1. A special state of the human psyche, consisting in the complete and unconditional acceptance of certain information, texts, phenomena, events, or one’s own ideas and conclusions, which in the future can act as the basis of one’s self, determine some of one’s actions, judgments, norms of behavior and relationships. 2. “Recognition of something as true with such decisiveness that exceeds the strength of external factual and formal logical evidence. This does not mean that the truths of faith are not subject to any proof, but only means that the strength of faith depends on a special independent mental act, not determined entirely by empirical and logical grounds" (Vl. Solovyov). From the standpoint of materialism, faith always appears as the result of the preliminary work of consciousness, which creates the subject’s ideas about the world, about his place in it, about the connections and relationships of this world. Construction of a consistent, all-explaining picture of the world (-> image of the world) is the work of the subject’s consciousness, based on the mechanisms of cognition, anticipation (-> anticipation), causal attribution, repression, rationalization, substitution, etc. The more inquisitive a person’s mind is, the more complex it is mental construction, the less reason he has for blind faith. If “faith affirms more than what is contained in the data of sensory experience and the conclusions of rational thinking, then it means that it has its root outside the realm of theoretical knowledge and clear consciousness in general.” Faith is always connected with an object, meaningfully determined by it, and infinitely diverse in its manifestations. Thus, if the object of faith is the phenomena of external reality and the subject studying them provides evidence of the truth of his results, confirmed by experience, then there is conviction or faith in his own rightness. Faith has a different content in the case when a person is unable to grasp with his mind an overly complex or incapable of rational explanation of an object. Then he either one way or another refuses knowledge, including the mechanisms of repression, substitution or rationalization, or simplifies and reduces the object, preferring irrational faith without any evidence. The foundations of such faith lie deeper than knowledge and thinking. In relation to them, it acts as an initial fact and therefore stronger than them. For example, in relation to the foundations of our existence, faith is a more or less direct or indirect, simple or complex representation in the mind of a preconscious connection between a subject and an object. The simpler, more comprehensive and inevitable this connection is, the stronger the faith that corresponds to it. Thus, the strongest belief is in the reality of the external world, for it only reflects in consciousness that initial, simple and irreducible fact that each person is a part of the universal whole, a part of the common being. A close relationship to the subject is characteristic of religious faith, the object of which is the issues of the immortality of the soul, free will, the existence of deity, the plurality of its manifestations, etc. Being associated with the search for the human spirit, religious faith does not directly depend on such simple and unconditional foundations as the reality of physical existence person in the physical world. Therefore, not only the processes of spiritual existence, but also the very objects and postulates of religious faith are a special subject of faith. Freedom of religion lies precisely in the fact that a person includes in his image of the world the existence of the extramaterial world, as well as in the absence of persecution for confessing faith.

In this article we will try to understand with you what faith is. We will consider the concept not only from the point of view of religion and theology, but also as a result of scientific research.

Faith is one of the foundations of self-identification and human existence in society, so a more accurate understanding of this phenomenon is simply necessary for everyone.
Read on and you will find out what supporters of different religions, as well as sociologists, psychologists and other researchers, think about the need for faith.

Etymology and classical meaning of the term

Before we talk about the definition of this phenomenon, let's look at the etymology of the word “faith.” Scientists see the meaning in a consonant adjective from Latin. In this ancient language, “verus” meant “truthful, true.” There are words with similar sounds and meanings in both Old Irish and Old High German.

Now let's talk about what faith is for the average person who does not go into the intricacies of psychology, philosophy or different religions.

Thus, it turns out that faith is a kind of unproven fact, which is justified solely by subjective conviction, does not require confirmation, but sometimes it can try to find it.

This is where the concept of “trust” comes from. This state is the basis of all social relations. Including fidelity, it depends on certain rules, which, when broken, transfer the relationship to another category - betrayal.

But before the conditions are met, this concept refers to the unconditional ability of the subject to transfer certain rights, information, things or people to the object of trust.

He writes that as soon as any evidence arises, there can be no talk of faith. Then we are already talking about knowledge.

Object and subject of faith

After we have briefly defined the basic concept of what faith is, it is worth starting to deepen it. Now we will try to separate the object and the subject.

The first one is usually not felt at all. Not one of the five is able to recognize the presence of the object of faith. Otherwise, this would already be empirical proof of physical existence.

Thus, the object for society is exclusively in a state of possibility. Although for an individual or a group of people it seems to exist in reality. Due to various processes in the body, it can be felt psychologically, emotionally, figuratively.

The subject is all of humanity in general and each individual in particular. If you look from this perspective, then faith means the attitude of a person or society towards an object.

For example, they believed that thunder was the roar of the chariots of the gods, who were angry with them and sent lightning down. This was the attitude of primitive society to such a natural phenomenon, which caused panic and horror. Today, due to scientific discoveries, even a schoolchild knows that these are just processes in the atmosphere of the planet. They are in no way animated, but simply mechanical.

Accordingly, faith also changed. We do not make sacrifices to the “formidable thunderers” in order to save our lives, unlike ancient people who sincerely believed in the advisability of such behavior.

Religious understanding

Spiritual belief is often replaced by synonyms such as religion, creed, and religious doctrine. You can hear both the terms “Christianity”, “Christian religion”, and “Christian faith”. Often in colloquial communication these are one and the same thing.

By the word “believer” in a religious context, we mean a supporter of a certain picture of the world who supports the views of one of the existing religions.

If we ask Christians, Muslims or other representatives of monotheistic worldviews about what faith is, we will hear that this is the most important human virtue. In the absence of this quality, many events are simply impossible both during the life and after the death of a believer.

For example, all unbelievers and doubters face eternal torment in hell or fiery Gehenna.

The ancient sages, whose thoughts are fragmentarily cited in various Holy Scriptures, give stunning examples on this matter from everyday life.

If we take the example of a farmer. He may be a Christian, a pagan, or even an atheist, but his activities are based on faith. No one will put hard work into cultivating a field, sowing grains, without believing in the future bountiful harvest.

Sociology

The basis of modern Western society is the Christian faith. It is its principles that regulate relationships between people on almost all continents.

But sociologists call for separating religion from faith. They say that the first is more designed to suppress the human essence in the individual. In terms of the fact that in fact the believer is only interested in himself, his needs and benefits. The true desires of a person are unlikely to include the desire for altruistic help to the Church or the priest.

The natural thoughts of people are based solely on selfishness, which is introduced into the framework of social norms of behavior. Therefore, faith must be perceived only from this point of view.

Thus, sociologists are not interested in the phenomenon of faith itself, but in the result to which it leads in society. Studying various religions, scientists conclude that people strive to create optimal conditions for individual happiness through participation in groups, sects, ashrams and other associations.

Psychology

Psychologists first of all say that all faith is subjective. Therefore, there can be no talk of any single phenomenon that is exactly identical for all participants. Everyone perceives and feels to the best of their abilities, attitudes, previous traumas and doubts.

From a psychological point of view, the Christian faith is based on the absence of contradictions. There are no clarifying questions, and no one is interested in the opinions of ordinary parishioners. The pastor must care for and lead his flock to salvation.

Thus, psychology treats faith as its opposite. It cannot be understood, measured or calculated. This is something comparable to the notorious “human factor”, which leads to unexpected consequences.

Theology

This discipline places faith at the basis of knowledge of the world. “I believe, therefore I exist.”

The problematics of these issues in theology are divided into broad and narrow understandings.

In the first case, the study includes the whole of science, since it explores not only the content of the concept, but also its implementation in our world. That is, here special attention is paid to faith as a life practice and a person’s personal relationship with God.

In a narrow sense, faith is the relationship and knowledge of the Almighty by people, which was initiated by the Lord. That is, the Orthodox faith speaks of comprehending God only with the help of the means that he himself gave. This includes primarily revelations.

The Supreme is perceived as unknowable. Therefore, we can only know what he conveys to us based on human abilities of understanding.

Atheists

Within the framework of this article, it is worth touching on such a concept as atheism. If we turn to the translation of the term, it means “atheism.”

In fact, atheism is faith in man, science and progress. But the very concept of “faith” is unacceptable here. Scientific atheism asserts that the basis of the worldview of its followers is the acceptance of well-founded and proven facts, and not belief in myths.

Thus, such a worldview simply tries to describe the visible material world, without touching the question of God and faith at all.

Materialists

During Soviet times, materialism was known as the Russian faith. It was with a similar worldview, with an appeal to science and atheism, that they tried to replace the previous social foundations.

However, today supporters of this philosophy speak of it as a faith. Today, materialism is the unconditional belief that matter was primary and spirit was secondary.

Thus, faith in man and his ability to rule the world, and with proper development, the universe, forms the basis of this worldview.

Faith in ancient societies

Let's now talk about what happened before the first systematized faiths of the world appeared.

In primitive society, people first endowed all objects, living beings, landscape objects with a soul. This worldview is called today animism.

But between these views, atheism and the subsequent return to spirituality, there is a long path traveled by humanity within the framework of various religions.

Christianity

A conversation about attitudes to faith in individual religions should begin with Christianity as the most widespread belief on the planet. This worldview has more than two and a half billion followers.

All life aspirations of a true Christian are aimed at salvation. Theologians say that the basis of faith lies not only in aspiration to the Lord, but also from events in real life. If we look at the history of mankind, we will see that the picture does not change throughout the millennia. As Fromm rightly noted, history is written in blood.

It is on this fact that the Orthodox faith is based. Here the basis is original sin. The priests claim that the condition in which we live is the result of disparate desires of body, mind and soul. Therefore, during your stay in this world, it is necessary to atone for, correct this failure, in order to feel bliss in paradise after death.

The Russian faith has always strived for holiness. It is in this territory that miracles occur in cells and various people of God travel, possessing the ability to heal, preach and other gifts.

Islam

Muslims approach issues of faith more strictly. Here “iman” (faith) means complete and unconditional acceptance of everything that the Prophet Muhammad conveyed to people. Any doubt in at least one of the six “pillars” of Islam turns a Muslim into a kaafir. In this case, he will have to sincerely repent and recite the Shahada, provided that he understands every word spoken.

The basis of Islam lies in six basic principles: belief in Allah, angels, books, messengers, Judgment Day and predetermination of fate. A devout Muslim is obliged to know all these “pillars”, pray five times a day and not commit even the slightest offense.

Thus, faith in the future is actually swept away. On the one hand, Muslim fatalism lies in the fact that nothing depends on a person, everything is already written in the Great Book, and no one has the power to change their fate. On the other hand, it includes a sincere belief that Allah chose only the best for His children, so bad events are just lessons.

Judaism

If you compare Judaism with other religions, you get some discrepancy. Faith is not put above knowledge here. Here they try to answer any, even the most confusing, question, since it is believed that only by asking can one find out the truth.

Some sources refer to the interpretation of Havakkuk's quote. He said that a true righteous person will live only by his faith. But translated from Hebrew, the word “emunah” means “trust.”

Therefore, what follows is a discussion and comparison of these two concepts. Faith is an unconfirmed feeling of the truth of a certain object or event. Trust is based on knowledge of certain rules that the two parties adhere to.

Therefore, Jews believe that the Almighty sends them only what is right, good and good. And the basis of human life lies precisely in complete trust in the Lord, which, in turn, is the cornerstone of all commandments.

From here faith in the future grows, as a constant process of development and improvement of the human soul.

Buddhism

Buddhism is considered by many to be one of the most popular religions in the world. But in fact it is a philosophical belief. If we look at the history of the emergence of this phenomenon, as well as its philosophy, we will see huge differences, for example, from Abrahamic beliefs.

Buddhists do not recognize original sin. Moreover, they consider karma to be the basic law, which is not a moral code. Therefore sin is not immoral in nature. This is a simple mistake, a misdeed of a person on the path to enlightenment.

Buddha said that the main goal is to achieve enlightenment. For this there are the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. If all thoughts, speeches and actions are correlated every second with these two postulates, then it will be possible to interrupt (rebirth) and achieve nirvana.

Thus, we have figured out what faith is. We talked about the significance of this phenomenon for scientists, as well as for believers of different religions.

What is faith?

1. Faith is an inspired script according to which the one to whom this script was imposed lives.

   This is a good medicine to comfort people who are weak in spirit.

2. Hebrews 11:1
   “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. "
3. Yes, you can cite many places and argue. I'll tell you from my experiences. Faith is given by God as the seed of the Word and fertilizes you. You are like soil or a woman who carries a child and suffers until she gives birth. Faith bears fruit. Only one born again of God can have faith. also from water and spirit. Have faith, even the size of a mustard seed, that can remove mountains of problems from your path by overcoming and winning. Faith is an interesting life full of adventures and unexpected discoveries. Faith is a life of overcoming full of meaning and happiness.
4. Faith is the main Christian virtue, consisting in the voluntary consent of the human will to accept the Divinely Revealed Truth. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the assurance of things not seen. (Heb. 11:1). And without faith it is impossible to please God; for he who comes to God must believe that He exists and is a rewarder of those who seek Him. (Heb. 11:6)
   1. Faith in relation to other virtues. Faith is a fundamental Christian virtue.
   At the head of the holy virtues is faith - the root and essence of all holy virtues. All holy virtues flow from it: prayer, love, repentance, humility, fasting, meekness, mercy, etc. Rev. Justin Popovich
   2. The nature of faith. Faith is composed of human will and the action of Divine grace. She herself is a holy sacrament in which human will and Divine grace are harmonized. Any holy virtue in the soul of an Orthodox Christian is a holy sacrament, for any of them is in organic connection with the holy sacrament of baptism, and through it with the entire Theanthropic sacrament of the Church, for example, faith is a holy virtue, and thereby a holy sacrament, which an Orthodox Christian lives unceasingly. And holy faith, by the power of its holiness, gives birth in his soul to the other holy virtues - prayer, love, hope, fasting, mercy, humility, meekness... And each of them is again a holy sacrament. Rev. Justin Popovich
   3. Content of faith. Faith consists in accepting the truths of Divine Revelation contained in Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition, formulated in the dogmatic teaching of the Church. These truths are supersensible, immaterial, invisible, immaterial, mysterious. They surpass the visible material world, surpass human senses and reason, and therefore require faith. Just as the eyes see sensual objects, so faith looks with spiritual eyes at the hidden. Venerable Isaac the Syrian
   4. Types of faith Faith is divided into speculative (dogmatic) and active, living, expressed in the fulfillment of the Gospel commandments. These types of faith complement each other in human salvation. Without faith it is impossible to be saved, because everything, both human and spiritual, is based on faith. But faith comes to perfection in no other way than through the fulfillment of everything indicated by Christ. Without works, faith is dead, as are works without faith. True faith is shown in works. Venerable John of Damascus
   In Hebrew, the word faith sounds like emunah from the word haman, faithfulness. Faith is a concept very close to the concept of fidelity, devotion. It becomes obvious that faith is not a passive trust in external authority, but a dynamic force that transforms a person, sets before him the goal of life, and makes it possible to achieve this goal. Don't mistake satiety for happiness. The truth is that we have nothing permanent on this earth. Everything passes in an instant, and nothing belongs to us, everything is on loan. Borrow health, strength and beauty. O. Nikolai Serbsky.
   “A person is never a stranger to faith... God is encoded in the soul of everyone: in the feeling of Eternity, the feeling of the Supreme. And therefore, in order to come to faith, you need to come to yourself. We live as if far from ourselves. We are in a hurry to work, fussing about household chores. But we don’t remember ourselves at all. I am often reminded of the words of Meister Eckhart: “In silence God speaks his word.” Silence! Where is our silence? Everything is rattling around here all the time. But in order to come to some spiritual values, it is necessary to create islands of silence, islands of spiritual concentration. Stop for a minute. We run all the time as if we have a very long distance ahead. And our distance is short. It costs nothing to run. So, in order to know, deepen, and realize the faith that lives within us, we must return to ourselves “.o. Alexander Men.
5. Faith

   To draw closer to Heavenly Father and receive all the blessings He has for you, you must first develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Peter taught that “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

   But what is faith, and how can you develop it?

   Belief in God is more than a theoretical belief in God. Having faith in God means trusting Him, being confident in Him, and trying to act on your faith in Him. It is a law based on action and force.

   To believe in God is to “trust in that which you do not see, which is true” (Book of Mormon, Alma 32:21). Every day you do what you hope to do before you even see the end result. This is very similar to faith.

   Alma, the Book of Mormon prophet, compared faith to a seed. If you plant a seed and nourish it, if it is a good seed, it will grow and then bear fruit (Alma 32:28-43). Faith is the same way. If you obey God's commandments, study His words, and if you have a desire to believe in Christ, faith will grow in your soul.

6. As we study Jesus' miracles in detail, we become increasingly convinced that they actually happened (2 Timothy 3:16). And, as mentioned earlier, such study strengthens faith in God's promises to heal all people who obey him. The Bible says that faith is a reasonable expectation of what is hoped for, the evident manifestation of things that are, though not seen (Hebrews 11:1). God does not encourage us to be gullible or vain, but rather to develop strong, evidence-based faith (1 John 4:1). By developing this faith, we gain spiritual strength, health, and joy (Matthew 5:3; Romans 10:17).
7. Faith is a reasonable expectation of that which is hoped for, a clear evidence of things which are not seen (Hebrews 11:1).
   In other words, faith is a document confirming ownership of something that is hoped for with full confidence that it will be.
8. Hypothesis :)
9. Here is the exact meaning of the word "faith" in Greek:

   #960;#8055;#963;#964;#953;#962; faith, fidelity, trust, conviction, certification;

10. Faith is great knowledge.
11. Faith is a word that has long been and firmly rooted in the minds of people, as the conviction of people in what they have not seen, but from the words of the prophets who had the revelation to see the spiritual world of the Creator, who gave a description of this world as they perceived it. In Orthodoxy, the Heavenly hierarchy is perceived in this order: the Lord and the Angels of nine faces, the nine faces have three ranks. The first rank includes: thrones, many-eyed cherubs, six-winged seraphim; to the second - power, domination, strength; to the third - angels, archangels, beginnings.
    In the Bible there is in the Gospel of Luke in 17:6 when Christ said to the apostles who asked him - Increase our faith. 6. The Lord said: if you had faith the size of a mustard seed and said to this fig tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea,” then it would listen to you.
    Faith is clearly said here, with this he explains to them: you walk with me, you see how I do it, and in what way. And I gave you grace, moreover, you believe that I am the Lord and you, knowing how, and knowing who is with you, have no confidence in this possibility
    Faith is confidence in the possibility from the point of view of the human mind, no matter how impossible it may seem.

Ivan wrote a definition of FAITH. (see above)

But, it is also written in the Gospel: “FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD.”

Many say that they believe, but cannot confirm their faith with deeds.

And further! “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17)

Good luck, MAXIM to you!

12. As sensible people say:
    Faith is an internal state, internal conviction in some Supreme Being, Higher Powers. A person cannot understand and explain something, through rational knowledge and understanding “this” is not given to him, it is unattainable, but still he believes that “this” is so. Believes.
    Religion is understood as the entire external attributive complex of manifestations of faith: ritualism, temple, dogma, the institution of priesthood. Moreover, religion includes faith: faith is the internal spiritual foundation on which religion stands.
    A believer may be non-religious or very little religious. He may not adhere to any of the existing faiths: they do not suit him in some way; he believes them to be limited or compromised; he may not need their convention. In relations between himself and the Higher Powers, he does without mediation, directly. His faith needs very little external attributes or any outside reinforcements.
    In turn, a religious person may have very little faith. He may zealously observe all external religious paraphernalia - and believe that this, in general, is enough. His behavior may lack an internal impulse of faith and be replaced by an external prescription of religion, that is, act not according to internal command, but according to an external decree, commandment, law, etc.
    Faith is a person’s intransigence with the existing situation. This is the embodiment of desire in spite of knowledge, evidence - everything. Excess of desire. Excess nervous energy beyond what is necessary for life. The aspect of a person’s internal, fundamental, immanent irreconcilability with the whole state of things in this world. And where a person can no longer remake the surrounding, external, objective world, he remakes the inner, subjective, imaginary world. Remakes it at will. Faith is a remaking of the idea of ​​the world: we remake the idea and, thereby, remake the world.

    According to the scriptures, Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. It bears witness to the ancients. (Heb. 11:1-2)
    Faith is the beginning of our union with God: a true believer is the stone of the temple of God, prepared for the building of God the Father, raised to heights by the power of Jesus Christ, that is, the cross, with the help of the rope, that is, the grace of the Holy Spirit. Faith without works is dead, and the works of faith are love, peace, patience, mercy, humility, bearing the cross and life in the spirit. Only such faith is imputed to the truth. True faith cannot be without works: whoever truly believes certainly has works.
    Show virtue in your faith: in virtue is prudence, in prudence is self-control, in self-control is patience, in patience is godliness, in godliness is brotherly kindness, and in brotherly kindness is love. (2 Pet. 1:5-7)

13. Faith is a relic of the past.
14. Actually, you have already been answered. Hebrews 11:1 If you don’t like antiquity and want something modern, take E. Lukin: “Faith is something that cannot be verified.”
15. Faith is one feeling from the highest pantheon of feelings, along with love/hate, fear/fearlessness...
    Quite a strong feeling, if handled properly it works wonders.
    All religions are based on faith as a powerful restraining or, on the contrary, driving force... (and also sects and politicians use faith for their own purposes)
    Faith is the acceptance of any concepts as truth!
    If we talk about eternal questions, then the proverb “The believer is happy - the doubter is wise” says that the believer has accepted some kind of value system
16. Faith, in contrast to the religious tradition, in science is understood as a position of reason that accepts certain provisions that cannot be proven. In this sense, knowledge is the opposite of knowledge. We consider knowledge to be something that can be verified, confirmed, justified, proven. However, not all of a person’s beliefs can be tested and justified. Some of them are accepted by us without proof, so to speak, “on faith”; we believe that these beliefs are true, useful, good, although we cannot prove it.
17. Vera is a feminine name.
18. Faith is taking a person's word without thinking or developing.

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Faith
BEPA is a spiritual state that includes intellectual, emotional and volitional components and expresses a person’s attitude towards reality or imaginary phenomena, when their reliability and truth are accepted without theoretical and practical evidence. To have faith means to be convinced, confident in something: faith in success, faith in the decency of your friend, in the bright future of your people, etc. Religious faith is a system of beliefs held by a particular person (for example, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist). The objects of religious faith are God, angels, the other world, the immortality of the soul, and dogmas. In the field of science, the term *faith* denotes knowledge-based conviction, confidence in the truth of certain theories, laws, principles, provisions. Theology considers a person incapable of a true understanding of the world without relying on faith, considering it as an integral property of the soul, the highest manifestation of consciousness

List of random tags:
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Wolf Christian (Wolff) Christian (01/24/1679 – 04/9/1754) - German philosopher, popularizer and systematizer of the philosophy of G.W. Leibniz. Professor of philosophy in Halle (1706–23), in Marburg, again in Halle (from 1740). Among his listeners was M.V. Lomonosov. The goal of his philosophy was to achieve the universal bliss of people, for which he considered it necessary to clarify the first basis of the existence of all creations. Psychology was divided into empirical and rational. One considers the connection between the soul and the body (Psychologia empirica. 1732), the second deals only with the immortal soul (Psychologia rationalis. 1734). He considered the union of the soul with the body to be an inexplicable miracle, and reduced all mental phenomena to the special abilities of the soul. Essays. Eigene Lebensbeschreibung. Lpz., 1841; Wolffian experimental physics. Abridged from the German original in Latin, from which Mikhailo Lomonosov translated into Russian. St. Petersburg, 1760.
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Ergonomics - ERGONOMICS is a group of sciences that comprehensively study systems *man - machine - environment*, ways to improve and increase labor efficiency. Ergonomics uses the achievements of engineering psychology, physiology and occupational hygiene, anthropology, technical aesthetics, management theory, etc.
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Lapierre's paradox - R. Lapierre's paradox is a phenomenon of social attitudes. A discrepancy between social attitudes, which are reflected in verbal responses, and actual behavior. Lapierre's experiment showed that while negative interethnic attitudes were expressed in the survey, in real relationships with real representatives of other nationalities they manifest themselves much less. Literature. La Piere R. Attitude versus action // (Eds.) Fishbein M., John N. Attitude Theory and Measurement. N.Y., 1967.

1) Faith- - unlike the religious tradition, in science V. is understood as a position of reason that accepts certain provisions that cannot be proven. In this sense, knowledge is the opposite of knowledge. We consider knowledge to be something that can be verified, confirmed, justified, proven. However, not all of a person’s beliefs can be tested and justified. Some of them are accepted by us without proof, so to speak, “on faith”; we believe that these beliefs are true, useful, good, although we cannot prove it.

2) Faith- - 1) the same as a creed, i.e. a system of beliefs, views, which one or another person adheres to (for example, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist); 2) specific. attitude towards real or imaginary objects, phenomena (and the corresponding spiritual state), when their reliability and truth are accepted without theoretical considerations. and practical evidence. This kind of knowledge (called blind) is contrasted with knowledge. This is precisely the phenomenon of V. religion, the objects of which are God, angels, the other world, the immortality of the soul, dogmas, etc.; 3) the term “V.” also denote knowledge-based conviction, a person’s confidence in the truth of certain scientific concepts. or social-political ideas.

3) Faith - (from Lat. veritas - truth, verus - true) - 1) the spiritual ability of the human soul to directly know the hidden layers of being ("essence"), mystically reside in the center of a cognizable object and intuitively comprehend the essence; 2) a person’s ability to recognize the adequacy of his sensory images to perceived things and phenomena; 3) evaluating statements and other forms of mediated knowledge as true without sufficient logical and factual justification. From an etymological point of view, the expression “to check the truth of a statement” is tautological in nature, since “to check” means nothing more than to establish the truth. From the word “faith” are derived: reliability, probability, fidelity, verification, trust, belief, confession, etc. The ambiguity of the word “faith” often leads to misunderstandings when it denotes heterogeneous realities. It is one thing to believe the readings of measuring instruments or the words of eyewitnesses, but another thing to believe in an idea, an axiom, a doctrine, a theory. Remaining faithful to a friend or authority is not at all the same as verifying something from your own experience. Calculating the probability (likelihood) of some event is different from believing in an intuitive revelation of an entity. The Russian-language collective meaning of the term “faith” is insufficient to differentiate two opposite human paths to the supersensible - (a) the path to the hidden world through external experience, signs and concepts and (b) the path to the Fullness of Being (essence) through the direct presence of the human soul in the omnipresent spirit , prototypes, knowable originals. In English-speaking countries, the term “faith” usually denotes a person’s spiritual and sacred attitude to existence, truth, and the secular and epistemological attitude to truth is enshrined in the term “belief”. It is advisable to take advantage of this tradition and introduce two generic concepts into Russian-language philosophical circulation - “faith-belief” and “bilif-belief”. Being a real component of the cosmic whole, each individual is penetrated by invisible connections common to the entire universe, resides in them and experiences them. Direct presence in the connections of the infinite and the whole being is a prerequisite for faith as direct knowledge. Faith faith is the spiritual attraction of the soul to the ultimate foundations of existence, a mystical stay in them, a direct vision of transcendental essences and (or) substantial connections. Faith faith, or spiritual faith, is not a copy of its subject and is not described as a subjective image (map) of the objective world; it seems to be merged with the original. Between it and its object there are no such usual intermediaries for external knowledge as idols, ideals, copies, signs, symbols and omens. Its subject is not the phenomenal, but the noumenal world. Faith faith can be understood as the true beginning of human knowledge and a direct source of information about the world as a whole and large spheres of existence. Being in “things in themselves” (in the originals) determines spiritual V. maximum reliability, the identity of epistemological truth as the correspondence of knowledge to reality and ontological truth (truth). Faith faith, as the attraction of the individual’s soul to the boundless spirit, eliminates the opposition between soul and spirit, subject and object, gives rise to a person’s non-utilitarian attitude towards unconditional spiritual values, and turns into the highest inner feelings of love and beauty. The shock from the attraction to the infinite, from the reliability, beauty and truth of cosmic life, experienced in faith, causes the need to express silent direct knowledge in words, gestures and other texts. Three aspects of faith faith - the position of the soul in the spirit, the intuitive representation of entities and the extra-rational assessment of what is contemplated by the conscience - require their indirect development and expression. Operating with ideal images of entities and dividing the universe into parts, a person moves on to indirect knowledge of the world. At the level of ideal-shaped reflection, a single world is seen by many material bodies, but the internal connection between things is poorly visible to the outside eye. The sensory image of an externally given thing is mediated by the most complex neurodynamic processes in the human body. The reliability of the sensory image of a thing is conditional, relative, distorted-subjective and fundamentally different from the unconditional reliability of faith. Bilif faith is associated with an indirect relationship between the subject and the object and with the opposition of the “I” to the external world. The subject sees and understands an object separated from him depending on his own needs, interests, and patterns of action. An object, transformed by the subject into a cognizable object, loses many of its former life connections and acquires, to a certain extent, an artificial character. In order to cognize an external object as a sensory reality, one must first be sure that perceptions do not deceive us and that the object is identical to the object being cognized. The mastery of material phenomena begins with subjective sensory certainty, which in itself does not lead to genuine knowledge of existence. Bilif-faith begins with this form of certainty; it cannot be called either the ultimate basis of knowledge, or knowledge in the proper sense. It has never been possible to refute the credo of subjective idealism by reference to the bilife faith, but it is precisely thanks to his faith faith that not a single subjective idealist has dared to fully live with his philosophy. Subjective reliability of sensations and perceptions of material objects is the primary form of bilife belief. The second form of this belief is found in the structure of rational knowledge and is associated with representation, cultural ideals, and authoritative evidence. This form of bilief faith can be called trust, that is, the expectation of truth, the hope of possessing it in some indirect way. Trust has a probabilistic nature, because it does not directly know its subject. Trust is often achieved through methods of persuasion, proof, confirmation by facts, and psychological pressure. Trust can be deserved and undeserved, people “enter” it and “leave” it. Trust in the standard, trust in the ideals of culture, trust in authoritative opinion - a type of trust in the ideal (representative) image of supersensible reality. The fulfillment of desires, the pursuit of goals and the use of means are impossible without trust. Bilif faith permeates the entire structure of thinking and increases the power of thought with an effective feeling. Thus, bilife-faith is the ability of the soul, focused on the created and qualitatively diverse world, to relatively directly (without sufficient reason) recognize the truth of sensory and rational images in the forms of subjective reliability and trust, confidence and expectation. Allowing a person to perceive some signs of the truth of subjective images of the external world, bilife faith actively directs the process of synthesis of feelings, reason and will into indirect knowledge and goal setting. The fundamental distinction between two kinds of faith - faith faith and bilife faith - makes it possible to overcome the identification of “faith in general” with religious faith found in the literature (A. I. Vvedensky, P. Johnson, K. K. Platonov); the concepts of secular and religious V. are significantly different. At the same time, the bilife faith is ultimately guided by that holistic worldview, silent and immediate, which is determined by the faith faith. Different understandings of the phenomenon of knowledge stem from differences in interpretations of the source of knowledge. Gaining knowledge is possible by immersing inside things - from external signs to the essence of quality or from direct intuition, directly comprehending the essence, through signs and images to indirect knowledge. Philosophers usually view these paths as a problem of indirect and direct knowledge. The solution to this problem is presented by two opposing models. According to one model, a person is capable of only indirect knowledge. For example, Hegel defined knowledge as the harmonious unity of subjectively reliable sensibility and the concept of an object; to know an object means to understand its essence and imagine how this essence manifests itself. According to Hegel, there can in principle be no direct knowledge of essence. This view was developed by a number of modern Russian philosophers (Yu. P. Vedin, P. V. Kopnin, M. N. Rutkevich). According to the second model, human knowledge begins with the direct presence of the soul in true reality, and direct knowledge of this reality is the primary inner light, distinguished from the dim outer light. Thanks to external light, the image of perception receives subjective authenticity. The inner spiritual light is the direct knowledge of existence and the true authenticity of faith. This model was substantiated in different ways by Socrates, Plato, Bernard of Clairvaux, N. Cusansky, N. O. Lossky, S. L. Frank and others. For example, Plato proved the possibility of direct knowledge of true essences ("objective ideas") by the fact that when Our souls directly saw ideas, but after moving from their heavenly homeland to a rough earthly abode, the souls were left with only the memory of an ideal world. S. L. Frank derived the assertion about the primacy of direct knowledge (faythvera) from the premise that only our knowledge of the ignorance and incomprehensibility of unconditional existence has genuine reliability. Both models are based on strong arguments; neither of them can be completely refuted or fully defended in purely rational and logical ways. Refusing rational evidence in favor of the existence of faith faith as the original and direct knowledge of truth, the esoteric tradition in religion and philosophy defends the reality of faith faith by pointing to the personal internal experience of people. If the physical organs of vision and hearing allow one to see external objects in reflected material light and hear external sounds, then spiritual vision and the spiritual ear inside the human heart directly assimilate the harmony of the heavenly world. Mystics take the revelation of spiritual light within us as a criterion for direct knowledge. Vedic hymns tell about the form of Agni, the universal primordial fire-light, penetrating all things and standing behind tangible fire. The Prophet Zoroaster said that the Eternal One created through the living Verb the heavenly light, the seed of Ormuzd, the beginning of material light and fire. The Bible says that the creation of Light preceded the creation of material luminaries. In the mystical teachings of Heraclitus we are talking specifically about the outwardly invisible Fire, which binds the entire cosmos together. Theosophical teachings about the astral light in their own way reproduce the secret doctrine of the Verb-Sun of the religions of the Ancient East and ancient Greece; in these teachings the “world soul” is interpreted as a mediator between the “absolute spirit” and matter. The idea of ​​spiritual light, revealed to us in faith, acts as an ideological archetype of philosophical concepts about the mechanism of “revelation of essences”: the essence manifests itself, shines through, appears through phenomena, appearances. The topic of faith remains an eternal problem of religion and epistemology. Does faith faith provide true authenticity of life and does it allow you to experience the absence of a fundamental barrier between “my Self” and the world of the free spirit? Why does trying to answer this question divide people into optimists and pessimists? Optimists, according to F. Nietzsche, share the Apollonian enthusiasm for experiencing the world, while pessimists prefer the Dionysian attitude to the world, looking at life as suffering, chaos, and self-disintegration. The conflict between faith faith and bilife faith probably constantly reproduces the existential debate about the meaning of life. Theologians and philosophers who recognize the phenomenon of faith faith differ among themselves on the question of the nature of the content of this belief in different people. If existence is one and united, then being in it in the spiritual sense should determine the same content of faith faith of different people; all religions teach about the same God, but indirectly express the primary knowledge of the absolute in different ways. This is the line of thought of supporters of the sameness of the content of the faith of people who think about God. This can be objected to by saying that the content of direct knowledge of the absolute depends not only on the absolute, but also on the characteristics of personal souls that are in direct contact with the infinite spirit. Every belief has its own object, otherwise it cannot be distinguished from an indefinite experience or from an object of unbelief. Faith-faith is not only aimed at the content directly revealed to it, but also does not doubt the authenticity of its subject. Thus, it is the opposite of unbelief, skepticism, solipsism and nihilism. Depending on the characteristics of its subject, faith takes on different forms. Neoplatonist mathematicians speak of a special mathematical intuition that directly and undoubtedly knows potential infinite entities (L. E. Brouwer, G. Weil, A. Heyting). Many art theorists point to aesthetic intuition, thanks to which a person directly grasps the harmony of being (Plato, Schelling, Croce). Kant admired the “a priori moral law” in the soul of every person, and irrational ethicists suggest that the intuition of what is proper underlies human behavior and predetermines unexpected decisions in unique life situations. N. O. Lossky and K. Jaspers identified a special philosophical faith-intuition: a philosophical idea first reveals itself to us intuitively, emotionally and has no figurative form, and only then seeks its expression in images and concepts, focusing on the spirit and material of the culture of its era. If religious faith is the direct, sacred and ecstatically experienced knowledge of an individual about his real or restoring connection with the absolute, then philosophical faith is usually devoid of sacredness and is not focused on establishing a personal connection with the absolute. Philosophical faith is associated with the desire to focus on any specific universal facet of existence and highlight it as dominant. The facet of existence discovered by intuition is endowed with the status of a substance, which can be thought of as water, air, fire, atom, will, instinct, mind, etc. The human soul is capable of all types of faith. In a real individual, a supporter of a certain religious denomination, an adept of a certain philosophical direction, scientific school, etc. are simultaneously combined. Therefore, religious, philosophical, artistic, etc. in faith faith form interpenetrating content. It is necessary to distinguish between religious faith faith and bilife faith participating in the religious development of the world. The need to express direct knowledge about the connection of man with the absolute causes a process of indirect religious cognition, composed of sensory images of phenomena and concepts of reason. Consistent with each other, artificial visual images of the signs of the absolute and the concept of the Creator and His creations gradually form varieties of indirect religious knowledge. Such knowledge is expressed in texts, among which the Holy Scriptures play a primary role. Bilif faith, which in itself is not knowledge, certainly participates in the formation and transmission of mediated religious knowledge. This is what is most often meant when they say that knowledge and knowledge are not the same thing and that knowledge and knowledge can contradict each other and complement each other. No matter how great were the prophets who stood at the origins of the Scriptures and no matter how sincerely and accurately they tried to express their faith-faith by verbal means (even if “the hand of God led them with the pen”), nevertheless, the words of any national language are insufficient to adequately convey mystical experience of the Fullness of Being. Prophets often resort to parables. Holy Scripture expresses indirect knowledge. The first reading of Scripture by a person seeking V. is based on the bilith faith, but this reading can awaken the faith faith dormant in the soul, the criterion of conscience of which verifies the content of the sacred text. Having sincerely chosen the “true” Scripture for himself, a person trusts it because it is in it that he sees a relatively complete expression of the faith he experiences. Without being a genius in the transmission of Revelation, an ordinary person is rarely able to clearly express his faith-belief by discursive means, and therefore, having made a choice of this or that Scripture, he tells other people about his beliefs in the words of the text that is authoritative for him. Progress in religion occurs with the emergence of a new true prophet, who embodies the previously ineffable aspects of faith in succinct and generally valid definitions. Some believers try to achieve harmony between faith faith and bilife faith, while others do not seek to objectify their direct knowledge of the truth, limiting themselves to the content of their intuition and not adhering to one or another confession. Faith-faith is blind in the sense of its non-embodiment in the forms of external visuality, but it is not blind in the sense that it falls under the general concept of vision, representing spiritual vision. Indirect knowledge complements and to some extent reveals the immediate content of faith-belief, thereby making this belief reasonable, knowledgeable, and sighted, but it never completely absorbs it and does not rationalize it completely. There is an ongoing debate in theology and philosophy about whether one should rely on faith or rational knowledge. C. S. F. Tertullian (160 - 220) put forward the formula “I believe because it is absurd” and taught about the gap between spiritual wisdom and reasoning reason. Augustine the Blessed (354 - 430) derived a different formula - “I believe in order to understand.” Anselm of Canterbury (1033 - 1109) understood faith as a prerequisite for rational knowledge and argued: “I do not seek to understand in order to believe, but I believe in order to understand.” P. A. Florensky combined these three formulas into the concept of the stages of V.: it ascends in steps from “I believe, because it is absurd” through “I believe in order to understand” to “I understand in order to believe.” Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 1274) divided the dogmas of V. into rationally comprehensible (“God exists”) and rationally incomprehensible (“The world was created from nothing”). At the Council of Sens (1140) there was a significant clash between supporters of reason, represented by Peter Abelard (1079 - 1142) and supporters of intuitiveism, represented by Bernard of Clairvaux (1091 - 1153). Abelard taught that you cannot believe in something that you did not first understand, to which Bernard objected: V. is of no use when she is looking for reasonable evidence. The discussion, almost without starting, was psychologically won by Bernard. An example of a similar discussion in our time can be a debate that took place on the radio between the neo-Thomist F. Copleston, who recognizes the primacy of the faith faith, and the positivist atheist B. Russell. But this dispute added little to the evolution of the problem of the relationship between faith and knowledge, faith-belief and bilife-belief. Pantheistic religions focus believers on improving their faith and do not require its logical expression. On the contrary, theistic religions prescribe to adhere to the bilife faith - to trust the Scripture, the dogmas of the church, the conciliar reason. Judaism, Christianity and Islam represent Abraham as an example of a believer, who proved his devotion to Jehovah and told people about the covenant with God. The concept of “loyalty” means following (compliance) V. D. V. Pivovarov

4) Faith- (philosophical) means recognizing something as true with such decisiveness that exceeds the strength of external factual and formal logical evidence. This does not mean that the truths of faith are not subject to any proof, but only that the strength of faith depends on a special independent mental act that is not entirely determined by empirical and logical grounds. So, for example, we unconditionally believe in the existence of the external world in itself (regardless of its appearance to us), we recognize such its existence as an indisputable truth, while the rational proofs of this truth, hitherto presented by philosophers, do not stand up to strict criticism and are in any case controversial and do not resolve all doubts. If faith affirms more than what is contained in the data of sensory experience, it has its root outside the realm of theoretical knowledge and clear consciousness in general. The foundations of faith lie deeper than knowledge and thinking; in relation to them, it is an initial fact, and therefore stronger than them. It is a more or less direct or indirect, simple or complicated expression in the consciousness of the preconscious connection between the subject and the object. The simpler, more general and inevitable this connection is, the stronger the faith that corresponds to it. Thus, we believe most strongly in the existence of the external world, because this faith only reflects in our consciousness that initial, simple and irreducible fact that we, that is, a given subject, are a part of common existence, a member of the universal whole. Since this fact precedes all thinking and knowledge, the faith determined by it cannot be eliminated by any mental and cognitive process. Confidence and trust should be distinguished from faith in the proper sense. Vl. WITH.

5) Faith- - one of the main basic properties of information systems (and intelligence), which determine the very possibility of their existence, due, in turn, to the limited resources (both the information itself and the ability to process it), which is that at the initial stage of cognition of reality the system is satisfied not with the true one, but with the first solution that comes across that adequately reflects reality from the category of pseudo-correct (plausible) and, at first glance, safe. Such a decision is taken from previous successful experience, while the system is objectively forced to risk its own future. If the system guesses right and continues to exist, then this decision will become its experience. The concepts of degree of risk, truth and lies are closely related to the phenomenon of faith. In unprincipled directions of existence, faith begins to live an independent life, which is quite understandable, since it receives reinforcement: the system really continues to exist, because the direction, from the point of view of survival, is not fundamental. A sufficiently long existence of faith, with the appearance of enterprising and talented people who are able to transform unprincipled directions of existence into sources of their own existence (being), turns it into a professional art - church or religion. Intellectually oriented systems, as they develop (increase the resources at their disposal), strive to reduce the degree of uncertainty and replace faith with knowledge in all directions of existence. In the book by Y. Bochensky “One Hundred Superstitions” it is said: “According to another prejudice, faith is an irrational act, in the sense that the believer has no reasonable grounds for faith. In reality, a mentally healthy person cannot consider any position true, that is, to believe in it without any evidence in its favor, without sufficient grounds for it.” Associative block. It is difficult, oh, very difficult, to classify the church as an intellectually oriented system.

6) Faith- the most important phenomenon of the inner, spiritual world of a person, the direct acceptance by consciousness of certain norms and values ​​as unconditionally true, the psychological attitude of an individual to accept something as real, an emotional way of mastering the world, which involves accepting information about it without theoretical and practical evidence, without individual verification; is an alternative to doubt - the critical perception of any information by the mind. Faith is the human need to accept events as one wants to perceive them, the ability to evaluate reality from the depths of the human being. In our minds, faith is usually associated with religion. However, faith is not found only in it. In English, for example, there are two words: belief, the theoretical belief that something exists, and religious belief. The philosophical understanding of faith is broader; it often does not have sacred, that is, holy, content. Faith is the psychological attitude of an individual who accepts what is not yet properly substantiated as really existing. The specificity of philosophical faith will be its subject: the existence of man in the world and the world in man. For example, you are convinced that the future belongs to humanity, living according to the laws of wisdom as the highest form of human existence! Are you a prophet and can judge the future unconditionally? No, of course, your conviction that a wonderful life awaits humanity rests on a certain mood of the soul. This is faith... Faith grows in the very depths of human nature. Man cannot live without faith, for he is not just a creature acting on the basis of instinct. And not just a container of reason. A mysterious, multifaceted person. And his inner world must certainly include intuition, a developed sense of faith in something: in God, Cosmic Wisdom, in Good, in Salvation, in Happiness, in Fate... A person is capable of becoming disillusioned with his faith and moving away from it. One thing is denied to a person - he cannot be, that is, live without faith.

7) Faith-: 1) Faith - faith is the path to the objective spiritual world in the form of the direct presence of the soul in one or another omnipresent spirit; this faith is the spiritual attraction of the soul to the ultimate foundations of existence, a mystical stay in them, a direct vision of transcendental essences and (or) substantial connections. 2) Belief-faith is the path to hidden entities through material authorities and external senses; this faith is the ability of the soul, focused on the created and qualitatively diverse world, to relatively directly (without sufficient reason) recognize the truth of sensory and rational images in the forms of subjective reliability and trust, confidence and expectation.

8) Faith - - a deep universal universal of culture that captures the complex phenomenon of individual and mass consciousness, including such aspects as epistemological (acceptance as a true thesis that has not been proven with certainty or is fundamentally unprovable), psychological (awareness and experience of the content of this thesis as a value , the determination to adhere to it despite life circumstances and doubts, which acts as a deep motivational factor in personal life strategy - up to self-denial: “I believe” as “I believe”) and religious (when attributing the content of the object of faith to the sphere of the supernatural). With all the rationalism of the Western tradition, the phenomenon of V., nevertheless, is interpreted in its context as a value of the highest order, and the category of V. comes out in the axiological formula “V. - Hope - Love”, fundamental to European culture. The semantic arrangement and status of the phenomenon of V. in a particular culture largely depend on the specifics of the corresponding religious tradition - first of all, on whether the latter belongs or does not belong to such a movement as theism. Religions of the theistic type, centered around the phenomenon of V., set the axiological vector of its emphasis as a value in understanding the categorical structure of culture. The disciplinary theological interpretation of V. presupposes its interpretation not only and not so much as a mental conviction in the existence of God, but as a total emotional and mental attitude of experiencing oneself as being “in the hands of God.” Within the framework of a mature religious consciousness, based on religion, a doctrine of faith is formed as a system of dogmas, i.e. axiomatic provisions (Greek dogma - decision, opinion, generally accepted position), the acceptance of which is a necessary condition for joining one or another religious tradition and understood within the framework of this tradition as a divinely inspired (in Christianity "inspired") result of revelation, expressed in sacred texts. The combination of a religious doctrine with a special religious activity (worship) within the framework of a certain church organization constitutes the corresponding confession (Latin confcssio - confession). The official statement of the fundamental tenets of a particular creed constitutes its Creed. The phenomenon of V. acquires a special status and significance in religions of the theistic direction (in fact, theism is constituted as a doctrine based on the idea of ​​​​the personified character of the deity, which presupposes a personally felt and intensely experienced V. ). The evolution of theism can be considered as a strengthening of V.’s position and its increasingly noticeable accentuation. Thus, in relation to Christianity, if in the Middle Ages V. was perceived as a given of the believing consciousness and was expressed, first of all, in good deeds and righteousness of behavior (medieval religious as a synonym for monk) and obedience (“and demons believe and tremble”), then Protestant soteriology is dominated by the postulate about the salvation of “V. alone” (the principle of sola fide). V. as a deep attitude of theistic consciousness presupposes loyalty and trust in God (cf. the same root and related faith - faith - faithfulness in English, faith - trust - fidelity in Russian, etc.). An important component of V. is also confidence in the “shine of grace” and the goodness of personal destiny, entrusted to God’s providence. The logical consequence of this attitude is the design of prayer as a canonical text (as opposed to the improvisation of a pagan appeal to the deity): one should not turn to the Almighty with specifically formulated requests (show distrust, as if suggesting the necessary good deed), but glorify, relying on the wisdom of Providence (see. performance in Christian worship as a prayer of the text of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed - “I Believe”). Phenomena of the same series include the progressive dominance in the history of Christianity of internal, deeply personal V. over its externally cultic manifestations (“I believe in my soul”), as well as the predominance of the significance of “spiritual V.” as the basis of bestowed grace over the so-called merits: from the biblical “according to your faith be it done to you” to the Lutheran “what you believe is what you have.” Trust in God presupposes the renunciation of a kind of safety net, the desire to secure God’s mercy for oneself through an equivalent trade exchange within the framework of a fulfilled vow, as well as the desire to guarantee this mercy with a legally fair agreement on rewarding righteousness with grace: already in early Christianity the thesis about “freely given grace” was formulated "(Augustine), in Protestantism V. itself is understood as inspired by God "then and there, when and where it was pleasing to God" (Luther) and - moreover - inspired precisely by the one whom he himself initially, and not according to merit, chose "to salvation" (the maximum expression of the presumption of trust in God): V. is given from above, and one comes to communion with God only through “contrition of the heart.” In the context of European culture, V.'s epistemological position cannot but come into conflict with the general cultural principles of rationalism. Actually, the Bible already notes this: “Greeks seek wisdom, but God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise” (1 Cor. 1: 22, 27). V.'s clash with rational criticism, which theoretically can be carried out in various forms, is actually represented by three historically established options: 1) the orthodox form (“I believe in order to understand”) - a position officially adopted by the church canon (authorship belongs to Anselm of Canterbury); 2) freethinking form (“I understand in order to believe”) - a position rejected by the Orthodox Church as a heresy (authorship belongs to Pierre Abelard); 3) extreme form (“I believe, because it is absurd”) - the famous credidile est quia ineptum) - a position that is a complete and logically absolute expression of the very essence of V. as an epistemological attitude that does not need rational foundations and justifications, but due to its extremeness does not acting as the official one (the authorship attributed by tradition to Tertullian dates back to an earlier period - the beginning of AD). The problem of the relationship between reason and philosophy, which played an extremely significant role in the history of Christianity, does not manifest its severity immediately, ripening implicitly. The epistemological ambivalence of patristics, for example, is not fixed at the level of reflective self-assessment as a problem: Origen sets the task of synthesizing ancient philosophy (Platonism and Stoicism) with Christianity; continuity with the ancient philosophical tradition is unproblematically recorded by Justin; “Discourse on the Resurrection of the Dead” by Athenagoras, both genre-wise and methodologically, goes back to the ancient Greek type of philosophizing. The extreme position of Tertullian, demonstrating a fundamental distance from the ancient heritage and asserting the incompatibility of the Christian faith with pagan wisdom, remains extreme for the time being, not receiving wide adaptation in the mass tradition. In general, according to Gilson, patristics is nothing more than a combination of ancient philosophy with Christianity." Even Augustine, without any methodological reservations, formulates the task of theology as the task of "cognizing in the light of reason what is accepted by V."; in his work " About Christian Science" (!), characterizing the "highest truth" as super-rational, he, at the same time, defines the status of experimental (medicine, astronomy) and mathematical sciences, arguing that with their help a person comprehends Divine revelation. Later, the Venerable Bede (c. . 673-755) will see his goal in coordinating knowledge about nature and history with biblical knowledge (this attitude found its practical embodiment in the Easter tables he compiled, calculated in advance up to 1064, through which historical events were tied to the chronology from the birth of Christ). However, in the Middle Ages, the fascination of Christian theology with Aristotelianism (the quintessence of ancient methodological rationalism!) explicitly posed the problem of the relationship between reason and philosophy, thereby explicating the deep internal inconsistency of theology as an attempt at rational conceptualization of the fundamentally irrational. As an attempt to remove this contradiction within the framework of medieval Christianity, the concept of the unity of knowledge and faith, coming from patristics (Clement of Alexandria and Origen), was conceptualized - the theory of “dual truth” was established, based on the principle of separation of the spheres of knowledge and knowledge. The classic exponent of this position is John Dune Scotus, who divided theology and philosophy according to the criterion of objectivity (if the subject of theology is God, then philosophy is being) and the presumption based on which philosophy can think of God not as such, but only as being (Hegel said would be “other beings”), but this is an inadequate comprehension, because it is impossible to think about supernatural phenomena on the basis of sensory experience. According to the formulation of Hugo de Saint-Victor (c. 1096-1141), the content of dogmas can be either above reason or in accordance with it, but never contrary to it. John of Salisbury (c. 1115 - c. 1180) has a generally integrating thesis about the fundamental impossibility of a contradiction between theology and philosophy due to the radical difference in their subject areas: the salvation of the soul on the one hand, the experienced logical-rational knowledge of nature on the other. (In the Muslim parallel, a similar position in a similar context was expressed by Ibn Rushd.) On the basis of the theory of “dual truth” in medieval culture, the interpretation of knowledge of God as carried out in two ways is updated: naturally (through knowledge of the created world, bearing the imprint of the goodness of the Creator) and supernatural (directly, through revelation). On the basis of this differentiation in medieval culture, scholasticism and mysticism were constituted in their current form with their alternative programs - respectively - the rational justification of religious dogmas through logical methods of argumentation, on the one hand, and the cultivation of the practice of direct perception of truth in the act of Divine revelation, on the other. The fundamental conjunctiveness of the concept of “dual truth” gives it an indefinite axiological balance (in contrast to the complete clarity of the exclusive disjunction), making the orthodox formula “I believe in order to understand” essentially ambivalent: if the orthodox scholasticism of Thomism interpreted it in the sense of the independence of truth V. from positive knowledge, then the thinkers of the Chartres school - in the sense of the independence of reason from V.; Siger of Brabant (c. 1240 - c. 1281) - in the sense of the possibility and permissibility for the truth of rational knowledge to come into direct conflict with the truth of revelation (such as, for example, the theory of the eternity of the world put forward by him, which contradicts the idea of ​​creationism); and Roger Bacon - even in the sense of the dependence of theology on the sciences. Strictly speaking, it was and only Anselm of Canterbury, as the first scholastic, who could afford his painlessly non-disjunctive “I believe and understand.” By the 13th century. the aggravation of the situation already required explicitly formulated and officially sanctioned clarification. The initial postulates of this were proposed by Thomas Aquinas: the principle of harmony of reason and philosophy is based on the priority of the dogmas of philosophy, fixed in the absolute version: if rational conclusions contradict revelation, this indicates an error in reasoning. In addition, the dogmas were differentiated by Thomas into those that are rationally understandable, i.e. acting as the subject of both theology and philosophy (dogmas about the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, etc.), and rationally incomprehensible, inaccessible to logic and therefore acting as the subject of exclusively theological knowledge (dogmas about the Trinity of God, the creation of the world, original sin, etc. In the Thomistic frame of reference, religious dogmas and principles of rational knowledge outline autonomous and non-overlapping epistemological areas of theology and philosophy. However, for methodological and educational purposes, theology can use the rational and explanatory potential of philosophy to adapt the esoteric truths of revelation to the perception of them by mass consciousness (Thomas Aquinas actualizes the famous thesis “philosophy is the handmaiden of theology,” which goes back to John of Damascus. Within the framework of this approach, the official position of the Orthodox Church on the problem of the relationship between knowledge and faith is formalized. Already in 1277, the Parisian Bishop of Tamier condemned the theory of “dual truth” as degrading theology, - the Orthodox Church emphasized the aspect of the consistency of positive knowledge with the truth of the biblical text as a necessary confirmation of their truth (see. the struggle of the Catholic Church against heliocentrism: the persecution of Copernicus, the execution of Bruno, the condemnation of Galileo by the Inquisition, which in 1979 Pope John Paul II proposed to cancel as unjust). In general, historically, the church’s attitude to rational knowledge evolves from the anathema to rationalism in the famous “Syllabus” (“List of human errors of our time,” 1864) to the thesis “the church is a friend of science” in the encyclical of Pope Pius XIII and the constitution of the Second Vatican Council “Joy and hope. About the Church in the Modern World", which states the need for a positive assessment of scientific and technological progress and adaptation to its consequences, including mental ones. However, if we talk not about an external, reflexively expressed position, but about the deep paradigmatic foundations, then it can be argued that the axiological and substantive influence of the rationalistic cultural context of the European tradition as the ideological background of the evolution of Christianity has always set the deep intention of the Christian doctrine towards rationality (with the unconditional statement of the dominant V.). Thus, the basic branch of Christian theology is apologetics, also called “fundamental theology” or “basic theology” ", is purposefully centered around the problem of defending (justifying) a creed with the help of arguments addressed to reason (again, of course, with the proviso that dogmas understood by reason must be accepted "on the V."). Protestantism, logically consistently implementing the goal of salvation " IN. unified,” does not cultivate apologetic theology, replacing it with the “doctrine of principles” and arguing that V., rooted in a living feeling, does not need rational-logical justification. The phenomenon of V. centers around itself significant problems within the framework of the philosophical tradition: how in a purely epistemological, as well as in a broader - general anthropological - plan.In the 2nd half of the 18th century, the movement of “philosophy of feeling and philosophy” took shape in German philosophy, which set the initial impulse for the development in the history of philosophy of the traditions of intuitionism, philosophy of life, and existentialism. "The philosophy of feeling and V." rejects "rational knowledge", assessed as incapable of revealing to man in himself the "unconditional source of free will" (F. G. Jacobi). The "direct given" to human consciousness of the world of things (substantive influence Hume's philosophy). This "immediate reality" is synonymously designated by Jacobi as "V.", "feeling", "revelation", "reason" in contrast to reason (an anticipation of Kant's differentiation). Due to the understanding of V. as a universal way of knowledge, Jacobi does not make a difference between the reality of sensual (natural) and supersensible (absolute) being - both of them equally act as the content of V., such a “direct givenness” of absolute being sets a special type of being individual. Subtly capturing the nostalgic longing of a person from a non-traditional society to fit into the community, the dissolution of paternalistic consciousness in the community, i.e. With faith and confidence lost, Jacobi formulates a model of harmonious individual existence based on V. Man’s presence in the world (anticipation of existentialist “abandonment”) is “saved and justified” precisely by the “immediate given” of absolute existence to him. A person experiences (believes, feels and knows at the same time) the “givenness” of the absolute, which, in turn, reveals to him the “immediate givenness” of the source of his personal individuality and free will as the basis of his involvement in the absolute - the apotheosis of individuality through absorption in the universal. Similarly, the philosophical concept of I.G. Hamana is based on a radical critique of the rationalistic culture of the Enlightenment: he understands the unity of personality as complex, and its totality is guaranteed by “direct knowledge,” synonymous with V., which is opposed to discursive rationalism. Ideas of "philosophy of feeling and V." were perceived by modern Western philosophy both within the framework of human-centric problematics (philosophy of life, existentialism) and within the framework of epistemological-centric problematics (intuitionism, irrational versions of the concept of direct knowledge after Bergson). The category of V. occupies a significant place in the philosophy of existentialism, conceptualized as “philosophical V.” (Jaspers), synthesizing “V. in God” and “V. in science.” The phenomenon of V. occupies a central position in neo-Thomism, which adheres to a modernized formulation of the concept of “dual truth”: “legitimate autonomy of religion and science” and “legitimate autonomy of science within the framework of the legitimate autonomy of earthly values” (John Paul II) Synthetism of modern culture and the tendency of science to be interdisciplinary synthesis is understood as the basis for outlining the area of ​​“borderline issues” between theology, philosophy and natural science; Natural science's awareness of the limitations of its purely rationalistic methods, which do not allow it to perceive the sphere of biology as its subject, according to neo-Thomism, creates a “new face” of natural science (O. Spülbeck, R. Karisch, D. Bonifaczi, I. Ratzinger). In the context of the given priority of V., the “integrating function of interdisciplinary dialogue” of theology, philosophy and natural science is constituted, which includes the convergence of theological, philosophical and concrete scientific argumentation, the formation of a “converging” synthetic truth (K. Ra-ner, H. Friz, F .Rau). M.A. Mozheiko

9) Faith - - state of extreme interest, psychol. attitude, ideological position and holistic personal act, consisting of recognizing the unconditional existence and truth of something with such determination and firmness that exceed the persuasiveness of the factual. and logical evidence and do not depend on it despite all doubts. V. is closely related to “trust” and “fidelity,” but is not reduced to them and is accompanied by them only after God begins to be understood as a person. The complexity and ambiguity of the phenomenon of V. has led to a variety of interpretations of its essence and functions. V. is compared with knowledge or opposed to it. In this case, belief is understood, first of all, as confidence in unreliable or insufficiently reliable knowledge, i.e. such knowledge, the basis for which is not given or is hidden. However, such an understanding very easily turns into an absolutization of subjective persistence and the resulting self-will, and V. is reduced to beliefs. On the other hand, beliefs do not always serve as a source of anarchism. or simply individualistic. self-will. Indeed, in this case we should rather talk about hallucinations and obsessions that corrupt the very fabric of the human being. community. Common beliefs, on the contrary, form the condition and foundation for the common life of people. Such beliefs include, for example, confidence in the existence of the external world, in the immutability of the laws of nature, in the fact that in def. conditions people will act def. way, etc. Ultimately, we are talking about probability, about choosing from different assumptions what is closest to knowledge. In other words, beliefs are knowledge, in which V. should be present to a minimal extent, although it cannot be completely excluded. Beliefs are inextricably linked with a person’s knowledge about the world and about himself. However, if knowledge is created, then beliefs serve as the basis of humanity. attitude to the world in general - both contemplative, theoretical, and practical, since this attitude already presupposes “staying in confidence.” It is beliefs that provide a person with such an attitude towards the world when he can “rely on something,” and this position is a prerequisite for thought and action. Beliefs play an important role in the constitution of humanity. reality, since the initial level of “reality” consists precisely of what a person “relies” on in his life and what excludes doubt. A person is able to refuse ideas or even a system of ideas or not accept them from the very beginning, but this means that he doubts or does not believe in them. Doubt, in turn, is an aspect of belief, and one exists in doubt, as in belief. Doubt lives and acts according to the same laws as belief, and they believe in doubt in the same way as, for example, in reason. Therefore, doubt also participates in the constitution of man. reality. If belief constitutes a stable and unambiguous reality, then doubt constitutes an unstable, ambiguous reality, which cannot be “relyed on.” This is a clash of two beliefs that destroys the stability of man. reality and, therefore, confidence in it. Consequently, it is doubt that acts as the source of the mental construction of the world, and mental constructions are consciously created precisely because beliefs have left the corresponding area. The role of beliefs in people. life reveals dynamic. the nature of the reality in which a person lives. It is not given initially and as a certain primordial reality, but is the fruit of the efforts and ingenuity of people who created the previous state of culture. These efforts take the form of beliefs, layered on everything that a person has ever encountered in himself and around him and which represents a mysterious incomplete sequence of the possible and the impossible. In other words, mental constructs that have turned into beliefs constitute an essential part of the legacy that the early stages of cultural development leave for the future. This is how different things are created. imaginary worlds, which, thanks to the oblivion of their origins, are identified with primordial reality (in particular, this is the mechanism for the formation of ideas about time and space). Belief becomes confidence, the method of acquiring the cut remains unknown or hidden, but beliefs are also subject to the influence of cultural entropy, they weaken or disappear altogether. In other words, they do not exist on their own; their maintenance requires a definition. efforts from contemporaries. However, the content of the concept of V. is not limited to beliefs. Ultimately, beliefs are testable by reference to life experience. V. in general also applies to areas where experimental verification is impossible. Then V. appears as non-verifying and non-reflective and turns out to be the result of obedience and trust in authority, i.e. authorities whose statements must be considered infallible. But authorities as such authorities form a hierarchy, which must end with some final and absolute authority. It no longer acts as the highest authority, but as the source of all authority and the condition of its existence as such. God is recognized as such an authority, which cannot be considered the result of a simple extrapolation of the idea of ​​authority. For authority to be considered such, it must act as a conductor and exponent of the will of God, freely revealing itself to man as reliable in itself without reference to any other authorities. Therefore, V. is inextricably linked with revelation as the free self-discovery of God, his immediate presence. impact on the human soul. V. is correlated, first of all, with revelation as such, and not with those carriers of revelation that have a lower level (for example, codified sacred texts). But this connection is not a conditionality and proof of knowledge, since otherwise it would be no different from knowledge, even “direct”. Being a holistic act of the individual, and not an aspect of knowledge, V. expresses the utmost interest. Although the words “interest” and “interest” also denote complex phenomena, they make it possible to clarify a number of beings, aspects of the concept B. We are talking not just about a certain orientation of the will, but about a special holistic act that expresses the very essence of personality. This act involves the unconscious. elements, but V. as such is conscious. As a living being, a person is interested in many things - material and spiritual, which are necessary for his very existence. Many of them can claim to be "ultimate", i.e. demand from a person complete dedication of himself, as a result of which the desired must be fully fulfilled. The promise of ultimate fulfillment of desire is most often expressed symbolically and is associated with a demand for obedience. In case of disobedience, the apostate faces punishment, and his desire will not be fulfilled. This is exactly how gods work. acting simultaneously both as objects of ultimate interest and as supra-individual coercive forces. Thus, interest, demand, promise and threat - basic. components of act B. Classic. V.'s understanding, in the mouth of the Apostle Paul, is as follows: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). By “invisibility” here we mean not only inaccessibility to the senses, but also the forced reality of certain phenomena, events, processes. On the contrary, all knowledge - be it sensory or logical. knowledge is forced and inevitable. Perception of k.-l. things do not depend on the will of a person and his desire to perceive or not perceive it. As soon as he comes into contact with her, she, regardless of his desire, enters his consciousness. Logical, i.e. inferential knowledge based on “iron logic” also does not depend on volitional choice; from one judgment another inevitably follows, etc. Both types of knowledge are coercive. Moreover. forced and unreliable knowledge, i.e. beliefs. But logical. knowledge is based on the sensory, and a thing becomes perceptible only if a person “comes into contact with it,” i.e. chooses her by his free act of will. The will turns away from everything else, it does not enter the human consciousness, and V. into it is weak or completely absent. Thus, only that which was chosen in the course of free expression of will becomes “visible” and known, and what is rejected by the will becomes invisible and unknown. It is this expression of will that then solidifies in beliefs as knowledge, even if unreliable. The Act of V., which ensured the constitution of the “visible” world, has already been completed, the will is determined, but has not lost freedom. V. sets the horizon of knowledge, however, its very constitutive function is preserved. One can also believe in the “invisible”, i.e. allow for the possibility of his free election. This act contains danger and risk, since in knowledge, unlike knowledge, there are no at least minimal guarantees - precisely because there is no evidentiary coercion. Therefore, the requirement that V. be proven is based on the deepest misunderstanding of its essence. V. cannot be proven and be based on “direct.” knowledge drawn from revelation. The expression “I believe, because it is absurd”, attributed to Tertullian, emphasizes precisely this unconditionality of faith. Therefore, faith is associated with the assumption of a miracle. those. the influence of forces, about which we do not know, but in the existence of which we can believe. On the other hand, V. is also the “realization of the expected,” and this reveals its temporal character. It is precisely because of this that time plays an important role in the constitution of cultural time. Thanks to V., the future can no longer be understood as a simple continuation of the past and present; it cannot and should not repeat those “visible” images that are known in advance. Consequently, the less “figurative” a V. is, the more true it should be recognized. This requirement makes V. an obstacle to the transformation of time into a simple cycle, into the reproduction of what has already happened, and it is in this that V. differs from hope. One can only hope for certain images, for a repetition of what has been seen before, and hope knows its subject. If hope provides the possibility of breaks in the flow of time, then hope is a condition for its continuity. The source of hope is in the past, the source of hope is in the future, and hope creates a special “traction” that operates in the present, without which the future would not be “new.” Not hope, but V. goes beyond death and others. person, and dept. culture. This is a person’s confidence in the future without himself and without his “world,” but presupposing the participation of a believer in such a future. Therefore, hope, in contrast to V., becomes a tense relationship between a previously experienced good and salvation expected at the end of time as the highest form of this good. V. and hope, in turn, are inextricably linked with love, which, being a unifying force, is created by man. communities that are impossible without shared time for a given community. Thanks to love, the present arises, created by the emergence of each member of the community from his individualistic. isolation. Thus, V., hope and love are inextricably interconnected aspects of the holistic process of constituting time, in which there is a past, present and future, and the future does not cancel the stages passed, but is not a simple repetition of them. Therefore, V., hope and love are not subjective “moods,” but existential conditions for the transformation of time into history. But this is precisely why one cannot “order” or “force” to love, hope and, especially, believe. V., hope and love are forces constitutive of history. time, only as settings common to a given person. team. Like everyone else, he is human. states, they require for their creation and maintenance certain ritual practices (not necessarily exclusively “religious”), the loss or abolition of which entails the unleashing of forces of disintegration and disorientation of life behavior. This again poses the problem of the relationship between knowledge and knowledge, which is traditionally discussed within the boundaries specified by the block. Augustine and Anselm of Canterbury, on the one hand (“I believe in order to understand”), and Abelard on the other (“I understand in order to believe”). The position presented by Tertullian (“I believe because it is absurd”) is usually rejected in theology as extreme and finds support only among certain very radical thinkers (for example, Kierkegaard or Shestov). Under conditions of secularization, there is a mixture of hope and hope, which is a characteristic feature of all utopianism. movements, as well as V.’s identification with beliefs, which are now most often constructed artificially as “ideologies.” The phenomenon of the “one-dimensional man”, designated and analyzed by Marcuse, expresses that degree of simulated deafness in relation to the imperatives of the future, which is characteristic precisely of the situation of weakening of existential tension of V. This situation is fertile ground for reviving old languages ​​and creating new ones. cults presented either as a “synthesis of all religions”, or as a fundamentally new religion of a higher level, or as a “saving” ideology of a secular type. Certain cults of this kind are a necessary element of totalitarian practices that consciously exploit the purely external attributes of the phenomenon V. Lit.: Polanyi M. Personal knowledge. M., 1985; Berdyaev N.A. Philosophy of freedom. The meaning of creativity. M.. 1989; Ortega y Gasset X. Ideas and beliefs // Ortega y Gasset X. Aesthetics. Philosophy of culture. M., 1991; Lewis K.S. Love. Suffering. Hope: Parables. Treatises. M., 1992; Frank S.L. God is with us: Three reflections // Frank S.L. Spiritual foundations of the society. M., 1992; Prince D. Faith as a way of life. M., 1993; Bulgakov S.N. The light is not evening. Contemplation and speculation. M., 1994; Buber M. Two images of faith. M., 1995; Tillich P. Favorites: Theology of Culture. M., 1995; Rokeach M. The Open and Closed Mind: Investigations into the Nature of Belief Systems and Personality Systems. N.Y., 1960; Price H.H. Belief. L.; N.Y., 1969; Benedikt M. Wissen und Glauben: Zur Analyse der Ideologien in historischkritischer Sicht. W., 1975; Molnar T. Theists and Atheists: A Typology of Non-Belief. The Hague etc., 1980. A. I. Pigalev

10) Faith- - the acceptance of something as truth, which does not require the necessary full confirmation of the truth of what is accepted by the senses and reason and, therefore, cannot lay claim to objective significance. In English, the most clear distinction is between theoretical belief that something exists (belief) and religious belief (faith). Although both religious faith and scientific “faith” (assumption, hypothesis) are based on facts, while the latter, with its premises connecting ideas and conclusions, remains within the limits of the knowable (natural) and the lawful, religious faith moves into the realm of the unknowable (supernatural , metaphysical) and extends the freedom that she assumes for the supernatural world also to nature. That no knowledge is possible about transcendental, extra-natural and supernatural things, Kant showed in his critique of reason: “I had to limit knowledge (illusory knowledge about supposedly transcendent things) in order to make room for faith (in ideas and ideals as the guiding points of human aspirations).” ("Critique of Pure Reason"). In a religious sense, faith means, on the one hand, the action and behavior of a person (trusting devotion and fidelity), on the other hand, according to Christ. teaching, "supernatural virtue", which is possible due to the grace of God. In an ethical sense, faith means the same thing as the ability to trust, a kind of moral strength that presupposes mental fortitude. Faith is the basis of trust. The justification for this belief is only the feeling of the moral value of another person. Faith is always a risk, because this feeling can be wrong. In its essence, it is always “blind”, because the faith that has a reliable basis and an objective guarantee is not real, it lacks the decisive moment of risking one’s own personality. He who knows cannot believe. Blind faith (or blind trust) is in its way the highest test of moral strength, the true criterion of unity in all the deepest relationships of man to man.

11) Faith- - state of the subject, closely connected with the spiritual world of the individual, arising on the basis of certain information about the object, expressed in ideas or images, accompanied by the emotion of confidence and a number of other feelings and serving as a motive, incentive, attitude and guideline for human activity. In the history of philosophy and psychology, three types of theories of emotion are distinguished: emotional, which consider emotion primarily as a feeling (Hume, James, etc.); intellectual, in which V. is interpreted as a phenomenon of intelligence (J. St. Mill, Brentano, Hegel, etc.); strong-willed, recognizing V. as an attribute of the will (Descartes, Fichte, etc.). V. is a necessary element of individual and social consciousness, an important aspect of people’s activities. Objects of V. - facts, phenomena, trends in the development of natural and social reality - are not given to the subject sensually and appear only in the form of a possibility. In this case, the object V. appears to exist in reality, figuratively, emotionally. The subject of V. can be an individual, a social group, or society as a whole. V. reflects not only the object, but ch. arr. the subject’s attitude towards him, and thereby the social existence of the subject, his needs and interests. V. is an important element of value consciousness (Axiology, Values) along with such categories. like hope and love. A special case of manifestation of the phenomenon of V. is religious V., generated by the specific conditions of existence of a society, primarily class, namely: the powerlessness of people in the process of their interaction with the natural and social environment and the need to compensate for this powerlessness, to replenish their alienation (Alienation ) being an illusory other world, corresponding to their value systems. Theology recognizes religious faith as an integral property of the human soul or as a grace bestowed by God. In this sense, V. is opposed to reason and knowledge. Dialectical materialism, which elucidates the social and epistemological roots of religion, indicates real ways and means of overcoming religious ideas.

Faith

Unlike the religious tradition, in science philosophy is understood as a position of reason that accepts certain propositions that cannot be proven. In this sense, knowledge is the opposite of knowledge. We consider knowledge to be something that can be verified, confirmed, justified, proven. However, not all of a person’s beliefs can be tested and justified. Some of them are accepted by us without proof, so to speak, “on faith”; we believe that these beliefs are true, useful, good, although we cannot prove it.

1) the same as a creed, i.e. a system of beliefs, views, which this or that person adheres to (for example, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist); 2) specific. attitude towards real or imaginary objects, phenomena (and the corresponding spiritual state), when their reliability and truth are accepted without theoretical considerations. and practical evidence. This kind of knowledge (called blind) is contrasted with knowledge. This is precisely the phenomenon of V. religion, the objects of which are God, angels, the other world, the immortality of the soul, dogmas, etc.; 3) the term “V.” also denote knowledge-based conviction, a person’s confidence in the truth of certain scientific concepts. or social-political ideas.

(from lat. veritas - truth, verus - true) - 1) the spiritual ability of the human soul to directly know the hidden layers of being ("essence"), mystically reside in the center of a cognizable object and intuitively comprehend essences; 2) a person’s ability to recognize the adequacy of his sensory images to perceived things and phenomena; 3) evaluating statements and other forms of mediated knowledge as true without sufficient logical and factual justification. From an etymological point of view, the expression “to check the truth of a statement” is tautological in nature, since “to check” means nothing more than to establish the truth. From the word “faith” are derived: reliability, probability, fidelity, verification, trust, belief, confession, etc. The ambiguity of the word “faith” often leads to misunderstandings when it denotes heterogeneous realities. It is one thing to believe the readings of measuring instruments or the words of eyewitnesses, but another thing to believe in an idea, an axiom, a doctrine, a theory. Remaining faithful to a friend or authority is not at all the same as verifying something from your own experience. Calculating the probability (likelihood) of some event is different from believing in an intuitive revelation of an entity. The Russian-language collective meaning of the term “faith” is insufficient to differentiate two opposite human paths to the supersensible - (a) the path to the hidden world through external experience, signs and concepts and (b) the path to the Fullness of Being (essence) through the direct presence of the human soul in the omnipresent spirit , prototypes, knowable originals. In English-speaking countries, the term “faith” usually denotes a person’s spiritual and sacred attitude to existence, truth, and the secular and epistemological attitude to truth is enshrined in the term “belief”. It is advisable to take advantage of this tradition and introduce two generic concepts into Russian-language philosophical circulation - “faith-belief” and “bilif-belief”. Being a real component of the cosmic whole, each individual is penetrated by invisible connections common to the entire universe, resides in them and experiences them. Direct presence in the connections of the infinite and the whole being is a prerequisite for faith as direct knowledge. Faith faith is the spiritual attraction of the soul to the ultimate foundations of existence, a mystical stay in them, a direct vision of transcendental essences and (or) substantial connections. Faith faith, or spiritual faith, is not a copy of its subject and is not described as a subjective image (map) of the objective world; it seems to be merged with the original. Between it and its object there are no such usual intermediaries for external knowledge as idols, ideals, copies, signs, symbols and omens. Its subject is not the phenomenal, but the noumenal world. Faith faith can be understood as the true beginning of human knowledge and a direct source of information about the world as a whole and large spheres of existence. Being in “things in themselves” (in the originals) determines spiritual V. maximum reliability, the identity of epistemological truth as the correspondence of knowledge to reality and ontological truth (truth). Faith faith, as the attraction of the individual’s soul to the boundless spirit, eliminates the opposition between soul and spirit, subject and object, gives rise to a person’s non-utilitarian attitude towards unconditional spiritual values, and turns into the highest inner feelings of love and beauty. The shock from the attraction to the infinite, from the reliability, beauty and truth of cosmic life, experienced in faith, causes the need to express silent direct knowledge in words, gestures and other texts. Three aspects of faith faith - the position of the soul in the spirit, the intuitive representation of entities and the extra-rational assessment of what is contemplated by the conscience - require their indirect development and expression. Operating with ideal images of entities and dividing the universe into parts, a person moves on to indirect knowledge of the world. At the level of ideal-shaped reflection, a single world is seen by many material bodies, but the internal connection between things is poorly visible to the outside eye. The sensory image of an externally given thing is mediated by the most complex neurodynamic processes in the human body. The reliability of the sensory image of a thing is conditional, relative, distorted-subjective and fundamentally different from the unconditional reliability of faith. Bilif faith is associated with an indirect relationship between the subject and the object and with the opposition of the “I” to the external world. The subject sees and understands an object separated from him depending on his own needs, interests, and patterns of action. An object, transformed by the subject into a cognizable object, loses many of its former life connections and acquires, to a certain extent, an artificial character. In order to cognize an external object as a sensory reality, one must first be sure that perceptions do not deceive us and that the object is identical to the object being cognized. The mastery of material phenomena begins with subjective sensory certainty, which in itself does not lead to genuine knowledge of existence. Bilif-faith begins with this form of certainty; it cannot be called either the ultimate basis of knowledge, or knowledge in the proper sense. It has never been possible to refute the credo of subjective idealism by reference to the bilife faith, but it is precisely thanks to his faith faith that not a single subjective idealist has dared to fully live with his philosophy. Subjective reliability of sensations and perceptions of material objects is the primary form of bilife belief. The second form of this belief is found in the structure of rational knowledge and is associated with representation, cultural ideals, and authoritative evidence. This form of bilief faith can be called trust, that is, the expectation of truth, the hope of possessing it in some indirect way. Trust has a probabilistic nature, because it does not directly know its subject. Trust is often achieved through methods of persuasion, proof, confirmation by facts, and psychological pressure. Trust can be deserved and undeserved, people “enter” it and “leave” it. Trust in the standard, trust in the ideals of culture, trust in authoritative opinion - a type of trust in the ideal (representative) image of supersensible reality. The fulfillment of desires, the pursuit of goals and the use of means are impossible without trust. Bilif faith permeates the entire structure of thinking and increases the power of thought with an effective feeling. Thus, bilife-faith is the ability of the soul, focused on the created and qualitatively diverse world, to relatively directly (without sufficient reason) recognize the truth of sensory and rational images in the forms of subjective reliability and trust, confidence and expectation. Allowing a person to perceive some signs of the truth of subjective images of the external world, bilife faith actively directs the process of synthesis of feelings, reason and will into indirect knowledge and goal setting. The fundamental distinction between two kinds of faith - faith faith and bilife faith - makes it possible to overcome the identification of “faith in general” with religious faith found in the literature (A. I. Vvedensky, P. Johnson, K. K. Platonov); the concepts of secular and religious V. are significantly different. At the same time, the bilife faith is ultimately guided by that holistic worldview, silent and immediate, which is determined by the faith faith. Different understandings of the phenomenon of knowledge stem from differences in interpretations of the source of knowledge. Gaining knowledge is possible by immersing inside things - from external signs to the essence of quality or from direct intuition, directly comprehending the essence, through signs and images to indirect knowledge. Philosophers usually view these paths as a problem of indirect and direct knowledge. The solution to this problem is presented by two opposing models. According to one model, a person is capable of only indirect knowledge. For example, Hegel defined knowledge as the harmonious unity of subjectively reliable sensibility and the concept of an object; to know an object means to understand its essence and imagine how this essence manifests itself. According to Hegel, there can in principle be no direct knowledge of essence. This view was developed by a number of modern Russian philosophers (Yu. P. Vedin, P. V. Kopnin, M. N. Rutkevich). According to the second model, human knowledge begins with the direct presence of the soul in true reality, and direct knowledge of this reality is the primary inner light, distinguished from the dim outer light. Thanks to external light, the image of perception receives subjective authenticity. The inner spiritual light is the direct knowledge of existence and the true authenticity of faith. This model was substantiated in different ways by Socrates, Plato, Bernard of Clairvaux, N. Cusansky, N. O. Lossky, S. L. Frank and others. For example, Plato proved the possibility of direct knowledge of true essences ("objective ideas") by the fact that when Our souls directly saw ideas, but after moving from their heavenly homeland to a rough earthly abode, the souls were left with only the memory of an ideal world. S. L. Frank derived the assertion about the primacy of direct knowledge (faythvera) from the premise that only our knowledge of the ignorance and incomprehensibility of unconditional existence has genuine reliability. Both models are based on strong arguments; neither of them can be completely refuted or fully defended in purely rational and logical ways. Refusing rational evidence in favor of the existence of faith faith as the original and direct knowledge of truth, the esoteric tradition in religion and philosophy defends the reality of faith faith by pointing to the personal internal experience of people. If the physical organs of vision and hearing allow one to see external objects in reflected material light and hear external sounds, then spiritual vision and the spiritual ear inside the human heart directly assimilate the harmony of the heavenly world. Mystics take the revelation of spiritual light within us as a criterion for direct knowledge. Vedic hymns tell about the form of Agni, the universal primordial fire-light, penetrating all things and standing behind tangible fire. The Prophet Zoroaster said that the Eternal One created through the living Verb the heavenly light, the seed of Ormuzd, the beginning of material light and fire. The Bible says that the creation of Light preceded the creation of material luminaries. In the mystical teachings of Heraclitus we are talking specifically about the outwardly invisible Fire, which binds the entire cosmos together. Theosophical teachings about the astral light in their own way reproduce the secret doctrine of the Verb-Sun of the religions of the Ancient East and ancient Greece; in these teachings the “world soul” is interpreted as a mediator between the “absolute spirit” and matter. The idea of ​​spiritual light, revealed to us in faith, acts as an ideological archetype of philosophical concepts about the mechanism of “revelation of essences”: the essence manifests itself, shines through, appears through phenomena, appearances. The topic of faith remains an eternal problem of religion and epistemology. Does faith faith provide true authenticity of life and does it allow you to experience the absence of a fundamental barrier between “my Self” and the world of the free spirit? Why does trying to answer this question divide people into optimists and pessimists? Optimists, according to F. Nietzsche, share the Apollonian enthusiasm for experiencing the world, while pessimists prefer the Dionysian attitude to the world, looking at life as suffering, chaos, and self-disintegration. The conflict between faith faith and bilife faith probably constantly reproduces the existential debate about the meaning of life. Theologians and philosophers who recognize the phenomenon of faith faith differ among themselves on the question of the nature of the content of this belief in different people. If existence is one and united, then being in it in the spiritual sense should determine the same content of faith faith of different people; all religions teach about the same God, but indirectly express the primary knowledge of the absolute in different ways. This is the line of thought of supporters of the sameness of the content of the faith of people who think about God. This can be objected to by saying that the content of direct knowledge of the absolute depends not only on the absolute, but also on the characteristics of personal souls that are in direct contact with the infinite spirit. Every belief has its own object, otherwise it cannot be distinguished from an indefinite experience or from an object of unbelief. Faith-faith is not only aimed at the content directly revealed to it, but also does not doubt the authenticity of its subject. Thus, it is the opposite of unbelief, skepticism, solipsism and nihilism. Depending on the characteristics of its subject, faith takes on different forms. Neoplatonist mathematicians speak of a special mathematical intuition that directly and undoubtedly knows potential infinite entities (L. E. Brouwer, G. Weil, A. Heyting). Many art theorists point to aesthetic intuition, thanks to which a person directly grasps the harmony of being (Plato, Schelling, Croce). Kant admired the “a priori moral law” in the soul of every person, and irrational ethicists suggest that the intuition of what is proper underlies human behavior and predetermines unexpected decisions in unique life situations. N. O. Lossky and K. Jaspers identified a special philosophical faith-intuition: a philosophical idea first reveals itself to us intuitively, emotionally and has no figurative form, and only then seeks its expression in images and concepts, focusing on the spirit and material of the culture of its era. If religious faith is the direct, sacred and ecstatically experienced knowledge of an individual about his real or restoring connection with the absolute, then philosophical faith is usually devoid of sacredness and is not focused on establishing a personal connection with the absolute. Philosophical faith is associated with the desire to focus on any specific universal facet of existence and highlight it as dominant. The facet of existence discovered by intuition is endowed with the status of a substance, which can be thought of as water, air, fire, atom, will, instinct, mind, etc. The human soul is capable of all types of faith. In a real individual, a supporter of a certain religious denomination, an adept of a certain philosophical direction, scientific school, etc. are simultaneously combined. Therefore, religious, philosophical, artistic, etc. in faith faith form interpenetrating content. It is necessary to distinguish between religious faith faith and bilife faith participating in the religious development of the world. The need to express direct knowledge about the connection of man with the absolute causes a process of indirect religious cognition, composed of sensory images of phenomena and concepts of reason. Consistent with each other, artificial visual images of the signs of the absolute and the concept of the Creator and His creations gradually form varieties of indirect religious knowledge. Such knowledge is expressed in texts, among which the Holy Scriptures play a primary role. Bilif faith, which in itself is not knowledge, certainly participates in the formation and transmission of mediated religious knowledge. This is what is most often meant when they say that knowledge and knowledge are not the same thing and that knowledge and knowledge can contradict each other and complement each other. No matter how great were the prophets who stood at the origins of the Scriptures and no matter how sincerely and accurately they tried to express their faith-faith by verbal means (even if “the hand of God led them with the pen”), nevertheless, the words of any national language are insufficient to adequately convey mystical experience of the Fullness of Being. Prophets often resort to parables. Holy Scripture expresses indirect knowledge. The first reading of Scripture by a person seeking V. is based on the bilith faith, but this reading can awaken the faith faith dormant in the soul, the criterion of conscience of which verifies the content of the sacred text. Having sincerely chosen the “true” Scripture for himself, a person trusts it because it is in it that he sees a relatively complete expression of the faith he experiences. Without being a genius in the transmission of Revelation, an ordinary person is rarely able to clearly express his faith-belief by discursive means, and therefore, having made a choice of this or that Scripture, he tells other people about his beliefs in the words of the text that is authoritative for him. Progress in religion occurs with the emergence of a new true prophet, who embodies the previously ineffable aspects of faith in succinct and generally valid definitions. Some believers try to achieve harmony between faith faith and bilife faith, while others do not seek to objectify their direct knowledge of the truth, limiting themselves to the content of their intuition and not adhering to one or another confession. Faith-faith is blind in the sense of its non-embodiment in the forms of external visuality, but it is not blind in the sense that it falls under the general concept of vision, representing spiritual vision. Indirect knowledge complements and to some extent reveals the immediate content of faith-belief, thereby making this belief reasonable, knowledgeable, and sighted, but it never completely absorbs it and does not rationalize it completely. There is an ongoing debate in theology and philosophy about whether one should rely on faith or rational knowledge. C. S. F. Tertullian (160 - 220) put forward the formula “I believe because it is absurd” and taught about the gap between spiritual wisdom and reasoning reason. Augustine the Blessed (354 - 430) derived a different formula - “I believe in order to understand.” Anselm of Canterbury (1033 - 1109) understood faith as a prerequisite for rational knowledge and argued: “I do not seek to understand in order to believe, but I believe in order to understand.” P. A. Florensky combined these three formulas into the concept of the stages of V.: it ascends in steps from “I believe, because it is absurd” through “I believe in order to understand” to “I understand in order to believe.” Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 1274) divided the dogmas of V. into rationally comprehensible (“God exists”) and rationally incomprehensible (“The world was created from nothing”). At the Council of Sens (1140) there was a significant clash between supporters of reason, represented by Peter Abelard (1079 - 1142) and supporters of intuitiveism, represented by Bernard of Clairvaux (1091 - 1153). Abelard taught that you cannot believe in something that you did not first understand, to which Bernard objected: V. is of no use when she is looking for reasonable evidence. The discussion, almost without starting, was psychologically won by Bernard. An example of a similar discussion in our time can be a debate that took place on the radio between the neo-Thomist F. Copleston, who recognizes the primacy of the faith faith, and the positivist atheist B. Russell. But this dispute added little to the evolution of the problem of the relationship between faith and knowledge, faith-belief and bilife-belief. Pantheistic religions focus believers on improving their faith and do not require its logical expression. On the contrary, theistic religions prescribe to adhere to the bilife faith - to trust the Scripture, the dogmas of the church, the conciliar reason. Judaism, Christianity and Islam represent Abraham as an example of a believer, who proved his devotion to Jehovah and told people about the covenant with God. The concept of “loyalty” means following (compliance) V. D. V. Pivovarov

(philosophical) means recognizing something as true with such decisiveness that exceeds the strength of external factual and formal logical evidence. This does not mean that the truths of faith are not subject to any proof, but only that the strength of faith depends on a special independent mental act that is not entirely determined by empirical and logical grounds. So, for example, we unconditionally believe in the existence of the external world in itself (regardless of its appearance to us), we recognize such its existence as an indisputable truth, while the rational proofs of this truth, hitherto presented by philosophers, do not stand up to strict criticism and are in any case controversial and do not resolve all doubts. If faith affirms more than what is contained in the data of sensory experience, it has its root outside the realm of theoretical knowledge and clear consciousness in general. The foundations of faith lie deeper than knowledge and thinking; in relation to them, it is an initial fact, and therefore stronger than them. It is a more or less direct or indirect, simple or complicated expression in the consciousness of the preconscious connection between the subject and the object. The simpler, more general and inevitable this connection is, the stronger the faith that corresponds to it. Thus, we believe most strongly in the existence of the external world, because this faith only reflects in our consciousness that initial, simple and irreducible fact that we, that is, a given subject, are a part of common existence, a member of the universal whole. Since this fact precedes all thinking and knowledge, the faith determined by it cannot be eliminated by any mental and cognitive process. Confidence and trust should be distinguished from faith in the proper sense. Vl. WITH.

One of the main basic properties of information systems (and intelligence), which determine the very possibility of their existence, due, in turn, to the limited resources (both the information itself and the ability to process it), which is that at the initial stage of cognition of reality the system is satisfied not the true one, but the first solution that comes across that adequately reflects reality from the category of pseudo-correct (plausible) and, at first glance, safe. Such a decision is taken from previous successful experience, while the system is objectively forced to risk its own future. If the system guesses right and continues to exist, then this decision will become its experience. The concepts of degree of risk, truth and lies are closely related to the phenomenon of faith. In unprincipled directions of existence, faith begins to live an independent life, which is quite understandable, since it receives reinforcement: the system really continues to exist, because the direction, from the point of view of survival, is not fundamental. A sufficiently long existence of faith, with the appearance of enterprising and talented people who are able to transform unprincipled directions of existence into sources of their own existence (being), turns it into a professional art - church or religion. Intellectually oriented systems, as they develop (increase the resources at their disposal), strive to reduce the degree of uncertainty and replace faith with knowledge in all directions of existence. In the book by Y. Bochensky “One Hundred Superstitions” it is said: “According to another prejudice, faith is an irrational act, in the sense that the believer has no reasonable grounds for faith. In reality, a mentally healthy person cannot consider any position true, that is, to believe in it without any evidence in its favor, without sufficient grounds for it.” Associative block. It is difficult, oh, very difficult, to classify the church as an intellectually oriented system.

the most important phenomenon of the inner, spiritual world of a person, the direct acceptance by consciousness of certain norms and values ​​as unconditionally true, the psychological attitude of an individual to accept something as real, an emotional way of mastering the world, which involves accepting information about it without theoretical and practical evidence, without individual verification; is an alternative to doubt - the critical perception of any information by the mind. Faith is the human need to accept events as one wants to perceive them, the ability to evaluate reality from the depths of the human being. In our minds, faith is usually associated with religion. However, faith is not found only in it. In English, for example, there are two words: belief, the theoretical belief that something exists, and religious belief. The philosophical understanding of faith is broader; it often does not have sacred, that is, holy, content. Faith is the psychological attitude of an individual who accepts what is not yet properly substantiated as really existing. The specificity of philosophical faith will be its subject: the existence of man in the world and the world in man. For example, you are convinced that the future belongs to humanity, living according to the laws of wisdom as the highest form of human existence! Are you a prophet and can judge the future unconditionally? No, of course, your conviction that a wonderful life awaits humanity rests on a certain mood of the soul. This is faith... Faith grows in the very depths of human nature. Man cannot live without faith, for he is not just a creature acting on the basis of instinct. And not just a container of reason. A mysterious, multifaceted person. And his inner world must certainly include intuition, a developed sense of faith in something: in God, Cosmic Wisdom, in Good, in Salvation, in Happiness, in Fate... A person is capable of becoming disillusioned with his faith and moving away from it. One thing is denied to a person - he cannot be, that is, live without faith.

: 1) Faith - faith is the path to the objective spiritual world in the form of the direct presence of the soul in one or another omnipresent spirit; this faith is the spiritual attraction of the soul to the ultimate foundations of existence, a mystical stay in them, a direct vision of transcendental essences and (or) substantial connections. 2) Belief-faith is the path to hidden entities through material authorities and external senses; this faith is the ability of the soul, focused on the created and qualitatively diverse world, to relatively directly (without sufficient reason) recognize the truth of sensory and rational images in the forms of subjective reliability and trust, confidence and expectation.

A deep universal universal of culture that captures the complex phenomenon of individual and mass consciousness, including such aspects as epistemological (acceptance as a true thesis that has not been proven with certainty or is fundamentally unprovable), psychological (awareness and experience of the content of this thesis as a value, determination to adhere to it despite life circumstances and doubts, acting as a deep motivational factor in personal life strategy - up to self-denial: “I believe” as “I believe”) and religious (when attributing the content of the object of faith to the sphere of the supernatural). With all the rationalism of the Western tradition, the phenomenon of V., nevertheless, is interpreted in its context as a value of the highest order, and the category of V. comes out in the axiological formula “V. - Hope - Love”, fundamental to European culture. The semantic arrangement and status of the phenomenon of V. in a particular culture largely depend on the specifics of the corresponding religious tradition - first of all, on whether the latter belongs or does not belong to such a movement as theism. Religions of the theistic type, centered around the phenomenon of V., set the axiological vector of its emphasis as a value in understanding the categorical structure of culture. The disciplinary theological interpretation of V. presupposes its interpretation not only and not so much as a mental conviction in the existence of God, but as a total emotional and mental attitude of experiencing oneself as being “in the hands of God.” Within the framework of a mature religious consciousness, based on religion, a doctrine of faith is formed as a system of dogmas, i.e. axiomatic provisions (Greek dogma - decision, opinion, generally accepted position), the acceptance of which is a necessary condition for joining one or another religious tradition and understood within the framework of this tradition as a divinely inspired (in Christianity "inspired") result of revelation, expressed in sacred texts. The combination of a religious doctrine with a special religious activity (worship) within the framework of a certain church organization constitutes the corresponding confession (Latin confcssio - confession). The official statement of the fundamental tenets of a particular creed constitutes its Creed. The phenomenon of V. acquires a special status and significance in religions of the theistic direction (in fact, theism is constituted as a doctrine based on the idea of ​​​​the personified character of the deity, which presupposes a personally felt and intensely experienced V. ). The evolution of theism can be considered as a strengthening of V.’s position and its increasingly noticeable accentuation. Thus, in relation to Christianity, if in the Middle Ages V. was perceived as a given of the believing consciousness and was expressed, first of all, in good deeds and righteousness of behavior (medieval religious as a synonym for monk) and obedience (“and demons believe and tremble”), then Protestant soteriology is dominated by the postulate about the salvation of “V. alone” (the principle of sola fide). V. as a deep attitude of theistic consciousness presupposes loyalty and trust in God (cf. the same root and related faith - faith - faithfulness in English, faith - trust - fidelity in Russian, etc.). An important component of V. is also confidence in the “shine of grace” and the goodness of personal destiny, entrusted to God’s providence. The logical consequence of this attitude is the design of prayer as a canonical text (as opposed to the improvisation of a pagan appeal to the deity): one should not turn to the Almighty with specifically formulated requests (show distrust, as if suggesting the necessary good deed), but glorify, relying on the wisdom of Providence (see. performance in Christian worship as a prayer of the text of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed - “I Believe”). Phenomena of the same series include the progressive dominance in the history of Christianity of internal, deeply personal V. over its externally cultic manifestations (“I believe in my soul”), as well as the predominance of the significance of “spiritual V.” as the basis of bestowed grace over the so-called merits: from the biblical “according to your faith be it done to you” to the Lutheran “what you believe is what you have.” Trust in God presupposes the renunciation of a kind of safety net, the desire to secure God’s mercy for oneself through an equivalent trade exchange within the framework of a fulfilled vow, as well as the desire to guarantee this mercy with a legally fair agreement on rewarding righteousness with grace: already in early Christianity the thesis about “freely given grace” was formulated "(Augustine), in Protestantism V. itself is understood as inspired by God "then and there, when and where it was pleasing to God" (Luther) and - moreover - inspired precisely by the one whom he himself initially, and not according to merit, chose "to salvation" (the maximum expression of the presumption of trust in God): V. is given from above, and one comes to communion with God only through “contrition of the heart.” In the context of European culture, V.'s epistemological position cannot but come into conflict with the general cultural principles of rationalism. Actually, the Bible already notes this: “Greeks seek wisdom, but God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise” (1 Cor. 1: 22, 27). V.'s clash with rational criticism, which theoretically can be carried out in various forms, is actually represented by three historically established options: 1) the orthodox form (“I believe in order to understand”) - a position officially adopted by the church canon (authorship belongs to Anselm of Canterbury); 2) freethinking form (“I understand in order to believe”) - a position rejected by the Orthodox Church as a heresy (authorship belongs to Pierre Abelard); 3) extreme form (“I believe, because it is absurd”) - the famous credidile est quia ineptum) - a position that is a complete and logically absolute expression of the very essence of V. as an epistemological attitude that does not need rational foundations and justifications, but due to its extremeness does not acting as the official one (the authorship attributed by tradition to Tertullian dates back to an earlier period - the beginning of AD). The problem of the relationship between reason and philosophy, which played an extremely significant role in the history of Christianity, does not manifest its severity immediately, ripening implicitly. The epistemological ambivalence of patristics, for example, is not fixed at the level of reflective self-assessment as a problem: Origen sets the task of synthesizing ancient philosophy (Platonism and Stoicism) with Christianity; continuity with the ancient philosophical tradition is unproblematically recorded by Justin; “Discourse on the Resurrection of the Dead” by Athenagoras, both genre-wise and methodologically, goes back to the ancient Greek type of philosophizing. The extreme position of Tertullian, demonstrating a fundamental distance from the ancient heritage and asserting the incompatibility of the Christian faith with pagan wisdom, remains extreme for the time being, not receiving wide adaptation in the mass tradition. In general, according to Gilson, patristics is nothing more than a combination of ancient philosophy with Christianity." Even Augustine, without any methodological reservations, formulates the task of theology as the task of "cognizing in the light of reason what is accepted by V."; in his work " About Christian Science" (!), characterizing the "highest truth" as super-rational, he, at the same time, defines the status of experimental (medicine, astronomy) and mathematical sciences, arguing that with their help a person comprehends Divine revelation. Later, the Venerable Bede (c. . 673-755) will see his goal in coordinating knowledge about nature and history with biblical knowledge (this attitude found its practical embodiment in the Easter tables he compiled, calculated in advance up to 1064, through which historical events were tied to the chronology from the birth of Christ). However, in the Middle Ages, the fascination of Christian theology with Aristotelianism (the quintessence of ancient methodological rationalism!) explicitly posed the problem of the relationship between reason and philosophy, thereby explicating the deep internal inconsistency of theology as an attempt at rational conceptualization of the fundamentally irrational. As an attempt to remove this contradiction within the framework of medieval Christianity, the concept of the unity of knowledge and faith, coming from patristics (Clement of Alexandria and Origen), was conceptualized - the theory of “dual truth” was established, based on the principle of separation of the spheres of knowledge and knowledge. The classic exponent of this position is John Dune Scotus, who divided theology and philosophy according to the criterion of objectivity (if the subject of theology is God, then philosophy is being) and the presumption based on which philosophy can think of God not as such, but only as being (Hegel said would be “other beings”), but this is an inadequate comprehension, because it is impossible to think about supernatural phenomena on the basis of sensory experience. According to the formulation of Hugo de Saint-Victor (c. 1096-1141), the content of dogmas can be either above reason or in accordance with it, but never contrary to it. John of Salisbury (c. 1115 - c. 1180) has a generally integrating thesis about the fundamental impossibility of a contradiction between theology and philosophy due to the radical difference in their subject areas: the salvation of the soul on the one hand, the experienced logical-rational knowledge of nature on the other. (In the Muslim parallel, a similar position in a similar context was expressed by Ibn Rushd.) On the basis of the theory of “dual truth” in medieval culture, the interpretation of knowledge of God as carried out in two ways is updated: naturally (through knowledge of the created world, bearing the imprint of the goodness of the Creator) and supernatural (directly, through revelation). On the basis of this differentiation in medieval culture, scholasticism and mysticism were constituted in their current form with their alternative programs - respectively - the rational justification of religious dogmas through logical methods of argumentation, on the one hand, and the cultivation of the practice of direct perception of truth in the act of Divine revelation, on the other. The fundamental conjunctiveness of the concept of “dual truth” gives it an indefinite axiological balance (in contrast to the complete clarity of the exclusive disjunction), making the orthodox formula “I believe in order to understand” essentially ambivalent: if the orthodox scholasticism of Thomism interpreted it in the sense of the independence of truth V. from positive knowledge, then the thinkers of the Chartres school - in the sense of the independence of reason from V.; Siger of Brabant (c. 1240 - c. 1281) - in the sense of the possibility and permissibility for the truth of rational knowledge to come into direct conflict with the truth of revelation (such as, for example, the theory of the eternity of the world put forward by him, which contradicts the idea of ​​creationism); and Roger Bacon - even in the sense of the dependence of theology on the sciences. Strictly speaking, it was and only Anselm of Canterbury, as the first scholastic, who could afford his painlessly non-disjunctive “I believe and understand.” By the 13th century. the aggravation of the situation already required explicitly formulated and officially sanctioned clarification. The initial postulates of this were proposed by Thomas Aquinas: the principle of harmony of reason and philosophy is based on the priority of the dogmas of philosophy, fixed in the absolute version: if rational conclusions contradict revelation, this indicates an error in reasoning. In addition, the dogmas were differentiated by Thomas into those that are rationally understandable, i.e. acting as the subject of both theology and philosophy (dogmas about the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, etc.), and rationally incomprehensible, inaccessible to logic and therefore acting as the subject of exclusively theological knowledge (dogmas about the Trinity of God, the creation of the world, original sin, etc. In the Thomistic frame of reference, religious dogmas and principles of rational knowledge outline autonomous and non-overlapping epistemological areas of theology and philosophy. However, for methodological and educational purposes, theology can use the rational and explanatory potential of philosophy to adapt the esoteric truths of revelation to the perception of them by mass consciousness (Thomas Aquinas actualizes the famous thesis “philosophy is the handmaiden of theology,” which goes back to John of Damascus. Within the framework of this approach, the official position of the Orthodox Church on the problem of the relationship between knowledge and faith is formalized. Already in 1277, the Parisian Bishop of Tamier condemned the theory of “dual truth” as degrading theology, - the Orthodox Church emphasized the aspect of the consistency of positive knowledge with the truth of the biblical text as a necessary confirmation of their truth (see. the struggle of the Catholic Church against heliocentrism: the persecution of Copernicus, the execution of Bruno, the condemnation of Galileo by the Inquisition, which in 1979 Pope John Paul II proposed to cancel as unjust). In general, historically, the church’s attitude to rational knowledge evolves from the anathema to rationalism in the famous “Syllabus” (“List of human errors of our time,” 1864) to the thesis “the church is a friend of science” in the encyclical of Pope Pius XIII and the constitution of the Second Vatican Council “Joy and hope. About the Church in the Modern World", which states the need for a positive assessment of scientific and technological progress and adaptation to its consequences, including mental ones. However, if we talk not about an external, reflexively expressed position, but about the deep paradigmatic foundations, then it can be argued that the axiological and substantive influence of the rationalistic cultural context of the European tradition as the ideological background of the evolution of Christianity has always set the deep intention of the Christian doctrine towards rationality (with the unconditional statement of the dominant V.). Thus, the basic branch of Christian theology is apologetics, also called “fundamental theology” or “basic theology” ", is purposefully centered around the problem of defending (justifying) a creed with the help of arguments addressed to reason (again, of course, with the proviso that dogmas understood by reason must be accepted "on the V."). Protestantism, logically consistently implementing the goal of salvation " IN. unified,” does not cultivate apologetic theology, replacing it with the “doctrine of principles” and arguing that V., rooted in a living feeling, does not need rational-logical justification. The phenomenon of V. centers around itself significant problems within the framework of the philosophical tradition: how in a purely epistemological, as well as in a broader - general anthropological - plan.In the 2nd half of the 18th century, the movement of “philosophy of feeling and philosophy” took shape in German philosophy, which set the initial impulse for the development in the history of philosophy of the traditions of intuitionism, philosophy of life, and existentialism. "The philosophy of feeling and V." rejects "rational knowledge", assessed as incapable of revealing to man in himself the "unconditional source of free will" (F. G. Jacobi). The "direct given" to human consciousness of the world of things (substantive influence Hume's philosophy). This "immediate reality" is synonymously designated by Jacobi as "V.", "feeling", "revelation", "reason" in contrast to reason (an anticipation of Kant's differentiation). Due to the understanding of V. as a universal way of knowledge, Jacobi does not make a difference between the reality of sensual (natural) and supersensible (absolute) being - both of them equally act as the content of V., such a “direct givenness” of absolute being sets a special type of being individual. Subtly capturing the nostalgic longing of a person from a non-traditional society to fit into the community, the dissolution of paternalistic consciousness in the community, i.e. With faith and confidence lost, Jacobi formulates a model of harmonious individual existence based on V. Man’s presence in the world (anticipation of existentialist “abandonment”) is “saved and justified” precisely by the “immediate given” of absolute existence to him. A person experiences (believes, feels and knows at the same time) the “givenness” of the absolute, which, in turn, reveals to him the “immediate givenness” of the source of his personal individuality and free will as the basis of his involvement in the absolute - the apotheosis of individuality through absorption in the universal. Similarly, the philosophical concept of I.G. Hamana is based on a radical critique of the rationalistic culture of the Enlightenment: he understands the unity of personality as complex, and its totality is guaranteed by “direct knowledge,” synonymous with V., which is opposed to discursive rationalism. Ideas of "philosophy of feeling and V." were perceived by modern Western philosophy both within the framework of human-centric problematics (philosophy of life, existentialism) and within the framework of epistemological-centric problematics (intuitionism, irrational versions of the concept of direct knowledge after Bergson). The category of V. occupies a significant place in the philosophy of existentialism, conceptualized as “philosophical V.” (Jaspers), synthesizing “V. in God” and “V. in science.” The phenomenon of V. occupies a central position in neo-Thomism, which adheres to a modernized formulation of the concept of “dual truth”: “legitimate autonomy of religion and science” and “legitimate autonomy of science within the framework of the legitimate autonomy of earthly values” (John Paul II) Synthetism of modern culture and the tendency of science to be interdisciplinary synthesis is understood as the basis for outlining the area of ​​“borderline issues” between theology, philosophy and natural science; Natural science's awareness of the limitations of its purely rationalistic methods, which do not allow it to perceive the sphere of biology as its subject, according to neo-Thomism, creates a “new face” of natural science (O. Spülbeck, R. Karisch, D. Bonifaczi, I. Ratzinger). In the context of the given priority of V., the “integrating function of interdisciplinary dialogue” of theology, philosophy and natural science is constituted, which includes the convergence of theological, philosophical and concrete scientific argumentation, the formation of a “converging” synthetic truth (K. Ra-ner, H. Friz, F .Rau). M.A. Mozheiko

State of extreme interest, psychol. attitude, ideological position and holistic personal act, consisting of recognizing the unconditional existence and truth of something with such determination and firmness that exceed the persuasiveness of the factual. and logical evidence and do not depend on it despite all doubts. V. is closely related to “trust” and “fidelity,” but is not reduced to them and is accompanied by them only after God begins to be understood as a person. The complexity and ambiguity of the phenomenon of V. has led to a variety of interpretations of its essence and functions. V. is compared with knowledge or opposed to it. In this case, belief is understood, first of all, as confidence in unreliable or insufficiently reliable knowledge, i.e. such knowledge, the basis for which is not given or is hidden. However, such an understanding very easily turns into an absolutization of subjective persistence and the resulting self-will, and V. is reduced to beliefs. On the other hand, beliefs do not always serve as a source of anarchism. or simply individualistic. self-will. Indeed, in this case we should rather talk about hallucinations and obsessions that corrupt the very fabric of the human being. community. Common beliefs, on the contrary, form the condition and foundation for the common life of people. Such beliefs include, for example, confidence in the existence of the external world, in the immutability of the laws of nature, in the fact that in def. conditions people will act def. way, etc. Ultimately, we are talking about probability, about choosing from different assumptions what is closest to knowledge. In other words, beliefs are knowledge, in which V. should be present to a minimal extent, although it cannot be completely excluded. Beliefs are inextricably linked with a person’s knowledge about the world and about himself. However, if knowledge is created, then beliefs serve as the basis of humanity. attitude to the world in general - both contemplative, theoretical, and practical, since this attitude already presupposes “staying in confidence.” It is beliefs that provide a person with such an attitude towards the world when he can “rely on something,” and this position is a prerequisite for thought and action. Beliefs play an important role in the constitution of humanity. reality, since the initial level of “reality” consists precisely of what a person “relies” on in his life and what excludes doubt. A person is able to refuse ideas or even a system of ideas or not accept them from the very beginning, but this means that he doubts or does not believe in them. Doubt, in turn, is an aspect of belief, and one exists in doubt, as in belief. Doubt lives and acts according to the same laws as belief, and they believe in doubt in the same way as, for example, in reason. Therefore, doubt also participates in the constitution of man. reality. If belief constitutes a stable and unambiguous reality, then doubt constitutes an unstable, ambiguous reality, which cannot be “relyed on.” This is a clash of two beliefs that destroys the stability of man. reality and, therefore, confidence in it. Consequently, it is doubt that acts as the source of the mental construction of the world, and mental constructions are consciously created precisely because beliefs have left the corresponding area. The role of beliefs in people. life reveals dynamic. the nature of the reality in which a person lives. It is not given initially and as a certain primordial reality, but is the fruit of the efforts and ingenuity of people who created the previous state of culture. These efforts take the form of beliefs, layered on everything that a person has ever encountered in himself and around him and which represents a mysterious incomplete sequence of the possible and the impossible. In other words, mental constructs that have turned into beliefs constitute an essential part of the legacy that the early stages of cultural development leave for the future. This is how different things are created. imaginary worlds, which, thanks to the oblivion of their origins, are identified with primordial reality (in particular, this is the mechanism for the formation of ideas about time and space). Belief becomes confidence, the method of acquiring the cut remains unknown or hidden, but beliefs are also subject to the influence of cultural entropy, they weaken or disappear altogether. In other words, they do not exist on their own; their maintenance requires a definition. efforts from contemporaries. However, the content of the concept of V. is not limited to beliefs. Ultimately, beliefs are testable by reference to life experience. V. in general also applies to areas where experimental verification is impossible. Then V. appears as non-verifying and non-reflective and turns out to be the result of obedience and trust in authority, i.e. authorities whose statements must be considered infallible. But authorities as such authorities form a hierarchy, which must end with some final and absolute authority. It no longer acts as the highest authority, but as the source of all authority and the condition of its existence as such. God is recognized as such an authority, which cannot be considered the result of a simple extrapolation of the idea of ​​authority. For authority to be considered such, it must act as a conductor and exponent of the will of God, freely revealing itself to man as reliable in itself without reference to any other authorities. Therefore, V. is inextricably linked with revelation as the free self-discovery of God, his immediate presence. impact on the human soul. V. is correlated, first of all, with revelation as such, and not with those carriers of revelation that have a lower level (for example, codified sacred texts). But this connection is not a conditionality and proof of knowledge, since otherwise it would be no different from knowledge, even “direct”. Being a holistic act of the individual, and not an aspect of knowledge, V. expresses the utmost interest. Although the words “interest” and “interest” also denote complex phenomena, they make it possible to clarify a number of beings, aspects of the concept B. We are talking not just about a certain orientation of the will, but about a special holistic act that expresses the very essence of personality. This act involves the unconscious. elements, but V. as such is conscious. As a living being, a person is interested in many things - material and spiritual, which are necessary for his very existence. Many of them can claim to be "ultimate", i.e. demand from a person complete dedication of himself, as a result of which the desired must be fully fulfilled. The promise of ultimate fulfillment of desire is most often expressed symbolically and is associated with a demand for obedience. In case of disobedience, the apostate faces punishment, and his desire will not be fulfilled. This is exactly how gods work. acting simultaneously both as objects of ultimate interest and as supra-individual coercive forces. Thus, interest, demand, promise and threat - basic. components of act B. Classic. V.'s understanding, in the mouth of the Apostle Paul, is as follows: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). By “invisibility” here we mean not only inaccessibility to the senses, but also the forced reality of certain phenomena, events, processes. On the contrary, all knowledge - be it sensory or logical. knowledge is forced and inevitable. Perception of k.-l. things do not depend on the will of a person and his desire to perceive or not perceive it. As soon as he comes into contact with her, she, regardless of his desire, enters his consciousness. Logical, i.e. inferential knowledge based on “iron logic” also does not depend on volitional choice; from one judgment another inevitably follows, etc. Both types of knowledge are coercive. Moreover. forced and unreliable knowledge, i.e. beliefs. But logical. knowledge is based on the sensory, and a thing becomes perceptible only if a person “comes into contact with it,” i.e. chooses her by his free act of will. The will turns away from everything else, it does not enter the human consciousness, and V. into it is weak or completely absent. Thus, only that which was chosen in the course of free expression of will becomes “visible” and known, and what is rejected by the will becomes invisible and unknown. It is this expression of will that then solidifies in beliefs as knowledge, even if unreliable. The Act of V., which ensured the constitution of the “visible” world, has already been completed, the will is determined, but has not lost freedom. V. sets the horizon of knowledge, however, its very constitutive function is preserved. One can also believe in the “invisible”, i.e. allow for the possibility of his free election. This act contains danger and risk, since in knowledge, unlike knowledge, there are no at least minimal guarantees - precisely because there is no evidentiary coercion. Therefore, the requirement that V. be proven is based on the deepest misunderstanding of its essence. V. cannot be proven and be based on “direct.” knowledge drawn from revelation. The expression “I believe, because it is absurd”, attributed to Tertullian, emphasizes precisely this unconditionality of faith. Therefore, faith is associated with the assumption of a miracle. those. the influence of forces, about which we do not know, but in the existence of which we can believe. On the other hand, V. is also the “realization of the expected,” and this reveals its temporal character. It is precisely because of this that time plays an important role in the constitution of cultural time. Thanks to V., the future can no longer be understood as a simple continuation of the past and present; it cannot and should not repeat those “visible” images that are known in advance. Consequently, the less “figurative” a V. is, the more true it should be recognized. This requirement makes V. an obstacle to the transformation of time into a simple cycle, into the reproduction of what has already happened, and it is in this that V. differs from hope. One can only hope for certain images, for a repetition of what has been seen before, and hope knows its subject. If hope provides the possibility of breaks in the flow of time, then hope is a condition for its continuity. The source of hope is in the past, the source of hope is in the future, and hope creates a special “traction” that operates in the present, without which the future would not be “new.” Not hope, but V. goes beyond death and others. person, and dept. culture. This is a person’s confidence in the future without himself and without his “world,” but presupposing the participation of a believer in such a future. Therefore, hope, in contrast to V., becomes a tense relationship between a previously experienced good and salvation expected at the end of time as the highest form of this good. V. and hope, in turn, are inextricably linked with love, which, being a unifying force, is created by man. communities that are impossible without shared time for a given community. Thanks to love, the present arises, created by the emergence of each member of the community from his individualistic. isolation. Thus, V., hope and love are inextricably interconnected aspects of the holistic process of constituting time, in which there is a past, present and future, and the future does not cancel the stages passed, but is not a simple repetition of them. Therefore, V., hope and love are not subjective “moods,” but existential conditions for the transformation of time into history. But this is precisely why one cannot “order” or “force” to love, hope and, especially, believe. V., hope and love are forces constitutive of history. time, only as settings common to a given person. team. Like everyone else, he is human. states, they require for their creation and maintenance certain ritual practices (not necessarily exclusively “religious”), the loss or abolition of which entails the unleashing of forces of disintegration and disorientation of life behavior. This again poses the problem of the relationship between knowledge and knowledge, which is traditionally discussed within the boundaries specified by the block. Augustine and Anselm of Canterbury, on the one hand (“I believe in order to understand”), and Abelard on the other (“I understand in order to believe”). The position presented by Tertullian (“I believe because it is absurd”) is usually rejected in theology as extreme and finds support only among certain very radical thinkers (for example, Kierkegaard or Shestov). Under conditions of secularization, there is a mixture of hope and hope, which is a characteristic feature of all utopianism. movements, as well as V.’s identification with beliefs, which are now most often constructed artificially as “ideologies.” The phenomenon of the “one-dimensional man”, designated and analyzed by Marcuse, expresses that degree of simulated deafness in relation to the imperatives of the future, which is characteristic precisely of the situation of weakening of existential tension of V. This situation is fertile ground for reviving old languages ​​and creating new ones. cults presented either as a “synthesis of all religions”, or as a fundamentally new religion of a higher level, or as a “saving” ideology of a secular type. Certain cults of this kind are a necessary element of totalitarian practices that consciously exploit the purely external attributes of the phenomenon V. Lit.: Polanyi M. Personal knowledge. M., 1985; Berdyaev N.A. Philosophy of freedom. The meaning of creativity. M.. 1989; Ortega y Gasset X. Ideas and beliefs // Ortega y Gasset X. Aesthetics. Philosophy of culture. M., 1991; Lewis K.S. Love. Suffering. Hope: Parables. Treatises. M., 1992; Frank S.L. God is with us: Three reflections // Frank S.L. Spiritual foundations of the society. M., 1992; Prince D. Faith as a way of life. M., 1993; Bulgakov S.N. The light is not evening. Contemplation and speculation. M., 1994; Buber M. Two images of faith. M., 1995; Tillich P. Favorites: Theology of Culture. M., 1995; Rokeach M. The Open and Closed Mind: Investigations into the Nature of Belief Systems and Personality Systems. N.Y., 1960; Price H.H. Belief. L.; N.Y., 1969; Benedikt M. Wissen und Glauben: Zur Analyse der Ideologien in historischkritischer Sicht. W., 1975; Molnar T. Theists and Atheists: A Typology of Non-Belief. The Hague etc., 1980. A. I. Pigalev

The acceptance of something as truth, which does not require the necessary full confirmation of the truth of what is accepted by the senses and reason and, therefore, cannot claim objective significance. In English, the most clear distinction is between theoretical belief that something exists (belief) and religious belief (faith). Although both religious faith and scientific “faith” (assumption, hypothesis) are based on facts, while the latter, with its premises connecting ideas and conclusions, remains within the limits of the knowable (natural) and the lawful, religious faith moves into the realm of the unknowable (supernatural , metaphysical) and extends the freedom that she assumes for the supernatural world also to nature. That no knowledge is possible about transcendental, extra-natural and supernatural things, Kant showed in his critique of reason: “I had to limit knowledge (illusory knowledge about supposedly transcendent things) in order to make room for faith (in ideas and ideals as the guiding points of human aspirations).” ("Critique of Pure Reason"). In a religious sense, faith means, on the one hand, the action and behavior of a person (trusting devotion and fidelity), on the other hand, according to Christ. teaching, "supernatural virtue", which is possible due to the grace of God. In an ethical sense, faith means the same thing as the ability to trust, a kind of moral strength that presupposes mental fortitude. Faith is the basis of trust. The justification for this belief is only the feeling of the moral value of another person. Faith is always a risk, because this feeling can be wrong. In its essence, it is always “blind”, because the faith that has a reliable basis and an objective guarantee is not real, it lacks the decisive moment of risking one’s own personality. He who knows cannot believe. Blind faith (or blind trust) is in its way the highest test of moral strength, the true criterion of unity in all the deepest relationships of man to man.

The state of a subject, closely connected with the spiritual world of the individual, arising on the basis of certain information about an object, expressed in ideas or images, accompanied by the emotion of confidence and a number of other feelings and serving as a motive, incentive, attitude and guideline for human activity. In the history of philosophy and psychology, three types of theories of emotion are distinguished: emotional, which consider emotion primarily as a feeling (Hume, James, etc.); intellectual, in which V. is interpreted as a phenomenon of intelligence (J. St. Mill, Brentano, Hegel, etc.); strong-willed, recognizing V. as an attribute of the will (Descartes, Fichte, etc.). V. is a necessary element of individual and social consciousness, an important aspect of people’s activities. Objects of V. - facts, phenomena, trends in the development of natural and social reality - are not given to the subject sensually and appear only in the form of a possibility. In this case, the object V. appears to exist in reality, figuratively, emotionally. The subject of V. can be an individual, a social group, or society as a whole. V. reflects not only the object, but ch. arr. the subject’s attitude towards him, and thereby the social existence of the subject, his needs and interests. V. is an important element of value consciousness (Axiology, Values) along with such categories. like hope and love. A special case of manifestation of the phenomenon of V. is religious V., generated by the specific conditions of existence of a society, primarily class, namely: the powerlessness of people in the process of their interaction with the natural and social environment and the need to compensate for this powerlessness, to replenish their alienation (Alienation ) being an illusory other world, corresponding to their value systems. Theology recognizes religious faith as an integral property of the human soul or as a grace bestowed by God. In this sense, V. is opposed to reason and knowledge. Dialectical materialism, which elucidates the social and epistemological roots of religion, indicates real ways and means of overcoming religious ideas.