Introduction

Essence, structure and functions of consciousness

Mental and ideal

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

Man has a wonderful gift - the mind with its inquisitive flight, both into the distant past and into the future, the world of dreams and fantasy, creative solutions to practical and theoretical problems, and finally, the embodiment of the most daring plans. Since ancient times, thinkers have been intensely searching for a solution to the mystery of the phenomenon of consciousness. Science, philosophy, literature, art, technology - in a word, all the achievements of mankind have combined their efforts to reveal the innermost secrets of our spiritual life.

Consciousness is the highest, characteristic only to man, form of reflection of objective reality, the way of his relationship to the world and to himself, which represents the unity of mental processes that are actively involved in a person’s understanding of the objective world and his own existence and is determined not directly by his bodily organization, but skills of objective actions acquired only through communication with other people. Consciousness consists of sensory images of objects, which are sensations or representations and therefore have meaning and meaning, knowledge as a set of sensations imprinted in memory, and generalizations created as a result of higher mental activity, thinking and language. Consciousness is a special form of human interaction with reality and its control.

There are various historical and philosophical interpretations of the problem of consciousness. Depending on which worldview was dominant in a particular era, the understanding of consciousness also changed. In antiquity, consciousness was defined as the universal connection between mind and object, which exist independently of each other. The moment they meet, the object leaves a mark on the field of the mind, just as a seal leaves a mark on wax. In the culture of Christianity, there is a need for inner concentration. It was caused by the need to communicate with God through prayer. In it, a person must plunge inside himself. Along with prayer, the practice of confession arose, which reinforced the ability for introspection and self-control. Then consciousness - knowledge, first of all, about one’s own spiritual experience - is the center between the first and the second. That is, consciousness is the ability to reproduce experiences, rising to the level of God and evidence of the insignificance of man. In modern times, man renounces God. Man was declared the beginning and cause of everything that happens to him in the world. He is the condition and possibility of a world, a world that he can understand and act in. Man, through his activity, creates the world; R. Descartes declared that the act “I think” is the basis for the existence of man and the world.

Since consciousness is a property of matter, a reflected world, the question arises: how does this world exist in consciousness? A.G. Spirkin defines consciousness as an ideal reflection of the reality of the transformation of the objective content of an object into the subjective content of spiritual life.

Reflection is the property of material systems to reproduce, during interaction, by changing their properties and states, the features of other systems. Consciousness is a subjective image of the world, corresponding to the nature and content of the subject’s activity. The image of an object is the ideal form of existence of an object “in the head” of a person. This does not mean that the head contains real signs as such (the imagined fire does not burn our brain, the image of snow does not make it cold), but it contains these real signs (heat and cold) as an image. In an ideal form, an object is deprived of its material substrate (carrier). This form, which replaces any material substrate, preserves the properties, qualities, essence of things and their connections. The condition for an ideal image of the world is the physiological material processes occurring in the human brain and body. The material basis of the human psyche is therefore the neurophysiological processes in the brain. The level of its reflective abilities depends on the level of structural organization of the brain. The existence of the ideal is functional in nature and acts as an image of an object and a value judgment, as a goal and plan of activity, etc.

Essence, structure and functions of consciousness

Consciousness, as an ideal reflection, appears, exists only in the material form of its expression - language. Consciousness and language are simultaneously one and different. On the basis of language and in connection with it, other ways of reifying the ideal have developed in the history of mankind - sign systems. Language, like other sign systems, is not just a substitute for real things. Behind them there is a social practice crystallized in meanings.

The ideal is embodied not only in language and sign systems. It materializes in general in any products of human labor: in objects created by people, in the resting properties of which conscious activity is recorded. It is as products of labor that they have an “ideal side”, which is revealed in the acts of their conscious perception, understanding, action with them, etc. This is the main essence of consciousness, as the transformation of perceived information for the implementation of knowledge, its transmission to life. Consciousness acts as the intellectual activity of the subject, since a person, in addition to active reflection, connects new impressions with previous experience, emotionally evaluates reality, and provides the outside world.

“Without an ideal image, a person generally cannot carry out the exchange of substances between himself and nature, and the individual cannot act as a real mediator between the things of nature, since these things are involved in the process of social production. The ideal as such is born only by the process of the objective-practical activity of a social person, changing nature. In general, it only exists during this process and as long as this process continues, continues, and is reproduced on an expanded scale."

The transformative activity of society required a special form of reflection, providing an anticipation of its future result, and this form arose and developed precisely as an ideal reflection. The main thing in the ideal is determined by the fact that it is a socio-historical product; in a developed society, special types of “spiritual” activity (scientific, artistic, ideological, etc.) are formed and developed, the special subject of which is the ideal. When a person “builds something in his head,” then he one way or another uses those techniques, methods and means of working with ideal objects (reflecting real objects) that developed during the historical development of mankind. The conscious images with which he operates act as an ideal measure, which is subsequently embodied in objective and practical activity. At the same time, it is not always (indeed, rarely) that the ideal image created by any specific individual is materialized by himself. It can be materialized (this usually happens) in the activities of other people. In other words, the ideal reflection, as it were, acquires an independent existence: a person can “separate from himself” the ideal image, materialize it (for example, in a drawing) and act with it, without for the time being touching the very object reflected in this image. This relative independence of the ideal reflection, various types social consciousness is of exceptional importance for understanding the laws of development of the human psyche.

Consciousness as an ideal form of reflection of existence has real meaning only in society and for society; results of ideal reflection arising in the process public life, dictated by its needs, sooner or later they are embodied in it, realized, materialized in the products of human activity. Being an inherently social phenomenon, consciousness exists not above individuals, and not between them, and not besides them, but in their heads.

The structure of consciousness can be represented as a circle; this “field” is divided into four parts.

1. The sphere of bodily-perceptual abilities of knowledge of the sensations, perceptions obtained on their basis, specific ideas with the help of which a person receives primary sensory information. The main goal is the usefulness and expediency of the existence of the human body.

2. The sphere of logical-conceptual components of consciousness is associated with thinking, which goes beyond the sensory data into the essential levels of objects. This is the sphere of concepts, judgments, conclusions, evidence. The main goal of this sphere of consciousness is truth.

3. U different people- varying degrees of consciousness: from the most general, fleeting control over the flow of thoughts about the outside world, to in-depth reflection on oneself. A person comes to self-awareness only through socialization.

4. A person becomes aware of himself through awareness of his own activities; in the process of self-awareness, a person becomes an individual and realizes himself as an individual. This representation of self-consciousness as internally located in consciousness testifies to its reflexive function in relation to consciousness.

Based on the considered representation of consciousness, we can distinguish the functions of consciousness:

Cognitive

Forecasting, foresight, goal setting

Evidence of the truth of knowledge

Value

Communicative

Regulatory

The position about the three main functions of the psyche: cognitive, regulatory and communicative - are manifested in one form or another at all stages of mental development, but with the emergence and development of consciousness (meaning, first of all, individual consciousness) they acquire new qualitative features.

Cognitive function only at the level of consciousness appears as cognition in in every sense this word, i.e. as an active, purposeful acquisition of knowledge. “The way in which consciousness exists and in which something exists for it,” Marx wrote, “is knowledge.” At the same time, first of all, knowledge is meant as ideal results of reflection, created in the process of socio-historical practice and “cast in the form” of scientific , ideological, ethical and other ideas, principles, norms, etc. By mastering them, the individual at the same time assimilates the established types of social consciousness. Knowledge is recorded and transmitted from person to person mainly through language, although other means are also used. Sometimes consciousness is viewed as an intellectualized psyche; in this regard, it is identified with thinking; sensations, perception of feelings are considered as pre-conscious levels of mental reflection or even as not mental, but as physiological phenomena. Sometimes consciousness is viewed as an intellectualized psyche; in this regard, it is identified with thinking; sensations, perception of feelings are considered as pre-conscious levels of mental reflection or even as not mental, but as physiological phenomena. Of course, in the system of mental processes occurring at the level of consciousness, thinking plays the most important, perhaps leading role. But it would be wrong to limit the cognitive function of consciousness only to thinking. It is also realized in the processes of sensory cognition: sensations, perceptions, ideas.

Reflection is the property of material systems in the process of interaction to reproduce the features of other systems. We can say that reflection is the result of the interaction of objects. We encounter the simplest form of reflection in the inorganic world. For example, a conductor heats up and lengthens if it is connected to an electrical circuit, metals exposed to air oxidize, a mark remains on the snow if a person passes, etc. This passive reflection. It occurs in the form of mechanical and physicochemical changes.

As the organization of matter became more complex and life appeared on Earth, the simplest organisms, as well as plants, developed the ability to “respond” to the influence of the external environment and even assimilate (process) the products of this environment (for example, insectivorous plants). This form of reflection is called irritability. Irritability is characterized by a certain selectivity - the simplest organism, plant, animal adapts to environment.

Many millions of years passed before the ability appeared Feel, with the help of which a more highly organized living being, based on the formed sense organs (hearing, vision, touch, etc.), acquired the ability to reflect individual properties of objects - color, shape, temperature, softness, humidity, etc. This became possible because animals have a special apparatus (nervous system), which allows them to intensify their relationship with the environment.

The highest form of reflection at the level of the animal kingdom is perception, which allows you to capture the object in its integrity and completeness. The psyche (as a result of the interaction of the brain with the outside world) and mental activity allowed animals not only to adapt to the environment, but also to a certain extent to show internal activity in relation to it and even change the environment. The emergence of the psyche in animals means the emergence of non-material processes. As studies have shown, mental activity is based on unconditioned and conditioned reflexes of the brain. The chain of unconditioned reflexes is a biological prerequisite for the formation of instincts. The presence of sensations, perceptions, “impressions,” “experiences” in animals, the presence of elementary (concrete, “objective”) thinking is the basis for the emergence of human consciousness.

Consciousness- the highest form of reflection of the real world; a function of the brain that is unique to humans and associated with speech, consisting in a generalized and purposeful reflection of reality, in the preliminary mental construction of actions and anticipation of their results, in the reasonable regulation and self-control of human behavior. The “core” of consciousness, the way of its existence, is knowledge. Consciousness belongs to the subject, the person, and not to the surrounding world. But the content of consciousness, the content of a person’s thoughts is this world, certain aspects of it, connections, laws. Therefore, consciousness can be characterized as a subjective image of the objective world.

Consciousness is, first of all, awareness of the immediate sensory environment and awareness of a limited connection with other persons and things located outside the individual beginning to become conscious of himself; at the same time it is an awareness of nature.

Human consciousness is characterized by such aspects as self-awareness, introspection, and self-control. And they are formed only when a person separates himself from the environment. Self-awareness - the most important difference between the human psyche and the psyche of the most developed representatives of the animal world.

It should be noted that reflection in inanimate nature corresponds to the first three forms of movement of matter (mechanical, physical, chemical), reflection in living nature corresponds to the biological form, and consciousness corresponds to the social form of movement of matter.

Consciousness - as a reflection (Reflection concept)

According to the concept of reflection, consciousness is a property of highly organized matter - the human brain. Of the famous modern science material structures, it is the brain that has the most complex substrate organization. About 11 billion nerve cells form a very complex systemic whole in which electrochemical, physiological, biophysical, biochemical, bioelectrical and other material processes occur. Having emerged as a result of the long evolution of living things, the human brain, as it were, crowns biological evolution, closing on itself the entire information and energy system whole organism, controlling and regulating its vital activity. As a result of the historical evolution of living things, the brain acts as a genetic continuation of more simple shapes and ways of connecting the living with the outside, including the inorganic world. But how and why does matter, consisting of the same atoms and elementary particles, begin to realize its existence, evaluate itself, and think? It is logical to assume that in the foundation of the very knowledge of matter there is an ability similar to sensation, but not identical to it, that “all matter has a property essentially related to sensation, the property of reflection.” This assumption was made by D. Diderot back in the 18th century.

Matter at all levels of its organization has the property of reflection, which develops in the process of its evolution, becoming more and more complex and multi-quality. The increasing complexity of reflection forms is associated with the developing ability of material systems for self-organization and self-development. The evolution of forms of reflection acted as a prehistory of consciousness, as a connecting link between inert matter and thinking matter.

The supporters of hylozoism came closest to the idea of ​​reflection in the history of philosophy, but they endowed all matter with the ability to feel and think, while these forms of reflection are characteristic only of certain types of it, for living and socially organized forms of being.

Consciousness- this is the highest, characteristic only of man, form of reflection of objective reality, the way of his relationship to the world and to himself, which represents the unity of mental processes that are actively involved in man’s understanding of the objective world and his own existence and is not determined directly by his bodily organization (as in animals), and acquired only through communication with other people, the skills of objective actions. Consciousness consists of sensory images of objects, which are sensations or representations and therefore have meaning and meaning, knowledge as a set of sensations imprinted in memory, and generalizations created as a result of higher mental activity, thinking and language. Thus, consciousness is a special form of human interaction with reality and its control. Reflection refers to the process and result of interaction, in which some material bodies, with their properties and structure, reproduce the properties and structure of other material bodies, while preserving a trace of the interaction.

Reflection as a result of the interaction of objects does not stop after the completion of this process, but continues to exist in the reflecting object as a trace, an imprint of the reflected phenomenon. This reflected variety of structures and properties of interacting phenomena is called information, understood as the content of the reflection process.

Etymologically, the concept of information means familiarization, clarification, communication, however, in philosophical discussions on the issue of the subject area of ​​information, three positions have emerged: attributive, communicative and functional. From the point of view of the attributive concept of information as a reflected variety of objects in relation to each other, information is universal in nature and acts as the content of the reflective process in both living and inanimate nature. It defines information as a measure of the heterogeneity of the distribution of matter and energy in space and time, accompanying all processes occurring in the world. The communicative concept of information as the transfer of information, messages from one person to another was the most popular in connection with the everyday practical meaning of the term and remained until the mid-20s of our century. Due to the increase in the volume of transmitted information, the need for its quantitative measurement has arisen. In 1948, K. Shannon developed mathematical information theory. Information began to be understood as those messages transmitted by people to each other that reduce the uncertainty of the recipient. With the advent of cybernetics as the science of control and communication in living organisms, society and machines, the functional concept of information took shape as the content of reflection in self-developing and self-governing systems. In the context of a functional approach to the nature of information, the problem of the informational nature of human consciousness is posed and solved in a fundamentally new way. The attributive concept of information as the necessary content of any reflection makes it possible to explain the development of living matter from non-living matter as the self-development of the material world. Probably, in this sense, it is justified to talk about different qualitative levels of manifestation of reflection and, accordingly, about different measures of information saturation of reflection. At each level of the systemic organization of matter, the property of reflection manifests itself as qualitatively different. Reflection inherent in phenomena and objects of inanimate nature has a fundamentally different intensity of information content than reflection in living nature. In inanimate nature, for interacting phenomena, firstly, the absolutely predominant volume of their mutual diversity remains unperceived, unreflected due to its “insignificance” for the given qualitative state of these phenomena. Secondly, due to the low organization of these phenomena, they have a very low threshold of sensitivity to this diversity. Thirdly, the same low level organization of phenomena causes a weak ability to use the information content of reflection for self-organization. These are, for example, the forms of reflection available to rocks, minerals, etc., where in the sensually observed content of reflection it is impossible to grasp the constructive use of information as a factor of self-development. The destructive result of reflection dominates here, since these objects are not able to use its information content for increasingly complex self-organization, for acquiring new, more complex qualities and properties. The emergence of organic nature forms a qualitatively new form of reflection. Phenomena of living nature have access to a higher degree of intensity of the information content of reflection and a significantly wider volume of it. So, if a mineral exhibits only the ability to accumulate changes in the external environment, then the plant reflects external diversity much more dynamically and actively. It actively reaches out to the sun, uses the information that appears in connection with this for a more dynamic mobilization of its resources in the process of photosynthesis and, ultimately, for self-development. This increasing intensity and richness information links forms in a living person the ability for more intensive growth and expanded self-reproduction of properties, the formation of new characteristics, their coding and inheritance. Thus, the complication of reflection forms expresses not only the fact of the development and complication of matter, but also the fact of the acceleration of this development. The increase in the intensity of information connections with the development of forms of reflection brings new qualitative characteristics to the spatiotemporal forms of existence of matter. The spatial parameters of the existence of matter are expanding, its development is accelerating. The simplest level of reflection inherent in living matter manifests itself in the form of irritability. Irritability is the body’s ability to make simple responses to environmental influences. This is already a selective response of living things to external influences. This form of reflection does not passively perceive information, but actively correlates the result of the reaction with the needs of the body. Irritability is expressed only in relation to vital influences: nutrition, self-preservation, reproduction. Gradually, irritability appears not only in relation to biologically important stimuli, but also to other phenomena significant for the body, signals that carry more indirect information about the environment. Irritability is already quite noticeable in many plants and simple organisms. This rather information-rich form of reflection determines the further development and complexity of organisms, their accelerating evolution. In the course of evolution, sensory organs that are in demand due to enrichment with reflection arise. In accordance with the functions performed by these sense organs, the process of formation of a specific material tissue (material substrate) - the nervous system, which concentrates the functions of reflection - proceeds in parallel. With the emergence of this specialized material instrument of reflection, the body’s connections with the external environment become even more complex and flexible. The emergence of a set of receptors significantly enriches the information content of the reflection of the surrounding world. This level of reflection development is defined as sensory reflection. It has the ability to reflect individual properties of the external environment. The emergence of sensations is associated with the emergence of elementary forms of the psyche, which gives a new impetus to the evolution of living things. Regarding the sensitive nature of consciousness, Helvetius said: “The senses constitute the source of all our knowledge... We have three main means of research: observation of nature, reflection and experiment. Observation collects facts; thinking combines them; experience verifies the result of combinations...every sensation of ours entails a judgment, the existence of which, being unknown, when it has not attracted our attention, is nevertheless real.”

Already at the level of relatively simple organisms, the nervous system significantly expands the possibilities of reflection, makes it possible to record the diversity of the environment in the individual “memory” of the organism and use this in rather complex adaptive reactions to changes in the environment. With the emergence of a special center of the nervous system - the brain, the information volume of reflection reaches a new qualitative level. Already in vertebrates perception arises - the ability to analyze complex complexes of simultaneously acting external stimuli and create a holistic image of the situation. Individual behavior appears, based on individual experience, on conditioned reflexes, in contrast to intuitive behavior based on unconditioned reflexes. A complex mental form of reflection is formed, accessible to highly organized mammals. The mental form of reflection is characterized not only by a significantly greater richness of reflection of phenomena, but also by a more active “presence” of the reflector in the process of reflection. Here, the selectivity of reflection, the concentration and selection of the object of reflection or even its individual properties and characteristics increases significantly. Moreover, this selectivity is determined not only by the biophysical relevance for reflecting certain properties and characteristics, but also by emotional and mental preference. It should be noted that the complication of the properties of mental reflection is directly related to the development of the brain, its volume and structure. At this level of development, memory resources expand, the brain’s ability to capture specific images of things and their inherent connections, and to reproduce these images in various forms associative thinking. Based on associative thinking, animals (great apes, dolphins, dogs) demonstrate excellent abilities for anticipatory reflection when they first construct their actions and actions in an ideal model that anticipates the logic of events. They also have richer content channels of information connections, more complex sound and motor means of signaling, which act as the primary forms of substitution of the objects themselves. And yet, no matter how complex the mental reactions of animals to the outside world may be, no matter how meaningful their actions may seem, animals do not possess consciousness or the ability to think. Consciousness represents a higher level of reflection, associated with a qualitatively new level of organization of the material world - society, a social form of being. Thus, based on all of the above, it can be stated that consciousness is formed as a result of the natural historical evolution of matter and its universal, attributive property - reflection. In the process of evolutionary development, matter, becoming more and more complex in its structural organization, gives rise to such a substrate as the brain. Outside the brain, which is capable of producing information not only to adapt to reality, but also to transform it, consciousness does not arise. Consequently, the appearance of a developed brain, a mental form of reflection, is the main result of the evolution of prehuman forms of reflection.

Ways to explain the origin and essence of consciousness.

The concept of “consciousness” is not unique. IN in a broad sense the words under it mean 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, representing an integral system consisting of various elements that are in regular relationships 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 emotional life human personality includes actual feelings, 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.

Cognition is not limited to cognitive processes aimed at the object (attention) and the emotional sphere. Our intentions are translated into action through the efforts of our will. However, consciousness is not the sum of many of its constituent elements, but their harmonious unification, their integral, complexly structured whole.

The concept of reflection. Its role in explaining the origin of consciousness.

Its reflection is manifested only in interaction

The existence of material education consists of interaction with the surrounding world and the memorization of these influences.

Reflection in living and inanimate matter

Inanimate matter - physical - chemical level

Reflection at these levels is represented by changes (physical-chemical)

Reflection, a universal property of matter, which consists in reproducing, recording what belongs to the reflected object. “... It is logical to assume that all matter has a property essentially related to sensation, the property of reflection...” (V.I. Lenin, Complete Works, 5th edition, volume 18, page 91). Any vision carries information about the object of vision. The ability for vision, as well as the nature of its manifestation, depend on the level of organization of matter. O. appears in qualitatively different forms in inanimate nature, in the world of plants, animals, and, finally, in humans. The interaction of various material systems results in mutual reflection, which appears in the form of simple mechanical deformation (for example, a body imprint on sand), contraction or expansion depending on fluctuations in ambient temperature (for example, a thermometer), O. light, changes in electromagnetic waves (for example, photography), O. sound waves (for example, echoes), chemical changes (for example, the color of litmus paper), physiological processes (for example, constriction of the pupil in bright light, etc.). The creation of electronic computers capable of recognizing images, distinguishing things, carrying out formal logical operations, developing conditioned reflexes, that is, reflecting the relationships of things and orienting themselves in the world, confirms the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bO. as a universal property of matter.

An integral property of a living organism is irritability - O. influences of the external and internal environment in the form of excitation and selective response. Irritability is a prepsychic form of O., acting as a means of regulating adaptive behavior. The further stage in the development of perception is associated with the emergence in higher species of living organisms of a new property - sensitivity, that is, the ability to have sensations, which is the initial form of the animal psyche. The formation of sense organs and mutual coordination of their actions led to the formation of the ability to reflect things in a certain set of their properties - the ability to perceive. Animals not only differentially perceive the properties and relationships of things, but also reflect a significant number of biologically significant connections in the world around them. This is elementary thinking reaching its most high level at great apes and dolphins.

The formation of man and human society in the process labor activity and communication through speech led to the emergence of a specifically human, social in its essence form of O. in the form of consciousness and self-awareness. The perception of reality by man differs from the perception of reality by its animals, both in the method and the subject of perception, by man’s desire not only to satisfy his natural needs, but also to understand the objective connections of things in themselves. What is characteristic of O., characteristic of man, is that it is something ideal. It presupposes not only an influence on the subject from the outside, but also the active action of the subject himself, his creative activity, which is manifested in selectivity and purposefulness of perception, in abstraction from some objects, properties and relationships and fixation of others, in the transformation of feelings, images into logical thought, in operating with conceptual forms of knowledge. The creative activity of a cognitive person is also revealed in acts of productive imagination, fantasy, in search activities aimed at revealing the truth by forming a hypothesis and testing it, in creating a theory, producing new ideas, plans, goals

V. I. Lenin made a significant contribution to the doctrine of knowledge as an assessment of reality; therefore, the dialectical-materialist theory of O. rightfully bears the name Lenin's theory O. The Leninist principle of O. is attacked by some revisionists and bourgeois ideologists (A. Lefebvre, R. Garaudy, G. Petrovich, etc.), who claim that the theory of O. supposedly limits a person to the framework of the existing (since it cannot be reflected the future is something that does not yet exist), underestimates the creative activity of consciousness, and those who propose replacing the category of O. with the concept of practice. The inconsistency of this criticism, which replaces the dialectical-materialist concept of O. with a mechanistic understanding of it, is obvious. Lenin never denied the creative activity of consciousness; in his words, “human consciousness not only reflects the objective world, but also creates it” (ibid., volume 29, page 194). But only on the basis of an adequate vision of the objective world is the creative activity of a person transforming the world possible.

The principle of O. is the cornerstone of the materialist theory of knowledge, based on the recognition of the primacy of the external world and its reproduction in human consciousness. Lenin noted that the concept of O. is included in the very definition of dialectical, consistent materialism, and from these positions he criticized the epistemology of subjective and objective idealism.

Consciousness as a reflection

The problem of consciousness is one of the most complex problems philosophy and natural sciences. It is the subject of research not only in philosophy, but also in psychology, physiology, psychiatry, cybernetics, computer science, pedagogy and other sciences. Consciousness is still a big mystery, we do not fully know what consciousness is, what its nature is, how consciousness affects matter, the psyche on somatics.

Representatives of idealistic philosophy consider consciousness as a separate, independent entity, a separate substance. They give it the status of a world mind, a cosmic principle. In understanding human consciousness, such logic leads to the recognition of the existence of a soul separate from the body. Some natural scientists and philosophers believe that human brain through the spiritual substance of universal human culture (the “third world”) comes into contact with the world mind and, like a detector, a receiver, makes “waves” accessible to human perception, which looks like “my consciousness”. Vulgar materialists (K. Vogt, L. Buchner, I. Moleschott) believed that consciousness is a consequence of only physiological processes. Recognizing the physiological processes of causal consciousness, they identified consciousness and matter, and considered thought as a material secretion of the brain.

Idealists and vulgar materialists make the same mistake - they tear consciousness away from the brain and turn consciousness into a substrate. Modern philosophy, based on the factual material of the natural sciences, provides a scientific explanation of consciousness, reveals its essence and structure. On the one hand, our consciousness and thinking, no matter how supersensible it may seem, is the product of a material, bodily organ - the brain. On the other hand, it is logical to assume that all matter has a property essentially related to sensation, the property of reflection. Therefore, from a genetic point of view, consciousness was formed as a result of the development of such general property matter as a reflection.

Reflection is a universal property of matter arising from the ability of objects to adequately reproduce character traits, structures and relationships of other subjects. Reflection is the ability of some objects, material systems to capture, preserve, and reproduce traces of the action of other material objects or systems. Reflection is the reproduction of features, aspects (structure, organization, order, content, properties and connections) of one object in another form in another object in the process of their interaction1. Reflection is an integral property, an attribute of matter.

Depending on the level of organization of matter, several forms of reflection are distinguished. In inanimate nature there are mechanical, physical, and chemical reflections. These are various traces, deformations and destruction of interacting bodies. In organic matter there is a biological reflection - irritability. This is the property of the simplest living beings to selectively respond to external stimuli, which leads to optimal adaptation to the environment. Irritability manifests itself through tropisms, taxis and other reactions. In the simplest organisms, reflection is even more complex and is carried out through sensitivity - the reproduction of individual properties and aspects of objects and phenomena. The result of this reflection is an image that is signal in nature.
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In organisms with a developed central nervous system psychic reflection manifests itself. It is realized through thinking - reproducing connections and relationships of objects and phenomena. With the formation of man and society, the highest form of reflection arises - consciousness (social reflection).