a transition from innate ideas to ideas of rational knowledge.
For Kant, human behavior should be based on three maxima:
1. Act according to rules that can become universal law.
2. In your actions, proceed from the fact that a person is of the highest value.
3. All actions must be done for the benefit of society.
Kant's ethical teaching has enormous theoretical and practical significance; it orients man and society towards the values of moral norms and the inadmissibility of neglecting them for the sake of selfish interests.
Thus, all morality in society should be based on observance of a sense of duty: a person must, in relation to other people, show himself as a reasonable, responsible being who strictly observes moral rules.
I. Kant also suggested, based on the categorical imperative, change the lives of people in society, create a new “ethical social system.”
He believed that people live in two dimensions:
1) among regulation and establishment in the state;
2) in the process of one’s life in society, in the world of morality.
I. Kant did not consider the world officially regulated by the state and the church to be a truly human world, since such a world, in his opinion, is based on superstitions, deceptions and remnants of animal drives in humans.
Only a society in which people's behavior will be regulated by voluntary compliance with moral laws, and above all the categorical imperative, can give true freedom to man. Kant, having formulated the moral law - the moral imperative “act so that your behavior can become a universal rule,” also put forward the idea of “eternal peace” based on economic disadvantage and the legal prohibition of war.
Kant's ideas were continued and developed by the philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte(1762-1814). His concept was called “Scientific Teaching”. He believed that philosophy is a fundamental science that helps to develop a unified method of cognition. The main thing in philosophical knowledge is intellectual intuition. In the process of cognition, the subject interacts with the object, his consciousness acts as an active and creative principle.
The process of knowledge, according to Fichte, goes through three stages:
1) “I” asserts itself, creates itself;
2) “I” opposes itself to “Not-I”, or object;
1) “I” and “Not-I,” limiting each other, form a synthesis.
To the natural question: “Does an object exist without a subject or not?” - Fichte's philosophy answers that without a subject there is no object. That is, only the active “I”, or the will of the subject, through interaction with an object, is capable of changing the world and establishing itself in it.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
1) the law of transition of quantitative changes into qualitative ones;
2) the law of unity and struggle of opposites;
3) the law of negation of negation.
In the sphere of social and philosophical concepts, Hegel expressed a number of valuable ideas: about the meaning of history, about the understanding of historical patterns, about the role of the individual in history. Hegel had the greatest influence on the fields of philosophy of state and philosophy of history. He views the general history of the world as a process of self-consciousness of the world spirit and at the same time as “progress in the consciousness of freedom.” Freedom consists in the fact that a person recognizes his identity with the absolute and identifies himself with the formation of the objective spirit (the state and law).
Hegel's followers, who adopted his dialectical method, began to be called Young Hegelians. They wanted changes in the political system, they wanted government reforms. Supporters of the preservation of old forms of life - Old Hegelians - they justified the reality of the feudal-class state by reason. In the 30s and 40s of the 19th century in Germany, as in other European countries, there was a theoretical struggle between these two branches of post-Hegelian philosophy. It reflected both the power of Hegel’s ideas on society and the social need for the implementation of progressive ideals.
In the initial period of his philosophical activity he belonged to the school of Young Hegelians Ludwig Feuerbach(1803-1872).
L. Feuerbach among German philosophers he is a representative of the materialist movement. Having criticized idealism, he put forward a holistic and consistent materialist picture of the world. He considers matter as a natural objective principle of the world, deeply analyzes such properties of matter as movement, space and time. He developed a theory of knowledge, in which he acts as a sensualist, highly appreciating the role of feelings in knowledge. He believed that a person understands the world through his sensations, which he considered as a manifestation of nature. Feyrbach substantiated with a high assessment the role of feelings in cognition. Feuerbach substantiated the objective value of man in the world system, criticizing religious ideas about man as a creation of God; developed the basic principles of humanism, based on the idea that man is a perfect part of nature.
Feuerbach is the ancestor anthropological materialism, but at the same time, he remained an idealist in his understanding of society. He argued that historical eras differ in changes in religious consciousness. Christianity proclaims love as the main creative spiritual force that changes morality and the attitude of man to man. According to Feuerbach, love for God also expresses love for man, since God is the alienated essence of man. Through religion, a person expresses his feeling of love, striving for immortality. This spiritual aspiration expresses both the ancestral essence of man and his ideal essence coming from the ancestral essence. Moral regeneration of people for Feuerbach becomes the engine of social development. His philosophy completed the classical stage of German philosophy and laid the foundations of German materialism.
Self-test questions
(first level of material reproduction)
1. Name the historical framework and main features of German classical philosophy.
2. What are the features of Kant’s philosophy of the pre-critical and critical periods?
3. What is the essence of the basic laws of dialectics formulated by Hegel?
What is interesting about classical German philosophy? It’s difficult to talk about it briefly, but we’ll try. It is a very significant and significant contribution to the history and development of world thought. This is how it is customary to talk about a whole set of different theoretical concepts that appeared in Germany over the course of more than a hundred years. If we are talking about a comprehensive and original system of thinking, then this is, of course, German classical philosophy. Briefly about its representatives the following can be said. First of all, this is Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach. The leading number of thinkers in this direction also includes several other famous people. These are Johan Gottlieb Fichte and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Schelling. Each of them is very original and is the creator of their own system. Can we then even talk about such a holistic phenomenon as classical German philosophy? It is briefly described as a collection of diverse ideas and concepts. But they all have some common essential features and principles.
German classical philosophy. General characteristics (briefly)
This is an entire era in the history of German thought. This country, as Marx aptly put it, in those days existed more theoretically than practically. However, after the crisis of the Enlightenment, the center of philosophy moved here. Its birth was influenced by various factors - the revolution and the attempt at Restoration in France, the popularity of the ideology of natural law and property, the concept of a reasonable social system. If we really want to understand what classical German philosophy is, we can briefly say that it accumulated the previous ideas of different countries, especially in the field of knowledge, ontology and social progress. In addition, all these thinkers tried to understand what culture and consciousness are. They were also interested in what place philosophy occupied in all this. German thinkers of this period tried to characterize. They developed systematic philosophy as a “science of the spirit,” defined its main categories and identified branches. And most of them recognized dialectics as the main method of thinking.
Founder
Most historians consider Immanuel Kant to be the founder of that most significant phenomenon in the history of the development of the human mind, which is classical German philosophy. Briefly, his activities are divided into two periods. The first of them is traditionally considered subcritical. Here Kant showed himself as a natural scientist and even put forward a hypothesis about how our solar system arose. The second, critical period in the philosopher’s work is devoted to the problems of epistemology, dialectics, morality and aesthetics. First of all, he tried to solve the dilemma that arose between what is the source of knowledge - reason or experience? He considered this discussion to be largely artificial. Sensations give us material for research, and reason gives it shape. Experience allows us to balance and verify all this. If sensations are ephemeral and impermanent, then the forms of the mind are innate and a priori. They arose even before experience. Thanks to them, we can express the facts and phenomena of the environment in concepts. But we are not given the opportunity to comprehend the essence of the world and the Universe in this way. These are “things in themselves”, the understanding of which lies beyond the limits of experience, it is transcendental.
Critique of Theoretical and Practical Reason
This philosopher posed the main problems, which were then solved by all subsequent German classical philosophy. Briefly (Kant is a very complex philosopher, but let’s try to simplify his schemes) it sounds like this. What and how can a person know, how to act, what to expect, and in general, what is he himself? To answer the first question, the philosopher considers the stages of thinking and their functions. Feelings operate with a priori forms (for example, space and time), reason - with categories (quantity, quality). Facts taken from experience are transformed into ideas with their help. And with their help the mind builds a priori synthetic judgments. This is how the process of cognition occurs. But the mind also contains unconditional ideas - about the unity of the world, about the soul, about God. They represent an ideal, a model, but it is impossible to rationally derive them from experience or prove them. Any attempt to do this gives rise to insoluble contradictions - antinomies. They point out that here reason must stop and give way to faith. Having criticized theoretical thinking, Kant moves on to practical thinking, that is, to morality. Its basis, as the philosopher believed, is the a priori categorical imperative - the fulfillment of moral duty, and not personal desires and inclinations. Kant anticipated many features of German classical philosophy. Let's briefly look at its other representatives.
Fichte
This philosopher, unlike Kant, denied that the environment does not depend on our consciousness. He believed that subject and object are just different manifestations of the divine Self. In the process of activity and cognition, positing actually occurs. This means that first the “I” realizes (creates) itself, and then objects. They begin to influence the subject and become obstacles for him. To overcome them, the “I” develops. The highest stage of this process is the awareness of the identity of subject and object. Then opposites are destroyed and the absolute Self arises. In addition, the subject in Fichte's understanding is theoretical and practical. The first defines, and the second implements. The Absolute "I", from Fichte's point of view, exists only in potency. Its prototype is the collective “We” or God.
Schelling
Taking up Fichte's ideas about the unity of subject and object, the thinker believed both of these categories to be real. Nature is not the material for the realization of the “I”. This is an independent unconscious whole with the potential for the appearance of a subject. The movement in it comes from opposites and at the same time represents the development of the world Soul. The subject is born from nature, but he himself creates his own world, separate from the “I” - science, art, religion. Logic is present not only in the mind, but also in nature. But the most important thing is the will, which makes both us and the world around us develop. To discern the unity of man and nature, reason is not enough; intellectual intuition is needed. Philosophy and art have it. Therefore, according to Schelling, the system of thinking should consist of three parts. This is the philosophy of nature, then epistemology (where a priori forms of reason are studied). But the crown of everything is the comprehension of the unity of subject and object. Schelling called it the philosophy of identity. She believes the existence of an Absolute Mind in which spirit and nature and other polarities coincide.
System and method
The most famous thinker with whom German classical philosophy is associated is Hegel. Let us briefly outline its system and basic principles. Hegel accepts Schelling's doctrine of identity and Kant's conclusion that matter cannot be derived from consciousness, and vice versa. But he believed that the main philosophical principle was the unity and struggle of opposites. The world is based on the identity of being and thinking, but contradictions are hidden in it. When this unity begins to realize itself, it alienates and creates a world of objects (matter, nature). But this other being still develops according to the laws of thinking. In The Science of Logic, Hegel examines these rules. He finds out what concepts are, how they are formed and how they are characteristic, how formal and dialectical logic differ, what are the laws of development of the latter. These processes are the same for thinking and for nature, because the world is logical and reasonable. The main method for Hegel was dialectics, the main categories and laws of which he derived and consolidated.
Triads
Two more significant works of the German thinker are “Philosophy of Nature” and “Phenomenology of Spirit”. In them he explores the development of the otherness of the Absolute Idea and its return to itself, but at a different stage of development. The lowest form of its existence in the world is mechanics, then comes physics and, finally, organics. After the completion of this triad, the spirit leaves nature and develops in man and society. At first he becomes aware of himself. At this stage it represents the subjective spirit. Then it manifests itself in social forms - morality, law and the state. Human history ends with the emergence of the Absolute Spirit. It also has three forms of development - art, religion and philosophy.
Materialism
But the German classical system does not end with Hegel’s system (we will briefly describe his teaching below); it is considered its last representative. He was also Hegel's most ardent critic. From the latter he borrowed the idea of alienation. He devoted almost his entire life to finding out what forms and types it has. He tried to create a theory about overcoming alienation, and also criticized religion from the standpoint of materialism. In his work on the history of the Christian religion, he stated that it was man who created God. At the same time, there was an alienation of the ideal from people. And this led to the fact that man made his creation an object of cult. People's aspirations should be directed to what truly deserves them - to themselves. Therefore, the most reliable means of overcoming alienation is love, which can create new relationships between people.
German classical philosophy. Summary of main ideas
We see that all these different philosophers tried to explore man, his essence and purpose. Kant believed that the main thing in people is morality, Fichte - that activity and rationality, Schelling - that the identity of subject and object, Hegel - logic, and Feuerbach - love. In determining the meaning of philosophy, they also occupied different, although often similar, positions. Kant gives primary importance to ethics, Schelling to natural philosophy, Fichte to political disciplines, Hegel to panlogism. Feuerbach considers all these problems as a whole. As for dialectics, everyone recognized its importance, but each of them put forward his own version of this theory of universal connection. These are the main problems that German classical philosophy considered. The general characteristic (briefly described above) of this phenomenon in the history of human thought, according to established opinion, is that it is one of the most significant achievements of the culture of Western Europe.
1. General characteristics of German classical philosophy.
2. Critical philosophy of I. Kant.
3. Idealist philosophy of J. Fichte and F. Schelling.
4. Objective idealism of G. Hegel.
5. Anthropological materialism of L. Feuerbach.
1. General characteristics of German classical philosophy.
German philosophy of the 19th century is a unique phenomenon in world philosophy. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it managed to deeply explore the problems that determined the future development of philosophy, combine almost all philosophical trends known at that time, and discover the names of outstanding philosophers who were included in the “golden fund” of world philosophy. It was based on the work of the five most outstanding German philosophers of that time: Immanuel Kant, Johann Fichte, Friedrich Schelling, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Ludwig Feuerbach.
Three leading philosophical trends were represented in German classical philosophy:
The contribution of German classical philosophy to world philosophical thought is as follows:
1. the teachings of German classical philosophy contributed to the development of a dialectical worldview;
2. German classical philosophy significantly enriched the logical-theoretical apparatus;
3. viewed history as a holistic process, and also paid serious attention to the study of human essence.
2. Critical philosophy of I. Kant
The founder of German classical philosophy was Immanuel Kant, a professor at the University of Königsberg, who taught logic, physics, mathematics, and philosophy.
All of I. Kant’s work can be divided into two large periods: “pre-critical” and “critical”. In the “pre-critical” period, I. Kant took the position of natural-scientific materialism. The center of his interests were problems of cosmology, mechanics, anthropology and physical geography. Under the influence of Newton, I. Kant formed his views on space and the world as a whole.
During the “critical” period, I. Kant was occupied with problems of knowledge, ethics, aesthetics, logic, and social philosophy. During this period, three fundamental philosophical works appeared: “Critique of Pure Reason”, “Critique of Practical Reason”, “Critique of Judgment”.
Immanuel Kant's theory of development is based on the cosmological hypothesis, according to which the Earth and other planets arose naturally from the primordial nebula. Nature is in constant change and development. Movement and rest are relative. All life on Earth, including humans, is the result of natural biological evolution. At the same time, Kant recognizes God as the first principle, who sets in motion the forces of nature.
In the theory of knowledge, I. Kant defends the idea of agnosticism. The human mind encounters insoluble contradictions, which I. Kant called antinomies. For example, the antinomy: The world is finite – The world is infinite.
The process of cognition, according to I. Kant, goes through three stages: sensory cognition, reason, reason. Through sensitivity we perceive an object, but it is thought through the mind. Knowledge is possible only as a result of their synthesis. The tools of rational cognition are categories. Scientific knowledge is categorical knowledge. I. Kant identifies twelve categories and divides them into four classes: quantity, quality, relation, modality. For example: the class of quantity includes the categories - unity, plurality, integrity.
I. Kant classifies knowledge itself as the result of cognitive activity: a posteriori knowledge, a priori knowledge, “The Thing in itself.”
Immanuel Kant’s ethical views are reflected in his statement: “Two things always fill the soul with new and ever stronger surprise and awe, the more often and longer we reflect on them - this is the starry sky above me and the moral law in me.” I. Kant formulates moral duty in the form of a moral law (categorical imperative): “Act in such a way that the maxim of your will could become the principle of universal legislation.”
At the center of aesthetic teaching is the study of the categories “beautiful” and “sublime”, as well as the problem of the “genius” - the artist. The originality of Kant's understanding of beauty lies in the fact that the philosopher connects it with “disinterested,” disinterested, pure contemplation: the feeling of beauty is free from the thirst for possession, from any thoughts of lust, and therefore it is higher than all other feelings. The embodiment of the aesthetic spirit is the artist who creates his world freely.
The social and political views of I. Kant are based on the following postulates. Man is endowed with an inherently evil nature. Human salvation lies in moral education and strict adherence to the moral law.
I. Kant put forward the idea of democracy and legal order both in each individual society and in international relations, and condemned wars as the most serious delusion and crime of humanity. The philosopher predicted “eternal peace” in the future. Wars will either be banned by the government or become economically unviable.
3. Idealist philosophy of J. Fichte and F. Schelling
The philosophical views of Johann Fichte are set out in his works: “The Experience of Criticism of All Revelation”, “Teaching of Science”, “Fundamentals of Natural Law”.
The thinker calls his philosophy “scientific teaching.” The key point of I. Fichte’s philosophy was the promotion of the so-called “I - concept”, according to which “I” has complex relationships with the outside world, which, according to I. Fichte, are described by the scheme
· “I” initially posits itself, creates itself,
· “I” posits (forms) “not – I”, i.e. its opposite - the external surrounding reality (antithesis),
· “I” posits “I” and “not-I”. The interaction between “I – a person” and “not – I” – the surrounding world occurs inside the “Absolute I” (container, supreme substance) on two sides: on the one hand, “I” creates “not – I”, and on the other “ not – I” conveys experience, information “I”.
J. Fichte's dialectics is inextricably linked with the principle of activity, that is, the active relationship of the individual (his spirit, the thinking “I”) to reality. The conclusion is made about the coincidence of the theoretical and practical principles in the absolute subject, whose activity in the process of overcoming nature (“not – I”) not only gives rise to the whole world, but also allows one to realize oneself.
Premature death prevented I. Fichte from developing the “I am a concept” more deeply; it remained unfinished and was not accepted or understood by his contemporaries. At the same time, it remains an original view of the world around us and its structure.
The philosophy of Friedrich Schelling went through three main stages in its development: natural philosophy, practical philosophy, irrationalism.
F. Schelling outlined his philosophical ideas in his works “Ideas for the Philosophy of Nature” and “The System of Transcendental Idealism.” In natural philosophy, F. Schelling gives an explanation of nature, according to which nature is the “absolute” first cause and the origin of everything. She is also the unity of the subjective and objective, the eternal mind. Matter and spirit are one and are properties of nature. All nature is permeated by a single principle: “from the lowest to the highest.” The driving force of nature is its polarity.
In practical philosophy, F. Schelling resolves issues of the socio-political nature of the development of history. The philosopher distinguishes three types of history:
1. General characteristics
2. Kant's philosophy
3. Philosophy of Fichte
4. Schelling's philosophy
5. Philosophy of Hegel
6. Philosophy of Feuerbach
1. General characteristics
German classical philosophy is a significant stage in the development of philosophical thought and culture of mankind. It is represented by the philosophical works of Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814), Friedrich Wilhelm Schelling (1775–1854), Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831), Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach (1804–1872).
Each of these philosophers created his own philosophical system, distinguished by a wealth of ideas and concepts. At the same time, German classical philosophy represents a single spiritual formation, which is characterized by the following general features:
1. A unique understanding of the role of philosophy in the history of mankind, in the development of world culture. Classical German philosophers believed that philosophy was called upon to be the critical conscience of culture, the “confronting consciousness” that “sneers at reality,” the “soul” of culture.
2. Not only human history was studied, but also human essence. Kant views man as a moral being. Fichte emphasizes the activity, effectiveness of human consciousness and self-awareness, and examines the structure of human life according to the requirements of reason. Schelling sets the task of showing the relationship between the objective and the subjective. Hegel expands the boundaries of the activity of self-consciousness and individual consciousness: for him, the individual’s self-consciousness correlates not only with external objects, but also with other self-consciousnesses, from which various social forms arise. He deeply explores various forms of social consciousness. Feuerbach creates a new form of materialism - anthropological materialism, at the center of which is a really existing person, who is a subject for himself and an object for another person. For Feuerbach, the only real things are nature and man as part of nature.
3. All representatives of classical German philosophy treated philosophy as a special system of philosophical disciplines, categories, and ideas.
I. Kant, for example, singles out epistemology and ethics as philosophical disciplines.
Schelling – natural philosophy, ontology.
Fichte, considering philosophy a “scientific teaching,” saw in it such sections as ontological, epistemological, and socio-political.
Hegel created a broad system of philosophical knowledge, which included the philosophy of nature, logic, philosophy of history, history of philosophy, philosophy of law, moral philosophy, philosophy of religion, philosophy of the state, philosophy of the development of individual consciousness, etc.
Feuerbach considered ontological, epistemological and ethical problems, as well as philosophical problems of history and religion.
4. Classical German philosophy develops a holistic concept of dialectics.
Kantian dialectics is a dialectic of the boundaries and possibilities of human knowledge: feelings, reason and human reason.
Fichte's dialectics comes down to the study of the creative activity of the Self, to the interaction of the Self and the non-Self as opposites, on the basis of the struggle of which human self-awareness develops.
Schelling transfers the principles of dialectical development developed by Fichte to nature. His nature is a becoming, developing spirit.
The great dialectician is Hegel, who presented a detailed, comprehensive theory of idealistic dialectics. He was the first to present the entire natural, historical and spiritual world in the form of a process, i.e. explored it in continuous movement, change, transformation and development, contradictions, quantitative-qualitative and qualitative-quantitative changes, interruptions of gradualness, the struggle of the new with the old, directed movement. In logic, philosophy of nature, history of philosophy, aesthetics, etc. – in each of these areas Hegel sought to find a thread of development.
All classical German philosophy breathes dialectics.
Special mention must be made of Feuerbach. Until recently, in Soviet philosophy, Feuerbach's assessment of Feuerbach's attitude to Hegel's dialectics was interpreted as Feuerbach's denial of any dialectics in general. However, this question should be divided into two parts: first, Feuerbach’s attitude not only to dialectics, but to Hegel’s philosophy in general; secondly, Feuerbach really, by criticizing the Hegelian system of objective idealism, “threw out the baby with the bathwater,” i.e. did not understand Hegel's dialectic, its cognitive significance and historical role.
However, Feuerbach himself does not avoid dialectics in his philosophical studies. He examines the connections of phenomena, their interactions and changes, the unity of opposites in the development of phenomena (spirit and body, human consciousness and material nature). He attempted to find the relationship between the individual and the social. Another thing is that anthropological materialism did not let him out of its “embraces,” although the dialectical approach when considering phenomena was not completely alien to it.
5. Classical German philosophy emphasized the role of philosophy in developing the problems of humanism and made attempts to comprehend human activity. This understanding took place in different forms and in different ways, but the problem was posed by all representatives of this direction of philosophical thought.
Socially significant include:
Kant's study of the entire life activity of man as a subject of moral consciousness, his civil freedom, the ideal state of society and the real society with incessant antagonism between people, etc.;
Fichte's ideas about the primacy of the people over the state, consideration of the role of moral consciousness in human life, the social world as a world of private property, which is protected by the state; Hegel's doctrine of civil society, the rule of law, private property;
Schelling's reliance on reason as a means of realizing a moral goal;
Feuerbach's desire to create a religion of love and humanistic ethics. This is the unique unity of the humanistic aspirations of representatives of classical German philosophy.
We can definitely say that representatives of classical German philosophy followed the Enlightenment of the 18th century. and above all by the French enlighteners, who proclaimed man the master of nature and spirit, asserting the power of reason, turning to the idea of the regularity of the historical process.
At the same time, they were also exponents of the socio-economic, political and spiritual atmosphere that surrounded them directly, which acted as their own existence: the feudal fragmentation of Germany, the lack of national unity, the orientation of the developing bourgeoisie towards various compromises, since after the Great French Revolution it experienced fear of any revolutionary movement; desire to have strong monarchical power and military power.
It is this compromise that finds its philosophical justification in the works of Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel and Feuerbach. And although the latter is a representative of a different ideological orientation - materialistic, he also considers solving social problems along the path of reform, promising civil peace and tranquility in society. Classical German philosophy is one of the most important expressions of the spiritual culture of the 19th century.
, Karl Marx, Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ludwig Wittgenstein to modern philosophers such as Jurgen Habermas.
Story
Middle Ages
The origin of German philosophy dates back to the High Middle Ages, when universities appeared in Germany (Cologne and Heidelberg). One of the first forms of philosophical thought in Germany was scholasticism, represented by Albertus Magnus and gravitating towards the realistic direction. In addition to scholasticism, medieval philosophy in Germany was represented by mysticism (Meister Eckhart), which determined the pantheistic and intuitionistic features of German philosophy for many centuries.
Reformation
The teachings of Martin Luther had a huge influence on the development of German thought (including the views of his opponents). His key philosophical work is the treatise “On the Slavery of the Will.” Being theological in form, the treatise, however, tries to give answers about the role and place of man in contemporary society, which was a break with the previous purely theological tradition.
Education
19th century
German idealism
The three most prominent German idealists were Fichte, Schelling and Hegel. However, it is necessary to distinguish between subjective idealism (from the listed philosophers - Kant, Fichte, Schelling) and objective (Hegel). Hegel's views are radically different from those of other German idealists due to differences in logic. At the beginning of his career, Hegel was very seriously engaged in ancient Greek philosophy, especially the logic of Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Socrates and Plato. Hegel revived their logic and presented it as a complete system in his Science of Logic. He believed that at the basis of everything that exists is the Absolute Spirit, which only due to its infinity can achieve true knowledge of itself. For self-knowledge he needs manifestation. The self-revelation of the Absolute Spirit in space is nature; self-disclosure in time - history. The philosophy of history occupies an important part of Hegel's philosophy. History is driven by contradictions between national spirits, which are the thoughts and projections of the Absolute Spirit. When the Absolute Spirit's doubts disappear, it will come to the Absolute Idea of Itself, and history will end and the Kingdom of Freedom will begin. Hegel is considered the most difficult philosopher to read (due to the complexity of his logic), so ideas may have been attributed to him that were misunderstood or mistranslated.
Karl Marx and the Young Hegelians
Among those influenced by Hegel's teachings were a group of young radicals who called themselves Young Hegelians. They were unpopular because of their radical views on religion and society. Among them were philosophers such as Ludwig Feuerbach, Bruno Bauer and Max Stirner.
XIX-XX centuries
Windelband, Wilhelm
Dilthey, Wilhelm
Rickert, Heinrich
Simmel, Georg
Spengler, Oswald
XX century
Vienna Circle
At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of German philosophers called the “Vienna Circle” was formed. This association served as the ideological and organizational core for the creation of logical positivism. Its participants also adopted a number of Wittgenstein’s ideas - the concept of logical analysis of knowledge, the doctrine of the analytical nature of logic and mathematics, criticism of traditional philosophy as “metaphysics” devoid of scientific meaning. Wittgenstein himself disagreed with the members of the Vienna Circle about the interpretation of Aristotle's philosophy.
Phenomenology
Phenomenology defined its task as an unpremised description of the experience of cognitive consciousness and the identification of essential, ideal features in it. The founder of the movement was Edmund Husserl; immediate predecessors include Franz Brentano and Karl Stumpf [ ] . The identification of pure consciousness presupposes preliminary criticism
