Social consciousness is a set of ideas, theories, views, ideas, feelings, beliefs, emotions of people, moods that reflect nature, the material life of society and the entire system of social relations. Social consciousness is formed and develops along with the emergence of social existence, since consciousness is possible only as a product of social relations. But a society can be called a society only when its basic elements have been formed, including social consciousness.

The essence of consciousness lies precisely in the fact that it can reflect social existence only under the condition of its simultaneous active and creative transformation. The peculiarity of social consciousness is that in its influence on existence it can, as it were, evaluate it, reveal its hidden meaning, predict, and transform it through the practical activities of people. And therefore, the social consciousness of an era can not only reflect existence, but also actively contribute to its transformation. This is the historically established function public consciousness

In multinational states there is a national consciousness of different peoples.

Forms of social consciousness:

Political consciousness is a systematized, theoretical expression of public views on the political organization of society, on the forms of the state, on the relations between various social groups, classes, parties, relations with other states and nations;

Legal consciousness in theoretical form expresses the legal consciousness of society, the nature and purpose of legal relations, norms and institutions, issues of legislation, court, and prosecutor's office. The goal is to assert legal order, corresponding to the interests of a particular society;

Morality is a system of views and assessments that regulate the behavior of individuals, a means of educating and strengthening certain moral principles and relationships;

Art is a special form of human activity associated with the mastery of reality through artistic images;

Religion and philosophy are the most distant forms of social consciousness from material conditions. Social and individual consciousness are in close unity. Social consciousness is interindividual in nature and does not depend on the individual. For specific people it is objective.

Individual consciousness is the consciousness of a separate individual, reflecting his individual existence and, through it, to one degree or another, social existence. Social consciousness is the totality of individual consciousnesses.

Each individual consciousness is formed under the influence of individual existence, lifestyle and social consciousness. In this case, the most important role is played by the individual way of life of a person, through which the content is refracted public life. Another factor in the formation of individual consciousness is the process of assimilation by the individual of social consciousness.

2 main levels of individual consciousness:

1. Initial (primary) - “passive”, “mirror”. It is formed under the influence of the external environment and external consciousness on a person. Main forms: concepts and knowledge in general. The main factors in the formation of individual consciousness: educational activities of the environment, educational activities society, cognitive activity the person himself.

2. Secondary - “active”, “creative”. Man transforms and organizes the world. The concept of intelligence is associated with this level. The end product of this level and consciousness in general are ideal objects that arise in human heads. Basic forms: goals, ideals, faith. The main factors: will, thinking - the core and system-forming element.

Social consciousness is a set of ideas, views, theories and perceptions of people in society (that is, the spiritual life of society).

Social consciousness has a social nature (basis). It arises from the social practice of people as a result of their various activities. And it is the result of a joint understanding of social reality by people interacting with each other.

Individual consciousness is the consciousness of an individual person, his special, individual perception of the world around him (the totality of his views, ideas and interests).

It also generates corresponding individual behavior.

The relationship between public and individual consciousness

Social consciousness is closely, dialectically interconnected with individual consciousness as the categories “general” and “individual”. Social consciousness is a reflection of the individual (individual) consciousness and at the same time manifests itself through the individual.

1. However, individual consciousness, being autonomous, is not completely independent of society.

It interacts with public consciousness: enriches it with its images, experiences, ideas and theories.

2. In turn, the individual consciousness of any person is formed and developed on the basis of social consciousness: it assimilates the views, ideas, and prejudices existing in society.

Individual consciousness is a subjective image of the world that is formed in an individual under the influence of his life conditions and mental characteristics. It has an intrapersonal existence, often representing an unknown stream of consciousness.

Social consciousness characterizes collective ideas formed by social communities and groups under the influence of transpersonal factors: the material conditions of society and its spiritual culture.

The difference between individual and social consciousness does not mean that only social consciousness is social. Individual consciousness is an integral part of the consciousness of society. The culture historically developed by society spiritually nourishes the individual, turning into organic part individual consciousness. Each individual is a representative of his people, ethnic group, place of residence, and his consciousness is inextricably linked with society. At the same time, social consciousness develops only in constant contact with the individual, through its involvement in the actually functioning consciousness of the individual.

Social consciousness has a complex structure. There are two levels - ordinary and theoretical consciousness.

Everyday consciousness is heterogeneous in its content. It includes the experience accumulated by previous generations labor activity, moral norms, customs, more or less strict regulations in the sphere of everyday life, observations of nature, some ideological ideas, folk artistic creativity(folklore), etc. Ordinary consciousness is addressed primarily to work, everyday life and the associated everyday living conditions and relationships of people. It is distinguished by syncretism, detailed detailing, emotional coloring, spontaneity and practical orientation. Everyday consciousness, formed under the direct influence of everyday aspects of life, is conservative, closed, and dogmatic. Ordinary consciousness has limited cognitive capabilities: it is unable to penetrate into the essence of phenomena and systematize facts.

Theoretical consciousness relies on the everyday, but overcomes its limitations.

These levels reveal the structure of social consciousness as moments in the movement of cognition, differing in the degree of its adequacy to the object. At the same time, social consciousness, being the result of the spiritual activity of social communities and groups, bears the stamp of their subjective abilities. Social psychology and ideology are those elements in which the influence of the characteristics of the bearers of social consciousness is revealed.

The relationship between public and individual consciousness is reciprocal. General consciousness, as it were, absorbs and absorbs the spiritual achievements of individual people, and the individual. consciousness - carries within itself the features of the social. The discrepancy between individual consciousness and social consciousness has a dual character: it either advances social consciousness or lags behind it. But in their interaction the leading one is social consciousness. It is a prerequisite for the emergence of individual consciousness, a condition for the formation of the spiritual world. Social consciousness is transpersonal, it is internally congenial to man: everything in it is created by man, and not by any force outside of man. At the same time, social consciousness is not a quantitative sum of individuals. consciousnesses, and their qualitatively new hypostasis. Social consciousness does not exist for individuals as an external mechanical force. Each of us absorbs this force, reacts to it differently, and each of us can influence public consciousness in different ways. Each ind. With. has also own sources development, therefore, each personality, despite the unity of the human culture that embraces it, is unique.

The contradictory interaction between social consciousness and individual consciousness is also manifested in the fact that the first is a continuous spiritual process, while the other develops discontinuously.

Failure to distinguish between individual and social consciousness is fraught with such consequences for culture. dangerous diseases, like dogmatism and voluntarism.

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Thus, individual consciousness exists only in connection with social consciousness. At the same time, they form a contradictory unity. Indeed, the source of the formation of both social and individual consciousness is the existence of people. The basis of their manifestation and functioning is practice. And the way of expression – language – is also the same. However, this unity presupposes significant differences. Firstly, individual consciousness has “boundaries” of life, determined by the life of a particular person. Social consciousness can “encompass” the life of many generations. Secondly, individual consciousness is influenced by the personal qualities of the individual, the level of his development, personal character, etc. And social consciousness is, in a sense, transpersonal. It may include what is common to the individual consciousness of people, a certain amount of knowledge and assessments passed on from generation to generation and changing in the process of development of social existence. In other words, social consciousness is characteristic of society as a whole or the various social communities within it, but it cannot be the sum of individual consciousnesses, between which there are significant differences. And at the same time, social consciousness manifests itself only through the consciousness of individual individuals. Therefore, social and individual consciousness interact with each other and mutually enrich each other.

Already in ancient philosophy, the opinion began to emerge that consciousness exists in society not only in individual, but also in social forms. Thus, Plato assumed that the basis of social consciousness are eternal supracosmic ideas, and Herodotus and Thucydides suggested that mental characteristics, morals, different ways of thinking of peoples and tribes. And subsequently, the social phenomenon of consciousness was the subject of interest of thinkers of different eras. In modern literature, there are three points of view on the problem of the essence and nature of social consciousness: 1) social consciousness functions only through individual consciousnesses; 2) exists independently of the consciousness of the individual and precedes it; 3) manifests itself in both personal and transpersonal form in the form of a culture separated from a person. The differences between these points of view are based on different approaches to understanding the nature of the ideal.

Under public consciousness one should understand the totality of ideas, theories, views, feelings, moods, habits, traditions existing in society that reflect the social existence of people and their living conditions.

A subject considered at various levels of community - humanity, state, ethnicity, family, individual - has its own type of consciousness. Subject-individual, logically completing the hierarchy structural organization society, is always “rooted” in certain social communities and bears in its individual consciousness the imprint of social group interests and demands presented in individual form. Individual consciousness in a number of respects is richer than social consciousness; it always contains something individually personal, not objectified in extrapersonal forms of culture, inalienable from a living personality. At the same time, the content of social consciousness is broader than the content of individual consciousnesses, but it cannot be interpreted as absolutely extrapersonal. Having formed in the form of elements of the spiritual culture of society, it precedes each emerging consciousness and acts as a condition for its formation and development. But only individual consciousness is the source of new formations in social consciousness, the source of its development.

The complexity of the structure of consciousness, the relationship of its elements, is manifested in the fact that it, both social and individual, includes the whole gamut of various human mental reactions to the outside world, interacting and influencing each other. Any structure of consciousness “impoverishes” its palette, emphasizes the significance of some elements and leaves others “in the shadows.” But without analyzing the structure of this complexly organized phenomenon, it is impossible to understand its essence, its nature and, most importantly, its role and significance in the regulation of human activity.

When analyzing consciousness, it is necessary to turn to the consideration of the unconscious, since the phenomenon of the unconscious is the object of study by a number of sciences and is involved in the functioning of the human psyche as a whole. Unconscious- this is a set of mental phenomena, states and actions that are not represented in the consciousness of a person, lying outside the sphere of his mind, unaccountable and not amenable, at least at the moment, to control by consciousness.

The unconscious manifests itself in various forms- attraction, attitude, sensation, intuition, dream, hypnotic state, etc. But not everything that is outside the focus of consciousness, the unconscious, should be classified as unconscious. The level of the unconscious includes instincts from which man as a biological being cannot free himself. But instincts give rise to desires, emotions, and volitional impulses in a person, which can move to the level of awareness, and, in addition, the unconscious can direct people’s behavior and, in this regard, influence their consciousness. On the other hand, so-called automatisms and intuition can be formed at the level of perceptual-mental activity, and then, as a result of repeated repetition, acquire an unconscious character and escape the control of consciousness. In the structure of the unconscious special place occupies the subconscious level, including psychic phenomena associated with automatisms. From a physiological point of view, unconscious processes are very useful. They perform a protective function, relieving the brain from overstrain, automating human actions and increasing a person’s creative capabilities.

S. Freud, on the basis of experimental and clinical data, substantiated the important role of the unconscious in mental activity man, presented him in the form of a powerful irrational force that is in antagonistic opposition to the activity of consciousness. In modern philosophy and psychology, the unconscious is recognized and widely used not only in scientific analysis, but also in practical medicine (the method of psychoanalysis).

The term “unconscious” is used to characterize not only individual, but also group behavior, the goals and actions of which are not realized by the participants in the action. The follower and popularizer of Freud's concept, K. Jung, while studying the unconscious, discovered images of the collective unconscious - “archetypes” - in its structures. Unlike Freud's “complexes” as the individual life of a person, archetypes are associated with the collective life of people and are inherited from generation to generation. Archetypes represent a system of innate programs and attitudes, typical reactions that are not declared as sociocultural norms, but come from the deep layers of the mental life of the human race. They can serve as an explanatory model of human and social behavior. If consciousness does not take into account the possibility of manifestation of archetypes and orient them, attract them as an attraction, the psyche is threatened with the invasion of the unconscious in the most primitive forms. According to K. Jung, this can lead to individual and mass psychoses, false prophecies, unrest and wars.

It should be noted that both consciousness and the unconscious are real sides psyche, ensuring its unity. In the genesis of the human psyche, the unconscious is the first stage of its formation and development, on the basis of which consciousness begins to form. Under the influence of the evolution of consciousness, the unconscious in the subject is humanized and socialized.

Characterizing the structure of social consciousness according to the degree and methods of awareness of the real world, we can distinguish levels(everyday practical and scientific-theoretical) and forms, differing in methods and means of reflecting reality and influencing the real lives of people.

Ordinary consciousness refers to the consciousness of the masses of people, which is formed in the practice of everyday life, in direct interaction with the outside world in work and everyday life. It includes 1) work experience accumulated over centuries, empirical knowledge, skills, ideas about the world around us, a spontaneous worldview formed from facts; 2) everyday moral norms, customs, spontaneously formed ideas about one’s situation, one’s needs; 3) folk art. Ordinary consciousness does not have the depth of rational comprehension, clear awareness, scientific validity and in this aspect is inferior to consciousness of a theoretical level. But ordinary consciousness has such advantages over theoretical consciousness as completeness, versatility, and integrity of worldview. In addition, everyday consciousness is closer than theoretical consciousness to immediate real life, therefore, it reflects more fully and in detail the features of situations of current social reality.

Ordinary consciousness is very close to individual consciousness. However, this is a mass, collective consciousness and it is formed in the consciousness of certain groups. The definition of mass consciousness seems quite difficult. Some argue that this is a type of ordinary consciousness, others that it is consciousness various types and types of masses (consciousness of large social groups, universal consciousness), others interpret social psychology as mass consciousness. This is due to the fact that in reality mass consciousness is a very complex spiritual and social phenomenon. It is a set of mental, epistemological and social in nature spiritual formations, including elements of all levels and forms of social consciousness. It expresses the real state of consciousness of large masses of people, with all its contradictions, features and differences in the components that fill it.

The category “mass consciousness” can be considered in close connection with the category “public opinion”. Public opinion is people’s judgments about the facts of reality, an assessment of the state of life in the field of economics, politics, morality, science, religion, etc. These judgments intertwine an everyday, empirical approach to events in social life with a theoretical, scientific one.

At the level of ordinary consciousness, public (or social) psychology develops, which is one of components ordinary consciousness. It covers the area of ​​social feelings, moods, ideas, emotions, traditions, customs, prejudices, views that are formed among various social groups of people in the conditions of their daily life: in work, in communication with each other. Social psychology represents the first, direct stage of reflection of social existence.

Theoretical consciousness is a reflection of the essential connections and patterns of reality. It seeks to penetrate into its inner side, therefore it finds its expression in science. The theoretical level of social consciousness is transformed into ideology. Ideology represents a set of theoretically based political, philosophical, aesthetic views, legal and moral norms and principles that are systematized. Ultimately, ideological views are determined economic relations and express the interests, goals, aspirations, ideals of certain classes and other social strata and groups. In ideology, ideas and views are systematized, developed theoretically, and acquire the character of ideological systems and concepts.

The variety of types of social and practical activities of people gives rise to various ways spiritual mastery of reality. Because of this, the following forms of social consciousness can be distinguished: political, legal, moral, aesthetic, religious or atheistic, philosophical and scientific. The process of differentiation of social consciousness, the emergence of new structural elements continues and it is determined by the objective process of differentiation of social relations, the needs of the development of society.

Plan:

Introduction

1. Historical development of the concept of consciousness

2. Structure of consciousness

3. Social consciousness

4. individual consciousness

Conclusion

Introduction

The psyche as a reflection of reality in the human brain is characterized by different levels.

The highest level of the psyche, characteristic of a person, forms consciousness. Consciousness is the highest, integrating form of the psyche, the result of the socio-historical conditions for the formation of a person in work, with constant communication (using language) with other people. In this sense, consciousness is a “social product”; consciousness is nothing more than conscious being.

Human consciousness includes a body of knowledge about the world around us. K. Marx wrote: “The way in which consciousness exists and in which something exists for it is knowledge.” The structure of consciousness thus includes the most important cognitive processes with the help of which a person constantly enriches his knowledge. These processes may include sensations and perceptions, memory, imagination and thinking. With the help of sensations and perceptions, with the direct reflection of stimuli affecting the brain, a sensory picture of the world is formed in the mind as it appears to a person at the moment.

Memory allows you to renew images of the past in the mind, imagination allows you to build figurative models of what is an object of needs, but is absent at the present time. Thinking ensures problem solving through the use of generalized knowledge. Violation, disorder, not to mention the complete collapse of any of the specified mental cognitive processes, inevitably become a disorder of consciousness.

The second characteristic of consciousness is the clear distinction enshrined in it between subject and object, i.e., what belongs to a person’s “I” and his “not-I.” Man, who for the first time in the history of the organic world stood out from it and contrasted himself with his surroundings, continues to retain this opposition and difference in his consciousness. He is the only one among living beings who is able to carry out self-knowledge, that is, to turn mental activity to the study of himself. A person makes a conscious self-assessment of his actions and himself as a whole. The separation of “I” from “not-I” is the path that every person goes through in childhood, carried out in the process of forming a person’s self-awareness.

The third characteristic of consciousness is ensuring the goal-setting activity of a person. The functions of consciousness include the formation of goals of activity, while its motives are formed and weighed, volitional decisions are made, the progress of actions is taken into account and the necessary adjustments are made to it, etc. K. Marx emphasized that “a person not only changes the form of what given by nature; in what is given by nature, he at the same time realizes his conscious goal, which, like a law, determines the method and nature of his actions and to which he must subordinate his will.” Any impairment resulting from illness or

For some other reason, the ability to carry out goal-setting activity, its coordination and direction is considered as a violation of consciousness.

Finally, the fourth characteristic of consciousness is the inclusion of a certain attitude in its composition. “My relationship to my environment is my consciousness,” wrote K. Marx. The world of feelings inevitably enters a person’s consciousness, where complex objective and, above all, social relations in which a person is included are reflected. Emotional assessments of interpersonal relationships are represented in the human mind. And here, as in many other cases, pathology helps to better understand the essence of normal consciousness. In some mental illnesses, a violation of consciousness is characterized precisely by a disorder in the sphere of feelings and relationships: the patient hates his mother, whom he previously loved dearly, speaks with anger about loved ones, etc.

Historical development of the concept of consciousness

The very first ideas about consciousness arose in ancient times. At the same time, ideas about the soul arose and questions were posed: what is the soul? How does it relate to the objective world? Since then, debates have continued about the essence of consciousness and the possibility of knowing it. Some proceeded from knowability, others - that attempts to understand consciousness are as futile as trying to see oneself walking down the street from a window.

The original philosophical views did not contain a strict distinction between consciousness and the unconscious, ideal and material. So, for example, Heraclitus associated the basis of conscious activity with the concept of “logos”, which meant word, thought and the essence of the things themselves. The degree of involvement in the logos (objective world order) determined the qualitative level of development of human consciousness. In the same way, in the works of other ancient Greek authors, mental and mental processes were identified with material ones (the movement of air, material particles, atoms, etc.).

For the first time, consciousness as a special reality, different from material phenomena, was identified by Parmenides. Continuing this tradition, the Sophists, Socrates, and Plato examined various facets and aspects of mental activity and asserted the opposition between the spiritual and the material. So, for example, Plato created a grandiose system of the “world of ideas” - the single basis of all things; developed the concept of a global, self-contemplating, disembodied mind, which is the prime mover of the cosmos, the source of its harmony. In ancient philosophy, the ideas of involvement of the individual consciousness of man with the world mind, which was given the function of an objective universal pattern, were actively developed.

IN medieval philosophy conscious human activity is considered as a “reflection” of the omnipotent divine mind, which was convincing evidence of the creation of man. The outstanding thinkers of the Middle Ages, Augustine the Blessed and Thomas Aquinas, representing different stages of the development of philosophical and theological thought, consistently and thoroughly considered the issues of the internal experience of the individual in conscious and mental activity in connection with a self-in-depth comprehension of the connection between the soul and divine revelation. This contributed to the identification and resolution of current specific problems of conscious activity. Thus, during this period, the concept of intention was introduced as a special property of consciousness, expressed in its focus on an external object. The problem of intention is also present in modern psychology; is also an important component of the methodology of one of the most widespread interdisciplinary areas of the theory of knowledge - phenomenology.

The greatest influence on the development of problems of consciousness in modern times was exerted by Descartes, who focused his main attention on the highest form of conscious activity - self-consciousness. The philosopher considered consciousness as the subject’s contemplation of his inner world as a direct substance opposed to the external spatial world. Consciousness was identified with the subject's ability to have knowledge of his own mental processes. There were other points of view. Leibniz, for example, developed a thesis about the unconscious psyche.

French materialists of the 18th century (La Mettrie, Cabanis) substantiated the position that consciousness is a special function of the brain, thanks to which it is able to acquire knowledge about nature and itself. In general, modern materialists viewed consciousness as a type of matter, the movement of “subtle” atoms. Conscious activity was directly associated with the mechanics of the brain, the secretion of the brain, or with the universal property of matter (“And the stone thinks”).

German classical idealism constituted a special stage in the development of ideas about conscious activity. According to Hegel, the fundamental principle of the development of consciousness was the historical process of formation of the World Spirit. Developing the ideas of his predecessors Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel considered such problems as various forms and levels of consciousness, historicism, the doctrine of dialectics, the active nature of consciousness and others.

In the 19th century, various theories emerged that limited conscious activity, insisted on the innate powerlessness of the mind, and preached irrationalistic approaches to assessing human spiritual activity (Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Freudianism, behaviorism and others).

K. Marx and F. Engels continued the materialist traditions in philosophy, formulated the idea of ​​the secondary nature of consciousness, its conditionality external factors and above all economic. Marxism actively used various views and especially the dialectical ideas of German classical philosophy.

Structure of consciousness.

The concept of “consciousness” is not unique. In the broad sense of the word, it means the mental reflection of reality, regardless of what level it is carried out - biological or social, sensory or rational. When they mean consciousness in this broad sense, they thereby emphasize its relationship to matter without identifying the specifics of its structural organization.

In a narrower and more specialized meaning, consciousness means not just a mental state, but the highest, actually human form of reflection of reality. Consciousness here is structurally organized, represents whole system, consisting of various elements, which are in a natural relationship with each other. In the structure of consciousness, such moments as awareness of things, as well as experience, that is, a certain attitude towards the content of what is reflected, stand out most clearly. The way in which consciousness exists, and in which something exists for it, is knowledge. The development of consciousness involves, first of all, enriching it with new knowledge about the world around us and about man himself. Cognition, awareness of things has different levels, depth of penetration into the object and degree of clarity of understanding. Hence the everyday, scientific, philosophical, aesthetic and religious awareness of the world, as well as the sensory and rational levels of consciousness. Sensations, perceptions, ideas, concepts, thinking form the core of consciousness. However, they do not exhaust its entire structural completeness: it also includes the act of attention as its necessary component. It is thanks to the concentration of attention that a certain circle of objects is in the focus of consciousness.

Objects and events that influence us evoke in us not only cognitive images, thoughts, ideas, but also emotional “storms” that make us tremble, worry, fear, cry, admire, love and hate. Knowledge and creativity are not a coldly rational, but a passionate search for truth.

Without human emotions there has never been, is not and cannot be the human search for truth. The richest sphere of the emotional life of the human person includes feelings themselves, which are attitudes to external influences (pleasure, joy, grief, etc.), mood or emotional well-being (cheerful, depressed, etc.) and affects (rage, horror, despair, etc.).

Due to a certain attitude towards the object of knowledge, knowledge receives different significance for the individual, which finds its most vivid expression in beliefs: they are imbued with deep and lasting feelings. And this is an indicator of the special value for a person of knowledge, which has become his life guide.

Feelings and emotions are components of human consciousness. The process of cognition affects all aspects of a person’s inner world - needs, interests, feelings, will. Man's true knowledge of the world contains both figurative expression and feelings. Consciousness is realized in two forms: reflective and active-creative abilities. The essence of consciousness lies in the fact that it can reflect social existence only under the condition of its simultaneous active and creative transformation. The function of anticipatory reflection of consciousness is most clearly realized in relation to social existence, which is significantly connected with aspiration to the future. This has been repeatedly confirmed in history by the fact that ideas, in particular socio-political ones, can outstrip the current state of society and even transform it. Society is a material-ideal reality. The totality of generalized ideas, ideas, theories, feelings, morals, traditions, etc., that is, what constitutes the content of social consciousness and forms spiritual reality, appears integral part social existence, as it is given to the consciousness of the individual.

Social consciousness

Consciousness is not only individual, personal, but also includes a social function. The structure of social consciousness is complex and multifaceted, and is in dialectical interaction with the consciousness of the individual.

In the structure of social consciousness there are such levels as theoretical and everyday consciousness. The first forms social psychology, the second – ideology.

Ordinary consciousness is formed spontaneously in the everyday life of people. Theoretical consciousness reflects the essence and patterns of the surrounding natural and social world.

Social consciousness appears in various forms: socio-political views and theories, legal views, science, philosophy, morality, art, religion.

Differentiation of public consciousness in modern form- the result of long development. Primitive society corresponded to a primitive, undifferentiated consciousness. Mental labor was not separated from physical labor and mental labor was directly woven into labor relations, V daily life. First in historical development man, such forms of social consciousness as morality, art, and religion arose. Then, as human society develops, the entire spectrum of forms of social consciousness arises, which is allocated to a special sphere of social activity.

Let's consider individual forms of social consciousness:

- political consciousness is a systematized, theoretical expression of public views on the political organization of society, on the forms of the state, on relations between various social groups, classes, parties, on relations with other states and nations;

- legal consciousness in theoretical form expresses the legal consciousness of society, the nature and purpose of legal relations, norms and institutions, issues of legislation, court, and prosecutor's office. The goal is to establish a legal order that corresponds to the interests of a particular society;

- morality– a system of views and assessments that regulate the behavior of individuals, a means of educating and strengthening certain moral principles and relationships;

- art– a special form of human activity associated with the mastery of reality through artistic images;

- religion and philosophy– forms of social consciousness that are most distant from material conditions. Religion is older than philosophy and is a necessary stage in the development of humanity. Expresses the world around us through a worldview system based on faith and religious postulates.

Social and individual consciousness are in close unity. Social consciousness is interindividual in nature and does not depend on the individual. For specific people it is objective.

The views of an individual that most fully meet the interests of the era and time, after the end of individual existence, become the property of society. For example, the work of outstanding writers, thinkers, scientists, etc. Individual consciousness in this case, manifested in the work of a particular person, acquires the status of social consciousness, replenishes and develops it, giving it the features of a certain era.

Consciousness cannot be derived from the process of reflecting objects alone. natural world: the “subject-object” relationship cannot give rise to consciousness. To do this, the subject must be included in more complex system social practice, in the context of public life. Each of us, coming into this world, inherits a spiritual culture, which we must master in order to acquire our own human essence and be able to think like a human being. We enter into a dialogue with public consciousness, and this consciousness opposing us is a reality, the same as, for example, the state or the law. We can rebel against this spiritual force, but just as in the case of the state, our rebellion can turn out to be not only senseless, but also tragic if we do not take into account those forms and methods of spiritual life that objectively oppose us. In order to transform the historically established system of spiritual life, you must first master it.

Social consciousness arose simultaneously and in unity with the emergence of social existence. Nature as a whole is indifferent to the existence of the human mind, and without it society could not only arise and develop, but also exist for a single day and hour. Due to the fact that society is an objective-subjective reality, social being and social consciousness are, as it were, “loaded” with each other: without the energy of consciousness, social being is static and even dead.

But while emphasizing the unity of social existence and social consciousness, we must not forget their differences, their specific disunity. The historical relationship between social existence and social consciousness in their relative independence is realized in such a way that, if in the early stages of the development of society social consciousness was formed under the direct influence of existence, then in the future this

the impact became more and more indirect - through the state, political, legal relations, etc., and the reverse influence of social consciousness on existence, on the contrary, became more and more direct. The very possibility of such a direct influence of social consciousness on social existence lies in the ability of consciousness to correctly reflect existence.

Consciousness as a reflection and as an active creative activity represents the unity of two inseparable aspects of the same process: in its influence on existence, it can both evaluate it, revealing its hidden meaning, predict it, and transform it through the practical activity of people. And therefore, the social consciousness of the era can not only reflect existence, but actively contribute to its restructuring. This is the historically established function of social consciousness, which makes it an objectively necessary and really existing element of any social structure.

Possessing an objective nature and immanent laws of development, social consciousness can either lag behind or ahead of existence within the framework of the evolutionary process that is natural for a given society. In this regard, social consciousness can play the role of an active stimulator of the social process, or a mechanism for its inhibition. The powerful transformative force of social consciousness is capable of influencing all existence as a whole, revealing the meaning of its evolution and predicting prospects. In this regard, it differs from the subjective (in the sense of subjective reality) finite and limited individual consciousness. The power of the social whole over the individual is expressed here in the obligatory acceptance by the individual of historically established forms of spiritual development of reality, those methods and means by which the production of spiritual values ​​is carried out, the semantic content that has been accumulated by humanity for centuries and without which the formation of personality is impossible.

Individual consciousness.

Individual consciousness is the consciousness of a separate individual, reflecting his individual existence and, through it, to one degree or another, social existence. Social consciousness is the totality of individual consciousnesses. Along with the peculiarities of the consciousness of individual individuals, it carries within itself a general content inherent in the entire mass of individual consciousness. As the collective consciousness of individuals, developed by them in the process of their joint activity and communication, social consciousness can be decisive only in relation to the consciousness of a given individual. This does not exclude the possibility of individual consciousness going beyond the limits of existing social consciousness.

1. Each individual consciousness is formed under the influence of individual existence, lifestyle and social consciousness. In this case, the most important role is played by the individual way of life of a person, through which the content of social life is refracted. Another factor in the formation of individual consciousness is the process of assimilation by the individual of social consciousness. This process is called internalization in psychology and sociology. In the mechanism of the formation of individual consciousness, it is therefore necessary to distinguish between two unequal aspects: the subject’s independent awareness of existence and his assimilation of the existing system of views. The main thing in this process is not the internalization of society's views; and the individual’s awareness of his own and society’s material life. Recognition of interiorization as the main mechanism for the formation of individual consciousness leads to an exaggeration of the determination of the internal by the external, to an underestimation of the internal conditionality of this determination, to ignoring the ability of the individual to create himself, his being. Individual consciousness - consciousness of the human individual (primary). It is defined in philosophy as subjective consciousness, since it is limited in time and space.

Individual consciousness is determined by individual existence and arises under the influence of the consciousness of all humanity. 2 main levels of individual consciousness:

1. Initial (primary) – “passive”, “mirror”. It is formed under the influence of the external environment and external consciousness on a person. Main forms: concepts and knowledge in general. The main factors in the formation of individual consciousness: educational activities environment, educational activity of society, cognitive activity of the person himself.

2. Secondary – “active”, “creative”. Man transforms and organizes the world. The concept of intelligence is associated with this level. The end product of this level and consciousness in general are ideal objects that arise in human heads. Basic forms: goals, ideals, faith. The main factors: will, thinking - the core and system-forming element.

Between the first and second levels there is an intermediate "semi-active" level. Main forms: the phenomenon of consciousness - memory, which is selective in nature, it is always in demand; opinions; doubts.

Conclusion

The transition to consciousness represents the beginning of a new, higher stage in the development of the psyche. Conscious reflection, in contrast to the mental reflection characteristic of animals, is a reflection of objective reality in its separation from the subject’s existing relations to it, i.e. a reflection that highlights its objective, stable properties.

In consciousness, the image of reality does not merge with the subject’s experience: in consciousness, what is reflected appears as “what is coming” to the subject . Social and individual consciousness are in close unity. Social consciousness is interindividual in nature and does not depend on the individual. For specific people it is objective.

Each individual throughout his life, through relationships with other people, through training and education, experiences the influence of social consciousness, although he does not relate to this influence passively, but selectively, actively.

Social norms of consciousness spiritually influence the individual, forming his worldview, moral principles, and aesthetic ideas. Social consciousness can be defined as the public mind, which develops and functions according to its own laws.

Ultimately, social consciousness is transformed into an individual worldview.

References

Seminar classes in philosophy: Textbook. Ed. K.M. Nikonova. - M.: Higher School, 1991. - 287 p.

A.G. Spirkin. Fundamentals of philosophy: Tutorial for universities. - M.: Politizdat, 1988. - 592 p.

Introduction to philosophy: Textbook for universities. At 2 p.m. Part 2 Generally ed. I.T. Frolova. - M.: Politizdat, 1989. - 458 p.

Fundamentals of philosophy. Part 2. Social philosophy: Textbook. allowance. – Publishing house Vol. un-ta. Perm. department, 1991. – 276 p.

Philosophy: a textbook for higher education educational institutions. – Rostov-on-Don “Phoenix”, 1998 – 576 p.

Leontyev A. N. Activity. Consciousness. Personality. M., Politizdat, 1975.

Topic 9. SPIRITUAL LIFE OF SOCIETY

The most important components of human essence are, as we know, work and thought. At the same time, it would be a serious mistake to consider consciousness less real than labor. It is not just a mechanical echo of material events, its power is so great that an illusion is created - as if it contains the true meaning human life. To such an understanding of the meaning of life in recent years Many cultural figures often bow down. In reality, the activity of social (and individual) consciousness is secondary, derived from social existence, the depth of its reflection. Consciousness in general, certain ideas, principles in particular are always an awareness of the objective world and the life process of humanity, their approximately correct reflection.

As the consciousness of society, social consciousness is a collection of individual consciousnesses, i.e. has as its initial level the consciousness of individuals who are its direct carriers. Therefore, in the public consciousness there is a universal, generic, characteristic spiritual process of life of the entire mass of individuals and, in fact, individual, inherent in the consciousness of individuals. In every historical era, social consciousness represents the unity of the clan and the individual, but in the prehistory of society, especially in pre-capitalist formations, the share of the individual in it was insignificant due to the weak isolation of man as an individual, his fusion with one or another community (clan, community, caste etc.). With the increasing individualization of material labor, the individualization of social consciousness also intensifies, which is increasingly filled with the actually individual, i.e. is enriched mainly due to not the mass, impersonal consciousness, but the unique, unrepeatable one. The development and complication of social consciousness cannot be reduced, therefore, to the development of the generic in it; it is also the accumulation by it of the individual in all its richness and diversity. The growth of the thoroughness of the historical process would be impossible without increasing the individualization of work and thought. The complication of the generic in its unity with the individual forms the main, mainline the path of development of society as a collective of individuals, because the generic, the social develops through the development of the individual.

In Russian psychology, there is a point of view according to which the human psyche itself is entirely a lifetime and individual neoplasm. A person has inclinations (innate anatomical and physiological characteristics, prerequisites) only for natural, biological abilities143. Thus, everything specifically human is considered as non-hereditary, everything innate - as biological.

The basic concept of completeness, within the general biological type, of human biological evolution, of the non-heritability of results cultural development human society is indisputable. However, it does not follow from it that there are no inherited components in specifically human abilities and functions that are not biological, but have a specifically human psychological nature. The abilities of thinking and working are not given to a person from birth; they are formed in the process of individual development under the influence of education in the broad sense of the word. But a person is not an animal from birth, he is born as a human child, who from birth carries within himself human inclinations, prerequisites for specifically human work activity and thinking.

The formation of man in the process of anthropogenesis was not only a biological process. The emergence of man modern type means, first of all, the formation of its social nature, which in a subordinate form includes the process of the formation of a new biological type. When the process of forming a person as a social being ends, people from generation to generation pass on certain elementary prerequisites, the makings of specifically human mental properties, but do not receive them anew each time. Denial of specifically human inherited inclinations would be tantamount to denial of the stability of human physical and psychological organization that distinguishes humans from animals. This view distorts the concept of the fundamental difference between man and animal, and considers human nature as something superficial, having no roots in the innate organization of man. Anatomical and physiological conditions exist for both inclinations and abilities, but inclinations, or “data,” represent relatively elementary properties. As the collective consciousness of individuals, developed by them in the process of joint activity and communication, social consciousness can be decisive only in relation to the consciousness of a given individual. This does not exclude the possibility of individual consciousness going beyond the limits of existing social consciousness.

Each individual consciousness is formed under the influence of individual existence, lifestyle and social consciousness. In this case, the most important role is played by the individual way of life of a person, which refracts the content of social life. Another factor in the formation of individual consciousness is the process of assimilation by the individual of social consciousness. This process is called in psychology and sociology interiorization. In the mechanism of the formation of individual consciousness, it is therefore necessary to distinguish between two unequal aspects: the subject’s independent awareness of being and his assimilation existing system views. The main thing in this process is not the internalization of society’s views, but the individual’s awareness of his own and society’s material life. Recognition of interiorization as the main mechanism for the formation of individual consciousness leads to an exaggeration of the determination of the internal by the external, to an underestimation of the internal conditionality of this determination, “ignoring the ability of the individual to create himself, his being.

In a class society, social consciousness has a class character and represents the combined consciousness of the ruling and subordinate classes. It is determined by ideas, views, illusions, etc. economically and politically dominant class. The individuals who make it up also dominate as creators of thoughts: they regulate production and distribution, which means that their thoughts are the dominant thoughts of the era.

Assessing existing historiography, Marx and Engels noted that in explaining social life it did not even reach the level that was inherent in everyday consciousness. While in everyday life any shopkeeper can easily distinguish what this or that person pretends to be and what he really is, historiography takes the word of each era, no matter what it says or imagines about itself. The idealistic understanding of history does not presuppose the actual process of people's lives and the determination of all forms of consciousness from it. Hence, when describing a particular era, the ideologists of the ruling class were forced to share the illusion of the absolute independence of ideas, to be content with the statements that in the era of the aristocracy the concepts of “honor”, ​​“loyalty”, etc. dominated, in the era of the bourgeoisie - the concepts of “freedom”, “equality” and others. Such social consciousness is illusory, perverse, turning everything in history “upside down.” Illusions can greatly influence public and individual consciousness. Thus, illusions that arose under the influence of the processes of socialization and humanization taking place in the world - the absence of fundamental differences between capitalism and socialism, the ability of capitalism to neutralize the “mines” generated by its own nature, the withering away of political revolutions in conditions of continued antagonism between classes - have become widespread in modern consciousness. Meanwhile, illusions are always dead-end directions in the development of social and individual consciousness. They can also be generated by social existence, which in its essence is not a necessary existence. One should not think that every being is necessary just because it exists. Necessary is only such a being that contributes to the progress of society and is more consistent with human nature, the deformation of which leads to the deformation of social being and, accordingly, to the illusory nature of social consciousness.