The outlines: Topic No.1. Introduction. 1. Subject matter

The outlines: Topic No.1. Introduction. 1. Subject matter of Philosophy. 2. Philosophy, its areas of study and functions. 3. Philosophy in the Cultural and Historical context.

As for the origin of the word “Philosophy” it is the composition of the two Greek words Philo (wisdom) and Sophia (Love). Being linked into one piece it means “Love of Wisdom”. The birthplaces of Philosophy are Ancient Greece, India, China and Near East. It is believed to have come into being some two and a half thousand years ago. The first to put the word philosophy into the turn-over was Pythagoras. What were the concepts of the world and human self consciousness?

Mythology is the stage of the human evolution when he is an integral and dependent part of the nature. There is no other way but describing the natural phenomena and perceiving the way they come out. The objective and subjective visions coincide absolutely – the tribal and personal identity (syncretism). Religion is the next and somewhat advanced stage of evolution. It is based on the gift of imagination and fantasy with the focus on the spiritual aspects of the divine being with the God as the creator of the Reality. The universal religions are Christianity, Buddhism and Islam with the worldwide impact. Philosophy comes out at the point when a human gets to the point of self-reflection and self-standing determination. A human has to deal with the questions like – What am I here for?, What should I do to change my life and make it better? How can I respond the challenges outcoming from the nature and the surrounding world?

So, the subject matter of Philosophy are the extremely general issues of being, the world as the whole entity, the role of the human in it as well as the universal regulations of being and thinking. Through the history of this omnibus phenomenon we can trace different approaches and treatment of Philosophy. G.Hegel stated that Philosophy is a met science (super science). There were some other views of Philosophy confined as a genre of Arts. All the above mentioned opinions are correct to a certain extent as it is extensive with great caliber of address to all the issues inclusive of the variety of scientific and esthetical reflection of the entire world which is in permanent motion.

What is the fundamental issue of Philosophy? Apart from all the other sciences it has the key issue which is the “relation of the consciousness to matter, spirit to nature, psychic phenomena to the physical ones”. Respective to the solution of these issues with regard to the priority all the philosophers are streamed into the two divisions. Those who believe that nature (matter) comes first are materialists. On the contrary those who believe that spirit existed long before the physical objects are idealists. The idealists are subdivided into the two groups: Objective idealists and subjective ones. The objective idealists believe that God is the only creator of the entire world and the life is driven by its will. The subjective idealists suppose that the extreme edges of the world are real exclusively to the extent achievable by the organs of the perception.

There is also a group of philosophers who accept the combined source of origin and believe in the combination of matter and spirit - dualism. There is the other part of this fundamental issue which is to what extent can the world be cognizable. What are the functions of Philosophy? They are: General outlook Cognitive Axiological Methodological Ethical

Philosophy is the historically dynamic system of the theoretical knowledge of some key and fundamental ideas with the theoretical vehicle of explaining of the human attitude to the world in its maximum capacity and the guideline to the reasonable social actions. Issues to be consolidated: What are the ways of the spiritual cognition known to you. How different is the philosophic look into the knowledge from the mythological and religious ones. How different are the Philosophic views with regard to the issue of the acquisition of the world. What is the status of Philosophy in the structure of knowledge?