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Enlightenment concepts of education

Kadashova S.V.

philosophy educational concept education

• Introduction
• 1.1 Rationalism as a mindset and methodology of the Enlightenment
• 1.2 Mechanistic materialism and sensationalism in the philosophy of the Enlightenment
• 2.1 Philosophy J.J. Rousseau
• 2.2 Philosophical views of D. Locke
• Conclusion
• Bibliography

Introduction

18th century in the history of Western Europe is called the Age of Enlightenment. In English philosophy, the ideas of this era found their most vivid expression in the work of J. Locke, J. Toland and others, in France - in the works of F. Voltaire, J-J. Rousseau, D. Diderot, P. Holbach, in Germany - in the works of G. Lessing, I. Herder, the young Kant and G. Fichte.

One of the most important characteristics of the philosophy of the Enlightenment is rationalism. In the last topic, we have already met with the rationalistic teachings of R. Descartes. With regard to the teachings of Descartes, the term rationalism is used to characterize epistemological and logical-methodological attitudes. Rationalism is interpreted as an epistemological doctrine, stating that the main tool of knowledge is the mind. Sensations and experience are of secondary importance in cognition. In this sense, rationalism is opposed to sensationalism and empiricism. Sensationalism attaches decisive importance to human feelings, sensations and perceptions, while empiricism puts experience first in knowledge. However, in the history of philosophy there is a broader approach to the concept of rationalism. Then it is considered as a broad ideological and theoretical current, expressing the views, needs, public sentiments of certain social classes, strata, groups at a certain stage of social development. And on the basis of these mindsets, he develops certain methodological guidelines for orienting a person in practical activity and cognition. Rationalism, as a rule, is associated with the ideological aspirations of the advanced, progressive forces of society, which are at an ascending stage of their development. It is characterized by the exaltation of the human individual as an active, free and equal being, historical optimism, faith in the unlimited possibilities of man in the knowledge and transformation of nature.

In this sense, the opposite of rationalism is irrationalism. He moves to the forefront of history during the crisis of social structures. Representatives of irrationalism are more characterized by a pessimistic assessment of the cognitive and active-transformative capabilities of a person, denial of historical and social progress, skepticism and agnosticism. We will talk about irrationalism when characterizing the philosophy of the late 19th - mid-20th centuries.

Chapter 1. Philosophy of the Age of Enlightenment

1.1 Rationalism as a mentality and methodology of the era of Enlightenment e scheniya

For the philosophy of the Enlightenment, as noted earlier, the mentality of rationalism is characteristic.

Why did this happen? The answer to this question should be sought in the socio-economic, political and ideological processes that took place during the Enlightenment. First of all, it should be noted that the Age of Enlightenment was a period of the disintegration of feudal relations and the intensive development of capitalism, profound changes in the economic, socio-political and spiritual life of the peoples of Western Europe. The needs of the capitalist mode of production stimulated the development of science, technology, culture, enlightenment and education. Changes in social relations and public consciousness served as a prerequisite for the emancipation of minds, the liberation of human thought from feudal-religious ideology, and the formation of a new worldview. F. Engels gave a vivid description of the rationalism of the Enlightenment. “The great people who in France enlightened their heads for the approaching revolution acted extremely revolutionary. They did not recognize any external authorities of any kind. Religion, the understanding of nature, the political system - everything was subjected to the most merciless criticism, everything had to stand before the court of reason and either justify its existence or abandon it. The thinking mind has become the sole measure of everything that exists.”

During this period, rationalism, based on different philosophical, ideological and political radical doctrines, reflecting the views, moods, needs of the bourgeoisie in its struggle against feudalism, absolutism and their support - the Catholic Church, on a number of important issues acted from the right positions. At the center of all philosophical schools, systems, currents of that time is, as a rule, an active subject, capable of cognizing and changing the world in accordance with his mind. Reason is considered in rationalistic systems as the source of all subjective human activity. Man, according to this theory, in his essence, in his "nature" is a rational being. Reason, as an essential characteristic of the subject, appears in rationalism as a prerequisite and as the most vivid manifestation of all other characteristics: freedom, self-activity, activity, etc. Man, as a rational being, from the point of view of rationalism, is called upon to become the ruler of the world, to rebuild society.

The rationalism of the Enlightenment and the metaphysical materialism of the 18th century are natural relations on reasonable grounds. On this basis, the right of a person to be equal to another, to be free in his decisions and actions was declared, and measures were developed to ensure civil and political freedoms. These freedoms were considered "as an inalienable right of every nation and every society, in view of the fact that they are essential for the preservation and prosperity of social unions."

However, the general position of representatives of different philosophical schools, currents and directions of the Enlightenment did not exclude their different solutions to both worldview issues and specific problems of the theory of knowledge. Therefore, when analyzing the methodology of rationalism, along with isolating general provisions, it is necessary to focus on the difference in teachings.

All rationalism in the construction of a philosophical theory proceeds from the installation of the similarity and final coincidence of the mind and the results of human activity. Based on this attitude, the characteristics of human subjective activity and, above all, human consciousness (rationality, expediency), were taken by them as a prototype, model of the entire world order. The world appears in rationalistic systems as lawful, self-ordered, self-reproducing.

But in a concrete interpretation of the structure of this world, representatives of different worldview orientations find different approaches. Idealistic rationalism mystifies the rational aspect of man's relationship with the world and seeks to prove that the rational, rational exists outside and independently of human activity and its objectification. In these teachings, the mind as a specific, essential characteristic of a person is separated from its owner, then endowed with an independent existence, that is, it is objectified. As a result, an image of a substance is obtained, in its main characteristics similar to human activity, in which the goal and the means, the result and the action, the realization and the intention are inextricably linked.

Representatives of materialistic rationalism, on the other hand, associate the substantial, law-like structure of the world with the inherent properties of matter. “The universe,” Holbach writes, “is a colossal combination of everything that exists, everywhere it shows us matter and movement ...”, and further - “nature exists by itself, acts by virtue of its own energy and can never be destroyed (Holbach P Selected philosopher, published in 2 vols. T. 1.- M., 1963.- S. 88, 504). The eternal space-time existence of matter and its continuous movement are for the French materialists of the XVIII century. an undeniable fact.

1.2 Mechanistic materialism and sensationalism in the philosophy of the era of Pr about illumination

The teaching of the French materialists on the internal activity of matter, on the general character of motion, was a progressive achievement of the philosophical thought of the eighteenth century. However, these views bear the stamp of mechanism. In the XVIII century. chemistry and biology were still in their infancy, and therefore mechanics continued to be the basis of the general worldview. The laws of mechanics of solid bodies, the laws of gravitation, the materialists of the Enlightenment elevated to the rank of universal and argued that biological and social phenomena develop according to the same laws. The most striking example of mechanism is the views of the French philosopher Julien de La Mettrie (1709-1751), set forth by him in an essay with the characteristic title "Man is a machine." In this work, La Mettrie argued that people are skillfully built mechanisms and called for studying a person, relying only on the mechanics of his body. At the same time, he believed that the study of the mechanics of the body would automatically lead to the disclosure of the essence of human sensual and mental activity.

The most generalized and systematic mechanistic worldview of the materialism of the Enlightenment is expressed in the work of P. Holbach "The System of Nature". Holbach explicitly states that we can explain physical and spiritual phenomena, habits, with the help of pure mechanism. Nothing in the world happens without a reason. Every cause produces some effect; there can be no effect without a cause. The effect, once having arisen, itself becomes a cause, giving rise to new phenomena. Nature is an immense chain of causes and effects, continuously flowing from each other. The general movement in nature gives rise to the movement of individual bodies and parts of the body, and the latter, in turn, supports the movement of the whole. This is how the order of the world is formed.

It is easy to see that the so-called universal laws of the world are absolutizable laws of solid mechanics. “According to these laws,” Holbach wrote, “heavy bodies fall, light ones rise, similar substances are attracted, all beings strive for self-preservation, a person loves himself and strives for what is beneficial to him, as soon as he knows this, and has an aversion to that might be harmful to him. Movement and change in the world, according to the views of the materialists of this era, is not a constant generation of the new, that is, not development in the proper sense, but some kind of eternal cycle - a consistent increase and decrease, the emergence and destruction, creation and destruction. Everything that happens in the world is subject to the principle of continuity. There are no jumps in nature.

This view, directed against theological ideas about the free creation of God and miracles, was based on the recognition of a universal and immutable material conditionality. An uninterrupted, constant and indestructible chain of causes and effects subordinates everything that happens in nature to universal necessity. Necessity, understood absolutely and mechanically, develops into the idea of ​​the predestination of everything that happens, into fatalism. As a conclusion, this implies the denial of chance in nature and freedom and human behavior. “We,” wrote Holbach, “called random phenomena, the causes of which are unknown to us and which, due to our ignorance and inexperience, we cannot foresee. We attribute to chance all phenomena when we do not see their necessary connection with the corresponding causes ”(Golbach P. Selected philosopher, last in 2 vols. T. 1.-M., 1963-S. 428).

Fatalism, the belief in the predestination of everything that exists, contrary to the general trend of the philosophy of the Enlightenment, led to the conclusion that everything that exists is predetermined, to the passive submission of a person to everything that happens in the reality around him.

The materialistic solution of the worldview question about the relationship of consciousness to matter, led to a sensationalistic interpretation of the cognitive process. The materialists considered the sensations generated in a person by the influence of material objects on his sense organs to be the source of all knowledge. Without sensations, without feelings, they believed, nothing is available to our knowledge. The main body of knowledge of reality is the human brain. D. Diderot compares the brain with a sensitive and living wax, capable of taking on all kinds of forms, imprinting on itself the impact of external objects. La Mettrie, on the other hand, wrote about the “brain screen”, on which, as from a magic lantern, objects imprinted in the eye are reflected. Man, according to the views of the materialists, feels through the peripheral nerves that connect in the brain. At the same time, experience shows, Holbach emphasizes, that those parts of the body in which communication with the brain is interrupted lose the ability to feel. If there is any disturbance in the brain itself, then the person either feels imperfectly or completely ceases to feel. Thus, sensations take place when the human brain can distinguish between the effects produced on the sense organs.

Sensationalism of the 18th century materialists. is not in conflict with the general rationalist philosophy of the Enlightenment. The essence of reality, from their point of view, can only be known by reason. Sensory direct knowledge is only the first step on this path. “The mind tends to observe, to generalize its observations and draw conclusions from them,” wrote Helvetius in his treatise On the Mind. Helvetia reduces all operations of the human mind to the use of the ability to compare. He believed that this ability alone was sufficient for the knowledge of nature.

The recognition of the similarity of the world and human life activity also predetermines the epistemological optimism of eighteenth-century materialism. Its representatives are convinced of the unlimited cognitive possibilities of a person. There is nothing that people could not understand, says Helvetius. What for our grandfathers was an amazing, miraculous and supernatural fact, becomes for us a simple and natural fact, the mechanism and causes of which, we know, are echoed by Holbach. Thus, the paternalists of the 18th century, despite some nuances, on the whole, share the main principles of the philosophy of their era.

Chapter 2

2.1 Philosophy J.J. Rousseau

Rousseau felt like a stranger everywhere, and the feeling of being cut off from his homeland, deeply and strongly experienced by him, can probably be considered the psychological basis of the reflections that turned him into a radical critic of reality. He yearns for such a model of social relations, in which the true essence of a person in the conditions of civilization would not be distorted by layers of false reasoning, conventions and prejudices. He puts forward the concept of a natural person - holistic, kind, biologically healthy, morally honest and just. Man by nature was not bad, but he became evil and unjust. The lack of balance with nature is caused by social conditions. Rousseau loved and hated people at the same time. He hated them for what they had become, but loved them for their natural moral health and sense of justice. Hypocrisy, lies, a thick web of alienation have formed as they are separated from natural needs and inclinations. The state of nature, and not historical reality, has become a working hypothesis, which Rousseau extracts from the depths of his thoughts, wishing to understand how much of this human wealth has been suppressed or died out in the process of the historical development of society.

Nature becomes a substitute for the deity, the prototype of all kindness and well-being, the criterion of the highest value. It is quite obvious that this direction of philosophy was inspired by the myth of the “good savage”, which has spread in French literature since the 16th century, when, following the great geographical discoveries, the idealization of primitive peoples and the praise of “wild” life began. Rousseau turns inside out the canons of interpretation and explanation of man and his language.

The idealization of the "natural" state of man, his "nature" in the "Experience on the Origin of Languages" affects the ideas about the original poetry and musicality of speech. The political meaning of Rousseau's musical-linguistic concept is fully revealed in the last two chapters of the Experience. The sonorous musical language is the language of freedom of the citizens of the republic. The loss of freedom leads to the loss of the musicality of the language. The "noisy" language is a consequence of the fall of the ancient republics and the invasion of the northern barbarians, who brought feudalism. Speaking of the "degeneration" of music, Rousseau essentially opposes the feudal order.

However, Rousseau's attention is completely drawn to modern man, spoiled and soulless. Here one cannot speak of primitivism or a culture of barbarism. By comparing a person as he was with what he has become, Rousseau wanted to push people towards a salutary change.

Rousseau is against culture in the form in which it has historically developed, because it has disfigured nature. The spirit of rivalry and clash of interests is not inherent in man from the very beginning, but is the result of historical conditions. In essence, this is a kind of social anatomy of civilization. The root of human evils and disasters is in inequality; the successes of civilization have been bought at a high price: the well-being and education of the privileged stratum of people are based on the poverty and suffering of the people. He concluded that the sciences and arts only spoil a person without benefiting him. Not all ignorance has to be fought, there is a kind of ignorance that has to be cultivated.

Rousseau's position was indeed "scandalous", since it placed responsibility for social ills on literature, science and art, in which the encyclopedists saw the causes and basis of progress. In Discourse on the Sciences, Rousseau condemns the sciences as a product of arrogance. This means that what was progress for the Encyclopedists, Rousseau considered regression, decay, corruption. But how did injustice and inequality begin, where did they come from? Speaking on behalf of the poor, disadvantaged elements of society, Rousseau drew attention to the fact that inequality itself is due to the emergence of private property. Inequality appears with private property; along with property, there is also enmity between people. In the primitive world, everything belongs to everyone. Rousseau rejects the idea of ​​historical progress in principle: his point of view, both on history and on the results of the development of culture, is extremely pessimistic. Voltaire called the treatise "Discourse on Inequality" "a libel directed against the human race."

Advocates of progress and enlightenment, the encyclopedists saw in art, and especially in the theater, a tribune for propagating new ideas, a powerful means of education. Rousseau has a completely different view: art for him is the product of a civilization hostile to the people, deeply vicious and false. Rousseau believes that art should be a school of virtue, and tries to build a bridge from art to reality, from beauty to morality. But the desire to identify the aesthetic and the moral, the beautiful and the real, makes Rousseau especially keenly feel the difference that exists between them. Rousseau does not recognize the moral role of the theater. He separates moral values ​​from aesthetic ones and, convinced of the depravity of civilization, is ready to abandon any kind of art for the sake of morality.

It can be said that Rousseau is against the Enlightenment, but not against the Enlightenment. Rousseau is an educator, because he considers reason to be the best tool. Rousseau is a supporter of natural law, because he lays on human nature the means of saving man, but he opposed the enlighteners, who were convinced that they were on the path of liberation. In his opinion, society still continues to go in line with superstition and degradation, and he considered the arts, sciences and literature based on false premises.

The road to salvation is different. This is the path of returning to nature, hence the path of "renaturalization of man" by creating social conditions that could block evil and promote good. Society will not be able to recover through simple internal reforms or simply through the development of science and technology. What is needed is a transformation of the spirit of the people, a complete revolution, a general change in all institutions.

So, we need a painful revolution, a radical change to restore the voice of conscience. Indeed, if “a savage lives an inner life, then a secular person is always focused on the ostentatious, external side; he knows how to live, only focusing on the opinions of others. Society in all manifestations focuses on external aspects, and a person has lost touch with the inner world. It is necessary to abandon the corrupting movement and dispel the empty appearance that people are chasing after, fighting each other and oppressing each other. To this end, one should rely on the potential ability of good that exists in a person, which has not yet manifested itself, with the help of which it is possible to conquer reality again with a complete and constant connection of both sides, without conflicts and breaks.

There is an urgent need for transformation within a person, and, therefore, a rethinking of everything he created. The task is to organize such social institutions that do not distort the development of man, but place him in conditions of freedom. Rousseau is not against reason or culture. He is against such reason and such cultural achievements that do not notice certain features of the inner world of man; after all, it is precisely with him that the possibility of a radical change in social life is connected. He fights for the triumph of reason, but cherished not for himself, but as a critical filter and connecting center of feelings, instincts, passions, with the goal of a real transformation and restoration of a whole person, but not an individualist, but a member of the community. Evil originated with society, and with the help of a renewed society, it can be driven out and defeated.

The new model of society is based on the voice of the consciousness of a social person. “The transition from the state of nature to the social one produces a very significant change in a person, replacing instincts in his behavior with justice and giving his actions previously missing moral ties. etc., will act on the basis of other principles and, before following inclinations, heed the voice of duty and reason. are trained and developed, his ideas are enlarged, his senses are ennobled, his whole soul is elevated to such an extent that if the ill use of the new position does not lead him to lower his level, causing him to sink below the original state, he will have to bless the happy chance that forever uprooted him from there, making from t a very limited animal rational being, man.

This principle is not an abstract will, the guardian of all rights, or a pure mind, alien to the confusion of passions, or an individualistic idea of ​​a person, on which the enlighteners of that time relied. The principle that legitimizes power and guarantees social transformation is the general will of the people, faithful to the common good. The general will is the result of an agreement between equals who always remain equals, because it is a question of the complete alienation by each individual of all his rights in favor of the whole community. This means that the general will is not the total will of all members of society, but a reality arising from the refusal of each member of society from their own interests in favor of the collective. This is an agreement concluded by people not with God or some leader, but among themselves, absolutely freely and completely on an equal footing.

One of the most sublime and noble ideas of Rousseau is the assertion of the sovereignty of the people, in other words, the principle of the rule of the people. Rousseau suggested creating a republic where the principle of equality would be embodied in state law, and the people would constantly check the activities of their representatives. Only such a form of government Rousseau considered able to protect society from abuse and lawlessness. According to Rousseau, popular sovereignty is inalienable (therefore, the author of the Social Contract allowed representative government only if it was subsequently approved by the people) and indivisible (and therefore he objected to the separation of powers). Rousseau's ideal was a small patriarchal republic where all citizens could discuss and pass laws themselves. Rousseau condemned statesmen who believed that in certain situations scrupulousness in ethical matters is unnecessary. The requirement to always be fair, honest and not overestimate yourself is mandatory for everyone; the higher a person stands on the social ladder, the more power he has, the more important it is to learn this golden rule. Such is the political morality of the author of The Social Contract. A truly progressive politics is always moral. Rousseau does not accept any personal power free from public control, and believes only in a truly democratic egalitarian republic.

Expressing the worker-peasant utopia of social balance, Rousseau idealized the equality of property, for the sake of which he glorified the patriarchal asceticism of life, and with it the simplicity of morals, straightforwardness, even universal mediocrity, excluding the thirst for excessive wealth.

From the terms of the "social contract" Rousseau derived the right of the people to revolt and tried to substantiate and justify the coming bourgeois revolution, as he foresaw and intuitively understood the fact that severe historical necessity would force the masses to fight not only against the feudal system, but also against oppression in general. .

In an effort to create a truly natural society that can recreate the original qualities of human nature, but in accordance with the requirements of reason, Rousseau is trying to achieve a "truly natural" religion. If the main concern is to guarantee the coexistence of people within the framework of the common will and common good, then religion should contribute to the strengthening and use of the primordial qualities of human nature.

Rousseau distinguishes the religion of the individual from the religion of the citizen. Regarding religion, we can say that there are two immutable truths in it:

The existence of God

the immortality of the soul.

The first is recognized because it is the only explanation for the movement of matter, the orderliness and expediency of the universe. The second is derived from the inadmissibility of the triumph of evil over good.

What is Christianity? With its dogma of original sin and supernatural salvation, Christian doctrine has been one of the causes of the decay of public life. By transferring into the realm of the spiritual the most important values ​​and close ties that exist in the human environment, namely that all people are God's children and, therefore, brothers and sisters to each other, Christianity has won public opinion throughout the world, but only on a spiritual level. On the earthly plane, including at the level of social relations, Christianity has left humanity defenseless. Being a world religion, Christianity gave rise to a type of society where all forms of selfishness and tyranny flourished. Christianity is a religion dealing with spiritual problems and tearing people away from earthly affairs. The home of the Christian is not this world. Christianity favors tyranny, which has always been able to profit from it. Christianity separates the inner, spiritual life from the outer, earthly:

This is the realm of unity

· the realm of abuse and any form of selfishness.

This religion, having no special relation to political institutions, leaves the laws only their own force, without adding anything else to them; therefore, one of the most important obligations of civil society is rendered ineffective. But what is much worse is that instead of arousing good feelings in citizens towards the state, religion tries to distance it from it in the same way as from all other affairs of earthly life. I don't know anything more hostile to the public spirit.

Christianity, which separates theology from politics, man from citizen, private inner life from public life, must be fought and rejected, because it hinders the improvement of political life. We need a religion that would confirm the sacred nature of socio-political institutions and ensure their stability. As a result, next to the religion of man, which consists in the belief in the existence of God and in the immortality of the soul, one should put a confession of a purely civil faith, in which the ruling persons should establish points or articles, but not as religious dogmas, but as the poetry of public feelings. because without them it is impossible to be good citizens and loyal subjects. These points, or articles, coincide in content with the precepts of the religion of man, or natural religion, with the addition of a point on the sacredness of the social contract and laws, and one negative dogma - about intolerance.

In fact, not the church, but the state is the only organ of individual and collective salvation, because it provides the full development of potential human capabilities. Rousseau expounds them in The Social Contract.

2.2 Philosophical views of D. Locke

D. Locke is a famous philosopher and teacher of the 17th century. “And in politics, as in religion, he is the son of the class compromise of 1688,” F. Engels said about him. The restoration period intensified the struggle between the supporters of feudalism and the monarchy and the supporters of the bourgeoisie and the new nobility. The problem of religious tolerance arose sharply (the Presbyterians tried to forcibly impose Calvinism on the whole country). Considering that the main economic and political collisions of the English bourgeois revolution of 1642-1649. and the period of the restoration were refracted in the minds of the struggling classes and social groups as religious in their origins, then Locke's great interest in the problem of religious tolerance will become clear. Already after receiving a bachelor's degree (1656) and then a master's degree (1658) at Oxford University, D. Locke made the first attempt in writing to state his point of view on the issue of religious tolerance.

During the period of the revolution, issues of the origin and essence of the state, property and morality acquired particular importance. Are royalty and feudal property established by God, or did they arise naturally in the course of the development of society itself? These and other questions were discussed in England throughout the revolution. The theory of the contractual origin of the state of T. Hobbes denied the divine nature of the origin of royal power and property, but it defended the absolute monarchy and the right of the king to interfere in the property relations of citizens. In the person of D. Locke, the English bourgeoisie found a true spokesman for its innermost thoughts and aspirations. D. Locke expressed the fundamental interests of the new bourgeoisie in his economic, political, and pedagogical theories and in his general philosophical concept.

The humanitarian field of knowledge was significantly influenced by the methodology of the natural sciences, of no small importance was the fact that D. Locke took an active part not only in the political, but also in the scientific life of England. The events of his personal life turned out to be inextricably linked both with the second stage of the English bourgeois revolution and with the era of scientific discoveries in the 17th century. - R. Boyle stood at the cradle of this era in England, and the work of I. Newton was its completion.

In Oxford, D. Locke approaches the enthusiasts of a new scientific direction, which opposed the scholastic scholarship that dominated the English universities. Of particular interest to Locke was Richard Lowe, a supporter of the experimental study of the causes of diseases, who pioneered the use of blood transfusion. He lured Locke into medicine. At Oxford, Locke becomes a friend of Robert Boyle and, together with him, conducts and discusses natural science experiments. Boyle awakened his interest in the philosophy of Descartes and Gassendi. This interest in science does not disappear even when Locke becomes a family doctor and tutor to the son of the Lord Earl of Shaftesbury.

In the diversity of Locke's scientific interests, a central area is gradually emerging - the substantiation of a new philosophical concept of the origin and essence of knowledge. In 1671, Locke decides to carry out a thorough study of the cognitive abilities of the human mind and the steps that the mind takes in its movement towards knowledge (the work "Experiments on Human Understanding" - worked on it for 16 years). In the "Experiments" Locke speaks of the rubbish that is in the way of science - these are theological-scholastic ideas that have fettered the natural process of human knowledge. In exploring the ways of knowing the objective world, Locke sometimes compromises with religion. This is explained by the influence of religion on the social life of England in the 17th century.

It was D. Locke who proposed, in contrast to Ya.A. Comenius is another option for solving pedagogical issues.

In 1690, his main philosophical work, The Education of the Mind, was published, which reflects the philosophical views of D. Locke:

§ being a follower of English materialism, he believed that the world is material, cognizable through sensations;

§ his idealism was manifested in the recognition of the existence of ideas that do not depend on our sensations, which are the creativity of the soul;

§ was on the position of materialistic sensationalism: the main means of knowing the world is the sense organs, the way of knowing through sensations;

§ D. Locke's dualism manifested itself in the assertion that in addition to external experience, there is an internal experience, which is the own activity of the mind;

§ In his views, Locke was a deist. In deism, God is seen as the impersonal root cause of the world, not interfering in the natural course of its events.

To characterize the social views of D. Locke, let's consider his idea of ​​natural human rights. A person has the right to freedom and property, he has the right to defend this right. But it is difficult to defend the right to freedom and property, people agreed among themselves and transferred this right to the state. Thus, the idea of ​​the emergence of the state as a result of the contract is substantiated. D. Locke believed that the modern state and political system were the best, ideal. A person must learn to live under such a system, and therefore a person must be educated.

Being a representative of the bourgeoisie, in social terms, D. Locke argued that the bourgeoisie had legally come to power. Speaking against the innate qualities that give a person a privileged position, he believed that "a person is born with a soul as pure as a board" (tabula rasa). This means that by nature all people are equal, the soul of each child is a white sheet of paper on which education writes its letters. Thus, education plays a decisive role in human development.

Nine tenths of people become what they are through education. What a person will be is determined by education. It was very important - education was raised to the shield. Each social category has its own system of education, its own goal.

The goal of education is to create a new breed of people, gentlemen, best adapted to society. A gentleman is an enterprising person who thrives in society, refined in handling, whose highest wisdom is the ability to increase his wealth .. He needs to coordinate his goals with the goals of others, and this, according to D. Locke, let God do it. People must believe in God. Religion should be introduced into the upbringing of children as early as possible.

The elitism of education consisted in the desire of D. Locke to form a character in a child from a wealthy family, to educate the will, to give him real, practically useful knowledge and education in an aristocratic spirit, so that such a gentleman could act in any situation.

Thus, the education of a gentleman is the education of character. He must receive a comprehensive education: physical, moral, mental and labor. The character is formed more intensively at home, therefore, a gentleman is brought up at home, since at school there are plebeians, street boys, their influence is detrimental. The matter of upbringing must be entrusted to a trained, solid educator. It is the business of prudent parents to find such a person, it is better if it is a tutor from a ruined noble family.

In his theory, D. Locke pays great attention to physical education. It is necessary to educate a person physically healthy - this is the basis of happiness. This requires a reasonable organization of the child's life, that is, moderation in nutrition, clothing, and entertainment. “A healthy mind in a healthy body” is what is needed for a person’s affairs and his well-being. Schey D. Locke about physical education (hardening, regimen, gymnastics contribute to the development of courage and perseverance) have an impact on modern England.

The main task of education is the acquisition of experience necessary for practical activities, the preparation of a “virtuous and wise” person, secular and skillful in business. This gentleman should be able to give up his desires, act contrary to his own inclinations, and follow reason, even if attraction pulls him in the other direction. In this case, the person acts wisely. Ya.A. Comenius understands wisdom in a lofty sense, and D. Locke not in terms of high morality, but in terms of utilitarian, practical efficiency.

In the content of education, Locke includes: reasonableness, modesty, moderation, restraint, foresight, justice (associates generosity with property (associates with wealth of a person: the most generous is always the richest), courage, bravery, good manners (as the inner delicacy of the soul), general benevolence and attention to all people, without carelessness, irreverence, without consciousness of their superiority.

Locke's principles of moral education are:

§ natural conformity;

§ a deep study of the nature of the child and an individual approach to him. To study the natural inclinations of the child in order to improve them. "The natural gifts of each must be developed to the fullest possible extent." Ignoring the inclinations can make upbringing a "fruitless labor."

Moral education is the education of a firm character, the development of the will, moral discipline. Habits are the foundation of building a strong character. D. Locke appreciates: restraint, courage, self-control, benevolence, generosity, good manners (a gentleman has good manners).

Habits are created and reinforced by exercise. Bad habits: laziness, lying, moodiness can be overcome by practicing good habits. Laziness can be overcome by training, lies - by destroying the fruits of lies, whims - by punishment.

An important means of education considers an example. Moreover, the first example is the example of the teacher, then the parents, you cannot count on the example of comrades. “No words can make their understanding of virtues and vices so clear to children as the actions of other people, if at the same time you direct their observation and fix their attention on one or another good or bad trait in the behavior of these people. And the positive or negative aspects of many things (whether with a good upbringing or a bad one) will be better known and more deeply imprinted from the examples of other people than from those rules and instructions that can be given to them in this regard.

... For nothing penetrates so imperceptibly and so deeply into the soul of a person as an example: no matter what bad trait people overlook in themselves and forgive themselves, it can only inspire them with disgust and shame when it appears before them in others people..."

D. Locke develops a broad program of moral education. Open his work "Thoughts on Education" (1693) and you will understand, feel how unusually the questions of moral education are presented.

The section “Whims” begins with a question-statement: “... whoever sets as his goal to manage his children, he should begin this while they are still very small ... In my opinion, those who show proper treatment of children very misunderstand indulgence and familiarity towards them while they are small, and become severe towards them and keep them at a certain distance from themselves when they have grown; for freedom and indulgence do not benefit children, and a lack of judgment creates a need for them to restrain and discipline, and, conversely, an authoritative and strict attitude is a bad way to deal with people who already have their own mind.

And here is D. Locke's reasoning about beatings and rewards: “The usual method of influencing punishment and a rod, which requires neither effort nor much time, this only method of maintaining discipline, which is widely recognized and understandable to educators, is the least suitable of all conceivable methods education...

A kind of slavish discipline creates a slavish character. The child obeys and pretends to be obedient as long as the fear of the rod hangs over him, but as soon as this fear has disappeared, the child, in the absence of a watching eye, can count on impunity, he gives even more scope to his natural inclination.

Severity, taken to an extreme degree, leads to healing from a previously erupting bad inclination, but the result is often achieved by planting another, even worse ailment - spiritual bruising.

In educating people, we want to make them reasonable, kind and talented, therefore, beatings and all other forms of degrading corporal punishment are not suitable measures of discipline, and these measures should be used very rarely and, moreover, only for serious reasons and only in extreme cases.

“In order to make a good, reasonable and virtuous person out of him, you need to teach him to resist his inclinations and refuse to satisfy his taste for wealth, panache, delicacy, etc., when reason advises him, and duty requires the opposite from him ... ".

D. Locke pays great attention to issues of moral education, in contrast to intellectual education, since the goal of education is to educate a person not so much as a scientist, but as a business person. "It is necessary to train the boy, but this should be in the background, only as an aid to the development of more important qualities."

For practical purposes, D. Locke considers it necessary to give his pupil a fairly wide range of knowledge, but only what is useful is necessary (the principle of utilitarianism): reading, writing, knowledge of the native language, arithmetic, geography, finance, jurisprudence, history, astronomy, French language and plus three new subjects: accounting, dancing and horseback riding.

In mental education, one should rely on the curiosity, interest of the child and give him the knowledge that will be useful in life. He recommends music, dancing, good manners, swordsmanship, horseback riding, light manual, handicraft work. The main thing is not knowledge, but the ability to think on their basis. It is more important to think right than to know nothing. D. Locke excluded subjects from education: rhetoric, dialectics, Latin.

Children should learn joyfully, it is necessary to teach children, based on their interest, curiosity. If the children are interested in something and they ask, then they must be listened to and answered in detail and affectionately. Curiosity in children should be carefully encouraged. One must be able to encourage them to questions, and often educators kill this desire with their behavior. Learning needs to include play.

An important place in the theory of D. Locke is occupied by craft, manual labor, which are the subject of education. Children must master manual labor to perfection. D. Locke especially appreciates carpentry. Here is how he explains the reasons for the introduction of labor:

§ A good knowledge of the craft makes a person independent. (For example, a man is ruined, his merchant ships are wrecked, what remains for him to do if he does not know any craft? Die or turn into a beggar, and the one who knows some kind of craft will be able to resist the vicissitudes of fate.)

§ labor prevents idleness, gives an excellent occupation, educates the personality. "... Rest does not consist in idleness (as everyone can see), but only in relieving a tired organ by changing occupations."

D. Locke reveals in detail the idea of ​​mastering a craft (gardening, grinding, processing of precious stones). The craft chosen by a person helps him to improve his health, especially when working outdoors. Only in rare cases, with proper education, will a young person wish to remain in complete idleness and idleness, if this is the case, then we have a vice that needs to be corrected.

Locke cites the example of a noble Venetian whose son was drowning in the wealth of his father. The son's expenses grew beyond measure, and the father ordered to give him as much money as he was able to count. The son pursued only pleasure, so the father's order was a serious embarrassment. On reflection, he decided: if it is so difficult for me to count the money that I have to spend, then how much work and effort it cost my ancestors to make them.

Such upbringing and education should be organized in the family, no schools, an educator should be selected, and no money should be spared for him. Your son cannot be expected to treat with respect a person whom his father and mother, in his observation, treat with disdain. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully select a teacher-educator so that he takes a high position in the house. A man should be found who would know how to wisely shape the character of a boy; give him into such hands as will be able, as far as possible, to preserve his innocence, lovingly support and develop good principles in him, correct and eradicate all evil inclinations by gentle methods, and instill in him good habits. It is most important.

The children of working people should go to school. D. Locke goes to Parliament with a note on workers' schools, speaks of the need to force the children of workers to attend these schools. Children there do not need to be taught anything except crafts and religion.

D. Locke based his theory of learning on a certain socio-political concept, which has a brighter, more definite class orientation and is less democratic in nature. For Ya. A. Comenius, freedom, happiness, humanism and education are interrelated concepts, D. Locke does not have such a vivid humanistic understanding of education.

The initial concept of D. Locke's philosophical system is the concept of experience. All knowledge is based on experience and comes from it. Experience is formed from sensations and reflections. Reflection (reflection) is the activity of the mind. In contrast to Descartes, D. Locke argues that we do not have any innate ideas and principles, that there is no a priori knowledge. So-called a priori knowledge is the product of individual experience.

The tasks of pedagogy (in particular, didactics) are expanding significantly. We need to organize this experience, expand it, deepen it. Primary for all cognitive work at school are sensations coming from the outside world and gradually transformed through experience into more complex mental results.

D. Locke assigns a huge role to education. Differences between people are explained not so much by natural features as by differences in upbringing, in life experience. "... The differences that can be observed in the mind and abilities of people are due not so much to natural inclinations as to acquired habits" and "... what is entirely attributed to nature is much more the result of exercise and practice."

Not only physical, but also spiritual abilities are quite educable. Through management they can be brought to a high degree of perfection. “If you want a person to reason well, you must train him from an early age to exercise his mind in analyzing connections and in tracing their sequence.” "... Our spiritual faculties are improved and made useful to us in the same way as our bodies."

Conclusion

The 18th century in the history of thought is called the Age of Enlightenment: scientific knowledge, previously the property of a narrow circle of scientists, now began to spread in breadth, going beyond universities and laboratories to the secular salons of Paris and London, becoming the subject of discussion among writers, popularly expounding the latest achievements of science and philosophy . Confidence in the power of the human mind, in its limitless possibilities, in the progress of science, which creates conditions for economic and social prosperity - this is the pathos of the Enlightenment.

These mindsets were formed back in the 17th century, were continued and deepened in the 18th century, which realized itself as an era of reason and light, the revival of freedom, the dawn of sciences and arts, which came after more than a thousand-year-old night of the Middle Ages. However, there are also new aspects here. First, in the 18th century, the connection between science and practice, its social utility, was much more strongly emphasized. Secondly, the criticism which in the Renaissance and in the seventeenth century was chiefly directed by philosophers and scientists against scholasticism is now directed against metaphysics. According to the conviction of the enlighteners, it is necessary to destroy metaphysics, which came in the 16th-17th centuries to replace medieval scholasticism. Following Newton in science, and after Locke in philosophy, a sharp criticism of the metaphysical system began, which the enlighteners accused of adherence to speculative constructions, of insufficient attention to experience and experiment. Two main slogans were written for enlighteners - science and progress. At the same time, enlighteners appeal not just to reason - after all, the metaphysicians of the 17th century turned to reason - but to scientific reason, which is based on experience and is free not only from religious prejudices, but also from metaphysical super-experienced "hypotheses".

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Philosophy - Textbook (Morgunov V.G.)

15. Encyclopedists: Holbach, Diderot, Lametrie, Helvetius.

Encyclopedists - compilers and authors of the "Encyclopedia, or Explanatory Dictionary of Sciences, Arts and Crafts" (1751 - 1780), which played a large role in the ideological preparation of the French bourgeois revolution at the end of the 18th century. and gave a systematic summary of the scientific achievements of its time. Until 1772, Diderot was at the head of the Encyclopedia, assisted by d'Alembert. Among the encyclopedists were Montesquieu, Rousseau, Voltaire, Helvetius, Holbach and other thinkers. The materialists waged the most consistent struggle against feudal ideology in the Encyclopedia. However, the most moderate part of the encyclopedists advocated non-interference of the church in the affairs of science, declared themselves a supporter of social progress, criticized despotism, and spoke in favor of the elimination of class inequality.

The teaching of the French materialists on the internal activity of matter, on the general character of motion, was a progressive achievement of the philosophical thought of the eighteenth century. However, these views bear the stamp of mechanism. In the XVIII century. chemistry and biology were still in their infancy, and therefore mechanics continued to be the basis of the general worldview. The laws of mechanics of solid bodies, the laws of gravitation, the materialists of the Enlightenment elevated to the rank of universal and argued that biological and social phenomena develop according to the same laws. The most striking example of mechanism is the views of the French philosopher Julien de La Mettrie (1709 - 1751), set forth by him in an essay with the characteristic title "Man - Machine". In this work, La Mettrie argued that people are skillfully built mechanisms, and called for studying a person, relying only on the mechanics of his body. At the same time, he believed that the study of the mechanics of the body would automatically lead to the disclosure of the essence of human sensual and mental activity.

The most generalized and systematic mechanistic worldview of Enlightenment materialism is expressed in the work of Paul Holbach's System of Nature. Holbach explicitly states that we can explain physical and spiritual phenomena, habits, with the help of pure mechanism. Nothing in the world happens without a reason. Every cause produces some effect; there can be no effect without a cause. The effect, once having arisen, itself becomes a cause, giving rise to new phenomena. Nature is an immense chain of causes and effects, continuously flowing from each other. The general movement in nature gives rise to the movement of individual bodies and parts of the body, and the latter, in turn, supports the movement of the whole. This is how the order of the world is formed.

It is easy to see that the so-called universal laws of the world are absolutizable laws of solid mechanics. Holbach wrote that according to these laws, heavy bodies fall, light ones rise, similar substances attract, all beings strive for self-preservation, a person loves himself and strives for what is beneficial to him. Movement and change in the world, according to the views of the materialists of this era, is not a constant generation of the new, that is, not development in the proper sense, but some kind of eternal cycle - a consistent increase and decrease, the emergence and destruction, creation and destruction. Everything that happens in the world is subject to the principle of continuity. There are no jumps in nature.

This view, directed against theological ideas about the free creation of God and miracles, was based on the recognition of a universal and immutable material conditionality. An unbroken, constant and indestructible chain of causes and effects, everything that happens in nature is subject to universal necessity. Necessity, understood absolutely and mechanically, develops into the idea of ​​the predestination of everything that happens, into fatalism. As a conclusion, the denial of chance in nature and freedom and human behavior follows. “We,” wrote Holbach, “called random phenomena, the causes of which are unknown to us and which, due to our ignorance and inexperience, we cannot foresee. We attribute to chance all phenomena when we do not see their necessary connection with the corresponding causes.

Fatalism, the belief in the predestination of everything that exists, contrary to the general trend of the philosophy of the Enlightenment, led to the conclusion that everything that exists is predetermined, to the passive submission of a person to everything that happens in the reality around him.

The materialistic solution of the worldview question about the relationship of consciousness to matter led to a sensationalistic interpretation of the cognitive process. The materialists considered the sensations generated in a person by the influence of material objects on his sense organs to be the source of all knowledge. Without sensations, without feelings, they believed, nothing is available to our knowledge. The main body of knowledge of reality is the human brain. Diderot compares the brain to a sensitive and living wax, capable of taking on all kinds of forms, imprinting on itself the impact of external objects. La Mettrie also wrote about the “brain screen”, on which, as from a magic lantern, objects imprinted in the eye are reflected. Man, according to the views of the materialists, feels through the peripheral nerves that connect in the brain. At the same time, experience shows, Holbach emphasized, that those parts of the body in which communication with the brain is interrupted lose the ability to feel. If there is any disturbance in the brain itself, then the person either feels imperfectly or completely ceases to feel. Thus, sensations take place when the human brain can distinguish between the effects produced on the sense organs.

Sensationalism of the 18th century materialists. is not in conflict with the general rationalist philosophy of the Enlightenment. The essence of reality, from their point of view, can only be known by reason. Sensory direct knowledge is only the first step on this path. “The mind tends to observe, generalize its observations and draw conclusions from them,” wrote Helvetius in his treatise On the Mind. Helvetius reduces all operations of the human mind to the use of the ability to compare. He believed that this ability alone was sufficient for the knowledge of nature.

The recognition of the similarity of the world and human life activity also predetermines the epistemological optimism of eighteenth-century materialism. Its representatives are convinced of the limitlessness of human cognitive capabilities. There is nothing that people could not understand, says Helvetius. “What for our grandfathers was an amazing, wonderful and supernatural fact, becomes for us a simple and natural fact, the mechanism and causes of which we know,” Holbach echoes him. Thus, the materialists of the 18th century, despite some nuances, on the whole share the main principles of the philosophy of their era.

The teachings of the French materialists

The teaching of the French materialists on the internal activity of matter, on the general character of motion, was a progressive achievement of philosophy in the 18th century. However, these views bear the stamp of a mechanism. The most striking example of a mechanism is the views of the French philosopher La Mettrie (1709-1751), which he expounded in an essay with the characteristic title "Man is a machine". In this work, La Mettrie argued that people are skillfully built mechanisms and called for studying a person, relying only on the mechanics of his body. At the same time, he believed that the study of the mechanics of the body would automatically lead to the disclosure of the essence of human sensual and mental activity. Holbach states that it is possible to explain physical and spiritual phenomena, habits with the help of a pure mechanism. Nothing in the world happens without a reason. Nature is an immense chain of causes and effects, continuously flowing from each other. Movement and change in the world, according to the views of the materialists of this era, is not a constant generation of the new, that is, not development in the proper sense, but some kind of eternal cycle - a consistent increase and decrease, the emergence and destruction, creation and destruction. Everything that happens in the world is subject to the principle of continuity. There are no jumps in nature. An uninterrupted, constant and indestructible chain of causes and effects subordinates everything that happens in nature to universal necessity. Necessity, understood absolutely and mechanically, develops into the idea of ​​the predestination of everything that happens, into fatalism. The materialistic solution of the worldview question about the relationship of consciousness to matter, led to a sensual interpretation of the cognitive process. The source of all knowledge was considered to be sensations generated in a person by the impact of material objects on his sense organs. Without sensations, without feelings, they believed, nothing is inaccessible to our knowledge. The main organ of knowledge is the brain. A person feels through peripheral nerves connecting in the brain.

Sensationalism of the materialists of the 18th century. The essence of reality, from their point of view, can only be known by reason. Sensory direct knowledge is only the first step on this path. The recognition of the similarity of the world and human life activity also predetermines the epistemological optimism of materialism in the 18th century. Its representatives are convinced of the limitlessness of human cognitive capabilities.

La Mettrie, Diderot, Helvetius, Holbach. The mechanistic character of French materialism in the 18th century.

The teaching of the French materialists on the internal activity of matter, on the general character of motion, was a progressive achievement of the philosophical thought of the eighteenth century. However, these views bear the stamp of mechanism. In the XVIII century. chemistry and biology were still in their infancy, and therefore mechanics continued to be the basis of the general worldview. The laws of mechanics of solid bodies, the laws of gravitation, the materialists of the Enlightenment elevated to the rank of universal and argued that biological and social phenomena develop according to the same laws. The most striking example of mechanism is the views of the French philosopher Julien de La Mettrie (1709-1751), set forth by him in an essay with the characteristic name "Man-machine". In this work, La Mettrie argued that people are skillfully built mechanisms and called for studying a person, relying only on the mechanics of his body. At the same time, he believed that the study of the mechanics of the body would automatically lead to the disclosure of the essence of human sensual and mental activity.

The most generalized and systematic mechanistic worldview of the materialism of the Enlightenment is expressed in the work of P. Holbach "The System of Nature". Holbach explicitly states that we can explain physical and spiritual phenomena, habits, with the help of pure mechanism. Nothing in the world happens without a reason. Every cause produces some effect; there can be no effect without a cause. The effect, once having arisen, itself becomes a cause, giving rise to new phenomena. Nature is an immense chain of causes and effects, continuously flowing from each other. The general movement in nature gives rise to the movement of individual bodies and parts of the body, and the latter, in turn, supports the movement of the whole. This is how the order of the world is formed.

Movement and change in the world, according to the views of the materialists of this era, is not a constant generation of the new, that is, not development in the proper sense, but some kind of eternal cycle - a consistent increase and decrease, the emergence and destruction, creation and destruction. Everything that happens in the world is subject to the principle of continuity. There are no jumps in nature.

Fatalism, the belief in the predestination of everything that exists, contrary to the general trend of the philosophy of the Enlightenment, led to the conclusion that everything that exists is predetermined, to the passive submission of a person to everything that happens in the reality around him.

The materialistic solution of the worldview question about the relationship of consciousness to matter, led to a sensationalistic interpretation of the cognitive process. The materialists considered the sensations generated in a person by the influence of material objects on his sense organs to be the source of all knowledge. Without feeling
without feelings, they believed, nothing is accessible to our knowledge. The main body of knowledge of reality is the human brain. D. Diderot compares the brain with a sensitive and living wax, capable of taking on all kinds of forms, imprinting on itself the impact of external objects. La Mettrie, on the other hand, wrote about the “brain screen”, on which, as from a magic lantern, objects imprinted in the eye are reflected. Man, according to the views of the materialists, feels through the peripheral nerves that connect in the brain.

Sensationalism of the 18th century materialists. is not in conflict with the general rationalist philosophy of the Enlightenment. The essence of reality, from their point of view, can only be known by reason. Sensory direct knowledge is only the first step on this path.

The recognition of the similarity of the world and human life activity also predetermines the epistemological optimism of eighteenth-century materialism. Its representatives are convinced of the limitlessness of human cognitive capabilities. There is nothing that people could not understand, says Helvetius. What for our grandfathers was an amazing, wonderful and supernatural fact, becomes for us a simple and natural fact, the mechanism and causes of which, we know, are echoed by Holbach. Thus, the materialists of the 18th century, despite some nuances, on the whole share the basic principles of the philosophy of their era.

French materialism of the 18th century is the pinnacle of materialistic thought before the revolution of 1789, which had a great impact on social life and the spiritual world of all of Europe. This doctrine is associated with radical socio-political views. French materialism of the 18th century is a step forward of materialistic ideas. "There is nothing but moving matter."

The tasks that the French materialists set themselves:

1. Show that religious dogmas are in irreconcilable contradiction with reason, experience and science. They were in solidarity with Hume, one cannot refer to God as a source of sensations, since no human experience can prove the existence of a deity.

2. Find the epistemological roots of religion. Man created God in the image and likeness of himself. The heavenly world is created by imagination in the image of the earthly world.

3. Anti-clericalism - criticism of the Church. French philosophers subject the Church to devastating criticism. Voltaire: the history of the Church is a swindle... According to Voltaire, God is the first mover of the universe, the supreme legislator, religion is necessary to pacify society, a guarantee of a typical order. "If God did not exist, then he would have to be invented."

The 18th century in European history is known as the Age of Enlightenment. First of all, it was the age of Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, Montesquieu, French philosophers, who developed an integral and rather harmonious philosophical concept - the concept of Enlightenment. The philosophy of the Enlightenment contained a number of ideas and provisions, which in their totality determined the peculiarities of the enlighteners' views on society and social development. The most important element, the basic philosophy of the Enlightenment, was the conviction that everything that exists in the world not only can, but must be explained on the basis of reason, i.e. rationalistically. The Enlighteners were the direct heirs of the "scientific revolution of the 17th century", associated with the discoveries of Newton, Descartes, Galileo. To the leaders of the “scientific revolution of the 17th century.” the concept of scientific law was introduced as an objective and independent of human desire connection between natural phenomena. Enlighteners extended this concept to society. According to the philosophers of the Enlightenment, not only nature, but also society must be subjected to impartial scientific analysis, rationally comprehended, from the point of view of the laws operating in society. Enlightenment philosophers believed that the most important law of the development of society was that it develops from less developed forms to more developed ones, i.e. along the path of progress. It was the enlighteners who introduced the idea of ​​socio-historical progress into philosophical circulation. Rationalism, combined with the idea of ​​socio-historical progress, served in the theories of the enlighteners as a justification for a critical analysis of the existing social reality. The criterion for the reasonableness of existing social institutions was, first of all, their compliance with the requirements of reason, natural human rights (these included the independence of the individual and the recognition of human freedom), and the idea of ​​progress. Modern social order was condemned by the Enlightenment. They criticized the absolute power of the monarch, the estate system, the restriction of personal rights and freedoms, religious superstition and ignorance. Enlighteners formulated a coherent concept of reforms covering all spheres of public life, aimed at achieving the so-called "public good", a social system that satisfies the needs of each member of society. They linked the implementation of this reform program with the main condition: the enlightenment of society, the dissemination of scientific knowledge and moral norms in its various layers, the eradication of superstition and ignorance. The publication of the famous "Encyclopedia" under the leadership of Denis Diderot was seen as the first step towards enlightening society. Enlighteners made special demands on the supreme power. They interpreted the question of the origin of the state in different ways, but were equally convinced of the need to establish the power of enlightened rulers who, on the basis of common philosophical doctrines, develop a program of specific political actions and reforms.