Axiological function: description, types, research methods

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Let's start with what the functions of philosophy are. First of all, they can be characterized as the main areas of application of philosophy, through which it becomes possible to realize its inherent goals, objectives, and the purpose of science. The functions of philosophy are usually distinguished as follows: worldview, methodological, thought-theoretical, epistemological, critical, axiological, social, educational and humanitarian, prognostic.

The meaning of the functions of philosophy

Each of the above has its own direction. They are characterized by the following concepts:

• The task of the worldview function is to form a complete picture of the world, to analyze the principles of human interaction with the world around him, his place in it, and so on.
• As for the methodological function, thenits task is to present methods by which it will be possible to know the world around.
• The essence of the mental-theoretical function is to teach to generalize the world around us, to use logical schemes and systems of the surrounding reality.
• Gnoseological - one of the basic ones, stands at the top, and its task is to correctly and reliably cognize the world. This is such a peculiar mechanism of cognition.
• Nowhere and without a critical function. After all, with its help, everything that happens is not only questioned, but also thanks to this doubt, new concepts, contradictions are discovered, the boundaries of knowledge are expanded and the reliability of existing knowledge increases.
• The task of the social function is to explain the causes of the emergence of society and the essence of its existence as a whole.
• The educational function is needed in order to convey to society humanistic goals and ideals, the principles of morality, and also to help in the search for the meaning of life.
• Prognostic is the ability to suggest what trends in human development may be observed in the future.

They are all the basis of philosophy.

Axiological function

Let's take a closer look at this function. What does she represent? Let's start with the origin. Translated from Greek, the word axios means "valuable". Consequently, the essence of the axiological function is to evaluate the reality around us from the point of view of a variety of values.(moral, ethical, social, and so on). Its main task is to preserve everything valuable and necessary useful, and leave the unnecessary, obsolete in the past. The axiological function is of particular importance in critical periods of history.

What's the point?

Philosophy not only raises questions about the meaning of life, about death and immortality, but also some questions that act as dominant. The axiological function distinguishes long-term trends from short-term ones, while clearly discarding what is superficial, leaving only what is fundamental. In other words, it separates the important from the unimportant. Thanks to this function, a person can form a personal value system, which is of paramount importance in everyone's life. Because it reflects the life position and worldview. Consequently, the ideological and axiological functions of philosophy are responsible for those aspects that predetermine human behavior in society.

How does it work?

The functions of philosophy, ideological, methodological, axiological, contribute to the fact that, having gained knowledge about some objects or processes occurring in society, people immediately begin to analyze and determine what is useful specifically for them can be "pulled out" from these items and events. An evaluation process takes place, after which something that brings some benefit, benefit or benefit to society is selected. Sometimes such a function is called the socio-axiological function of philosophy, since it has a directattitude to society as a whole, and not just to a particular person.

Evaluation process

The evaluation process is based on the following aspects: these are the natural / social properties of the object / process and their significance. The individual during the evaluation process expresses his attitude through approval or disapproval. It is also worth mentioning that no assessment process is possible without comparison. This happens as follows: two or more objects / events / processes are compared in order to choose one, specific from the proposed ones.

Estimated equivalents

To carry out the comparison process, a socially significant equivalent is used, and they are of the following types:

• Social norm (legal/illegal, fair/unfair, good/evil, etc.).
• Another comparable subject/process (books are more useful than movies, democracy is better than authoritarianism, sports are better than staying at home, etc.)
• Any evaluation symbol (neighborhood like picture, sunset like cotton candy, etc.)

In order to choose the right estimated equivalent, a person is based on current interests and on his previous experience.

What is value?

After all, the basis of the axiological function of culture and philosophy is value. So what is it? First of all, these are the objective properties of objects or processes, the task of which is toto benefit people, to work for the good. This value can manifest itself in a positive, negative and zero way. As a result of the evaluation process, we get a subjective opinion about a particular subject or situation, the so-called value assessment. Evaluation is not an eternal concept, since it is a manifestation of value in a specific life situation, and over time it can change. It turns out that from the point of view of philosophy, value is an objective concept, and evaluation is purely subjective. This is because such a concept as value has a social significance for everyone, but value judgments in most cases have only a particular meaning.

Features of value judgments

First of all, it is always the opinion of a particular person or several people about something, these data are characterized by utility and accompany absolutely every stage of conscious control. There are two types of assessment: professional, or expert, and ordinary. If we are talking about the latter type, then intuition is of paramount importance here. The objectivity of the evaluation depends on the social experience of the people who participate in the evaluation process. The higher it is, the more correctly ordinary assessment is recognized.

Ordinary and professional assessment

Here you can put an equal sign with the concept of "public opinion". It is studied not only by scientists, but also by politicians in order to use it for their own purposes. If you try to define public opinion, then we can say that this is a state of consciousnessa certain community that expresses its attitude to the processes taking place in their social reality. In turn, professional assessment is the task of experts in a particular field. Scientists conclude that today professional assessment is acquiring the character of an independent branch of spiritual activity. Today, social expertise has four forms of manifestation: official (internal and external), legal, economic, scientific.

Philosophical answers to philosophical questions

We already know that philosophy is the theoretical basis of the worldview, it is for this reason that the main problem lies in understanding the relationship between consciousness and the objective world. In this objective world, consciousness arose, as well as the relationship between consciousness and matter. In the scientific world, this problem is usually divided into the following elements. First of all, this is the question, what is the cause of everything that exists - matter or consciousness? Secondly, is the world still cognizable or not? It is the answers to these questions that reveal the essence of the problem of the relationship between consciousness and the world. In accordance with the developed theories, philosophers are divided into two categories: idealists and materialists. But despite this division, materialism and idealism are interrelated aspects of one big process, and not an absolute contradiction, as one might think.

Cognizability of the world

Another question that must be considered is whether the world is knowable or not. Most of the scientists answer this question in the affirmative, while the other half are firmly convinced thata person does not have the opportunity to know the world around him. Such philosophers are called agnostics. They explain this by the fact that a person has limited personal cognitive abilities, and Kant, for example, believed that knowledge of the world by a person is impossible due to the objective unknowability of phenomena as such. In fact, the role of philosophy in human life and society is invaluable. At a minimum, this science is the basis of culture; it separates and at the same time connects various branches of knowledge and practice. The problems that philosophy studies are nothing but life, a reflection of the surrounding reality. And only the solution and analysis of these problems make it possible for an individual to realize and comprehend the world around him, his "I", to look for the meaning of life, to determine his purpose, to realize himself as a person in any sphere of life.