The main theme on which philosophers of the New Age period have concentrated is the problem of cognition. Greatest minds gave the world new methods of constructing scientific knowledge, new theories and philosophical directions.
New time covers the period from the end of the 17th to the 19th century. Philosophers of this era tried to bring their works as close as possible to the natural sciences, to subordinate philosophical concepts to the laws of mechanics, rapidly moving away from the scholasticism of the Middle Ages and the culture of the Renaissance. Two competing philosophical trends were created: empiricism and rationalism. The leap in philosophical knowledge of the 17th century is associated with the names of Francis Bacon, Rene Descartes, Benedict Spinoza and John Locke.
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon (1561-1626) is an English philosopher who gave rise to empiricism as a fundamentally new philosophical trend. The name of the direction comes from the ancient Greek word "experience". Bacon believed that the only true way to know the truth is through experience, or experiment.
While studying the problem of cognition, Bacon came to the conclusion that there are certain obstacles, or "idols, " which confront a person on the path to truth. He distinguished 4 categories of such "idols":
- The "idol of the human race" is an obstacle associated with the limitations and imperfection of our senses. We cannot see the molecule with our own eyes, we cannot hear certain frequencies, etc. But Bacon argued that these obstacles can be overcome by creating various devices and tools - for example, a microscope. Therefore, the creation of new technology should be given special attention.
- "Idol of the cave." Bacon gave an example: if a person sits in a cave with his back to the entrance, then he will judge the world around him only by the shadows dancing on the wall in front of him. And so are all people: they judge the world subjectively, only within the framework of their own worldview and attitude. And this can be overcome using the tools of objectification. For example, the subjective sensation of cold and heat can be replaced by an objective measurement of temperature using thermometers.
- "The idol of the market, " or the "idol of vernacular." It is connected with the fact that many people use words not for their intended purpose, but as they themselves understand them. Many scientific terms, used in everyday life, acquire a certain mystical color and lose their scientific character. This fate has undergone many concepts from psychology and psychotherapy. This can be avoided by creating glossaries - collections of highly specialized terms for each scientific field, containing terms and their exact definitions.
- "Idol of the theater." This obstacle lies in the problem of blind and unconditional faith in authority. Nevertheless, according to Bacon, even the most common and recognized theoretical propositions should be checked on their own experience, conducting experiments. This is the only way to avoid false knowledge.
Francis Bacon is the author of the world-famous aphorism: "Knowledge is power!"
Rene Descartes
Rene Descartes (1596-1650) laid the foundations of rationalism - a teaching that contrasts itself with empiricism. The only true way of knowing, he considered the power of the human mind. The main place in his concept is occupied by the concept of “Passion of the soul” - products of the joint activity of the human soul and body. In other words, this is what we feel with the help of our senses, getting some kind of mental response: sounds, smells, hunger and thirst, etc.
Passions are primary (inborn, such as love and desire) and secondary (acquired, arising as a result of life experience; for example, simultaneously experienced love and hate can give rise to a feeling of jealousy). Acquired passions can cause considerable harm to human life if they are not brought up with the help of willpower and reliance on existing norms and rules of behavior.
Thus, Rene Descartes adhered to dualism - a worldview according to which the psyche (soul) and the material body are different substances that only interact with each other during the course of a person’s life. He even believed that there is a special organ in which the soul is located - the pineal gland.
According to Descartes, consciousness (and self-consciousness) is the beginning of all principles in all areas of science. Consciousness consists of three types of ideas:
- Ideas generated by man himself are subjective knowledge acquired by man through the work of the senses. They cannot give accurate and true information about the objects and phenomena of the world.
- The acquired ideas are the result of generalizing the experience of many people. They are also useless in knowing the objective essence of things, but they paint a more holistic picture of the structure of consciousness of other people.
- Inborn ideas are a product of the activity of the human mind, which does not need to be confirmed with the help of the senses. This is the only true, according to Descartes, way of knowing the truth. It is this approach to cognition that is called rationalism. "I think, therefore, I exist" - as Descartes described his understanding of this philosophical direction.
Benedict Spinoza
Benedict Spinoza (1677-1632) criticized Rene Descartes for the idea of dualism of soul and body. He adhered to another direction - monism, according to which the spiritual and material substances are one and obey the general laws. In addition, he was a supporter of pantheism - a philosophical movement that considers nature and God as one. According to Spinoza, the whole world consists of one single substance with an infinite number of properties. Man, for example, has only two properties - extension (his material body) and thinking (activity of the soul, or psyche).
In addition to questions about the relationship between material and spiritual, Spinoza studied the problem of affects. There are three types of affects: desire, pleasure and displeasure. They are able to mislead a person, giving rise to reactions inadequate to external stimuli. Therefore, they must be fought, and the main tool of struggle is the knowledge of the true essence of things.
He distinguished three types (methods) of knowledge:
- cognition of the first kind is a person’s own opinion about the phenomena of the world and the products of his imagination in the form of images;
- cognition of the second kind is the basis for sciences, existing in the form of general ideas about the properties of objects and phenomena.
- cognition of the third kind - the highest, according to Spinoza, intuitive knowledge; it is in this way that one can comprehend the essence of things and overcome emotions.
