Александр Жалнин – Основания и принципы Философии Реальности Foundations and Principles of the Philosophy of Reality (страница 3)
Conversely, energy may be understood as the universal property of existence, because it is through energy that existence manifests itself as an effective, changing, and interacting process. Matter, in turn, appears as the universal form of existence, because it secures for existence its stability, determinacy, and presence.
6. Ontological and Epistemological Principles
On this basis, the principal ontological and epistemological principles of the Philosophy of Reality may be formulated.
First, every reality must be conceived as two-sided, that is, as a unity of existence and essence. Neither side is derivative in any absolute sense; each discloses itself only through its relation to the other.
Second, reality must be understood processually. Its inner characteristic is not staticity but mutual transition. Philosophical thought is therefore obliged to consider its object not only in its given determinacy, but also in its transitions, changes, and inner transformations.
Third, nature and consciousness do not constitute two externally juxtaposed regions of being, but two sides of one reality. Cognition is therefore neither the imposition of subjective forms upon external matter nor the mechanical reflection of an object in consciousness; it is an actual process of reciprocal relation and transition.
Fourth, truth in the Philosophy of Reality is understood as the disclosed mutual transition of the objective and subjective, of existence and essence. Genuine knowledge does not end with the registration of empirical presence, nor is it exhausted by an abstract determination of essence. It requires the disclosure of how existence becomes essence and essence becomes existence.
7. Methodological Principles of Philosophical Analysis
From these ontological and epistemological theses follow the methodological principles of philosophical analysis.
The first principle is the principle of two-sidedness. Every object must be considered as possessing a side of existence and a side of essence.
The second principle is the principle of categorial concretization. Every object is to be analyzed through the disclosure of its corresponding matter, energy, form, and property.
The third principle is the principle of mutual transition. The essential object of philosophical analysis is not the simple presence of these sides, but their reciprocal transformation, mutual influence, and transition into one another.
The fourth principle is the principle of processual synthesis. The completion of philosophical analysis lies not in a mere classification of the sides of the object, but in its reconstruction as a new unity in which the initial determinations are aufgehoben—overcome and preserved—within a deeper whole.
The fifth principle is the principle of the unity of nature and consciousness. The analysis of any object must account both for its natural actuality and for its conceptual determinacy, without reducing one to the other.
8. Stages of Basic Philosophical Cognition
The Philosophy of Reality defines the basic philosophical cognition of any object as a sequence of several stages.
At the first stage, the initial reality is divided, that is, the initial essence and the initial existence of the object under cognition are disclosed.
At the second stage, the initial matter and energy of the object are identified, together with its initial property and form.
At the third stage, the mutual transition of form and matter, as well as the mutual transition of property and energy, is established. This is the central stage, because it is here that the inner law of the object as a processual unity of its sides is disclosed.
At the fourth stage, the new essence and the new existence of the object are identified.
At the fifth stage, a new reality is constituted as the synthesis of the new essence and the new existence. Here philosophical cognition reaches its result: the object is reproduced in consciousness not as a sum of isolated features, but as a new categorially comprehended unity.
9. The Theoretical Significance of the Philosophy of Reality
The theoretical significance of the Philosophy of Reality lies in the fact that it offers a universal scheme of philosophical thought aimed at overcoming the traditional oppositions of being and thinking, object and subject, nature and consciousness.
It allows philosophy to be understood neither as a collection of abstract reflections detached from actuality nor as a subordinate discipline with respect to the particular sciences, but as a distinct type of maximally general cognition investigating the conditions of possibility of the unity of actuality and thought.
In this sense, the Philosophy of Reality lays claim to the status of a method of universal categorial analysis. Its task is to disclose in every object the unity of existence and essence, to identify its basic sides, and to reveal the laws of their mutual transition.
Conclusion
The Philosophy of Reality maintains that the foundation of philosophical thinking is reality as the processual unity of existence and essence. From this initial thesis follow its fundamental categories—matter, energy, form, and property—as well as its principal analytical commitments: two-sidedness, processuality, mutual transition, and synthesis.
In this way, the Philosophy of Reality establishes a mode of philosophical cognition in which the object is thought not statically but in its inner movement, not one-sidedly but in the unity of its natural and conscious sides, not as a ready-made datum but as a reality in becoming and in cognition. In this consists its philosophical foundation, its methodological specificity, and its claim to universality.
Foundations and Principles of the Philosophy of Reality
A School of Thought
The Philosophy of Reality begins from a simple but decisive thesis: reality is not exhausted either by what merely exists or by what is merely thought. Reality is the living unity and mutual transition of existence and essence. Wherever existence becomes intelligible, it discloses essence; wherever essence is actual, it exists. The task of philosophy is therefore to think this transition in its most general and most rigorous form.
1. Reality as Mutual Transition
Existence, when taken as a concept, is not an empty sign. It is already a certain essence, because it can be thought, determined, and related to other concepts. Essence, when taken as a process of nature, is not a pure abstraction. It is already a certain existence, because it is enacted, interacts, and enters into the order of the world.
From this follows the central conviction of the Philosophy of Reality: existence and essence are not two alien realms. Their relation is intrinsic to reality itself. Reality is not a dead aggregate of things, nor a free play of meanings detached from the world. It is the process in which existence passes into essence and essence passes into existence.
2. Cognition as Participation in Reality
Because the mutual transition of existence and essence belongs to reality itself, cognition cannot be reduced either to passive reflection or to arbitrary construction. Consciousness is itself a process of nature; its concepts are not external to reality, but moments within it. Likewise, the object of nature, once grasped in thought, enters consciousness as concept.
Cognition is therefore a real interaction between two sides of one world. The most general form of knowledge is the cognition of essence as existence and of existence as essence. To know philosophically is to disclose the passage between these sides and to hold them together in thought.
3. The Four Universal Categories
The Philosophy of Reality articulates this structure through four universal categories.
Existence, taken in its most general philosophical sense, is disclosed through energy and matter. Energy names the side of efficacy, change, transition, and interaction. Matter names the side of stability, support, determinacy, and formed presence.
Essence, taken in its most general philosophical sense, is disclosed through property and form. Property names the objective determinacy of conceptual content—its power to distinguish, relate, and disclose. Form names the mode in which this content is organized, held, and made present in consciousness.
These four categories do not replace the sciences. They provide the most general philosophical grammar through which any object can be understood.
4. Nature and Consciousness
The mutual transition of energy and matter is the Fundamental Law of Nature. The mutual transition of property and form is the Fundamental Law of Consciousness. Nature is not a mere collection of inert things, and consciousness is not a mere repository of fixed representations. Both are processes, and both are intelligible only through their inner transitions.