Classical German philosophy is brief (general characteristic)

What is interesting about classical German philosophy? It is difficult to tell about it briefly, but we will try. It is a very significant and significant contribution to the history and development of world thought. So it is customary to talk about a whole set of different theoretical concepts that have appeared in Germany for over a hundred years. If we are talking about a comprehensive and original system of thinking, then, of course, this is German classical philosophy. Briefly about its representatives, we can say the following. First of all, this is Immanuel Kant, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach. In the leading number of thinkers of this direction are also several other famous persons. This is Johan Gottlieb Fichte, and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Schelling. Each of them is very original and is the creator of its own system. Can we then generally speak of such a holistic phenomenon as classical German philosophy? Briefly it is described as a collection of diverse ideas and concepts. But they all have some common essential features and principles.

German classical philosophy. General characteristic (briefly)

This is a whole era in the history of German thought. This country, according to the apt expression of Marx, existed in those days, rather, theoretically than practically. Nevertheless, after the crisis of the Enlightenment, the center of philosophy moved here. Her birth was influenced by various factors - the revolution and the Restoration effort in France, the popularity of the ideology of natural law and property, the notion of a rational social order. If we really want to understand what classical German philosophy is, briefly we can say that it has accumulated in itself the previous ideas of different countries, especially in the field of cognition, ontology and social progress. In addition, all these thinkers tried to understand what culture and consciousness are. They were also interested in the place that philosophy takes. German thinkers of this period tried to give a characterization of the essence of man. They developed a systematic philosophy as a "science of the spirit", defined its main categories and singled out the branches. And as the main method of thinking, most of them recognized dialectics.

Founder

Most historians consider Immanuel Kant to be the founder of that most significant phenomenon in the history of the development of the human mind, which is classical German philosophy. In short, his activities are divided into two periods. The first of these is traditionally considered subcritical. Here, Kant showed himself as a natural scientist and even put forward a hypothesis about how our Solar System arose. The second, critical period in the work of the philosopher, is devoted to the problems of epistemology, dialectics, morality and aesthetics. First of all, he tried to solve the dilemma between empiricism and rationalism: what is the source of knowledge - intelligence or experience? He considered that this discussion was largely artificial. Sensations give us material for research, and reason gives it shape. Experience, however, allows you to balance and check all this. If the sensations are ephemeral and impermanent, then the forms of the mind are congenital and a priori. They arose before the experience. Thanks to them, we can express the facts and phenomena of the environment in terms. But to understand the essence of the world and the universe in this way we are not given. These are "things-in-themselves," the understanding of which lies beyond experience, it is transcendental.

Criticism of theoretical and practical reason

This philosopher posed the main problems, which then solved all subsequent German classical philosophy. Briefly (Kant is a very complex philosopher, but we try to simplify his scheme), it sounds like this. What and how can a person know how to act, what to expect, and in general, what is he himself? To answer the first question, the philosopher considers the stages of thinking and their functions. Feelings operate with a priori forms (for example, space and time), reason - categories (quantity, quality). The facts, taken from experience, with their help are transformed into ideas. And the mind with their help builds a priori synthetic judgments. This is the process of cognition. But the mind contains also unconditional ideas about the unity of the world, about the soul, about God. They represent an ideal, a model, but they can not be rationally derived from experience or can not be proved. Any attempt to do this creates unsolvable contradictions - antinomies. They point out that here reason must stop and give way to faith. Having criticized theoretical thinking, Kant proceeds to practical, that is, to morality. Its basis, as the philosopher believed, is the a priori categorical imperative - the performance of moral duty, and not personal desires and inclinations. Kant anticipated many features of German classical philosophy. Let us briefly dwell on other of its representatives.

Fichte

This philosopher, unlike Kant, denied that the surrounding does not depend on our consciousness. He believed that the subject and the object are just different manifestations of the divine "I". In the process of activity and cognition, in fact, there is positing. This means that first the "I" is aware (creates) itself, and then objects. They begin to act on the subject and become obstacles for him. To overcome them, the "I" develops. The highest step in this process is the realization of the identity of the subject and the object. Then the opposites are destroyed, and the absolute "I" arises. In addition, the subject in the understanding of Fichte is theoretical and practical. The first determines, and the second realizes. The absolute "I", from the point of view of Fichte, exists only in potency. His prototype is a collective "We" or God.

Schelling

Having seized Fichte's ideas about the unity of subject and object, the thinker believed both of these categories to be real. Nature is not material for the realization of the "I". This is an independent, unconscious whole with the potentiality of the appearance of the subject. Movement in it comes from opposites and at the same time represents the development of the world Soul. The subject is born from nature, but he creates his own world, separate from the "I" - science, art, religion. Logic is present not only in the mind, but also in nature. But the most important is the will, which forces us to develop and the world around us. To see the unity of man and nature, reason is not enough, intellectual intuition is needed. It has philosophy and art. Therefore, the system of thinking, according to Schelling, must consist of three parts. This is the philosophy of nature, then epistemology (where a priori forms of mind are studied). But the crown of all is the comprehension of the unity of the subject and object. This apogee Schelling called the philosophy of identity. She believes the presence of the Absolute Reason, in which spirit and nature and other polarities coincide.

System and method

The most famous thinker with whom German classical philosophy is associated is Hegel. Let's briefly outline its system and basic principles. Hegel accepts Schelling's doctrine of identity and Kant's conclusion that matter can not be withdrawn from consciousness, and vice versa. But he believed the main philosophical principle of the unity and struggle of opposites. At the heart of the world is the identity of being and thinking, the Absolute Idea. But there were contradictions in it. When this unity begins to realize itself, it alienates and creates the world of objects (matter, nature). But this otherness is still developing according to the laws of thought. In the work of The Science of Logic, Hegel examines these rules. He finds out what concepts are, how they are formed and what is characteristic, what distinguishes formal and dialectical logic, what are the laws of development of the latter. These processes are the same for thinking and for nature, because the world is logical and reasonable. The main method for Hegel was dialectics, the main categories and laws of which he derived and consolidated.

Triads

Two more important works of the German thinker are "Philosophy of Nature" and "Phenomenology of the Spirit". In them he explores the development of otherness of the Absolute Idea and its return to itself, but at a different stage of development. The lowest form of its existence in the world is mechanics, then physics goes on and, finally, organic. After the completion of this triad, the spirit comes out of nature and develops in man and society. At first he realizes himself. At this stage, it is a subjective spirit. Then it manifests itself in public forms - morality, law and the state. Human history ends with the emergence of the Absolute Spirit. He also has three forms of development: art, religion and philosophy.

Materialism

But German classical philosophy does not end on Hegel's system . Feuerbach (briefly we will characterize his teachings below) is considered her last representative. He was also the most zealous critic of Hegel. At the latter, he borrowed the idea of alienation. Almost all his life he devoted to finding out what kinds and forms he had. He tried to create a theory about overcoming alienation, and also criticized religion from the standpoint of materialism. In his work on the history of the Christian religion, he stated that this man created God. At the same time, the ideal was alienated from people. And this led to the fact that the man was made his object of worship. It is necessary to direct the aspirations of people to what they really deserve - to themselves. Therefore, the most reliable means to overcome alienation is love, which can create new relationships between people.

German classical philosophy. Summary of the main ideas

We see that all these different philosophers have tried to explore a person, his essence and purpose. Kant believed that the main thing in people is morality, Fichte - that activity and intelligence, Schelling - that the identity of the subject and object, Hegel - logic, and Feuerbach - love. In determining the meaning of philosophy, they also occupied different, although often similar, positions. Kant focuses on the theory of knowledge and ethics, Schelling - natural philosophy, Fichte - political disciplines, Hegel - panlogism. Feuerbach considers all these problems together. As for dialectics, everyone recognized its importance, but each of them advanced his own version of this theory of universal communication. These are the main problems that were considered by German classical philosophy. The general characteristic (briefly described by us above) of this phenomenon in the history of human thought, according to well-established opinion, is that this is one of the most significant achievements of the culture of Western Europe.