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Soviet Studies in

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Marxist Philosophy and the Problem of Value

O. G. Drobnitskii

To cite this article: O. G. Drobnitskii (1967) and the Problem of Value, Soviet Studies in Philosophy, 5:4, 14-24 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.2753/RSP1061-1967050414

Published online: 20 Dec 2014.

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Download by: [North Carolina State University], [Professor Marina Bykova] Date: 09 February 2017, At: 14:43 of Value

Voprosy filosofii, 1966, No. 7

0, G. Drobnitskii

MARXIST PHILOSOPHY AND THE PROBLEM OF -*’VXLUr;* *

In recent years, the question has been posed fact that things and phenomena in the world con- of the attitude of Marxist philosophy to what is stituting man’s environment have been endowed termed the problem of value. The point is not with such characteristics as worth, good and only that bourgeois , which has been de- evil, beauty and ugliness, and injustice. veloping for three-quarters of a century, has to Doubtless, the phenomena of social be critically analyzed. Central to the question act in some aspect as “spiritual values,” i.e., is whether a Marxist axiology is possible. In they partake of the character of valuation norms. that connection the following is instructive. Finally, all these phenomena may be combined Authors who, with envious consistency, ignore under the single common notion of value. The the of philosophy and begin to build a question is how to approach the analysis of val- theory of value on the basis of direct generaliza- ues: to take the fact of their as a point tion 440fall the known facts” often pose the prob- of departure for theoretical reasoning, or to at- lem of value precisely as it was formulated as tempt to discover the mechanism of their origin; early as the end of the 19th century. to take the standpoint value consciousness and

of As we see it, the lesson of bourgeois axiology to describe the world as it looks from that point is not to be forgotten. It is more desirable to of view, or to attempt to clarify the relationship begin examination of this problem not merely of that consciousness to , to determine to with a of value phenomena and their what degree it is capable in itself of disclosing , but with analysis of how the problem the nature of the things it evaluates. We shall arose historically. No one challenge the attempt to demonstrate that criteria of value __- consciousness are fundamentally unacceptable *This article is published in the context of to a engaged in rigorously objective discussion. study of reality. The author is a staff member of the Institute Genesis of Bourgeois Axiology of Philosophy, USSR Academy of , Moscow. Questions of the nature of various phenomena,

14 VOL. V, NO. 4 15

which it is now customary to term values, have individual subjectivity might rise to the objec- been discussed in philmophy since ancient . tivity of the universal. Moreover, scientific cog- But the problem of value as one of the fundamen- nition and accustomed to the of tal aspects of philosophy (and axiology) arose universal necessity coincide, in Hegel, with hu- only in the second half of the 19th century. Is it man freedom. In his ethic, Kant proceeds from accidental that this problem was absent in clas- the identity of and its , but sical bourgeois philosophy, although even Hume reveals a total disconnection between “natural and Kant had noted certain of its prerequisites? passions” and universal necessity, which is On the contrary, we are able to say that that above nature. Therefore, in him, man appears trend in within which axiology to be internally cloven into the sensory, unfree arose took shape in many respects as antithesis we see in empirical reality, and the ra- to the leitmotifs of classical bourgeois philosophy tional free being who has perceived, a priori, and, above all, to the ideas of the Enlightenment. the unchallengeable moral law and stands coun- In this context, let us trace the manner in terposed to the world of natural (and social) re- which the problem of human activity and world lationships of man. This law, naturally, cannot view was regarded by the French materialists. be validated by empirical science and does not Man is a part of nature and, consequently, a carry within itself guarantees of practical em- natural being. His nature is such that adequate bodiment in empirical history, The moral view- expression of his essential forces - rationally point (later called that of value) proved to be de- directed interests - reveals complete harmony tached from science and social . with the universal laws of nature. Therefore, The further development of bourgeois thought study and practical assimilation of the external on the question under discussion follows the of nature as a whole are theoretically course forecast by Kant and not that anticipated identical with the self- and self-dis- by Hegel. The actual historical development of covery of man. Translated into the language of life under does not fit into the con- , this means that proper effectua- ception of the organic unity of the universal (the tion of the personal interest of each leads to the integral) and the individual, the universal neces- attainment of the common welfare. It follows sity of the universe and human subjectivity, that the solution of all social problems assumes whether it is thought of as given by nature or as an objective knowledge of the nature of man and effected in a historical process of ascent. The the world. Man must find all the root principles subsequent development of bourgeois civilization, of social orientation within himself. True, such particularly in the era of monopoly capitalism, a situation is attained only in a rational society, revealed that the mode of activity inherent in but it must be built on the basis of the objective capitalism is remote from the universality as- of free development of the actual nature of man. cribed to it. In this connection the problem of Universal enlightenment and explanation to peo- man’s life activity demanded reinterpretation, ple of their own interests must become the prin- and the principles of and historicism ciple of social upbringing. But in that case no were rejected. special problem of value arises. Questions of We may direct our attention to two basic fac- world view, of social program, of choice of life tors of life under capitalism as recorded by the goals and ideals, and of human freedom and hap- bourgeois mentality. On the one hand, the agent piness are resolved by “natural” science and the of activity is transformed from the “free entre- “natural” resting thereon. preneur,” implementing his own interests, into As we know, Kant and Hegel criticized this an executor of the goals assigned him from with- naturalist view of man. Pointing out that sponta- out. Correspondingly, the motion of economic, neous natural interest is not yet an adequate ex- political, and other interests in society now com- pression of universal necessity (), Hegel prises not a disclosure of the internal nature of nonetheless did not rule out the possibility that man but merely a manifestation of expediency 16 SOVIET STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY

external to him. Therefore the view is confirmed “meaning” of history. The latter is capable of that the laws of social activity are incapable of being detected by a fundamentally different mode revealing the sense of human existence as such, of thought, “above science”: the philosophy of and that it is necessary to seek them somewhere history, which is the opposite of sociology. outside social practice. (This idea has been These of capitalist reality and most clearly expressed in neo-Protestantism.) theoretical consciousness, which became histor- On the other hand, the bourgeois attitude toward ically mature, later became the point of depar- nature is not universal but one-sided: utilitarian. ture for the antitheses, neopositivism and irra- The transformation of nature is by no means a tionalism, but had earlier found interpretation comprehensively creative activity implementing in neo-, where they served as the the development of the world in accordance with foundation for posing the problem of value. The its immanent laws. Nature appears only as a Baden school advanced the question of the possi- passive substrate to be processed in production. bility of theoretical examination of the problem “Technical civilization” does not reproduce but of the sense and meaning of human existence and ravages nature, taking its resources and making of the historical process, which subsumed the in- only partial use of them for purposes of economic clusion of each individual phenomenon in the competition, often contradictory to the laws of whole in such fashion as not to cause it to lose the organic development of nature. its uniqueness and irreplaceability. In the opin- Therefore this nature appears to the irration- ion of the neo-Kantians, these problems were alist philosopher as inanimate material to be cut capable of solution only if one abandoned the up and carved again in accordance with utilitarian method of generalization practiced by the natural needs (Bergson). In essence, the positivist sees and by certain of the social sciences (such as the same thing, but from the other side. The sociology, law, and psychology), a method that laws of nature, given in experiment, are capable disclosed general and abstract regularities, and of serving only as external limitations upon the if one adopted the individualizing method of re- arbitrariness of subjectivity, but do not include ferring to values. And while Rickert, for exam- in themselves the universal logic of the world ple, held this latter method to be just as scien- order. In this case the “” of science tific as that of the natural sciences, this pertains may consist merely in describing atomary facts only to empirical history, which describes the and their external ordering with the aid of the events that have occurred purely as general laws of uniformity and sequeiice. The of facts. But the interpretation of the historical question of the essence of the universe, however, process in its integrity and internal unity which, becomes a forbidden matter to this “rigorously as he assumes, is a prerogative of the philosophy scientific” positivist thought, which verifies all of history, has to proceed within the confines of its conclusions. thought above experience, postulating absolute, The orientation solely upon external, present transcendental values of culture, outside . reality came to obtain not only in the natural but Thus, even in neo-Kantianism, the value-system in the social sciences. The positivist theoretician view of the world is described, in some sense, as of the 20th century is no longer able to associate the antithesis of the scientific method. Later, the laws of contemporary civilization with those however, the problem of values took on an in- of the process of and with man’s creasingly explicit irrational sense. determination of essence. This loss of the Let us attempt to identify the key problems sense of history and of “human meaning” had the around which axiology was built. In the first result for sociology that it proved capable of de- place, it was found that descriptive science, scribing only the empirically given, the “facts” identifying the object of knowledge only as some-. of social life, their external connections and laws thing in conflict with the subject in an experiment of mass recurrence, but it was not able to say detached from the universal logic of the natural anything whatever about the general direction or order and cleansed of human subjectivity, and VOL. V, NO. 4 17 therefore having a “neutral” relationship to the mune, taking as its point of departure the human- object (“neutrality” became a synonym for ob- ist anthropology that regards man as an autono- jectivity), is incapable of telling us anything mous subject standing in contrast to the world about man himself. In terms of this type of of tangible relationships. The , social experience appears to be merely “activity” seeks to find the “genuinely human” an external condition, a means of equipping it in activity of a kind that could be wholly defined technically and finding utilitarian application of as a free project of the individual and would not its data. The product of this science, to the de- be concretized in external results not belonging gree that it possesses social meaning, places in to man (Sartre’s point of view in his book Being man’s hands powerful means of activity, but does and Nothingness). not incorporate any of the goals of life. These It is characteristic, however, that not only ir- means (technology, automation, atomic energy, rationalist philosophers, but apologists for “rig- and an abundance of material goods) may be em- orous science” themselves, often arrive at an ployed either for or against the interests of man. irrational view of human activity. Applied sci- Contrary to the ideal of the Fnlightenment, in ac- ence - the sociology of labor and consumption, cordance with which science is supposed to help of public opinion and advertising - which has man not only to master nature but also to orga- the function of ”rationalizing” behavior and the nize his own social life in rational fashion, the means of controlling it, has increasingly frequent thesis is propounded that the of science recourse to techniques of psychological manipula- must be supplemented by the truth of value tion, subliminal suggestion, and cultivation of il- (morality, , etc.), which is confirmed in lusions among the masses. Taking entirely different fashion. in this connection as a point of departure, the When such a science studies man, it considers theoreticians of the mass mind criticize the con- him, by analogy to nature, as an external object, ception of the social development of human na- a faceless specimen of the race, and chops him ture put forth by the ideologists of the Enlighten- up into mutually isolated spheres of action of ment, who held that man’s behavior is governed laws of natural necessity. However, man’s by rational motivations, and that the technique “real” being, in its integrity and uniqueness, as of conditioning must represent an explanation to not concretized, possessing meaning and free- him of his own interests. The theory of psycho- dom, can be understood in a way contradictory manipulation has found philosophical synthesis to the scientific; and it is only on this level of in neopositivist meta-, asserting that examination that human life acquires value in it- moral judgments (ideological values in general) self and becomes the creation of all values. This carry no information about reality but represent idea, which had only been suggested in neo- hidden imperatives and means of influencing the Kantianism, was developed further in contempo- behavior and convictions of men by the employ- rary irrationalism (by Karl Jaspers, for exam- ment of emotions and will. From this stand- ple), with which axiology proceeds, at least up point, values have no relationship to facts, and to that point, along a single line. value-norm propositions do not relate to scien- Thinkers of liberal orientation, who accuse tific ones. science of dehumanizing the personality, see in In conditions in which the bourgeois mind is it the reason for man’s having been transformed losing its ”sense of the historical,” it is possible into a robot, into an appendage of automated pro- for an understanding of the unity of the historical duction or a bureaucratic-technocratic machine, process as one of law-governed progressive de- into an object of all-round functionalization and velopment, the determination by man of his rela- “mass-scale manipulation.’ To the “faceless tionship to existing social systems, and solution ” of society and science they counter- of the question of his socio-political orientation posed a critical moralizing that appealed to the to be based purely on a passively assimilated ideals of free enterprise or the medieval com- dogma or psychological inclination, but not at all 18 SOVIET STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY upon a rational understanding of historical laws. activity, is not capable of rationally mastering In line with such views, the fact of the existence the laws of the life of society as a whole, of its of two opposing systems is capable of being ex- culture, and the movement of the general his- plained only as of a “pluralist” social real- torical process of cognition. This system of so- ity, but not as a manifestation of a distinctive cial division of labor in contemporary capitalist transition period from capitalism to society has the tendency to become a many-sided on a world scale. Any contention that science functionalization of activity, in which the indi- can draw a conclusion as to which form of soci- vidual is incorporated into the ongoing motion of ety the future must adhere to is regarded by the the social whole as a passive executor of the proponents of these views (from the neo-Kantians role assigned him, subordinate to a system of to the neopositivists) as an impermissible con- rigid regulators. fusion of the standpoints of “scientific descrip- Under these conditions, man’s social nature tion” and “value positions.” confronts him as something fundamentally alien: Finally, the problem of value arises as a an external necessity with which he must coordi- means of resolving certain traditional questions nate his actions, but the meaning of which he is in the theory of knowledge associated with the unable to divine; as a socially useful activity as- socio- historical nature of knowledge. Even Kant, signed him from without, the ends of which have taking as a point of departure the incomplete na- nothing in common with his “strictly human” ture of empirical knowledge at each concrete goals, which do not enable him to acquire mate- moment in history, replaces the notion of the in- rial and riches, which he employs finity of universal human knowledge by the idea only in proportion to his direct needs, and as a of a regulative principle, a transcendental ideal normative law of “universally binding” logic and that makes it possible to imagine the infinity of “universally accepted” data of science. In con- the universe as an entity and guides the develop- sequence, the assimilation of the individual into ment of cognitive reasoning. This notion of Kant the culture occurs in a fashion external to his was picked up by his disciples of the Badan own life activity. This is nothing but rote school- school who sought to reduce the Kantian Ding an ing in generally accepted principles of behavior,

~ sich to a value notion. Husserl employed the mastery of the formulas of science, productive concept of value (moral necessity, obligatory work, and moral behavior in undeciphered form, norm) to attempt to express the nature of all and their canonization as unassailable dogmas scientific knowledge as objectively necessary, and absolutes, or the elaboration of correspond- as directed to some tangible subject. But man’s ing stereotypes of emotion and psychology. This activity with tangible things, and its historically “familiarization” with culture, not revealing its law-governed development, are considered solely historical genesis and human significance, in- as a psychological phenomenon, i.e., in the trans- evitably occurs in the form of the building of a formed form in which they emerge in a single “scale of values” performing the function of so- cognitive act and are perceived by the individual cial orientation of the personality in an irrational subject. world. The whole complex of problems with which the Called upon to resolve this fundamental prob- bourgeois theoretician finds himself confronted lem, axiology becomes the central component of and seeks to decide with the aid of the value con- bourgeois philosophy and lays claim to becoming cept is founded, it would appear, upon a single the true subject matter of philosophy. Even general, root problem - the problem of the as- Nietzsche held that solution of “the problem of similation of the culture of society by the indi- values” is the principal task of philosophy. And vidual active agent. The individual, limited in no matter from what aspect the bourgeois the- his existence by factors of class and caste, oc- oretician approaches the problem, he regards cupation and corporative organization, and per- its solution as being outside the confines of sci- forming only fragmented operations in societal ence or even of rational thought in general. The VOL. V, NO. 4 19

value approach seems to him to be a different is necessary to understand what it was that way of seeing the world than scientific “descrip- introduced into philosophy that was tion,” “generalization,” or “neutral” representa- fundamentally new and that resolved the prob- tion of reality. In opposition to the positivist lems listed above in an utterly different way. view of science that detaches it from social ex- Marx revived the concept of classical bourgeois perience, and to “pure knowledge” deprived of philosophy on the unity of subject and tangible meaning with respect to world view, axiology ap- world, but conceived of this unity in a fashion pears, which introduces “human problems” into entirely different than the Enlighteners or philosophy by the back door. Hegel. Man is not merely a part of nature or a How is the nature of the value itself to be un- stage in development of the universal necessity derstood in this case? Here we approach the of the universe. In his relationship to the world, concrete content of bourgeois axiology and the man behaves as a being of practical activity who classification of the trends found in it. Without transforms nature for his specifically human going into detailed analysis of them, we note only purposes, doing so in accordance with the laws two tendencies here. Inasmuch as the problem of nature itself. This identity of the subjectively of value arises on the basis of the antithesis be- human and the objectively natural is possible only tween the objectivity of natural history and hu- thanks to the universality of human activity which man subjectivity, appearing in the most diverse is, however, not a characteristic of that activity forms (social necessity and personal freedom, given at the outset, but one that comes to realiza- historical law and ideals, social expediency and tion only historically, in the process of building “human” goals, the rigorous necessity of scien- a “humanized” nature and human society. Every tific knowledge and individual creativity), it is stage in historical progress that is implemented pregnant with an antinomy from the very outset. by man’s creation of his special tangible world In his understanding of the nature of value, an is at the same time an awakening of new natural axiologist must choose between objective and forces to life and the self-development of man subjective . In the former case, value himself. It is precisely for this reason that man is treated as a phenomenon in the realm of is capable of cognizing the world in its immanent transcendental essences outside space and time, laws, and himself as a social being engaged in which lie outside tangible reality, such as abso- practical activity. His acquisition of knowledge lute moral duty that assigns norms of evaluation coincides with self - know ledge. The development and behavior to man from without (the phenomeno- of the human world also proceeds in accordance logical value theory of N. Hartmann and M. with the objective laws of natural science. These Scheler, the intuitivist ethics and esthetics of G. laws do not merely comprise external limitations Moore, D. Ross, and E. Carritt, neo-, imposed from without upon subjective activity, the neo-realism of Santayana). In the latter case, but are the internal principles of activity of man on the contrary, value is understood as the purely himself. Therefore, as Lenin said, goal-setting subjective attitude of man to an external object, activity is itself a “form of the objective process” as a projection of an emotional disposition upon although “it seems to man that his goals have the world, as a product of arbitrary human deci- been chosen outside the world, and are indepen- sion not subject to rational analysis (neoposi- dent of it (‘freedom’)” (Works [Soch.], Vol. 38, tivism). In both cases we find that the value pp. 179, 180). standpoint cannot logically be correlated with the In essence, these propositions contain the key data of scientific knowledge or rationally validated. to overcoming the difficulties which face axiology. (1)- These are some of the lessons that derive A rigorously objective science, natural and so- from analysis of bourgeois axiology. cial, must necessarily provide answers to all questions pertaining to the world view, societal Is a Marxist Axiolom Possible? orientation, and subjective motivations of human In order to give an answer to this question, it activity. Comprehensive knowledge of an entity 20 SOVIET STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY based upon mastering it in practice in every pos- interacts with the world of things. In reality, the sible way discloses not only the material obsta- theoretical relationship of man to the world is a cles to or the media through which human ac- factor in his practical activity, A man’s ability tivity occurs, but also its final objectives, inas- to see an entity ’in itself” is not an attribute of much as this entity provides not only something the contemplative approach, but rests upon the required to satisfy needs but also produces that universality of human experience. It is precisely which is a component part of man’s social nature. because practice (understood as socio-historical Acquisition of knowledge of the objective laws of activity, and not as the isolated act seen by the history clarifies the interests of man that are of intuitive mind, as Tugarinov understands it) re- the essence; contrariwise, the definition by man produces and masters a thing in the entire rich- of his subjective attitude to existing society and ness of its content that it contains within itself its historical change is a factor in the working objective knowledge of that thing. However, if out of the objective necessity of history. practice is understood only as the employment When the problem is posed in this manner, no of the useful in an entity, we would have to disre- room remains for any special value-system as- gard the objective content of the latter. Then we pect of reality or for the examination of reality would find, on the one hand, the entity “in itself” from this axiological standpoint. However, the as studied by science and, quite separately, its difficulty in resolving the problem lies in the ”human” (consumer, economic, political, ideo- fact that the universality of human experience, logical, moral) significance, which would be the unity of necessity and freedom, of the indi- studied by axiology. vidual and society, are yet to be attained in the The untenability of this separation of scientific. course of historical development. Marx proved knowledge and valuation is distinctly visible in able to resolve this problem in theory because the following argument by the proponents of he foresaw the onset of . On Marxist axiology. Historical scholarship, which this basis we are able to say that the theory of studies the objective laws of development of so- scientific communism is not only a conclusion ciety, is capable of providing us with an advance from Marxist philosophy but one of its theoretical notion of the future communist society as a ne- prerequisites. This “circular logic” is capable cessity. But discovery of this necessity leaves of solution only by the witness of history and the aside the question of the subjective attitude to- experience of building a new society. ward it of the rank-and-file participants in the Let us examine typical arguments ii; favor of historical process, an attitude manifested in their the creation of a “Marxist axiology.” (2) The ideals and strivings. It bypasses the problem of most inclusive formulation was propounded by the meaning of human life, etc. This type of V. P. Tugarinov. It resolves to the following, reasoning is based upon a counterposing of ob- The value problem arises at the point of contact jective law and the subjective motivations of so- between theory and practice. Science studies a cial necessity and personal activity. Historical thing “as it is in itself” (the theoretical approach , containing nothing but scientific to an entity - “cognitive, contemplative, explana- knowledge, needs no supplementation by valua- tory”), independent of man. In his practical ac- tion precisely because these human goals are tivity man employs the useful of the included in the very structure of the historical entity. Discovery of these useful properties and process. The interpretation of history by its evaluation of the entity constitute the task of the participants (even if it occurs in the value form value approach, which comprises “a special atti- of ideals, notions of good and evil, etc.) is condi-

.-tude______toward__ reality.” Thus, the value approach tioned by the laws of social development and it- (studied by axiology) is “a necessary stage in self comprises a factor therein and does not ar- passing” from theory to practice (see -ibid., p. 9). rive from somewhere beyond. The “sequence” thus depicted has nothing in Under the conditions of the problem common with the actual process whereby man of shaping convictions is specific in nature, and VOL. V, NO. 4 21

the task of goal-oriented education of the rank- Either one is thinking of a dogmatic memorizing and-file participant in the building of communism of meaningless formulas in no way associated arises. How is that task to be resolved? Tugari- with the personal persuasions of man, or what is nov poses it as follows: “It is insufficient merely understood is not socialist society but some to understand___ what socialist society is: one must other. The sole possible course for truly social, value the blessings which that society provides communist education in the broad sense is the to us” (ibid., p. 7). In itself that formula would involvement of each individual in the process of call forth no objections if it had not been given building the future society, and involving him in the meaning of a methodological principle point- such fashion that he will regard this task as his ing the way to the manner in which education is own and himself as an active party to history, to take place. From this point of view, the de- not as an object to be acted upon from without, velopment of a scientific world view and of ra- not merely as a consumer of the blessings pro- tionally founded convictions with respect to the vided him by society but as a creator of that so- nature of our society must be supplemented, ciety, for which he bears collective and personal further, by the cultivation of a distinct attitude responsibility. In these circumstances, knowl- toward society: one that is valuational and es- edge of the nature of society will coincide with sentially emotional. Along with the task of “en- perception of the meaning and purposefulness of lightenment” we are also offered that of “cultiva- his own life activity. And then it will not be nec- tion of feelings.” essary “to supplement” a scientific world view One can hardly conceive of these as separate with a value perception of social activity, and tasks, each having its specific goals and merely societal “enlightenment” will coincide in prin- supplementing each other, if only because the ciple with the shaping of activist motivations. emotional attitude of man to social reality and We now see that the problem under discussion his sensory convictions do not include any con- touches not only upon questions of philosophical tent fundamentally different than that of rational theory, but upon the most pressing matters of persuasions, but are only a form of expression practical methodology. Moreover, solution of of the same ideological content, a means for the these problems rests, in the final analysis, upon psychological assimilation of the same social the question as to whether it is possible to dis- data. Because of this we do not find any distinct tinguish a special theoretical discipline (or spe- “secret” of man’s behavior and of the influence cial aspect in Marxist philosophy) that regards of society upon him from without in his emotions. values as a distinct field of activity. What does Attempts to find such a secret would lead us in that field comprise? The proponents of axiology the final analysis to quests for means of persuad- point to the fact, quite obvious in itself, that ing people subconsciously in regard to what they the individual does apply values to each cannot perceive by rational thought. This tech- specific object of his consideration. In this nique, resting upon the theory of psychological connection, that object is to him not merely manipulation, is unacceptable as a matter of prin- something that is factually present, but good ciple as a means for resolution of the tasks of or evil. The need for the existence of that education for communism. object does not follow from the fact that it is The path to be followed in education in the causally conditioned, but from moral duty. The broadest sense, as understood in the axiological object is regarded not from the standpoint of the presentation of the problem, rests in its essence entire of its own content and internal upon the idea that understanding of the nature of structure, but merely as an object external to socialist society is merely knowledge of some the interest directed upon it. A paper by 0. “thing as it is in itself” external to man and not M. Bakuradze, 0. I. Dzhioev, and N. Z. Chav- dependent upon his activity. Such a concept has, chavadze proves an essentially true charac- in fact, nothing at all in common with a real un- terization of this valuational attitude, which they derstanding of the nature of socialist society. see as the subject matter studied by axiology: 22 SOVIET STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY

“It is that which constitutes, in the overall, the them consists of analysis of social culture as a distinctive characteristics of this mode of per- special world of man’s ties and connections to ception of the world, and the aspect of reality entities, in addition to the world of nature. The disclosed by the mediation of that mode, that other lies in an attempt to treat values as dis- comprises the subject matter of Marxist axi- tinctive of existence in general, going ology” (“Symposium,” p. 15). beyond the bounds of “empirical” historical real- The question arises as to whether any such ity. The authors cited hold that, in addition to valuational aspect of reality actually exists, and values defined by the historically developing how one may discover it. Inasmuch as it is re- needs of man, there are “absolute values - vealed only through the medium of valuational goals that man faces as categorical demands,” consciousness, it can be pinned down only if the for “the value of a need itself requires valida- thinking of a theoretician moves within the con- tion.” Dzhioev distinguishes between values that fines of that consciousness. Where this is the are determined by “that which the human race case, axiology becomes mere description of valu- empirically has in common” and “absolute Val- ational consciousness. However, the further ues” that “relate not to that which men empiri- judgment of axiologists shows that the nature of cally have in common, but to the characteristics a value, when so described, remains an unex- of man as a category.” “Value is that which be- plained, mysterious “x. ” The consciousness of fits the place of man in the world.” Chavchavadze, values suffers from certain illusions in this re- however, sees the roots of the objectivity of val- gard, and the elimination of such illusions by a ues in “ontological objectivity” - existence and theoretician leads him merely to the negative “concordance with it. ” “The goal-oriented, mor- characteristics of value. For example, “the ally imperative nature of values is a reflection, value of an object disclosed by valuation con- in the form of consciousness of values, of the sciousness. . .is perceived as a distinctive prop- trends and directions of existence in its dialec- erty of the object,” while in fact “the value of tical development” (ibid.,- pp. 18-20). any object differs in principle from its definable In formulations of this type, the distinctively real attributes,” and it is not a ”factual accident” social nature of values is entirely erased. An of the entity as “substance” is (ibid.,- pp. 15-16). insufficiently consistent application of the prin- Here axiology falls into the sphere of unreal ciple that things must be considered in historical and therefore insoluble antinomies. On the one context, and attempts to “correct” the hand, not only is the value itself unreal, but “the that allegedly derives from the latter, irresist- existence of a value is not determined by the ibly carry with them efforts to find absolute Val- reality or unreality of its carrier, The value of ues independent of history, ontological in sig- absolute justice, for example, is not diminished nificance. Never mind the consequences of such by the fact that it has not yet existed in the an approach to the problem in terms of general world”; but on the other hand “the value of an philosophy; it presupposes a quest for what are unrealized good depends to a certain degree upon essentially moral criteria for evaluation of the its realizability.” In affirming that a value ap- historical process itself (from the standpoint of pears to man “as the object of his needs and “what befits the place of man in the world”). strivings,” the authors immediately qualify this: For this intention to be brought to reality would “This does not mean that value is possessed only mean that rigorously scientific analysis of socio- by goods that are means for satisfying human historical laws and the process whereby all valu- needs” (ibid., pp. 16-17). Attempts to resolve ations, including those of a moral nature, are these antinomies and to reinstate value phenom- derived from these laws would be replaced by ena, which are “strange” and “supernatural” in moralizing from the standpoint of a priori ethical character, lead the authors to the need to go out- postulates. side the bounds of pure description of them. It must be noted that the authors shore up this And here we face two possibilities. One of of values by a considerable number of VOL. V, NO. 4 23 qualifications to the effect that values are phe- After all, what is the valuational attitude? In nomena of social culture. For us here it is im- our opinion, it is merely a transient aspect of portant to establish something else - that the the relationship between human need and its ob- definition of the nature of values is impossible ject. A need includes the means of satisfying it in principle so long as we remain within the con- and is realized in the act of consumption (of pro- fines of description of valuation consciousness. duction) or by intellectual assimilation. But an And once this is so, the very subject matter of object emerges as valuable precisely as a need axiology, which lays claim to becoming a sepa- not yet realized, as an entity external to man rate discipline within philosophy, disappears. that is yet to be assimilated. For example, a There remains to us only one means of studying moral need (norm, ideal) exists only insofar as values: the sociological, which explains the its universal fulfillment has not yet become a mechanism of their genesis and reproduction. form of behavior taken for granted by all, and What field of research this is, what its subject its implementation by the individual is conceived matter is, what the methodology of examination of as a moral value, a good. The object of con- of values must be, and what their nature is: sumption becomes a value because an unsatisfied these are the three principal questions facing us need for it exists; it is not given man directly and requiring further investigation. Here we as a natural attribute of his, but must be pro- shall confine ourselves merely to a cursory out- duced and reproduced. It appears as an entity line of the problems arising in this connection, for acquisition and normed distribution, i.e., it and of preliminary hypotheses. confronts need as something external to it, sub- ject to attainment or possession. Thus, the phenomenon of value arises under *** conditions of (capable of being over- come at each given moment or historically) be- We take as a point of departure that a valuation tween a need that has already matured, an arisen attitude toward an entity (within which attitude it need, a problem posed, a possibility opening in appears to us as a value) is only a particular as- the immediate or remote future, on the one hand, pect of the many-faceted practical attitude of and, on the other hand, present reality that does man toward the reality he masters and trans- not yet at the immediate moment permit these forms. The fact that an entity appears as object problems to be resolved entirely and at once. of a need directed to it is merely an external It is the fact that value thus is of the nature of a fact requiring scientific derivation in terms of “problem” that distinguishes it from all objects social history. Consequently, we need not only of consumption, of whatever nature. Moreover, a mere description of value phenomena but analy- a value performs the role of a mediator between sis of social culture, a theory of activity going a thing and man, who has not yet discovered the far beyond the bounds of axiology. The technique nature of that thing in all its richness. In this employed in such investigation cannot be axio- connection a value may compensate for the in- logical, for that presumes the examination of adequacy of knowledge possessed by society or reality only from the standpoint from which valu- the individual, a sign or symbol of the as yet un- ational consciousness sees it. The value orienta- revealed content of the object. Man, who has not tion taken as point of departure for the thinker assimilated the entire riches of social culture, introduces intuitive moralizing as a criterion in is compelled to orient his activity to one or an- theory, whereas science must study its subject other degree with the aid of regulative norins - matter in rigorously objective fashion in the in- moral requirements, memorized techniques for vestigation of the value aspect of the social mind operating with unknown data, generally accepted as in everything else. valuations and formulas. The problem of trans- But if the valuational attitude is excluded from forming intuitive into scientific knowledge, of theory, this does not mean that it is “abolished.” the normative into the creative, of passage from 24 SOVIET STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY activity regulated from without and in purely ex- does not eliminate the value form of conscious- ternal fashion, to free self-directed activity, is ness, but causes it to be regarded only as an ex- usually associated with this. ternal form, a psychological expression of a But is it possible, in this case, to speak of content in the realm of world view. overcoming the valuational attitude in some fu- Herein lies, we are convinced, the fundamental ture time? From our viewpoint, no. This atti- between elevating values to a fetish tude is constantly reproduced in the process of and a viewpoint that permits us to pose the ques- development of social culture and of the separate tion of the shaping of convictions in each man individual. The transition from partial to com- that are truly scientific (in content but not neces- plete mastery of an object always occurs both sarily in form). on the socio-historical and on the individual plane. Man masters, in increasingly universal fashion, the culture already accumulated by so- Footnotes ciety, but its continually accelerating develop- ment demands that new standards constantly be 1) In bourgeois axiology there is also a third introduced. It is not only the separate individual, trend, the naturalist, which would appear to be but the collective societal entity that must inevi- an exception in this regard. As an example of tably, in the course of mastering ever new enti- this we may cite the value theory of R. B. Perry, ties, pass through the phase of a normative valu- according to which value judgments are founded ational attitude toward them. And therefore this in judgments of facts. But here value phenomena relationship is constantly reproduced. are considered only in their psychological aspect Moreover, alongside the scientific there also - as a manifestation of “interest” (desires, at- exists the intuitional consciousness characterized tractions, inclinations). According to this con- not only by a lesser degree of cognitive mastery ception, this type of manifestation of ”interest” of the subject, but by the fact that that assimila- may be construed as an empirical fact, but can- tion proceeds in a distinctive form. In the minds not be derived with the rigor of scientific neces- of the masses of the people, the scientific world sity. Thus, the antithesis between science and view becomes clothed in the form of emotionally axiology remains: it is merely “driven inside” colored concepts (ideals, notions of happiness, and transferred from the realm of empirical good and evil). Here values act as abbreviated description of facts to that of discovery of their “denotations” of theoretical content in the form essential regularities. of a psychological stereotype or image. This is 2) is to the viewpoints put forth at why the problem of value retains its significance the USSR Symposium on the Problem of Value as a field of social psychology. But it can be re- convened in Tbilisi in October 1965, to the pro- solved only by discovering the rational content ceedings of which (Simpozium PO probleme of “spiritual values, by uncovering the internal tsennostei v marksistsko-leninskoi filosofii, logic of the entity reflected in intuitional con- Tbilisi, 1965) we shall be making reference sciousness in the form of some “value.” This hereafter.