Most people who hear the word “philosophy” have the impression that this is something far from real life, a kind of boring brainwave. But there is another opinion that argues that philosophy is very useful, and it should serve the interests of society, the state, religion, nation, and so on. However, a social phenomenon serving the needs of politics, economy, society or the state is just a stripped-down and often distorted part of philosophy, its surrogate, called the ideology. But the main tasks of philosophy have nothing to do with this - it, as the modern classical philosopher Martin Heidegger wrote , does not teach anything, except that it teaches you to think by example.
Philosophy is an organic part of human culture, as is science, law, art, ethics. Moreover, many of the above forms of social consciousness at one time grew out of it. First of all, philosophy was born out of humanity’s attempts to explain and assimilate the world around us (in the spiritual and practical sense of the word). The experience of the history of philosophy, which totals almost three thousand years, as well as the relevant trends and discoveries of the twentieth century, singled out the basic functions of philosophy. Their essence is that philosophy poses questions and raises problems that encompass the world as a whole.
Within the framework of the structure of philosophical knowledge, these functions are very interconnected and mutually determine each other. When philosophical knowledge tries to solve the problem of being as such, the forces that drive it, its essence and forms, fundamental principles and categories, then it performs an ontological function. Although the term “ontology” itself was introduced into scientific discourse only in the 17th century, various options for understanding life have been developed since antiquity. But the basic functions of philosophy do not end there. At least its ontological and cognitive role is inseparable from each other.
Philosophy, of course, is not the sum of scientific knowledge, as a concrete science. But it raises the question of how theoretical, including specifically scientific, knowledge is possible . Epistemology explores the problems, sources, possibilities of cognition, the criteria for its probability and truth, and also raises the question of the unity and difference of cognition and understanding. The basic functions of philosophy include such an essential function of knowledge as the science of the method. This is the doctrine of the principles of cognition of the world and its individual phenomena, as well as methods for identifying patterns. At the same time, some philosophical teachings recognize the cognizability of the world, while others believe that methodology does not lead to truth.
The main functions of philosophy relate not only to the comprehension of the theoretical and rational spheres of human life. One of its most important roles is the praxeological one, related to the analysis of the relationship between people, society and culture. Its development was the reason for the emergence of the philosophy of history, religion, aesthetics, ethics, politics and so on. A special function also stood out - the philosophy of values. This is a theory of principles of universal significance. They determine the nature of various human actions, as well as the criteria for distinguishing between good and evil, and the choice between them. The axiological role of philosophy is that it studies the value orientations of man and ideals, generalizing the spiritual experience of many generations, offering universal and universal values and warning against neglecting them.
Since all philosophical problems are rethought through the prism of human perception, they are inseparable from the system of categories such as faith, love, morality, attitude towards death, and so on. The nature of the worldview is determined by categories such as attitudes or attitudes.
Based on this orientation of the personality, the view on the essence of man and his spiritual and social nature may change. Thus, the fatalistic approach sees a person as a puppet doomed to obedience, while a voluntarist approach, on the contrary, speaks of the absolute freedom of a person. That is why the philosophical function of philosophy also has considerable significance. We can say that these basic roles, which crystallized over the many years of the development of the history of philosophy, are constant, “invariant,” and provide the key to understanding the various dimensions of philosophical knowledge.