What is interesting in classical German philosophy? It’s hard to talk 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’s customary to talk about a whole set of different theoretical concepts that have appeared in Germany for more than a hundred years. If we are talking about a comprehensive and original system of thinking, then this, of course, 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. The leading number of thinkers in this direction also includes several other famous people. These are 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 even speak of such a holistic phenomenon as classical German philosophy? It is briefly described as a collection of diverse ideas and concepts. But they all have some common essential features and principles.
German classical philosophy. General characteristics (briefly)
This is an era in the history of German thought. This country, according to the apt expression of Marx, in those days existed more likely theoretically than practically. Nevertheless, after the crisis of the Enlightenment, the center of philosophy moved exactly here. Its birth was influenced by various factors - the revolution and the attempt of Restoration in France, the popularity of the ideology of natural law and property, the concept of a reasonable social system. If we really want to understand what classical German philosophy is, we can briefly say that it accumulated 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 what place philosophy occupies in this. German thinkers of this period tried to characterize the essence of man. They developed a systematic philosophy as a "science of the spirit", defined its main categories and distinguished industries. And as the main method of thinking, most of them recognized dialectics.
Founder
Most historians consider Immanuel Kant the founder of that most significant phenomenon in the history of the development of the human mind, which is classical German philosophy. Briefly, his activities are divided into two periods. The first of them is traditionally considered subcritical. Here Kant proved to be a natural scientist and even put forward a hypothesis about how our solar system originated. 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 that arose between empiricism and rationalism: what is the source of knowledge - mind or experience? He considered that this discussion was by and large artificial. Sensations give us material for research, and the mind gives it shape. Experience, on the other hand, allows you to balance and verify all this. If the sensations are ephemeral and inconsistent, then the forms of the mind are innate and a priori. They arose even before the experiment. Thanks to them, we can express the facts and phenomena of the environment in concepts. But to comprehend the essence of the world and the Universe in this way is not given to us. These are “things in themselves”, the understanding of which is beyond experience, it is transcendental.
Criticism of theoretical and practical reason
This philosopher posed the main problems that were then solved by all subsequent German classical philosophy. Briefly (Kant is a very complex philosopher, but try to simplify his schemes) it sounds like this. What and how can a person know how to act, what to expect, and in general, what is he? 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), the mind with categories (quantity, quality). 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 reason also contains unconditional ideas - about the unity of the world, about the soul, about God. They represent an ideal, a model, but it is rational to derive from experience or to prove impossible. Any attempt to do this gives rise to insoluble contradictions - antinomies. They indicate that here the mind must stop and give way to faith. Having criticized theoretical thinking, Kant goes on to practical, that is, morality. Its basis, as the philosopher believed, is an a priori categorical imperative - the fulfillment of moral duty, and not personal desires and inclinations. Kant anticipated many features of German classical philosophy. Let us briefly dwell on its other representatives.
Fichte
This philosopher, unlike Kant, denied that the environment is independent of our consciousness. He believed that the subject and object are just different manifestations of the divine "I". In the process of activity and cognition, in fact, there is a belief. This means that first the “I” is aware of (creates) itself, and then the objects. They begin to influence the subject and become obstacles for him. To overcome them, the "I" is developing. The highest step in this process is the awareness 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 defines, and the second implements. The absolute "I", from the point of view of Fichte, exists only in potency. His prototype is the collective "We" or God.
Schelling
Picking up 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 potency of the appearance of the subject. The 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 himself 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 thing is the will, which forces us and the world around us to develop. To see the unity of man and nature, reason is not enough, you need intellectual intuition. It is possessed by philosophy and art. Therefore, the thinking system, according to Schelling, should consist of three parts. This is a philosophy of nature, then epistemology (where a priori forms of the mind are studied). But the crown of everything is the comprehension of the unity of subject and object. Schelling called this apogee the philosophy of identity. She believes the presence of the Absolute Mind, 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. Briefly outline its system and basic principles. Hegel accepts the Schelling doctrine of identity and the Kantian conclusion that matter cannot be deduced from consciousness, and vice versa. But he considered the unity and struggle of opposites to be the basic philosophical principle. At the heart of the world lies the identity of being and thinking, the Absolute Idea. But there were contradictions in it. When this unity begins to become aware of itself, it alienates and creates a world of objects (matter, nature). But this other being still develops according to the laws of thinking. In The Science of Logic, Hegel considers these rules. He finds out what concepts are, how they are formed and how they are characteristic, how formal and dialectic logic differ, and what are the laws of development of the latter. These processes are the same both for thinking and for nature, because the world is logical and rational. The main method for Hegel was dialectics, the main categories and laws of which he derived and consolidated.
Triads
Another two significant works of the German thinker are "Philosophy of nature" and "Phenomenology of the spirit." In them, he explores the development of the other being 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 comes physics and, finally, organics. After the completion of this triad, the spirit leaves nature and develops in man and society. At first, he is aware of himself. At this stage, he is a subjective spirit. Then it manifests itself in social forms - morality, law and the state. Human history ends with the emergence of the Absolute Spirit. It also has three forms of development - this is art, religion and philosophy.
Materialism
But Hegel’s system does not end with German classical philosophy. Feuerbach (we briefly describe his teachings below) is considered her last representative. He was also the most ardent critic of Hegel. He borrowed the idea of ​​alienation from the latter. He devoted almost his entire life to finding out what forms and types he had. He tried to create a theory of overcoming alienation, and also criticized religion from the standpoint of materialism. In his work on the history of the Christian religion, he stated that it was man who created God. In this case, the ideal alienated from people. And this led to the fact that man made his creation an object of worship. It is necessary to direct the aspirations of people to what really deserves them - to themselves. Therefore, the most reliable way to overcome alienation is love, which can create new relationships between people.
German classical philosophy. Summary of Key Ideas
We see that all these different philosophers tried to investigate man, his essence and purpose. Kant believed that morality was the main thing in people, Fichte - activity and rationality, Schelling - the identity of subject and object, Hegel - logic, and Feuerbach - love. In defining the meaning of philosophy, they also held different, although often similar, positions. Kant focuses on the theory of knowledge and ethics, Schelling on natural philosophy, Fichte on political disciplines, Hegel on panlogism. Feuerbach considers all these problems in a complex. As for dialectics, everyone recognized its significance, but each of them put forward its own version of this theory of universal connection. These are the main problems that German classical philosophy considered. The general characteristic (briefly described by us above) of this phenomenon in the history of human thought, according to the well-established opinion, is that this is one of the most significant achievements of Western European culture.