Social-political and utopian ideas of the Renaissance. Socio-political and utopian concepts of revival. Preparation materials

Speaking about the philosophy of freedom of the Renaissance, one cannot fail to mention the social utopias that arose at that time.

Henry VIII did not recognize any authority, neither secular nor ecclesiastical, except the authority of the kings of the Tudor dynasty. After the death of T. More, he was canonized by the Catholic Church.

The social utopia of T. More is set out in the work “The Golden Book, as useful as it is funny about the best structure of the state and about the new island of Utopia” (1516).

In the first part of the work, the philosopher criticizes the existing socio-political order: royal despotism, parasitism and greed of the aristocracy and clergy, the policy of ruining the peasantry, the unreasonableness of the structure, the desire for war.

In the second part, More describes his model of an ideal state - Utopia (from the Greek. u– no + topos– place, i.e. a place that does not exist; according to another version, from the Greek. eu– good + topos– place, i.e. blessed country). Utopia must be headed by a wise monarch, all other positions are elective. Economically, Utopia is a communist state with collective ownership of the means of production. Six hours of daily manual labor, including agricultural work, is mandatory for everyone. Parasitism will be destroyed with the destruction of private property. Slavery was not abolished; slaves (prisoners of war, criminals, convicts) do the hardest work. Distribution is made according to needs. Here luxury is despised and there is no poverty. Society is based on morality. In Utopia, atheism is prohibited under threat of deprivation of citizenship. People must believe in reward after death. Utopians - supporters family life. Divorces are recognized there extremely rarely and only for very good reasons. All children study, adults study science in their free time.

before other theologians, he was forced to leave his homeland. In 1598, Campanella was accused of witchcraft and political conspiracy and sentenced to life imprisonment. While in prison, Campanella wrote most of his works, including his main work, The City of the Sun (1602). In 1626, thanks to the intervention of Pope Urban VIII, he was released. Campanella spent the end of his life in France, where he received a pension from Cardinal Resilier.

Ontology. Campanella is a supporter of organicism. “Everything that moves naturally receives its movement from itself, and not from a special engine.” “The world is a huge living being, and we live in its belly.” "All things feel."

Social philosophy. Campanella proposed his own model of an ideal government system - communism, where “everything is common,” including wives and children. If there is no private property, then there are neither poor nor rich. Campanella believes that “property is formed among us and is maintained by the fact that we each have our own separate dwellings and our own wives and children.” This means that in the city of the Sun, wives and children should be common. After breastfeeding, the children are handed over to government caregivers. They are then trained in various sciences and trades and given jobs in accordance with their achievements. Technological progress makes it possible to reduce the working day to four hours. The rest of the time in solariums is devoted to personal development. At the head of the state is the supreme ruler "Metaphysician", called the "Sun", with three co-rulers: "Power", in charge of issues of war and peace; “Wisdom”, in charge of the liberal arts, sciences, education; and “Love”, dealing with issues of childbirth, education, medicine, agriculture, cattle breeding, nutrition, clothing, etc. The Big Four are elected for life. But if people appear who are superior to them in their abilities and knowledge, then they must give up their place to them. Tanning salons should be guided by the ethical principle: what you don’t want for yourself, don’t do it to others, and what you want people to do to you, you do to them.

So, the Renaissance is the era of the flourishing of the arts, sciences, the emergence of the humanistic teachings of F. Petrarch, M. Montaigne, the reformation of Christianity, and new ideas about politics and the state.

The humanists of the era moved away from the dogmatic medieval type of philosophizing and placed man at the center of their worldview. They called on a person to be the creator of himself and the world around him, i.e. to be free.

The emergence of Protestantism means the end of the medieval Catholic mono-ideology, the Christian world becomes more diverse and free. Protestantism proposed the voluntary communal nature of the Christian organization and allowed ordinary people to independently learn biblical truths.

The natural philosophical teachings of N. Copernicus and G. Bruno refuted Aristotelian and church dogmas about the central position of the Earth in solar system and in space, formed the first scientific picture of the world, laid the preconditions for the emergence of a real scientific discipline - mechanics.

N. Machiavelli created the first secular doctrine of the state since antiquity, which instructs the sovereign not to be too moral in political matters. T. More and T. Campanella created utopian concepts of states.

In general, we can say that the Renaissance is the era of the beginning of the transition from the dominance of faith to the dominance of reason.

Control questions

1. What does the expression mean? Renaissance humanism?

2. What ideas about freedom are heard in the teachings of F. Petrarch and P. Mirandola?

3. Expand the ethical teaching of M. Montaigne.

4. What are the main differences between Catholicism and Protestantism, which emerged during the Renaissance?

5. List the basic principles of the teachings of M. Luther.

6. What is the uniqueness of the teachings of J. Calvin.

7. What is the significance of the concept of predestination in Protestantism?

9. Formulate the main provisions of the political philosophy of N. Machiavelli, set out in the work “The Prince”.

10. What arguments in favor of the republican type of government were put forward by N. Machiavelli in his work “Reflections on the first decade of Titus Livius”?

11. What is the purpose of politics, according to Machiavelli?

12. What natural philosophical views were characteristic of the Renaissance?

13. What is the root of knowing ignorance, according to N. Kuzansky?

14. What is pantheism?

15. Reveal the main content of the social utopias of T. More and T. Campanella.

3. Social utopias of the Renaissance

During the formation of the first embryos of capitalism, associated with the initial accumulation of capital, theories emerged that critically responded to phenomena associated with deepening social differentiation. And although these theories appear at the beginning of early capitalism, in them, strictly speaking, the horizons of the capitalist social system are already foreseen and the ideas of social equality of people are expressed. Often this brilliant Foresight has a utopian and illusory character, since it reflects objectively non-existent Social conditions and forces of the society of that time. Utopian teachings of the 16th century. associated primarily with the works of the English humanist Thomas More, the Italian monk Tommaso Campanella and the German reformer Thomas Münzer.

Thomas More (1479-1555) came from a wealthy family of royal lawyers. His humanistic worldview was formed at Oxford University, the center of the then English humanists. As a member of Parliament, he boldly opposes the financial machinations of King Henry VIII and his despotism. By this he contributed to the growth of his authority among the London petty bourgeoisie. In royal service as Henry VIII's chancellor, he becomes an opponent of the king's reform efforts. He was subsequently executed.

More's work is a vivid expression of the humanistic moral ideal, the teaching of human dignity and freedom. The tragic circumstances of his death seemed to foreshadow the end of dreams of a golden age proclaimed by Plato’s Academy in Florence, as well as the collapse of the “Christian humanism” of Erasmus of Rotterdam.

In his main work, “A truly golden book, equally useful and funny, about the best structure of the state and the island of Utopia,” he discusses the social and political problems of the era. It is written in the form of a dialogue in which official political views are accepted and rejected. The first part of the work provides criticism of the English social system; the second presents the structure and life on the fictional island of Utopia.

More was not satisfied with a superficial analysis of the period of initial accumulation of capital, which in England was very brutal, but sought to clarify the social causes of this phenomenon. He believed that they were rooted in private property. Therefore, social relations should be changed, but this cannot be done only through legislation. The ideal, which he specifically demonstrates through the example of relations on the island of Utopia, was public ownership, highly organized production, expedient management, guaranteeing a fair and equal distribution of public wealth. All people should have the right and obligation to work, etc.

Thomas More was one of the founders of utopian socialism. His work is the most important study of socialism of the late 18th century. Here he emerged as a rationalist; his social teaching corresponded to the level of scientific knowledge of that time. He did not consider his ideas about the new society a fantasy, although he was aware possible difficulties during their implementation. He believed that with the help of an educated ruler, his ideas could be realized in the near future. This also demonstrated the illusory nature and impracticability of his teaching, and it is included in the history of thinking as “utopian.”

Tommaso Campanella (1568-1639) was one of the representatives of the Italian philosophy of nature; however, his social teaching played a more significant role: in addition to “The City of the Sun,” he wrote “On the Christian Monarchy,” “On Church Power,” and “On the Spanish Monarchy.” He defends the unity of ecclesiastical and secular authorities, rejects the Protestant Reformation, and proclaims the idea of the power of the pope over all Christians.

He expresses the idea of the need for major social transformations aimed at realizing the kingdom of God on earth, and calls, in accordance with the Christian conscience, for the elimination of private property and exploitation. Unlike More, he is completely convinced of the possibility of implementing this coup through the force of a mass uprising. Campanella becomes the head of a conspiracy in Calabria, occupied by the Spaniards. After the defeat of the plot, he fled, was captured and sentenced to life imprisonment. He spent more than 25 years in prison and wrote most of his books there, including City of the Sun.

The book “City of the Sun” did not arise by chance, as modern Catholic researchers try to imagine; it is in full accordance with all spiritual and political life an author who knew first-hand the suffering of the masses. Unlike More, he does not pay much attention to economic problems. He believes that the abolition of private property is possible, based on the moral principles of Christianity.

The polity of the Solar City is an idealized theocratic system, headed by a priest, the first confessor, a Metaphysician, marked with the solar symbol. His assistants - Power, Wisdom and Love - deal with issues of war and peace, military art and craft; liberal arts, sciences, school education; issues of birth control, education, medicine, agriculture and cattle breeding. Political, secular power is intertwined with church, spiritual power. The religion of the citizens of the City of the Sun merges with the philosophy of nature, the task is to unite them.

Campanella’s program, his vision of the future, also includes a demand for a worldwide unification of people, which the pope should lead. The Roman Senate, consisting of representatives of other states, must resolve all controversial issues peacefully.

Campanella's utopian theory, unlike More's teaching, is not a product of a social analysis of the contradictions of the era; it contains a number of internal contradictions. Despite this, there are many positive elements in it. Thus, he predicts the enormous role of science, speaks of the education of the people, the elimination of wars, private property, and fair and reasonable governance.

More and Campanella belong to progressive thinkers; their socialist utopias represent an ideologically whole and fruitful movement of the socio-political concepts of the Renaissance. In their work they develop petty-bourgeois ideals of emancipation and humanism. In a philosophical sense, they positively influenced the further development of European rational thinking, in particular the philosophy of the Enlightenment.

We speak of them as the predecessors of subsequent utopian socialism, which is a product of a higher stage of development of capitalist society. The great utopians of the 19th century, Saint-Simon and Fourier in France, and Owen in England, ascended to them and referred to them when developing their systems.

The stage of Renaissance philosophy occupies a prominent place in the history of philosophical thought. This is a period in which, as a result of social and economic changes associated with the decomposition of the feudal system in Europe and the emergence of new, historically progressive forms of production and social relations, a new worldview is born, the main features of which are naturalism, individualism and rationalism. The renewed interest in antiquity, which accompanies the birth of the culture and worldview of the Renaissance, is dictated by the need to believe in one’s own strength, in the possibility of creating a free natural life for the individual. The source and support for this could not be the medieval spiritual tradition, but ancient culture and philosophy. Although the humanism of the Renaissance exhibited elements of aristocratic, “elitist” tendencies, in its anti-scholastic, anti-ascetic speeches it played an objectively progressive role.

In all areas of Renaissance culture throughout the entire period, old ideas, traditions, and concepts collided with new ones. The philosophy of the Renaissance is also characterized by the struggle of new ideas and programs with scholastic concepts. One of the important and significant tasks of philosophy of that time was to cleanse ancient ancient philosophy from scholastic deformations, to make its true content accessible, and also in accordance with the requirements of a new level of social and scientific development go further, go beyond its limits and boundaries. The philosophy of the Renaissance period is characterized by an increased connection with science.

It is obvious that the huge revolutionary changes in philosophy were accompanied by contradictions and conflicts. The path to the new did not go in a straight line uplink, but, on the contrary, while maintaining a general scholastic orientation, elements of old and new ways of thinking intertwined in it, compromises also occurred, but at the same time, new philosophical thinking demanded its expression. Renaissance pantheism, progressive in data historical conditions, expressed a divergence from scholastic spiritualism. At that time, materialistic tendencies could manifest themselves only within its framework, but by no means outside it.

The main feature of the philosophy of the Renaissance is its secular, earthly orientation. If the subject of medieval philosophy was God, now nature comes first. The coexistence and mutual influence of developing experimental science and philosophy were extremely important for the Renaissance and represented promising embryos for the further development of philosophy. The significance of the philosophy of the Renaissance can be briefly presented in the sense that, in general, it, in fact, created the basis of the philosophy of the New Age. The period of Renaissance philosophy represents a necessary and natural transition from medieval philosophical traditions to the philosophy of modern times.

Conclusion

These are some of the concepts put forward by Renaissance philosophies. However, the decisive influence on subsequent thought was not so much these concepts themselves, but the idea of an autonomous philosophy that gradually made its way, free from religious and ideological prerequisites, based on experience and natural reason, a philosophy that substantiates knowledge about nature, natural law and morality, natural new religion. This idea was accepted by both Protestants and many Catholics. Only the Eastern Church continues to this day to defend the idea of Christian philosophy, the idea of philosophizing in faith. The Renaissance not only bequeathed to subsequent centuries the belief in the power of natural reason, capable of justifying the intrinsic values of earthly life, but also sowed doubts about its power, revealing the need for the mind to self-research, i.e. exploring your capabilities and boundaries.

t to solving ideological problems. That is why the culture of the Renaissance has a distinctly artistic character. 1. Culture of the Renaissance Western Europe XIV-XVI centuries. – Italian Renaissance The tendency to reinterpret antiquity in the Italian Renaissance is strong, but it is combined with cultural values of many origins, in particular Christian (Catholic) ...

auk, art, which began after a long, almost thousand-year decline in culture. The time of decline by the ideologists of the Renaissance began to be called the “Middle Ages.” In the 19th century In relation to the Renaissance, the French term “Renaissance” was established and firmly entered into Russian speech. Antiquity has become the most important reference point new culture Renaissance: various areas of the Renaissance were built on ancient foundations...

Ministry Agriculture and food of the Republic of Belarus

Belarusian State Agrarian Technical University

Department of Philosophy and History

On the topic of: Social utopias of the Renaissance

Completed by a 1st year student

Group 83 IM

Zimovskaya M.

1. The main features of the worldview of Renaissance man

2. Philosophical teachings, utopia of the Renaissance

Literature

1. The main features of the worldview of Renaissance man

The most important distinguishing feature of the worldview of the Renaissance is its focus on man. If the focus of the philosophy of antiquity was natural-cosmic life, and in the Middle Ages - religious life - the problem of “salvation”, then in the Renaissance, secular life, human activity in this world, for the sake of this world, to achieve human happiness came to the fore. in this life, on Earth. Philosophy is understood as a science that is obliged to help a person find his place in life.

The philosophical thinking of this period can be characterized as anthropocentric. The central figure is not God, but man. God is the beginning of all things, and man is the center of the whole world. Society is not a product of God's will, but the result of human activity. A person in his activities and plans cannot be limited by anything. He can do everything, he can do everything. The Renaissance is characterized by a new level of human self-awareness: pride and self-affirmation, awareness of one's own strength and talent, cheerfulness and free-thinking become the distinctive qualities of the progressive person of that time. Therefore, it was the Renaissance that gave the world a number of outstanding individuals with a bright temperament, comprehensive education, who stood out among people for their will, determination, and enormous energy.

The worldview of the people of the Renaissance is of a clearly humanistic nature. Man in this worldview is interpreted as a free being, the creator of himself and the world around him. Renaissance thinkers, naturally, could not be atheists or materialists. They believed in God and recognized him as the first creator of the world and man. Having created the world and man, God, in their opinion, gave man free will, and now man must act on his own, determine his entire destiny and win his place in the world. In the philosophy of this era, the motives of the sinful essence of man, the “corruption of his nature” are significantly weakened. The main emphasis is not on God’s help - “grace”, but on man’s own strengths. Optimism, faith and the limitless possibilities of man are inherent in the philosophy of this era.

An important element of the worldview is also the culture creative activity. During the Renaissance, all activities were perceived differently than in antiquity or the Middle Ages. The ancient Greeks did not value physical labor and even art very highly. An elitist approach to human activity dominated, the highest form of which was declared to be theoretical quests - reflection and contemplation, because it was they that introduced a person to what is eternal, to the very essence of the Cosmos, while material activity immerses him in the transitory world of opinions. Christianity considered the highest form of activity to be that which leads to the “salvation” of the soul - prayer, performing liturgical rituals, reading the Holy Scriptures. In general, all these types of activities were passive in nature, the nature of contemplation. In the Renaissance, material and sensory activity, including creative activity, acquired a kind of sacred character. In the course of it, a person not only satisfies his earthly needs: he creates new world, beauty, creates the highest thing in the world - himself. It was then that the idea of Prometheism appeared in philosophy - man as the co-creator of the world, a collaborator with God. In the worldview of the Renaissance, there is a rehabilitation of human flesh. In a person, not only his spiritual life matters. Man is a corporeal being. And the body is not “oh you souls” that pull it down and determine sinful thoughts and impulses. Bodily life in itself is valuable. The cult of Beauty, widespread during the Renaissance, is connected with this. Painting depicts, first of all, the human face and human body. These are General characteristics worldview of Renaissance man. Now let's move on to considering the philosophical teachings themselves.

2. Philosophical teachings, utopia of the Renaissance

revival anthropocentric utopianism renaissance

The most that has existed in this area so far is confidence in the liberal reforms of the current and immediate present, which inspired the illusion of spontaneous self-assertion of the real person of that time. The Utopians, on the other hand, pushed all this into an indefinite future and thereby revealed their complete disbelief in the ideal artistry of contemporary man.

a) The first utopian of the Renaissance is Thomas More (1478-1535), a very liberal-minded English statesman, a supporter of the sciences and arts, a promoter of religious tolerance and a bright critic of the then feudal and emerging capitalist orders. But he remained a faithful Catholic, opposed Protestantism even after Henry VIII's departure from catholic church was mercilessly executed for his Catholic beliefs. In general, his activities relate to either civil history or literary history. We may be interested here in only one of his works, which was published in 1516 under the title “The Golden Book, as useful as amusing, on the best structure of the state and on the new island of Utopia,” since the entire aesthetics of the Renaissance is based on the spontaneous self-affirmation of the human personality in that state which More himself considered ideal.

In fact, More's image of the utopian man is a bizarre mixture of all kinds of old and new views, often liberal, often quite reactionary, but, apparently, with one main difference: from the bright Renaissance artistry in More's utopian state, one might say, exactly nothing left. A person is depicted as a rather gray type, apparently governed by a state that is still quite absolutist. Everyone should be doing physical labor according to state distribution, although the sciences and arts are not at all denied, they are even extolled by More, especially music.

Society is divided into families, but seven and these are understood rather industrially, due to which belonging to one or another family is determined not only by the natural origin of family members, but primarily also by state decrees, by virtue of which family members can be transferred from one family to another for production or other government purposes. More's state also intervenes in marriage matters in the most significant way, and much of it is determined simply by state decree. Generally speaking, any religion is allowed, including pagan worship of heavenly bodies. Total religious tolerance is required. Priests must be elected by the people. The activities of atheists are very limited, since the lack of religious faith interferes with the moral state of society. In any case, open speeches by atheists are prohibited. In addition, Christianity or monotheism in general is still recognized as the highest religion.

Families are recommended to eat not separately, but in common dining rooms. Except for some isolated cases, everyone should have the same clothes. In this ideal state, slaves also play an important role. Not only is the very institution of slavery affirmed, but it is even shown to be very beneficial both for the state, which receives cheap labor in the form of slaves, and for the entire population of the country, for which slaves turn out to be an example of what not to do. Material pleasures are recognized. However, in More we read: “The Utopians especially value spiritual pleasures, they consider them first and dominant, the predominant part of them comes, in their opinion, from the exercise of virtue and the consciousness of an immaculate life.” In other words, the bright and brilliant artistic aesthetics of the Renaissance are reduced here only to moralism, which is declared to be the highest “spiritual pleasure.”

The glorification of production over consumption is striking. At the same time, More brings to the fore the equalization of work and responsibilities, as well as the primacy of the state over any social organizations and over the family. It is clear that all such features of More's utopianism were associated with the childhood state of the then bourgeois-capitalist society. But what is more important for us is that this is a modified Renaissance and that this modification is directed by More towards the elimination of the spontaneous-personal and artistic-subjective individualism of the classical Renaissance.

b) Another representative of Renaissance utopianism is Tommaso Campanella (1568-1639). This is a major writer and public figure of his time, who suffered for preparing an anti-Spanish conspiracy in Naples and spent 27 years in prison, a monk and a convinced communist of the early utopian type. The features of early utopian communism appear much more clearly in Campanella than in More. In his 1602 treatise entitled “The City of the Sun,” Campanella highlights the doctrine of labor, the abolition of private property and the community of wives and children, i.e. on the elimination of the family as the original social unit. More had none of this in vivid form. They talked about the influence of the ideas of early Christianity on Campanella. However, a careful study of Campanella's ideas suggests that this influence is almost zero. And what undoubtedly influenced Campanella was, of course, the teaching of Plato in his Republic.

In Campanella’s ideal State of the Sun, like Plato’s, the leaders are philosophers and sages, contemplatives of eternal ideas and, on this basis, who govern the entire state are not so much secular rulers as real priests and clergy. They are the absolute rulers of the entire state and society, down to the smallest everyday regulation. Marriages are carried out only by state decrees, and children, after breastfeeding, are immediately taken away from their mother by the state and raised in special institutions not only without any communication with their parents, but even without any acquaintance with them. Husbands and wives do not exist as such. They are such only in moments of decreed cohabitation. They shouldn't even know each other, just as they shouldn't know their own children. In antiquity, this weakened sense of personality was generally a natural phenomenon, and Plato only took it to its limit. As for the Renaissance, the human personality was already in first place here. And therefore, what we find in Campanella is, of course, a rejection of the ideas of the Renaissance.

However, it is also impossible to say that Campanella has nothing to do with the Renaissance. He is not only a preacher of positively understood work; his entire utopia undoubtedly bears traces of revivalist views. Therefore, it would be more accurate to say that what we have here is precisely a modified Renaissance and precisely a Renaissance that criticizes itself in socio-political terms.

As for individual details, Campanella’s utopians mock those rulers who, when mating horses and dogs, are very careful about their breed, but when mating people do not pay any attention to this breed. In other words, from Campanella's point of view, human society should be transformed into an ideal stud farm. The “chief of childbirth,” subordinate to the ruler of Love, is obliged to enter into such intimacies of sexual life, which we do not consider necessary to talk about here, and astrology is used in sexual matters in the first place. It is pure naivety to indicate that people should wear white clothes during the day, and red ones, woolen or silk, at night and outside the city, and the color black is completely prohibited. The same kind of advice about work, trade, swimming, games, treatment, about getting up in the morning, about astrological techniques for founding cities and many others. Executioners in execution death penalty it is not necessary, so as not to desecrate the state, but the people themselves, and first of all the accuser and witnesses, stone the criminal. The sun is revered in an almost pagan manner, although the true deity is still considered higher. Copernicanism is rejected and heaven is accepted in the medieval sense.

Campanella is striking in his mixture of pagan, Christian, Renaissance, scientific, mythological and entirely superstitious views. Thus, the aesthetically modified Renaissance is depicted in this utopia with its most striking features. The main thing is to ignore that spontaneously human and artistic individualism that distinguished the aesthetics of the Renaissance from the very beginning. If we say that here we find self-criticism and even self-denial of the Renaissance, then we would hardly be mistaken.

Literature

1. Radugin A.A. Philosophy. Lecture course. - M., 2001.

2. Philosophical encyclopedic dictionary. - M., 1983.

3. Philosophy (full course). - M., Rn/D., 2004.

4. Gorfunkel A. Philosophy of the Renaissance. - M., 1980.

5. Introduction to philosophy. In 2 volumes - M., 1989.

6. Gorbachev V.G. Fundamentals of philosophy. - Bryansk, 2002.

7. Anthology of world philosophy. In 4 volumes - M., 1969-1972.

8. Losev A.F. Ethics of rebirth.

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revival feudalism utopianism renaissance

One of the forms of socio-political modification of the Renaissance was utopianism. Utopianism was not as striking a phenomenon as Machiavelli's doctrine. However, the features of Renaissance self-denial are quite noticeable here. The mere fact that the creation of an ideal society was attributed to very distant and completely uncertain times clearly testified to the disbelief of the authors of such a utopia in the possibility of creating an ideal person immediately and as a result of quite elementary efforts of people of the current time. Here almost nothing remained of the Renaissance spontaneous human artistry, which brought such incredible joy to the Renaissance man and forced him to find ideal features already in the state of the society of that time. The most that has existed in this area so far is confidence in the liberal reforms of the current and immediate present, which inspired the illusion of spontaneous self-assertion of the real person of that time. The Utopians pushed all this into an indefinite future and thereby revealed their complete disbelief in the ideal artistry of contemporary man Radugin, A.A. Philosophy. Course of lectures/A.A. Radugin. - M.: Education, 2001.-244 p..

a) The first utopian of the Renaissance is Thomas More (1478-1535), a very liberal-minded English statesman, a supporter of the sciences and arts, a promoter of religious tolerance and a prominent critic of the then feudal and emerging capitalist orders. But he remained a faithful Catholic, opposed Protestantism, and after Henry VIII's defection from the Catholic Church, he was mercilessly executed for his Catholic beliefs. In general, his activities relate to either civil history or literary history. We may be interested here in only one of his works, which was published in 1516. entitled “The Golden Book, as useful as it is funny, on the best structure of the state and on the new island of Utopia,” since the entire aesthetics of the Renaissance is based on the spontaneous self-affirmation of the human personality in the state that More himself considered ideal. In fact, More's image of the utopian man is a bizarre mixture of all kinds of old and new views, often liberal, often quite reactionary, but, apparently, with one main difference: from the bright Renaissance artistry in More's utopian state, one might say, exactly nothing left. A person is depicted as a rather gray type, apparently governed by a state that is still quite absolutist. Everyone must engage in physical labor according to state distribution, although the sciences and arts are not at all denied, but are even extolled by More, especially music. Society is divided into families, but seven and these are understood rather industrially, due to which belonging to one or another family is determined not only by the natural origin of family members, but primarily also by state decrees, by virtue of which family members can be transferred from one family to another for production or other government purposes. More's state also intervenes in marriage matters in the most significant way, and much of it is determined simply by state decree. Generally speaking, any religion is allowed, including pagan worship of heavenly bodies. Complete religious tolerance is required Radugin, A.A. Philosophy. Course of lectures/A.A. Radugin. - M.: Enlightenment, 2001.-246 p.. Priests must be elected by the people. The activities of atheists are very limited, since the lack of religious faith interferes with the moral state of society. In any case, open speeches by atheists are prohibited. In addition, Christianity or monotheism in general is still recognized as the highest religion. Families are recommended to eat not separately, but in common dining rooms. Except for some isolated cases, everyone should have the same clothes. In this ideal state, slaves also play an important role. Not only is the very institution of slavery affirmed, but it is even shown to be very beneficial both for the state, which receives cheap labor in the form of slaves, and for the entire population of the country, for which slaves turn out to be an example of what not to do. Material pleasures are recognized. However, in More we read: “The Utopians especially value spiritual pleasures, they consider them first and dominant, the predominant part of them comes, in their opinion, from the exercise of virtue and the consciousness of an immaculate life.” In other words, the bright and brilliant artistic aesthetics of the Renaissance are reduced here only to moralism, which is declared to be the highest “spiritual pleasure.” The glorification of production over consumption is striking. At the same time, More brings to the fore the equalization of work and responsibilities, as well as the primacy of the state over any social organizations and over the family. It is clear that all such features of More's utopianism were associated with the childhood state of the then bourgeois-capitalist society. But what is more important for us is that this is a modified Renaissance and that this modification is directed by More towards the elimination of the spontaneous-personal and artistic-subjective individualism of the classical Renaissance Radugin, A.A. Philosophy. Course of lectures/A.A. Radugin. - M.: Education, 2001.-246 p..
b) Another representative of Renaissance utopianism is Tommaso Campanella (1568-1639). This is a major writer and public figure of his time, who suffered for preparing an anti-Spanish conspiracy in Naples and spent 27 years in prison, a monk and a convinced communist of the early utopian type. The features of early utopian communism appear much more clearly in Campanella than in More. In his treatise of 1602. under the title "City of the Sun" Campanella highlights the doctrine of labor, the abolition of private property and the community of wives and children, i.e. on the elimination of the family as the original social unit. More had none of this in vivid form. They talked about the influence of the ideas of early Christianity on Campanella. However, a careful study of Campanella's ideas suggests that this influence is almost zero. And what undoubtedly influenced Campanella was, of course, the teaching of Plato in his Republic. In Campanella’s ideal State of the Sun, like Plato’s, the leaders are philosophers and sages, contemplatives of eternal ideas and, on this basis, who govern the entire state are not so much secular rulers as real priests and clergy. They are the absolute rulers of the entire state and society, down to the smallest everyday regulation. Marriages are carried out only by state decrees, and children, after breastfeeding, are immediately taken away from their mother by the state and raised in special institutions not only without any communication with their parents, but even without any acquaintance with them. Husbands and wives do not exist as such. They are such only in moments of decreed cohabitation. They shouldn't even know each other, just as they shouldn't know their own children. In antiquity, this weakened sense of personality was generally a natural phenomenon, and Plato only took it to its limit. As for the Renaissance, the human personality was already, in any case, in the first place. And therefore, what we find in Campanella is, of course, a rejection of the ideas of the Renaissance. Radugin, A.A. Philosophy. Course of lectures/A.A. Radugin. - M.: Enlightenment, 2001.-247 pp. However, it is also impossible to say that Campanella has nothing to do with the Renaissance at all. He is not only a preacher of positively understood work; his entire utopia undoubtedly bears traces of revivalist views. Therefore, it would be more accurate to say that what we have here is precisely a modified Renaissance and precisely a Renaissance that criticizes itself in socio-political terms. As for individual details, Campanella’s utopians mock those rulers who, when breeding horses and dogs, are very careful about their breed, but when breeding people, they do not pay any attention to this breed. In other words, from Campanella's point of view, human society should be transformed into an ideal stud farm. The “chief of childbirth,” subordinate to the ruler of Love, is obliged to enter into such intimacies of sexual life, which we do not consider necessary to talk about here, and astrology is used in sexual matters in the first place. It is pure naivety to indicate that people should wear white clothes during the day, and red ones, woolen or silk, at night and outside the city, and the color black is completely prohibited. The same kind of advice about work, trade, swimming, games, treatment, about getting up in the morning, about astrological techniques for founding cities and many others. When carrying out the death penalty, there are no executioners, so as not to desecrate the state, but the people themselves, and first of all the accuser and witnesses, stone the criminal. The sun is revered in an almost pagan manner, although the true deity is still considered higher. Copernicanism is rejected and heaven is accepted in the medieval sense. Campanella is striking in his mixture of pagan, Christian, Renaissance, scientific, mythological and entirely superstitious views. Thus, the aesthetically modified Renaissance is depicted in this utopia with its most striking features. The main thing is to ignore that spontaneously human and artistic individualism that distinguished the aesthetics of the Renaissance from the very beginning. If we say that here we find self-criticism and even self-denial of the Renaissance, then we would hardly be mistaken. As noted earlier, starting from the middle of the 18th century. In European philosophy, the rationalist direction occupies a dominant position. The principles of rationalism continue to influence the development of the philosophical process in the 20th century. A striking example of such influence are the various schools of “philosophy of science” Hegel, G.V.F. Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences / G.V.F. Hegel. - M.: Art, 1974. - 145 pp. However, by the middle of the 19th century. In the development of Western European philosophy, a serious shift is taking place - irrationalistic concepts come to the fore. It would be a significant simplification of the historical and philosophical process to associate the emergence of irrationalism in Western European philosophy only with the second half of the 19th century - mid-20th century Just like rationalism, irrationalism, as a philosophical trend, began to take shape in ancient times. The premises of irrationalism can be fixed in some important aspects of the teachings of Orphico-Pythagoras, Platonism and Neoplatonism, late Stoicism, etc. In the Christian philosophy of the Middle Ages, irrationalistic elements received the widest development. The French skepticism of C. Montaigne, the religious and philosophical quests of B. Pascal, S. Kierkegaard and other thinkers close to them in spirit make a significant contribution to the formation of the irrationalist trend. And even during the heyday of the influence of rationalism, German romanticism and, above all, the philosophical ideas of the late F. Schelling, significantly deepened the irrationalistic perception of reality. However, one can agree with those historians of philosophy who argue that irrationalism, as a philosophical trend, received its most complete and comprehensive development in secular Western European philosophy starting from the second half of the 19th century. And its decisive influence on the historical and philosophical process is felt throughout the 20th century. From our point of view, we should abandon the simplified sociologizing approach that characterizes irrationalism as the philosophy of the era of imperialism,” reflecting the mentality of “the end of the ascending stage of development of capitalism” Hegel, G.V.F. Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences / G.V.F. Hegel.- M.: Art, 1974. - 146 p.. Irrationalism, as a philosophical trend, cannot be directly associated with any specific historical processes, since its concepts, schools and movements reflect such aspects of human existence and worldview, which are not expressed within the framework of rationalism due to its one-sidedness. However, the fact that irrationalism replaces rationalism and occupies a dominant position in Western European philosophy in a particular historical period undoubtedly indicates that there were certain ideological and social reasons for this. We can say with complete confidence that the establishment of philosophical irrationalism occurs as the broad masses of people become disillusioned with the ideals with which philosophical rationalism operated. By the middle of the 19th century. people have become convinced that the progress of science and technology in itself does not lead to the realization of the age-old ideas of mankind. People have ceased to see in the world historical process the manifestation and implementation of a higher mind. Because of this, the idea of the priority of human socio-historical activity has lost its attractive power. In philosophy, literature, and art of this time, the idea is affirmed of the groundlessness and futility of all human hopes that the objective movement of the world process guarantees the fulfillment of human goals, that knowledge of its laws can give a person a reliable orientation in reality. Disbelief in the constructive and creative forces of man, historical and social pessimism, skepticism - these are the main features of the mentality of the second half of the 19th-20th centuries, which formed the basis of irrationalism as a philosophical trend in modern Western European philosophy. Under the influence of this mindset, there is a rethinking of the rationalistic concept of a person’s relationship to the surrounding reality, a change in the idea of the meaning, purpose and purpose of human activity and cognition, a revision of the very way of interpreting human thinking and consciousness Hegel, G.V.F. Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences / G.V.F. Hegel.- M.: Art, 1974. - 148 pp. If rationalism mystifies rationally expedient forms of human activity, then in irrationalism it is spiritually identified with spontaneous, unconscious impulses, emotional-volitional and moral-practical structures of the subject. All forms of a rational, expedient attitude towards the world are declared in irrationalism to be derived from an original, pre-conscious basis. Depending on what specific principle you declare to be the essential characteristic of the subject, and what interpretation is given to this principle, different systems and schools of irrationalism arise in the philosophical literature: “philosophy of will” by A. Schopenhauer and others, “philosophy of life” by F. Nietzsche, V. Dilthey, A. Bergson and others, existentialism of M. Heidegger, J.-P. Sartre and others philosophical theory Irrationalism speaks, first of all, against the attitude of rationalism, which the world is, in principle, akin to man, that nature and various spheres of social life are rational in their basis and, therefore, accessible to a thinking substance, and knowledge can provide purposeful instructions and guidelines for human activity. The instability of an individual's social existence turns into irrationalism into an ontological imbalance of the entire universe. Irrationalism denies the orderly, law-like structure of the world. From the point of view of its representatives, the basis of being is unreasonable. “The unreasonable,” as T.Y. Oizerman correctly noted, “in irrationalism is not just indifferent to reason, but counter-reasonable, counteracting reason. Being is irrational because it is meaningless, disharmonious, absurd.” W. A. Schopenhauer, for example, the fundamental principle of the universe is the spontaneous, unlimited, unpredetermined World Will. Will is understood in his system as an endless striving. “It is groundless,” “beyond causality, time and space” Hegel, G.W.F. Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences / G.V.F. Hegel.- M.: Art, 1974. - 148 p.. In A. Bergson, such functions are performed by the “vital impulse” - an unbridled, overflowing chaotic flow of instincts, which is given either a naturalistic or social interpretation. Existentialism declares the pulsating process of individual experience - existence - to be an essential characteristic of being. In objective-idealistic varieties of irrationalism, the ontologization of the emotional-volitional structures of human existence is carried out. Thus, A. Schopenhauer endowed the Will with universal cosmic functions. “Will is the inner, essence of the world.” All that exists: nature, man, social institutions and objective forms of culture represent stages of objectification of the Will. For A. Bergson, the “life impulse” passes through various material formations, undergoes various metamorphoses and completes its movement, embodied in man. In the subjective-idealistic variety of irrationalism, human subjectivity, individual consciousness is considered as a special type of being. Thus, in V. Dilthey’s system, “life”, considered as the basis of the world, is interpreted as the internal experience of a person’s experience of his existence in the world, which gives the world semantic characteristics. Closely related to the denial of lawfulness and causality in irrationalist teachings is the denial of both cognitive and active-transformative activity of the subject. Representatives of irrationalism solve the problem of the subject without regard to the process in which a person cognizes and transforms the world and in which the forces and capabilities of nature become the forces and capabilities of man himself. Therefore, they see the main task of philosophy not in the knowledge of the laws of the objectivity of the world, but in determining the forms and norms for constructing the subjective world of the individual, affirming his inner spiritual and moral life. The theoretical-cognitive and real-transformative attitude towards the world, expressed in systems of rationalism, is opposed by irrationalism to the moral-practical Hegel, G.V.F. Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences / G.V.F. Hegel.- M.: Art, 1974. - 149 p.. Irrationalists direct their efforts, first of all, to the development of emotional and moral attitudes that serve to orient a person in interpersonal situations. In place of the subject-object relations characteristic of rationalism, irrationalism puts forward subject-subject relations. A person is considered mainly as a subject of communication. In philosophical theory, irrationalism contrasts the epistemological approach of rationalism with the axiological one. Since the activity of the subject, from the point of view of irrationalism, is manifested not in cognitive and not in real-transformative, but in moral-evaluative activity, since the problem of the objectivity of knowledge is removed and replaced by the problem of assessing the world from the point of view of the conditions of existence of the individual in it. Irrationalists argue that only a person can understand the true value of this or that phenomenon. What distinguishes a person from an animal is not reason, not the ability for conceptual thinking, but, above all, the ability for moral assessment. A person is not a dispassionate theoretical being, but is subjectively interested in the goals and objectives of his activity, therefore the most important for him are the answers to the questions not “what is this?”, but “what does this thing mean?”, “What is its purpose?” Serves? Thus, man becomes the measure of all existence, and the epistemological approach gives way to the axiological one, which is based on the principles of anthropology. When solving epistemological problems, irrationalism attaches decisive importance to the subjective psychological subconscious factors of human cognition. From here follows the main feature of irrationalistic epistemology, which consists in denying the ability of conceptual thinking to adequately reflect reality and opposing it as the most adequate means of comprehending the essence of reality: intuition, faith, etc. Lyubimov, L. Art ancient world/ L. Lyubimov. - M.: Enlightenment, 1971. - 331 p.. As a result of this approach, in the most extreme forms of irrationalism, traditional ontological and epistemological concepts are replaced by others or receive a new interpretation. Concepts come to the fore that, by their very nature, cannot provide images of the external world, but only reflect the subjective experiences of the individual: fear, despair, melancholy, care, love, involvement, etc. When constructing philosophical system rationalism, as noted above, is characterized by the desire to “remove all irrational residues”, to put all knowledge into strictly defined logical forms, and to discard everything that does not fit into them as ignorance. Irrationalism is not characterized by a negative reaction to rationalistically systematic methods of philosophizing: conceptuality, discursivity, evidence and other scientific theoretical forms of expression of knowledge. In its epistemology, irrationalism focuses specifically on “irrational residues,” declaring that only they are genuine knowledge, and therefore require other non-rational forms of expression: images, symbols, allegories, metaphors, etc. Starting with S. Kierkegaard, F Nietzsche, irrationalism brings the form of presentation into line with the content and begins to communicate with the world in the language of prophecies Lyubimov, L. The Art of the Ancient World / L. Lyubimov. - M.: Education, 1971. - 331 pp..

2. Philosophical teachings, utopia of the Renaissance

revival anthropocentric utopianism renaissance

a) The first utopian of the Renaissance is Thomas More (1478-1535), a very liberal-minded English statesman, a supporter of the sciences and arts, a promoter of religious tolerance and a prominent critic of the then feudal and emerging capitalist orders. But he remained a faithful Catholic, opposed Protestantism, and after Henry VIII's defection from the Catholic Church, he was mercilessly executed for his Catholic beliefs. In general, his activities relate to either civil history or literary history. We may be interested here in only one of his works, which was published in 1516 under the title “The Golden Book, as useful as amusing, on the best structure of the state and on the new island of Utopia,” since the entire aesthetics of the Renaissance is based on the spontaneous self-affirmation of the human personality in that state which More himself considered ideal.

In fact, More's image of the utopian man is a bizarre mixture of all kinds of old and new views, often liberal, often quite reactionary, but, apparently, with one main difference: from the bright Renaissance artistry in More's utopian state, one might say, exactly nothing left. A person is depicted as a rather gray type, apparently governed by a state that is still quite absolutist. Everyone must engage in physical labor according to state distribution, although the sciences and arts are not at all denied, but are even extolled by More, especially music.

As for individual details, Campanella’s utopians mock those rulers who, when mating horses and dogs, are very careful about their breed, but when mating people do not pay any attention to this breed. In other words, from Campanella's point of view, human society should be transformed into an ideal stud farm. The “chief of childbirth,” subordinate to the ruler of Love, is obliged to enter into such intimacies of sexual life, which we do not consider necessary to talk about here, and astrology is used in sexual matters in the first place. It is pure naivety to indicate that people should wear white clothes during the day, and red ones, woolen or silk, at night and outside the city, and the color black is completely prohibited. The same kind of advice about work, trade, swimming, games, treatment, about getting up in the morning, about astrological techniques for founding cities and many others. When carrying out the death penalty, there are no executioners, so as not to desecrate the state, but the people themselves, and first of all the accuser and witnesses, stone the criminal. The sun is revered in an almost pagan manner, although the true deity is still considered higher. Copernicanism is rejected and heaven is accepted in the medieval sense.

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