History of the development of French philosophy. Renaissance philosophy (14th–16th centuries) French Renaissance 16th century

The completion of the unification of the country, the strengthening of its economic unity, which found expression in the development of the internal market and the gradual transformation of Paris into the largest economic center, were accompanied by XVI - XVII centuries the gradual formation of national French culture . This process continued and deepened, although it was very complex, contradictory, and slowed down due to the civil wars that shook and devastated the country.

Major changes have occurred in development national French language . True, in the outlying regions and provinces of Northern France there still existed a large number of local dialects: Norman, Picardy, Champagne, etc. Dialects of the Provençal language were also preserved, but the Northern French literary language became increasingly important and widespread: laws were issued in it, legal proceedings were conducted, Poets, writers, and chroniclers wrote their works. The development of the domestic market, the growth of book printing, and the centralizing policy of absolutism contributed to the gradual displacement of local dialects, although in the 16th century. this process was still far from complete.

However Renaissance took place in France quite a noticeable aristocratic-noble imprint. As elsewhere, it was associated with the revival of ancient science - philosophy, literature - and affected primarily in the field of philology. A major philologist was Budet, a kind of French Reuchlin, who studied the Greek language so well that he spoke and wrote in it, imitating the style of the ancients. Budet was not only a philologist, but also a mathematician, lawyer and historian.

Another outstanding early humanist in France was Lefebvre d'Etaples, Budet's teacher in the field of mathematics. His treatises on arithmetic and cosmography first created a school of mathematicians and geographers in France. He was inclined towards Protestantism even in 1512, i.e. before his speech Luther, expressed two fundamental principles of the Reformation: justification by faith and Holy Scripture as the source of truth. He was a dreamy and quiet humanist, afraid of the consequences of his own ideas when, from Luther’s speech, he saw what this could lead to.

An important event Renaissance in 16th-century France there was the founding of a new university, along with the University of Paris, the so-called “French College” (College de France) - an open association of scientists who disseminated humanistic science.

Imitation of ancient models was combined with the development of national aspirations. The poets Joaquim Dubelle (1522-1560), Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) and their supporters organized a group called the Pleiades. In 1549, she published a manifesto, the very title of which, “Defense and Glorification of the French Language,” reflected the national aspirations of the French Renaissance. The manifesto refuted the opinion that only ancient languages ​​could embody high poetic ideas in a worthy form, and affirmed the value and significance of the French language. "Pleiades" received recognition from the court, and Ronsard became a court poet. He wrote odes, sonnets, pastorals, and impromptu songs. Ronsard's lyrics glorified man, his feelings and intimate experiences, odes and impromptu remarks on the occasion of political and military events served to exalt the absolute monarch.

Along with the development and processing of the ancient heritage French Renaissance literature absorbed the best examples and traditions of oral folk art. It reflected the character traits inherent in the talented and freedom-loving French people: their cheerful disposition, courage, hard work, subtle humor and the striking power of satirical speech, directed with its edge against parasites, troublemakers, covetous people, self-seeking saints, ignorant scholastics who lived at the expense of the people.

The most outstanding representative French humanism of the 16th century. was Francois Rabelais (1494-1553) . Rabelais's most famous work is the satirical novel Gargantua and Pantagruel, a fairy-tale form of the novel based on ancient French tales about giant kings. This is a grandiose satire of feudal society, full of wit and sarcasm. Rabelais presented the feudal lords as rude giants, gluttons, drunkards, bullies, alien to any ideals, leading an animal life. He exposes the foreign policy of the kings, their endless, senseless wars. Rabelais condemns the injustice of the feudal court (“The Island of Furry Cats”), mocks the absurdity of medieval scholastic science (“The Dispute of the Bells”), ridicules monasticism, and attacks the Catholic Church and papal authority. Rabelais contrasted satirical figures embodying the vices of the ruling class with people from the people (brother Jean - the defender of his native land, a peasant - or Panurge, in whose image the features of an urban plebeian are imprinted). Rabelais in his novel ridicules not only the Catholic Church, but also Protestantism (Papimans and Papifigs).

How humanist Rabelais stood for the comprehensive, harmonious development of the human personality. He embodied all his humanistic ideals in a kind of utopia “Thelema Abbey”, in which free people live who care about their physical development and spiritual improvement in the sciences and art.

Of the French materialists, Denis Diderot is the most famous - and he stood out precisely for his organizational, social and other, including literary, activities; Diderot was the organizer of the work on the Encyclopedia. At that time, interest in various kinds of dictionaries began, and Diderot received an order from a publisher to translate an encyclopedic dictionary, extremely popular in England, from English. He takes the job, but realizes that the dictionary has many shortcomings, and invites the publisher to write his own dictionary, which eventually grows to a 35-volume Encyclopedia. This is the first encyclopedic publication in the history of mankind, in which all scientific, philosophical, religious, cultural, literary, etc. were collected and summarized. knowledge. The main purpose of the publication was educational, promoting progress. The Encyclopedia was completed and enjoyed enormous popularity, despite its multivolume nature and high cost. Several thousand copies were sold - a very large circulation for France at that time.

Work on the book took almost Diderot's entire life - from 1751 to 1780. (he died in 1784). In addition to articles in the Encyclopedia, Diderot wrote many works, including literary ones ("Ramo's Nephew", "The Nun", etc.). Among the philosophical works, the most famous are the small work "Conversation" of Alembert and Diderot, in which Diderot's worldview was formulated, and "Letter on the Blind, Intended for the Sighted", where Diderot first expressed his thoughts as a mature philosopher who had gotten rid of some of his doubts. studied at a Jesuit school, he was destined for a career as a priest. For some time he considered himself a Christian and was a deist, but in his last work he openly expresses a materialistic, atheistic worldview.

In the most systematic form, the principles of materialism are set out in Holbach's work "The System of Nature". Although the first work that became a manifesto of French materialists was La Mettrie’s “Natural History of the Soul” (and the most sensational was his work “Man-Machine”).

In particular, Holbach argues that matter is the only, uncreated, eternally existing substance. Consequently, there is no Creator God. Holbach's definition is: "Matter is everything that affects our senses."

The ideas about matter of French materialists are not much different from modern ones (say, dialectical-materialist): that matter is objective, that both primary and secondary qualities are objective (an objection to Galileo, Locke, Berkeley, etc.), that there is nothing besides matter; matter consists of atoms that move as a result of cause-and-effect relationships; that matter is divisible, is in constant motion, has various properties (impenetrability, extension, the ability to move itself - although Engels criticized the French materialists for their metaphysics, saying that they are not saw the source of the movement of matter, but this criticism is not entirely fair, since they still recognized the principle of self-motion, denied dialectics, but in reality this is rather their merit than a disadvantage). Movement is a way of existence arising from the essence of matter; matter moves due to its own energy; matter is eternal; movement is as eternal as matter, and everything that exists is the result of the movement of matter, including all spiritual ideal phenomena in the present world. Rest is only a certain form of movement, therefore it is also a property of matter. Matter exists as nature; nature is a certain unified whole; all natural phenomena are connected with each other, and this connection is expressed in the form of laws of nature. Laws exist not only in the material inorganic world, but also in the organic world and in human society, therefore nothing happens by chance, everything has its cause both in society and in nature. Apart from the driving reasons, there is no other reason, incl. target; the goal of nature is in itself, for outside nature there is nothing. In the beginning, only inorganic nature existed, then organic nature arose from it (here again is a paradox: what does “in the beginning” mean? If matter is eternal, then why does life arise at a certain stage? Even Heraclitus was more consistent, saying that the world then burns up, then it arises again). In French materialists one can often see obvious absurdities, as in the case of the emergence of life in an eternal world.

Man is a product of nature, and his cognitive ability is a consequence of material organization. There is no cognitive faculty distinct from the material cognitive faculty; everything is known through the senses. Mind is also the highest form of organization of matter. Characterized by consistent sensationalism and criticism of the doctrine of innate ideas. The soul is a blank slate. Truth is an adequate reflection of the external world; the criterion of truth is experience. And so on. In almost everything, subsequent materialists, including those of the dialectical variety, will repeat the positions of the French materialists.

More interesting (in the sense of their unusualness, but not in the sense of usefulness) are the social and ethical views of the French materialists. Here they are not so united and differ from each other in some views, although they agreed on something: in atheism, denial of the immateriality of the soul, its immortality, the divine origin of morality. But what exactly is morality, what is the meaning of human life - there were also discrepancies.

The most paradoxical and shocking to society was La Mettrie. Since, in his opinion, the soul is mortal, we need 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, just like the laws of nature. Even animals have this moral law, and since man is a product of the animal world, there is nothing strange here, it’s just that man is the highest form of animal development.

Further, La Mettrie somewhat departs from this concept and in his work “Man-Machine” he expresses thoughts that are unique and different from other materialists, leaning towards hedonism. La Mettrie was a physician, so his studies of man from the point of view of his physiology were a consequence of his professional interest. La Mettrie developed Descartes' point of view: an animal is a kind of “machine” that acts according to its own laws. No soul (vegetable, animal or any other) or anything else that various metaphysicians and theologians have invented simply does not exist. Man has a soul, but his body acts on the same principle as the body of animals and, therefore, is independent of the soul.

This is the concept of psycho-physical parallelism and dualism (there is a material substance and a spiritual substance that are independent of each other and exist in harmony only in God, but they are directly independent and do not affect each other). Therefore, the laws of material substance are valid only for the material world, and the laws of spiritual substance are valid only for the spiritual world. La Mettrie develops this concept in a certain direction: since the soul as a separate immaterial substance does not exist, then man is, accordingly, also a “machine” - in the sense that all processes in man are determined by cause-and-effect relationships, they are necessary and do not depend on anything. from any free will or spiritual impulse, as well as other manifestations of spiritual substance. Absolutely everything in a person is a consequence of his materiality: thoughts, emotions, and everything else. This is a rigid, consistent expression of the materialist concept, which would subsequently be developed by many scientists, especially psychologists, in the 20th century (Freud et al.).

La Mettrie is characterized by hedonism: one must look for the criterion of happiness and the purpose of a person’s life among the material component of a person, and therefore such a criterion is sensual pleasure, which is the main thing for a person. Therefore, morality as such is a fictitious concept, prejudice, conscience is also useless, it is necessary to free a person from its remorse and explain to people that this concept is non-existent, for all people are moral insofar as everyone seeks pleasure.

Claude Adrian Helvetius developed his ethical views more consistently 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 upbringing, therefore it depends on society what kind of person a person will be. Education is omnipotent, a person owes everything to it. Helvetius understands education broadly: it is not only the admonishing words of parents and teachers, but the cumulative influence of the surrounding world - both society and nature.

The basis of the educational process, according to Helvetius, is a person’s physical sensitivity 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. Every 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 desire for happiness - everything grows through sensitivity to pain and pleasure.

Helvetius deliberately emphasizes the apology of passions, contrasting it with 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. There is an attempt to derive morality and all moral precepts from nature itself, a departure from the point of view that morality exists as some kind of establishment independent of nature. Christian church morality (even pantheistic and deistic) was alien to the French materialists, since they fought not just against the Church, but against religion. Any religion, in their opinion, is the result of deception, ignorance and human fear, but in the end all this is realized as a result of the interests and passions of some people. That is, religion grows out of the deception of some people by others - those who understand that they will not be able to keep people in obedience on their own, so they invent an omnipotent being who can do everything and always sees everything, and with the help of this being they keep the dark, ignorant and superstitious people. In fear and hope of posthumous retribution, oppressed people try to find their happiness.

Thus, the formula arises: “Religion is the opium of the people.” I draw your attention to the preposition “for”, since the difference between the Marxist-Leninist concept, which we will talk about later, and the concept of the French materialists is the abolition of the preposition “for”. According to Marx and everyone else, “religion is the opium of the people.” This is a fundamental difference in the question of the origin of religion: no one deceives the people, they invent this opium for themselves. If we project Marx’s understanding of the emergence of religion onto the understanding of French materialists, then the phrase “Religion is the opium of the people” is quite possible - I think Diderot, Holbach, and Helvetius would agree with this formula.

The philosophical views of French materialists are quite superficial and express rather the point of view of ordinary consciousness, rather than a philosophically thinking mind. Problems of cognition, secondary and primary qualities, laws of nature, etc. they don’t seem to exist for them, they bypass them, taking them for granted. Therefore, in this regard, the ideas of the French materialists did not have any serious influence on subsequent philosophical thought.

But their socio-political views had an influence, and quite a serious one, since French democracy - what was formed as a result of the implementation of the ideas of French enlighteners during the French bourgeois revolution - was a model for the democracy of most countries. And the fact that civilized legal states now exist on Earth is the result of the implementation of the ideas of the French Enlightenment.

^ 11. Medieval philosophy: patristics

The Middle Ages is the dominance of theology, a religious worldview mixed with theology. The philosophy of the Middle Ages is the handmaiden of theology; it is obliged to interpret the Holy Scriptures, formulate the dogmas of the Church and derive evidence for the existence of God. At the same time, logic is developing, the formation of the concept of personality (a dispute about the difference between hypostasis and essence) and a dispute about the priority of the individual or the general (realists and nominalists)

There are three stages in the development of medieval philosophy: patristics (II-VI centuries); analysis of the possibilities of the word (7-10th century) and scholasticism (11-14th century). PATRISTICS (from Greek pater, Latin pater - father), a term denoting a set of theological, philosophical and political-sociological doctrines of Christian thinkers of the 2nd-8th centuries. - so-called church fathers.

PATRISTICS arises as a reaction to the persecution of Christians by the Roman authorities and criticism of his beliefs by a number of ancient authors (Celsus, Porphyry, etc.).

Early period of PATRISTICS - apologetics (II-III centuries).

With a general orientation towards the Holy Scriptures, its representatives (Justin, Athenagoras, Irenaeus of Lyons, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, etc.) give polemical interpretations of the main provisions of Christianity, discuss questions about the relationship to ancient culture, the relationship between faith and knowledge, Christianity and philosophy.

Some apologists (Tatian, Irenaeus, Tertullian) had a negative attitude towards ancient culture and argued that Christianity was entirely given in the teachings of the apostles and the Holy Scriptures and did not need to be justified by reason.

Others (Justin, Clement, Origen) viewed Christianity as the highest level of ancient culture, primarily philosophy (rejecting ancient religion and materialistic teachings).

Faith, according to Clement, must be based on reason and defended with the help of philosophy.

PATRISTICS of this period was characterized by the struggle against non-Christian movements and heresies that arose within Christianity (Gnosticism, Arianism, Nestorianism, etc.).

The beginning of Christian theology was laid by Origen (although later some of his ideas - about the pre-existence of souls, about the plurality of worlds, about the final salvation of all people - were rejected by the church); The foundations of Christian culture and pedagogy were laid by Clement of Alexandria.

After the recognition of Christianity as the state religion, a period of approval and justification of Christian dogma and systematization of church doctrine begins (IV-V centuries).

The Eastern Fathers of the Church (Athanasius the Great, the Cappadocian circle - Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus (Gregory the Theologian) and Gregory of Nyssa; John Chrysostom, pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite) are distinguished by a greater tendency towards mysticism, emphasizing the need for the “deification” of man.

Western PATRISTICS (Ambrose of Milan, Jerome of Stridon, Augustine Aurelius) is characterized by a practically legal bias, an emphasis on the fallen nature of man.

PATRISTICS of this “golden age” was engaged in substantiating the doctrine of the Trinity, comprehending the thesis of the dual nature of Christ, and developing cosmological, anthropological, religious and ethical problems.

Eusebius of Caesarea began researching the history of the church and the formation of its dogma. Jerome laid the foundations of exegesis, created the first Latin patrolology (“patrology”), Augustine developed the majestic Christian philosophy of history. During this period, canonical rules for the clergy and monasticism were developed. The church fathers strive to eradicate pagan spectacles - theater, stadium, circus - and festivals.

PATRISTICS ends with the work of writers of the 6th-8th centuries. (Leontius of Byzantium, Maximus the Confessor, John of Damascus), who stabilized dogmatics and codified sciences under the auspices of theology, processing and systematizing accumulated ideas. They are considered the first scholastics (Scholasticism).

Late PATRISTICS is characterized by a certain “ossification” of thought.

In general, PATRISTICS contributed to the spread and triumph of Christianity in Europe.

Most of the representatives of PATRISTICS were uncompromising fighters for their beliefs, ardent polemicists. Their writings formed the core of the Holy Tradition of historical churches.

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The intensity of human development has a focal character, which spread across all continents of the globe. History shows mysterious bursts of improvement in human thought, technological breakthroughs of prehistoric tribes, the mysterious disappearance of entire civilizations (Atlantis, Maya). All of them were subject to the trials of their time, many collapsed, some survived.

Scientific thought, which has given rise to global technological progress in European countries, is characterized by enviable stability. Philosophy, as the engine of any direction, became the basis for the European powers to acquire power, world primacy, and a monopoly of strategically important industries. France has unknowingly occupied the right niche in the distribution of destinations. Any French philosopher automatically became a revered person, since the high level of education of the state was beyond doubt. Rich people sought to send their offspring here for education. Only in France could one find wonders and innovations. Centuries later, the French state only strengthened its advanced positions. But everything has its turn.

Philosophy of the French Middle Ages

The history of the Middle Ages lies between the X-XV centuries.

The medieval era was bloody, cruel, and characterized by ethnic fragmentation. France was no exception: constant wars dissected the Iberian Peninsula, which was already crowded with small islands.

At the same time, the power of the Catholic Church grew, opposing orders appeared, which contributed to the implementation of the Crusades.

External and internal conflicts affected the stability of the country's inhabitants. Workers of art and science tried to “breathe carefully,” fearing that they would be classified as heretics.

The list of thinkers is impressive, but I would like to mention Pierre Abelard. The philosopher's biography is filled with suffering. Mental pain and a thirst for knowledge turned the noble young man into a real sage, not afraid to contradict the authorities, whose ideas people followed.

Philosophy of the French Renaissance

French post-medieval philosophy, like others, dates back to the 15th-16th centuries and is called Renaissance philosophy. The period is characterized by a weakening of church influence and a strengthening of scientific positions. The Renaissance gave impetus to the development of creative disciplines (art, music, poetry), but the main philosophical emphasis was education.

The thinker Michel Montaigne tried to explain to people in his educational treatise “Essays” that reason is at the head of emotions, and one must live in such a way that one is not ashamed of one’s actions. The Frenchman discovered a completely new philosophical style of storytelling.

French philosophical thought of the 17th century

Analysts call the philosophizing of the French in the 17th century the philosophizing of the scientific revolution of the 17th century. Because this epochal milestone is associated with the great inventions of Galileo, Descartes, and Newton. “Practical revolutionaries” declared the existence of natural laws independent of human will. French figures laid the foundation for the future materialist philosophy of the Enlightenment.

18th century philosophizing

The Age of Enlightenment, dating back to the 18th century, became another reformation period for European society. French philosophers again turn their scientific gaze to materialism - they reject the chanting of Christian ideals (God), and judge nature as the only powerful force that exists.

The revolutionary Holbach sought to unite the bourgeois and popular classes against feudal religion.

Denis Diderot, relying on classical mechanics, spoke about the moving property of matter. Denis also discussed the ability of bodies to attract each other.

Voltaire discovered the term "tolerance" as an appeal to laïcité.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, with the help of Enlightenment ideas, impressed Europe with a call to turn to nature.

19th century France

Having briefly analyzed the philosophizing of the 19th century, we should dwell on the metaphysical teachings of Bergson. The moralist teaches us to understand life not from the point of view of common reason, but through intuitive, instinctive perception.

Philosophy of the 20th century

The 20th century becomes a turning point for French philosophy. French science rises to first place in the world in terms of strength and number of philosophical representatives. The following trends are strengthening their position: postmodernism, existentialism, structuralism. The existentialist Camus proposed recognizing the existence of the absurd. Only using this method, the humane publicist believed, can it be avoided (in manifestations of fascism, Stalinism).