Tl.Oizermon TheMainTlends inPhilosophy 5+[ This monograph is a theoretacal investiga' tion of the process of the history of philo' sophy. The author examines the polari' sation of philosophical systems in their main trends, viz., the materialast and idealist. He traces the stluggle between materialism and idealism on the basis of the dialectical-materialist conception of the history of philosophy, and brings out the scientific and cultural'historical significance of dialeetica! materialism in present-day world philosophical thought. TI.Oizerman TheMainTlends inPhilosophy A Theoretical AnalYsis of the History of PhllosoPhY Translated by H. Camphell Creighlon, M' A. (Oxon) m PROGRESS PUBLISHERS Moscow CONTENTS Designed by Yuri Yegorov Off3EPMAH T. I,I. TJIABHbIE (DI4]IOCO(DCKHE HATIPAB JIEIdVIfl Ha auztuticxo*t sswrce Page IN,I'RoDUCTION 5 l'tt ()ne. THE BASIC PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTION AS A pRO- lII,t]M OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY I. 'I'IIt] SENSE AND MEANING OF THE BASIC PHILOSOPHICAL () r r ESTToN 19 L The Basic Philosophical Question and the Problematic of philo- sophy 1 9 J. Self-Awareness and the External World. The Epistemological Ne- cessity of the Basic Philosophical Question 22 .t. On the Origin and Development of the Basic Philosophical eue- srion . 33 'l'he .1. Basic Philosophical Question: Objective Content and Subjec- tive Form of Expression. The Real Starting Point of Philosophical Irrquiry Z7 'r'ltFl il Two stDEs oF THE BASrC PHILOSOPHICAL QUES_ 't'roN 54 'l'he l. Ontological Aspect: the Materialist Answer to the Basic Question 54 J. 'l'hc Ontological Aspect: a Contribution to the Delineation of the Itlcalist Answer to the Basic Philosophical Question 74 ,1, 'l'lrc Epistemological Aspect. The Principle of Reflection and the Itlealist Interpretation of the Knowability of the World 8Z .1. 'l'lre Epistemological Aspect. The Principle of the Knowability of the World and Philosophical Scepticism 104 l'utt l'rro. PHILOSOPHICAL TRENDS AS AN OBJECT OF RE- SIIAR('H IN THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY III 'I'IIIi I)IVERGENCE OF PHILOSOPHICAL DOCTRINES AND Printed the in Union of Soviet Suialist Republics I'I'S IN'I'I]RPRETATION. METAPHYSICAL SYSTEMS AND I.IIII I)I']VELOPMENT OF THE ANTITHESIS BETWEEN MA. o38rll3iio*l6a I'IiXIAI.ISM AND IDEALISM 138 o u-m (C) Hslatelrcrno (Mblcrb>>, 1984 l, l)lrprrtt uboul Trends or Dispute of Trends? 138 l, Metnphvsicnl Systems. Spiritualism and the Naturalist Ten- English translation the revised of tlert y I Russian text 55 .1, Matcrlnlislrr thc Sole Consistent Opponent of Speculative Me- rsBN 5-01-000506-9 Progress Publishers 1988 @) telrlrysicul Syslcnrs 165 4. Kant's Transcendental Dualist Metaphysics 173 5. Toward a Critique of Irrationalist Speculative Metaphysics 184 6. The Dispute between Materialism and ldealism and Differences in Understanding Speculative Metaphysics 195 IV. THE GREAT CONFRONTATION: MATERIALISM VS IDEA- LISM. THE ARCUMENTS AND COUNTERARGUMENTS 2t5 l. The Struggle of Materialism and ldealism as an Epochal Cul- tural and Historical Phenomenon 2t5 2. Idealism vs Materialism. Materialism vs Idealism. Results and Prospects 234 3. The Diatectical-Materialist Critique of Idealiim' The Episte- mological Roots of Idealist Fallacies 262 4. The Dialectical-Materialist Critique of Idealism. The Principle of INTRODUCTION the Partisanship of Philosophy 274 CONCLUSION 296 LITERATURE 306 doubt about the ideological signifrcance of a the- NAME INDEX There is no the history of philosophy. For philosophy ST]BJECT INDEX oretical analysis of is the sole iield of knowledge in which agreement among its leading spokesmen is the exception rather than the rule' In the sc'ien'ces usually called exact or special, the area of rlisagreement is a comparatively small part of the vast ter- ritorv alreadv mastered, in which peace and harmony seemingly reigri.' Whoiver studies any of these sciences to some extent lacis choice; he assimilates established truths that will, of course, be refrned, supplemented, and in part. even reYised, trut hardly refuted. It is not so in philosophy, in w-hich. there is a host of doctrines, trends, and directions each of which, as a rule, has not only historical justifrcation but also a certain actual sense. In phiiosophy one has to choose, to soak oneself in a specifrc atmosphere of philosophical thinking, by nature polemical, so as to hnd one's point of view, refuting all others ihat are incompatible with it' But a search of that kind doc- l',resupposes study of the whole variety of philosophical irines, a condition that is obviously not practicable. ln concrete historical social conditions this situation of ('()rlrse has a certain, obligatory character. He who studies like the plrilosophy-browsing (or is beginning to) is not, of course, bookshop looking for some- 1re rron in a secondhand ihirrg suitable for himself. The moment of choice is inseparable fr.rri the purposive activity by which any science is mastered. Sirr.'e' the'hisiory of philoiophy investigates the real gains of plril,sophy, this choice beiomes an intellectual conviction rurttl itleological decision. The airn-of my book is to investigate the initial propositions .f l5r. history oi philosophy. This concerns the basic philo- sophical question and the main trends and directions in philo- sophy, are not truisms but quite special problems for research sophy, themes that are organically connected with one ano- in the history of philosophy. What makes them so? The aim ther; special study of them makes it possible to understand of my introduction is to provide a preliminary answer to that, philosophy as law-governed developing knowledge whose flnal which will, at the same time, pose the problem. result is dialectical and historical materialism. First of all, let me point out the indisputable but far from The present work is a direct continuation of my Problems always realised truth that the Marxian proposition about of the History of Philosophy,2 the subject of which was such the basic philosophical question is not simply a statement of an inadequately studied (in the general view) and largely debatable empirically obvious fact, but a' theoretical formulation of a problems as the specific nature of the philosophical form of definite discovery made by Frederick Engels. Only a few knowledge, the distinguishing feature and ideological function pre-Marxian philosophers came near to theoretical awareness of the problematic of philosophy, and the nature of philosophical that there is a basic question common to various philosophical argument and dispute. In this new monograph, at least in its doctrines, including opposing ones. Most of them rather assumed first part, on the contrary, I examine problems that are usually that each doctrine was characterised by its own main philo- only treated in textbooks, i.e. that do not constitute the subject sophical question precisely because it largely diverged from of research at all. But since these problems are of fundamental others. That is also, and even more so, true of contemporary significance, they deserve more than the attention just of non-Marxian philosophers. Albert Camus, for instance, claims teachers. Problems that are usually called elementary are that basic ones, the starting point of research, and the answers to problem, that of suicide. them no small way predetermine its direction and results. there is only one truly serious philosophical in To decide whether life is, or is not worth the trouble of living, is to Lenin, stressing that politics 'is a concentrated expression of answer the fundamental question of philosophy (28:15).4 economics' and that 'it must take precedence over economics', this prevailing tendency. noted in this connection that 'it is strange that we should have The separate exceptions only confirm return such elementary questions' is well The question posed by Camus must not be underestimated, to to 1142:83). It philosophic- known that this elementary question has proved to be not even if only because it forms part of a definite of the Ancient so simple, so matter-of-fact as not to need investigation. al tradition whose beginning was laid by thinkers era' The alienation Roughly the same can be said of the basic philosophical question. East and philosophers of the Hellenistic product, and the alienation of The Marxian proposition 'Truth is a process' (143:201) also of human activity and of its give profound sense. Yet relates to elementary but, I should say, fundamental truths nature regularly engender it and it that do not remain invariable since they are enriched by new it is not the basic phiiosophical question, if only because philosophical doctrines' But scientific data. it is not such for the majority of that main philosophical question perhaps it is a transmuted form of it, since it is a matter of the Textbooks expound the Or is it in popular form and provide a correct idea of the struggle ittitude of human consciousness to human existence? philosophy? is still incumbent of trends in philosophy, do a very useful job. But they often, the basic issue of existentialist It philosophy has its unfortunately, create a deceptive impression of excessive sim- on us, however, to investigate whether each plicity and very nearly absolute clarity about matters that are special basic question. philosophical problems by no means simple and clear. This fault is seemingly the obverse Neopositivists, having got rid of problems, long ago concluded of the methods standards that a textbook has to meet, since as imaginary and in fact not real the spiritual to the ma- it is limited to exposition of simply the fundamentals of the that the question of the relation of since was quite unclear science.'' The sole means of overcoming these shortcomings of terial was a typical pseudoproblem, it and whether popular expositions is to investigate the theoretical fundamen- whether what are called matter and spirit existed without meaning.