Philosophy, Its Range of Problems, and Its Role in Society

The Specificity of the Philosophical Worldview and the Nature of Philosophical Problems

Philosophy is, without doubt, inextricably linked to the worldviews that preceded it. Without acknowledging this connection, it becomes impossible to understand its emergence. Yet, at the same time, the birth of philosophy signified a rupture with those prior worldviews, marking the advent of a qualitatively new form of understanding the world. European philosophy arose at the end of the 7th and beginning of the 6th century BCE in Ancient Greece. Around this same period, philosophy also took root in India and China. The simultaneous development of philosophical thought in these distant regions, despite the absence of any apparent connection between them, remains difficult to explain even today. Karl Jaspers refers to this era as the "Axial Age," during which, according to his view—one shared by many—modern culture was born, and humanity became "modern." During this time, human beings for the first time ascended to the conscious awareness of the existence of the world and their own existence, as well as to the awareness of their own consciousness, making it a subject of reflection. This period marks the transition from the collective consciousness, embodied in myth, to an individual consciousness, with individuals beginning to seek an understanding of the world and striving to convey their insights to others.

Philosophy differs from myth primarily in the way it approaches problems. While myth and religion appeal to tradition and faith, philosophy turns to reason and intellect, attempting to provide rational justifications for its problems. In place of fanciful fabrications and blind belief, philosophy employs empirical observation, logical inference, generalizations, and proofs. It subjects everything to the unbiased scrutiny of reason, relying solely on reason as its foundation. The primary aim of philosophy is the pursuit of truth—an impartial and disinterested truth.

What, then, are the problems that concern philosophy, and to which questions does it direct its attention? As noted earlier, it is not easy to provide a definitive answer to this, as philosophers themselves have held varying conceptions of this over time. Nevertheless, as Hegel observed, despite the diversity of philosophical systems, they are all united by the fact that they are philosophical systems.

The ancient Greeks' initial understanding of philosophy was significantly different from the modern conception. Philosophy, literally translated from the Greek as "love of wisdom," encompassed all knowledge and, in essence, was synonymous with the nascent sciences. The early Greek philosophers were the bearers of knowledge that had not yet been divided into specialized sciences, knowledge that synthesized practical experience and empirical observations. Yet, alongside such knowledge, ancient philosophy also contained reflections on the world and on humanity—those very problems that later became distinctly philosophical.

The central issue among these problems is the question of being, which in the works of ancient Greek philosophers, and not only them, often took the form of a doctrine about nature. This is why the first Greek philosophers were referred to as "physicists." According to some historical accounts, the term "philosopher" was first used by the Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras, who wished to emphasize that he was not a sage (for only the gods could be wise) but a lover of wisdom. However, the ancient physicists were not interested in particularities; they sought answers to questions about the structure of the world, its origins, and the principles governing its functioning.

They aimed to reconcile individual pieces of knowledge and observations to uncover a single, unified principle underlying the world—a principle from which everything arises and to which everything returns. Behind the multiplicity of objects and phenomena in the world, they sought to find a singular origin. This question remains one of philosophy's central concerns for many centuries, though the methods of solving it and the questions prioritized have changed significantly over time, especially with the development of science. This approach to studying the world and nature, with the goal of developing a comprehensive explanation of the facts and constructing a unified theory, later came to be known as "metaphysics." Philosophy as metaphysics persisted even into the early 19th century with Hegel and is still present today in certain strands of religious philosophy.

In Ancient Greece, two approaches to the question of being began to emerge, which would later be known as "materialism" and "idealism." In Marxism, this question of being came to be called the "fundamental question of philosophy." At its core, the problem concerns what should be understood as the first principle—what lies at the root of the diversity of objects and phenomena in the world. Materialist philosophers believed that this first principle was matter, understanding it, up to the time of Marxism, either as one of the four elements (earth, water, air, fire) or as a minute particle of substance. The world, along with all its objects and phenomena, was seen as existing objectively, independent of human consciousness, and, in many cases, as independent of the gods. If divine influence was acknowledged, it was only in the act of creation.

Idealists, on the other hand, believed that true being belonged to ideas or spirit. This view was most clearly articulated by the Greek philosopher Plato, who held that the real world is the world of ideas, while the objects and phenomena of the visible world are mere shadows of those ideas. This perspective was developed further by the German philosopher Hegel, who argued that the absolute idea, as the first principle of everything, unfolds through the process of development, alienating itself into nature and society. Such views in philosophy are referred to as "objective idealism," as they posit the objective spirit, or spirit as such, as the basis of all things.

Yet philosophy's interest in the world is not purely for its own sake but in relation to humanity. Human beings—their nature, abilities, activities, uniqueness, and unity with the world—are persistent themes in philosophical reflection. The problem of the "world and the human" has always been central to philosophy (perhaps with the exception of, though with caveats, the pre-Socratic philosophers). Indeed, the question of being and the various approaches to its solution arise from the differentiation between the being of objects (in a physical sense) and the being of humans, which encompasses both the physical and the spiritual, the body and the mind. This distinction between the being of the material world and that of spiritual processes gives rise to different forms of being, and thus, the question of the relationship between these forms emerges—the question of "true" being, the relationship between being and non-being, and the contrast between being and nothingness. Philosophically, the concept of being encompasses several aspects: the existence of the world and of humanity, the existence of different forms of being, and the unity of these forms, which is captured by the notion of "being."

From this arises the possibility of two fundamentally different approaches—materialist and idealist—toward resolving the problem of being. Furthermore, the distinction between the being of the world and the being of humans leads to the epistemological problem: Can human beings know the world, and how does the process of knowledge occur? Can humans, through their concepts, provide an adequate description of the objects, phenomena, and processes surrounding them? Do the limits of human knowledge exist, and if so, what determines them? These and similar questions have long been, and remain, subjects of philosophical inquiry. In the history of philosophy, two approaches to these issues can be discerned: alongside philosophers who affirm the possibility of knowing the world, there are those who adhere to skeptical and even agnostic views.

Yet philosophy's interest in the human is not only in relation to the objective world. Since the time of Socrates, philosophers have increasingly pondered questions of human life and death, the purpose of human existence, and moral values. Problems of the meaning of life have, over time, taken on an ever more prominent place in philosophical thought. In our own era, such questions are central to philosophical reflection, with some schools of thought, such as existentialism, considering them the only matters deserving of philosophical attention. Indeed, the grounding of moral values—without which human actions and science lose their significance—will always attract philosophy's concern.

From ancient times, philosophy has addressed problems of social life, the general principles of political and legal systems, and other societal issues. Many Greek philosophers actively participated in the political life of their states and were educators and advisors to kings. Plato's works The Republic and The Laws laid the foundation for a deep, scientific analysis of social and political issues, which have since become an integral part of many philosophical systems. This is unsurprising, given that questions of human social existence are inseparable from worldview problems.

It is fitting to conclude this reflection with a quote from the English philosopher Bertrand Russell, one of the greatest thinkers of the last century: "Is the world divided into spirit and matter, and if so, what is spirit and what is matter? Is spirit subject to matter, or does it possess independent capacities? Does the universe have any unity or purpose? Is the universe evolving towards some goal? Do the laws of nature truly exist, or do we merely believe in them due to our inherent tendency toward order? Is man what he seems to the astronomer—a tiny lump of carbon and water, crawling about on a small and unimportant planet? Or is he what he appears to Hamlet? Or is he perhaps both at once? Are there elevated and base ways of life, or are all ways of life mere vanity? If there is a noble way of life, what is it, and how can we achieve it? Must good be eternal to deserve our admiration, or should we strive for it even if the universe is inevitably heading towards ruin? To explore these questions, if not to answer them—that is the task of philosophy."