The initial stage of knowledge
Dialectical materialism about the process of cognition.
The great revolutionary upheaval accomplished by the classics of Marxism-Leninism in the theory of knowledge consists in the fact that for the first time in the history of social thought they showed that knowledge is a dialectical process of reflection of objects and phenomena of the material world in the mind of a person, taking place on the basis of social practice. They proved that knowledge is not an instantaneous reflection, not a dead, immovable imprint, but a complex, contradictory, endless process of human consciousness moving from ignorance to knowledge, from incomplete, inaccurate knowledge to more complete and more accurate knowledge.
The process of human cognition of objective reality, from the point of view of dialectical materialism, consists of two main stages or moments: empirical, i.e., experimental, and rational, i.e., mental.
In the history of philosophy, these moments of cognition were often considered one-sidedly, metaphysically, separated from each other, opposed to each other. Some philosophers - supporters of rationalism (Descartes, Spinoza, etc.) - saw the source of our knowledge mainly in the mental activity of people, in the mind. They recognized only reason, consciousness as real and dependable, and completely ignored the significance of experience, sensory perception in the process of cognition.
The vice of rationalism lies in its ignorance of the position that rational knowledge cannot proceed without sensory perception. It is completely meaningless to talk about the knowledge of a person deprived of the sense organs with which he communicates with the outside world. Before thinking, it is necessary to obtain material, facts from the surrounding reality, which constitute the source of knowledge.
There was in the history of philosophy another, opposite direction, called empiricism (Bacon, Hobbes, Locke, etc.). Representatives of this trend considered experience as the basis and source of our knowledge and ignored the role of a rational, logical moment in the process of cognition. They did not understand that the material of sensory perception cannot reflect the essence, the inner content of the phenomenon being studied. For a complete and comprehensive study of the phenomena of the material world, it is necessary to subject the material of sensory perception to rational, mental, mental processing, that is, to make a leap from sensations to logical, abstract, rational knowledge. Logical thinking, as we will see below, plays a huge role in cognition, is its most important stage.
Dialectical materialism denies a one-sided approach to the process of cognition, believing that the rational and empirical moments of cognition are dialectically connected with each other, penetrate each other, complement each other in a complex and diverse process of cognition that proceeds on the basis of the socio-historical practice of people.
Describing the dialectical path of cognition of the objectively existing world, V. I. Lenin wrote:
“From living contemplation to abstract thinking and from it to practice - such is the dialectical path of cognition of truth, cognition of objective reality.” (Lenin. Philosophical Notebooks, pp. 146-147. Gospolitizdat.)From this classical position of V. I. Lenin, it first of all follows that the process of cognition begins with a living contemplation, with the perception of things and phenomena of the material world, i.e., with the direct interaction of a person with the studied objects, phenomena with the help of the senses.
Influencing the human senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste), objects of the external world cause various sensations in his mind (sensations of a certain color, shape, hardness, smell, taste, etc.). Sensation is the first sensual image of individual properties of objects or phenomena, resulting from the impact of objects or phenomena on the human senses. “Sensation,” V. I. Lenin points out, “is the result of the impact of an objectively existing thing in itself, outside of us, on our sense organs ...”. (V. I. Lenin. Soch., vol. 14, p. 106.) A person can communicate with the outside world, interact with the objects and phenomena surrounding him only through sensations.
Therefore, sensations are the only source of our knowledge about the reality around us. V. I. Lenin pointed out that we cannot learn anything about any forms of matter, about any forms of movement except through sensations. But with the help of sensations, only individual properties of objects and phenomena are reflected in our consciousness. The whole image of these objects and phenomena is reflected in the minds of people through a higher form of knowledge - through perception.
For example, if we observe a plant, then with the help of the organs of vision we feel the shape, color, size of this plant; with the help of hands we feel the nature of the surface of the stem and leaves, their shape; with the help of smell, we establish the smell of a plant, etc. But all these sensations are perceived by us not in isolation from each other, but as properties of a single object.
Sensations provide material for perceptions. The latter can arise only on the basis of sensations. But perception is not a mechanical sum of sensations, but an integral sensual image of objects, phenomena with the totality of their properties, qualities, aspects reflected in sensations.
The third form of sensory reflection in the human mind of the material world is representation. Representation is a sensual image of those objects and phenomena that we perceived before, but which are not directly perceived at the moment. This is a reproduction in the human mind of those objects and phenomena that influenced our senses, were perceived in the past and remained in our memory. We easily, for example, reproduce in our minds images of people close to us, familiar, previously perceived by us objects, etc.
Representation, as well as sensation and perception, is a sensory image resulting from the impact of things and phenomena on our senses. But this is a higher form of sensory reflection of the material world in the human mind. Representation is not a mechanical imprint of an object, a phenomenon in the human brain, but the result of all the rich experience of past perceptions. Therefore, representations contain elements of generalization.
Sensations, perceptions, and ideas constitute the first and necessary stage of cognition - the stage of direct, living contemplation. Any knowledge begins with the direct interaction of a person with objects of the external world, which takes place in the process of social practice. This interaction can take place only with the help of the sense organs in the form of sensations, perceptions, and ideas. Therefore, sensory knowledge is the direct or indirect source of all human knowledge.
Describing the process of the emergence of thoughts in deaf-mutes and revealing the inseparable connection of these thoughts with objective reality, Comrade Stalin wrote in his work Marxism and Questions of Linguistics:
everyday life about the objects of the external world and their relationships with each other due to the senses of sight, touch, taste, smell. Outside of these images, perceptions, ideas, thought is empty, devoid of any content whatsoever, that is, it does not exist. (I. Stalin. Marxism and questions of linguistics, p. 47. Gospolitizdat 1951.)
This applies not only
to the deaf and dumb, but also to all other people who, unlike the deaf and
dumb, have not only the organs of sight, touch, taste, smell, but also the
organs of hearing. Only thanks to these sense organs can a person communicate
with objects, phenomena of the external world, reflect them in his mind, learn
their properties, qualities, patterns of their development.
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