Typologies of the world view: mythology, religion, philosophy
THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN
T. RYSKULOV’S KAZAKH ECONOMIC UNIVERSITY
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
SEMESTR ABSTRACT
PHILOSOPHY
THEME: ”TYPOLOGIES
OF THE WORLD VIEW: MYTHOLOGY, RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY”.
Author: Aissulu A. Adilova
Tutor: Dr. Sergey A. Zolotukhin Ph.D
REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN
ALMATY 2010
CONTEXT
- INTRODUCTION..................
.............................. .............................. .................3
1.2 PHILOSOPHY
AS A SCIENCE.......................
- MAIN STREAM ……………………………………………………………….4
- THE MEANING OF THE TERM “WORLD-VIEW” …………………….4
- MYTHOLOGY………………………………………………………
……..8 - RELIGION…………………………………………………………
……...12 - PHILOSOPHY……………………………………………………
……….15 - CONCLUSION ……………………………………………………………….17
SOURCES……………………………………………………………
- INTRODUCTON: PHILOSOPHY AS A SCIENCE
Philosophy is one of the most ancient science and interesting sphere of human knowledge, spiritual culture, logical thinking. Every other science meets us with the concrete circle of things and has attitude to physical, chemical or other spheres of reality.
Philosophy lets us come to know about the world in its totality, unity, tries to understand surrounding world from the position of correlation of things and processes which each other in the context of the whole.
The main task of Philosophy is thinking about everything what exists. Philosophy creates and improves mentality of a man, group of people, society at all. It lives in thinking. Aristotle said: “activity of brain is the life”. Philosophy teaches us as abstract thinking, and at the same time realises its results in practical sphere.
Philosophy has straight connections with Culture, Economics, Politics, Laws, Religion or Atheism, History, Ethics, Aesthetics, etc. It is the quintessence of epoch, civilisations in thoughts.
The History of Philosophy tells us about endless attempts of thought turn to develop rational necessity. Contemporary Philosophy studies “Planetary” way of living, construction of the new values. Term of “Philosophy” consists of two ancient Greece words: “Philio” – “love” and “Sophia” – “wisdom”. So we can translate this word as “the love to wisdom”. Aristotle told: “Wisdom is art of living a life”.
Philosophy researches and finds answers to questions of a person around his being. It is the love to truth, way to wisdom, and creation of theoretical thinking.
Core question of Philosophy is the question of worldview. Hegel said: “To came to know what is it? And how do we understand it? Is the main purpose of Philosophy”? This science obliges us to know what for person tries to know this world and what about the place of man in this world.
So PHILOSOPHY is the science about most general laws of development of the nature, society and thinking and ways of its cognition. 1
Till that time I haven’t get the faintest idea about
Philosophy. Why we are need in it? What about the benefit of that for
us? What does it study? Etc. But when I read this textbook everything
becomes clear to me.
- MAIN STREAM: THE MEANING OF THE TERM “WORLD-VIEW”
The meaning of the term "world-view" and its significance in life. At first glance the term "world-view" suggests a general view of the world—and no more. But the appearance of the word does not reveal the full meaning of this complex intellectual phenomenon. A world-view, as we understand it, is a system of generalized views of the surrounding world and man's place in it, of man's relationship to the world and himself, and also the basic positions that people derive from this general picture of the world, their beliefs, socio-political, moral and aesthetic ideals, the principles by which they know and appraise material and spiritual events. While it possesses a relatively independent existence in the sphere of social consciousness, the world-view also functions as something individual. A person becomes an individual when he forms a definite world-view. This process of formation indicates the maturity not only of an individual but also of any given social group, social class or theirs party.
The concept of world-view, which was first encountered among the Greek skeptics, is substantially broader in meaning than the concept of Philosophy; moreover it has several different meanings. We speak of the philosophical, the socio-political, the natural-scientific, the artistic, the religious, and even the ordinary man's world-view. And this is quite natural. If we picture the various types of world-view in the geometrical form of circles, the central position should be given to the circle of the philosophical world-view. And this circle will intersect with all the others and form their nucleus. In this way we find that the meaning people and social groups attach to the term "world-view" is extremely diverse. But despite this diversity, every world-view reveals a certain unity in the sense that it embraces a certain range of questions. For example, what is the world that exists outside us? What is the relationship between spirit and matter? What is man? What is his place in the universal interconnection of phenomenon? How does man come to know reality? What are good and evil? What is beautiful in life and in art? What laws guide the development of society? The totality of the natural sciences forms a natural-scientific picture of the world, and that of the social sciences yields a socio-historical picture of reality. What is a picture of the world? It is a picture of how matter moves and how in the shape of the human being it feels, thinks and poses goals. The creation of a general picture of the world is the task of all fields of knowledge, including Philosophy. In compressed form, general pictures of the world are presented in universal encyclopedias compiled at various historical stages to reflect the intellectual achievements of mankind.2
In my opinion, understanding the term of "world-view” helps us to know answers on many questions.
The world-view is by no means all the views and notions of the surrounding world, that is to say, it is not simply a picture of the world taken in its integral form. Not a single specific science can be identified with a world-view, although each science does contain a world-view principle. For example, Darwin discovered the laws of the origin of species. This caused a revolution in biology and evoked universal interest. Did these laws evoke such interest because they were merely biological laws? Of course, not. They awakened such interest because they helped us to understand various philosophical questions, the question of purpose in living nature, the origin of man, and so on. The name of Einstein was made immortal by his discovery. But was this discovery purely physical, a solution to some particular scientific problem? No, Einstein's theory provided a key to the philosophical problem of the essence of space and time, their unity with matter. Why did the ideas of Sechenov on cerebral reflexes create such a furor among intellectuals? Not because they were merely physiological ideas, but because they solved certain philosophical problems of the relationship between consciousness and the brain.
We know what a broad impact the principles of cybernetics have had. But cybernetics is not just a specific scientific theory. Informatics, and also genetics, raise profound philosophical problems. The world-view contains something more than scientific information. It is a crucial regulative principle of all the vital relationships between man and social groups in their historical development. With its roots in the whole system of the individual and society's spiritual needs and interests, deter mined by human practice, by all man's accumulated experience, the world-view in its turn exerts a tremendous influence on the life of society and the individual. The world-view is usually compared with ideology and these two concepts are sometimes treated as synonyms. But they intersect rather than coincide. Ideology embraces that part of the world-view that is oriented on social, class relationships, on the interests of certain social groups and, above all, on the phenomena of political power.
The world-view, on the other hand, is oriented on the world as a whole, on the "man-universe" system. The world-view may exist on the ordinary, everyday level generated by the empirical conditions of life and experience handed down from generation to generation. It may also be scientific, integrating the achievements of modem science concerning nature, society and humanity itself. The world-view is not only the content, but also the mode of thinking about reality, and also the principles of life itself. An important component of the world-view is the ideals, the cherished and decisive aims of life. The character of a person's notion of the world, his world-view, facilitates the posing of certain goals which, when generalized, form a broad plan of life, ideals, notions of wellbeing, good and evil, beauty, and progress, which give the world-view tremendous power to inspire action. Knowledge becomes a world-view when it acquires the character of conviction, of complete and unshakable confidence in the rightness of certain ideas, views, principles, ideals, which take command of a person's soul, subordinate his actions, and rule his conscience or, in other words, form bonds that cannot be escaped without betraying oneself, set free "demons" that a person can conquer only by submitting to them and acting in accordance with their overwhelming power. The world-view influences standards of behavior, a person's attitude to his work, to other people, the character of his aspirations in life, his everyday existence, tastes and interests. It is a kind of spiritual prism through which everything around us is perceived, felt and transformed. As most people would agree, it is ideological conviction, that is to say, a certain view of the world, that enables a person at a moment of mortal danger to overcome the instinct of self-preservation, to sacrifice his own life, to perform feats of daring in the name of freedom from oppression, in the name of scientific, moral, socio-political and other principles and ideals.3
From this paragraph I’ve got that “World - View” is not only the content but also a way to understand reality, as well as the principles of life that define the nature of the activity. The nature of the world contributes to setting specific goals, which is formed from the synthesis of common life plan, formed ideals, giving a strong world power.
The world-view does not exist by itself, apart from specific historical individuals, social groups, classes and parties. In one way or another, by reflecting certain phenomena of reality it expresses their value orientations, their relationship to events of social life. Philosophy, too, as the theoretical nucleus of the world-view, basically defends the interests of certain social groups and thus has a class and, in this sense, a party character. Depending on whether the socio-political interests of a given class coincide with the objective trend of history, its philosophical positions are either progressive or reactionary. They may be optimistic or pessimistic, religious or atheistic, idealist or materialist, humane or misanthropic. The whole history of philosophical thought is, in fact, a struggle between various world-views, a struggle which has often raged so fiercely that people preferred to be burnt at the stake, thrown into prison or condemned to penal servitude rather than betray their chosen cause. So it is fundamentally wrong to imagine that philosophers have always stood above earthly matters, above people's practical and political interests, the interests of classes and parties, and accumulated knowledge merely for the sake of knowledge, isolated themselves, like Diogenes in his tub, in the seclusion of their studies from the stormy events of real life. Philosophy has by no means set itself apart, hovering somewhere in the blue expanses of the heavens; it has performed a definite socio-political function and constantly been at the centre of political events. Genuine Philosophy is full of civic courage and least of all can be accused of social indifference. Philosophy is political in its very essence, in its social mission. Politics, as we know, is the core of all associations and dissociations, integrations and disintegrations, alliances and conflicts. Science, art, Philosophy, and religion are all drawn into the vortex of political struggle. It is a political question whether scientific discoveries or technical inventions aid the cause of peace or war. It is also a political question what aims and actions are inspired by certain works of art, what feelings and urges they awaken. And it is also a political question whether Philosophy gives the people a scientific world-view, whether or not it orientates them on high ideals and a rational and just order of society. Hegel ironically remarked that Philosophy claims to teach the world but always arrives too late to do so. Its very appearance on the historical scene with the required message indicates that the sun has already set. "When Philosophy begins to paint in grey upon grey, it shows that a certain form of life has grown old and with grey upon grey Philosophy cannot rejuvenate but only understand it; the owl of Minerva begins its flight only in the gathering dusk." This is a splendid metaphor. But though it impresses, it does not convince. If we look back into the past, we see that Philosophy has emerged not only as an owl flying amid the twilight of obsolete forms of life, but also as a lark, joyously heralding the spring floods that will sweep away the very foundations of an obsolete way of life, the swelling buds and forms and colours to be born anew. 4
According to the ancient myth, Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, sprang from the head of Zeus, fully armed, carrying a shield and spear. This mythological image is profoundly symbolic: wisdom comes into the world not to rest on its laurels and passively contemplate existence, indifferently perceiving good and evil, but to fight for the truth, for justice, for the triumph of reason in life and to shield us from the onslaughts of the dark forces of evil, untruth and error. Only reactionary Philosophy, steeped in dogmatism, is doomed to trail behind swiftly moving life. Progressive philosophical thought is always in the vanguard, theoretically substantiating the people's right to overthrow their oppressors, to create higher forms of life. It usually emerges as the stormy petrel of the approaching revolutionary struggle in all spheres of human existence. All socio-political movements in the history of mankind, from the smallest to the great transitions from previous forms of social life to new societies, have been heralded and accompanied by certain forms of philosophical proof, whether in the form of new moral or religious principles, a historical regularity or in the form of such principles as liberty, equality and justice. Socrates was condemned to death for holding philosophical beliefs that threatened the political principles of the society in which he lived. Plato's numerous attempts to give practical expression to his ideals of state nearly cost him his life. In the age of the Renaissance feudalism was dying and capitalism was born. The death of one social system and the birth of the other were prolonged. This complex process took a zigzag course; it was accompanied by wars and revolutionary explosions that shook the whole social edifice until the old system was destroyed to its foundations. All these processes were vividly expressed in the intense struggle between different philosophical world-views. Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot and others awakened and stirred the somnolent socio - political consciousness with their rousing works. They in flamed people's hearts and minds and directed the people's anger against the decayed social system. They struck revolutionary sparks from men's hearts, prepared people's minds for revolution and brought about the situation that Karl Marx was later to describe as follows: "The people must be taught to be terrified at itself in order to give it courage."5 Before Bismarck began to unite Germany with an iron hand, there appeared German classical Philosophy, which declared the constitutional monarchy to be the highest embodiment of the world spirit in its progressive motion. Throughout their conscious life Marx, Engels, Lenin and their associates prepared and trained the masses for a socialist revolution organizationally, theoretically, and also philosophically. Philosophy therefore cannot be indifferent to the contest between the old and new in social life, in politics, science and art. Recent Philosophy is as partisan as was Philosophy two thousand years ago. Some bourgeois philosophers maintain that they represent "pure science", that they are unaffected by earthly passions and class struggles. This is either deception or self-deception, or simply a deliberate call for desertion from the field of ideological battle. The so-called deideologising of Philosophy actually seeks to popularize the worst ideology, an ideology born of the fact that in a class-divided society the ruling classes, parties, various groups and sometimes gangs of impostors present their selfish interests as the interests of the whole of society, of the people, and portray them as the only reasonable and generally significant interests in existence. Some bourgeois ideologists maintain that partisanship of a world-view is incompatible with objectivity, with science. It is true that partisanship does not always coincide with science. When a world-view expresses and defends the position and interests of decaying social groups that are departing from the historical scene, it diverges from the truth of life, from its scientific assessment for the sake of narrow partisan interests. On the other hand, a world-view is scientific if it truly reflects and anticipates life in its dynamic development, expresses the position and interests of the advanced forces of society, teaches people to strive honestly and directly for the truth, for all that is truly reasonable. The unity between the partisanship and scientificality of Marxist Philosophy rests on the coincidence of the working people's interests with the objective course of history. Only an unbiased study of reality furthers the interests of working people, enables them to place their practical and political activity on a sound scientific basis. The concern that the Communist Party of the Soviet Union shows for the observance and practical application of the principle of partisanship is in fact concern for the preservation and development of a truthful attitude to life. Truth always has been and will be revolutionary. It is the reflection of life in its forward development.6
The myth is historically the first world outlook form reflects reality, in which artistic, moral, cognitive and practically - transformative development of the world.
MYPHOLOGY – is universal form of social consciousness prevails in primitive society. It was the first attempt to join together and explain different processes of nature, society and a man in it. The main reason of mythological world-outlook was to trust in today, to perceive world as it is, with it laws which are closer to chaos (absence of any system) because primitive people hadn’t any knowledge about reality except very small own experience.7
Myths - a generalized images, which include not only the world being available, which is often why - that hostility towards the man, but peace hopes and desires, in which freely put the interests of the collective descent. The myth can not be seen as the primary form of science or Philosophy. Moreover, it is not interpreted as a mere fiction myth. Mythology as a collection of myths reflect the views of prehistoric people in the phenomena of nature and life, sprouts scientific knowledge, religious and moral submission, which prevailed in the tribal community, and artistically - aesthetic sense of people at the initial stage of its history.
I think that the myth is spiritually - practical way to develop forms of public life, forms the relationship between people and nature, people and society.
The word mythology (from Greek μυθολογία) refers to a body of folklore/myths/legends that a particular culture believes to be true and that use the supernatural to interpret natural events and to explain the nature of the universe and humanity. Mythology also refers to the branch of knowledge dealing with the collection, study and interpretation of myths, also known as mythography.
The term mythology has been in use since at least the 15th century, and means "the study or exposition of myths". The additional meaning of "body of myths" itself dates to 1781. (In extended use, the word can also refer to collective or personal ideological or socially constructed received wisdom, as in "At least since Tocqueville compared American society to 'a vast lottery', our mythology of business has celebrated risk-taking.").8
Myth in general use is often interchangeable with legend or allegory, but some scholars strictly distinguish the terms. The term has been used in English since the 19th century. The newest edition of the OED distinguishes the meanings:
1a. "A traditional story, typically involving supernatural beings or forces or creatures, which embodies and provides an explanation, etiology, or justification for something such as the early history of a society, a religious belief or ritual, or a natural phenomenon", citing the Westminster Review of 1830 as the first English attestation.
1b. "As a mass noun: such stories collectively or as a genre." (1840)
2a. "A widespread but untrue or erroneous story or belief". (1849)
2b. "A person or thing held in awe or generally referred to with near reverential admiration on the basis of popularly repeated stories (whether real or fictitious)." (1853)
2c. "A popular conception of a person or thing which exaggerates or idealizes the truth." (1928)
In contrast to the definition of a myth as a "traditional story", most folklorists apply the term to only one group of traditional stories. By this system, traditional stories can be arranged into three groups:
- myths - sacred stories concerning the distant past, particularly the creation of the world; generally focused on the gods.
- legends - stories about the (usually more recent) past, which generally include, or are based on, some historical events; generally focused on human heroes.
- folktales/fairytales (or Märchen, the German word for such tales) - stories which lack any definite historical setting; often include fairies, witches, a fairy guide, animal characters.
Religious-studies scholars often limit the term "myth" to stories whose main characters "must be gods or near-gods". Some scholars disagree with such attempts to restrict the definition of the word "myth". The classicist G. S. Kirk thinks the distinction between myths and folktales may be useful, but he argues that "the categorizing of tales as folktales, legends, and proper myths, simple and appealing as it seems, can be seriously confusing». In particular, he rejects the idea "that all myths are associated with religious beliefs, feelings or practices". The religious scholar Robert A. Segal goes even farther, defining myths simply as stories whose main characters are "personalities — divine, human, or even animal".
By the Christian era, the Greco-Roman world had started to use the term "myth" (Greek μῦθος, mythos) to mean "fable, fiction, lie"; as a result, early Christian writers used "myth" with this meaning. This use of the term "myth" passed into popular usage. In this article, the term "myth" is used in a scholarly sense, detached from popular associations with falsehood. Myths were told to explain the creation and organization of the universe, fashion of man, and establishment of civilization. It teaches people lessons and it had to do with history & culture, the characters and the temper which produced them.9
Religion and mythology.
Significantly, none of the scholarly definitions of "myth" (see above) imply that myths are necessarily false. In a scholarly context, the word "myth" may mean "sacred story", "traditional story", or "story about gods", but it does not mean "false story". Therefore, scholars may speak of "religious mythology" without meaning to insult religion. (For instance, a scholar may call Christian and Muslim scriptures "myths" without meaning to insult Christianity and Islam. The Christian apologist C. S. Lewis made a clear distinction between myth and falsehood when he referred to the life of Christ as a myth "which is also a fact".) However, this scholarly use of the word "myth" may cause confusion and offense, because of the popular use of "myth" to mean "falsehood".
Many myths, such as ritual myths, are clearly part of religion. However, unless we simply define myths as "sacred stories" (instead defining them as "traditional stories", for instance), not all myths are necessarily religious. As the classicist G. S. Kirk notes, "Many myths embody a belief in the supernatural but many other myths, or what seem like myths, do not". As an example, Kirk cites the myth of Oedipus, which is "only superficially associated with religion or the supernatural", and is therefore not a sacred story. (Note that folklorists would not classify the Oedipus story as a myth, precisely because it is not a sacred story.)
Examples of religious myths include:
- The Mesopotamian Enuma Elish, a creation account around which the Babylonians' religious New Year festival revolved
- an Australian myth describing the first sacred Bora ritual
- The creation story found in Gnosticism of how God forgets himself and becomes man, and through knowing that story we arrive back to our Fullness.
- Related concepts
- Myths are not the same as fables, legends, folktales, fairy tales, anecdotes or fiction, but the concepts may overlap. Notably, during Romanticism, folktales and fairy tales were perceived as eroded fragments of earlier mythology (famously by the Brothers Grimm and Elias Lönnrot). Mythological themes are also very often consciously employed in literature, beginning with Homer. The resulting work may expressly refer to a mythological background without itself being part of a body of myths (Cupid and Psyche). The medieval romance in particular plays with this process of turning myth into literature. Euhemerism refers to the process of rationalization of myths, putting themes formerly imbued with mythological qualities into pragmatic contexts, for example following a cultural or religious paradigm shift (notably the re-interpretation of pagan mythology following Christianization). Conversely, historical and literary material may acquire mythological qualities over time, for example the Matter of Britain and the Matter of France, based on historical events of the 5th and 8th centuries, respectively, were first made into epic poetry and became partly mythological over the following centuries. "Conscious generation" of mythology has been termed mythopoeia by J. R. R. Tolkien, and was notoriously also suggested, very separately, by Nazi ideologist Alfred Rosenberg.10
Modern mythology
Film and book series like Star Wars and Tarzan have strong mythological aspects that sometimes develop into deep and intricate philosophical systems. These items are not mythology, but contain mythic themes that, for some people, meet the same psychological needs. Mythopoeia is a term coined by J. R. R. Tolkien for the conscious attempt to create myths; his Silmarillion was to be an example of this, although he did not succeed in bringing it to publication during his lifetime.
Also, it is worth mentioning Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949), a non-fiction book, and seminal
work of comparative
mythology. In this
publication, Campbell discusses his theory of the journey of the archetypal
hero found in world mythologies. In the 1950s, Roland Barthes
published a series of essays examining modern myths and the process
of their creation in his book Mythologies.
Swiss psychologist Carl
Jung (1873-1961) and
his followers also tried to understand the psychology behind world myths.
Jung argued that the gods of mythology are not material beings, but archetypes
— or mental states and moods — that all humans can feel, share,
and experience. He and his adherents believe archetypes directly affect
our subconscious perceptions and way of understanding.11
Mythology is an ancient science learning our ancient history. I think the mythology and religion are very mutually connected among themselves.
| RELIGION – is the faith in existing of supernatural powers and trusts in its domination. The function of religion is help people in this changing world. The elements of religion are cult, customs operations for organisation contacts with the supernatural. Religion consciousness is based on faith. Religion world - view explain reality and its process as the creation of God.12 Definitions of religion: Religion has been defined in a wide variety of ways. Most definitions attempt to find a balance somewhere between overly sharp definition and meaningless generalities. Some sources have tried to use formalistic, doctrinal definitions while others have emphasized experiential, emotive, intuitive, valuation and ethical factors. Definitions mostly include:
Sociologists and anthropologists tend to see religion as an abstract set of ideas, values, or experiences developed as part of a cultural matrix. For example, in Lindbeck's Nature of Doctrine, religion does not refer to belief in "God" or a transcendent Absolute. Instead, Lindbeck defines religion as, "a kind of cultural and/or linguistic framework or medium that shapes the entirety of life and thought… it is similar to an idiom that makes possible the description of realities, the formulation of beliefs, and the experiencing of inner attitudes, feelings, and sentiments.” According to this definition, religion refers to one's primary worldview and how this dictates one's thoughts and actions.13 The main religions are: Buddhism (VI - V in. BC), Christianity (I in. AD), Islam (VII in. AD). As for me, the religion is very important part of our life. Many people trust in this belief and cannot live without it. Philosophy of religion is a branch of Philosophy concerned with questions regarding religion, including the nature and existence of God, the examination of religious experience, analysis of religious language and texts, and the relationship of religion and science. It is an ancient discipline, being found in the earliest known manuscripts concerning Philosophy, and relates to many other branches of Philosophy and general thought, including Metaphysics, Logic, and History. Philosophy of religion is frequently discussed outside of academia through popular books and debates, mostly regarding the existence of God and problem of evil. The Philosophy of religion differs from religious Philosophy in that it seeks to discuss questions regarding the nature of religion as a whole, rather than examining the problems brought forth by a particular belief system. It is designed such that it can be carried out dispassionately by those who identify as believers or non-believers.14 I think that mythology and religion are the earliest forms of ideology that precede Philosophy. If mythology represents an attempt to explain the world in the form of images, and the religion appeals to the supreme power, the Philosophy has its philosophical function on the basis of theoretical relations and reality, proposing a system of categories and laws that allow the world to know the most common and principled terms. These are questions that everyone should ask themselves at some point. This site attempts to demystify the Philosophy of religion, and so to help people to reach views on these questions. Is There a God?The first section of the site, Arguments for the Existence of God, explains the classic arguments for a positive answer to the question “Is there a God?” The debate concerning God’s existence has, of course, been going on for millennia. That does not mean, however, that no progress has been made. Some of the classic arguments for God’s existence have been largely abandoned, others have been refined, and new arguments or points about arguments do regularly appear. The search for an answer to the question of God’s existence should not be written off as futile simply because the question is an old one.15 If there is a God, then what is He Like?If they are successful, then none of the classic arguments for God’s existence proves exactly the same thing. The ontological argument, for instance, purports to prove the existence of a perfect being; the cosmological argument purports to prove the existence of a necessary or eternal Creator; the teleological argument purports to prove the existence of a Creator concerned with humanity. Each of these arguments, then, bears not only on the question of God’s existence, but also on the question of his nature, of what he is like. The same can be said of many of the arguments for atheism, explained in the second section of the site. Many of these arguments seek to exploit a perceived incoherence in the traditional doctrines concerning God’s nature, raising questions as to how those doctrines are best formulated. The challenge “If God is just, then how can he also be forgiving?”, for instance, has led theists to understand both God’s justice and his forgiveness in ways that can be reconciled. The challenge “If God is all-knowing, then how can our choices be free?”, for instance, has prompted a similar approach to divine omniscience and human freedom. The arguments for atheism, then, no less than the arguments for theism, influence the way that theists conceive of God, so contribute to the project of answering the question “If there is a God, then what is he like?” What Does that Mean for Us?The third question, “What does that mean for us?” - is asked less often than the previous two, and so is covered less explicitly by this survey of the Philosophy of religion. What follows is admittedly an oversimplification, but is, I think, an accurate representation of common responses to this question. The implications of classical theism, if it is accepted in all of its details, are clear enough: If God exists then we were created for a purpose; we are valued, loved. If God exists then we also have an incentive, not to mention a moral duty, to fulfill this purpose; our eternal fate hangs on whether we follow God, as we were created to, or rebel against his authority. Classical theism is therefore often felt to restrict our freedom, but to do so not because we are unimportant but rather because we are important and so have a duty of care to ourselves and to others. Theism thus affirms our value even as it constrains our freedom. Atheism, plausibly, exerts pressure in the opposite direction: it affirms our freedom but, it is often thought, threatens to compromise our value. In general, those who have lacked belief in a next life have thought that this makes our choices in this life all the more important. Sartre, for instance, thought that the absence of a divine Creator who defines who we are gives us absolute freedom to define ourselves. Because there is no God, there is no God-given human nature, and so each of us is, in a sense, his own Creator. We are free to be who we want to be. Atheism has also, rightly or wrongly, been associated with a pessimistic view of human value. If we were not placed here on purpose, but are the accidental product of random processes, and if we came from the dust and will return to it, then in what sense are we important? There are, broadly speaking, two ways to respond to this question. Atheists can, on the one hand, argue that value is about what we are, rather than why or how we got here. They can thus affirm that we are special despite our inauspicious origins. Or they can, on the other hand, accept that we have no special value, but argue that it is better to reconcile oneself to this fact than it is to deceive oneself with religious belief.16
I
believe that religion has taken its present form in order to control
people and their beliefs, into a system of
"power over people", where the few rule over the many. Where
the few control the mindset of the many in order to keep people away
from insight, knowledge and freedom to seek whatever way in life one
wants to pursue. And in order to raise men to power, where they themselves
are almost perceived as gods in the form of priests and the likes. We
need only to study a bit of history, to see how the most popular religions
today: have a history of violence and murder, destruction of different
cultures, removal of ancient texts of knowledge, the burning of people
at the stake and the enslavement of people to work for the so-called
religious people, in order to once again, keep the few in power over
the many. PHILOSOPHY – understanding this world from position of experience, reason and knowledge. It appeared as need to know real world in through it generalisation. Philosophy coincides with the world outlook.17 Philosophy is the systematic study of the foundations of human knowledge with an emphasis on the conditions of its validity and finding answers to ultimate questions. While every other science aims at investigating a specific area of knowledge, such as physics or psychology, Philosophy has been defined as “thinking about thinking.” At the same time, as expressed by its Greek etymology, Philosophy is the love to wisdom. Traditionally at least, it is not the pursuit of knowledge for knowledge’s sake, but rather the attempt to discover the meaning and purpose of existence, including through intellectual means, but including also self-reflection, discipline, and religious practice and inquiry. Though the term Philosophy is of Western origin and implies a kind of investigation typical of western culture, it has its equivalents in the various other cultures of the world, notably India, China and the Middle East.
Philosophy may also refer to a general worldview or to a specific ethic
or belief that can be utterly unrelated to academic
philosophical considerations. This meaning of the term is perhaps as
important as the classical definition, because it affects each human
being. Virtually everyone, knowingly or unknowingly, lives and operates
based upon a set of values and beliefs that are often unexpressed and
even unconscious. As a result, the may easily be incompatible and contradictory,
leaving those who maintain them with a sense of uneasiness. If a man
professes that “only money counts in life,” this is a philosophical
stance. However, it is most likely to be at odds with other convictions
held by that same individual, such as a secret passion for art or love
for his family.18 Philosophy,
I think, plays may be not so main role, but it
is important thing for us to pays attention when we want to know what
is going on around us. I follow this position that initially we need
to study theory then use it in practice. If we learn core questions
about our surrounding reality with society, existing laws and principles
we will be able construct our existing way in this hard world. |
- CONCLUSION
Every definition of Philosophy is controversial. The field has historically expanded and changed depending upon what kinds of questions were interesting or relevant in a given era. It is generally agreed that Philosophy is a method, rather than a set of claims, propositions, or theories. Its investigations are based upon rational thinking, striving to make no unexamined assumptions and no leaps based on faith or pure analogy.
World-view is a common understanding of peace, human society, defining the socio-political, philosophical, religious, moral, aesthetic, scientific and theoretical orientation rights.
World
Vision - is not only the content but also a way to understand reality,
as well as the principles of life that define the nature of the activity.
The nature of the world contributes to setting specific goals, which
is formed from the synthesis of common life plan, formed ideals, giving
a strong world power. The content of consciousness is becoming a world
view when it acquires the character of belief, full and unwavering confidence
in the rightness of their rights ideas.
All types reveal a unity of outlook, covering a range of issues, such
as the spirit relates to the matter, that this man and what his place
in the universal phenomena relationship of peace, as people know the
reality that this good and evil, for what the laws of human society
develops.20
In conclusion, I want say that World Vision has great practical meaning of life. It affects the standards of behavior, attitude on human labor, for others, the nature of life aspirations, to his lifestyle, tastes and interests. It is a kind of spiritual prism through which everything is perceived and experienced surrounds.
So
we need to try pay attention surrounding world and essence of everything
we deal with. It concern not only understanding the essence of gains
around us, but also essence of sense, emotion, feelings, because
I think the foundation of mankind relations and correlation should base
on it. We need to think about essence of humans’
internal world, everybody is unique. And philosophy with its different
branches helps mankind with this problem.
SOURCES:
- TEXTBOOK FOR STUDENTS OF ALL DEPARTMENTS AND SPECIALITIES composed by Sergey A. ZOLOTUKHIN, Ph.D (p.3,8,12,15)
- Dialectical Materialism (A. Spirkin). Chapter 1. Philosophy As A World-View And A Methodology (p.4,6,7,8)
- Karl Marx (p.7)
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
myth (p. 9,10) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
mythology (p.11) - http://en.wikipedia.org (p.12,17)
- Philosophy of religion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.(p.13)
- www.Philosophyofreligion.info (p.13,14)
- http://www.
newworldencyclopedia.org/ entry/Philosophy (p.15) - http://www.onu.edu/a+s/
Philosophy/philos.html (p.16)
TM
Date: 03/12/2010
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