Features of the mythological worldview about the specifics of modern myth-making. Mythological form of worldview

Historically, the first form of worldview is mythology. It arises at the earliest stage of social development. Then humanity, in the form of myths, that is, legends, legends, tried to give an answer to such global issues as the origin and structure of the universe as a whole, the emergence of the most important natural phenomena, animals and people. A significant part of mythology consisted of cosmological myths dedicated to the structure of nature. At the same time, great attention in myths, various stages of people’s lives, the mysteries of birth and death, all kinds of trials that await a person on his life path. A special place is occupied by myths about human achievements: making fire, inventing crafts, developing agriculture, taming wild animals.

The formation of the world was understood in mythology as its creation or as a gradual development from a primitive formless state, as ordering, transformation from chaos into space, as creation through overcoming demonic forces.

Myth serves to justify certain social attitudes, to sanction a certain type of belief and behavior. During the period of dominance of mythological thinking, the need for acquiring special knowledge had not yet arisen. Thus, a myth is not original form knowledge, but a special type of worldview, a specific figurative syncretic idea of natural phenomena and collective life. In myth, as the earliest form of human culture, the rudiments of knowledge were united, religious beliefs, moral, aesthetic and emotional assessment of the situation.

The main principle for solving ideological issues in mythology was genetic. Explanations about the beginning of the world, the origin of natural and social phenomena were reduced to a story about who gave birth to whom.

The myth usually combines two aspects– diachronic (story about the past) and synchronic (explanation of the present and future). Thus, with the help of myth, the past was connected with the future, and this ensured a spiritual connection between generations. The content of the myth seemed to primitive man to be extremely real and worthy of absolute trust.

Myths were important stabilizers public life. This does not exhaust the stabilizing role of mythology. The main significance of myths is that they established harmony between the world and man, nature and society, society and the individual and, thus, ensured the internal harmony of human life.

4. Philosophy of life of the 20th century - main ideas, directions and representatives

PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE- irrationalistic philosophical direction late XIX- the beginning of the 20th century, which put forward the initial concept of “life” as a kind of intuitively comprehended holistic reality. This concept is interpreted in many ways various options philosophy of life. The biological-naturalistic interpretation is characteristic of the trend going back to Nietzsche. The historicist version of the philosophy of life (Dilthey, Simmel, Spengler) proceeds from direct internal experience as it is revealed in the sphere of historical experience of spiritual culture. A peculiar pantheistic version of the philosophy of life is associated with the interpretation of life as a kind of cosmic force, a “vital impulse” (Bergson).

The main representatives of the philosophy of life are:

· F. Nietzsche(Nietzsche strives to overcome the rationality of the philosophical method; his concepts - “life”, “will to power” - appear as polysemantic symbols.)

· V. Dilthey(The task of philosophy (as the “science of the spirit”), according to Dilthey, is to understand “life” based on itself. In this regard, Dilthey puts forward the method of “understanding”, which he contrasts with the method of “explanation” applicable in the “sciences of nature” .)

· G. Simmel(Life is understood as a process creative development, inexhaustible by rational means and comprehended only in internal experience, intuitively. This experience of life is objectified in diverse forms of culture.)

· A. Bergson(Bergson affirms life as the true and original reality, the essence of which can only be comprehended with the help of intuition. The fabric of mental life is duration, therefore, life has not a spatial, but a temporal character. Life is a kind of metaphysical-cosmic process, “vital impulse" ("Creative Evolution"))

· O.Spengler(The philosophy of Nietzsche had a decisive influence on Spengler. Cultures are interpreted by him as “organisms,” each of which is given a certain period of time. Dying, a culture is reborn into a civilization.)

5. The emergence of philosophy - a qualitative leap from the mythological to the rational worldview

With the development of human society, the establishment of certain patterns by man, the improvement of the cognitive apparatus, the opportunity arose new form mastering worldview problems. This form is not only spiritual and practical, but also theoretical nature. The image and symbol are replaced by Logos - reason. Philosophy originates as an attempt to solve basic worldview problems by means of reason, that is, thinking based on concepts and judgments that are connected with each other according to certain logical laws. In contrast to the religious worldview with its primary attention to issues of man’s relationship to forces and beings superior to him, philosophy brought to the fore the intellectual aspects of the worldview, reflecting the growing need in society to understand the world and man from the standpoint of knowledge. It initially entered the historical arena as a search for worldly wisdom.

The term "philosophy" translated from Greek language means love of wisdom. The word “philosopher” was first used by the Greek mathematician thinker Pythagoras (c. 580-500 BC) in relation to people striving for intellectual knowledge and the right image life. Interpretation and consolidation in European culture The term "philosophy" is associated with the name of Plato. Initially, the concept of “philosophy” was used in a broader sense. In fact, this term meant the totality of theoretical knowledge accumulated by humanity. It should be noted that the knowledge of the ancients, called philosophy, covered not only practical observations and conclusions, the beginnings of science, but also people’s thoughts about the world and about themselves, about the meaning and purpose of human existence. The emergence of philosophy meant the emergence of a special spiritual attitude - the search for harmony of knowledge about the world with life experience people, with their beliefs, ideals, hopes.

Philosophy inherited from mythology and religion their ideological character, their ideological schemes, that is, the whole set of questions about the origin of the world as a whole, its structure, the origin of man and his position in the world, etc. It also inherited the entire volume of positive knowledge, which humanity has accumulated over thousands of years. However, the solution to ideological problems in the emerging philosophy took place from a different angle, namely from the standpoint of rational assessment, from the standpoint of reason. Therefore, we can say that philosophy is a theoretically formulated worldview. Philosophy- this is a worldview, a system of general theoretical views on the world as a whole, the place of man in it, an understanding of the various forms of man’s relationship to the world, man to man. Philosophy is a theoretical level of worldview. Hence, worldview in philosophy appears in the form of knowledge and is systematized, ordered in nature. And this moment significantly brings philosophy and science closer together.

6. Existentialism – general characteristics, representatives.

Existentialism, Also philosophy of existence- a direction in the philosophy of the 20th century, focusing its attention on the uniqueness of the irrational existence of man. Existentialism developed in parallel with related areas of personalism and philosophical anthropology, from which it differs primarily in the idea of overcoming (rather than revealing) a person’s own essence and a greater emphasis on the depth of emotional nature.

IN pure form existentialism as a philosophical movement never existed. The inconsistency of this term comes from the very content of “existence,” since by definition it is individual and unique, meaning the experiences of a single individual, unlike anyone else.

Existentialism (according to Jaspers) traces its origins to Kierkegaard, Schelling and Nietzsche. And also, through Heidegger and Sartre, it genetically goes back to the phenomenology of Husserl (Camus even considered Husserl an existentialist).

Existential philosophy is the philosophy of human existence

The main category of the philosophy of existentialism is existence (a unique and directly experienced human existence. Thus, according to Heidegger, such existence - existence - refers to a special entity - Dasein - and should be considered in a special existential analytics, as opposed to categorical analytics for other entities.)

Philosophy of existentialism - an irrational reaction to the rationalism of the Enlightenment and German classical philosophy. According to existentialist philosophers, the main flaw of rational thinking is that it proceeds from the principle of the opposition of subject and object, that is, it divides the world into two spheres - objective and subjective. Rational thinking considers all reality, including man, only as an object, an “essence”, the knowledge of which can be manipulated in terms of subject-object. True philosophy, from the point of view of existentialism, must proceed from the unity of object and subject. This unity is embodied in “existence,” that is, a certain irrational reality.

History and representatives

In Russia, existentialism arose on the eve of the First World War of 1914-1918:

L. Shestov

N. A. Berdyaev

In Germany, existentialism emerged after the First World War:

K. Jaspers

M. Heidegger

M. Buber

Found his followers during the Second World War 1939-1945 in France:

J.-P. Sartre

G. Marseille

M. Merleau-Ponty

I.5. Pre-philosophical forms of worldview: mythology and religion.

Philosophy arises on the basis of mythology and early religious worldview; it is, to a certain extent, the successor of mythology and religion. The inclusion of religion in philosophy is also demonstrated by various religious trends in philosophy that still exist today. Religious philosophy has existed for two millennia, Russian philosophy of the 19th - early 20th centuries. in their best examples was religious. Outstanding Russian philosophers V. Solovyov, N. Berdyaev, P. Florensky and others developed their philosophy on the basis of a religious worldview. One of the leading trends in modern Western philosophy is neo-Thomism is the official philosophy of Catholicism. The unity of pre-philosophical forms of worldview and philosophy is based on their common themes. Mythology and religion included the most general issues existence, the foundation of the world, its origin, structure, life meanings, norms of human behavior, etc. Both mature mythology, religion, and, later, philosophy tried to answer general ideological questions: What is the essence of the world? Who are we, where do we come from? Who or what rules the world? What is the essence and purpose of man? etc. But each of these three types of worldview has its own characteristics and differences, so we will briefly consider them separately and in comparison.

The first historical form of worldview was mythology. Mythology is not just ideas about gods, not a collection of only “legends of deep antiquity”, but, above all, a way of understanding nature, society and man, especially in the early stages human history. Mythology is a worldview based on the inclusion of nature and the forces of nature in the human order of life. That's why mythological images addressed, first of all, to the eternal principles of existence. Created in different cultures complex mythological images indicate that the world in the minds of people even of that ancient period was not limited to only one physical phenomena, but also included that secret, invisible, fantasized, assumed, which later began to be designated as ideal. Man already then felt that behind the visible world there is an invisible world, which is more complex and more important than the visible. Therefore, a person with a mythological consciousness endowed the world with miracles, mysticism, and sacraments, which reflected this complexity. Although most myths drew outside existence, mythology was an attempt to look into oneself, into one’s inner world. Mythology was not only a way of understanding the world, but also a way of understanding the world, and most importantly, it was necessary means regulation of a person’s relationship with the world and with others like him. Summarizing and specifying what has been said, we can highlight following features mythological worldview:

1. It was based on the inseparability of man and nature, it was syncretic. Inanimate objects and forces of nature were animated and thought of as really existing. Mermaids, witches, mermen, nymphs - they were all real creatures for the people of that time. They completed the world primitive man and personified the forces of reality that surpass human capabilities.

2. Mythological consciousness differs from scientific and philosophical in nature worldview. The differences are as follows:

a) mythological consciousness perceives the world personally, “passes” it through itself, object and subject merge into a single whole

b) Accepts events as an immutable reality and best case scenario retells them, and nothing more. It does not establish or search for the causes of events and facts of existence. The question is “why is this so”? not installed yet.

c) mythological consciousness does not analyze events and does not make theoretical conclusions, but perceives the world in images and through images. It reflects the world not in a system of concepts, but in figurative and symbolic form. The symbolism of myths is the definition of the content of existence and its value. Ritual and ritual are of great importance in mythology. With the help of symbolism, rites and rituals, mythological consciousness seemed to record a natural pattern. The ritual acted as an expression of the law, and participation in the ritual as a personal participation in the world order. The symbolism and imagery in mythology, its rich content were inherited by the future culture. Artistic creativity, poetry, early philosophy include much from myths, and the symbolic-mythological content works of art gives them a philosophical overtone.

3. The mythological worldview was organically combined with early religious, polytheistic forms of worldview (animism, totemism, fetishism, etc.), therefore it is more accurate to call this type of worldview – mythological-religious or religious-mythological.

In its original content, philosophy practically coincides with the religious-mythological worldview.

Mythology- a system of legends, tales, legends, using the imagination, explaining the course and origin of natural and social processes. Mythology in its origins was a naive philosophy and science.

Myth- a figurative variation of an artistic epic with a clearly expressed inclination towards a heroic and fantastic reproduction of the phenomena of reality, accompanied by a concrete sensory personification of a person’s mental states.

Myth structure:

cognitive component- worldview: the origin of things, the etiology of the world, etc.;
prescriptive-incentive component— principles of life: values, attitudes, instructions, directives, ideals;
practical component- world action: social interaction, interindividual communication, exchange of activities, self-affirmation, cult and ritual-mystical acts, symbolic rites, spells, etc.

In mythology, for the first time in the history of mankind, a number of philosophical questions are raised:

how the world came into being;
how it develops;
what is life;
what is death, etc.

Mythology was an attempt to explain natural phenomena and human life, the relationship between the earthly and cosmic principles.

Basic historical types and essence of worldview

Mythology is the initial form of worldview; it expressed: naive forms of explanation of natural and social phenomena; moral and aesthetic attitude towards the world.

Mythological worldview- a system of views on the objective world and the place of man in it, which is based not on theoretical arguments and reasoning, but on the artistic and emotional experience of the world, on social illusions born of inadequate perception by large groups of people (nations, classes) of social processes and their role in them.

Close to mythological religious worldview, it also appeals to fantasy and feelings, but at the same time does not confuse the sacred and the earthly.

- attitude and worldview, as well as corresponding behavior, determined by belief in the existence God deities; a feeling of dependence, connectedness and obligation in relation to the secret force that gives support and worthy of worship. The basis of living religiosity is mythological action and understanding of the world.

By , religion- this is the law that lives in us, this is morality addressed to the knowledge of God.

Faith is given by God to man:

through upbringing in a religious family;
schooling;
life experience;
the power of reason comprehending God through the manifestation of his creations.

Freedom of religious belief is one of the inalienable human rights. Therefore, we need to be tolerant of representatives of other religions, atheists, who are in unbelief: after all, unbelief in God is also faith, but with a negative sign. Religion is closer to philosophy than mythology. They are characterized by: a look into eternity, a search for higher goals, and a value perception of life. But religion is mass consciousness, and philosophy is theoretical consciousness, religion does not require proof, and philosophy is always the work of thought.

Mythological worldview

From the moment a person “discovered” himself in the world around him, a problem arose related to his attitude to the world. To do this, it was necessary to look for answers to important questions: what is the essence and nature of the surrounding world, what is the essence and nature of man himself, what is common between man and the reality around him and what separates them, how should one behave in this world? Such questions are classified as ideological.

The very posing of these kinds of questions became evidence of a certain maturity of a person, the development of his worldview. In the course of his observations, a person began to notice patterns and connections in the phenomena and processes around him. Some of them were perceived as the results of internal activity, relatively hidden, but purposeful activities. The conclusion followed that not only man learns and masters the world, but he himself is the object of research, observation and influence.

Not only animals and plants, but also rivers, mountains, steppes, fire, air, earth, water, and heavenly bodies turned out to be animated in human understanding. Each of the essences actualized in this way acquired a personal beginning, and with it - will, aspirations, interests, and passions. Each such entity, of course, was endowed with a name. In addition, the human consciousness has formed the idea of creatures that are unseen in ordinary practice, but supposedly play a significant role in the processes of existence, capable of influencing big influence for a person's life. Various cultural and ethnic systems differ in the totality of their mythological creatures. Integral characters of ancient myths - Olympian gods, centaurs, griffins, cyclops, sirens; in the Russian tradition it is Yarilo, goblin, phoenix bird, etc.

Rice. Worldview and its types.

Some of the people turned out to be talented organizers of their fellow tribesmen, courageous and skillful warriors. Others are sages who influenced the consciousness and lifestyle of many people. Still others proved themselves to be skilled artists or craftsmen. All of them remained in human memory and imagination next generations acquired the status of heroes endowed with superhuman abilities, demigods. They were credited with incredible feats, they boldly entered into the fight against the elements, in partnership or confrontation with supernatural entities, and often emerged victorious in difficult and dangerous situations. The stories and legends about them intertwined real experiences, folk wisdom, imagery, fiction, which has acquired fantastic forms.

This is how mythology arose. It is considered the first type of worldview and represents a relatively coherent system of myths, as well as an idea of the world and attitude towards it, based on criteria arising from the content of myths.

Myth in the modern understanding, it is a form of holistic mass experience and interpretation of reality with the help of sensory-visual images, which are considered independent phenomena of reality.

Myths reflect the ideas of people of ancient societies about the origin of the world and man, the nature of its functioning, the system of spiritual, ethical, aesthetic values and norms. The myth is distinguished by the simplicity of the plot, according to which a person interacts with humanized nature and fantastic creatures. Everything that was set out in myths could not be criticized, was accepted as facts of reality, and was a model of worldview and behavior.

In other words, a myth is a manifestation of a worldview ancient man, containing certain guidelines and some prescriptions for his daily practice.

Ancient man, having realized his autonomy in nature, had not yet fully separated himself from it. He seemed to himself to be an integral, natural and, apparently, quite vulnerable element of the surrounding world and relied more on feelings than on reason. It should be noted that elements of the mythological perception of the world exist today, but in ancient times mythology was the only form worldview. Mythological consciousness is distinguished by the perception of ideal pictures, never observed in reality, born of the creative imagination of man, as “irrefutable facts of existence.” It blurs the lines between natural and supernatural, objective and subjective, and replaces cause-and-effect relationships with analogies and superficial explanations.

So, mythology(from the Greek mythos - legend and logos - word, concept, thought, mind) - a type of worldview that is characterized by a sensory-figurative uncritical perception of myths by the individual and mass consciousness; their content is accepted as sacred, and the norms formulated in them are accepted as requiring strict execution.

In the course of the development of the mythological worldview and mythology as a system of myths, the conviction in the reality and power of supernatural forces grew stronger in human consciousness. by the will of which the processes of reality and the life of man himself are determined. An element of worship of these forces arose and began to separate into separate normative-value regulatory systems.

Initially, the objects of worship were totems(usually animals or plants considered the patrons of a particular group of people - clan) and fetishes(inanimate objects endowed with supernatural properties in the beliefs of believers). However, their sacred properties at a certain point in the development of human consciousness were devalued, and their place was taken by supernatural, intangible (often in the minds of people - humanoid) omnipotent entities. As a rule, they were not directly connected with nature, but they themselves acted as its creators.

A certain hierarchy arose between these creatures. People sincerely believed in the ability of these creatures to control the components of nature, both real ones (for example, the ocean) and fictional ones (“the underworld”). Various supernatural entities could “manage” one or another sphere of human activity or extend their protection to large areas where people lived. Thus, all surrounding a person the world was divided between a collection of deities, who, depending on their status, had greater or lesser supernatural powers. This is roughly what polytheism looked like.

But ideas also arose about a single powerful god, capable of single-handedly determining absolutely all processes occurring in nature and society. People trusted him completely and endowed him with unquestionable authority. This system is called monotheism.

This is how another type of worldview was formed - religious, in which, as in the mythological, the sensual aspect in relation to reality prevailed over the rational.

Religious worldview

The main difference between religion is the limitless faith into the supernatural ideal principle - God, into his omnipotence and omnipresence. Religion presupposes the dominance in the human soul of a feeling of dependence on God and unconditional worship of him.

It should be noted that the phenomenon of worship sacred objects, animals arose around the same time as the formation of a system of myths, in many cases it was the same process. Elements of a religious worldview were also present in mythological consciousness. But the final formation of developed religious beliefs is usually associated with monotheism, when the religious worldview began to prevail over the mythological one. Among the early monotheistic religions, the most famous are , , which formed before our era, formed at the beginning of the first millennium Christianity, and in the middle - Islam.

(Latin religio - piety, piety, shrine) - worldview, worldview, attitude, as well as the associated behavior of people, determined by the belief in the existence of a supernatural entity - a deity that influences the world around us and human life.

The range of problems solved by a religious worldview does not differ significantly from the problems solved by mythology. However, the nature of their decision within the framework of religion is more strict and unambiguous. Religious systems (primarily world religions) are more organic than mythological ones and more perfect in structural terms. They regulate human life more strictly and in detail. In addition to the ontological, ideological, educational functions inherent in mythology, religions implement evaluative, consolidating, consoling and some other functions.

However, the religious worldview was to a large extent contradictory. It `s naturally. Even an individual’s worldview often turns out to be more complex than the most perfect religious system. It is even more problematic for the developing social consciousness not to go beyond the framework of religious consciousness. This is due to the uniqueness of individual consciousness, the complexity of the collective, multifactoriality and dynamism public consciousness. The process of mastering the surrounding world is associated with diverse practical experience, the need to deepen a wide variety of applied knowledge, the importance of possessing accurate data and patterns of processes of observable existence.

In resolving fundamental ideological issues about the world, society, and knowledge, already in ancient times, people relied not only on mythological traditions, religious values and norms, but also on rational knowledge. This was due to the improvement of the production of material and spiritual values. The development of rational knowledge was facilitated by the emergence of ever new types of specialized activities - animal husbandry, agriculture, medicine, and the construction of large engineering structures. Important role played a role in the development of arts and crafts. Social and territorial expansion, realized in economic, political, cultural and information relations with neighboring and distant countries, was of considerable importance. It took various forms - from travel and trade expeditions to wars. Long-distance sea and land voyages, military confrontation required the organization of production of various technical devices, Vehicle, construction of communications, etc. When solving these problems, many questions arose that could not be resolved within the framework of mythology and religion. At the same time, these processes revealed the contradictions of an uncritical worldview.

As a result, the need to form a rational understanding of reality became increasingly obvious. The process of the emergence and development of such an approach to reality occurred in parallel with the development of essentially “uncritical” types of worldview - mythological and religious. However, at first, rational knowledge was distributed exclusively in the field of practice and, as a rule, did not go beyond the resolution of everyday issues. It was worn in to a greater extent auxiliary character. Mythology and religion, meanwhile, took the form of ideological systems.

New knowledge had a significant impact on social practice and consciousness. They became the first elements of science and, among other things, required generalization and systematization. Gradually, a conscious desire for a holistic perception of the world based on this knowledge was formed. Worldview was increasingly based on an understanding of the essence of the processes and phenomena surrounding man, on more logical theoretical conclusions, increasingly confirmed by empirical experience. This is how another type of worldview developed - philosophical.

Philosophical worldview

It is distinguished by a critical position in relation to the surrounding world, in relation to the person himself, as well as in relation to the process of human cognition of reality. The philosophical worldview is based on logically consistent conclusions regarding the subject of research. Faith that did not require proof, traditional mythological views in philosophy were supplanted by the desire to understand the essence of things.

Gradually, philosophy began to occupy increasingly strong ideological positions, but did not completely abolish mythology, much less religion. It should also be noted that in their essence and significance in the life of society, all types of worldviews are largely similar to each other. This allows us to determine the essence of the worldview.

Worldview- a system of views on the objective world and the place of man in it, value orientations, ideals, life position, beliefs that underlie a person’s (individual, group of people, community) attitude towards himself and the world, his daily behavior and aspirations.

In the worldview, two levels are usually distinguished: figurative-emotional and conceptual-categorical. Mythological and religious types of worldview are largely emotional and figurative in nature. In contrast, the philosophical type of worldview is based primarily on rational thinking. it represents logically based systems of views and assessments of reality, attitudes towards it.

Finally, philosophy turned out to be a more dynamic, capacious and diverse form of worldview. It penetrates deeper into the essence of things and processes, allowing you to have a more comprehensive and versatile understanding of them.

In mythology and religion, all this is either absent or does not have the same rigor as in philosophy.

Elements of a philosophical worldview have always existed since the time when a person first thought about what surrounds him, how this surrounding world is structured, how this or that element of it arose, who he is in this world. Mythology and religion also contain fragments of philosophical knowledge as components, since they contain certain generalizations. On the other hand, mythology and religion, to some extent, can be considered variants of a philosophical approach to reality.

Thus, for mythology, the surrounding world is a certain given, a self-evident container of phenomena and processes that are to one degree or another understandable to man, an arena of dramatic relationships between supernatural entities, in which there is a place for man himself, although the role assigned to him is modest. At the same time, neither the past nor the future in myth often differ significantly from the present, the world is cyclical in its development, the subject of research is not at all concerned about this, evolution for him is quite limited, and sometimes only of an everyday nature.

Most well-known religions interpret the world as the creation of God, forbidding us to think about whether anything exists outside of this “commodity” (i.e. created) world. Man is just one of the elements, entirely dependent on the creator of reality, but at the same time the most important and perfect creation, called to consciously, in a form accessible to him and within the limits allowed from above, to realize the divine will in this world.

Philosophy is not satisfied with the simplicity and static nature of the mythological picture of the world, or with the predetermination and predetermination of the religious interpretation of existence. Philosophers put forward various, sometimes contradictory, ideas of a substantial nature or rationally substantiate the ontological (for example, cosmological) ideas of myths. Thus, some early philosophical systems advocated hylozoism(assuming the animation of all material bodies, the nature of the cosmos).

Even within the framework of a religious worldview, philosophy strives for a more complete understanding of existence, for a more adequate reflection of it, for cognitive diversity. Besides polytheism(polytheism, paganism) and monotheism(a religion based on belief in one God) philosophical thought, manifested in religion, has put forward concepts at different times deism, pantheism. The position of deism lies in the idea that God created the world and after that did not interfere in its development, giving man the opportunity to live according to reasonable laws received along with the act of creation. Pantheism identifies God with nature.

However, philosophy goes far beyond religion.

Philosophy strives to take into account all significant information about reality. She critically examines newly emerged concepts, but also questions previously established ideas about nature. By summing up all critical experience and the latest achievements of science, philosophy forms a modern understanding of the world. This view includes all the questions that arose both at the very beginning of the development of human civilization and throughout its history. These questions are called philosophical - about the eternal and the temporal, about the boundless and the finite, about the individual and the innumerable, about the sublime and the base, about truth and error, about justice and deception, about perfection and primitiveness. Philosophy is equally interested in the whole Universe and individual. Philosophers talk again and again about what our world is. how it arose and in what direction it is developing; about beauty, love, goodness, happiness.

Reality is presented differently in different philosophical systems, teachings, schools, but each new concept, as a rule, does not reject the previous one (at least it does not reject it absolutely). The next concept, rather, adds new touches to the picture of the world that has been created over the centuries. As a result of the interaction of such systems and ideas, philosophical knowledge strives to penetrate more deeply into the essence of previously known phenomena and processes that make up our world.

Philosophy aims to formulate universal approaches that allow us to fully and deeply understand the general laws of existence or the essence of its important fragments - the material world around us, society, man. At the same time, philosophy tries to ensure the greatest objectivity of the knowledge it contains. However, any concept inevitably includes a significant subjective component, determined by the personality of its author. And just as there are no identical people, there are no two identical philosophical concepts. However, this does not prevent large groups of philosophers and representatives of society who share their positions from adhering to certain general principles, the most fundamental provisions, central, especially significant ideas.

As you know, by worldview we understand the overall picture of the world, i.e. a more or less complex and systematized set of images, ideas and concepts, in which and through which they realize the world in its integrity and unity and (most importantly) the position in this universe of such an important (for us) part as humanity.

Worldview is something more than religion, philosophy or mythology, being the fruit of the entire body of knowledge and superstitions of mankind.

Mythological worldview

Myth is the most necessary - it must be said frankly, transcendentally necessary - category of thought and life; and there is absolutely nothing random, unnecessary, arbitrary, fictitious or fantastic in it. This is the true and most concrete reality. Myth is not an ideal concept, and also not an idea or a concept. This is life itself. For a mythical subject it is authentic life, with all her hopes and fears, expectations and despair, with all her real everyday life and purely personal interest.(Alexey Fedorovich Losev “Dialectics of Myth”)

The love of wisdom served as the basis for the formation of philosophy as a branch of spiritual culture. If we liken philosophy to a tree, then the love of wisdom is the root from which it grows, or, in other words, the development of philosophy is inspired by the love of wisdom. The material for constructing the spiritual tree of philosophy was the branch of spiritual culture that preceded it in time - mythology. Philosophy full course- A.A.Gorelov p.8

A mythological worldview is a system of views on the world and man’s place in it, which is based not on theoretical arguments and reasoning, but on the artistic experience of the world or on social illusions. The mythological worldview is built mainly on associative, and not on semantic connections, which primitive consciousness is unable to discover. Associations by similarity, contiguity and contrast in the mythological worldview prevail over semantic, objective connections (the discovery of which is still an unfinished business of science). Therefore, in the mythological worldview, the unimportant turns out to be essential (for example, the name of an object), and the unrelated turns out to be connected.

From the association by similarity arises another feature of the mythological worldview: inferences by analogy prevail in it, i.e. inferences made about the properties of one object based on its similarity to another object.

The method of analogy in the mythological worldview is manifested mainly in the fact that the mythological worldview is formed by transferring to nature the alien properties of the human race. This is the central, main feature of the mythological worldview.

A feature of the mythological worldview is geneticism. In mythology there is still no concept of an abiding, substantial origin. If mythology speaks of first principles, it is as if they were genetic. In this case, the same law of transferring the clan structure of society to nature operates. Evolutionist myths are complemented by creationist ones - the most important form of mythological geneticism.

But one way or another, the mythological worldview reduces explanation to a story of origin. A worldview myth is a story that answers the question of how the universe came about as a whole and in its parts, and where things came from. This “explanation” corresponds to the low level of mythological consciousness and clearly shows its “childishness”. L. Feuerbach notes that “the question is what? An adult asks the question - where from? - child". Feuerbach L. Fav. Philosopher prod. in 2 volumes. - M., 1955. - P.265. The mythological worldview boils down to a fantastic answer to the question: where from? Where did the world and the living creatures that inhabit it come from? G.V. Plekhanov even believed that the main question answered by “...mythology is not the question of who created man and animals, but where they came from.” Plekhanov G.V. About religion and church. - M., 1957. - P.267.

A mythological worldview can apparently be defined as a picture of the world that is built according to the principles of mythological “thinking,” i.e. at the level of the emotional and sensory stage of cognition according to the laws of imagination and methods of analogy, transferring the main features of the human race to the universe, as a result of which “we” is ontologized and “it” is personified. This is how the mythological supernatural world arises, and at the same time the main question of the mythological worldview - the question of the relationship between the natural and the supernatural. This issue is resolved by mythological consciousness in favor of the primacy of the supernatural over the natural (nature is the result of the organizing activity of the gods, man is their creation). The possibility of a second answer to the main question of the mythological worldview means a crisis of the latter, and the realization of this possibility means the emergence of philosophy.

Developed mythology contains a worldview, a primitive theory of the world. The possibility and necessity of such a “theory” was inherent in the very essence of man as such a part of nature that acted in relation to the whole as an active, transformative force, creating a humanized world from the inhuman elemental world, an artificial one from the natural environment, and in this sense, as it were, creating the world.

The worldview myths that interest us, and which we primarily have in mind when we talk about mythology, developed gradually. Marx K. and Engels F. Soch., - P.24. For example, the Australians and Indians of South America have myths about the origin of the Earth and the Universe that have not been discovered.

Although in mythology the relations between objects appear in the alienated form of relations between supra-natural beings, mythology cannot be identified with religion. Firstly, religion includes not only the ideological, mythological part, but also the cult (rites), and the unification of people to jointly perform rituals (religion is always collective). Secondly, not all myths were religious, not all of them served a cult. Therefore, mythology cannot be reduced to religion, although we must not forget about the religious aspect of mythology.

Fetishism. Animism

Fetishism is the religious worship of material objects - fetishes, to which supernatural properties are attributed. The name comes from the Portuguese word feitizo - “magic”. The term "fetish" was introduced in early XVIII century by the Dutch traveler V. Bosman. Some researchers, for example, G. Spencer and Taylor, considered fetishism a form of animism. Any object that for some reason captured a person’s imagination could become a fetish: a stone unusual shape, a piece of wood, body parts (teeth, fangs, pieces of skin, dried paws, bones, etc.). Later, figurines made of stone, bone, wood, and metal appeared. Often the fetish turned out to be a randomly chosen object. And if its owner is lucky, it means that the fetish has magical powers. IN otherwise he was replaced by another. Some peoples had a custom of thanking and sometimes punishing fetishes.

Animism (from Latin anima, animus - soul and spirit, respectively) - belief in the existence of the soul and spirits, belief in the animation of all nature. This term was first introduced by the German scientist G. E. Stahl. In his work “Theoria medica” (1708), he called his doctrine of the soul as an impersonal life principle underlying all life processes animism. Animism (from Latin anima, animus - soul and spirit, respectively) - belief in the existence of the soul and spirits, belief in the animation of all nature. This term was first introduced by the German scientist G. E. Stahl. In his work “Theoria medica” (1708), he called his doctrine of the soul as an impersonal life principle underlying all life processes animism.

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Historically, the first type of worldview was the mythological one, which arose at the dawn of human history. Mythology, as a special way of understanding the world, was inherent in all peoples at an early stage of social development, embodying the characteristics of the emerging human consciousness, that humanity that still retained the feeling of its closest connection with the natural world. It is characterized by the indivisibility of consciousness, the absence of clear distinctions between the world and man, empirical knowledge and fantasies, the subjective and objective, thoughts and emotions, the ideal and the material. Myth, expressing thoughts in a poetic, figurative, emotional form, had an etiological (Greek aitia - reason, logos - teaching) meaning. Answering numerous “whys,” he seemed to replace theory, offering an accessible, understandable, figurative and visual explanation of nature and the phenomena of the surrounding world. Among the numerous myths of each nation, there were also those that determined the nature of the worldview, explaining the origin of nature and man, man’s place in the world, his relationship to the world as a whole.

and to other people. And although each tribe, people, social community in its worldview reflected the world of its habitat, its way of life, between various types mythological worldview and there was much in common in resolving the main ideological issues.

From another source:

Characteristics of mythological consciousness:

1. syncretism (unity, indivisibility). In any myth, objective knowledge about the world, the beginnings of religious beliefs, and art coexist.

2. insensitivity to contradictions. The basis of the myth is human fantasy.

3. there are no cause-and-effect relationships between objects and phenomena.

In the mythological consciousness there are:

a) metamorphosis

b) associations (breathing<=>soul, dream<=>death)

c) teleological (the connection is not from cause to effect, but from goal to cause)

d) symbolism (operating not with concepts, but with specific symbols)

e) collectivity (myth is always a product of collective consciousness)

Unlike myth, philosophy offers other ways to solve worldview problems:

1. instead of an image - rational concepts

2. philosophy is non-syncretistic (clear opposition of subject and object)

3. in philosophy there are cause-and-effect relationships.

Features characteristic of the mythological worldview:

1) Anthropomorphemic- consideration of natural phenomena by analogy with humans.

2) Descriptiveness- the desire to explain events and phenomena in the form of a descriptive story, tale, legend; among the acting figures are heroes and gods

in the form of special people.

3) Syncretism(unity, indivisibility) of the objective and subjective worlds.

4) Connection with magic is characteristic of a more mature primitive communal consciousness and is expressed in the actions of sorcerers, shamans and other people armed with the rudiments

scientific knowledge about the human body, animals and plants.

5) Appeal to precedent in explaining the events that determine the modern order of things. For example: “man began to use fire because it was stolen from the gods by Prometheus,” etc.

6) Anti-historicity. Time is not understood as a process of progressive development. At best, it is allowed to be reversed.

7) Emotionally figurative form manifests itself in the transmission of images of heroes, gods, and spirits. For example, everyone knows the image underground kingdom The Dead - Hades (hell), where Charon (the boatman) transports the souls of the dead across the River Styx (Greek myth).

8) Humanization of nature.

9) Reflection(the work of consciousness, a person’s thoughts on his own consciousness; reflection on his views, mental state, their assessment) is absent.

10) Utilitarian orientation mythology is manifested in the fact that the worldview problems it solves are closely related to practical tasks: luck, happy life, protection from hunger, disease, want, etc.