For many centuries, the greatest minds have been occupied by such a problem as the origin of philosophy. Thinkers look deep into history in order to fully understand the teaching that has set itself the task of comprehending being. So how and why did the birth of philosophy happen? To this question, thinkers formulated three basic concepts. Let's consider each of them.
The first concept is mythogenic. Its essence lies in the assumption that philosophy is the pinnacle of myth. We will analyze this concept in more detail. Initially, a man came up with fictions and legends, which in essence are an affective, emotional way of understanding the world. Then the completely natural development of myths gave rise to a separate direction, which is aimed at understanding life with the help of reason and logic. This concept, which reveals the origin of philosophy, has an important advantage. It takes into account the fact that the study and understanding of life is impossible only with the help of one logic. Philosophy, as the pinnacle of a myth, is not just a rational way of knowing, but also comprehension of being with the help of the emotional component of a person’s thinking. That is, the concept recognizes that the thinker should use not only logic, but also all the other tools that are at his disposal. In particular, this refers to the individual sensory experience of the philosopher, and not just theoretical rational schemes.
The following concept is called epistemogenic. The origin of philosophy, according to this theory, is more associated with scientific rationalism than with mythology. Let's try to analyze this idea in more detail. According to this concept, philosophy is not a continuation of myths, but rather their critical and rational overcoming. In this case, the victory of reason and logic over affective fiction. Many scholars point out the weak point of this concept, which consists in the fact that the importance of understanding the world through sensory and emotional experience is excluded. However, despite its disadvantages, a similar explanation for the appearance of the discipline in question is quite popular.
There is another curious theory that in its own way interprets the origin of philosophy. This concept is called a “quality leap”. Its essence lies in the fact that philosophy is as if isolated from all other teachings. According to the concept, this discipline is not a derivative industry, but an absolutely and originally autonomous region. That is, philosophy actually gave birth to itself, as soon as a person began to think about a rational knowledge of the world. However, this theory does not in any way deny the high importance of all accumulated knowledge, without which the appearance of the discipline in question would not have been possible.
Now you know all the basic concepts of the origin of philosophy. It should be noted that it is better to perceive the received information in its entirety, without dividing it into true and false statements. All three concepts, when correctly understood, are not mutually exclusive, but, on the contrary, they complement each other. Do not forget that each of the proposed theories has its advantages and disadvantages. In addition, each of the concepts reviewed has its own dedicated fans and irreconcilable critics.
The problem of the origin of philosophy will be solved by you only with a holistic perception of the material, coupled with independent thinking. Now let’s try to comprehend why it is so important to understand how the discipline in question originated. The answer to the question of how this science came about can be given only by philosophy itself. This is her prerogative. The solution to this problem will help to better comprehend the psychology of the knowing individuals themselves, to see the dynamics of the development of philosophy.