The worldview function of philosophy lies in the fact that, arming people with knowledge about the world and about man, about his place in the world and the possibilities of his knowledge and transformation, it influences the formation of life attitudes, the awareness by social subjects of goals and meaning of life.
Often, when it comes to worldview, its characteristic as a generalized system of ideas and views on the world, a person, on his place in the world, etc. is highlighted. Such an approach is important, since the worldview is always based on a certain mental material, on a certain system of knowledge. However, in this case, the worldview is reduced only to an objective system of knowledge, divorced from the social subject. Often when characterizing a worldview, attention is actually drawn to the etymology of the word – and then it appears as a general view of the world.
The worldview should be considered not only from the point of view of its content, which is the result of the reflection of reality in the minds of people, but also from the point of view of the relationship of knowledge about the world and about a person with a social subject, with his attitude to reality based on this knowledge. With this approach, the importance of knowledge for human life is highlighted. Therefore, worldview should be understood not only as a system of generalized knowledge about the world and a person, but as a system of knowledge that for a social subject acquires the value of its own way of seeing, understanding, analyzing, evaluating phenomena, determining the nature of a person’s attitude to the world and to himself, consciousness of goals and the meaning of life, the nature of actions and actions. It is a way of spiritual and practical development of the world.
Philosophy performs a number of cognitive functions related to the functions of science. The immediate goal of science is to describe, explain and predict the processes and phenomena of reality that make up the subject of its study, based on the laws it opens. Philosophy has always, to one degree or another, performed functions of the methodology of cognition and the philosophical interpretation of its results in relation to science. Philosophy is also united with science by the desire for a theoretical form of building knowledge, for the logical proof of its conclusions.
The European tradition, dating back to antiquity, highly valued the unity of reason and morality, at the same time firmly connected philosophy with science. Even Greek thinkers attached great importance to genuine knowledge and competence, in contrast to the less scientific, and sometimes just lightweight opinion. Such a difference is fundamental in many forms of human activity, including philosophy. So what are the results of the intellectual efforts of philosophers: reliable knowledge or only opinion, a breakdown, a kind of mental game? What are the guarantees of the truth of philosophical generalizations, justifications, forecasts? Is philosophy entitled to claim the status of science, or are such claims groundless? Let’s try to answer these questions, turning to history.
The first attempt to outline the circle of tasks of philosophy, in the face of the existing and just beginning to take shape specific sciences, was made by Aristotle. In contrast to the private sciences, each of which is engaged in the study of its own field of phenomena, he defined philosophy as a doctrine of the root causes, first principles, the most general principles of life. Her theoretical power seemed to Aristotle incommensurable with the capabilities of private sciences and aroused his admiration. He called this field of knowledge «the mistress of sciences», believing that other sciences, like slaves, could not say a word against her. Aristotle’s reflections reflected the sharp divergence of philosophical thought and special disciplines characteristic of his era in terms of their theoretical maturity. This situation has persisted for many centuries. Aristotle’s approach has been firmly established in the minds of philosophers with the titles «queen of sciences» and «science of sciences».
In ancient Greece, philosophy was born as a comprehensive science. This science was aimed at everything that was generally capable or seemed capable of becoming an object of knowledge. Being at first a unified and inseparable science, philosophy, with the differentiated state of individual sciences, became partly an organ combining the results of all other sciences and one general knowledge, partly a conductor of moral and religious life. In the 19—20 centuries, at a new stage in the development of knowledge, opposing opinions about the greatness of science and the inferiority of philosophy sounded. At this time, the philosophical current of positivism arose and became influential, casting doubt on the cognitive possibilities of philosophy, its scientific nature, in a word debunking the «queen of sciences» into «maidservants». In positivism, the conclusion was drawn that philosophy is a substitute for science, which has the right to exist in those periods when mature scientific knowledge has not yet developed. At the stages of developed science, the cognitive claims of philosophy are declared insolvent. It is proclaimed that mature science is its own philosophy, that it is up to it to take power and successfully solve the intricate philosophical issues that have been exciting minds for centuries.
addition, the difference between philosophical knowledge and others is that philosophy – the only one of the sciences that explains what being is, what is its nature, the relationship of material and spiritual in being.
Let’s see how science and philosophy interact with each other. The scientific and philosophical worldview performs cognitive functions related to the functions of science. Along with such important functions as generalization, integration, synthesis of all possible knowledge, discovery of the most general laws, relationships, interactions of the main subsystems of being, which were already discussed, the theoretical scale, logic of the philosophical mind allows it to carry out the functions of forecasting, forming hypotheses about general principles, development trends, as well as primary hypotheses about the nature of specific phenomena that have not yet been worked out by special scientific methods.
On the basis of the general principles of rational understanding, philosophical thought groups every day, practical observations of various phenomena, forms general assumptions about their nature and possible ways of cognition. Using the experience of understanding, accumulated in other areas of knowledge, practice, she creates philosophical «sketches» of various natural or social realities, preparing their subsequent concrete scientific study. In this case, speculative thinking through of fundamentally admissible, logically and theoretically possible options is carried out. T.O. Philosophy fulfills the function of intellectual intelligence, which also serves to fill cognitive gaps that constantly arise in connection with the incomplete, varying degree of knowledge of certain phenomena, the presence of «white spots» in the cognitive picture of the world. Of course, in the concrete – scientific plan, the gap remains to be filled by specialists – scientists of a different general system of world outlook. Philosophy fills them with the power of logical thinking.
Specialists studying all sorts of specific phenomena need common, holistic ideas about the world, about the principles of its structure, general laws, etc. However, they themselves do not develop such representations – in specific sciences universal mental tools (categories, principles, various methods of cognition) are used, but scientists do not specifically engage in the development, systematization, comprehension of cognitive