Determining the essence of man is inseparable from discussing the contradictions of his existence, his being. K. Marx saw the essence of man in the totality (ensemble) of social relations, forming one or another person’s attitude to the world in different historical eras. To understand how, when and why social relations arise, it is necessary to turn again to the genesis of the human race, to the problem of the emergence and consolidation of extrabiological forms of regulation of activity.

Played a huge role in this process language development as a specifically human channel of communication and the basis for successful subject-based practical activity. Without the names of objects and phenomena, without their designation, the development of production and communication and thereby the sociality of that “fabric” that united primitive people and separated “us” and “strangers,” harmful and useful, sacred and ordinary, would have been impossible.

Natural development, which prepared the substrate for the emergence of a fundamentally new, supra-biological, supernatural method of human survival and improvement, which is called human culture. Its essence lies in the transmission through information channels of ways of communication between individuals, traditions, customs, rituals and everything that is expressed in words.

Sexual and food prohibitions (taboos) were probably the most ancient forms of regulation of human behavior, which acted as a kind of “guide to action” based on the experience of ancestors. Taboos were universal prohibitions that applied to all members of the clan - men and women, strong and weak, elders and children. For the development of man, it was of great importance awareness of the fact of death, which can be seen from ritual burials already in the Paleolithic era. It is obvious that in the consciousness of primitive man, the division of the world into the real and otherworldly, earthly and supernatural world occurred very early.

In the formation of the social essence of man, he played a huge role labor as a purposeful human activity to transform nature in order to satisfy one’s needs. In a philosophical sense, the origin of labor and its initial evolution are interesting primarily because in this process the basis for the collective interaction of people and the socio-psychological stereotypes of their behavior were laid. It is clear that at the earliest stages the natural appropriation of the fruits of the earth dominated, although nature already acted as a condition for emerging production, as an arsenal of means of labor. The first type of relationship between our ancestors and nature can be described as use. It also brought to life the first primitive forms of awareness of such phenomena as property and power.

The beginnings of future property arose, apparently, as a certain form of relationship between “we” and “they” (i.e., another tribe) regarding food sources. The next step, obviously, was associated with the development of ownership, i.e., long-term purposeful use, for example, of fire as the property of the entire clan community or food supplies, a “common pot.” Finally, with the development of production and the establishment of regular exchanges of labor products with neighboring communities, the phenomenon of managing the results of production appears, from which trade grows. This process especially accelerated during the period of the so-called “Neolithic Revolution”, with the transition to agriculture, cattle breeding and crafts.

The essence of a person can also be seen not only in social relations, but also in the unique mental and spiritual organization of a person, which will be discussed further.

Social essence of man

Determining the essence of man is inseparable from discussing the contradictions of his existence, his being. K. Marx saw the essence of man in the totality (ensemble) of social relations that form one or another attitude of man to the world in different historical eras. To understand how, when and why social relations arise, it is necessary to turn again to the genesis of the human race, to the problem of the emergence and consolidation of extrabiological forms of regulation of activity.

A huge role in this process was played by the development of language as a specifically human channel of communication and the basis for successful subject-based practical activity. Without the names of objects and phenomena, without their designation, the development of production and communication and thereby the sociality of that “fabric” that united primitive people and separated “us” and “strangers,” harmful and useful, sacred and ordinary, would have been impossible.

Natural development, which prepared the substrate for the emergence of a fundamentally new, supra-biological, supernatural method of human survival and improvement, which is called human culture. Its essence lies in the transmission through information channels of ways of communication between individuals, traditions, customs, rituals and everything that is expressed in words.

Sexual and food prohibitions (taboos) were probably the most ancient forms of regulation of human behavior, which acted as a kind of “guide to action” based on the experience of ancestors. Taboos were universal prohibitions that applied to all members of the clan - men and women, strong and weak, elders and children. For the development of man, the awareness of the fact of death was of great importance, as can be seen from ritual burials already in the Paleolithic era. It is obvious that in the consciousness of primitive man, the division of the world into the real and otherworldly, earthly and supernatural world occurred very early.

In the formation of the social essence of man, labor played a huge role as the expedient activity of man to transform nature in order to satisfy his needs. In a philosophical sense, the origin of labor and its initial evolution are interesting, first of all, because in this process the basis for the collective interaction of people and the socio-psychological stereotypes of their behavior were laid. It is clear that at the earliest stages the natural appropriation of the fruits of the earth dominated, although nature already acted as a condition for emerging production, as an arsenal of means of labor. The first type of relationship between our ancestors and nature can be described as use. It also brought to life the first primitive forms of awareness of such phenomena as property and power.

The beginnings of future property arose, apparently, as a certain form of relationship between “we” and “they” (i.e. another tribe) regarding food sources. The next step, obviously, was associated with the development of ownership, i.e., purposeful long-term use, for example, of fire as the property of the entire clan community or food supplies, a “common pot.” Finally, with the development of production and the establishment of regular exchanges of labor products with neighboring communities, the phenomenon of managing the results of production appears, from which trade grows. This process especially accelerated during the period of the so-called “Neolithic Revolution”, with the transition to agriculture, cattle breeding and crafts.

The essence of a person can also be seen not only in social relations, but also in the unique mental and spiritual organization of a person, which will be discussed further.

LECTURE: Society and its structure

Lecture outline:

1. The concept of society.

2. Society as a self-developing system.

3. Civil society and the state.

4. Formation, civilization, world-system as forms of organization of society.

Concept of society

The terms “society”, “public”, “social” are widespread, but very ambiguous, despite the fact that back in the 19th century. The science of sociology arose, its subject being the study of society. Its founder O. Comte considered sociology to be “social physics” and “positive morality”, capable of becoming a new religion for all mankind. In the same century, society was called both a plant and an animal, and a person, and a union, and interaction, and solidarity, and struggle. The Latin verb “socio” means to unite, unite, or undertake joint work. Hence the original meaning of the word “society” - community, union, cooperation. Aristotle called man a “political animal,” implying that only people are capable of voluntarily and consciously uniting into society. Not every community of people is a society, but any society is, in one way or another, a self-governing community.

K. Marx and his followers developed a dialectical-materialist concept of society, the essence of which lies in the position of the method of production of material goods, which develops objectively, that is, independently of the will and consciousness of people, and mainly determines the way of being of the “social organism” . From the form of material production “follows, firstly, a certain structure of society, and secondly, a certain attitude of people towards nature.” Their political system and their spiritual structure are determined by both. History in the Marxist concept appears as a “natural historical process”, where objective “laws of tendency” operate in combination with a subjective factor. The strength of this concept is the doctrine of the special “sensory-supersensible” nature of “social matter”, the duality of the existence of man and society, as well as the idea of ​​​​the stages of the evolution of social connections depending on the forms of people’s existence and their joint activities (personal and material dependence of people from each other).

However, some provisions of this concept have not received clear confirmation in the actual socio-historical practice of the 20th century. In particular, the grandiose social experiment of building a socialist society in one country (group of countries) in a capitalist environment was not crowned with success.

The development of concepts based on a naturalistic approach to explaining the phenomena of society and man continues. From these positions, society is seen as a natural continuation of natural and cosmic laws. The course of history and the fate of peoples is mainly determined by the rhythms of the Cosmos and solar activity (A. Chizhevsky, L. Gumilev), the peculiarities of the natural climatic environment (L. Mechnikov), the evolution of the natural organization of man and his gene pool (sociobiology). Society is viewed as the highest, but far from the most successful creation of nature, and man as the most imperfect living being, genetically burdened with the desire for destruction and violence.

In idealistic models of the development of society, its essence is seen in a complex of certain ideas, beliefs, myths, etc. First of all, we are talking about religious concepts of society. World religions (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism), as well as national ones (Judaism, Hinduism, Confucianism), have their own models of how society and the state are structured. Their essence is the idea of ​​​​divine predestination of the structure of society, which should provide a person with conditions for a worthy meeting with God in this and future life. The idealistic approach to society and history is expressed most forcefully in the philosophical system of G. Hegel, where the Absolute Spirit expresses itself in the “consciousness of freedom” in human history. The latter is the material for the Spirit in which it recognizes itself and rises to a new level.

Mention should be made of the concepts of society in the philosophical thought of the West in the 20th century. It is difficult to single out one dominant approach here. Thus, E. Durkheim argued that society is a reality of a special kind, not reducible to others and influencing a person based on the idea of ​​social solidarity. M. Weber created “understanding sociology” and developed the concept of “ideal type”, on the basis of which he analyzed the phenomenon of bureaucracy and the Protestant ethic as the “spirit of capitalism”. K. Popper introduced the concepts of “social technology” and “social engineering”, believing that the course of history is not subject to design. He substantiated the concept of an “open society” and pointed out the dangers of totalitarianism.

In general, all of the above-mentioned models of society cannot claim absolute truth, but express certain facets of that most complex reality, which is defined by the term “society”. One way or another, with any approach, for its philosophical understanding it is necessary to solve a twofold problem: 1) understand the place of society as a system in the general structure of the world and 2) understand the general invariants of the social structure throughout its historical development.

Different eras present completely opposite opinions. L. Feuerbach argued that the essence of a person is predetermined in advance and depends on the inherent genes. After birth, a person cannot change biological data, so reason, feeling and will are constant indicators. K. Marx continues this thought, but correcting the concept, emphasizes the influence of the socio-historical era and reminds: “The manifestation of the behavior of each individual is affected by the totality of social relations.”

The closer we get to modern times, the clearer the conclusions of famous people about the essence of man become. Each of the philosophers emphasizes his main idea, which characterizes. Freedom of choice, thinking, spirituality, self-knowledge, will, reason, creative energy, work - all these concepts are significant and special, but only when they are united and consistent with internal aspirations for harmony. Separately, this is only a small part of life without further development. They, scientists, were not indifferent to the essence of existence, but by emphasizing one thought, they excluded another.

Initial findings

If we combine the thoughts of scientists together, we can derive a general formulation that gives initial concepts - what exactly is the inherent or acquired essence of a person. Creatures, i.e. people are endowed with natural and social qualities applicable to creative and free activity, which is imbued with a historical character characteristic of a specific time. Clear and confusing at the same time. Why are their preferred traits absent - wisdom, beauty, morality, justice? What is the fault of love - the primary need to affirm one’s “I”?

Love helps to express individuality in free directions. By contacting the object of sympathy, a person studies and understands its essence. The uniqueness of one and the opposition of the other. Social natural inner strength can change through communication, emphasizing the importance of reciprocal feelings. The dynamic development in the life of the population of any city or town is inextricably linked with the theme of love - family, work, society. They are impressed by everything they like.

By bringing people closer to other living beings, social philosophy simultaneously reveals difference. Subject to the laws of biological processes, man, as a higher being, has the same systems along with lower ones: nervous, circulatory, muscular. However, a social trait develops due to connection with society, adding to the existing natural properties readiness to work, freedom of choice, ethics and morality, responsibility for obligations, intelligence, etc.

Social social life can radically change biological data. Through step-by-step education, a new personality is formed in the right direction. In the modern interpretation, they adhere more to the unity of natural and social principles, when the ability to think and act in the form of inclinations turns into more cognitive processes that characterize later life. The social task of adaptation and instilling the necessary qualities is assigned to parents, educators and teachers.

Levels of Cognition

Using five levels, the depth of knowledge of an entity is qualified.

1. First. Activity for the sake of need.
2. Second. Activity through labor as a means of livelihood.
3. Third. Development of public relations.
4. Fourth. The emergence of conscious, purposeful actions aimed at understanding the world and finding one’s place in society.
5. Fifth. Free and creative activity leads to changes in society.

Moving from level to level, a clear concept comes to the individual of what, more precisely, is the subsequent and conscious activity.

Activity for the sake of need

At the first level, existence is no different from the life of animals. There is also a need for food and sleep. If you limit your actions only to satisfying hunger and giving your body a break from movement, the desire to change and improve the existing order will not come to you. There is no one to blame, nothing to analyze. Completely primitive.

Activity through work

F. Engels said that “labor created man.” The simple tools he received improved his life and living conditions. At the second level, gradually, through work, a person becomes independent of natural conditions. Biological needs take on a different connotation, not as an adaptation, but as a reliable means for play, study or work.

Development of public relations

It is known that a person manifests himself through activity. However, the work of one member of society involves the joint production of many other people in a team or family. At the third level, there is a consistent exchange of information, comprehension and transfer of experience, establishing connections, views, opinions, and moods are formed. Delving into the system of social relations, for them, men, women and children, an ordinary need becomes a necessity for an independent sphere in order to show development, achievement of results and the essence itself.

Understanding the world and finding your place

Social conditions made a person think. By doing work without much interest, productivity stagnated. Once you got satisfaction from the task, efficiency and productivity quickly increased. At the fourth level, a goal appears that you want to strive for. The goal was accumulated by experience, the social bar was raised, a high level was achieved, and this made life easier, more convenient, and more fun. The desire to have a structured plan emphasizes the human capacity for independence. On the one hand, the achieved result, on the other, the prerequisites for the next one.

Freedom and creativity changes society

The highest level, which is destined to lead only a select few. Conscious activity helps them pave new paths, destroy stereotypes and change not only themselves, but also external circumstances. Man, ensuring his existence, with complete creative freedom, creates beautiful masterpieces of art, develops technologies, lives with ideas and the future.

Social influence

Social communication, an attitude, occurs when a change in one person occurs under the influence of another. Each individual expresses the properties of society and brings change. Joint activity allows you to show characteristics of the situation, processes and phenomena. Different nations, classes, levels lead to different structures of society. You have to face, realize and find an acceptable judgment.

It should be understood, in a broad and narrow aspect, what, directly or indirectly, lies the awareness of the term “social essence” and the internal interactions of a person with the environment. Broad means public, narrow means the choice of a specific structure, group, collective. Because of this, the opinion, choice, essence changes.

Language plays a huge role in the communication process. Without disclosing the designation of objects, names, them, people, different or similar, it would be difficult to find a basis for vigorous activity that could lead to a fundamentally new and qualitative turn in the exchange of information, strengthening traditions.

A person's calling

The essence of a person implies satisfaction from life. They, the lucky ones, manage to choose their favorite specialty and make a choice among many professions. Such people are radiant, pure and friendly. They bring benefits from the work done and give you a good mood. How did it happen that they were lucky and did not encounter many obstacles along the way? Apparently the desire to have abilities reaches a climax and inclines the universe to help. Or simply, they were able to recognize their calling.

The social program of education does not imply finding, but rather proposing stereotypes along which one must navigate one’s path. By offering other people's findings and methods, thereby denying their own, which is unusual and non-standard, adults sometimes trample on the rising sprout of individuality at the initial stage. Therefore, it is difficult for them, modest and quiet, to persevere in order to express their essence.

For a person whose attempts end in failure, the essence becomes a heavy burden. The time spent is marked by emptiness and dissatisfaction. When it is realized that half the journey is devoted to an unloved task, a forgotten calling finally arrives, which must be turned into reality. Of course, the social community will not always accept eccentric proposals for change with a bang, but they cannot understand how they want to create their own separate world.

When getting lost in difficult turns, a person must have a path that provides a starting point, so that when he returns to his roots, he again gains strength and confidence for further progress. In order not to completely get confused in the labyrinth of life, determine for yourself what is amazing and non-standard about your essence and great calling as a person and citizen.

By thinking about and understanding what each day you live is about, you will certainly find harmony with yourself, with the outside world, and feel the point of contact between natural data and personal desires. The essence itself will force you to compare past feelings with new emotions that have come. People, cheerful and restless, will certainly want to lift their spirits and replace them with joy and success. Then you will be embarrassed for the lost time, but the acquired meaning of life will make you calm down.

Imagine a future where the essence of man lies in complete harmony. By realizing the goals that have come to the unity of soul and consciousness, social adaptation becomes unnecessary. By letting go of friction and reticence, people will become free from material dependence and freed from the responsibilities assigned by society.

In philosophical anthropology, the most important place in understanding the essence of man is occupied by the interpretation of man as a social being.

Modern theory, based on the sociocentrism of the era of classicism, on the philosophy of Georg Hegel, Karl Marx, Auguste Comte, contrasts the traditional search for the natural or divine principles of human nature in previous philosophy with the idea of ​​human belonging to a special form of reality: a social system in which a person acts as a product, the result of the processing of natural biological material by means of culture, and as a personified embodiment of this system, the subject of new transformations that stands out in it and, therefore, the driving force of self-development of society.

I think so, and quite easily. Friedrich Engels wrote in his book “Anti-Dühring”: “Tell me what the main tool of labor people use, and I will tell you what kind of social system they have. If this is a stone ax and a bow and arrow, then this is a primitive society. If this is a wooden plow and a windmill, then this is feudalism. If it is a steam engine and an electric motor, then this is capitalism.”

By examining everyday objects - clothing, homes, furniture - the “little green men” reconstruct the proportions and appearance of the human body. Finding our food, fields and farms, food complexes and grocery stores, they will establish the chemistry and physiology of our body.

By understanding our factories, transport, and energy sources, they will understand our technologies, which means they will establish the level of development of the productive forces and, consequently, the main types of social institutions, including the type of socio-economic formation.

However, we must understand that objective culture itself is dead without human activity that sets it in motion. Therefore, social existence is reflected in the very structures and organizational forms of activity, in the attributes of work, communication, ways of life, which make up the characteristics of the lifestyle. This slice of social reality is expressed in the practical, functional organization of the system of social relations. Here, the reflection of social existence reaches the level of sign systems: along with objects and tools of activity, signs appear - artificial things, the special function of which is to replace objects of activity and which act as tools of communication, communication, and information processes. The most universal, flexible, comprehensive system of such signs is natural language, Speaking.

Ultimately, actions with objects, labor operations, together with systems of signs, figurative or symbolic, are introduced into the psyche of individuals, changing and shaping its content. A person included in the system of social relations, in the social sphere, develops the ability to think, radically restructuring his psyche. He has the opportunity, with the help of speech, to record, accumulate information, transfer it from the past to the present, connecting the experience stored in memory, or project it into the future, predicting the results of activities, anticipating future events. Thus, a person becomes a part and personified embodiment of the social system, acquires the quality of personality, and his activity becomes conscious.

The validity of this conclusion is confirmed by actual situations in which a person found himself isolated from the social environment. There are numerous cases where human babies were found fed by animals, most often wolves. The fabulous Mowgli from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book had many prototypes. One such example is given by the English missionary Dr. Singh in his book “Man’s Child Found among Wolves.” For sixteen years he tried to raise the girl Kamala, who was brought to him from the jungles of the Indian state of Uttar Pradezh by hunters. Alas! Unlike the fairy tale, it was not possible to raise a child as a human: she never learned to walk, live in a house, use clothes or household items, much less learn to speak, remaining a trained wolf cub. The missed first months and years, according to the famous American pediatrician Benjamin Spock, lay irreversible changes in the individual’s psyche.

Another example of a person’s isolation is being alone on a desert island, like the character in the novel by the English writer Daniel Defoe “The Life and Amazing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Sailor of York.” In the novel, the hero spent more than two decades on a desert island and remained an extraordinary person. However, this, unfortunately, is fiction. There are many dozens of actual discoveries of people abandoned in loneliness: the results are sad. Defoe himself took as the basis for his novel the case described in the book “A Voyage Around the World” by the famous traveler, captain of the French Royal Navy Dumont D'Urville, when the Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk was found on the island of Juan Fernandez in the Pacific Ocean, having spent only four years. “When Captain Rogers took him onto his ship, he became so unaccustomed to speaking that at first he uttered only inarticulate sounds, refused the vodka offered to him, and for several weeks could not taste meat cooked in the European style on the ship.”

Let us add that for a long time Selkirk could not tell anything about himself: he forgot everything, and only a long time later “remembered everything.”

It should be emphasized that living individuals do not become conscious individuals due to purely natural properties. Their social quality is not inherent in the genotype, but is acquired in the process of socialization and upbringing in a cultural environment. Consequently, without an organic connection with things and signs, without a practical-objective connection with other people in the structures of social institutions, there can be no talk of conscious individuals.

It would be cool if you could see a person and immediately understand what he is like, that in his inner world there are some positive qualities that would indicate that you can be friends with him or do business with him. But this doesn't happen. And the reason is that every person tries to hide behind a hundred masks. Some are ashamed of their real selves, some expect to benefit from the created phantoms of themselves, and some are simply afraid, so they lie on full autopilot. In any case, if you want to communicate normally with other people, then you need to be able to distinguish reality from fiction. This is what we will teach today.

You can easily be deceived

Suppose you are, who looks gorgeous, and also has something to talk about. Your first thought may be “she's perfect for me.” But remember that all this may turn out to be a big show for processing your brain: she has a beautiful dress; pleasant smell of perfume; well delivered speech. But in the long run none of this matters. There will definitely be a turning point that reveals her true nature, and this can traumatize you. This can happen to a girl, or maybe to a colleague or friend. With anyone. Pleasant appearance, good manners, and personal aesthetics do not define the personality itself. Personality is determined by problems, certain extreme situations that knock you out of routine. And then you will understand that you have been deceived.

When you need to achieve a good impression from someone, then you, like all the people around you, forget about frankness, honesty, and honor. The main thing is the result, right? So everyone works for the result. As a result, you have absolutely no idea who is standing in front of you: a good person or a complete asshole. Just keep this thought in your head. If someone needs something from you, then, most likely, this someone will resort to lying to one degree or another.

How to avoid being scammed?

No one wants their opinion about a loved one, business partner, or friend to suddenly collapse under the influence of a revealing situation. It's traumatic. Here you are shaking a friend’s hand, and then you realize that you are shaking the hand of an enemy. And it seemed like nothing happened, only the man showed himself in his true light. But we urge you not to wait for this moment when everything will be too late. We encourage you to deal with the person at the very start. This can be done by understanding the “three personal rings.”

Outer ring

The outer ring is the tinsel that we pass off as our true face. This is the image that we hold in our heads and, if necessary, bring it out so that the opinion of us is the way we want it. We are always in this ring when we go on a first date, an unfamiliar party, an interview, or a business meeting. This is the image that makes us “successful.” At least that's what we think.

Middle ring

This ring is closer to life. It is created through intellectual work through communication. If people ask you about something and you share your opinion with them, then to a greater extent we are talking about the opinion that was formed by the middle ring. For example, at work we speak in a certain way to emphasize subordination or work ethic. We don't talk to colleagues the same way we talk to friends and family. That is, professional conditions force us to lie in one way or another, but this is socially acceptable.

Core ring

But this is our essence, which we hide so deeply in the very depths of our hearts. All our fears, all our weaknesses are hidden here, but all this is part of our nature. The core also contains our real beliefs, which may seem unacceptable, scary, or wrong. This is our true nature, which on a subconscious level is our real self. When someone from the outside criticizes the real you, then you, if you have a weak nervous system, can launch an atomic bomb or, at best, a completely dangerous and meaningless argument. The core contains both bad and good. Everyone has one, and your goal when meeting a new person is to identify the core. Get the point.

Understand the core

Watch

Pay attention to unconscious habits, which are an excellent marker for identifying your “true personality.” Pay special attention to how a person communicates with people who disagree with him in opinion. Do you see the hypocrisy in their words? Do you see secrecy or a desire to manipulate? How does a person talk about other people behind their back?

Test

Smart managers test their resistance to stress in the first weeks of work. This way they understand whether a person should be trusted with more responsible tasks or not. If character flaws are revealed already in the first days, then it is better to do without such an employee, because you never know what important matters may be randomly entrusted to this person. In other words, in the first days of dating, you should test the person by knocking him out of his comfort zone. For what? Because outside their comfort zone, people more often rely on their core.

Ask questions

Feel free to ask more questions. Especially those that require deep immersion in yourself in order to think and think about everything well. If you are afraid to ask personal questions, then ask a question on some ethical topic. With the help of such topics, you can determine the moral character of a person. If you are meeting a new girl, then ask her a question about past relationships - the answers and general reaction can tell you a lot.

Based on materials from Brian Lee