Terms

The Absolute Idea is a foundational concept in the philosophical system of G.W.F. Hegel, signifying the unconditional completeness of all that truly exists. Existing prior to nature and society, the Absolute Idea undergoes three stages of development: Logic, Nature, and Spirit.

In the stage of Logic, the Idea exists before nature, outside of time and space. It unfolds within itself the entirety of its content, creating a network of philosophical categories. Transitioning into Nature, the Idea enters a state of otherness, wherein it seems to negate itself as Spirit, yet the logic of its development and its laws remain unchanged.

The subsequent stage in the development of the Absolute Idea is its manifestation as Spirit within humanity, through its history, culture, science, religion, and the spiritual activities of both individuals and society at large. At this stage, the Idea comes to know itself, beginning from sensory forms and culminating in logical categories.

Agnosticism (from the Greek a- meaning "without" and gnosis meaning "knowledge") is a doctrine that entirely or partially denies the possibility of knowing the world. In philosophy, agnosticism is not an independent concept but rather a critical stance in knowledge—both regarding phenomena and methods. An agnostic may belong to any philosophical school that does not insist on the possibility of knowing absolute truth. Prominent philosophers such as Immanuel Kant, David Hume, Bertrand Russell, and Herbert Spencer have held agnostic positions.

The Antinomy of Reason (from the Greek anti- meaning "against" and nomos meaning "law"; a contradiction in law or a contradiction of law to itself) describes a situation where statements about the same subject contradict one another, and the objects possess logically equal justifications, rendering their truth or falsity unprovable within an accepted system of knowledge. This constitutes a contradiction between two propositions recognized as equally true.

The idea of antinomial thinking originated in ancient Greek philosophy (Zeno, Plato, Aristotle), though the term "aporia" was more frequently used at that time. Kant employed the term "antinomy" to elucidate the core thesis of his philosophy, which posits that reason cannot transcend sensory experience and grasp "things in themselves." According to Kant, such attempts lead reason into contradictions, enabling justification for both a thesis and its antithesis in each of the subsequent "antinomies of pure reason," such as: "The world is finite - the world is infinite"; "Freedom exists in the world - freedom does not exist in the world"; "God exists - God does not exist," and so forth.

Anthropocentrism (from the Greek anthropos meaning "human" and kentron meaning "center") is a philosophical position asserting that humanity is the center and ultimate purpose of the cosmos. In antiquity, this position was radically represented by Socrates, and later adhered to by certain representatives of medieval scholasticism and some modern philosophers (for example, Baruch Spinoza). Elements of anthropocentrism are vividly manifested in existentialism and in the teachings of contemporary Christian evolutionism (Teilhard de Chardin).

Apologetics (from the Greek apologia meaning "defense, justification, advocacy") refers generally to any defense of Christianity against accusations and criticism from its opponents. Apologetics has existed since the inception of this religion, particularly evident in the works of early medieval philosophers (such as Philo of Alexandria, Josephus, etc.).

A Priori (from Latin a priori meaning "from the previous") denotes knowledge obtained prior to experience and independent of it. This philosophical term has gained significant importance in epistemology and logic thanks to Kant. The idea of a priori knowledge is associated with the notion of an internal source of the activity of thought. The opposite of a priori is a posteriori (from Latin a posteriori meaning "from the subsequent")—knowledge derived from experience (empirical knowledge).

Archetype (from ancient Greek arche meaning "beginning" and typos meaning "model") refers to a concept used in the philosophy of psychoanalysis to denote the structural elements of the human psyche, which are hidden in the collective unconscious shared by all humanity. According to Carl Jung’s theory, archetypes are "images of the collective unconscious," the most ancient universal symbols that underpin myths, folklore, and culture as a whole, passed down from generation to generation. Examples include the wicked stepmother, the kind and beautiful stepdaughter, and the noble robber.

Atomism is a philosophical and physical theory positing that the things we perceive sensibly (material objects) are composed of chemically indivisible particles—atoms. Atomism was founded by representatives of the pre-Socratic period of ancient Greek philosophy, notably Leucippus and his student Democritus of Abdera. According to their teachings, only atoms and the void exist. Atoms are the smallest indivisible, uncreated, and indestructible entities that move in the void, forming things through their interactions.

Attributes of Substance are the essential qualities, the inherent properties of a substance, without which it cannot either exist or be conceived. This notion developed significantly in the philosophy of the Early Modern period, particularly in the works of thinkers such as Baruch Spinoza, for whom the attributes of Substance—God—Nature were thought and extension, and also René Descartes, who maintained that the primary attribute of spiritual substance is thought, while that of material substance is extension. Other attributes derive from these primary ones and should be referred to as modes. For instance, the modes of thought include imagination, sensation, and desire, while the modes of extension encompass figure, position, and motion, among others.

Base is one of the fundamental concepts of historical materialism as articulated by Karl Marx. It represents the sum of productive relations that constitute the economic structure of society. Material production is the conjunction of productive forces (the laboring masses and the means of production they utilize) and productive relations (the social relations that inevitably arise in connection with production). The base serves as the foundation and the primal cause of all processes occurring within society. The social structure of society, in essence, is a synthesis of the base and the superstructure (the aggregate of political, legal, and religious institutions, as well as the moral, aesthetic, and philosophical views within it).

The Bible (from the Greek Biblia, meaning "Books") is a collection of sacred texts for Christians, consisting of the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament (Tanakh) is also a sacred text for Jews. Within the Old Testament lies the original concept of the creation of the world, the articulation of God’s Law in the form of the Ten Commandments given to the prophet Moses on Mount Sinai, the history of the Jewish "chosen" people, and most importantly for Christians, the prophecies regarding the future Messiah—the Savior of the world. The New Testament is primarily comprised of the four Gospels (by the apostles Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John), which recount the coming and earthly journey of the Son of God, the Messiah—Jesus Christ—who was crucified for the sins of humanity and through His death atoned for them, thereby opening the path to the Kingdom of Heaven for all who believe in Him.

God is the central issue of medieval philosophy. This concept often refers to a supernatural essence, which may be unique in its kind (monotheism) or one among many (polytheism). Religious philosophers contemplate the existence of the world through the lens of its creation and determination by God, perceiving everything that occurs within the world as established by God or the gods, according to their laws and order.

In Christianity, God is understood as a unity in three persons—the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit). However, in certain religious teachings, God is perceived as impersonal. The philosophical problem of God's existence gains particular relevance in the works of Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, and others.

Being is a central philosophical concept that expresses the fundamental basis of all that exists. It is the focus of a specific branch of philosophical inquiry—ontology. This concept first emerges in ancient Greek philosophy in the teachings of Parmenides, who designated it to signify "all that is, all that exists." According to him, being is, while non-being is not. Parmenides' second thesis posits that "to think and to be are the same." Since non-being does not exist, everything that is thinkable is, in fact, being. Later, Aristotle distinguished between potential being (possibility) and actual being (reality).

From the perspective of medieval philosophy and many thinkers of the Modern era, being represents an absolute reality beyond time. Being is God; for Hegel, it is the World Spirit.

Dialectical materialism, as proposed by Marx, equates being with concepts such as nature and reality. It does not deny that thought and consciousness possess being; however, it posits that this form of being—consciousness and thought—is generated and expressed through the being of matter (nature).

A unique interpretation of being is offered by the modern non-classical philosophical movement known as existentialism, which equates being with existence. The German philosopher Martin Heidegger, for example, asserts that existence is the being to which a person relates themselves, filled with the specificity of human existence; it encompasses what belongs to them and what is truly existent for them.

Despite the diversity of conceptions of being in philosophy, one can arrive at a general conclusion: being is a real, stable, independent, objective, eternal, and infinite substance that encompasses all that exists.

Verification is the principle of empirical testing of scientific data and conclusions, according to which the truth of any assertion must be established through comparison with factual evidence. This concept is linked to the 20th-century philosophical movement known as neopositivism.

Production relations in Marxism refer to the totality of material economic relations among individuals that arise in the process of social production and are contingent upon the nature and level of productive forces. They express property relations that determine the socio-class structure of society.

Faith is the acknowledgment of something as true without prior factual or logical verification, grounded solely in an internal, subjective conviction that does not require evidence for its justification, even though it may sometimes seek to find such evidence. In philosophy, it is examined as a fundamental element of religious worldview, gaining particular significance in medieval philosophy in discussions regarding the relationship between faith and reason in the process of knowing, and it also appears in the problematics of modern philosophical movements such as neotomism, the philosophy of life, and pragmatism.

Voluntarism (from the Latin voluntas, meaning "will") is a current in non-classical philosophy that recognizes will as the fundamental principle of all that exists, attributing to divine or human will a central role in the unfolding of the world process. The term gained particular prominence in the 19th century in the philosophical works of Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Henri Bergson.

Will to Power is a central concept in the philosophy of the German thinker Friedrich Nietzsche, signifying "the inner essence of being," its fundamental driving force, the vital energy that can be fully manifested in the figure of the so-called Übermensch—an individual who is strong, noble, and the master of their fate, ready to embrace suffering and death, yet not weakness and servitude. In this individual, the ancient right of the strong—the right of the mightiest—persists, through which they assert their power.

Hermeneutics is the theory and methodology of text interpretation, often referred to as the "art of understanding." The history of hermeneutics traces back to the philosophical texts of antiquity, where thinkers frequently interpreted the writings and expressions of their predecessors. It also manifests in the philosophy of the Middle Ages, particularly in the interpretation of biblical texts. The concept of hermeneutics in its modern sense can be traced to the early modern period, where, around the mid-17th century, a distinction emerged between the process of interpretation and its method: hermeneutics was established as a discipline concerning the "rules" of interpretation.

In the 20th century, hermeneutics evolved into a philosophical current, with core ideas articulated in the works of Hans-Georg Gadamer and Friedrich Schleiermacher. The transformation of hermeneutics into a philosophy is also linked to the name of Martin Heidegger, who began to consider "understanding" not in epistemological terms but in ontological ones, meaning not as a method of knowing but as a mode of existence. Human being is inherently situated within a context of understanding, and the task of hermeneutics is to interpret this situation. These positions form the basis of Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics.

Hermeneutics of being and hermeneutics of consciousness are two forms of philosophical hermeneutics that developed in the 20th century; on one hand, hermeneutics of consciousness (Schleiermacher—Dilthey), and on the other, hermeneutics of being (Gadamer, a student of Heidegger). A fundamental distinction exists between them: according to hermeneutics of consciousness, understanding is the engagement with another's psychological world, a form of empathy (congeniality, psychological affinity between subjects). In contrast, according to hermeneutics of being, understanding signifies the meaning of human experience as realized in the actions and language of individuals.

The hermeneutic circle is a concept used in philosophical hermeneutics to characterize the cyclical nature of the understanding process. To comprehend something, it must be explained, and vice versa. In a clear form, as a circle of "the whole and the part," it was presented in the hermeneutics of the 18th and 19th centuries (F. Schleiermacher, A. Beck): to understand the whole, one must grasp its individual parts, yet to comprehend the individual parts, an understanding of the meaning of the whole (the entire text) is necessary.

Epistemology (from Greek gnosis, meaning "knowledge," and logos, meaning "study") is a branch of philosophical knowledge that investigates the theory of knowledge itself: issues of truth, methodological problems in its pursuit, logical issues and the limits of knowledge, as well as the challenges of scientific knowledge and its production.

Humanism is a philosophical stance founded on the recognition of the value of the individual as a person, their right to free development and expression of their abilities, and the affirmation of human welfare as a criterion for assessing social relations. As a system of views, humanism took shape during the Renaissance, evolving into a broad and multifaceted movement of public thought encompassing not only philosophy but also philology, literature, and the arts.

In the 14th and 15th centuries, the center of humanism was Italy (with figures such as Petrarch, Boccaccio, and Leonardo da Vinci). Humanism, alongside the Reformation, spread to various European countries, including France (Rabelais), Spain (Cervantes), England (Shakespeare and Bacon), and Germany (Dürer).

State is a form of political organization of society that governs its structure, safeguarding its economic, social, and ideological fabric within a defined territory, endowed with specific rights and obligations of the citizens residing therein. The state possesses certain means and methods of exercising power within society, thereby ensuring its integrity. The earliest works addressing the issues of state and governance emerged in Ancient Greece (the Sophists, Plato, Aristotle), and from the mid-19th century, political science has emerged as a distinct discipline focusing on the state as a subject of separate study.

Dialectics is a recognized theory in classical philosophy regarding the development of all that exists, along with the philosophical method founded upon it. Dialectics theoretically reflects the evolution of matter, spirit, consciousness, knowledge, and other facets of reality through the laws of dialectics; its categories; and principles. Elements of dialectics can be found in the ideas of early Greek philosophers (Thales, Heraclitus, Plato, Aristotle), as well as in the understanding of dialectics as the art of debate, a method of argumentation in philosophy that addresses the contradictions inherent in the subject matter of discourse (in this form, dialectics is seen in the works of the Sophists, Socrates, and Zeno).

Existentialism, or the philosophy of existence, stands as one of the most popular and influential currents of modern thought, centrally concerned with human existence (existence itself), the meaning of life, and one's fate in the world. Existentialism began to take shape in the first half of the 20th century, largely reflecting the historical period it arose from. This accounts for the tragic tone and general pessimistic hue that permeate much of existentialist philosophy.

Typically, a distinction is made between religious existentialism (represented by Karl Jaspers, Gabriel Marcel, Nikolai Berdyaev, among others) and atheistic existentialism (exemplified by Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, etc.). This division is quite conditional, for many proponents of atheistic existentialism argue that the declaration of God's death is inherently linked to acknowledging the impossibility and absurdity of human life without God.

Existence is the central category of existential philosophy (as articulated by Søren Kierkegaard, Karl Jaspers, Martin Heidegger, Albert Camus, and others), which primarily denotes the unique and directly experienced human condition. According to Heidegger, this existence—existence itself—relates to a particular being and should be considered through the lens of Care.

Empiricism (from the Greek empeiria, meaning experience) is a direction in the theory of knowledge that recognizes sensory experience as the source of knowledge, asserting that the content of knowledge can be represented either as a description of that experience or reduced to it. As a cohesive epistemological concept, empiricism took shape in the 17th and 18th centuries, appearing as materialist empiricism, which contended that sensory experience reflects the characteristics of objectively existing things (as seen in the works of Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke), and as subjective-idealist empiricism, which recognized subjective experience as the sole reality (represented by George Berkeley and David Hume).

Aesthetics is a branch of philosophical inquiry whose primary focus is the beautiful and its reality, including its laws and norms, its forms and types (such as beauty and sublimity), its relationship to nature and art, its origins, and its role in artistic creativity and enjoyment; it is the philosophical study of the essence and forms of beauty in artistic creation, in nature, and in life, regarding art as a distinct form of social consciousness.

Eschatology is a system of religious beliefs and concepts concerning the end of the world, redemption, and the afterlife, as well as the fate of the universe or its transition to a qualitatively new state. It also refers to a branch of theology that studies these concepts within the framework of specific religious doctrines.

Ethics is a domain of philosophical inquiry that investigates moral issues and moralities. The most prevalent questions in ethics pertain to the meaning of life, the relationship between good and evil, the existence of God, and the justification of God (theodicy) for the existence of evil in the world, as well as issues of honor, justice, spiritual laws, and norms of behavior. Beginning with the teachings of the ancient Greek Sophists, ethical questions have developed across various philosophical doctrines in both classical and, especially, non-classical philosophy (including the philosophy of life, existentialism, pragmatism, and psychoanalysis).

Ethical idealism is a variety of philosophical idealism that presents good and other moral categories as something higher and defining in human life. It found vivid expression in the teachings of ancient Greek thinkers like Socrates and Plato, as well as in the views of thinkers from the Renaissance.

Ethical relativism is a concept that describes the foundational position of the ancient Greek Sophists (such as Protagoras, Thrasymachus, Gorgias, Critias, etc.), asserting the relativity of moral standards and the societal notions of good and evil. For instance, Protagoras emphasized that man is the measure of all things: of those that are, that they are, and of those that are not, that they are not. Thus, for each person, truth is subjective. Thrasymachus similarly extended ethical relativism to the political sphere, stating that in all cities there is but one truth, defined as the benefit of those in power; in other words, what is advantageous to the ruling class can be regarded as true.

Idealism is a philosophical movement that stands in opposition to materialism in addressing the fundamental question of philosophy. Idealism posits the primacy of the spiritual and immaterial, deeming the material to be secondary. This perspective aligns it closely with religious worldviews concerning the end of time and space and the creation of the world by God. Idealism considers consciousness apart from nature, thus inevitably mystifying both it and the process of knowledge. The most prominent representatives of idealistic thought in philosophy include Plato, the thinkers of the Medieval period, and G.W.F. Hegel, whose philosophical system is rightly termed absolute idealism.

Idea (eidos) is the foundational concept of the philosophical system of the ancient Greek thinker Plato. Ideas (eidōs) are the archetypes of things, their origins, and true being. Ideas (eidōs) form the basis of the multitude of things that emerge from unformed matter. They are the source of all, while matter itself can yield nothing.

The world of ideas (eidōs) exists beyond time and space. Within this realm, there exists a certain hierarchy, at the apex of which stands the Idea of the Good, from which all others arise. The Good is identical with absolute Beauty, yet simultaneously, it is the Origin of all origins and the Creator of the Universe.

The Idea (eidos) of any thing or being encapsulates its deepest, most hidden, and essential nature. In the case of humanity, the role of the idea is fulfilled by the immortal soul. Ideas (eidōs) possess qualities of permanence, unity, and purity, whereas things are characterized by mutability, multiplicity, and distortion.

Immoralism signifies the rejection of the value of principles and prescriptions of traditional morality. It is a core tenet of the philosophy of life as proposed by F. Nietzsche, who dismissed the universality and obligatory nature of the prevailing moral codes grounded in a Christian understanding of good and evil. The Übermensch represents the ideal of Nietzschean immoralist views, standing "beyond good and evil" and rejecting the values of Christian traditional culture.

Intention is one of the central concepts in Edmund Husserl's phenomenology, employed to characterize pure consciousness, which expresses its singular attribute—its directedness toward an object. In a narrow (and predominantly used) sense, intention is "empty," detached from perceptual representation, remaining merely a pure positing of the object. In a broader sense, intention encompasses acts of realizing the reference to the object when the latter is presented to us in a corresponding visual contemplation.

Irrationalism (from Latin irrationalis, meaning unreasonable or illogical) is a philosophical direction that acknowledges the limitations of human reason in comprehending the world. Irrationalism suggests the existence of domains of worldview inaccessible to reason and attainable only through such faculties as intuition, feeling, instinct, revelation, and faith. Thus, irrationalism affirms the irrational nature of reality.

Irrationalist tendencies can be discerned to varying degrees in philosophers such as Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Søren Kierkegaard, Wilhelm Dilthey, and Henri Bergson.

Truth is a universal abstract category, a concept employed to distinguish between reliable and unreliable knowledge based on its principled possibility to align with reality and its own internal consistency or inconsistency. The most renowned definition of truth was articulated by Aristotle and reformulated by Isaac of Israel, later adopted by Thomas Aquinas and the entire scholastic tradition. This definition asserts that truth is the intentional agreement of the intellect with the real object or its correspondence to it.

The problem of truth remains one of the most pressing concerns in both classical and non-classical philosophy.

Cardiocentrism is a current within the Ukrainian philosophical tradition that continues the theme of human wholeness and spiritual existence. It embodies the idea of self-knowledge as spiritual self-development, propelled by a spiritual, meaningful engine—the heart (from Latin cardio). The philosophy of the heart does not oppose or sever but unites faith and knowledge (reason). They are regarded as equally valid and legitimate paths to understanding the world, God, and self-knowledge, converging and reinforcing one another. This idea was championed by Ukrainian thinkers such as Hryhorii Skovoroda and Pamfil Yurkevych.

Categories (from Greek kategoria, meaning statement or characteristic) are fundamental concepts that reflect the general relationships of reality, serving as forms and stable organizing principles of thought. The analysis of categories as the most general characteristics of all that exists traces back to antiquity. The first systematic exploration of categories was attempted by Aristotle in his treatise "Categories." He distinguished categories such as "substance," "quantity," "quality," "relation," "place," and "time," among others. This system of categories, with minimal changes, has been debated in philosophy up to the modern era.

Conventionalism (from Latin conventio, meaning agreement or contract) is a philosophical concept asserting that scientific notions and theoretical constructs are fundamentally products of agreements among scholars. They must be internally consistent and correspond to given observations, yet it is nonsensical to demand that they reflect the true structure of the world. Therefore, all internally consistent scientific (and philosophical) theories are equally acceptable, and none can be deemed absolutely true. Modern conventionalism finds its roots in the works of E. Mach, P. Duhem, and most explicitly, Henri Poincaré.

Cosmocentrism is a system of philosophical views that emerged in Ancient Greece, wherein the world is perceived as a cosmos—diverse, unified, and simultaneously awe-inspiring. All phenomena of the surrounding world were examined through the lens of the cosmos, and the problems presented took on a cosmic scale (Thales, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, and others).

Creationism (from Latin creatio, meaning creation) is a theological and worldview concept wherein the primary forms of the organic world (life), humanity, the planet Earth, and the universe as a whole are seen as directly created by the Creator or God. This stance received particular elaboration in medieval philosophy, which primarily focused on interpreting biblical texts.

The term "creationism" became popular around the late 19th century (in the teachings of neo-Thomists and Jewish mystics), designating those concepts that affirm the truth of the creation narrative presented in the Old Testament.

Culture (from Latin cultura, meaning to cultivate) is a general term for the forms of human life created and shaped throughout evolution. Culture encompasses moral and material values, skills, knowledge, customs, and traditions. The term "culture" is often used to characterize specific historical epochs: "The Culture of Ancient Rus," "modern culture," and so forth.

Culture also defines nations: the culture of the Goths, Slavic culture, and others.

Libido (from Latin libido - desire, passion) is the energy of sexual drive or instinct, a fundamental concept in psychoanalysis developed by Freud. This term is essential for describing the diverse manifestations of sexuality. Freud equated libido with Plato's Eros and defined it as the energy of attraction towards all that is encompassed by the word "love": sexual love, self-love (narcissism), love for parents and children, and universal humanity, among others. Freud employed the term "libido" to explain the origins of mental disorders and neuroses, as well as to describe the progression of psychological development in a normal individual, including scientific and artistic endeavors and sublimation.

Logical Positivism is a branch of neopositivism that emerged in the 1920s, based on the teachings of the philosophers of the Vienna Circle, who endeavored to combine empiricism—rooted in the principle of verification (the testability of scientific theories)—with the method of logical analysis of scientific knowledge, aiming to reduce it to the "immediately given," that is, to the content of scientific concepts and propositions that are empirically verifiable. From the latter half of the 1930s, logical positivism became known as logical empiricism. By this time, its proponents (R. Carnap, H. Feigl, K. Hempel) had renounced their initial epistemological dogmas, which had proven inadequate in attempts to implement the program of logical analysis of science, particularly the principle of reducing scientific knowledge to the empirically given.

Man is a socio-biological being, embodying the pinnacle of life's evolution and simultaneously serving as the subject of social-historical activity and communication. The problem of humanity arises in philosophical discourse within the works of the sophists and the expressions of Socrates (4th century BC), where it is considered solely "as the measure of all things, that they are, and of things that are not, that they are not" (Protagoras). Subsequently, in nearly all philosophical doctrines and movements, the problem of man becomes a distinctive expression of the understanding of the epoch and its spirit. In medieval philosophy, for example, humanity is viewed as "God's Creation, whose mind is distorted by original sin" (Aurelius Augustine); in the modern era as "the spiritual and bodily mode of substance" (B. Spinoza); and in German classical philosophy, humanity is the subject through whose practical-cultural activities (art, religion, science, history) the World Spirit comes to know itself. In contrast, in non-classical philosophy, the problem of humanity is focused on moral-ethical (philosophy of life, existentialism, neotomism, psychoanalysis) and cognitive-methodological (hermeneutics, neopositivism, pragmatism) perspectives.

Marxist Philosophy represents the teachings of the German economist, philosopher, and sociologist K. Marx, which amalgamated materialism and dialectics in the understanding of nature and extended the principles of materialism to social life. This philosophy sought to serve as the foundation of the worldview of the working class, providing its methodology for knowledge and the transformation of social life.

Materialism (from Latin materialis - pertaining to matter) is a philosophical worldview wherein matter (objective reality) is considered ontologically primary (the cause), while the ideal (concepts, will, spirit, etc.) is secondary (the result, consequence). Materialism acknowledges the existence of a single substance—matter; all things are constituted by matter, and phenomena (including consciousness) are processes of interaction among material entities. The initial ideas of a materialistic order were articulated by ancient Greek thinkers such as Thales, Anaximander, and Empedocles, who perceived the material-sensible elemental force as the fundamental essence of the world.

Matter (from Latin materia - substance) is "a philosophical category denoting objective reality, given to humans in their sensations, which is replicated, photographed, and reflected by our senses, existing independently of them" (V. I. Lenin). Matter comprises an infinite multitude of all existing objects and systems in the world, serving as the substrate of any properties, connections, relations, and forms of motion. It encompasses not only all objects and bodies of nature that are directly observed but also those that may be understood in the future through the enhancement of observation and experimentation. The entire surrounding world manifests as moving matter in its infinitely diverse forms and expressions, with all its properties, connections, and relationships.

Metaphysics (from ancient Greek - "that which comes after physics") is a branch of philosophy that investigates the primal nature of reality, the world, and being as such. Initially, the term "metaphysics" was employed by Andronicus of Rhodes to denote the collection of Aristotle’s 14 books contemplating first causes ("on the first kinds of being"), which, in the compilation of philosophical works prepared by him, were positioned after Aristotle's Physics, hence acquiring their name.

The Method of Knowledge is a system of principles, techniques, rules, and requirements that must be adhered to in the process of cognition. Thinkers of the past (beginning with Aristotle) highly valued the significance of scientific methods. The philosopher of the new era, F. Bacon, compared the method to a lamp illuminating the traveler’s path in darkness. Numerous methods exist, classified on various grounds: qualitative and quantitative, substantive and formal, historical and logical, and so forth. A common division of methods pertains to the breadth of their coverage of reality, resulting in:

1. General, universal methods (including philosophical and formally-logical methods);
2. General scientific methods (systematic method, modeling method, etc.);
3. Special methods (gas-liquid chromatography, electroencephalography as a method for studying the brain, and many others).

Methodology (from Greek methodos - the path of research or cognition, logos - concept, teaching) is a system of principles and means for organizing and constructing theoretical and practical activities aimed at achieving true knowledge, as well as the study of this system.

The Method of Rationalistic Deduction is a method of knowledge articulated in the 17th century by the French thinker René Descartes, whose essence lies in the assertion that one should rely solely on absolutely certain knowledge in the process of cognition and, by means of reason, utilizing entirely reliable logical techniques, derive new knowledge; that is, to obtain general propositions, a comprehensive understanding of the world, through the analysis of individual concrete facts. According to Descartes, only by employing deduction as a method can reason attain reliable knowledge in all spheres of cognition.

Thinking is the mental process of interpreting what is perceived, mediated and generalized reflection of reality, a type of mental activity that consists in understanding the essence of things and phenomena, the lawful connections and relationships between them.

Myth (from Greek mythos - saying, narrative) is one of the early forms of worldview that reproduces in an imaginative-emotional manner the beliefs of people about the world, their place within it, the origins of all that exists, and about gods and heroes, wherein the myth lacks a clear division between the divine, the natural, and the human; all is interwoven into a single whole—fantasy and reality, invention and truth are intricately connected. Many researchers see in myths (particularly in the ancient Greek works of Hesiod, Homer, and others) the primordial roots of philosophy, the beginning of the formulation of philosophical problems and the understanding of cosmic order.

Modes of Substance are a category introduced into philosophy by thinkers of the modern era (B. Spinoza, R. Descartes), who, while describing substance and its attributes, defined modes as "states of substance, that is, something contained in another through which it is represented." Every mode, in Spinoza's view, which possesses necessary and infinite existence, must necessarily arise from the absolute nature of any attribute of God, or from any attribute in a state of necessary and infinite modification. Thus, substance explains the entirety of the diversity of natural phenomena (including humanity). It is the sole reality; the finite things derived from the attributes of substance are its states or modes. Humanity is neither substance nor attribute; it consists of certain modifications of God's attribute. In other words, it consists of the modes of thought—ideas—and the modes of extension—bodies.

Monads (from Greek - mono - one) are living, spiritual units of which everything consists, and beyond which nothing exists in the world. In other words, they are simple substances that have no parts. There are an innumerable multitude of monads, and all exist in a relationship of established harmony with one another. The spiritual nature of monads excludes their interaction; thus, harmony among them is reduced to a pre-established accord set by God. God is the Monad of all monads. The doctrine of monads is attributed to the German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz and is known as Monadology.

Superstructure—one of the fundamental categories of historical materialism proposed by Karl Marx, alongside the base. The aggregate of historically determined production relations that constitute the economic structure of a given society forms the base, the foundation of any society. These relations, in turn, dictate the character of the superstructure—namely, the nature of the state (the political superstructure), law (or legal superstructure), public opinions, and the myriad ideas encompassing moral, religious, philosophical, artistic, and political domains, as well as the institutions corresponding to these views.

Overman—a concept introduced into philosophy and culture by the German thinker Friedrich Nietzsche, signifies the archetype of the perfected human being, destined to become the pinnacle of human evolution. Nietzsche also refers to this being as a profoundly creative individual, a catalyst of culture, and the architect of new spiritual values; the emergence of the Overman represents the ultimate goal of culture and the history of humanity.

Science—a distinct form of cognitive activity aimed at obtaining, clarifying, and disseminating objective, systematically organized, and substantiated knowledge about nature, society, and thought. The foundation of this endeavor lies in the collection of verifiable facts, their continuous updating and systematization, critical analysis, and, on this basis, the synthesis of new scientific knowledge or generalizations that not only describe observed natural or societal phenomena but also allow for the construction of causal relationships, enabling prediction. Those scientific theories and hypotheses that are substantiated by facts or experiments are articulated as laws of nature or society.

Neopositivism—a philosophical movement of the 20th century, a form of positivism. Its principal ideas trace back to empiricism and phenomenalism (Berkeley, Hume). Neopositivism dismisses the capacity of philosophy to resolve worldview issues, positioning science in opposition to philosophy. Its aim is the development of methods for logical or linguistic analysis of knowledge (or language—scientific, philosophical, everyday). The ideas of neopositivism found expression in the activities of the Vienna Circle, from which logical positivism emerged. Several representatives of the philosophy of science (such as Morris and Bridgman) aligned themselves with neopositivism, particularly in Sweden. By the 1950s, linguistic philosophy gained prominence, and neopositivists played a significant role in advancing modern formal logic, semiotics, and the logic of science.

Neo-Freudianism—a branch of psychoanalytic philosophy that developed in the 1920s and 1930s from the teachings of Sigmund Freud, through his followers and critics who accepted the foundational principles of his theory while revising several of its key concepts and tenets. In this context, the groundwork for neo-Freudianism was laid by the first "schismatics" within psychoanalysis—Alfred Adler, Otto Rank, and Carl Jung. All of them rejected Freud's biologism, sexual determinism, and instinctualism, as well as attributing less significance to the unconscious.

Unconscious—the central concept of psychoanalytic philosophy. According to the founder of this movement, Sigmund Freud, the unconscious constitutes the primary volume of the human psyche, which encompasses consciousness (the ego) and the higher psychic instance (the superego).

Nominalism—one of the currents within medieval scholastic philosophy, which developed in opposition to realism. This movement, in contrast to realism, denies the real existence of general concepts (universals), considering them merely as names (from the Latin nomen—name, nominalis—nominal, hence the term "nominalism"). A notable proponent of nominalism, William of Ockham, asserted that concepts that cannot be verified through experience should be eliminated as irrational (Ockham's Razor).

Noumena—(according to Kant, they are things-in-themselves)—a philosophical term denoting phenomena and objects accessible to the intellect, as opposed to those grasped through sensory experience (data given in objective reality) known as phenomena; a thing as such ("in itself"), independent of our perception. In another interpretation, noumena are entities whose essence and meaning are known only to the intellectual subject.

Objective Idealism—one of the principal varieties of idealism; unlike subjective idealism, it posits that the foundation of the world is some overarching, transindividual spiritual principle ("idea," "world spirit," etc.). The most notable representatives of objective idealism include Plato, Thomas Aquinas, Hegel, and Schelling.

Ontology (from Greek on—genitive case, ontos—being, and logia—word, concept, teaching)—the study of being as such, a branch of philosophy that examines the fundamental principles of being, the most general essences, and categories of existence. Sometimes ontology is equated with metaphysics, but it is more frequently viewed as its foundational part, that is, as the metaphysics of being. The term "ontology" first appeared in the "Philosophical Lexicon" by Rudolf Goclenius (1613) and was solidified in the philosophical system of Christian Wolff.

The Fundamental Question of Philosophy—a historical-philosophical concept within Marxist philosophy, which posits that the primary, if not the sole, issue of philosophy throughout its history is the relationship between consciousness and matter, thought and being, spirit and nature. Depending on the answer to this question, philosophical positions can be classified into materialism (which recognizes the primacy of matter over spirit, as in the works of Ludwig Feuerbach and Karl Marx), idealism (which asserts the primacy of spiritual processes and phenomena over matter, as seen in Plato, Hegel, etc.), and dualism (which considers the material and spiritual as interdependent, existing simultaneously, exemplified by René Descartes and Evald Il'yenkov).

Pantheism (from the Greek pan meaning "all" and theos meaning "god") is the doctrine that everything is God; a teaching that venerates the universe and nature (pantheism as religious naturalism). The term "pantheist" was introduced by the English philosopher J. Toland (1705), while "pantheism" was coined by his adversary, the Dutch theologian I. Fäyem (1709). In pantheistic concepts, naturalistic tendencies often emerge that dissolve God within nature, leading towards materialism and opposing the prevailing theistic worldview.

Patristics (from the Greek pater, Latin pater meaning "father") refers to the collective theological, philosophical, and political-sociological doctrines of Christian thinkers from the 2nd to the 8th centuries (the so-called Church Fathers). The first period of patristics (2nd-3rd centuries) is marked by the activities of the so-called apologists, among whom Origen stands out for his initial efforts to construct a comprehensive philosophical system based on the tenets of Christianity. Patristics reaches its zenith in the works of Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa in the Greek East, and Augustine of Hippo in the Latin West.

Positivism is a direction within Western European philosophy that regards the specific (empirical or "positive") sciences as the sole source of true and valid knowledge, rejecting the cognitive value of philosophical inquiry. At its inception was A. Comte. The emergence of positivism was linked to the inability of speculative philosophy (metaphysics) to resolve the philosophical problems arising from the advancement of the sciences. In their extremity, positivists dismissed theoretical speculation and intuition as means of acquiring knowledge. They deemed the problems, concepts, and propositions of former philosophy—concerning being, essence, cause, etc.—to be erroneous or devoid of meaning due to their high abstractness, asserting that positivism aspired to be a fundamentally new, "positive" philosophy modeled after empirical sciences and embodying their methodology.

Politics (from the Greek politika meaning "state or social affairs," derived from polis meaning "city") encompasses the sphere of activity associated with relationships between individuals and social groups, centering on the issues of seizing, maintaining, and utilizing state power. The problems of political philosophy were articulated in ancient Greece, in the works of Plato and Aristotle, and continued to develop in the writings of philosophers until the 19th century, leading to the emergence of a distinct field of political studies—political science.

Postmodernism describes the socio-cultural situation that emerged in the 20th century, characterized by a fundamental shift in several key parameters that define the cultural paradigm of modernity. Postmodernism is notably characterized by deconstruction, which manifests as the falsification and overthrow of traditional values, norms, and laws, resulting in the disintegration of a culturally cohesive whole accumulated over centuries; the multiplicity of symbols and realities of the "lifeworld," alongside the diversity of their interpretations; an increase in mysticism and esotericism; and the "virtualization" of reality, understood as the subjective attribution of properties of spatial inversion, temporal reversibility, and arbitrariness to the structuring parameters of the realities of the "lifeworld."

Pragmatism (from the ancient Greek pragmata meaning "deeds, actions") is a philosophical movement that bases truth on practical consequences and the search for meaningful significance in the process of cognition. Its origins are often linked to the American philosopher Charles Peirce, who first articulated the "maxim" of pragmatism. Pragmatism later evolved through the works of William James, John Dewey, and George Santayana.

Pragmatic Maxim—in other words, the maxim of pragmatism—is a principle of logic articulated by the American philosopher Charles Peirce, aimed at achieving optimal clarity and understanding in scientific inquiry. This maxim serves as the foundation of pragmatism and states: "In studying any subject, one should consider only those properties that will have practical significance and meaning for affirming our beliefs (clear systematic conceptions of the nature of that subject or phenomenon and its properties)."

Border Situations are a category within existential philosophy that describes circumstances where there is a serious threat to human life. The term was introduced by the German philosopher and psychiatrist Karl Jaspers, one of the founders of existentialism, in his work "Reason and Existence." Border situations arise in the face of death, guilt, severe life trials, and intense stress. In such instances, the human organism, for the sake of self-preservation, mobilizes all its internal reserves, and feelings are heightened to the maximum. According to existentialism, a border situation reveals to a person their existence, the meaning of their personal being, and an understanding of their own existence (existence in the world).

Principles of Dialectics are complex, concentrated forms of dialectical knowledge that encapsulate the primary direction and essence of scientific inquiry. Such principles typically include the principle of development, the principle of universal connection, the principle of the unity (or identity) of dialectics, logic, and theory of knowledge, the principle of ascent from the abstract to the concrete, and the principle of the unity of the historical and the logical.

Providentialism (from Latin providentia meaning "providence") is a religious understanding of history as an expression of God's will, the realization of a preordained divine plan for the "salvation" of humanity. This perspective is characteristic of nearly all monotheistic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The developed providential understanding of the historical process as a pathway to the "kingdom of God" laid the foundation for all medieval Christian ecclesiastical historiography, as articulated by Augustine of Hippo.

Productive Forces represent one of the central concepts in Marxist philosophy, encapsulating the essence of the mode of production. The principal productive force is humanity itself, with its knowledge, production experience, and labor skills. The material productive forces, or means of labor, comprise all that enables humans to affect the objects of labor. Functional productive forces pertain to the manner of collective human activity (the technological mode of production), encompassing labor division, specialization, cooperation, combination, sequence of technological operations, and management of the technological cycle.

Contradictions refer to the interaction of opposing, mutually exclusive aspects and tendencies of objects and phenomena, which nonetheless exist in a state of internal unity and mutual penetration, serving as the source of self-movement and development in both the objective world and cognition. The category of contradiction holds a central place in the materialist dialectic of Karl Marx.

Psychoanalysis is both a method of psychotherapy and a philosophical doctrine that focuses on unconscious mental processes and motivations. Emerging in the late 19th and early 20th centuries through the investigations of Austrian physician Sigmund Freud, psychoanalysis revealed that traumatic events, affective experiences, unfulfilled desires, and similar phenomena do not vanish from the psyche but are subject to repression—an active removal from consciousness into the realm of the unconscious, where they continue to exert influence on mental life, often manifesting in masked, "coded" forms as neurotic symptoms that significantly affect the behavior and life of the individual.

Rationalism (from Latin ratio - reason) is a philosophical and ideological stance asserting that the true foundations of existence and its comprehension are rooted in the principles of reason. The term "reason" was carried into philosophy from theology, where it designated a movement whose proponents advocated for the purification of religion from all that could not find a rational explanation. Philosophical rationalism can be traced back to Antiquity, notably to Socrates' teaching that beauty and goodness are forms of purposefulness, and that true knowledge constitutes a sufficient condition for ethical behavior; to Plato's doctrine of Ideas as the true substantial realities; and to Aristotle's conception of the cosmic intellect as the universal condition of being and thought, among others. The classical paradigm of rationalism was shaped by European philosophers of the 17th and 18th centuries (Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz).

Realism (in medieval philosophy) is the doctrine opposed to nominalism, positing that genuine reality is possessed only by general concepts (universals), while the things existing in the empirical world are mutable, particular, and temporal. Concepts precede things; they are ideas in the divine intellect. Therefore, their knowledge is only possible through reason. Extreme realists (like Eriugena) asserted that universals (general ideas, concepts) exist ideally, prior to things. Moderate realists (like Thomas Aquinas) maintained that universals exist within things. The debate between nominalists and realists sharpened logic, marking a principal achievement of medieval scholasticism, fostering the development of scientific rigor, and laying the foundations for the theory of sets and mathematical logic.

Religion is a distinct form of worldview conditioned by faith in the supernatural (most often in God, deities, or what represents them), encompassing a system of moral norms and types of behavior, rituals, cultic actions, and the unification of individuals into organizations (such as churches or religious communities).

Self-knowledge is the study of one’s own psychological and physical characteristics, an exploration of the self. It begins in childhood and continues throughout life, gradually forming through reflection on both the external world and one’s own understanding. In philosophy, the emphasis on personal self-knowledge was first articulated by the ancient Greek thinker Socrates, who noted that a person can only know the world once they come to know themselves.

Consciousness is one of the fundamental concepts of philosophy, denoting the ability to reproduce reality as well as the specific mechanisms and forms of such reproduction at various levels. From a materialist perspective on the fundamental question of philosophy, consciousness is regarded as a property of highly organized matter, manifesting as the mental reflection of reality, as conscious existence, as subjective reality in contrast to the objective, as the ideal in opposition to the material, and in unity with it. In a narrower sense, consciousness refers to a higher form of mental reflection characteristic of socially developed individuals, embodying the ideal aspect of their labor activities.

Worldview is a system of an individual's perspectives on the surrounding world, encompassing knowledge, principles, ideas, beliefs, ideals, and spiritual values, which ultimately determine the individual's place within this world.

Freedom is the possession of the possibility for an individual or process to choose a variant and to realize (ensure) the outcome of an event. The absence of such choice and the realization of choice is equivalent to the absence of freedom—unfreedom. Throughout the historical development of the concept of freedom, the notion of creative freedom gradually supplanted the idea of freedom from impediments (coercion, causality, fate). In ancient philosophy (in Socrates and Plato), freedom primarily pertains to fate, later evolving into freedom from political despotism (in Aristotle and Epicurus) and the suffering of human existence (in Epicurus, the Stoics, and Neoplatonism). In the medieval period, it referred to freedom from sin and the Church's curse, highlighting the discord between the morally necessary freedom of individuals and the demands of religion and the omnipotence of God. During the Renaissance and beyond, freedom was understood as the unimpeded, all-encompassing unfolding of human personality.

Modern philosophy often revisits the issue of freedom, as seen in existentialism. According to Heidegger's existentialism, the fundamental state of being is anxiety—the fear of the possibility of non-being—a fear that liberates individuals from all the conventions of reality and, thus, allows them to achieve a measure of freedom by choosing themselves in their inevitable "reliance" on personal responsibility (see abandonment), selecting oneself as an entity with intrinsic existential value. In Jasper’s existentialism, individuals are free to transcend the being of the world through the choice of self and attain transcendence of the All-Encompassing.

Sophistry (from Greek sophistike - the skillful conduct of debate or conversation) refers to: 1) a philosophical movement in Ancient Greece, created by sophists—paid teachers of wisdom (such as Protagoras, Critias, and Phrasymachus); 2) arguments based on deliberate violations of the laws of logic and the use of fallacious reasoning, aimed at demonstrating the relativity of existing conclusions about the world, particularly the relativity of societal moral standards (ethical relativism).

Mode of production is a historically specific unity of productive forces and relations of production. This concept characterizes the social aspects of human activity directed towards the creation of material goods necessary for life. K. Marx defined the place and significance of the mode of production in social life thus: "The mode of production of material life conditions the social, political, and spiritual processes of life as a whole."

Sublimation (from Latin sublimare - to elevate) is the process and result of transforming the energy of sexual desire (libido), characterized by the substitution of a sexual goal for a more distant and socially valued aim. The originator of this concept was the Austrian physician and psychotherapist S. Freud, who identified various creative processes (creative activities) as the primary forms of sublimation's manifestation.

The subject of cognition is the bearer of object-practical activity and knowledge, the source of cognitive activity directed toward the object of knowledge. The subject of cognition may be either an individual (a person) or various social groups (society as a whole). When the subject of cognition is an individual, their self-awareness (the experience of one's "I") is determined by the entire world of culture created throughout human history. Successful cognitive activity can only be realized under the active role of the subject in the cognitive process.

Social being and social consciousness are categories of historical materialism by K. Marx, developed to address the fundamental question of philosophy in relation to society. Social being refers to the material relations of people to nature and to one another, arising concurrently with the formation of human society. Social consciousness is the spiritual side of the historical process, which does not represent a mere sum of individual consciousness among members of society but is a cohesive spiritual phenomenon with a specific internal structure that includes various levels (theoretical and everyday consciousness, ideology, social psychology) and forms of consciousness (political and legal consciousness, morality, religion, art, philosophy, science).

Socio-economic formation in Marxism refers to a historically defined stage in the development of human society characterized by a unique mode of production, along with the corresponding social and political relations, legal norms and institutions, and ideologies resulting from that mode. The principal socio-economic formations are: primitive communal, slave-holding, feudal, capitalist, and communist.

Society is a part of the material world that has separated from nature, representing a form of human activity that develops historically. In the history of philosophy, society has often been understood as a collection of individual humans who unite to satisfy "social instincts" (Aristotle), to regulate their actions (Hobbes, Rousseau), and so forth. The understanding of society as based on convention, agreement, or shared interests was characteristic of philosophy from the 17th to the early 19th centuries. However, in the 19th century, criticism of the "contractual" theory of society emerged. Comte traced the origins of society to the operation of some abstract law governing the formation of complex systems. Hegel contrasted the "contractual" theory with the interpretation of "civil society" as the sphere of economic relations, where the interdependence of all is thoroughly intertwined.

Scholasticism (from Latin scholastica, from Greek scholastikos - school-related, learned) is a type of religious philosophy characterized by the principled subordination of theology, the integration of religious dogmas with rationalistic methodology, and a particular interest in formal-logical problems; it reached its fullest development and dominance in Western Europe during the Middle Ages (Anselm of Canterbury, Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, among others).

Theology (from the Greek Theos - God and logos - teaching) is the doctrine concerning God, which began to take shape after the Nicene Council in 325 AD, when the first Christian dogmas and the foundations of Christian belief were established. Prominent theologians of the 4th century included such writers as Athanasius the Great, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, Leo, the Pope of Rome, Maximus the Confessor, and others. Historical theology can be divided into biblical disciplines, the history of the church, and the history of religion and culture.

Theocentrism (from the Greek - God and Latin centrum - center) signifies: 1) a concept in religious philosophy positing God as the source, center, and purpose of all existence; 2) a characteristic of medieval European philosophy, built upon the recognition of the Bible as the absolute truth.

Transcendental Idealism is a stance in Kant's doctrine that equates and confines observed entities to phenomena of consciousness. The fundamental premise of this stance is the distinction between phenomena as units of experience and things-in-themselves. In his Critique of Pure Reason, Kant directly identifies his philosophy with transcendental idealism. The antithesis of transcendental idealism is transcendental realism (a position that equates phenomena with things as they exist independently).

"Care" is one of the foundational concepts of existentialism, introduced by M. Heidegger. The significance of the category of "care" is purely ontological-existential, expressing the structure of human being. It embodies the unity of three modes of being: being-in-the-world, being as a projection into the future, and being in relation to the worldly existent. Care, in its literal sense, means: “to be - always - already - ahead - of oneself - in - the form of - being - within - the worldly existent.” The three modes of care express three moments in time: the past, the future, and the present.

Universals (from Latin universalis - general) are general concepts. In philosophical terms, the problem of universals raises questions about what constitutes real being, how the ideal exists, and how thought relates to reality, the general to the particular. The doctrine of universals explicitly emerges with Plato's theory of "Ideas" and Aristotle's concepts of form and matter. Plato posited that true being corresponds to general concepts ("Ideas"), while individual entities of the sensory world are the result of the limitation and fragmentation of the general in its interaction with non-being. Aristotle emphasized that for the comprehension of the general, it is secondary and manifests only in primary essences, i.e., in individual objects given in sensory experience.

In medieval philosophy, the problem of universals took on the character of dispute—do they exist in reality? Those who acknowledged the real existence of universals formed the direction known as realism (e.g., Eriugena, Anselm of Canterbury), while those who believed that universals do not exist in reality—that they are merely sounds of the human voice or names (nomina)—adhered to nominalism (e.g., John Roscelin). Others interpreted universals as generalizations based on the resemblance of objects, known as conceptualism. The struggle among these three directions (and numerous intermediary variants) permeated the entirety of the Middle Ages, stimulating the development of logic and ontology, as well as the systematization of theology.

Falsification is one of the principles of neopositivism, proposed by the American scholar Popper. It is founded on the fact that direct confirmation of a scientific theory is often complicated by the impossibility of accounting for all specific instances of its application, whereas the refutation of a theory requires only a single instance that contradicts it. Therefore, if a theory is formulated such that a situation in which it could be disproven might exist, then such a theory can be deemed scientific. A theory that is irrefutable in principle cannot be scientific.

Phenomenon (from the Greek phainomenon - that which appears) is a philosophical term signifying an occurrence grasped in sensory experience. Aristotle employed this term in the sense of "visible," "illusory," while Leibniz referred to facts known through experience. According to Kant, a phenomenon encompasses all that can be a subject of possible experience; here, the phenomenon stands in opposition to the noumenon, or "the thing-in-itself."

In Husserl's phenomenology, a phenomenon is directly given in consciousness as the content of an intentional act. Phenomenology is the doctrine of phenomena, a philosophical movement of the 20th century, founded by E. Husserl, who considered the task of phenomenology to unveil the pure structure of consciousness (its initial intentionality—its directedness toward an object) by purging it of empirical content and liberating it from any dogmatic assertions arising from the ordinary, "natural attitude" of consciousness towards the world. Phenomenology is envisioned as an intuitive discernment of ideal essences (phenomena) directly presented in consciousness.

Phenomenological Reduction is one of the central concepts in Husserl's phenomenology, linked to the process of liberating consciousness from a naturalistic stance. The roots of this practice can be traced back to Descartes' radical doubt. Phenomenological reduction literally signifies the reduction of things to phenomena and the setting aside of discussions about their actual status. This transition from the natural attitude to the transcendental-phenomenological is termed by Husserl as the "Copernican revolution."

“In the natural attitude, things are presented to me as existing outside my consciousness, in space and time. I perceive them not as images residing in my consciousness, but as a transcendent physical reality. By transitioning from the perception of the world (in the natural attitude) to focusing on the very experiences of consciousness (in reflection), we gain the ability to perform the phenomenological reduction.”

Physics is a concept that first appeared in the works of one of the greatest thinkers of antiquity—Aristotle, who lived in the 4th century BC. Initially, the terms "physics" and "philosophy" were synonymous, as both disciplines aimed to explain the laws governing the functioning of the universe. However, as a result of the scientific revolution of the 16th century, physics emerged as a distinct scientific discipline.

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems of being, such as essence and existence, knowledge, truth, justice, beauty, legality, reason, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other approaches to these questions (such as mysticism or mythology) by its critical, systematic approach and confidence in the arguments provided. The term "philosophy" has ancient Greek origins: philosophia, meaning "love of knowledge," "love of wisdom."

Philosophy of the Heart is a current in the Ukrainian philosophical tradition that continues the theme of human wholeness and spiritual being. It embodies the idea of self-knowledge as spiritual self-development through the presence of a spiritual meaning-driven engine—the heart (from Latin - cardio). The philosophy of the heart does not oppose or sever but rather unites faith and knowledge (reason). They are defined as equally valuable, co-equal paths of understanding the world, God, and self-knowledge, paths that converge and mutually reinforce one another. The ideas of cardio-centrism were upheld by Ukrainian thinkers such as Hryhorii Skovoroda and Pamfil Yurkevych.

Christianity is the largest world religion, founded upon the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, as described in the second part of the Bible—the New Testament. It emerged in the 1st century AD in Palestine. Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, a hypostasis of the Divine Trinity, who descended from Heaven for the salvation of humanity, suffering innocently and being crucified for the sins of people, thus becoming a redemptive sacrifice and the assurance of faith—everyone who believes in Him has the opportunity to receive eternal life after death. According to Scripture, they also believe that He rose on the third day after His crucifixion and ascended to Heaven, confirming His divinity and the truth of the Christian faith.