1. The nature of philosophical knowledge.

2. Philosophy as the theoretical basis of worldyiew.

3. Philosophy as the general methodology.

4. Philosophy in its various representations.

5. The basic functions and the significance of philosophy.

6. The worldview. Historical forms of worldview.

7. Antiquity: general characteristics, basic ideas, schools, philosophers.

8. Middle Ages: general characteristics, basic ideas, schools, philosophers.

9. Renaissance: general characteristics, basic ideas, schools, philosophers,

10. Modern Ages: general characteristics, basic ideas, schools, philosophers.

11. German Classic philosophy as an integral spiritual system.

12. Contemporary philosophy: general characteristics, basic ideas, schools, philosophers.

13. Terms: Agnosticism. Materialism. Axiology. Humanism. Monotheism. Pluralism.

Metaphysics. Pantheism. Dualism. Ontology. Deism. Gnoseology.

Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable.[1][2][3] Agnosticism can be defined in various ways, and is sometimes used to indicate doubt or a skeptical approach to questions. In some senses, agnosticism is a stance about the difference between belief and knowledge, rather than about any specific claim or belief. In the popular sense, an agnostic is someone who neither believes nor disbelieves there is a God, whereas an atheist disbelieves there is a God.[3] In the strict sense, however, agnosticism is the view that human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify knowledge whether God exists or does not. Within agnosticism there are agnostic atheists (who do not believe any deity exists, but do not deny it as a possibility) and agnostic theists (who believe a God exists but do not claim to know that).

In philosophy, the theory of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena (including consciousness) are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance. To many philosophers, not only is 'physicalism' synonymous with 'materialism', but they use both words to describe a position that supports ideas from physics which may not be matter in the traditional sense (like anti-matter or gravity).[1] Therefore much of the generally philosophical discussion below on materialism may be relevant to physicalism. Also related are the ideas of methodological naturalism (i.e. "let's at least do science as though physicalism is true") and metaphysical naturalism (i.e. "philosophy and science should operate according to the physical world, and that's all that exists"). The philosophical alternatives to materialism are some forms of monism (besides the materialistic monism), dualism and idealism.

Axiology (from Greek ἀξίᾱ, axiā, "value, worth"; and -λόγος, -logos) is the philosophical study of value. It is either the collective term for ethics and aesthetics[1]—philosophical fields that depend crucially on notions of value—or the foundation for these fields, and thus similar to value theory and meta-ethics. The term was first used in the early 20th century by Paul Lapie, in 1902, and E. von Hartmann, in 1908.[2]Axiology studies mainly two kinds of values: ethics and aesthetics. Ethics investigates the concepts of "right" and "good" in individual and social conduct. Aesthetics studies the concepts of "beauty" and "harmony." Formal axiology, the attempt to lay out principles regarding value with mathematical rigor, is exemplified by Robert S. Hartman's Science of Value.

Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism.[citation needed] Secular Humanism is a secular ideology which espouses reason, ethics, and justice, whilst specifically rejecting supernatural and religious dogma as a basis of morality and decision-making. Secular Humanism contrasts with Religious Humanism, which is an integration of humanist ethical philosophy with religious rituals and beliefs that center on human needs, interests, and abilities.[1] Renaissance humanism is a cultural movement of the Italian Renaissance based on the study of classical works.[2][3]

Monotheism (from Greek μόνος, monos, "single", and θεός, theos, "god") is the belief in the existence of one and only one god.[1] Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism,[2] and Zoroastrianism.

While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still include plural concepts of the divine. For example, the Christian Trinity, in which God is a triune spirit of three eternal persons - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost). Additionally, most Christian denominations accept the duophysite doctrine that Christ has two natures, being simultaneously divine and human. However, some Christian denominations are unitarian (do not profess the Trinity), while some embrace the monophysite doctrine instead of the duophysite.

Catholics[3] and Eastern Orthodox[4] venerate the saints, (among them Mary), as human beings who had remarkable qualities, lived their faith in God to the extreme and are believed to be capable of interceding in the process of salvation for others; however, Catholics do not worship (latria, properly translated as adoration, reserved for the Holy Trinity alone) them as gods, but instead offer dulia or hyperdulia (Latin: veneratio) to the saints and Mary respectively, properly translated as veneration or to give homage.[4]The concept of monotheism in Islam and Judaism rejects this distinction. Other forms of monotheism includes unitarianism and deism.[5]It is difficult to delineate monotheism from beliefs such as pantheism and monism as in the Advaita traditions of Hinduism. Some scholars such as Wilhelm Schmidt argued for primeval monotheism: a monotheistic Urreligion, from which polytheistic religions developed.

Pluralism is a term used in philosophy, meaning "doctrine of multiplicity", often used in opposition to monism ("doctrine of unity") and dualism ("doctrine of duality"). The term has different connotations in metaphysics and epistemology. Pluralism in metaphysics is a doctrine that many basic substances make up reality, while monism holds existence to be a single substance, often either matter (materialism) or mind (idealism), and dualism believes two substances, such as matter and mind, to be necessary. Pluralism in epistemology is the position that there is not one consistent set of truths about the world, but rather many. Often this is associated with pragmatism and conceptual and cultural relativism.

Pantheism is the view that the Universe (Nature) and God (or divinity) are identical.[1] Pantheists thus do not believe in a personal, anthropomorphic or creator god. The word derives from the Greek (pan) meaning "all" and the Greek (theos) meaning "God". As such, Pantheism denotes the idea that "God" is best seen as a process of relating to the Universe.[2] Although there are divergences within Pantheism, the central ideas found in almost all versions are the Cosmos as an all-encompassing unity and the sacredness of Nature. n Pantheism, God is identical with the universe, but in Panentheism God lies within and also beyond or outside of the universe.

Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world,[1] although the term is not easily defined.[2] Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms: "What is there?""What is it like?"[3]

A person who studies metaphysics is called a metaphysicist[4] or a metaphysician.[5] The metaphysician attempts to clarify the fundamental notions by which people understand the world, e.g., existence, objects and their properties, space and time, cause and effect, and possibility.

A central branch of metaphysics is ontology, the investigation into the basic categories of being and how they relate to each other.

Prior to the modern history of science, scientific questions were addressed as a part of metaphysics known as natural philosophy. The term science itself meant "knowledge" of, originating from epistemology. The scientific method, however, transformed natural philosophy into an empirical activity deriving from experiment unlike the rest of philosophy. By the end of the 18th century, it had begun to be called "science" to distinguish it from philosophy. Thereafter, metaphysics denoted philosophical enquiry of a non-empirical character into the nature of existence.[6]

Dualism (from the Latin word duo meaning "two") denotes a state of two parts. The term 'dualism' was originally coined to denote co-eternal binary opposition, a meaning that is preserved in metaphysical and philosophical duality discourse but has been diluted in general or common usages. Dualism can refer to moral dualism, (e.g. the conflict between good and evil), mind-body or mind-matter dualism (e.g. Cartesian Dualism) or physical dualism (e.g. the Chinese Yin and Yang).

Ontology, in analytic philosophy, concerns the determining of whether some categories of being are fundamental and asks in what sense the items in those categories can be said to "be". It is the inquiry into being in so much as it is being, or into beings insofar as they exist—and not insofar as, for instance, particular facts obtained about them or particular properties related to them.

Some philosophers, notably of the Platonic school, contend that all nouns (including abstract nouns) refer to existent entities. Other philosophers contend that nouns do not always name entities, but that some provide a kind of shorthand for reference to a collection of either objects or events. In this latter view, mind, instead of referring to an entity, refers to a collection of mental events experienced by a person; society refers to a collection of persons with some shared characteristics, and geometry refers to a collection of a specific kind of intellectual activity.[1] Between these poles of realism and nominalism, there are also a variety of other positions; but any ontology must give an account of which words refer to entities, which do not, why, and what categories result. When one applies this process to nouns such as electrons, energy, contract, happiness, space, time, truth, causality, and God, ontology becomes fundamental to many branches of philosophy.

Deism i/ˈdiːɪzəm/[1][2] in religious philosophy is the belief that reason and observation of the natural world, without the need for organized religion, can determine that the universe is the product of an all-powerful creator. According to deists, the creator does not intervene in human affairs. Deists typically reject supernatural events such as prophecy and miracles, tending instead to assert that a god (or "the Supreme Architect") does not alter the universe by intervening in it. This idea is also known as the Clockwork universe theory, in which a god designs and builds the universe, but steps aside to let it run on its own. Two main forms of deism currently exist: classical deism and modern deism.

The earliest known usage in print of the English term "deist" is 1621,[3] and "deism" is first found in a 1675 dictionary.[4][5] Deism became more prominent in the 17th and 18th centuries during the Age of Enlightenment — especially in Britain, France, Ireland and North America — mostly among those raised as Christians who found they could not believe in supernatural miracles, the inerrancy of scriptures, or the Trinity, but who did believe in one God. The Founding Fathers of the United States were heavily influenced by Enlightenment philosophies, and it is generally believed that many of them were deists.[6]

1. The nature of philosophical knowledge

To clarify the essence of philosophy it is necessary to look through the typology of knowledge.

Each discipline is a certain system of knowledge, which applies both to practical realization, and to further production of new knowledge. The reason and purpose of any knowledge production is the need to understand the object of knowledge (things, processes and phenomena) within the limits of its subject for effective practical satisfaction of man’s vital needs. The subject of knowledge is a system of problems of the given discipline. Learnt understanding can be defined as the knowledge of essence, of the main in the subject. Only when we correlate essence that is learnt with man – his requirements, vital activity, desires, interests, purposes etc. – the essence gets meaning of sense.

The purpose of each sphere of cognition is the exposure of its subject essence, but not all of them take into account the vital activity of man’s existence as a whole as a source, content, purpose and sense of cognition.

1. The WORLD as an object of cognition – is the basis of the first type of knowledge – SCIENCE – the system of knowledge about the world, its structure, properties and laws. The concept of the “world” applies in the wide sense as the universe, and in the narrow sense as nature, geosphere.

The modern interpretations of science are:

1. fundamental knowledge – mathematics and related disciplines;

2. natural knowledge – mechanics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, geology, geography, biology and related disciplines;

3. technical knowledge - applied disciplines, derivatives of the first two.

The purpose of science is the understanding of the world. The maximum forms of its theoretical level are the natural-scientific pictures of the world according to the levels of world organization.

2. MAN as an object of cognition is the basis of the second type of knowledge – ANTHROPOLOGY (from the Greek “anthropos” – man and logos – doctrine – doctrine about man) –the system of knowledge about man, his origin, structure, properties, laws of existence.

The modern interpretations of anthropology are as follows:

1. The complex of medical and biological disciplines is the knowledge of corporal structure, functions and functioning of man.

2. Psychology is the knowledge of man’s mental activity:

a) general psychology is the knowledge of general laws of man’s mental activity;

b) specific types of man’s mental activity: psychology of feelings, of recognition, of thinking, of emotions, of creativity, of the person and so on.

3. Linguistics.

4. Pedagogics.

5. History of man and mankind: natural, ethic, social, political, cultural, spiritual.

The purpose of anthropology is the understanding of man’s essence. The maximum form of its theoretical level is a generalized, systematized study of human nature on the basis of all the above mentioned areas.

3. Man’s RELATION to the world as the object of cognition is a basis of the third type of knowledge – PHILOSOPHY – the system of knowledge of the most general nature of man’s relation to the world, its structure, properties, functioning laws.

The contemporary interpretations of the philosophy structure are in:

 Ontology - a theory of being;

 Gnoseology - a theory of cognition;

 Logic - a theory of veritable thinking;

 Ethics - a theory of moral;

 Aesthetics - a theory of art and artistic activity;

 Social philosophy - a theory of society;

 History of philosophy - a systematized account of philosophical views by chronological, logical, contansive and other principles.

The aim of philosophy is understanding the purport of man’s relation to the world. The higher forms of its theoretical level are the methodology systems (from the Greek “methodos”meaning the way to something, and “logos” - teaching about means, methods of man’s activity.)

Worldview is a spiritual and intellectual structure with many levels the one that combines everyday notions comprising rational and irrational elements, reason and prejudices, scientific, artistic and political views. Two horisontal levels of worldview are : sensual – emotions, images, perceptions, and rational – knowledge, understanding.

1. Mythology.

It appeared at the earliest stages of human development. Myth is a legend of gods and heroes life in the invisible world. There were two types of myth:

1. Cosmological (structure of nature, its functions, origin and functioning);

2. Human life (mystery of birth and death, everyday life, experience).

Primeval myth was not a story which was told but the reality in which people lived. It was a kind of practical guidance for activity in primeval society. The aim and purport of ancient myth was not exactly to give people knowledge but rather to approve some social aims, models of behavior and beliefs. So, myth was not an initial form of knowledge, but rather it indicated a particular type of natural and social life. As the earliest form of human culture, myth combines primitive knowledge, religious beliefs, morals, aesthetic and emotional estimation of situations. In mythology man manifested himself as being completely identified with nature, as its inseparable part.

The main principle of mythology was a genetic method. Ancient myth usually included two aspects: diachronical and synchronical. Thus, the past was connected with the future and it provided spiritual succession of generations. The main importance and significance of myths was that they established harmony between man and the world, nature and society, society and individual and, thus, made certain stability and inner self-agreement possible.