6 element of the structure of consciousness is. Essence and structure of consciousness

Consciousness is a unity of mental processes (actively participating in a person’s understanding of the objective world and his own being), is not determined directly by his bodily organization (anthropological aspects) and the skills of objective activity acquired only through communication with other people, is expressed in language and serves as a regulator of human activity. .

The difference between the concepts of "subjective", "mental", "consciousness". Mental - the individual inner world of the subject ("subjective") and a mechanism that provides reasonable behavior ("objective"). The mental image is the subjective reality, in which the subjective and the objective are dialectically interconnected. The subjective image as knowledge, as a spiritual reality, and physiological processes as its material substratum are qualitatively different phenomena. The psyche and consciousness should be distinguished as subjective (individualized) and ideal (non-material) modes of existence of being. Thus, the mental reflection of the external world by the subject is of a dual nature (material-ideal); on the other hand, not everything in an ideal reflection is subjective.

The sphere of consciousness primarily concerns the reflection of reality in distinct forms of sensibility and thinking. Thinking is a process of indirect and generalized reflection of reality by the subject. Thinking is the "core" of consciousness. The result of thinking is subjectively new knowledge, which cannot be taken out of direct experience, from the content of sensations, perceptions, ideas. The products of fantasy are also the result of the transformation of the individual's past experience. But the product of fantasy may have nothing to do with objective reality. The results of the thought process always claim to be true and are verifiable. Thinking provides for predicting the future and the decision-making process.

The concept of consciousness is wider than the concept of thinking, since it includes other conscious elements of the psyche.

Anthropological aspects of consciousness

The human body is a phenomenon of socio-cultural and historical, biological and individual-personal development. Informational and cultural specificity of body organs. Dialogic possibilities of the skin. The problem of skin sensitivity is associated with the localization of an individual body in space and time.

The hand is a universal instrument of a person's relationship with the world, communication with other people, self-expression. Manual experience and manual consciousness. "Manual consciousness" characterizes the ability of highly organized animals to analyze a specific situation, to form complex associations that reflect the connections between things.

Eye and perceptual possibilities of consciousness. Information-orientation functions of the eye. The eye and the harmony of color and spatial relationships.

Ear: the problem of listening to being. Auditory perception of time, rhythm and musical harmony of the world. Nose and perfumery abilities of human consciousness. The world of smells and body odours.

The tongue is the bodily organ of taste. The problem of education of taste.

Amplifiers of the body and its individual organs: technical equipment of the hand, eyes and optics, ear and acoustic means.

Phenomenological structures of consciousness

Consciousness is the unity of knowledge and its experience. Knowledge is the main mode of existence of consciousness. A person experiences his knowledge in various and many forms, among which, first of all, emotions, feelings and will should be mentioned.

Will is a universal regulator of a person's conscious activity, a universal motivating ability and motivation of activity.

Emotions are an objective phenomenon. The emotional world of consciousness. Structure and functions of emotions. variety of emotional states. The world of emotional communication. Emotions are a way of cultural and social construction of the world. Understanding emotions as vestiges of failed instincts. J.P. Sartre about emotions as a way of avoiding making a responsible decision.

Memory as the ability of consciousness to capture, store and reproduce human experience.

Intersubjective structures of consciousness

Language is a form of existence and manifestation of thinking and the most important condition for the formation of consciousness. Language is objectified thinking; a system of signs correlated with a system of meanings (concepts). Thought is a silent language. Structural units of language analysis: word - sentence - text - context linguistic and extralinguistic factors.

The essence of language reveals itself in its functions. Language acts as a means of communication, transmission of thoughts, performs a communicative function. The material, sensual shell of thought is the word as a unity of sign, sound and meaning. The word has two main functions: the function of replacing objects (the function of representing, replacing an object with a sign) and the function of processing experience, which allows analyzing and synthesizing the impressions that a person receives from the outside world. The word singles out the corresponding feature from things (adjectives single out the features of things that are included in these things, but do not exist independently; verbs abstract the qualities of action from a thing).

Speech is an activity, the process of communication, the exchange of thoughts, feelings, carried out with the help of language as a means of communication.

But language is not only a means of communication, but also an instrument of thinking, a means of expressing and shaping thoughts, the ability of a person to respond with the voice of the world around him. The boundaries of language are the boundaries of the human world. Man does not speak with the tongue, but the tongue speaks through man. The world is fully present in language, as in the house of being. The world wants to be expressed, it's up to the individual. The presence of the world in language requires a person: a person can give a word to the world, the world requires a person for its manifestation. And man demands peace, because otherwise than in the world, he does not recognize himself.

Finally, language plays the role of a tool for accumulating knowledge and developing consciousness. In linguistic forms, our ideas, feelings and thoughts acquire a material existence and thanks to this they can become and become the property of other people.

Contradictory unity of language and consciousness. A thought (concept, meaning of a word) is a reflection of objective reality, and a word as a sign is a means of expressing and fixing a thought, transferring it to other people. Thinking is international in its logical laws and forms, while language is national in its grammatical structure and vocabulary. The lack of identity of language and thinking is also seen in the fact that sometimes we understand words, but the thought expressed with their help remains inaccessible to us. The thinking of any nation develops rapidly, but the language changes very slowly, always lagging behind the development of thinking. Language affects consciousness (its historically established norms, specific to each nation, set off various ghosts in the same object), but the dependence of thinking on language is not absolute (thinking is determined mainly by its connections with reality), language can only partially modify form and style of thinking.

Natural languages are the main and decisive means of communication between people, a means of organizing our thinking. At the same time, as knowledge and social practice develop, both non-linguistic signs and sign systems begin to be used more and more, artificial languages, formalized programming languages, are being formed. Artificial languages perform the functions of an economical expression of scientific material, a means of internationalizing science (since artificial languages are unified, international).

Consciousness and self-awareness

The characteristic of consciousness includes the distinct distinction between subject and object fixed in it, that which belongs to the "I" of a person and his "not-I". Human existence is conscious existence.

The Russian philosopher Semyon Ludwigovich Frank (1877 - 1950) distinguished consciousness into objective consciousness (focused on comprehending the world surrounding a person), consciousness as an experience (feelings associated with a physical sensation of pleasure, fear) and self-consciousness (the true content of the human "I" associated with transcending - the achievement of the transrational, which is, first of all, love for people, for God). Self-consciousness, according to the philosopher, is not only self-knowledge, but also a certain attitude towards oneself, one's qualities and states, capabilities, physical and spiritual forces, that is, self-esteem. "I" - there is a body, consciousness, the center of mental life. Self-consciousness is the key to the great secrets of being, which in reality lie in ourselves, in our psyche. "He who knows himself knows God" (Clement of Alexandria).

P. Teilhard de Chardin sees in self-consciousness the ability acquired by consciousness to focus on itself and master itself as an object that has its own specific stability and specific meaning. Self-consciousness is, according to the French philosopher, the qualitative difference between man and the rest of the animal world.

Modern philosophy notes not only the social conditionality of the formation of self-consciousness, but also the individual and social levels of its manifestation: the self-consciousness of the individual (his awareness of his body and its fit into the world of the people around him), the self-consciousness of the group (the awareness of his belonging to a particular social group), ethnic group (in connection with the latter, the problem of the specifics of national self-consciousness arises).

Self-knowledge and self-regulation are forms of self-consciousness. Self-knowledge is the basis for the development of constant self-control and self-regulation of a person. Self-control is manifested in the awareness and evaluation by the subject of his own actions, mental states, in the regulation of their course on the basis of the requirements and norms of activity. Self-knowledge also acts as the basis for the implementation of an evaluative attitude towards oneself (self-esteem). Self-esteem is that component of self-consciousness, which includes both knowledge of one's own self, and a person's assessment of himself, and the scale of significant values in relation to which this assessment is determined.

Self-awareness is closely related to the level of a person's claims, which can be considered as the realization of a person's self-esteem in activities and in relationships with others. In the process of self-consciousness, a person becomes a person and begins to realize himself both as a person and as a subject of practical and spiritual activity.

The existence of personality without "I" and "I" - without personality.

Consciousness and the unconscious

Before Freud, the unconscious was considered the periphery of consciousness. The founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939), changes this hypothesis: consciousness is only a special case of the structure of the unconscious. Freud continued the work of deanthropologization: the first step in this direction was made by N. Copernicus (the Earth is not the center of the Universe), the second step was made by C. Darwin (man does not differ from other animals, but comes from them); the third step was taken by Z. Freud (the human mind is an island in the world of the unconscious).

According to the concept of Z. Freud, the unconscious is mental processes that are actively manifested and at the same time do not reach the consciousness of the person experiencing them; this is the main and most meaningful system of the human psyche, regulated by the “principle of pleasure and including various innate and repressed elements, drives, impulses, desires, complexes characterized by unconsciousness, sexuality, asociality.

The relationship between consciousness and the unconscious was first considered by Freud, who introduced the idea of the levels of the structure of the psyche:

The unconscious is a content that is fundamentally inaccessible to consciousness, constituting the energy core of the personality. The unconscious - a cauldron of boiling passions, emotions, a reservoir of psychic energy - manifests itself in those phenomena that a person does not control.

The subconscious is emotionally charged memories that can be brought to consciousness through the technique of psychoanalysis.

Pre-conscious - content that, if necessary, can easily become conscious.

Consciousness is the reflexive content of consciousness, amenable to arbitrary regulation, the surface layer of the mental apparatus. Consciousness is not the master in its own house.

The human psyche has three spheres: "It", "I" and "Super-I". "It" is a layer of unconscious drives and pleasures, drawing its energy mainly from two sources: Libido (sexual drive, responsible for the development of man) and Thanatos (the desire for death and the forces of aggression and destruction).

"I" - the sphere of the conscious, the mediator between the conscious and the outside world. Its most important task is self-preservation, ensuring the satisfaction of needs. The "I" decides to delay or repress the demands of the instincts. It obeys the reality principle and defends itself through repressions.

The third layer of the human psyche "Super-I" is represented by conscience, various rules and prohibitions, social values and norms, culture in general. Culture, with its ideals and demands, represses the desires of the unconscious and subsists on the sublimated energy of the libido.

Freud's main conclusion: a person can never fully know himself.

Non-classical psychoanalysis

a new reading of the unconscious

The problem of the interaction of the conscious and the unconscious in the concept of Alfred Adler 1870 - 1937). Its main provisions:

The idea of the organic integrity of a person as a unique set of behaviors and habits;

Social interest as an innate desire to enter into mutual relations of cooperation;

Motivation for the realization of social interest as a natural human desire for the creative realization of one's own "I";

The relationship between the cause of a person's actions and the purpose of the activity;

The unconscious as an innate social instinct and indicator of mental health.

The problem of the influence of social and cultural determinants on the development of the individual is reflected in the teachings of the Swiss psychologist and thinker Carl Gustav Jung (1875 - 1961). Jung's main idea is that in addition to the personal unconscious (which is a reservoir of repressed suppressed or forgotten drives), there is a deeper layer of the inner world - the collective unconscious as a repository of latent memory traces of mankind. Its contents are archetypes.

Archetypes are a system of attitudes and reactions to the world of ancient people, when the world was revealed to them in a completely different way than to us now (and people were forced to get used to this world, adapt to it, somehow explain and interpret it). The archetype itself can never reach consciousness directly, but only indirectly - through the experiences and images of specific people, in cultural and religious traditions (God cannot be seen, God is the fear of God), encrypted in esoteric symbolism. They appear through dreams, myths, deviations in behavior. Leading archetypes: Anima (feminine) and Animus (masculine), Shadow (lower person in us, personal unconscious), Person (a set of social masks), Self (our true integral "I", to which we only endlessly approach through the process individualization). Archetypes are initially associated with what is not covered by the mind, they are a mystery, they are sacred. They contain colossal energy, a mighty impersonal force. People are drawn to these eternal patterns and at the same time are afraid of them, and therefore they express them in symbols that both reveal and hide the power of the unconscious. The crisis of traditional symbols in the modern world leads to a volcanic ejection of the unconscious, to aggression, wars, demoralization. Destroying ancient symbols, the intellect leaves a desert around itself.

The problem of a person's search for his own identity in the socio-cultural parameters of being is at the center of attention of one of the famous books by Erich Fromm "To have or to be?". The philosopher makes a distinction between the two main modes of existence - "to be" and "to possess" - as different types of self-orientation and orientation of a person in the world. To be means to be renewed, to grow, to get out of the isolation of one's own "I", to love, to refuse all forms of appropriation.

The problem of the unconscious

in post-non-classical philosophy

The French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan (1901 - 1981), starting from Z. Freud and at the same time rethinking him, finally contrasts the conscious and the unconscious. The unconscious does not act as the reverse side of the conscious: there is no connection between them, they absolutely exclude each other. On this basis, the thinker concludes that a person is never identical with the attributes of his "I" and therefore his "I" is indefinable. The unconscious is reduced by him to a superhuman essence, which prevents a person from gaining the integrity of his "I", in fact, turns him into a "divid" - a torn, split, fragmented person.

Functions of Consciousness

The main functions of consciousness: reflective (generalized, purposeful, evaluative reflection), transformative (constructive-creative, spontaneous, deliberate-normative activity), indicative (regulation and self-control).

Consciousness as the inner world of a person has its own structure. In order to consider it, one should first of all pay attention to the following circumstance. Often the concept of "consciousness" is identified with the concept of "human psyche". This is done by mistake. The psyche is a more complex entity. It includes two spheres of reflection - consciousness and the unconscious.

The concept of the unconscious was first formulated by the famous German philosopher of the 17th-18th centuries. G. Leibniz. In the work "Monadology" he spoke of the unconscious as the lowest form of mental activity. Later, the English thinker of the XVIII century. D. Hartley connected the unconscious with the activity of the human nervous system. A. Schopenhauer tried to explain the unconscious from the position of irrationalism. But 3. Freud paid special attention to this problem. He believed that the unconscious is a collection of mental phenomena, states and actions that are outside the realm of the mind. The unconscious includes, first of all, instincts, a set of innate acts of human behavior, which are created as a result of a long evolution and are aimed at ensuring vital functions, the very existence of each being. The structure of the unconscious also includes intuition and automatisms, which can originate in the sphere of consciousness and eventually sink into the sphere of the unconscious. Intuition is knowledge that arises without awareness of the ways and conditions for obtaining it, through direct sensory contemplation or speculation. Automatisms are complex actions of a person, which, initially formed under the control of consciousness, as a result of long training and repeated repetition, acquire an unconscious character. Dreams, hypnotic states, somnambulistic phenomena, states of insanity, and the like are also unconscious. Due to the inclusion of the unconscious in mental activity, the load on consciousness decreases, and this, in turn, expands the field of human creative possibilities. Modern science also operates with the concept of the subconscious. The subconscious is a special layer or level of the unconscious. It includes mental phenomena associated with the transition of operations of activity from the level of consciousness to the level of automatism.

The unconscious and the conscious are two relatively independent sides of the single psychic reality of man; quite often contradictions arise between them, sometimes conflicts, but they are interconnected, interact with each other and are able to achieve harmonious unity. The unconscious contains ample opportunities for the rationalization of human life, especially the creative activity of the subject. This circumstance serves as the basis for the formation of irrationalist philosophical doctrines. In these teachings, various forms of the unconscious are considered to be the main ones in human behavior: instincts, intuition, etc. However, many philosophical schools take a different position. They believe that consciousness is primary in the human psyche, "nourishing" and largely shaping the unconscious, in general, it is able to control it, and also determine the general strategy of human behavior.

Structure of consciousness

What is the structure of consciousness itself? The structure of consciousness is largely conditional. The fact is that the elements of consciousness are closely related to each other. However, with all the conventionality in consciousness, three such elements can be distinguished.

The first element is knowledge. This is the main component, the core of consciousness, the way of its existence. Knowledge is a person's understanding of reality, its reflection in the form of conscious sensual and abstract logical images. Thanks to knowledge, a person can "cover", comprehend everything that surrounds him and constitutes the subject of knowledge. Knowledge leads to such properties of consciousness as the ability to purposefully "create the world" through objective activity, to foresee the course of events, to show creative activity. In other words, consciousness is an attitude to reality in the form of knowledge, taking into account human needs.

Emotions are the second important element in the structure of consciousness. A person cognizes the world around him not from the cold indifference of an automaton, but with a feeling of satisfaction, hatred or sympathy, delight or indignation. She worries what she reflects. Emotions either stimulate or inhibit an individual's awareness of the real phenomena of reality. What pleases the eye is easier to remember. But sometimes an overly "rosy" perception of the world can blind, give rise to illusions, wishful thinking. Some emotions, especially negative ones, resist keeping the mind clear. The feeling of fear, for example, becomes an obstacle to a person's awareness of what is happening. The level of emotions is spiritual feelings (for example, a feeling of love), which are formed as a result of awareness of the person's connections with essential social and existential values. Feelings are characterized by substantive content, constancy, independence from the current situation. The emotional sphere has a significant influence on all manifestations of consciousness, performs the function of the foundations of activity.

The third structural element of consciousness is freedom. Will is a conscious purposeful regulation by a person of his activity. This is the ability of a person to mobilize and direct his mental and physical forces to achieve a goal, to solve the problems facing his activity and require conscious overcoming of subjective and objective difficulties and obstacles. The making of tools by man is the first and most important school of will formation. Will and purpose complement each other. Without will, revenge cannot be achieved; without expedient activity there is no freedom. Will is conscious aspirations and motivations for action. However, unconscious impulses are also characteristic of a person. Sometimes it happens that a person is torn somewhere, but where and why - she does not know. Such subconscious regulation has remained from animals.

We should also note such an element included in the structure of consciousness as thinking. Thinking is a process of cognitive activity of an individual, characterized by a generalized and indirect reflection of reality. This process ends with the creation of abstract concepts, judgments, which are a reflection of the essential, regular relations of things on the basis of what is known, felt to the touch, heard, etc. Thanks to mental activity, we penetrate into the invisible, into what is not perceived by touch and cannot be are heard. Thinking gives us knowledge about essential properties, connections and relationships. With the help of thinking, we make the transition from the external to the internal, from the phenomenon to the essence of things, processes.

The structure of consciousness also includes attention and memory. Attention is a form of human mental activity, manifested in its focus and focus on certain objects. Memory is a mental process, which consists in fixing, preserving and reproducing in the brain of an individual his past experience. The main elements of memory are memorization, preservation, reproduction and forgetting.

In the subjective reality of a person, there is such an important sub-structure as self-consciousness. Self-awareness is a person's awareness of himself as a person, awareness of his ability to make independent decisions and act on this basis in a conscious relationship with people and nature, be responsible for the decisions and actions taken. In other words, this is a holistic assessment of oneself, one's moral character, one's own knowledge, thoughts, interests, ideals, motives for behavior, actions, moral properties, etc.; with the help of self-consciousness, a person realizes the attitude towards himself, carries out his own self-esteem as a thinking being capable of feeling. In this case, the object of knowledge for the subject is himself and his consciousness. So, man - a self-evaluative being, without this characteristic action would not be able to define himself and find his place in life.

A person's understanding of his inner state, her ability to self-control does not come immediately. Self-consciousness, along with such spiritual elements of the personality as worldview, abilities, character, interests, is formed under the influence of the social environment. The environment requires the individual to control his actions and take responsibility for their results. The level of consciousness largely depends on what requirements are put in front of and social values are cultivated in a given environment. The main requirement here is that a person himself must control his actions and be responsible for their consequences.

The problem of consciousness is one of the most difficult and mysterious, since consciousness is an invisible stream of thoughts and feelings that is inside us. It does not exist as a separate object, thing, process, and therefore it is impossible to cognize, describe, define it using those methods of cognition that are used, for example, in natural science.

In philosophy, consciousness is considered through a number of interrelated problems: 1) how consciousness exists; 2) what are its essential features (basic properties); 3) how it arose (the genesis of consciousness); 4) what are the structure and substratum of consciousness.

The solution of the first of these problems is connected with the main question of philosophy about the relationship of consciousness to being, determining its place and role in the world. In the history of philosophy, several answers have developed.

1. Substantialism(objective idealism and dualism). This is the beginning of the world in the form of God, the cosmic soul (World Mind), a special spiritual substance. The individual human consciousness (soul) is considered in this case only as a separate manifestation of the World Mind, the laws of organization of which coincide with the logic of thinking. The origins of this approach go back to antiquity (Plato, Aristotle), it dominates the classical philosophy of the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Modern times. Ancient philosophy is also characterized by metempsychosis - the doctrine of the transmigration of souls. In modern esoteric concepts, the hypothetical information field of the cosmos is considered the carrier of consciousness, and our sense organs and the brain are only antennas and a receiver of information. In the holotropic model of S. Grof, the field of consciousness is infinite in space and time, includes the entire experience of the Universe, and the brain serves only as its mediator.

2. Naturalistic functionalism. According to this approach, developed by the metaphysical materialism of the XVIII century. (J. La Mettrie, P. Holbach, P. Cabanis) and vulgar materialism of the 19th century, consciousness is a special function of the human brain, thanks to which it is able to cognize the surrounding world and itself in sensations. This function operates automatically and is manifested in the chemical reactions of the brain. The content of consciousness is determined by the composition of food, for example, illiteracy and slavish humiliation of the peoples of the colonies is explained by monotonous food and hunger.

3. Sociocultural functionalism originates in German classical philosophy (I. Kant, G. Hegel), which revealed the influence of the world of culture on the formation of the phenomena of individual consciousness. As a holistic concept presented in the dialectical materialist philosophy. It analyzed in detail the problem of the genesis and development of consciousness under the influence of sociocultural factors and revealed the mechanisms of connection between social consciousness and the practical and objective activity of people. In this concept consciousness is considered the ability of highly organized matter - the brain socially developed human - to reflect the objective world in individual subjective images X and in collective forms of social consciousness.

4. Subjectivist approach presented in phenomenology. Husserl and existentialism. The external world always manifests itself in the internal phenomena (phenomena) of my consciousness - thoughts, experiences. Consciousness from within constructs my whole life. At least, if there is a world and other people, then this world is not so much given to consciousness as created them. This interpretation of consciousness renounces the opposition "subject - object" characteristic of the philosophical classics. For her, what is interesting in the world is not the existence of objects as such, but subjective spiritual existence.

5. Psychoanalytic tradition(3. Freud, K. Jung, E. Fromm) posed to philosophy the problem of the unconscious, that is, the existence of mental phenomena that affect consciousness, but are not controlled by it. Along with the recognition of the personal unconscious, she introduced the idea of collective unconscious, symbolizing the legacy of the experience of previous generations of people in the individual human psyche.

6. Structuralist interpretation represented by post-structuralism (J. Lacan, M. Foucault, R. Barthes) and philosophical hermeneutics (M. Heidegger, G. Gadamer) seeks to present the existence of consciousness through the structures of language. Consciousness is secondary in relation to the structures of the "language" of culture. The individual finds them ready-made and assimilates them mostly unconsciously. “The subject itself is nothing, a void filled with cultural content” (Lacan). In the concepts of postmodern philosophy, consciousness is interpreted as a process of speech and text generation, designed to produce and transmit unaddressed messages through communication channels.

Each of these concepts focuses on certain essential features of consciousness. Thus, substantialism emphasizes the ideal nature of consciousness. Functionalism, on the contrary, notes the dependence of consciousness on natural structures (the brain as its material carrier, sensory experience as the genetically primary level of reflection of reality, and objective activity as a guarantor of the adequacy of this reflection). The psychoanalytic approach discovered the phenomenon of the unconscious, while the subjectivist approach drew attention to the special significance of self-consciousness. The modern concept of consciousness is intended to synthesize these various aspects of the analysis of the problem of consciousness..

Structure of consciousness

Analysis structures of consciousness was originally based on the data of classical psychology, in line with the research of which the following components of a single whole - human consciousness were identified: thinking, emotions, will, memory, attention. Thinking is a complex set of different abilities: conceptual reflection in the human brain of essential properties and causal relationships of things and phenomena, orientation in the world, control of tool activity (operations with objects), operations with numbers (ideal substitutes for objects in the mind), calculation of specific situations and designing the future (plans and dreams), forming complex images based on the synthesis of ideas stored in memory (creative imagination), moral assessment and self-assessment, reflection (thinking), etc.

Emotions- this is the result of an assessment by the organism itself of its relationship with others in feelings, experiences (longer in time) and affects (short-term, but the most violent emotions). Emotions actively influence the activity of the entire consciousness. So, on the basis of positive emotions about some activity and its possible results, such a phenomenon as interest arises. Interest spurs thinking, memory, attention. Volitional processes are a direct continuation of the mechanism of emotions. . Will- this is a way of connecting the selectively oriented psyche and the practical behavior of a person. The expression "he has a strong will" means that this person's orientation towards performing a difficult action (plan, desire, duty) is almost always fulfilled in reality. Like other elements of the structure of consciousness, the will can be trained and developed. Memory- the ability to store and reproduce information about the external world and about one's internal state. Attention- the concentration of consciousness on some object or process. Memory and attention associated with volitional effort are called voluntary, and involuntary - when everything happens "by itself", without effort. The mechanism of action of memory is still not understood. Some believe that absolutely all information is stored in memory (but it is difficult to retrieve it), others believe that part of it is erased (forgotten forever). A study of people with absolute memory has shown that they use special techniques for archiving information, like in a computer directory tree, some paint it in shades of colors, etc. There are among people and ingenious counters. Studies have shown that the average person uses no more than 7% of the capabilities of the brain. Apparently, we really "remember everything", but (by analogy with a computer) we have a weak "processor" for processing and deriving information. However, these abilities can be trained.

As part of the psychoanalytic approach (Austrian psychiatrist Zigmund Freud) at the beginning of the 20th century. in the spiritual life of a person, a special unconscious realm, a kind of bottomless reservoir of experiences, which, in principle, cannot be completely enlightened by the mind and whose energy largely determines the work of a person’s consciousness and his external behavior. In the structure of a person's spiritual experience, psychoanalytic philosophy distinguishes three areas: "Super-I" (traditions, ideals, value ideas, social norms of culture; "I" (consciousness); "It" (a set of instincts, complexes, repressed experiences, etc. "I", being connected with the "Super-I" and "It", as if balancing between them. What is not passed through the filters of the Super-I is driven into the unconscious, "forced out" from consciousness, subsequently becoming the cause serious mental disorders. Freud believed that it was necessary to help people become aware of the unconscious and thereby expand the scope of their freedom, relieve the power of the It. He believed that we should expand the cultural Superego in our psyche. The reformist version of psychoanalytic philosophy (K. Jung) announced the presence in the individual psyche of archetypes (prototypes) of the collective unconscious, behind which lies the experience of understanding and experiencing the world of our ancestors Archetypes are a system of innate behavior programs, typical reactions th and installations

What are the essential features of consciousness? Each era had its own ideas about it. Philosophers of antiquity tried to convey the connection between the world and the soul using the metaphor of a waxed tablet, on which the scribe scratched letters with a special sharp stick (style). Antiquity opened only one side of consciousness - object orientation(moreover, as a passive perception of it). The other side - the active work of consciousness, the ability of a person to focus his attention on the inner world - has not been established. An important event took place in the culture of Christianity: the aggravation of a person's need to pay attention to his inner spiritual world. In the era of modern times, the worldview of anthropocentrism influenced the solution of the problem of consciousness. It was assumed that human thought generates and predetermines itself. Hence the new metaphor of consciousness: it is not a wax tablet on which images of real things are imprinted, but a kind of vessel that contains ideas and images before it enters into communication with the world. In the history of philosophy, such a doctrine has been called idealism. His historical merit is the justification internal activity of consciousness, but the emphasis was on considering its cognitive capabilities (I. Kant, I. Fichte).

Sociocultural functionalism The essential features of consciousness include:

1) the socio-historical nature of its formation(an example of Mowgli - in a baby who grew up among animals, consciousness does not arise);

2) its intentionality, i.e. orientation to the object;

3) internal activity, the leading nature of reflection (information interaction), the ability for creativity and fantasy;

4) its insubstantiality, it affects the world only through the objectification of thoughts and feelings in speech, actions and the results of people's activities. From here telepathy, telekinesis, extrasensory influence, direct vision of the future and other "paranormal" phenomena are impossible. Paranormal knowledge (Greek para - around, with, outside) includes teachings about secret natural and mental forces and relationships hidden behind ordinary phenomena (for example, mysticism, clairvoyance);

5) its ideality- internal images of consciousness are not reduced to groups of excited brain cells, groupings of molecules or complexes of elementary particles connected by an electromagnetic field (it is impossible to directly consider a thought or recognize some kind of feeling). For a more concrete explanation of the ideality of consciousness, functionalists offer an analogy between the brain and a computer. In fact, all parts of a computer are undoubtedly purely material, they are made of iron, copper, silicon and other substances. But in a computer, these physical elements and their states are only the basis for the operation of various and often very complex programs. It is these programs that are what is similar to the work of consciousness (more precisely, its "counting" function). Ideal images of consciousness arise as general functional states of the brain; the nature of the physical processes occurring in this case remains debatable.

Definition 1

Consciousness is the highest, inherent only to man, brain function, the implementation of which consists in a meaningful, generalized and purposeful reflection of the surrounding reality in the form of ideal images, control over mental processes, behavioral strategies, the direction of the course of mental and objective activity, reflection and self-reflection.

Functions of Consciousness

Acting as the most important component of the personality, consciousness successfully performs a number of functions, including the following:

cognitive - thanks to consciousness, a person forms a system of knowledge;
goal-setting - a person is aware of his needs, carries out goal-setting, planning strategies to achieve the goals;
value-orientation - a person analyzes, evaluates phenomena, processes of reality, formulates his attitude towards them;
managerial - a person exercises control over his own behavior, the implementation of his own behavioral patterns in accordance with the goals set, the formulated strategies for achieving them;
communicative - consciousness exists and is transmitted in a sign form, is closely connected with the communicative activity of the individual;
reflexive - thanks to consciousness, a person exercises self-control, self-awareness, self-regulation, providing opportunities for personal development.

Structure of consciousness

Consciousness is a complex, multifaceted and multifaceted phenomenon, in the structure of which the following components can be distinguished:

Intelligence- the mental abilities of the individual, necessary in the process of solving mental problems. The abilities of this group include the characteristics of thinking (intensity, flexibility, consistency), memory (volume, speed of memorization, forgetting, readiness to reproduce), attention (distribution, stability, switchability, concentration, volume), perception (selectivity, observation, ability to recognition). The core of the intellect is the system of knowledge;
Motivation- a set of motives, incentives, which determines the purposefulness of an individual's activity;
Emotions, sensory-emotional sphere - experiences of a person, reflecting his subjective attitude, evaluation of certain phenomena, phenomena, processes, situations, social environment. The sensory-emotional sphere includes moods, feelings, experiences, emotional stresses, affects, etc.;
Will- the ability of a person to consciously regulate their own activities and behavior, achieve their goals, overcoming difficulties. Volitional regulation implies responsibility and freedom;
self-awareness- representation of one's own "I", a part of the personality's consciousness, providing its self-regulation, self-control and self-education.

Intelligence as one of the most important components of consciousness

Definition 2

Intelligence is the general ability of the individual to cognize, interpret, solve problems, to carry out the cognitive process, to solve problems effectively; the ability to organize, plan, control their own activities to achieve the goal.

This concept combines all individual cognitive abilities, including perception, sensation, representation, memory, thinking, imagination.

Acting as the basis of personal consciousness, the intellect includes a number of qualities, including curiosity, depth, flexibility and mobility of the mind, logic, breadth and evidence of thinking, which ensure the formation of a system of knowledge, ideas of the individual, her personal development.

Thus, consciousness is a complex, multidimensional formation, in the modeling of which various personal qualities and properties take an active part, one of the priority places among which is intelligence.

Human consciousness- this is the highest form of mental reflection of reality formed in the process of social life in the form of a generalized and subjective model of the surrounding world in the form of verbal concepts and sensual images.

The integral features of consciousness include speech, thinking and the ability to create a generalized model of the surrounding world in the form of a set of images and concepts.

AT structure consciousness includes a number of elements, each of which is responsible for a specific function of consciousness:

1. cognitive processes(sensation, perception, thinking, memory). Based on them, a body of knowledge about the world around is formed.

2. Distinguishing subject and object(opposing oneself to the surrounding world, distinguishing between "I" and "not I"). This includes self-awareness, self-knowledge and self-esteem.

3. Man's relationship to himself and the world around him(his feelings, emotions, experiences).

4. Creative (creative) component(consciousness forms new images and concepts that were not previously in it with the help of imagination, thinking and intuition).

5. Formation of a temporary picture of the world(memory stores images of the past, imagination forms models of the future).

6. Formation of activity goals(Based on the needs of a person, consciousness forms the goals of activity and directs a person to achieve them).

These functions of consciousness can be schematically shown in the form of relatively independent, but interconnected functional blocks (Fig. 18.1).

Rice. 18.1. Structure of consciousness: 7 - block of cognitive processes; 2 — block distinguishing between subject and object; 3 - block of emotions and feelings; 4 - creative block; 5 - block for the formation of a temporary picture of the world; 6 — goal-setting block

In addition to the above, we can consider other options for the structure of human consciousness.

For example, the basis for the structuring of consciousness can be put:

Scale of consciousness (individual and social consciousness);

Components of consciousness (cognition, experience, attitude);

Types of mental phenomena (conscious processes, states and properties);

Its properties (constancy, integrity, activity), etc.

However, from our point of view, the above model of the structure of consciousness is the most convenient in both theoretical and practical aspects.

Social consciousness, consisting of the consciousnesses of the people who make up the society, is not its simple sum, but has some systemic properties that are not reducible to the properties of individual consciousness (Fig. 18.2).

It is possible to single out various forms of social consciousness, the main of which are shown in Fig. 18.3.

From the point of view of materialistic science, there are four types of interactions between human consciousness and the surrounding material world (Fig. 18.4).

The first and second types of interaction are dialectically connected: consciousness is primarily born from the material world and is determined by it,

Rice. 18.2. Levels of public consciousness

Rice. 18.3. The main forms of social consciousness then, as it matures, it begins to actively influence this world, transforming it according to its own plan.

The third and fourth types of interaction are not material in themselves, but belong to the informational type. At the same time, the third type of interaction only seems to be passive. In fact, this is an active reflection, which includes elements of reflection, evaluation and transformation. The most complex and the latest to develop is the fourth type of interaction, which marks the highest stage in the development of consciousness - self-consciousness,

Rice. 18.4. Scheme of interaction of consciousness with the material world

Functions of human consciousness

Based on the structure of consciousness depicted in Fig. 18.1, we can derive its main functions (Fig. 18.5).

Rice. 18.5. The main functions of human consciousness

Let's briefly describe each of them:

- Reflective. Consciousness organizes cognitive processes (perception, representation, thinking), and also organizes memory.

- Appraisal. Consciousness takes part in the formation of some of the emotions and most of the feelings. A person at the level of consciousness evaluates most events and himself.

- Creative. Creativity is impossible without consciousness. Many arbitrary types of imagination are organized on a conscious level: invention, artistic creativity.

- Reflective. The type of consciousness is self-awareness - the process by which a person analyzes his thoughts and actions, observes himself, evaluates himself, etc. One of the meanings of the word “reflection” is the ability of a person’s consciousness to focus on himself. In addition, this term also refers to the mechanism of mutual understanding, that is, a person’s understanding of how other people with whom he interacts think and feel.

- Transformative. A person consciously determines most of his goals and outlines the path to achieve them. At the same time, he is often not limited to performing mental operations with objects and phenomena, but also performs real actions with them, transforming the world around him in accordance with his needs.

- Time-forming. Consciousness is responsible for the formation of a holistic temporal picture of the world, in which there is a memory of the past, awareness of the present and an idea of the future. This human consciousness differs from the psyche of animals.

Properties of human consciousness

Human consciousness has a number of properties due to which a person's reflection of the surrounding world is subjective. These properties are reflected in table. 18.1.

Table 18.1. Properties of human consciousness

Property	Property Description
Activity	Consciousness is associated with activity, with an active impact on the surrounding world.
Selective character	Consciousness is not directed to the whole world as a whole, but only to certain of its objects (most often associated with some unrealized needs)
Generalization and abstraction	Consciousness operates not with real objects and phenomena of the surrounding world, but with generalized and abstract concepts, devoid of part of the attribute of specific objects of reality
Integrity	The consciousness of a mentally healthy person, as a rule, has integrity. Within this property, internal conflicts of values or interests are possible. In some types of mental illness, the integrity of consciousness is violated (schizophrenia)
Property	Property Description
constancy	Relative stability, non-variability and continuity of consciousness, determined by memory. The constancy of consciousness is determined by the properties of the personality
Dynamism	Its variability and ability for continuous development, due to short-term and rapidly changing mental processes, which can be fixed in the state and in new personality traits
distortion	Consciousness always reflects reality in a distorted form (part of the information is lost, and the other part is distorted by the individual characteristics of perception, and personality attitudes)
individual character	The consciousness of each person is different from the consciousness of other people. This is due to a number of factors: genetic differences, upbringing conditions, life experience, social environment, etc.
The ability to reflect	Consciousness has the ability for self-observation and self-assessment, and can also imagine how other people evaluate it.

In the state educational standard, along with the functions of consciousness, such a concept as “empirical characteristics of consciousness (spatial, temporal, informational, energy)” is given as a didactic unit. From our point of view, these concepts seem to be very debatable and related more to the competence of philosophy than psychology - a science that gravitates towards experimental knowledge. However, let's try to define these "empirical" characteristics (Fig. 18.6).