Ecology and culture

(the thesises of the fundamental monography of the member of the scientist of the council of Academy ES&E in Ukraine, academician, dr. (PhD) econ. scies., prof., the Dr. of commerce AES&E Ramaza Akkakievicha Logua for Ukrainian reader)

EKOLOGICAL CULTURE/EKOKULTURA/

Man cannot coexist without the manifold elements of biosphere, component which it self is, while particular component defining (partly already now, and even more in historic prospectus) the character of power engineering of biosphere. Its the life energy designated otherwise (as to V.I.VERNADSKOMU) as its chemical apparatus, Here is what we must to understand and internalize from His work “Biosphere” (essay second “Area Life”):

This apparatus consists of the certain bunchings of life which borrow, always fluctuating, one and the same places in earthly capsules replying biosphere. These bunchings of life - live films of and bodying of life - are as more civil делениями earthly capsules. Generally, their centered character is withstanded, though they never give solid, of the continuous cover of the surface of planet.

They are the areas of planet chemically active; Here centralized diversified static - established - systems the dynamic equilibrium of earthly chemical elements. This area, where ambient all globe the asteriated energy of Sun assumes the form of earthly free chemical energy, while she turns into in earthly energy in various measure for various chemical elements. The existence of these areas of planet is  connected, on the one part, with that energy, what she gettings from Sun, and with other - with the affinities of that live substance being the battery of this energy in earthly chemistry” (V.I. Vernadskii. Biosphere (Select jobs as to biogeochemistry. Publishers. ‘Mysl’, Moscow, 1967, p. 347).

“In the geological history of the biosphere, a huge future opens before a person if he understands this and does not use his mind and his work for self-destruction” (ibid., P. 355).

If normal changes of conditions in nature lead to the fact that one species dies out over 100 years, then in this period, 50 species are destroyed on Earth every hour (!). Currently, 63% of Earth’s natural ecosystems are destroyed on land. The death of many water systems, both freshwater and marine, continues and is aggravated. This happens for various reasons, associated not only with man-made pollution of the biosphere, but also with the unreasonable, predatory and consumer use of natural resources.

This is also because the twentieth-century human world culture and mind continue to remain inertial in the transition to the XXI century at the “anthropocentric” level of thinking, it is still far from the “biocentric” and “sociocentric” ways of thinking. They must be immediately formed, cultivated and developed.

Here are some indicators that indicate a crisis of the environmental situation: according to official statistics of the World Health Organization (WHO), up to 30% of diseases of the population is associated with environmental pollution. In the Russian Federation, about 17% of the territory belongs to zones of ecological distress, which is approximately equal to the territory of six France. Almost two thirds of the population of Russia live in conditions of dangerous air pollution. Residents of 100 cities (50 million people) breathe air, the content of toxic substances in which is 5 or more times the maximum permissible concentration. About 75% of open water bodies are considered polluted, and one-fourth of them are almost impossible to clean. Increasing the background radiation in many regions of Russia is another important reason for the destruction of the nation’s gene pool.

The acuteness of the current environmental situation is that humanity, through its production and economic activities aimed at satisfying material needs (including those that are not necessary, but only caused by transient, concrete historical forms of production), has changed the surrounding nature so much that found themselves the foundations of life, the existence of man as a biological species. As a result of this, already in the twentieth century, humanity came face to face with a global environmental problem.

Homo sapiens turned out to be a slave to their own unreasonableness - due to the fact that until now society’s relations with nature developed spontaneously, and the most important criterion for the development of culture was its transforming power, aimed at the submission and conquest of nature, and in a very vulgar way - for the sake of turning nature into a source raw materials for the production of goods and the transformation into goods of various objects of nature. The spontaneous nature of the development of socio-natural relations has led to a gap between nature and culture, and even their opposition.

In addition to the depletion and destruction of the habitat caused by the unbridled desire for profit, the modern man faces a number of complex interrelated problems, called global, global. Among them, the president of the Club of Rome, A. Peccei, attributed the following factors: “The uncontrolled spread of man throughout the planet; inequality and heterogeneity of society; social injustice; hunger and malnutrition; widespread poverty; unemployment; inflation; energy crisis; an existing or potential shortage of natural resources; disintegration of the international trading system; protectionism; illiteracy and an outdated education system; youth riots; moral degradation of citizens; decay of cities; crime and drug addiction; explosion of police violence; torture and terror; neglect of law and order; nuclear madness; political corruption; bureaucracy; environmental degradation; decline of moral values; loss of faith; a sense of instability, and, finally, no awareness of all these difficulties and their interrelations. ”

In the most general form, it can be stated that religion and culture reflect that boundary connection of our material world and the transcendent world, in which the interaction of the acquired subconscious and innate unconscious components of the unconscious part of the human inner world is presented. In fact, this indicates that both religion and culture are based on the innate unconscious ability to compassion rooted in genes, the need for empathy acquired unconsciously in the experience of communication and entrenched in the subconscious, as well as the once conscious norms of value . As the unifying role of religion is asserted during its historical formation, this main essential component of the spirituality of society begins to be complemented by much more socially determined components in society, acquired unconsciously in the experience of communication and fixed in the subconscious, and also once consciously perceived value norms. This means the increasing dependence of religion on the material and intellectual needs of a particular society, in which religion functions and develops, and the gradual loss by religion of the role of an objective spiritual landmark.

According to the calculations of American demographers and sociologists, the proportion of Americans who do not consider themselves to be a single religion grew over a hundred years from 1.3 to 9.1%. In neighboring Canada, the proportion of those who did not identify themselves with any religion increased in 1931-1991. from 0.2 to 12.55%. In Finland, the proportion not belonging to any religion grew in 1975-1995. from 6.5 to 12.3%, in Austria in 1971-1991. - from 4.3 to 12%, in Germany in 1970-1998. - from 2 to 25%, in the UK in 1983-2000. - from 31 to 44% (while the number of adherents of the Anglican Church fell in 17 years by 40%). The decline of religion took place in Eastern Europe. In the Czech Republic and Moravia in 1999, 55% of the population said they did not belong to any religion. In Russia (according to the Institute of Sociology, Russian Academy of Sciences) in 1991-1999. the proportion of Russians who attended church at least once a month remained unchanged and was at the level of 6-7%, while the proportion of Russians who practically did not attend church (once a year and less often, or even never), decreased from 86% in 1991 up to 74% in 1999.

The most sensational outcome of the past twentieth century was that the center of the global departure from religion was not Europe, but Southeast Asia: three-quarters of the population of China and North Korea, two-thirds of the population of Vietnam do not consider themselves to be a single religion; in Japan, according to a 1996 survey, of such 46.6%, in Hong Kong — 64%, in Singapore — 14.8%, about the same percentage of non-believers in Taiwan. In those countries where there was not even a hint of state atheism, there is a decline in religiosity. First of all, he touched upon traditional Protestantism: Lutheranism, Calvinism, Anglicanism. The proportion of followers of these denominations in Europe fell in 100 years from 23 to 10%. On the contrary, with the sharp decline in the share of traditional Protestants, the proportion of neoprotestants, sectarians (Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Adventists, Pentecostals, Ramaista, and others) has increased dramatically over the past 100 years, just as the proportion of non-Christian sectarians: Baha'is, Spiritists, and others.

There is an increase in the followers of Islam - from 13 to 19.5%, mainly due to the high birth rate and a decrease in the death rate. A relatively smaller increase in religiosity was observed in the countries of Hinduism, where the growth of believers over 100 years was 1%.

The share of Jews in the world fell almost 100 times in 100 years. And the main reason for this is the not so greatly exaggerated Holocaust, and the assimilation and the high degree of inclination to mutations peculiar to Jews, adaptability to changing (or, in general, new) social conditions. According to official data, only in the USA more than 10 million citizens of Jewish origin live, but only 5.9 million get into the register of Jewish organizations, since the rest do not participate in the activities of religious Jewish organizations. The natural increase among the Jews is also one of the lowest in the world. In addition, Jews are one of the most atheistic nationalities: according to an international study, in 1991, in the “historical” homeland of the Jews, in Israel, 25.6% did not believe in God, not to mention their numerical affiliation to religion other countries of the world.

And the real ecological picture of the modern world leads us to absolutely terrible thoughts. So, on March 21, every year the whole world celebrates Earth Day. On the eve of this significant date in 2017, scientists from different countries tried to assess the state of our planet. The conclusions to which they reached are extremely disappointing.

For many years, the planet Earth is seriously ill. The cause of all her ailments is man. For centuries, people have tried to adapt nature to their needs. But here’s a paradox: the more they transformed the environment, the less habitable it became.

Thus, according to American scientists, since 1900, the level of ozone near the surface of the Earth has doubled, which is fraught with very unpleasant consequences for human life and health. Investigating the mortality rate for 14 years in 95 American cities, an environmental health specialist at Yale University (USA) Michelle Bell found that even a slight increase in atmospheric ozone (by 10 billionths of a billion) increases mortality by 0.52%.
But in the EU countries lead, carbon monoxide, benzene and 1,3-butadiene-1,3, as well as chemical compounds, resulting from the interaction of ozone with diesel emissions of vehicles, cause the greatest harm to health. According to the European Commission, 310 thousand people die every year due to air pollution in Europe. It was air pollution that caused a sharp drop in life expectancy in European countries. Indeed, over the past year, the average life expectancy in Finland (the most prosperous in terms of ecology of the European Union) has decreased by 3.1 months, in the Netherlands - by 12.7 months, in Belgium - by 13.6 months.

But if the problem of the twentieth century was environmental pollution, then the problem of the twenty-first century was global warming. A few years ago, he was perceived as a horror story, with which pundits periodically scare unreasonable humanity. However, in the winter of 2004-2005, more and more alarming information on this issue began to come from various parts of the globe.

Over the past hundred years, the famous Kilimanjaro snow (the highest mountain in Africa, located on the border between Kenya and Tanzania) has practically disappeared. If the melting of glaciers continues at the same pace, by 2020 they will disappear without a trace, scientists warn.

Intensive melting of glaciers is observed in the Himalayas. Every year they retreat by 10-15 meters. If this process cannot be stopped in the near future, India, Nepal and China will face unusually large floods. However, as the ice reserves dry up, they will be replaced by drought associated with the shallowing of the Ganges, Mekong, Yangtze and other major Asian rivers originating in the Himalayas.

Even more dangerous is the destruction of the ice shelves of Antarctica, recorded by Professor Chris Rapley from the British Antarctic Society. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the first alarming evidence was obtained that the glaciers of Antarctica began to decrease in size. In March 2002, Larsen’s large ice shelf broke up into icebergs, and the outflow of ice from the interior of Antarctica began. In the winter of 2005, similar processes were recorded on three glaciers in the western Antarctic, near the South Pole. According to Professor Rapley, "the destruction of the shelf ice of Antarctica can trigger a chain reaction throughout the world."

However, this seems to have happened. As Tim Barnett of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography stated, after analyzing the results of many years of observations by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, "in recent years, the temperature of the World Ocean has been growing abnormally quickly, which can only be explained by anthropogenic factors, but by no means natural processes."
            However, the best way about the advent of global warming is the change in animal behavior.

According to the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the International Red Book has been replenished with new species of animals and plants - now it indicates almost 16 thousand species that are facing extinction. According to IUCN Director General Achim Steiner, "the extinction rate of various animals is accelerating and is already almost a thousand times more than predicted." Over the next fifty years, more than 30% of the existing animal and plant species can disappear from the face of the earth. A third of amphibians, a quarter of mammals and every eighth species of birds are threatened with extinction. Especially bad will have turtles - half of these reptiles can disappear if not to take urgent measures to protect them. However, it is difficult to say what these measures should be, for the reasons for such a mass extinction are not yet determined.

A significant contribution to the destruction of all life on earth is still made by poachers. Thus, over the past hundred years the number of tigers on the Indian subcontinent has decreased from 40 thousand to 3.7 thousand individuals. Experts explain this by saying that the skins and internal organs of tigers are very highly valued on the world market. A killed tiger can be sold for 50 thousand dollars, the bones go for $ 400 per kilogram, the paw is estimated at $ 850, and the tooth - at $ 120. Feel better than lions. Over the past ten years, their livestock on the African continent has decreased by half and today stands at only 16,500 individuals. The king of beasts has suffered because of the beautiful skin, which has been in vogue for thousands of years.

Another reason for the mass extinction is the destruction of the natural habitat of the species. Thus, according to Dr. Adrianov from the Institute of Marine Biology, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the anthropogenic factor exerts its disastrous effect on all communities of marine organisms. Currently, 30% of the inhabitants of the oceans are threatened with extinction. The situation on land is no better. According to the calculations of ecologists, the duration of existence of modern species of birds and mammals is only 10 thousand years, which is 100–1000 times less than that of their fossil forms. If the habitat will continue to be destroyed at the same pace, then after 16 thousand years 96% of the modern biosphere will simply disappear.
            However, it is possible that the extinction will go even faster, because it is stimulated by the same global warming. Thus, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), after 20 years, polar bears, seals and other representatives of the polar fauna may not remain on the Earth.

But according to Professor Chris Thomas from the University of Leeds (UK), using a computer model that studied the response of 1103 plant species, mammals, birds, reptiles, frogs, butterflies and other invertebrates to global warming, 15 to 37% of species will not survive it, which will disappear from the face of the Earth until 2050.

ECONOMIC CULTURE / ECO CULTURE

Without work, no form of economic activity is unthinkable. Only human labor creates all material and spiritual values. It is the work that has already been implemented and materialized, as well as now being performed in more and more developed forms, constantly enriched by experience, knowledge, new technology, is the foundation of human civilization, the way of its existence and progress. And economic culture is largely determined by the nature and content of labor, the degree of its intellectualization, organization, technical equipment, its efficiency, productivity. But not only. No less important are the social role, prestige, and moral authority of labor, which are also indicators of the degree of civilization of a society, measures of the state of its economic culture, which combines material and spiritual moments.

It's time to clarify what the economy is. Our understanding of economic systems is expressed in a number of works devoted to the reform of the Russian economy. It does not separate the mechanisms of the functioning of the economy from the goals that go far beyond its limits related to the needs of society, in particular in its relationship with nature. Very briefly, the economy is the forms and methods of human economic activity, the purpose of which is to meet the needs and improve the welfare of society.

Cannot but cause an explosion of consumption. In the twentieth century, it grew on an unprecedented scale. In general, in the world for personal and public consumption in 1998, expenditures amounted to 24 trillion. dollars, which is twice as much as in 1975 and six times more than consumption in 1950. Unbridled needs also cause an increase in crime, although, of course, the probability of its occurrence in the low-income strata is much higher. 

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights enshrines the position that “as a member of society, every person has the right to social security and to exercise the economic, social and cultural rights necessary to maintain his dignity and free development of his personality. cooperation and in accordance with the structure and resources of each state ”(Article 22), that“ everyone who works has the right to fair and satisfactory remuneration, ensure living for himself and his family and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social security ”(art. 23, p.3) and that“ everyone has the right to such a standard of living, including food, clothing, housing, medical the care and necessary social services that are necessary to maintain the health and well-being of himself and his family, and the right to be secured in case of unemployment, illness, disability, widowhood, old age or other loss of livelihoods circumstances that are due to him ”(p. 25, p. 1). The UN is an interstate organization that adopted and signed this most important document, strictly speaking, the states. And those governments that do not fulfill the requirements of this Declaration, even under the ridiculous and shameful pretext of “non-interference of the state in the economy,” should recognize either their inconsistency or that they are not governments. In international law there is a mass of similar regulations, here’s another: “Any policy should first of all be directed towards achieving well-being and development of the population, as well as encouraging its striving for social progress” (ILO Convention No. 117, Section 1, Article 1).

Having defined culture as a measure of human development and humanity, all aspects of their activity, we did not solve at all, but, on the contrary, only described the whole huge range of problems that qualitatively characterize human life activity, society as a part of nature - as a very special part of it (even opposing natural environment), and man himself as a creature belonging both to nature and society, and therefore embodying and his practical activities all the characteristics of their interaction - from unity to the opposite.

The number of peoples inhabiting our planet is not exactly calculated: the figures were 584, more than 880, etc. In the Atlas of the World’s Nations (Moscow, Science), 1964, the figure is 224 (for 1961), which recorded only peoples of more than 1 million people. Their number for 1978 increased to 269. In the “Demographic Encyclopaedic Dictionary” (M., “Soviet Encyclopedia”, 1985, p. 273), its version is cited: “There are approx. 3 thousand peoples. "

“Linguists have about 5,000 languages ​​in the world, including Papuan alone — over a thousand” (S.I. Barg. World Population. Ethno-Demographic Reference Book. M., “Science”, 1981, p. 89, and 91 and 93). “In the Demographic Encyclopaedic Dictionary” (p. 274) explains: “The total number of languages ​​of the world is 4-5 thousand (it’s impossible to establish an exact number because of conventionality of the distinction between different languages ​​and dialects of the same language)”. There are almost 200 state-organized peoples of the United Nations alone.

The vital activity of human society encompasses all new areas of expanding practice and interaction with nature; accordingly, the area of ​​application and development of culture is becoming more and more diverse, the number of its specialized industries is growing. This concerns both material and spiritual culture, which in many ways come closer together: it’s already commonplace to talk about “on-the-job training”, as well as about a kind of “industrialization” of science - about saturating it with devices and equipment for experiments, about creating productions, and also "devices", exceeding on the scale the whole plants, like a synchrophasotron; besides, it is obvious that the intertwining of purely production, utilitarian tasks with wind, aesthetic, for example, in such an area of ​​activity as industrial design.

Modern authors are increasingly turning to the side of the relationship between man and nature, to the organic needs of man, to the natural bases of the organization of the human community, that is, to natural law, which also includes the interaction of society with nature.

The question of the synthesis or symbiosis of cultures is very acute when we talk about world spiritual culture, which is a huge complex of cultures of various countries and peoples, nationalities, tribes.

The development of nations and nationalities and their interrelations, the fate of national cultures and languages ​​is a world-historical question in the most literal and full sense of the word, for the solution of this question is about the future course of history, the prospects for the development of humanity as a whole. I already recalled in the previous text that, beginning with the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries, dozens, and perhaps hundreds, of nationalities and tribes had simply been physically exterminated.

The fact is that the whole diversity of existing and previously existing national languages ​​and cultures is a cultural gene pool of humanity (the term was proposed by V.S. Markov in 1982) - a kind of base (one of the bases) for the further development of the entire world spiritual culture.

With this in mind, one cannot but agree that the quite authoritative position on overcoming national differences, if it is extended to languages ​​and cultures, is not so scientific and not so progressive, but rather reactionary. It is not by chance that already from the 19th century in philological and historical science a spontaneous process of restoring lost, “dead” languages ​​began, there even appeared a sort of competition among scholars in deciphering ancient writing systems: the trends of human progress that were not fully realized, “Given the task” to researchers to ensure the forward movement of world culture in this new direction. In the twentieth century, these scientific directions have already risen to their feet and have worked with all possible might, achieving good results, which can be estimated as a good start on the path of the fullest possible restoration of the cultural gene pool of humanity using more powerful and effective means and methods of scientific search.

Eco-culture philosophy

A philosophically prepared reader could easily grasp that the problems of modern economic and ecological culture were constantly analyzed in close connection with the fundamental questions of philosophy - about the general and the individual, about the part and the whole, about integrity and diversity, about the nature of progress (development, movement). As a matter of fact, the discussion of such questions (or — almost the same thing — consideration of problems of interest to us in these aspects) forms the basis of a philosophical approach to understanding phenomena and processes of reality, these questions being fundamental both for the theory of knowledge and for solving a familiar undergraduate major issue of philosophy.

In fact, even the question of the knowability of the world can not do without relying on these pairs of concepts. If we are able to cognize (initially perceive or have) general ideas, how can we do without one or another manifestation of the general in particular, ideas - in phenomena? And no matter how much we downplay these phenomena, no matter how we protect ourselves from their knowledge, we are forced to admit that these despicable fragments of lowly reality are connected with thousands of high abstractions that are so warm to our soul, because they are common particles, their legitimate children, and They are pulled by a genetic link that allows them to establish their relationship and, consequently, recognize in general the general, and in general the particular.

Although the concrete sciences have already accumulated the necessary material in order to take a significant step forward in the disclosure of the general laws of the natural world, in the philosophical literature so far these data are weakly generalized. The “chewing” of old dogmas on matter and, in particular, its independence from consciousness, the presence of the three laws of dialectics, time and space as forms of existence of matter, etc., continues to a significant extent. As for the discovery of the new universal laws of the natural world, then in philosophical science this problem has not actually risen to this day. In short, philosophical views are not only not on the level of modern problems of science, but also lag behind it by a whole century.

Meanwhile, the justification of a single picture of the world should be followed in various ways - not only “from below”, through the development of specific natural and social sciences, but also “from above”, through the development of philosophy itself and its general laws. However, this is not promoted by the increasingly frequent voices that philosophy is not a science, but a world view or even an ideology.

The nature of human knowledge is such that any of its objects can be first identified, and then perceived as integrity - and only as integrity: what is it, what can be my interaction with this object, what harm or benefit can follow as a result of contacts with it? Moreover, the way of forming direct perception (with the formulation of similar questions) essentially does not differ from the most specialized and saturated with complicated terminology of scientific research - the form of the questions posed changes, and the person who gives the name to the perceived object, when he dresses in the mantle of the scientist, equips this name in loose terms.

Human cognition of the world everywhere reveals a craving for revealing and understanding the essence of the whole - even the science that is “visible” with the help of various devices is trying to present the Universe and even the entire infinite space as a kind of integrity, looking for arguments in favor of the existence and action of the laws common for the entire World. their own forms of matter, building models of a unified field, etc.

Be that as it may, the idea of ​​the unity of the World, the integrity of the entire Universe has the effect of establishing a hierarchy of laws - from the most general to particular, relating to the existence and development of the lower classes of phenomena, purely specific processes, objects, phenomena, relations. The famous Kantian “starry sky above us and the moral law inside us” in accordance with this approach should have some common fundamental basis and, therefore, some common features, similar manifestations, and therefore, a common essence hidden in the depths of Being.

Physics and mathematics, geology and biology are thus obliged to reveal similarities and similarities with the laws of morality and justice, with the principles and norms of artistic mastery of the world, with the laws of human psychology, sensations, ideas, creative imagination and reason. But the way it is. The seven notes, opened by Pythagoras, proved to be enough for them and through them to fit all the musical richness of the world - from the “labor” songs of ancient Egyptian slaves and Volga bargehouses, lullabies and songs to majestic symphonies, sparkling operettas and deafening howls of modern variety, monotonous Essentially, variations on the theme of noise effects, original costumes with attempts to bring them closer to the costumes of Adam and Eve and sophisticated gestures. And for everything about everything - 7 notes!

Although different registers with flat and sharp. All the riot of the colors of nature has the same physical basis, transformed into a variety of pictorial reproduction of reality within the framework of numerous aesthetic systems, diverse art schools and trends, original national and regional traditions. There are only seven primary colors of the spectrum - the white light of the Sun, which is usual for our eyes, decomposes into them. So the fundamental properties of matter and energy are interlocked with belonging, admittedly, to the highest products of spiritual culture, the results of creative imagination, and even the whims of individual individuals.

For us in this case, it is important to state the natural relationship of completely different, it would seem, classes of phenomena belonging to completely different spheres of reality. For from here it is logical to derive the idea of ​​precisely interconnections, and hence, feedback - although, of course, in various forms that have yet to be established, isolated and investigated. But in general terms - as they say, in the first approximation - the following rule can already be formulated, somewhat similar to the Kantian imperative: the laws of human cognition and sensual-practical development of reality are completely applicable to the material world surrounding man. and the norms of morality, justice and the laws of beauty, that is, the aesthetic development of reality. Of course, in a form that has been transformed in accordance with the characteristics of one or another fragment of objective reality, and not mechanically, is straightforward. Violation of these laws, norms and rules, deviation from them in the practical activities of man and human communities at various levels - right up to humanity as a whole means a violation of human interconnections with the outside world.

"My great teacher is Immanuel Kant."

In my younger years, while I was not fundamentally engaged in the science of economic theory, I sometimes reflected on my own conscious worldview, and in order to better understand it, I exercised my mind. In a word, he tried to philosophize, defended even his Ph.D. thesis on the topic “The philosophical problems of the socialization of youth in the new economic conditions. I read and read much to this day of philosophical writings of different times and authors. Even he practiced writing and publishing some of his treatises. But I never dared to call myself a philosopher.
I was always interested, and I am still interested, in book novelties in the field of philosophy. With his meager funds, without hesitation, I acquired them and read them with a pencil in my hand. Especially great pleasure experienced when I was able to discuss them with understanding companions. And sometimes I even managed to read very old, antique books. But do you reread everything? How many of them, beautiful, smart, necessary. And how many passed by us, because we did not hear about them, did not have time to read, did not notice, were not accessible, and sometimes were even forbidden ...

Most recently, in the old bookcase with his great friend, a wise and famous publicist, journalist, pupil of the Patriotic School of Philosophy of the Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov from the Soviet period - Vladimir Semenovich Markov, in his luxurious library, I noticed an old book, with a darkened leather spine: “Immanuel Kant. Anthropology. St. Petersburg. 1900. " Forgetting everything in the world, I decided to thoroughly study it. But, above all, I thought hard.

My God, how long ago! When the first reader picked up this book, there was still no Russian-Japanese war, or January 9, or the October Revolution, people still lit kerosene lamps in the evenings and only dimly heard about the car and the plane. But this is a Russian translation, a Russian edition! And “Anthropology” was created, in other words, “Humanology”, at the end of the XVIII century. Its author, the great German philosopher, wore a wig with curled curls, wore lace jabots, and was made by a foreign member of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences at the behest of Catherine the Second! And it is also known: by the time when he went for a walk, the inhabitants of Königsberg checked their watches ...

What do we have today - agitated, tense, vain - can he say about a person? What to teach?

I open it at random and with great surprise I read the phrase, as if just written: “The most serious revolution in a person’s inner world is the way out of the incompetence in which he himself is to blame. Instead of allowing others to think for him, as he had hitherto, and he only walked on the heels, now he decides to go on the ground of experience on his own feet, even if it is a hesitant step. ”

And yet - almost an aphorism, almost a slogan, which would be oh so appropriate for our violent political events today: "Egoism can only be opposed by pluralism."

This is a conclusion from the arguments about the three types of egoism. The logical egoist thinks that his own judgments are the only correct ones and does not consider it necessary to check them with the help of the reason of other people. The aesthetic selfish puts his own taste above all, for him only what he likes himself is wonderful. Moral selfish, seeking exclusively for their own benefit, he does not know a sense of duty. Rejecting all kinds of egoism, Kant puts forward a “maxim” (principle): in relations with people, put oneself in the place of another.

I knew a lot about the great philosopher. All his works were studied by mail even when I studied at the Baku Higher Party School and was preparing to surrender my Ph.D. in philosophy at the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Azerbaijan (1983-1985). He also knew that this punctual walker was not a pedant or an ascetic. In this work he writes about passions and affects, about boredom and pleasures. He considers the ability to have fun with art, even far from ordinary art, calls it the diet of the spirit, helping to gather with new forces.

A person needs music, dancing, playing. He can enjoy "good lunch in good society." The great philosopher does not consider it superfluous to describe all the subtleties of a common dinner. “A thinking person,” he believes, “is alone unhealthy because, at a lonely dinner, he deals only with himself and loses vitality.” But it's not only that. Insignificant at first glance, the nuances of the feast conceal a common interest, contribute to the "beauty of forms of social life."

So, how many people should be at the table? Agreeing with the great etiquette expert Englishman Chesterfield, Kant advises: “Not less than the number of graces, but not more than the number of muses. This means - no less than three and no more than nine. (By the way, modern psychologists consider communication in the same companies as the most pleasant and productive.) Not too many guests allow you to have a general conversation - it’s not good when everyone talks only with his neighbor! What to talk about? Relevant stories about the news, reasoning, jokes. We must generally choose a topic that interests everyone and gives everyone the opportunity to say something. It is unacceptable to say something bad about the absent person, and if one of the guests allowed such tactlessness, you cannot take his words out of the society. This is an area of ​​moral culture.

“If something bad is said about one of my friends, I will take his side in harsh expressions. I will not allow me to use myself as an instrument to spread these bad gossips! ”Exclaims Kant belligerently. Developing this thought, he asserts: eating together means trusting each other. That is what is inherent in the ancient customs of the Georgian national culture and, especially, in the traditions of the Georgian feast. There, the toast-master, at the time of the feast, is the lord, he skillfully regulates the way of thinking of those present, directs the logic of judgments and formulates general acceptable conclusions and conclusions on the issues and phenomena under discussion. “The Georgian feast is a mirror of the national culture, the academy of morality,” said the great Frenchman A. Dumas in his impressions of his stay in Georgia. And here, for example, in Russia, when they bring bread and salt to the guest, they want to say that he will be safe here.

Of course, at the table you can argue, argue - but in any case not about the rights! In general, one must "keep oneself and one's own affects in such a discipline so that mutual respect and benevolence are noticeable."

It was precisely such dinners for friends that Kant arranged for himself. There is even a picture of "Lunch with Kant." In free poses, the guests sit around the oval table, apparently talking. Hear about what! However, some of them left memories: once they spoke of a young Bonaparte; about the situation in England; about the oddities of the character of the Russian emperor Paul I. And another curious trifle: Kant said that crushed coal removes all rot — he seemed to have checked it by experience ... If they knew that after 200 years, activated carbon would be one of the most popular drugs toxicology!

Did Kant have wine at the table? In the picture, in any case, there is a decanter. But what the philosopher categorically condemned was incontinence. In the chapter “On Drunkenness,” he considers this tendency in the aspect of public importance. One who takes a glass in his hand should remember that intoxication, which does not bring revival to society and does not facilitate the exchange of thoughts, has something harmful in itself. Wine is generally scary because it acts on the mind, changes personality, Do not try to judge the character of a person when he is drunk - in this state he ceases to be himself, as "another liquid mixed with the juices running through his veins". “The lack of restraint on libations in society, reaching to the dimming of feelings, is impolite not only in relation to the society where it is located, but also in relation to its own dignity”.

Internal moral law, reason, sense of duty - this is what Kant appreciates in man. The more you read it, the more you understand - it will be forever. Much vain, momentary blowjob, and it will remain. And Kant in his powdered wig begins to seem alive, existing somewhere close. One would like to say: “Let's go to visit Kant!”

One can imagine one day from his life — a clear summer day on June 18, 1789. The bell of the doorbell may be just a knock at the door of his house on the quiet Princess Shinstrasse. A young foreigner, who just arrived from afar, wants to see Mr. Professor. He is invited to the office. The conversation lasts three hours. Saying goodbye, Kant takes a little book out of his pocket and writes an unfamiliar Russian name - Nikolay Karamzin.

And Karamzin almost runs to the hotel where he stayed - rather, rather, sit down at the table and write down everything he heard and saw ...

“A slender old man, perfectly white and tender,” - this seemed to Karamzin Kant - that same Kant, whom one of his friends called not only “all-destructive.” "White and gentle" could sound a compliment at that time. As for the "old man", then Karamzin was 23 years old - the age when anyone who is even a little older is beginning to seem like an old man. However, Kant was really old then. But he still had years of intensive labor, “Anthropology”, and an amazing treatise “On the ability of the spirit by the power of the will to overcome painful sensations”.

Yes, he knew how! After all, the famous dinners, and walks were only part of the hygienic system that Kant created for himself, overcoming the congenital pain and even bouts of hypochondria characteristic of him in his youth.

He considered work to be one of the greatest sensual pleasures for himself. And the main principle of his system is not to spare his strength, not to weaken them with idleness and excessive comfort.

"Not exercising an organ is just as dangerous as overloading it." It is necessary to lie less: “the bed is a nest of diseases”. Kant strictly observed this rule - he got up at five in the morning, went to bed at ten in the evening, and it seems that only in the eightieth year he first went to bed during the day.

“He believed that his head, legs and chest should be kept cold, and his feet should be washed with ice water. Walk every day, in any weather. Outside breathe nose.

Reasonable training, clear day regimen, hardening - so we would translate Kant's system into today's language. But he added to this also the strength of the spirit, the moral order to himself. If you can not, for example, fall asleep - call the dream by your own effort! For Kant, the word “Cicero” was magical and, mentally repeating it, he fell asleep (I also tried, and I did it!).

Kant's biographers note with astonishment: he knew how to suspend the manifestations of the common cold, runny nose. For thirty years I have never been sick, and senile senility came to him only on the threshold of the ninth dozen ...

The philosopher had loyal disciples, he was like-minded and followers. But how many attracted Kant - the creator of their own health? How many have found enough strength in themselves to transform themselves, like him?

It seems to me that those people who at least once touched the heritage of the great thinker, no matter what work they read, they must have an indispensable reincarnation of the mind in the direction of the perfection of the individual, ennobling his spirit and morality. And how many people in life, he pointed the way to understanding the meaning and purpose of human life, and how many he will teach to this day.?

Even if Kant would help to become healthy only to himself and this talented person, I would still like to bow to him for that alone. I am breaking up with Anthropology and, before returning it to my owner, I read the first page again. Starting his work, Kant warned that he would engage in a pragmatic anthropology, that is, he would speak not about what nature gave man, but about what "he, as a freely acting creature, can and must do for himself."

Or maybe he turns out to do a lot for his health, for the soul, for those who are with him. Why, why do we do so little?

The answer to this question is simple: because many, perhaps very many, are not familiar with such luminaries of human thought as Kant, Hegel, Aristotle, and many, many stars, and therefore have not yet determined their Master, have not chosen imagine his worthy idol at least for imitation, not to mention the analysis of the life credo of many prominent personalities whose haloes are so generously littered with our planet Earth, whose names flicker in the minds of people, like stars in the skies of galaxies. You only need to carefully look at them, choose for yourself a congenial at least one thinker, look at his work through his synergistic dialectic, and that’s all. Here he is, your idol, your teacher, from whom you can learn everything and live with dignity, like a reasonable person.

I am proud that even when I was young, among the many stars I chose the name of the Great Kant, and I can say with confidence that he is, my great Teacher, for which you, too, call upon the dear reader.

OPEN LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

                                                Chairs of both houses of parliament.

... 7. The only weapon that a person has, and therefore the people who need to overcome difficulties in their path, is knowledge and morality. ...

(Ibid: N.N. Moiseev. With thoughts about the future of Russia, pp. 200-207).