The epistemological function in philosophy

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

Philosophy has many functions. One of the fundamental ones is epistemological. It is connected with the ability of a person to think and comprehend the world. The function of cognition in philosophy is, on the one hand, the very algorithm of cognition of the world around oneself, and on the other hand, ideas and conceptual theories that explain these mechanisms.

Contemplation

The most important part of the entire philosophical doctrine is the epistemological function or the function of cognition. It was explored in ancient times. The process of cognition can be divided into three parts - contemplation, representation and thinking. Without them, the epistemological function is impossible. At the initial stage of cognition, an act of sensation of matter or an object is performed. At this moment, the subject is in contact with the object (the person perceives something new for him).

Contemplation is rich in freshness and fullness of sensations. At the same time, it remains the most modest in terms of the degree of comprehension. The first feeling is extremely important. It contains all the thoughts, ideas and concepts of a person about the subject. Different sense organs can be used as conductors: smell, touch, sight, hearing and taste. This variety of instruments determines the variety of possible sensations. Each of them representsunique excitement with its own intensity and qualities.

Image Shaping

The second stage of contemplation is the manifestation of attention. This reaction of the intellect is based on the fact that all sensations are different. Because of this, each of them causes unique effects. The epistemological function belonging to contemplation could not exist without the ability of a person to pay attention.

At the third stage, contemplation as such is formed. With the manifestation of attention, sensations cease to be disparate and are connected with each other. Thanks to this, the intellect gets the opportunity to contemplate in the literal sense of this concept. So, a person turns sensations into meaningful feelings and creates a holistic visible image on their basis. It separates from the subject itself and becomes an independent representation of the subject.

Performance

Representation is a contemplation learned by a person. There is a fundamental difference between these two processes. For contemplation, a person needs the presence of an object, while for representation there is no such need. In order to recreate a certain image in his mind, a person uses his own memory. In it, as in a piggy bank, are all the ideas of the individual.

The act of remembering happens first. The epistemological function of philosophy is that philosophy helps to understand the mechanisms of cognition. Memories are essential material to recreateimages on the basis of which thinking begins. At this last stage, a person acquires new knowledge. But it is impossible to get them without a certain representation.

Imagination

When images enter the human sphere of representation, they get rid of all sorts of real connections that are characteristic of them in the world around them. At this stage, a new tool is used - imagination. With the help of already existing images, the intellect can create something completely new, different from the original material. The faculty of imagination has its roots. It appeared due to the difference and similarity of surrounding objects. Different images give food for the imagination. The more of them, the more unique the result can be.

Imagination is distinguished by its reproducing power, with the help of which a person calls images to the surface of his own consciousness. In addition, this mechanism works based on the ability to build associations. Finally, imagination has creative power. It reproduces signs and symbols, using which a person brings new images from his consciousness to the outside world.

Proponents of the philosophical theory of sensationalism attached great importance to the associative power of the imagination. John Locke and George Berkeley studied this phenomenon. They believed that there were certain laws of associations of ideas. At the same time, they were opposed by Hegel, who argued that the imagination operates according to other rules. He defended the idea that the uniqueness of associations is associated only with the individual characteristics of each particular person.

Symbols and signs

To express their own subjective ideas, a person uses images of objects. This is how he creates symbols. An example is the image of a fox, which means cunning behavior. As a rule, a symbol has only one property corresponding to a person's representation. All other features are ignored.

But not all representations can be expressed using symbols. The human imagination often creates images that do not correspond to real objects. In this case, signs are used. Symbols are based on the natural and well-known properties of the surrounding world. Signs are not tied to these features in any way, they can be chaotic and illogical.

Thinking

Philosophical schools offer different hypotheses, conceptual approaches and theories about whether human thinking can cognize the world around us. There are both optimists and pessimists on this score. Proponents of Gnosticism believe that people can receive true infallible knowledge. To do this, a person uses thinking. This process has several immutable attributes. First of all, this is its verbal character. Words make up the fabric of thought, without them, thinking and the epistemological function itself are simply impossible.

Man's reasoning has form and content. These characteristics are closely related to each other. Initially, thinking is carried out only according to the form. This means that a person can arbitrarily use his own vocabulary and buildany constructions from words, even if they do not make any sense. For example, compare sour and green. True thinking is born at the moment when a person turns this tool to the content of the representation of objects.

Objects and their concepts

The most important epistemological function of philosophy is that philosophy emphasizes that the world can and should be understood. But for this it is necessary to master the tools given by nature to man. It includes both contemplation and imagination. And thinking is the key tool. It is necessary to comprehend the concept of the subject.

Philosophers of different generations and eras argued about what lies behind this formulation. To date, the humanities have given a clear answer - each subject consists of many elements. To understand it, it is necessary to identify all the parts, and then put them together into a single whole. But even individual objects or phenomena do not exist in isolation from the rest of the world. They constitute organized and complex systems. Focusing on this regularity, one can formulate an important rule for understanding the world. In order to understand the essence of an object, it is necessary to study not only it, but also the system to which it belongs.

Anatomy of thinking

Thinking activity consists of three stages: reason, judgment of the concept and reason. Together they form a coherent process that allows a person to produce new knowledge. At the stagereason thinking represents the subject. At the stage of narrowing the concept, it analyzes the idea of the object of knowledge. Finally, at the stage of reason, thinking comes to a certain conclusion.

The epistemological function of philosophy and the process of cognition were of interest to many philosophers. However, the greatest contribution to the modern understanding of these phenomena was made by Immanuel Kant. He succeeded in pointing out two extreme degrees of the activity of thinking: reason and reason. His colleague Georg Hegel identified the middle stage of concept judgments. Long before them, Aristotle outlined the classical theory of knowledge in his writings. He became the author of an important thesis that things can be perceived by feelings or comprehended by the mind, as well as the idea that a name (concept) acquires meaning only thanks to a person, since there are no names by nature.

Components of knowledge

Contemplation, representation and thinking have given man the opportunity to use three ways of expressing his own knowledge about the world around him. Contemplation can take the form of unique works of art. Figurative representation became the foundation for the birth of religion and the corresponding picture of the world. Thanks to thinking, mankind has scientific knowledge. They are built into a harmonious single system.

Thinking has another amazing feature. The concepts of objects, comprehended with his help, become his own tool and property. This is how a person reproduces and accumulates knowledge. New concepts appear on the basis of already obtained and generalized ones. Thinking can theoretically transform a person's ideasabout items.

Knowledge in political science

The epistemological function can consist both in the actual knowledge of reality by a person in general, and in certain types of activity or scientific disciplines. For example, there is certain knowledge in philosophy and political science. In such cases, this concept acquires more tangible boundaries. The epistemological function of political science is manifested in the fact that this discipline is designed to clarify political reality.

Science reveals its connections and characteristics. The epistemological function of political science is to determine the political system of the state and the social order. With the help of theoretical tools, it is possible to attribute the power apparatus to one or another type template. For example, everyone knows such concepts as democracy, totalitarianism and authoritarianism. The epistemological function of political science is that experts can characterize power according to one of these terms. At the same time, the main elements of the state machine are analyzed. For example, the state of the parliament, its independence from the executive branch and the degree of influence on the legislative process are being studied.

Knowledge analysis and new theories

Only the epistemological function of political science ultimately gives an answer to the question of the position of state institutions. For several centuries of its existence, this science has created severaluniversal methods of cognition in its narrow theoretical field. Although today there are a huge number of states, they all function according to the principles identified and defined back in the 19th-20th centuries.

The epistemological function of political science is also a way to systematize conclusions and propose an ideal political system. The search for a utopia based on the successful and unsuccessful experiences of past generations continues today. In part, the epistemological function of political science is that based on the findings of scientists, various theories are built about the future of the state and its relations with society.