What is philosophical criticism? The answer to this question can be given from different perspectives. In our article we will analyze in detail what constitutes the direction of criticism in philosophy, as well as what branches it has.
Sources of criticism
Criticism owes its roots to scholastic, that is, medieval philosophy. As you know, until the XIV century, most scientific research evolved around the theory of God. A similar phenomenon is called theology. However, too idealistic views of medieval philosophers began to debunk closer to the Renaissance. The "new school" began to accuse the "old" of excessive dogmatism, consisting in abstract logic and inaccurate line of reasoning. At the same time, the new school began to adhere to the ideas of nominalism, which is quite far from skepticism and empirical research programs. It was a spontaneous movement that manifested itself among many thinkers at the same time.
Gradually, two philosophical centers took shape - in Oxford and Paris. The most typical and influential representative of early criticism was William Ockham, a British philosopher of the first half of the fourteenth century. It was thanks to him that the first principles of criticism in philosophy began to appear.
Aristotelianism as a harbinger of criticism
So, what is the concept under consideration? Criticism is a critical attitude to something, a philosophical position, which is characterized by strong anti-dogmatism. In order to better understand what constitutes the considered philosophical direction, it is necessary to trace its history from ancient times.
Skepticism tended to Arab-Jewish philosophy. There was a theory of dual truth. Averroists believed that proof is a matter of reason, and truth is a matter of faith. There was also agustinism, which linked paranormal enlightenment with the conditions for knowing the truth. Finally, Aristotelianism is the closest to criticism of all the ancient philosophical schools. Aristotle distinguished speculation from knowledge, providing truth. Speculation has a place only in the realm of probability.
Scotism as a harbinger of criticism
In scholastic philosophy, the source of criticism is the teachings of Duns Scotus. By virtue of his ultra-realism, he was most resistant to the new aspirations that skepticism was preparing. This is due to theological voluntarism. Scott claimed that all truths depend on the will of God. They would be a delusion if God's will were different. From this we can conclude: truth is imaginary.
Here, the second important aspect should be highlighted. Scott doubts the evidence for theological statements. Theological skepticism of modernists of the XIV century only continued this tradition.
By cattle, a path to intuitionism was laid. The philosopher was able to strictly separate intuitive knowledge from the abstract. If we talk about the founder of scholastic criticism, Occam, he was closer to Scott rather than Thomas Aquinas. And this is no accident: the evolution of philosophy itself went along the path from Thomism to Scotism, but from Scotism to Occamism. Criticism is the mind. Thomism did not trust the mind. For the full moon of truth, he preferred faith to a greater degree.
Parisian direction in criticism
The Parisian direction appeared earlier than Oxford. Its representatives are Dominicans, Duran from the monastery of San Porziano, as well as Harvey from Natal. There were also Phrasiscans like John of Poliazzoi and Pierre Halo. It was the Halo that most fully and accurately formed new ideas in the early phase of the new French wave.
Halo himself was a nominalist. He argued that things are not considered common, but only a variant of their understanding by the mind. In reality, there are only a few objects. The second point is that we learn not in a "generalized and abstract way", but through experience. Halo himself spoke out in defense of empiricism. The third point is the skeptical views of the philosopher. He relied on the fundamental postulates of psychology - such as the soul, body and other things. Fourth, Halo was considered a phenomenalist. He argued that the immediate object of knowledge is not things, but only phenomena. The fifth and final moment in the philosophy of the Paris trend is logical conceptualism. A positive view was cast on the nature of universals.
Oxford Direction in Criticism
The second area of early criticism is the Oxford School. It began with minor thinkers preaching skeptical tendencies. However, soon the direction quickly caught up thanks to an outstanding personality - William Ockham. This philosopher came to his views, despite Parisian modernism. On the contrary, he specifically emphasized the fact that he met with Halo when his positions were already formed.
Occam's views were based on Oxford theology and the natural sciences. Ockham strongly influenced the personality of the French followers. The “New Way” was adopted both in England and in France, exactly in the form that William Ockham gave it. They began to call the philosopher the "venerable founder" of a new trend in scholasticism.
Occam's Philosophy
Defining reasonable criticism without describing Occam's philosophy will fail. The philosopher opposed the prevailing scholasticism, which had already become classical. He was an exponent of a new spirit. William's positions were formed according to the following points:
- anti-dogmatism;
- anti-systematic;
- anti-realism;
- anti-rationality.
Particular attention should be paid precisely to anti-realism. The thing is that instead of forming a system, Occam was criticizing knowledge. According to the results of criticism, he came to the conclusion that most scientific research is based on a small number of proper reasons. Ockham did not call the main body of knowledge the discursive mind, but direct intuition. In general terms, he saw the results of speech and thinking, to which universal being does not correspond at all.
Occam replaced the old concepts with new ones. Thus, epistemological problems have come to the fore. He also paved the way for fideism and skepticism. Intuitionism has taken the field of rationalism. In turn, nominalism and psychological conceptualism have replaced realism.
Skepticism in the system of criticism
So, the essence of criticism was revealed, though not fully, by William Ockham. This concept was further developed through the prism of skepticism. So, with regard to the rational knowledge of God and the world that the scholastics formed, Occam's position was initially skeptical. First of all, the philosopher tried to show that theology is not a science in itself. All its provisions were called into question by Ockham. If earlier philosophers were gradually freed from the shackles of theology, then William stepped on its foundations.
In rational psychology, as Ockham argued, the original propositions also do not contain any evidence. There is no way to fully verify that the soul is immaterial, and that a person obeys it. And moreover, there is no evidence in ethics. According to Occam, divine will is the only meaning of the moral god, and no objective laws can limit his omnipotence.
Criticism in Science
Having dealt with the history and basic foundations of criticism, we should now pay attention to its modern understanding. Criticism in the general sense is the ability to timely and qualitatively reflect in the negative communication mode. The basic principle here is the ability to turn back to the initial premises, in the role of which events and situations, ideas and theories, principles and various kinds of statements can act.
Criticism is closely connected with the attitude to a fundamental change in one’s own position, if it turns out to be weak under the pressure of a large number of counterarguments.
At the same time, criticism is a willingness to defend and uphold the proposed idea. This direction involves both dialogue and polylogue immediately with many participants.
Kant's criticism
The most vivid criticism was expressed in the works of Immanuel Kant. For the famous philosopher, criticism was idealistic philosophy, which denied the cognition of the objective world. She considered her main goal to criticize the cognitive abilities of the person himself.
Kant's work distinguishes two periods: “subcritical” and “critical”. The first period includes the gradual liberation of Kant from the ideas of Wolf's metaphysics. Criticism is considered the time of raising the question of the possibility of metaphysics as a science. Some kind of social criticism appeared. New guidelines were created in philosophy, the theory of the activity of consciousness, and much more. Kant reveals his ideas about criticism in the famous Critique of Pure Reason.