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Ideas of the French Enlightenment of the 18th century. in the teachings of Claude Andrian Helvetius. Political views of the French materialists of the Enlightenment (K. Helvetius, P. Holbach, D. Diderot) When prophetic dreams are dreamed
A brief description of the philosophical views of the French materialists. Among the French philosophers of the Enlightenment, the materialist philosophers stood out with the greatest consistency in their views and the militant nature of their principled positions. "During the whole recent history Europe, - wrote V.I. Lenin, - and especially at the end of the 18th century, in France, where a decisive battle was fought against all kinds of medieval rubbish, against serfdom in institutions and ideas, materialism turned out to be the only consistent philosophy true to all the teachings of the natural sciences, hostile to superstition, hypocrisy, etc.” The materialist philosophers resolutely opposed the feudal state institutions and the church, and forged the sharp ideological weapons of the French revolution. The works of Diderot, Helvetius, Holbach were banned, confiscated, subjected to public burning by the authorities, the authors themselves were often persecuted, often forced to emigrate to other countries.
French materialists were consistent, active fighters against religion, their atheistic worldview had a huge impact not only on their contemporaries, but also on subsequent generations. Church and religion were the main pillar of feudalism, the destruction of this pillar was necessary condition revolution. Criticism of religion at that time, K. Marx explained, was a prerequisite for any other criticism.
Philosophers-materialists sought to prove that the sources of religion are ignorance, slavery, despotism and the deception of the masses by the clergy. Priests do not care about the enlightenment of the people, they wrote, and the less enlightened the mass, the easier it is to fool them. V. I. Lenin highly valued the atheists of the 18th century, who talentedly, witty, and openly attacked religion and priesthood. However, they did not understand the social essence of religion and could not point out the right ways to fight it. French materialists believed that enlightenment would eliminate all superstitions. Science, art, crafts give people new strength, assist them in the knowledge of the laws of nature, which should lead them to the rejection of religion.
Religion is required by the feudal government in order to more easily govern the people, but a just, enlightened, virtuous government will not need false fables. Therefore, the clergy should not be allowed to run schools, there should be no teaching of religion in schools, it is necessary to introduce such subjects that would lead students to the knowledge of the laws of nature. It would be expedient to establish such a subject that would teach the basics of moral norms of behavior in a new society, such a subject should have been a course in morality.
According to the teachings of the French materialists, there is only matter in the world, which is in constant motion, matter is a physical reality. They recognized universal interaction in nature and motion as a natural property of matter. But French materialism did not go beyond the mechanical understanding of movement and was of a metaphysical, contemplative nature.
Based on Locke's sensationalism, the French materialists recognized the sensations received from the external world as the starting point of cognition. According to Diderot, a person is like a musical instrument, the keys of which are the sense organs: when nature presses them, the instrument makes sounds - a person has sensations and concepts.
Being materialists in their views on nature, the French philosophers, in explaining the laws of social development, stood on the positions of idealism. They argued that "opinions rule the world", and if so, it is enough to achieve a change in opinions, and all feudal survivals and religion will fall away, enlightenment will spread, legislation will improve and the kingdom of reason will be established. Consequently, it is necessary to convince and re-educate people, and the nature of social relations will be radically changed. Therefore, the French materialists considered education a means of changing the social order. They also overestimated the influence of the environment, considering a person as a passive product of his environment and upbringing. They did not understand the role of the revolutionary activity of people, changing both the environment and their own nature. F. Engels explained that the inconsistency of the old materialism did not lie in the fact that he recognized the existence of ideal motive forces, but in the fact that he stopped at them, not trying to penetrate further, to reach the causes that created these forces.
The pedagogical views of the French materialists Helvetius and Diderot were of the greatest importance.
Pedagogical views of Claude Adrian Helvetius (1715-1771). In 1758, the famous book of Helvetius "On the Mind" was published. The authorities condemned and banned this book, as directed against religion and the existing system. The book was publicly burned. Helvetius went abroad and at that time wrote a new work - "On Man, His Mental Abilities and His Education" (published in 1773).
Helvetius denied innate ideas and, being a sensualist, believed that all representations and concepts in a person are formed on the basis of sensory perceptions. He attached great importance to the formation of a person under the influence of the environment, the socio-political system that prevails in the country. According to Helvetius, "the young man's new and main educators are the form of government of the state in which he lives, and the morals generated by this form of government among the people."
He pointed out that the feudal system cripples people. The Church spoils human characters, religious morality is hypocritical and inhuman. "Woe to the nations," exclaims Helvetius, "who trust the priests to educate their citizens." He believed that the time had come when the preaching of morality should be taken over by secular power. Since the existing morality is built on errors and prejudices, on religion, a new morality must be created, arising from a rightly understood personal interest, that is, one that is combined with the public interest. However, Helvetia understood the public interest from a bourgeois position. He saw the basis of society in private property.
Helvetius considered it necessary to formulate a single goal of education for all citizens. This goal is to strive for the good of the whole society, for the greatest pleasure and happiness. most citizens. It is necessary to educate patriots who are able to unite the idea of personal good and the “good of the nation”. Although Helvetius interpreted the “good of the nation” in a limited way, as a bourgeois thinker, such an understanding of the goals of education had a historically progressive character.
Helvetius argued that all people are equally capable of education, since they are born with the same spiritual abilities. This statement "about the natural equality of people" is imbued with democracy; it dealt a blow to the theories of contemporary noble ideologists who preached the inequality of people by nature, which was allegedly due to their social origin. However, Helvetius' denial of any natural differences between people is incorrect.
Helvetius believed that a person is formed only under the influence of the environment and upbringing. At the same time, he interpreted the concept of "education" very broadly. Karl Marx pointed out that by education Helvetius "understands not only education in the usual sense of the word, but also the totality of all the conditions of an individual's life ...". Helvetius stated that "upbringing makes us what we are", and even more: "Education can do anything." He overestimated both the role of education and the environment, believing that a person is a pupil of all the objects around him, those positions in which chance puts him, and even all the accidents that happen to him. Such an interpretation leads to an overestimation of natural factors and an underestimation of organized education in the formation of a person.
Helvetius believed that the scholastic school, where children are stupefied with religion, cannot educate not only real people, but also a sane person in general. It is therefore necessary to radically reorganize the school, make it secular and state-owned, and abolish the monopoly of the privileged noble caste on education. Broad education of the people is necessary, it is necessary to re-educate people. Helvetius hoped that as a result of education and upbringing, a person free from prejudice, from superstition, a true atheist patriot, a person who could combine personal happiness with the "good of nations" would be created.
Pedagogical views of Denis Diderot (1713-1784). The most prominent representative of French materialism in the 18th century was Denis Diderot. His writings were met with hostility by the authorities. As soon as his work “Letters on the Blind for the Edification of the Sighted” was published, Diderot was arrested. After his release from prison, he devoted all his energies to preparing for the publication of the Encyclopedia of Sciences, Arts and Crafts. The encyclopedia, around which he gathered the entire flower of the then bourgeois intelligentsia, played a huge role in the ideological preparation of the bourgeois French revolution.
Of all the French materialist philosophers, Diderot was the most consistent: he passionately defended the idea of the indestructibility of matter, the eternity of life, and the great role of science.
Diderot attached great importance sensations, however, he did not reduce knowledge to them, but rightly pointed out that the processing of sensations by the mind is of great importance. The sense organs are only witnesses, while the judgment is the result of the activity of the mind on the basis of the data received from them.
Diderot highly appreciated the role of education, however, in his objections to Helvetia, he did not consider education to be omnipotent. He wrote in the form of a dialogue the well-known "Systematic refutation of the book of Helvetius" Man "(1773-1774).
Here is one typical place:
"Helvetius. I regarded intelligence, genius and virtue as the product of education.
Diderot. Only education?
Helvetius. This thought seems to me still true.
Diderot. It is false, and because of this it can never be proved in a completely convincing way.
Helvetius. It was agreed with me that education has a greater influence on the genius and character of people and peoples than has been thought.
Diderot. And that's all I could agree with you on."
Diderot decisively refutes Helvetius's position that education can do everything. He believes that much can be achieved by upbringing, but upbringing develops what nature has given the child. Through education, it is possible to develop good natural inclinations and drown out bad ones, but only if education takes into account the physical organization of a person, his natural characteristics.
Diderot's position on the importance that the natural differences of people have in their development, on the need to take into account the peculiarities of the child's physical organization and psyche in education, deserves a positive assessment. However, due to the limitations of the French materialistic philosophy of the XVIII century, Diderot mistakenly considers human nature as something immutable, abstract. Meanwhile, as the founders of Marxism later established, human nature changes in the course of historical development, people change their own nature in the process of revolutionary practice.
Diderot believed that not only the elite had good natural inclinations; he, on the contrary, argued that the people are much more often the bearer of talents than representatives of the nobility.
“The number of huts and other private dwellings,” wrote Diderot, “is related to the number of palaces as ten thousand to one, and accordingly with this we have ten thousand to one chances that genius, talent and virtue will sooner come out of the walls of the hut, than from the walls of the palace.
At the same time, Diderot rightly declared that the talents hidden in the masses of the people are often dying, since a bad social system deprives the children of the people of proper upbringing and education. He was a supporter of the enlightenment of the broad masses, recognizing its enormous liberating role. According to Diderot, "enlightenment gives a man dignity, and the slave will immediately feel that he was not born for slavery."
Like Helvetius, Diderot strongly criticized the French feudal system of education, emphasizing that primary schools those in the hands of the clergy neglect the education of children from the people, and the privileged secondary schools of the classical type instill only an aversion to the sciences and give insignificant results. The entire system of education and upbringing is useless, "it is necessary to change the method of public education to the very foundation."
It is necessary that all children study in schools, regardless of their social affiliation. Schools should be removed from the jurisdiction of the clergy and made public. Primary education should be free and compulsory, and public catering should be established in schools. The children of the poor know better the value of education than the rich. Diderot demanded a decisive restructuring of the secondary school. He opposed the dominance of classical education in secondary schools, considered it necessary to provide them with teaching on the scientific basis of mathematics, physics, chemistry, natural science, astronomy, and insisted on the implementation of real education.
In 1773, at the invitation of Catherine II, Diderot made a trip to St. Petersburg and lived there for about a year. As you know, Catherine at that time played the role of an “enlightened figure” and patron of persecuted philosophers.
Diderot drew up in 1775 a plan for the organization of public education in Russia on a new basis under the name "Plan of a University for Russia" (meaning the entire system of public education by the university). Catherine had no intention, of course, of carrying out Diderot's plan; it was too radical.
Popular site articles from the section "Dreams and Magic"
When do you have prophetic dreams?
Sufficiently clear images from a dream make an indelible impression on the awakened person. If after some time the events in a dream come true, then people are convinced that this dream was prophetic. Prophetic dreams differ from ordinary ones in that, with rare exceptions, they have a direct meaning. A prophetic dream is always bright, memorable ...Pedagogical ideas of the French enlighteners of the XVIII century. (Voltaire, K.A. Helvetius, D. Diderot)
Denis Diderot - one of the most prominent French materialists XVIII V. Like all representatives of this trend, Diderot was a materialist from below (in the explanation of nature) and an idealist from above (in the interpretation of social phenomena). He recognized the materiality of the world, considered movement inseparable from matter, the world is knowable, and resolutely opposed religion.
Standing on the positions of materialistic sensationalism, Diderot considered the source of knowledge to be sensations. But unlike Helvetius, he did not reduce the complex to them. the process of cognition, but recognized that its second stage is the processing of sensations by the mind. He also believed that "opinions rule the world", and mistakenly associated the possibility of reorganizing society not with a revolution, but with the issuance of wise laws and the spread of enlightenment, correct education. He outlined his thoughts on education mainly in the work “Systematic refutation of the book of Helvetius“ On Man ”.
Diderot rejected the assertion of Helvetius about the omnipotence of education and the absence of individual natural differences in people. He sought to limit the extreme conclusions reached by Helvetius. Thus, Diderot wrote: “He (Helvetius) says: Education means everything.
Diderot rightly argued that all people are naturally endowed with favorable inclinations, and not just the elect. Diderot rebelled against the dominance in the schools of classical education and brought real knowledge to the fore; in high school, he believed, all students should study mathematics, physics, and the natural sciences, as well as the humanities.
Claude Adrian Helvetius - became famous as the author of the book "On the Mind", which was published in 1758 ᴦ. and provoked fierce attacks from all the forces of reaction, from the ruling circles. The book was banned and sentenced to be burned. Helvetius developed his ideas even more thoroughly in the book “On Man, His Intellectual Abilities and His Education”. This book, written in 1769 ᴦ., in order to avoid new persecution, Helvetius bequeathed to be published only after his death, and it was published in 1773 ᴦ.
In his writings, Helvetius, for the first time in the history of pedagogy, quite fully revealed the factors that form a person. As a sensualist, he argued that all representations and concepts in humans are formed on the basis of sensory perceptions, and reduced thinking to the ability to feel.
He considered the influence of the environment to be the most important factor in the formation of man. A person is a product of circumstances (social environment) and upbringing, Helvetius argued. The atheist Helvetius demanded that public education was wrested from the hands of the clergy and made unquestionably secular. Sharply condemning the scholastic methods of teaching in the feudal school, Helvetius demanded that teaching be visual and based, if possible, on personal experience child educational material, he believed, should become simple and understandable to students.
Helvetius recognized the right of all people to education, believed that women should receive education equal to men. Helvetius believed that all people with a normal physical organization have by nature equal abilities and opportunities for development. He strongly rejected reactionary opinions on inequality mental development people, due to their social origin, race or nationality. In fact, he argued, the cause of inequality is rooted in social conditions that do not allow most people to get the right education, to develop their abilities.
François Marie Voltaire (1694–1778). Known as a poet, playwright, writer, historian, philosopher. Voltaire did not leave special pedagogical works, and the ideas of education are quite rare in his work, but all his philosophy and all his ideology became the actual basis of many pedagogical concepts, ideas and attitudes in the field of upbringing and education.
Pedagogical ideas of the French enlighteners of the XVIII century. (Voltaire, K.A. Helvetius, D. Diderot) - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Pedagogical ideas of the French enlighteners of the XVIII century. (Voltaire, C.A. Helvetius, D. Diderot)" 2017, 2018.
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Pedagogical views of Claude Adrian Helvetius (1715-1771). In 1758, the famous book of Helvetius was published. "About the Mind". The authorities condemned and banned this book, as directed against religion and the existing system. The book was publicly burned. Helvetius went abroad and at that time wrote a new work - "On Man, His Mental Abilities and His Education" (published in 1773).
He attached great importance to the formation of a person under the influence of the environment, the socio-political system that prevails in the country.
He pointed out that feudal system cripples people. The Church spoils human characters, religious morality is hypocritical and inhuman.
Helvetius considered it necessary to formulate single purpose of education for all citizens. This goal is to strive for the good of the whole society to the greatest pleasure and happiness of the greatest number of citizens. It is necessary to educate patriots who are able to unite the idea of personal good and the “good of the nation”.
the statement "about the natural equality of people" is imbued democracy; it dealt a blow to the theories of contemporary noble ideologists who preached the inequality of people by nature, which was allegedly due to their social origin.
Helvetius believed that scholastic school, where children are drugged with religion, cannot bring up not only real people, but also a sane person in general. It is therefore necessary to radically rebuild the school, make it secular and state and destroy the monopoly of the privileged caste of nobles for education. Broad education of the people is necessary, it is necessary to re-educate people. Helvetius hoped that as a result of education and upbringing, a person free from prejudice, from superstition, a true atheist patriot, a person who could combine personal happiness with the "good of nations" would be created.
Pedagogical views of Denis Diderot(1713-1784). The most prominent representative of French materialism in the 18th century was Denis Diderot. His writings were met with hostility by the authorities. As soon as his work was published "Letters on the Blind for the Edification of the Sighted", Diderot was arrested. After his release from prison, he devoted all his energies to preparing for the publication "Encyclopedia of Sciences, Arts and Crafts". The encyclopedia, around which he gathered the entire flower of the then bourgeois intelligentsia, played a huge role in the ideological preparation of the bourgeois French revolution.
Diderot appreciated the role of education, but in his objections to Helvetius he did not consider education omnipotent. He wrote in the form of a dialogue the well-known "Systematic refutation of the book of Helvetius" Man "(1773-1774).
Diderot resolutely refutes position of Helvetius, that education can do everything. He believes that much can be achieved by upbringing, but upbringing develops what nature has given the child. Through education, it is possible to develop good natural inclinations and drown out bad ones, but only if education takes into account the physical organization of a person, his natural characteristics.
However, due to the limitations of the French materialistic philosophy of the 18th century, Diderot erroneously considers human nature as something immutable, abstract.
As well as Helvetius, Diderot resolutely criticized the French feudal system of education, emphasizing that the elementary schools, which are in the hands of the clergy, neglect the education of children from the people, while the privileged secondary schools of the classical type instill only an aversion to the sciences and give insignificant results. The entire system of education and upbringing is useless, "it is necessary to change the method of public education to the very foundation."
It is necessary that all children study in schools, regardless of their social affiliation. Schools should be removed from the jurisdiction of the clergy and made public. Primary education should be free and compulsory, and public catering should be established in schools. The children of the poor know better the value of education than the rich.
Diderot demanded decisive high school refurbishment. He opposed the dominance of classical education in secondary schools, considered it necessary to provide them with teaching on the scientific basis of mathematics, physics, chemistry, natural science, astronomy, and insisted on the implementation of real education.
The concept of education J.-J. Rousseau.
Didactic system of J.J. Rousseau(1712-1778). J.J. Rousseau is a famous French educator. The concept of "natural" and free upbringing and development of the child, created by him, became the personification of the Enlightenment itself. In the novel “Emile, or On Education”, J.J. Rousseau proposed an original system of views on the process of development, education and training of the younger generation. Basically, in his theory, the author considers purely educational issues, however, it should be noted that he also proposed original approaches to the organization of the educational process.
At the same time, according to J.J. Rousseau, it is important to organize the learning process in such a way that it correlates with the interests and experience of the student and is associated with the independent acquisition of certain knowledge by him.
According to the French teacher, actually education should begin at the most suitable age period for this - 12 to 15 years old and be carried out without the use of various programs, work plans, textbooks and other purely school pedagogical tools. J.J. Rousseau believed that the singularity pedagogical process is to put the baby into position researcher, and provide him with the required information about the world around him. In doing so, the guiding principle should be the principle of usefulness of acquired knowledge.
J. J. Rousseau was a supporter of real, natural science education, therefore, in his opinion, the curriculum should include the following disciplines Keywords: geography, chemistry, physics, biology, which contribute to the development of the pupil's interest and love for nature. Humanitarian subjects, according to J. J. Rousseau, are false and distort children's ideas about the surrounding society.
At the same time, J. J. Rousseau expressed the idea of active use in the education process labor activity, which is also an effective learning tool. It is labor, according to J.J. Rousseau, that makes it possible to purposefully develop the child's mental powers and ensures the process of his socialization.
J.J. Rousseau believed that labor should be combined with mental activity, while the pupil should "work like a peasant and think like a philosopher."
Talking about didactic significance theories of free education J.J. Rousseau, it should be especially noted that, of course, he underestimated the role of scientific knowledge in the development of a person, but at the same time he definitely identified the problem of overloading children with the proposed educational knowledge, skills and abilities that deprive the child of the joy of life and the desire for development and self-improvement .
Thus, J.J. Rousseau laid the foundations humanistically oriented pedocentric didactic system and proposed a model for organizing the educational process based on the recognition of the need to develop the child's individuality through the self-development of natural forces and abilities.
Projects for the reform of public education in the era of the French Revolution (1789-1794)
Education system Zh.A. Condorcet and L.M. Lepelletier.
Schools the second stage, according to the project of Zh.A. Condorcet, should have been designed for children from more or less wealthy families. Here the children were supposed to receive the knowledge necessary in the crafts: in mathematics, natural history, chemistry, commerce. In an expanded volume, students of secondary schools were supposed to get acquainted with the life of society and the basics of morality.
At schools second stage J.A. Condorcet considered it necessary to create libraries and classrooms equipped with the equipment necessary for the study of the natural sciences. Such a school was to be opened in every administrative district and every city with a population of over 4,000 inhabitants.
At the third level of education, in institutes, according to the project of Zh.A. Condorcet, subjects related to practical activities were to be taught: agriculture, industry, military art, medicine, etc. Such educational institutions, according to the plan of Zh.A. Condorcet, were to be established in each department.
At the fourth level of education, in lyceums, were supposed to train scientists, people for whom science is the occupation of a lifetime. Here, future teachers of schools and institutes were supposed to receive education and training for practical activities. For the whole of France, J.A. Condorcet considered it sufficient to create nine lyceums.
Lead the entire education system, according to the plan of Zh.A. Condorcet should have National Society of Sciences and Arts like the modern academy of sciences, where members are elected by the community that is part of this association. Members of this organization were to determine the composition of teachers of all types of schools.
In general, the project of Zh.A. Condorcet was very progressive. Continuity of education levels, equality in the right to education of all people, the secular nature of the school, the free education, the strengthening of the role of the natural sciences - all this spoke in favor of the project. However, it was not adopted, unfortunately, by the majority of the Legislative Assembly.
Further Zh.A. Condorcet in terms of the democratization of education went Louis Michel Lepeletier (1760-1793). A nobleman by birth, during the revolution he was killed by the royal guards for voting in the Convention for the execution of the king. Shortly before the death of L.M. Lepelletier wrote the "Plan of National Education", which M. Robespierre reported at the Convention.
Turning to the project of J.A. Condorcet, L.M. Lepeletier emphasized that he himself dared to propose a much broader program that could contribute to the national revival France by "creating a new people". He believed that it was necessary to solve the problem, which consisted of two parts: the people must be given, firstly, upbringing and, secondly, education. And if education, even if accessible to all, is the property of a limited number of members of society, then education should be common to all.
He intended his project entirely for the poor, but he warned that if the rich man is a reasonable person, then he will approve it. Purpose of your project he saw in the establishment of education really national, really republican, really accessible to all.
MATERIALISM (from Latin materialis material), a philosophical direction that proceeds from the fact that the world is material, exists objectively, outside and independently of consciousness, that matter is primary, not created by anyone, exists forever, that consciousness, thinking is a property of matter, that the world and its laws are cognizable. Materialism is the opposite of idealism; their struggle is the content of the historical-philosophical process.
Denis Diderot(1713 - 1784) - a consistent materialist who gave examples of dialectical thinking. From his point of view, the world is a moving matter; the source of motion is within matter.
Diderot was a sensualist who at the same time recognized the importance of reason, thinking for knowledge. He presented the process of cognition in a balanced way. Being a supporter of an enlightened monarchy, he spoke out with irreconcilable criticism of feudalism, absolutism, the Christian religion and the church, defended (based on sensationalism) materialistic ideas; one of the ideologists of the revolutionary French bourgeoisie of the 18th century.
Diderot led the creation of the first Encyclopedia in the history of mankind. Due to the fact of the creation of the Encyclopedia, the 18th century is called the Age of Enlightenment.
French philosopher, materialist, atheist, educator, encyclopedist.
Holbach(1723 - 1789) - the largest systematizer of the worldview of the French materialists of the 18th century. He asserted the primacy and uncreability of the material world, nature, existing independently of human consciousness, infinite in time and space. Matter, according to Holbach, is the totality of all existing bodies; its simplest, elementary particles are immutable and indivisible atoms, the main properties of which are extension, weight, figure, impenetrability, movement; Holbach reduced all forms of movement to mechanical movement. Matter and motion are inseparable. Constituting an inalienable, fundamental property of matter, its attribute, motion is as uncreatable, indestructible and infinite as matter. Holbach denied the universal animation of matter, believing that sensitivity is inherent only in a certain way organized forms of matter.
Holbach recognized the existence of objective laws of the material world, believing that they are based on a constant and indestructible connection between causes and their actions. Man is a part of nature and therefore subject to its laws. Holbach denied free will because of the causality of human behavior. Defending the cognizability of the material world, Holbach, proceeding from materialistic sensationalism, considered sensation to be the source of knowledge; knowledge is a reflection of reality; sensations and concepts are considered as images of objects. Holbach's materialistic theory of knowledge, which was also shared by other French materialists, was directed against agnosticism, theology, the idealistic sensationalism of J. Berkeley, and Rene Descartes's doctrine of innate ideas. He denied the objective nature of chance.
Holbach owns atheistic works imbued with caustic sarcasm. Due to persecution by churchmen, Holbach's works were published anonymously and, as a rule, outside of France.
Developed ethical views more consistently Claude Adrian Helvetius(1715-1771) in his work "On Man". According to Helvetius, there is also no innate morality (this idea was shared by Diderot), and vice is not innate either. Both virtue and vice are the result of education, therefore it depends on society what a person will be like. Education is omnipotent, a person owes everything to it. Helvetius understands education broadly: these are not only the admonitions of parents and teachers, but the cumulative impact of the surrounding world - both society and nature.
The basis of the educational process, according to Helvetius, is the physical sensitivity of a person to pain and pleasure. It is through the perception of both that a person begins to understand what is good for him and what is bad. Each person is characterized by self-love, which is the deepest impulse of human activity. From self-love, through sensitivity to pain and pleasure, all passions grow. Interests, the meaning of life, the pursuit of happiness - everything grows through sensitivity to pain and pleasure.
Helvetius deliberately sticks out the apology of passions, opposing it to the Christian teaching about passions, that a person should be able to control his passions. According to Helvetius, passions must be cultivated and their necessity understood, since they move the world. Helvetius analyzes different passions. For example, passions such as interests resonate with profit and benefit and lead to the development of society and the emergence of private property.
Julien Offret de La Mettrie(1709-1751). Note that the first work that expressed the ideas of the French materialists was the work of La Mettrie "The Natural History of the Soul". Since, in his opinion, the soul is mortal, it is necessary to take a different look at morality. The religious concept of morality does not exist, because there is no eternal life, and morality exists insofar as the moral sense is innate. There is a certain moral law, like the laws of nature. Even animals have this moral law, and since man is a product of the animal world, he also obeys this law. In the 18th century mechanistic materialism flourished. At this time, mechanics was on the rise and philosophers began to liken a lot to mechanical processes. They tried to mechanically represent the individual and society. So, La Mettrie in his essay "Man-Machine" likened a man to a machine. The human body is presented to him as a clockwork. Then society began to be likened to mechanical systems.
In all European countries, the development of culture in the XVIII century. in one way or another took place under the sign of the ideas of the Enlightenment. But the most numerous detachment of enlighteners, shining with bright talents, was formed in France: it was from here, bearing the stamp of the French genius, that the ideas of the Enlightenment spread throughout Europe. Not without reason Marx and Engels, speaking of the Enlightenment of the 18th century, always mean, first of all, the French Enlightenment.
French materialism is a philosophical trend in France of the 17th-18th centuries, inspired by the revived Epicureanism. The crisis of the Middle Ages gave rise to interest in ancient thought, including the philosophy of Epicureanism. The French materialists (Gassendi, Helvetius, Holbach, Diderot, Condorcet, La Mettrie, Cabanis, Nejon), following the Italian neo-Epicureans (Lorenzo Valla), based their philosophy on the ethics of pleasure as the antithesis of the medieval ethics of duty. Thanks to this, they received the name of Libertines or Freethinkers. The denial of God for them was not as fundamental as the criticism of the church. Their materialism sometimes bizarrely could be combined with deism. Reasonable egoism was recognized as the motive of goodness. Rational egoism was also the philosophical basis of the thought of the French physiocratic economists.
Pedagogical views of Claude Adrian Helvetius (1715-1771). In 1758, the famous book of Helvetius "On the Mind" was published. The authorities condemned and banned this book, as directed against religion and the existing system. The book was publicly burned. Helvetius went abroad and at that time wrote a new work - "On Man, His Mental Abilities and His Education" (published in 1773).
Helvetius denied innate ideas and, being a sensualist, believed that all representations and concepts in a person are formed on the basis of sensory perceptions. He attached great importance to the formation of a person under the influence of the environment, the socio-political system that prevails in the country. According to Helvetius, "the young man's new and main educators are the form of government of the state in which he lives, and the morals generated by this form of government among the people."
He pointed out that the feudal system cripples people. The Church spoils human characters, religious morality is hypocritical and inhuman. "Woe to the nations," exclaims Helvetius, "who trust the priests to educate their citizens." He believed that the time had come when the preaching of morality should be taken over by secular power. Since the existing morality is built on errors and prejudices, on religion, a new morality must be created, arising from a rightly understood personal interest, that is, one that is combined with the public interest. However, Helvetia understood the public interest from a bourgeois position. He saw the basis of society in private property.
Helvetius considered it necessary to formulate a single goal of education for all citizens. This goal is to strive for the good of the whole society, for the greatest pleasure and happiness of the greatest number of citizens. It is necessary to educate patriots who are able to unite the idea of personal good and the “good of the nation”. Although Helvetius interpreted the “good of the nation” in a limited way, as a bourgeois thinker, such an understanding of the goals of education had a historically progressive character.
Helvetius argued that all people are equally capable of education, since they are born with the same spiritual abilities. This statement "about the natural equality of people" is imbued with democracy; it dealt a blow to the theories of contemporary noble ideologists who preached the inequality of people by nature, which was allegedly due to their social origin. However, Helvetius' denial of any natural differences between people is incorrect.
Helvetius believed that a person is formed only under the influence of the environment and upbringing. At the same time, he interpreted the concept of "education" very broadly. Karl Marx pointed out that by education Helvetius "understands not only education in the usual sense of the word, but also the totality of all the conditions of an individual's life ...". Helvetius stated that "upbringing makes us what we are", and even more: "Education can do anything." He overestimated both the role of education and the environment, believing that a person is a pupil of all the objects around him, those positions in which chance puts him, and even all the accidents that happen to him. Such an interpretation leads to an overestimation of natural factors and an underestimation of organized education in the formation of a person.
Helvetius believed that the scholastic school, where children are stupefied with religion, cannot educate not only real people, but also a sane person in general. It is therefore necessary to radically reorganize the school, make it secular and state-owned, and abolish the monopoly of the privileged noble caste on education. Broad education of the people is necessary, it is necessary to re-educate people. Helvetius hoped that as a result of education and upbringing, a person free from prejudice, from superstition, a true atheist patriot, a person who could combine personal happiness with the "good of nations" would be created.
The pedagogical views of Denis Diderot (1713-1784). Denis Diderot was the most prominent representative of French materialism in the 18th century. His writings were met with hostility by the authorities. As soon as his work “Letters on the Blind for the Edification of the Sighted” was published, Diderot was arrested. After his release from prison, he devoted all his energies to preparing for the publication of the Encyclopedia of Sciences, Arts and Crafts. The encyclopedia, around which he gathered the entire flower of the then bourgeois intelligentsia, played a huge role in the ideological preparation of the bourgeois French revolution.
Of all the French materialist philosophers, Diderot was the most consistent: he passionately defended the idea of the indestructibility of matter, the eternity of life, and the great role of science.
Diderot attached great importance to sensations, but he did not reduce knowledge to them, but rightly pointed out that the processing of sensations by the mind is of great importance. The sense organs are only witnesses, while the judgment is the result of the activity of the mind on the basis of the data received from them.
Diderot highly appreciated the role of education, however, in his objections to Helvetia, he did not consider education to be omnipotent. He wrote in the form of a dialogue the well-known "Systematic refutation of the book of Helvetius" Man "(1773-1774).
Here is one typical place:
"Helvetius. I regarded intelligence, genius and virtue as the product of education.
Diderot. Only education?
Helvetius. This thought seems to me still true.
Diderot. It is false, and because of this it can never be proved in a completely convincing way.
Helvetius. It was agreed with me that education has a greater influence on the genius and character of people and peoples than has been thought.
Diderot. And that's all I could agree with you on."
Diderot decisively refutes Helvetius's position that education can do everything. He believes that much can be achieved by upbringing, but upbringing develops what nature has given the child. Through education, it is possible to develop good natural inclinations and drown out bad ones, but only if education takes into account the physical organization of a person, his natural characteristics.
Descartes had an extremely strong influence on Locke's philosophy; Descartes' doctrine of knowledge underlies all of Locke's epistemological views. Reliable knowledge, taught Descartes, consists in the discernment by reason of clear and obvious relations between clear and separate ideas; where reason, by comparing ideas, does not see such relations, there can only be opinion, and not knowledge; certain truths are obtained by the mind directly or through inference from other truths, which is why knowledge is intuitive and deductive; deduction is carried out not through a syllogism, but by bringing the compared ideas to a point whereby the relation between them becomes obvious; deductive knowledge, which is composed of intuition, is quite reliable, but since it also depends in some respects on memory, it is less reliable than intuitive knowledge. In all this Locke fully agrees with Descartes; he accepts the Cartesian position that the most certain truth is the intuitive truth of our own existence.
In the doctrine of substance, Locke agrees with Descartes that the phenomenon is unthinkable without substance, that substance is found in signs, and is not known in itself; he objects only to Descartes' proposition that the soul constantly thinks, that thinking is the main feature of the soul. While agreeing with the Cartesian doctrine of the origin of truths, Locke disagrees with Descartes on the issue of the origin of ideas. According to Locke, developed in detail in the second book of the Experience, all complex ideas are gradually worked out by the mind from simple ideas, and simple ones come from external or internal experience. In the first book of the Experience, Locke explains in detail and critically why no other source of ideas can be assumed than external and internal experience. Having enumerated the signs by which ideas are recognized as innate, he shows that these signs do not at all prove innateness. So, for example, universal recognition does not prove innateness, if one can point to another explanation of the fact universal recognition, and even the very universality of the recognition of a certain principle is doubtful. Even if we admit that some principles are discovered by our mind, this does not at all prove their innateness. Locke does not at all deny, however, that our cognitive activity determined by certain laws inherent in the human spirit. He recognizes, together with Descartes, two elements of knowledge - innate beginnings and external data; the former are reason and will. Reason is the faculty by which we receive and form ideas, both simple and complex, and also the faculty of perceiving certain relations between ideas.
So, Locke disagrees with Descartes only in that he recognizes, instead of the innate potentialities of individual ideas, general laws that lead the mind to the discovery of certain truths, and then does not see a sharp difference between abstract and concrete ideas. If Descartes and Locke seem to speak of knowledge in a different language, then the reason for this lies not in the difference in their views, but in the difference in goals. Locke wanted to draw people's attention to experience, while Descartes was concerned with a more a priori element in human knowledge.
A noticeable, although less significant, influence on Locke's views was the psychology of Hobbes, from whom, for example, the order of presentation of the "Experience" was borrowed. Describing the processes of comparison, Locke follows Hobbes; with him, he asserts that relations do not belong to things, but are the result of comparison, that there are an innumerable number of relations, that more important relations are identity and difference, equality and inequality, similarity and dissimilarity, contiguity in space and time, cause and effect. In a treatise on language, that is, in the third book of the Essay, Locke develops the thoughts of Hobbes. In the doctrine of the will, Locke is in the strongest dependence on Hobbes; together with the latter, he teaches that the desire for pleasure is the only one that passes through our entire mental life and that the concept of good and evil is completely different for different people. In the doctrine of free will, Locke, along with Hobbes, argues that the will inclines towards the strongest desire and that freedom is a power that belongs to the soul, and not to the will.
Finally, a third influence on Locke must also be recognized, namely Newton's. So, in Locke one cannot see an independent and original thinker; with all the great merits of his book, there is a certain duality and incompleteness in it, which comes from the fact that he was influenced by such different thinkers; That is why the criticism of Locke in many cases (for example, the criticism of the idea of substance and causality) stops halfway.
General principles Locke's worldview boiled down to the following. The eternal, infinite, wise and good God created the world limited in space and time; the world reflects in itself the infinite properties of God and is an infinite variety. In nature individual items and individuals the greatest gradualness is noticed; from the most imperfect they pass imperceptibly to the most perfect being. All these beings are in interaction; the world is a harmonious cosmos in which each being acts according to its own nature and has its own definite purpose. The purpose of a person is the knowledge and glorification of God, and thanks to this - bliss in this and in the other world.
Much of the Essay now has only historical significance, although Locke's influence on later psychology is undeniable. Although Locke, as a political writer, often had to deal with questions of morality, he does not have a special treatise on this branch of philosophy. His thoughts about morality are distinguished by the same properties as his psychological and epistemological reflections: there is a lot of common sense, but there is no true originality and height. In a letter to Molinet (1696), Locke calls the Gospel such an excellent treatise on morality that one can excuse the human mind if it does not study this kind. "Virtue" says Locke, “considered as a duty, there is nothing else than the will of God, found by natural reason; therefore it has the force of law; as for its content, it consists exclusively in the requirement to do good to oneself and others; vice, on the other hand, is nothing but the desire to harm oneself and others. The greatest vice is that which entails the most pernicious consequences; therefore, all crimes against society are much more important than crimes against a private person. Many actions that would be quite innocent in a state of loneliness naturally turn out to be vicious in the social order.. Elsewhere Locke says that “it is human nature to seek happiness and avoid suffering”. Happiness consists in everything that pleases and satisfies the spirit, suffering - in everything that disturbs, upsets and torments the spirit. To prefer transient pleasure to lasting, permanent pleasure is to be the enemy of your own happiness.
16. The theory of "social contract" T. Hobbes and J.-J. Rousseau.
J.-J. Rousseau (1712-1778) was one of the largest representatives
French Enlightenment. His theory of the Social Contract is essentially
differed both from the views of Hobbes and from the views of Locke.
The natural state of people Rousseau interprets the state of the primitive
harmony with nature. Man does not need any social restraints,
neither in morality, nor in systematic labor. The ability to self-preserve
keeps him from the state of "war of all against all." However, the population
is growing, geographical conditions are changing, abilities are developing and
needs of people, which ultimately leads to the establishment of private
property. Society is stratified into rich and poor, powerful and
oppressed, who are at enmity with each other. Inequality is evolving
gradually: first wealth and poverty are recognized, then power and
defenselessness, finally - domination and enslavement. Society needs
civil world - a social contract is concluded, according to which the authorities
above society goes to the state. But at the core of state power,
According to Rousseau, lies the will and freedom of each individual. This
freedom and will remain absolute, unlimited even after the conclusion
Social contract. Therefore, Rousseau puts forward his famous thesis about
that the bearer and source of power is the people, who can and
must overthrow the authorities that violate the terms of the Social Contract.
It is not the state that is sovereign, the people are superstitious. People make laws, change them,
accepts new ones.
The main task that the Social Contract is intended to solve is, according to
Rousseau's opinion is to find a form of association that protects and
protects with all common strength the person and property of each of the members
association, and through which each, uniting with all, submits,
however, only to himself and remains as free as before.
Considering the state as a product of the Social Contract, the product of
reasonable will of the people, or rather, a human institution or even
invention, Rousseau proceeded from the fact that each person transmits to the general
property and places his personality and all
strength. As a result, "for us all together, each member turns into
an inseparable part of the whole." This collective whole, according to Rousseau, is
nothing more than a legal entity. Previously, it was called "civil
community". Later - "Republic or Political body". Members of this
political organism is called "State, when it is passive,
Sovereignty when it is active, Power - when compared with it
similar".
The state is considered by Rousseau as a "conditional personality", whose life
consists in the union of its members. His main concern, along with
self-preservation is concern for the common good, for the good of the whole society,
people. Published laws and law play a huge role in this.
Rousseau puts forward and develops the idea of direct popular government because,
according to the Social Contract, "only the general will can govern the forces
state in accordance with the purpose of its establishment, which is the general
The people, the thinker argues, cannot deprive itself of the inalienable
the right to legislate even if he wanted to. Laws are always
are acts of the general will. And no one, not even the sovereign, can be higher than them.
Laws are only those acts that are directly adopted or
approved by the people themselves through a referendum.
Along with the exclusive right to adopt laws, the people have
also the inalienable right to resist tyrants. Kings, wrote on this
about Rousseau, they always "want to be unlimited." Although they have long
asserted that "the most the best remedy to become such is to win love
their subjects," however, this rule at the courts has always caused and will
cause only ridicule"
The power arising from the love of the subjects is undoubtedly the greatest, but it
unstable and conditional. Therefore, "sovereigns are never satisfied with it."
The personal interest of any rulers is, first of all, "that the people
was weak, poor and could never resist them. "Of course, he notices
thinker, assuming that the subjects will always remain
completely submissive that the sovereign would be interested in the people
mighty, "that this might, being his own, might make
formidable to the neighbors". But since the interest of the people has "only
secondary and subordinate meaning" and since both assumptions
incompatible, it is natural that "sovereigns always prefer to follow
to the rule that is directly beneficial to them.
Thus, any ruler always retains his own,
different from the popular, interest and temptation to concentrate in one's own hands
as much state power as possible. The latter leads not only to
that "the distance between the sovereign and the people is becoming too great and
the state begins to lack internal communication", but also to the fact that in
the political regime establishes signs of open disregard for the rights and
freedom of the masses, signs of despotism. Under these conditions, as follows from
The social contract according to Rousseau, the people can realize their natural
the right to resist. At the same time, he concludes, the uprising, which
"results in the assassination or dethronement of some sultan, this
an act as legitimate" as those acts by which it is only
that disposed of the life and property of his subjects. "Only by force
he held on, only his strength overthrows him.
These views are radical and revolutionary. It is they
underlay the ideology of the most extreme group of revolutionaries of the times
French Revolution - Jacobins and served as a justification for the Jacobins
From all that has been said about the natural law theory of origin
state and law, it follows that its supporters proceed from the fact that the people
has a natural, inalienable right not only to consciousness
state on the basis of the Social Contract, but also to protect it. Despite
the fact that the scientific nature of the contract theory was assessed rather ambiguously
and contradictory, up to the complete denial of its historical
independence, however, some aspects of this concept have found
its real embodiment in the practice of state building.
An example of this is the United States of America, which in its
constitutions legally fixed the contract between the peoples included in their
composition, and determined the goals of this agreement: the establishment of justice, the protection
internal peace, organization of joint defense, promotion of common
welfare.
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1649), 17th century English philosopher, in his famous
treatise "Levithian, or matter, form and power of the state of the church and
civil" for the first time, perhaps, outlined the theory of the social contract in
definite, clear and rationalistic (i.e. based on
arguments of reason) form. According to Hobbes, the emergence of the state
precedes the so-called natural state, the state of the absolute,
unlimited freedom of people, equal in their rights and abilities.
People are equal among themselves and in the desire to dominate, to possess the same
same rights. Therefore, the state of nature for Hobbes is in the full sense
"a state of war of all against all." The absolute freedom of man -
desire for anarchy, chaos, uninterrupted struggle, in which justified and
killing a person by a person.
In this situation, the natural and necessary solution is
restriction, curbing the absolute freedom of everyone in the name of good and order
everyone. People must mutually limit their freedom in order to exist in
state of the social world. They agree with each other about it.
limitation. This mutual self-restraint is called social
contract.
By limiting their natural freedom, people at the same time transmit
powers to maintain order and supervise compliance with the contract of a particular
another group or individual. This is how the state arises
which is sovereign, that is, independent of any external or internal
forces. The power of the state, according to Hobbes, must be absolute,
the state has the right to take any measures in the interests of society as a whole
coercion against its citizens. Therefore, the ideal state for Hobbes was
absolute monarchy, unlimited power in relation to society.
