Pantheism is in philosophy what? The concept and representatives of pantheism. Pantheism of the Renaissance

"Pantheism" is a term in philosophy, which in literal translation from Greek means "all god." This is a system of views that seek convergence, even the identification of the concepts of "god" and "nature." At the same time, God is an impersonal beginning, he is present in everything, he is inseparable from the living.

The essence of pantheism

Since pantheism unites the God-substance and the Universe-Universe, it appears necessary to correlate the signs of the static nature of the divine nature, such as infinity, eternity, immutability, and mobility, the constant variability of the world's nature. In the ancient philosopher Parmenides, God and the world are not separable from each other, while the static nature of the deity in a peculiar form is inherent in all living things (like infinite cyclicity). And pantheism in the philosophy of Hegel endowed the god with usually unusual abilities for movement and development, thereby eliminating the main contradiction between the divine and the living. Supporters of immanent pantheism tend to see God as some kind of supreme law, an eternal and unchanging force that governs the world. Such a line of thought was developed by Heraclitus, the adherents of Stoicism, such in general terms was Spinoza's pantheism. Within the framework of Neoplatonic philosophy, an emanation variety of pantheism arose, according to which nature is an emanation derived from God. Emanational pantheism in the philosophy of the Middle Ages did not conflict with the prevailing theological doctrine, but only represented a variation of realism. This kind of pantheism can be traced in the writings of David Dinansky and Eriugena.

Directions of pantheism

In the history of philosophy, there were two directions that unite all the pantheistic teachings:

1. Naturalistic pantheism, represented in the works of the Stoics, Bruno, in part Spinoza, deifies nature, all living things. It is characterized by such concepts as the infinite mind and the world soul. This current gravitates toward materialism, the reduction of the divine principle in favor of the natural.

2. Mystical pantheism developed in the doctrines of Eckhart, Nicholas of Cusa, Malebranche, Boehme, Paracelsus. To define this direction, there is a more precise term: "panentheism" is "all in God," since philosophers of this trend tend not to see God in nature, but nature in God. Nature is a different level of being of God (objective idealism).

There are many examples of mixing both types of pantheism within the framework of the teachings of one thinker.

History

For the first time the term "pantheism" (or rather, "pantheist") was used by John Toland, an English materialist philosopher of the turn of the 17th-18th centuries. But the roots of the pantheistic worldview go to the ancient Eastern religious and philosophical systems. So, Hinduism, Brahmanism and Vedanta in Ancient India and Taoism in Ancient China were clearly pantheistic in nature.

The oldest religious and philosophical texts bearing the ideas of pantheism are the ancient Indian Vedas and Upanishads. For the Hindus, Brahman is an infinite, permanent, impersonal entity that has become the basis for everything living in the universe, everything that ever existed or will exist. In the text of the Upanishads, the idea of unity between Brahman and the surrounding world is constantly affirmed.

Ancient Chinese Taoism is a profoundly pantheistic teaching, the foundations of which are set forth in the work of Tao Te Ching written by the semi-legendary sage Lao Tzu. For the Taoists there is no creator god or any other anthropomorphic hypostasis, the divine principle is impersonal, it is akin to the concept of the path and is present in all things and phenomena.

Pantheistic tendencies are present to some extent in many ethnic religions in Africa, interwoven with polytheism and animism. Zoroastrianism and certain currents of Buddhism are also pantheistic in nature.

In the 14-15 centuries in Western Europe pantheism was in decline. The teachings of outstanding Christian theologians John Scotus Eriugen, Meister Eckhart and Nikolai of Cusa were very close to him, but only Giordano Bruno openly supported this worldview. Further spread in Europe of the idea of pantheism was due to the works of Spinoza.

In the 18th century, under the influence of his authority, his pantheistic sentiments spread among Western philosophers. Already at the beginning of the 19th century, pantheism was spoken of as the religion of the future. In the 20th century this worldview was pushed aside by the ideology of fascism and communism.

The origins of pantheism in ancient philosophy

Pantheism is in the philosophy of antiquity the main element of all knowledge of the world, nature and the cosmos. It first occurs in the teachings of the thinkers of the pre-Socratic period - Thales, Anaximenes, Anaximander and Heraclitus. For the religion of the Greeks at this time was still characterized by a convinced polytheism. Consequently, the early ancient pantheism is a belief in some animate divine principle inherent in all material things, living organisms and natural phenomena.

The pantheistic philosophy reached its peak in the teaching of the Stoics. According to their doctrine, the cosmos is a single fiery organism. Stoic pantheism unites and identifies all living things, and humanity in particular, with the cosmos. The latter is both God and a world state. Consequently, pantheism also means the original equality of all people.

During the Roman Empire, the philosophy of pantheism became widespread due to the influential position of the Stoic and Neoplatonist school.

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages are the time of domination of monotheistic religions, for which it is characteristic to define God as a powerful personality dominating man and the whole world. At that time pantheism persisted in the emanation theory of the philosophy of the Neoplatonists, which was a kind of compromise with religion. For the first time pantheism as a materialistic concept was manifested in David Dinansky. He argued that the human mind, God and the material world are one and the same.

Many Christian sects, recognized by the official Church as heresies and subjected to persecution, gravitated towards pantheism (for example, amalrikanes in the 13th century).

Revival

In contrast to medieval theology, the Renaissance thinkers turned to the ancient heritage and natural philosophy, paying ever more attention to the natural sciences and the comprehension of the secrets of nature. The similarity with the ancient views was limited only to the recognition of the integrity and animation of the world, the cosmos, but the methods of studying it differed substantially. Rejected the rationalistic views of antiquity (in particular, the physics of Aristotle) and held the idea of magical and occult knowledge of nature as a single spiritualized beginning. Great contribution to this direction was made by the German alchemist, physician and astrologer Paracelsus, who with the help of magic tried to control the archaea (soul) of nature.

It is the pantheism of the Renaissance, characteristic of many philosophical theories of the time, was the unifying beginning between such extremes as natural philosophy and theology.

Interpretation of pantheism in the teachings of Nicholas of Cusa

One of the brightest representatives of early Renaissance pantheism was the famous German philosopher Nikolai Kuzansky. He lived in the 15th century (1401-1464). At that time he received a solid education and became a priest. He was very gifted, devoted to the church and made a successful career, becoming in 1448 a cardinal. One of the main goals of his life was the strengthening of the authority of Catholicism. Together with an active role in the church life of Europe, Kuzansky devoted much time to philosophical works. His views were closely related to the teachings of the Middle Ages. However, the pantheism of Nicholas of Cusa acquired the features of an inseparable organic integrity, the constant movement and development of the world and, consequently, the inherent divinity. He contrasted the theory of "learned ignorance" with the self-assured knowledge of the Middle Ages about God and the world, the basic idea of which was that no earthly doctrine is capable of giving an insight into divine greatness and infinity.

Philosophy of Giordano Bruno

Thinker and poet, a follower of the Cusa and Copernicus, Italian philosopher of the 16th century Giordano Bruno was a real pantheist. All life on Earth, he believed spiritualized, endowed with the spark of divine conduct. According to his teaching, God is contained in all parts of the world without exception - great and smallest, invisible. All nature together with man is one whole living organism.

In an attempt to create an ideological basis for the teachings of Copernicus, he advanced the theory of the existence of many worlds and the universe, which has no boundaries.

The pantheism of Giordano Bruno, an Italian thinker of the 16th century, later became a classical concept for the Renaissance.

Pantheism in the philosophical doctrine of B. Spinoza

Philosophical heritage B. Spinoza - this is the most vivid concept of pantheism, created by the New Time. To expound his vision of the world, he used a geometric method, as he himself called it. He guided them while creating the fundamental work "Ethics", dedicated to philosophical metaphysics, nature, God, man. A separate section is devoted to human reason, feelings, moral and ethical problems. The author delineates each definition in a strict sequence of definitions, after - axioms, then - theorems and their proofs.

In the center of the doctrine of Spinoza - the idea of the identity of God, nature and substance. The priority of the divine, his leading role in the overall picture of the world is characteristic of the philosophy of modern times. But Spinoza, following Descartes, maintains the view that the existence (being) of God must be proved. Based on the arguments of his predecessor, he significantly supplemented his theory: Spinoza refused the original given, the a priori existence of God. But the proof of this is possible due to the following postulates:

- in the world an infinite number of knowable things;

- the limited mind is not able to understand the boundless truth;

- knowledge is impossible without the intervention of an external force - this power is God.

Thus, in Spinoza's philosophy there is a union of the infinite (divine) and final (human, natural), the very existence of the latter proves the presence of the first. Even the idea of the existence of a god can not appear independently in the human consciousness - it is put there by the god himself. This is the manifestation of Spinoza's pantheism. The existence of God is inseparable from the world, it is impossible beyond it. Moreover, God is related to the world, it is inherent in all its manifestations. It simultaneously causes the existence of all living and nonliving in the world and the cause of its own existence. Following the established philosophical tradition, Spinoza declares the god an absolute infinite substance endowed with many properties that characterize its eternity and infinity.

If other representatives of pantheism have built a dualistic picture of the world, where there are two poles - god and nature, then Spinoza rather deifies the world. This is a reference to ancient pagan cults. The living nature in its eternal cyclical development is a god who gives birth to himself. The divine nature is not something separate, delimited from the material world, on the contrary, it is immanent, inherent in all living things. Anthropomorphic, personalized taming of God, adopted in most religions, is absolutely alien to Spinoza. So, natural philosophy and pantheism of the Renaissance found their fullest incarnation in a single doctrine.

Current situation

So pantheism is in philosophy a way of thinking, in which God and nature come together (or even unite), the reflection of the divine is present in all life. He in one form or another was present in the teachings of various philosophers from ancient times, reached the greatest development in the Renaissance and New Times, but was not forgotten later. For the thinkers of the XIX century the concept of "pantheism" was not an anachronism. Thus, in the religious and ethical system of LN Tolstoy's views, his features are clearly visible.

In the middle of the 19th century pantheism became so widespread that it drew the attention of the official church. Pope Pius IX in his speech spoke of pantheism as "the most important delusion of our days."

In the modern world pantheism is in philosophy and religion an important element of many theories, such as the neo-gay hypothesis of Gaia. It is still preserved in some forms of Theosophy, constituting an original alternative to traditional monotheistic religions. In the last decades of the twentieth century, pantheism is a definition and an ideological platform for defenders of nature. It is the pantheists, first of all, lobbying the questions connected with the increase of ecological consciousness, drawing attention of the public and the media to the problems of the environment. If before pantheism was perceived as an integral part of the pagan worldview, nowadays advocates of such views are making attempts to create an independent form of religion based on the worship of divinity coming from living nature. This definition of pantheism is consonant with current problems associated with the rapid disappearance of many species of plants and animals, even entire ecosystems.

The organizational efforts of the pantheism supporters led to the creation in 1975 of the "Universal Pantheistic Society", and in 1999 - the "World Pantheistic Movement" with a solid information base on the Internet and representation in all social networks.

The official Vatican continues the methodical offensive to the foundations of pantheism, although the latter can hardly be called an alternative to Catholic Christianity.

Pantheism is a concept in the consciousness of the modern majority, implying a conscious and careful attitude to the Earth's biosphere, and not a religion in the full sense of the word.