Denis Diderot is one of the most prominent French materialists of the 18th century. Like all representatives of this movement, Diderot was a materialist from below (in the explanation of nature) and an idealist from above (in the interpretation of social phenomena). He recognized the materiality of the world, considered movement inseparable from matter, the world knowable, and resolutely opposed religion.

Standing on the position of materialistic sensationalism, Diderot considered sensations to be the source of knowledge. But unlike Helvetius, he did not reduce the complex to them. process of cognition, but recognized that its second stage is the processing of sensations by the mind. He also believed that “opinions rule the world,” and mistakenly associated the possibility of reorganizing society not with revolution, but with the publication of wise laws and the spread of education, correct upbringing. He outlined his thoughts on education mainly in the work “Systematic Refutation of Helvetius’s Book “On Man.”

Diderot rejected Helvetius's assertion about the omnipotence of education and the absence of individual natural differences among people. He sought to limit the extreme conclusions to which Helvetius came. Thus, Diderot wrote: “He (Helvetius) says: Education means everything.

Diderot correctly argued that all people, not just a select few, are endowed with favorable inclinations by nature. Diderot rebelled against the dominance of classical education in schools and brought real knowledge to the fore; V high school, he believed, all students should study mathematics, physics and natural sciences, as well as humanities.

Claude Adrian Helvetius - became famous as the author of the book “On the Mind,” which was published in 1758 and provoked fierce attacks from all forces of reaction and ruling circles. The book was banned and sentenced to be burned. Helvetius developed his ideas even more thoroughly in the book “On Man, His mental abilities and his upbringing." This book, written in 1769, in order to avoid new persecution, Helvetius bequeathed to be published only after his death, and it was published in 1773.

In his works, Helvetius, for the first time in the history of pedagogy, quite fully revealed the factors that shape a person. As a sensualist, he argued that all ideas and concepts in humans are formed on the basis of sensory perceptions, and reduced thinking to the ability to sense.

He considered the most important factor in the formation of a person to be the influence of the environment. Man is a product of circumstances (social environment) and upbringing, Helvetius argued. The atheist Helvetius demanded that public education be taken out of the hands of the clergy and made unconditionally secular. Sharply condemning the scholastic methods of teaching in the feudal school, Helvetius demanded that teaching be visual and based, if possible, on personal experience baby educational material, he believed, should become simple and understandable to students.

Helvetius recognized the right of all people to education and believed that women should receive equal education with men. Helvetius believed that all people with normal physical organization have by nature equal abilities and opportunities for development. He strongly rejected reactionary opinions about inequality mental development people based on their social origin, race or nationality. In fact, he argued, the cause of inequality is rooted in social conditions, preventing most people from getting proper upbringing, develop your abilities.

François Marie Voltaire (1694–1778). Known as a poet, playwright, writer, historian, philosopher. Voltaire did not leave special pedagogical works, and ideas of education are quite rare in his work, but his entire philosophy and his entire ideology became the actual basis of many pedagogical concepts, ideas and attitudes in the field of upbringing and education.

Pedagogical views of Claude Adrian Helvetia(1715-1771). In 1758, Helvetius’s famous book “On the Mind” was published. The authorities condemned and banned this book as being directed against religion and the existing system. The book was publicly burned. Helvetius went abroad and at that time wrote a new work - “On Man, His Mental Abilities and His Education” (published in 1773). Helvetia

believed that all ideas and concepts in humans are formed on the basis of sensory perceptions. Great importance he gave the formation of man under the influence of the environment. He pointed out that the feudal system cripples people. The Church corrupts human characters. Helvetius considered it necessary to formulate a single goal of education for all citizens. This goal is to strive for the good of the whole society, for the greatest pleasure and happiness the largest number citizens. Helvetius argued that all people are equally capable of education, since they are born with the same spiritual abilities. Helvetius believed that a person is formed only under the influence of environment and upbringing. At the same time, he interpreted the concept of “education” very broadly. By education, Helvetia “understands not only education in the usual sense of the word, but also the totality of all the living conditions of an individual...”1. Helvetius declared that “education makes us what we are,” and even more: “Education can do anything.” There is a need for widespread education of the people, it is necessary to re-educate people. G. hoped that as a result of enlightenment and upbringing a person would be created free from prejudices. Pedagogical views of Denis Diderot (1713-1784). His works were met with hostility by the authorities. As soon as his work “Letters on the Blind for the Edification of the Sighted” was published, Diderot was arrested. Diderot decisively refutes Helvetius's position that education can do everything. He believes that much can be achieved through education, but education develops what nature has given the child. Through education, it is possible to develop good natural inclinations and suppress bad ones, but only if education takes into account the physical organization of a person and his natural characteristics.

Diderot believed that not only the elite have good natural inclinations; on the contrary, he argued that the people are much more often the bearers of talents than representatives of the nobility.

Just like Helvetia, Diderot strongly criticized the French feudal system of education, emphasizing that primary schools, in the hands of the clergy, neglect the education of children from the people, and privileged secondary schools of the classical type instill only an aversion to science and produce insignificant results.

Denis Diderot(1713-1784), French philosopher, educator, writer. He studied at a Jesuit college and received the title of Master of Arts. Diderot's first philosophical works were burned by decision of the French parliament (for criticizing the Christian religion and the church in the spirit of deism, he was arrested for spreading “dangerous thoughts”). In 1773-74 visited Russia, at the suggestion of Catherine II, participated in the development of a democratic program of upbringing and education in Russia. Wrote "Plan of a University, or School of Public Teaching of Sciences for the Russian Government."

The most prominent representative of French materialism of the 18th century. The inspirer, organizer and one of the main authors of the famous "Encyclopedia, or Explanatory Dictionary of Sciences, Arts and Crafts", whose main task was the promotion of natural science knowledge - the strongest weapon against traditional ideology. D. Diderot highly valued the role of education in the formation of a person. He called for taking into account the anatomical and physiological characteristics of the child in the process of education, as well as the social conditions in which the formation of personality takes place. Diderot outlined new principles for organizing education: universality and free education, its classlessness, secularism. He expressed his thoughts on the content of the school curriculum, taking into account the relationship and interdependence of the sciences. He called on scientists to compile scientifically based textbooks, proposed a differentiated approach to teaching, and encouraged capable students. Special attention paid attention to the selection of teachers who have all the necessary, in his opinion, qualities. He attributed these qualities, first of all, to deep knowledge of the subject, honesty, responsiveness and love for children.

Helvetius (1715-1771) became famous as the author of the book “On the Mind,” which was published in 1758 and provoked fierce attacks from all forces of reaction and ruling circles. The book was banned and sentenced to be burned. Helvetius developed his ideas even more thoroughly in the book “On Man, His Mental Abilities and His Education.” This book, written in 1769, in order to avoid new persecution, Helvetius bequeathed to be published only after his death, and it was published in 1773.

In his works, Helvetius, for the first time in the history of pedagogy, quite fully revealed the factors that shape a person. As a sensualist, he argued that all ideas and concepts in humans are formed on the basis of sensory perceptions, and reduced thinking to the ability to sense.

He considered the most important factor in the formation of man environmental influence. Man is a product of circumstances (social environment) and upbringing, Helvetius argued.

Pointing to the enormous role of education in the reorganization of society, Helvetius formulated a single goal of education for all citizens. He saw it in the desire for the good of the whole society, in coordinating the personal interest of each person with the “good of the nation.” While asserting the omnipotence of education, he, however, denied individual differences in children.

The atheist Helvetius demanded that public education be taken out of the hands of the clergy and made unconditionally secular. He proposed putting an end to the dominance of Latin in schools and equipping students with real knowledge: they should thoroughly study natural sciences, their native language, history, morality, politics, and poetry.

Sharply condemning the scholastic methods of teaching in the feudal school, Helvetius demanded that the teaching be visual and, if possible, based on the child’s personal experience, the educational material should be simple and understandable to students.

Helvetius recognized the right of all people to education and believed that women should receive equal education with men.

Helvetius convincingly argued the advantages of public education over family education. Only in secular schools, which are in the hands of the state, he argued, can the proper selection of teachers be ensured, children be taught to observe strict order, and true patriots be raised. Rightly insisting that teachers should be enlightened people, he considered it necessary to improve their financial situation and surround them with universal respect.

A child, according to Helvetius, is not born good or evil, he is made one way or the other by his social environment and upbringing. The teachings of Helvetius were historically progressive and served as one of the ideological sources of utopian socialism.

Pedagogical ideas of Denis Diderot

Denis Diderot (1713-1784) is one of the most prominent French materialists XVIII century Like all representatives of this movement, Diderot was a materialist from below (in the explanation of nature) and an idealist from above (in the interpretation of social phenomena). He recognized the materiality of the world, considered movement inseparable from matter, the world knowable, and resolutely opposed religion.

Standing on the position of materialistic sensationalism, Diderot considered sensations to be the source of knowledge. But unlike Helvetius, he did not reduce the complex process of cognition to them, but recognized that its second stage is the processing of sensations by the mind. He also believed that “opinions rule the world,” and mistakenly associated the possibility of reorganizing society not with revolution, but with the publication of wise laws and the spread of education, correct upbringing. He outlined his thoughts on education mainly in the work “Systematic Refutation of Helvetius’s Book “On Man.”

Diderot rejected Helvetius's assertion about the omnipotence of education and the absence of individual natural differences among people. He sought to limit the extreme conclusions to which Helvetius came

Recognizing that much can be achieved with the help of education, Diderot noted the importance of his physical organization and his anatomical and physiological characteristics for the formation of a person. He also did not agree with Helvetius's position that thinking can be reduced to the ability to sense. Mental operations depend, according to Diderot, on a certain state and organization of the brain. People have, he said, different natural inclinations and characteristics; The natural organization and physiological characteristics of people predispose their natural inclinations to development, but their manifestation depends entirely on social reasons, including upbringing. Diderot rightly believed that the teacher would be able to achieve great results if he strives to develop the positive inclinations inherent in the child and suppress the bad ones. Diderot's call to take into account the natural characteristics of the child and develop his individuality deserves a positive assessment.

Diderot correctly argued that all people, not just a select few, are endowed with favorable inclinations by nature. Moreover, he said that people from the people are much more likely to be bearers of genius and talents than representatives of the nobility: “The number of huts and other private dwellings is to the number of palaces as ten thousand are to one, and accordingly with this we have ten thousand chances against . one for the fact that genius, talent and virtue are more likely to come out of the walls of a hut than from the walls of a palace.” The vicious social system, according to Diderot, deprives the children of the people of good upbringing and education and is the cause of the death of many hidden talents. The great educator advocated for universal, free primary education “from the first minister to the last peasant,” so that everyone could read, write and count. He proposed to remove schools from the jurisdiction of the church and transfer them to the hands of the state; who should take care of the accessibility of schools, organize financial assistance for children of the poor, free food etc. Protesting against the class organization of education, Diderot wrote that the doors of schools should be “equally open to all children of the people... because it would be as cruel as it is absurd to condemn them to ignorance. people occupying a lower position in society.”

Diderot rebelled against the dominance of classical education in schools and brought real knowledge to the fore; in high school, he believed, all students should study mathematics, physics and natural sciences, as well as humanities subjects.

Paying great attention to the teacher, Diderot demanded that he deeply know the subject he was teaching, be modest, honest and have other high moral qualities. He offered to create good material conditions for the teacher and take care of him in case of illness or disability.

The pedagogical views of the French materialists of the 18th century, inextricably linked with their philosophical concept, reflected the demands of the bourgeoisie in the field of education on the eve of the revolution of 1789. They found their expression in the most advanced projects for the organization of public education, created during the period of the French bourgeois revolution, and were further developed on a different social basis by the utopian socialists.

13. Philosophical and psychological foundations of Herbart’s pedagogy. Herbart attempted to develop a system of pedagogical science based on idealistic philosophy, mainly ethics and psychology. In his worldview, Herbart was a metaphysician. He argued that the world consists of an infinite number of eternal entities - reals that are inaccessible to human knowledge. The idea of ​​people about the changeability of the world, he said, is illusory; being, the essence of being, is unchangeable. Herbart had a negative attitude towards the French bourgeois revolution and the progressive movement that arose under its influence in the advanced strata of German society. He dreamed of a time when revolutions and changes would end and they would be replaced by “stable order and a measured and orderly life.” He sought, through his activities in the field of philosophical sciences (to which he included psychology, ethics and pedagogy), to contribute to the establishment of such a sustainable order of life. Herbart derived his understanding of the essence of education from idealistic philosophy, and the purpose of education from ethics. Herbart developed an extremely metaphysical ethical theory. Public and personal morality rest, according to him, on eternal and unchanging moral ideas. These ideas constitute, according to Herbart, the basis of a non-class, universal morality, which was supposed to strengthen the social relations and moral norms that prevailed in the Prussian monarchy. Herbart's psychological teaching, based on idealistic and metaphysical philosophy, is generally anti-scientific, but some of his statements in the field of psychology are of well-known scientific interest. Following Pestolozzi, who strove to find its elements in any complex phenomenon, Herbart decomposed human mental activity into its component parts and tried to isolate the element that is the simplest, the primary. Herbart considered representation to be the simplest element. He incorrectly argued that all human mental functions: emotion, will, thinking, imagination, etc. are modified ideas. Herbart considered psychology to be the science of ideas, their appearance, combinations, and disappearance. He believed that the human soul initially does not have any properties. The content of human consciousness is determined by the formation and further movement of ideas, which enter into certain relationships according to the laws of association. The concepts of association and apperception introduced by Herbart have been preserved in modern psychology. A mass of ideas seems to be crowded in the human soul, trying to break into the field of consciousness. Those ideas that are related to those existing in the field of consciousness penetrate there, while those that are not supported by them weaken, become invisible and are pushed beyond the threshold of consciousness. The entire mental life of a person depends, according to Herbart, on initial ideas, strengthened by experience, communication, and education. Thus, understanding is determined by the relationship of ideas. A person understands when an object or word evokes a certain range of ideas in his mind. If no ideas arise in response to them, they remain incomprehensible. The relationships between ideas explain all phenomena in the emotional sphere of the psyche, as well as the area of ​​volitional manifestations. Feelings, according to Herbart, are nothing more than delayed ideas. When there is harmony of ideas in the soul, a feeling of pleasantness arises, and if ideas are disharmonious with each other, then a feeling of unpleasantness arises. Desire, like feeling, is again a reflection of the relationship between ideas. Will is a desire, to which is attached the idea of ​​achieving a goal. So, Herbart ignores the uniqueness of the various properties of the human psyche. He wrongfully reduces the complex and diverse, deeply dialectical process of mental activity to mechanical combinations of ideas. By influencing the child’s ideas, he expects to thereby have a corresponding influence on the formation of his consciousness, feelings, and will. From this it followed from Herbart that correctly delivered training has an educational character.

14. t Ak, one of the founders of didactics of primary education, Swiss teacher Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi(1746–1827), who completed two courses at the Carolinum Collegium, was active in educational activities and organized a number of orphanages for children from the poorest environments, where orphans lived and studied. I.G. Pestalozzi was the author of works that reflected his pedagogical ideas: “Lingard and Gertrude” (1781–1787), “How Gertrude teaches her children” (1801), “Letter to a friend about his stay in Stanza” (1799), "Swan Song" (1826). The pedagogical heritage of Pestalozzi was analyzed by A.P. Pinkevich, E.H. Medynsky, V.A. Rotenberg et al.

Developing the idea of ​​the relationship between upbringing, learning and development, the teacher proceeded from the recognition of the decisive role of upbringing in the development of a child’s personality from the moment of his birth. The essence of developmental and educational training was expressed by I.G. Pestalozzi in his theories of “elementary education”, which was intended for the initial stage of education. Elementary education implies an organization of learning in which the simplest elements are highlighted in the objects of cognition and activity, which allows one to constantly move from simple to increasingly complex, bringing children’s knowledge to possible perfection. The teacher identifies the following simple elements of cognitive activity: number (the simplest element of a number is one), shape (the simplest element of a form is a line), names of objects indicated using words (the simplest element of a word is sound).

Purpose of training I.G. Pestalozzi defines it as stimulating children’s minds to active activity, developing their cognitive abilities, developing their ability to think logically and briefly express in words the essence of learned concepts. Thus, the method of “elementary education” is a certain system of exercises to develop the child’s abilities. Pestalozzi developed this technique, guided by the following ideas: 1) a child from birth has inclinations, internal potential forces, which are characterized by a desire for development; 2) the multilateral and varied activities of children in the learning process are the basis for the development and improvement of internal forces and their mental development; 3) the child’s activity in cognitive activity is a necessary condition for the acquisition of knowledge and a more perfect knowledge of the world. Such developmental and educational training should facilitate the transition of children from chaotic and vague impressions to clear concepts.

I.G. Pestalozzi expanded the content of primary education, including information from geography and natural history, drawing, singing, gymnastics, and the beginnings of geometry. The teacher believed that speech should be developed systematically and consistently, starting with sounds and their combinations in syllables, through the development of various speech forms while simultaneously enriching and deepening the child’s ideas about the world around him. Pestalozzi suggested starting learning to count not with memorizing arithmetic rules, but with combinations of individual objects and, on this basis, forming ideas about the properties of numbers. He divided the study of form into teaching children measurement (geometry), drawing and writing.

The idea of ​​developmental education by K.D. Ushinsky called it “Pestalozzi’s great discovery.” The teacher considered the main goal of teaching not the assimilation of knowledge presented by the teacher, but the stimulation of children’s minds to active activity, the development of their cognitive abilities, the ability to think logically and express the essence of acquired concepts. The identification of the developmental function of teaching posed fundamentally new tasks for the teacher: developing clear concepts among students in order to activate their cognitive powers. Interpretation of the idea of ​​developmental education in the works of I.G. Pestalozzi has still not lost its relevance.

Developing the idea of ​​developmental learning and elementary education, the teacher became one of the founders formal education: He viewed the subjects he studied more as a means of developing abilities than as a means of acquiring knowledge. This point of view of Pestalozzi was supported by F.A. Diesterweg and K.D. Ushinsky. The “elementary education” method made it possible to simplify the methodology of primary education and expand its capabilities.

Priority value of I.G. Pestalozzi focused on education; he believed that education should give children from the people good training for work and at the same time develop their physical and spiritual strength, which in the future will help them get rid of want. Education must be natural, that is, built in accordance with the natural course of development of human nature itself, starting from infancy. “The hour of a child’s birth is the first hour of his education,” insisted Pestalozzi. He believed that the overall goal of education is most capable of achieving its moral component. Among the tasks moral education The teacher emphasized the development of high moral qualities in children, the formation of moral consciousness and beliefs in the younger generation, their development through direct participation in good and useful deeds.

Trying to be consistent, I.G. Pestalozzi, speaking about educational training, identifies the initial element of a person’s humanistic feelings. The first sprout of morality, according to the teacher, is the very first and most natural feeling of a person - trust, love for his mother. With the help of education, the circle of objects of children's love should gradually expand (mother - sisters and brothers - teachers - schoolmates - people). Thus, according to Pestalozzi, school education is successful only when it cooperates with family education. Thus, I.G. Pestalozzi was the first to put forward the thesis about the child’s activity in the learning process.

In physical education, the main element is the child’s desire to move. Start physical education, according to I.G. Pestalozzi is laid down in the family when the mother gradually teaches the child to stand, take the first steps and walk. The teacher made joint exercises the basis of “natural home gymnastics,” on the basis of which he proposed building a system of school “elementary gymnastics.”

Pestalozzi considered elementary labor training as an important part of a child’s development and proposed at the initial stage the acquisition of the “ABC of skills”, which contributes to the development of physical strength and mastery of the necessary labor skills.

Pedagogical views and activities of I.G. Pestalozzi influenced the further development of world pedagogical science and gave rise to a whole pedagogical movement - Pestalozziism.

15. German teacher and educator, author of about 400 pedagogical works Friedrich Adolf Wilhelm Diesterweg(1790–1866) studied at the Universities of Heidelberg, Herborn and Tubing, received a Doctor of Philosophy degree, was a classical gymnasium teacher, and director of teachers' gymnasiums. For his enormous contribution to the development of public education and the desire to unify the German teaching profession, he was called “the teacher of German teachers.” According to researchers of the heritage of F.A. Disterweg (V.A. Rotenberg, S.A. Frumov, A.I. Piskunov, etc.), the advantage of his theory lies not in special originality, but in the brilliant interpretation and popularization of the ideas of J.-J. Russo and I.G. Pestalozzi. The main pedagogical work of F.A. Disterweg - “Guide to the Education of German Teachers” (1835), in which the teacher theoretically substantiated and improved the ideas of developmental and educational education. Disterweg persistently advocated for a secular school and non-interference of the church in the educational process, and put forward a demand for a unified people's (national) school.

According to F.A. Disterweg, three principles play a leading role in organizing the educational process: conformity with nature, cultural conformity and initiative. The use of the principle of natural conformity in pedagogy presupposes recognition of the value and expediency of the natural organization of man. Disterweg emphasized that only by knowing psychology and physiology can a teacher ensure the harmonious development of children, saw in psychology “the basis of the science of education,” believed that a person has innate inclinations, which are characterized by a desire for development, and included in the tasks of education ensuring this independent development . The teacher examined education as a historical phenomenon and concluded that the state of the culture of the people of each period of time also affects the development of the personality of the students. Thus, the principle of cultural conformity means that in education it is necessary to take into account the conditions of the place and time in which a person was born and where he will live, because pedagogy is part of human culture. F.A.’s requirement for cultural conformity Disterweg means the need to take into account the historically achieved level of culture and the educational ideal of society in the content of education.

The teacher included the principle of children's initiative in the development process among the general educational principles. With the name F.A. Disterweg is associated with the creation of the foundations of developmental education. According to the teacher, only such training can be considered good, which stimulates a person’s inclinations and initiative, develops him mentally, morally, physically. Compliance with this principle ensures the developmental nature of learning. Disterweg understood self-activity as activity, initiative and considered it the most important personality trait. He saw in the development of children's amateur performances both the ultimate goal and an indispensable condition of any education, and determined the value of individual educational subjects based on the extent to which they stimulate the mental activity of students. The teacher believed that successful learning is educational in nature.

F. Disterweg developed rules covering all aspects of the learning process at school, drew attention to the decisive role of the teacher in the implementation of the developmental tasks of education, called on the teacher to fight for a high culture of student speech and constantly engage in self-education, get rid of routine teaching techniques, work creatively, and never give up independence of thinking.

16. Development of pedagogical thought and education in the 1740s–1760s. associated with the name Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov(1711–1765) – encyclopedist scientist, artist, poet. While working at the Academy of Sciences, university and gymnasium, he was engaged in active teaching activities, was a supporter of the class-based teaching system, gave lectures, and created teaching aids. The scientist insisted on the need for widespread public education in Russia. His pedagogical views were based on the theories of Ya.A. Comenius, D. Locke, J.-J. Rousseau, in particular, on this basis he formulated the principles of teaching, developed the basic teaching methods in higher education, identified and justified some scientific categories of pedagogy and psychology. The main goal of the harmonious development of the personality of M.V. Lomonosov considered the education of “sons of the Fatherland” to be based on taking into account the psychological characteristics of the child. The scientist believed that the soul of a child consists of a “lower” - sensual, egoistic and a “higher” - spiritual, patriotic component, from here he derived the goal of enlightenment, which was the scientific education of a person, which should lead the child to an understanding of the primacy of public benefit over personal interests. Lomonosov advocated the creation of a national education system, against the dominance of foreign teachers.

The third period in the development of domestic education was associated with the policy of Catherine II in the field of reforming educational institutions and developing educational ideas. The first stage of Catherine’s reforms in the field of education lasted from 1766 to 1782, when the idea of ​​​​creating a comprehensive school for the general population with a pedagogical, rather than a professional or class, purpose of education finally took shape. In 1779, the first Teachers' Seminary was opened at Moscow University. Later, in 1786, a teacher’s seminary was created in her image in St. Petersburg, which became the first higher educational pedagogical institution in Russia and prepared teachers for work in various educational institutions. In teachers' seminaries they studied the basics of science and teaching methods.

During the reign of Catherine II, new types of educational institutions appeared. In 1763, on the initiative of I.I. Betsky opened an educational home in Moscow, and later similar homes began to be created throughout Russia. These institutions educated children from 5 to 20 years old. It was assumed that a special educational environment would be created there to protect the child from the negative influences of society. In 1764–1765 educational institutions for boys were opened at the Academy of Arts and the Academy of Sciences, in 1864 - an advanced educational institution for the education of women - the Institute of Noble Maidens in St. Petersburg at the Smolny Monastery, in 1772 - a Commercial School for training specialists in the field of trade and industry. Common to all these educational institutions were the prohibition of corporal punishment, intimidation of children, an individual approach to the assessment of each student, and a focus on the development of the student’s personality. Catherine II herself paid attention to issues of training and education, studied the treatise of J.-J. Rousseau’s “Emile, or On Education,” having adopted the idea of ​​raising a child in isolation from society, was the author of the pedagogical works “Selected Russian Proverbs” and “Continuation of Primary Teaching.” Thus, in the 1760-1780s. In Russia, objective prerequisites have emerged for the creation of a uniform, harmonious state education system based on universal education.

17. In 1813, Owen published his work “A New View of Society, or Experiments on the Formation of Human Character,” in which he argues that a person’s character is determined by environmental conditions independent of his will. The vices and shortcomings of people, their misdeeds are determined by the environment in which they live. Man, he said, has never created his own character and cannot create it. Owen believed that if you change the conditions of your environment and upbringing, you can form any character. The new organization of society will thus be achieved through the education and enlightenment of the people. New people will appear who will peacefully establish socialist relations.

The classics of Marxism highly appreciated Owen's ideas about comprehensive development person. In his experience of combining education with productive labor on an industrial basis, they saw “the embryo of the education of the future.”

Robert Owen was the first to substantiate and implement the idea of ​​public education of children from the first years of their lives and created the world's first preschool institution for children of the proletariat. Its educational institutions provided mental and physical education, and children were brought up in the spirit of collectivism. Many leading figures spoke very positively about these institutions, in particular the Russian revolutionary democrats A. I. Herzen and N. A. Dobrolyubov. Owen not only expelled religion from his educational institutions, but also fought against religious views that, in his opinion, hindered the true enlightenment of the people. The educational institutions he created for adult workers were also of great importance. Owen consistently and sharply criticized the capitalist system and education in bourgeois society.

However, he did not understand the role of the class struggle of the proletariat in the transformation of society, did not realize that achieving a communist system and carrying out rational education is possible only as a result of the proletarian revolution. At the same time, Owen and other utopian socialists put forward a number of remarkable ideas, including in the field of education, which were critically used by K. Marx and F. Engels in creating a truly scientific system of communist education.

18. The pedagogical thought of the Renaissance is most clearly represented by the works of Italian, German and French humanist scientists. Undoubtedly, their works bear the imprint of national identity. Thus, the works of Italian teachers are characterized by a pronounced humanistic tendency; the value of education and upbringing is assessed in their orientation towards universal ideals. Democratic tendencies are strongly manifested in the writings of German humanists; ideas about universal education and the need to organize a mass public school merge with the idea of ​​national education. French aristocratic humanism is filled with pedagogical ideas of the future: the need for free and individual education, the development of women's education, the importance of including physical labor in the education system.

French humanism of the Renaissance is represented by the name Francois Rabelais(1494–1553). A writer, a humanist, a bright and extraordinary personality, he was born into a family of a lawyer, received an excellent education in a monastery, led the life of a wandering scientist, studied ancient languages, archeology, law, natural sciences, medicine, received a doctorate in medicine, and in the last years of his life was a priest . A very accurate description of the contradictory character of F. Rabelais, which determined the originality of his pedagogical views, was given by E.N. Medynsky: “A man who all his life was afraid that he would be burned at the stake, and at the same time openly mocked religion. A man who rebels against the church and twice begs Pope Paul III for remission of his sins and apostasy; first a monk, then a sworn enemy of monasticism and a white priest, then a doctor, a grand old man of the Renaissance, finally a priest again; an encyclopedist by training - philologist, physician, archaeologist, lawyer and natural scientist; an author whose books were sometimes published under the patronage of the king, sometimes banned by parliament, but had enormous success among the bourgeoisie of that time; a writer whose first books contain a passionate thirst for a healthy life, unbridled joy and hope for improvement social life with the help of royal power, and in the last parts of his novel there is deep disappointment; a writer with deep ideas and, in particular, with the best pages of world pedagogy; the greatest teacher, proclaiming the bottle to be the god of the whole world and the inspirer of all culture; now moving in the royal circle, now forced to flee France - such is always the restless Rabelais, full of hobbies, extreme exaggerations, doubts and contradictions.”

F. Rabelais expressed his pedagogical ideas in his novel “Gargantua and Pantagruel”, in which he sharply condemned the medieval school for its formal and purely verbal nature, for scholastic teaching methods and contrasted it with the program of educating a “free and well-behaved person” of the Renaissance. The pedagogical theory of F. Rabelais was based on his conviction that man by nature, regardless of origin, is predisposed to goodness, therefore humanistic values ​​can be reflected in education and passed on from generation to generation. F. Rabelais expressed his ideals of new education and training when describing the education of the hero of the novel: the whole day is divided into a system of activities, alternating with games and physical exercises. The leading place in the curriculum is given to ancient and modern languages, which open the way to understanding the works of ancient authors and scientific analysis of biblical texts. Therefore, in the novel, Gargantua studies Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew, “ignorance of which is unforgivable for anyone who wants to be considered an educated person.” An important place in education is given to the natural scientific knowledge of man and nature based on the “seven liberal arts”. F. Rabelais was a supporter of visual teaching methods, therefore the main way of acquiring knowledge is a young person’s direct observations of the world around him.

F. Rabelais developed the idea of ​​individual education, since learning carried out through individual lessons between a teacher and a student makes it possible to solve the problem of combining education and moral education. Rabelais attached particular importance to physical education, in which he demanded a combination of physical exercise with vigorous activity and mastering crafts. His hero “threw a spear, a dart, a beam, a stone, a spear, a halberd, pulled huge crossbows with the strength of his muscles, aimed a musket at the eye, pointed a cannon, and shot at a target. He swam in deep water face down, supine, on his side, with his whole body, sticking out his arm, he climbed like a cat in trees; hunted, jumped, fenced.” The teacher put forward the requirement of alternating study and rest, physical and mental activities. Later, the global ideas of F. Rabelais were developed in the theories of M. Montaigne, Ya.A. Comenius, D. Locke, J.-J. Russo, I.G. Pestalozzi et al.

Lawyer, author of the famous work “Experiments”, which reflected advanced humanistic views on the upbringing and education of children, Michel Montaigne(1553–1592) considered the child, his natural characteristics, inclinations, and abilities that make up his individuality, as the main guideline in the activities of the educator. Criticizing the school of his time, which retained many of the features of scholastic education, Montaigne demands that the organization of education be oriented towards the physical characteristics of children and, above all, not undermine their health. Proclaiming experience as the basis of all knowledge, the teacher in the teaching methodology suggests first introducing children to specific objects and only then with words denoting these objects, which, according to M. Montaigne, should form an interest in learning based on an understanding of knowledge. Subsequently, this logic of knowledge presentation will be considered in the theory of Ya.A. Comenius.

M. Montaigne paid a lot of attention to the development of children's independence, putting forward an imperative demand: “I don’t want one teacher to always work and speak in the classroom. Let the students work, observe, talk.” The teacher must develop the mental abilities and independent thinking skills of students, and not “pour knowledge like water into a funnel.” The thinker opposed corporal punishment, widespread in school, contrasting violence with the ideal of free and joyful learning, in moral education he proposed combining gentleness with severity, but not severity, insisted on the harmonious development of the child’s spiritual and physical strength, and expressed thoughts about the need to study the native language.

19. The largest figure in modern pedagogy was the Czech teacher and philosopher Jan Amos Comenius(1592–1670), who developed many pedagogical problems, created the first scientific theory in the history of pedagogy - didactics, subordinated to the idea of ​​​​the comprehensive development of the individual. Ya.A. Comenius was born in the Czech Republic into the family of a priest of a community of Czech brothers, received his primary education at a fraternal school, then studied at a Latin school, graduated from the Herborn Academy and the University of Heidelberg. All his life he was engaged in educational activities, creating a number of pedagogical works and textbooks for school.

The main work of his life is “The General Council for the Correction of Human Affairs,” in which, as in his other works, the main idea is pansophia - universal wisdom, which means “knowledge of all things” that actually exist in the world. According to the teacher, the possibility of improving social life and ridding society of injustice lies in improving the system of upbringing and education of people, since this will allow each person and, as a result, the whole world to improve. In this regard, the teacher throughout his life tried to create a program of universal education and a comprehensive method of personality formation, based on the continuous process of improving everyone and everything through creative work. In the 20th century this postulate of Ya.A. Comenius was developed in the theory and practice of lifelong education.

The idea of ​​universality of education in the theory of Ya.A. Comenius has not only a philosophical, but also a practical orientation; its implementation is developed in detail in the “Great Didactics” and “Rules of a Well-Organized School”. In these works, the teacher outlined the universal theory of “teaching everything to everyone,” based on the principle of conformity with nature. Man, as a part of nature, is subject to its universal laws; accordingly, education should be determined by the natural nature of things and allow one to learn quickly, easily and firmly. Based on this, human education should begin in early age and continue throughout adolescence. To implement this idea, Ya.A. Comenius, for the first time in the history of pedagogy, developed a scientifically based integral system of schools in accordance with age periodization and outlined the content of training at each level of education. The teacher advocated universal education and believed that in any well-ordered society there should be schools for educating children of both sexes.

The first step in the project was Ya.A. Comenius was a maternal school (from birth to 6 years). At the stage preschool education When a child learns information about natural phenomena, people’s lives, and receives basic knowledge of geography and astronomy, the teacher called labor and moral education the main directions of education. At the stage of primary education (from 6 to 12 years old), there is a school of the native language, in which children in their native language are introduced to a fairly wide range of knowledge that goes beyond the traditional framework of modern education for teachers. Ya.A. Comenius proposed to include in the program of this school the native language, arithmetic, the beginnings of geometry, geography, “the beginnings of cosmography,” the beginnings of socio-political knowledge, crafts, psalms, catechism, and other sacred texts. The mother tongue school was intended to educate all children together. Secondary school in the Y.A. system Comenius is a gymnasium, or Latin school (from 12 to 18 years old), which should be opened in every city for the education of young men who have achieved academic success. In the gymnasium program, the teacher included the “seven liberal arts,” physics, geography, history, the beginnings of medical knowledge, etc. The highest level of education (from 18 to 24 years old) is represented in the teacher’s system by an academy, which should be opened in each state. The structure of the academy included traditional university faculties, and the purpose of its creation was the communication of pansophical knowledge.

In the organization of training Ya.A. Comenius initially gave preference to the subject principle and was the author of a number of textbooks on physics, geometry, geodesy, geography, astronomy, and history. Subsequently, he came to the conviction that a person should receive system knowledge about the world, and created a textbook of a new type - “The Open Door of Languages ​​and All Sciences”, in which the phenomena of the surrounding world were given in their integrity and unity from the standpoint of various sciences. The learning process must be based on clear principles.

1. Ya.A. Comenius promoted visual learning, which was reflected in the “golden rule” of didactics: “Everything that is possible should be made available for perception by sight, what is audible by hearing, smells by smell, what is tasted by taste, accessible by touch by touch. If any objects can be perceived at once by several senses, let them be grasped by several senses at once.”

3. Learning should cause children to enjoy mastering the educational material. The teacher demanded that educational material be arranged “according to age levels, so that only that which is accessible to the ability of perception is offered for study.” In this regard, the clarity of teaching acquired particular importance, consisting in a clear explanation of all provisions without going into much detail, but in a clearly visible logic.

4. The strength of knowledge is based on the independence and activity of students in the learning process. “In my students, I always develop independence in observation, speech, practice and application, as the only basis for achieving solid knowledge,” stated Ya.A. Comenius.

Selected by Ya.A. Comenius' principles served as the core of a new universal class lesson a teaching system that the teacher theoretically substantiated and proposed rules for its implementation in practice. To this day, the classroom-lesson system remains the basis schooling, which can be considered the indisputable merit of Comenius. The key concepts of this system are: a) Class, which presupposes a constant number of students of approximately the same age and level of knowledge, who, under the general guidance of the teacher, strive for one educational goal common to all; b) lesson, which presupposes a clear correlation of all types academic work with a specific time period ( academic year, quarter, vacation, school week, school day - from 4 to 6 lessons, lesson, break). An important link in the developed by Ya.A. The process of consolidating and repeating knowledge becomes the Comenian system, for which the teacher suggested using regular homework and exams.

Issues of education and training Ya.A. Comenius considered it in inextricable unity, giving priority to the learning process. The teacher paid attention to the study of the main categories of education - goals, content and methods. According to the principle of conformity with nature, education should be based on an analysis of the laws of human spiritual life and coordination with them all pedagogical influences. The purpose of education, according to Comenius, is to prepare a person for eternal life. He saw the path to eternal bliss in knowledge of the external world, in the ability to master things and oneself, in raising oneself to the source of all things - God. Thus, Comenius’ system identified the components of education - scientific education, moral and religious education. The teacher saw the purpose of education not only in the acquisition of knowledge, but also in a system of moral qualities, of which he considered justice, courage and moderation to be the most important. In the process of raising Ya.A. Komensky assigned a decisive role to the personal example of the teacher, and at school he attached great importance to discipline.

20. French philosopher-educator, writer Jean-Jacques Rousseau(1712–1778) believed it was necessary to change the social order, based on unjust inequality, through education and proper education, which is the support of any form of government and is therefore valuable to society; The well-being of the state and each person depends on properly organized education. He outlined his theory of “free natural education” in the treatise “Emil, or On Education” (1762).

Rejecting the traditional education system, J.-J. Rousseau believed that education will contribute to the development of the child only if it acquires a natural, nature-conforming character, if it is associated with the natural development of the individual. Education is given to a person by nature as the internal development of human abilities and organs, education from people is learning how to use this development, education from things is a person’s acquisition of his own experience regarding the objects that give him education. All these factors, according to the teacher, should act in concert. A child is born sensually receptive, receives impressions through the senses; as he grows, his receptivity increases, and his knowledge of the environment expands under the influence of adults. This approach of J.-J. Rousseau was fundamentally new for the pedagogy of that time, since the traditional school rejected both individual and age differences.

For Rousseau, education is the art of developing genuine human freedom. The teacher's desire for nature is manifested in the rejection of artificiality and the attractiveness of everything natural, simple, and immediate. In the pedagogical system of J.-J. Rousseau places the child at the center of the pedagogical process. However, the educator must accompany the child in all his experiences, guide his formation, but never impose his will on him. In teaching, it is important not to adapt knowledge to the student’s level, but to correlate it with his interests and experience. It is important to organize the transfer of knowledge in such a way that the child himself takes on the task of acquiring it. The teacher believed that different systems of education are necessary for boys and girls: nature assigns an active, leading role to men in the life of society, therefore Rousseau attaches greater importance to their education; women should be raised differently, because they have a different purpose in society, endowed with opposite properties and inclinations. The teacher argued that “a woman’s natural state is dependence,” therefore a girl must be raised for a man, able to adapt to her husband’s opinions and judgments, and accept his religion.

In the interpretation of training and education by J.-J. Rousseau argues that they are inseparable, since they are connected by a single goal: to teach a child life, to raise a person who is independent, sensible, friendly to people, who feels confident in any situation. The upbringing of a child should not take place in a school, which, being part of a corrupt society, is not capable of forming a natural person, but in the lap of nature, in a country house under the guidance of an enlightened mentor and teacher. In the very general view The requirements for the personality of the teacher were reduced to broad knowledge of the sciences and crafts, knowledge of the laws of “human nature” and the individual characteristics of the pupil, and possession of the secrets of the art of teaching.

J.-J. Rousseau proposes an organization of the educational process that is based on the age periodization he derived, where tasks and means of education were provided for each age period. At an early age (from birth to 2 years), the main goal of education should be physical development, which goes along with the development of the senses and speech. From a very early age, it is necessary to give the child freedom to move; it is unacceptable to speed up the process of mastering speech.

The teacher calls the age from 2 to 12 years the period of “sleep of the mind” and considers the main goal of education to be “the development of external senses.” J.-J. Rousseau expressed the belief that during this period of his development, the child already recognizes himself as an individual, is relatively independent, but is not able to reason, therefore, instructions should be abandoned in upbringing. During this period, it is necessary to continue the physical education of the child; intellectual development is not yet available to him, but he can still gain knowledge on his own, through observations of living nature and his own experience. The mentor is obliged not to teach science, but to skillfully and thoughtfully create situations that, awakening in the child a desire to acquire certain knowledge, would force him to discover it on his own. It is necessary to gradually initiate him into the relationship between a person and the outside world, and one should not give the child books other than “Robinson Crusoe,” which brilliantly describes an example of “natural education.” It is especially important to instill in him that to be free means to give in to necessity.

At 12–15 years old, according to J.-J. Rousseau, a person enters the most favorable time of life, most suitable for full intellectual and labor education. The organization of mental education is based on natural curiosity. Rousseau proposed a research way of acquiring knowledge, which is possible when the subject or phenomenon being studied is interesting to the child. The teacher abandoned the subject structure of teaching and proceeded from the cognitive interests of the student, teaching him the ability to independently apply knowledge in life. At first, a child’s curiosity is aroused by things and phenomena that directly surround him, so first of all it is necessary to introduce him to geography and astronomy. Special meaning The teacher emphasized work, which not only cultivates virtue, but also allows one to maintain an independent position in society. IN labor education the child learns to respect the common man and begins to appreciate the results of his labor. The child must invent and create the tools necessary for the craft on his own, then he will be not just a craftsman, but a researcher, a thinker.

From 15 to 22 years old, the “period of storms and passions” begins, at this age J.-J. Rousseau assumes the moral education of a young man in society. According to the teacher, such qualities as a sense of duty, citizenship, patriotism, and compassion for people should be cultivated. Having returned to society, the young man remains internally free, since in previous periods he developed independence from social prejudices and misconceptions. The ways of moral education are communication with good people and the study of history, which contains enough examples of noble, moral, patriotic behavior. By the age of 22–24, natural education should be completed, a person begins an independent life, he should get married, focusing on the advice of a mentor in choosing a bride.

Views of J.-J. Rousseau had a great influence on the development of the theory and practice of education in the 18th–19th centuries. and continue to remain relevant to this day.

French materialists of the 18th century. - La Mettrie, Helvetius, Diderot, Holbach - bring their ideas to wide circles of urban society. They do not directly appeal to the rulers of contemporary Europe (although they do not miss the opportunity to interest them in their views) and not only to readers from the nobility, but also to the mass of readers from the bourgeois class. French materialists relied on the widespread development of free thought in England. Behind the bright figures of La Mettrie, Helvetius, Diderot, Holbach, there are no less bright and significant in their ideological influence figures of the English enlighteners Toland, Tyndall, Shaftesbury. Another important source of materialist ideas was for them the mechanistic materialism of Descartes' physics, as well as Spinoza's materialist teaching about nature, substance and its attributes, about man, about the soul and its relationship to the body.
French materialism of the 18th century. not only continued the materialist traditions generated by the socio-historical development of England, France and the Netherlands, he developed these traditions further and put forward new ideas. For the great materialists of the 17th century. The main scientific support of materialist thought was mechanics and astronomy. For French materialists, along with mechanics, medicine, physiology and biology also become such support. The discoveries and ideas of Newton, Euler, Laplace, Lavoisier, Buffon and other outstanding scientists form the natural science basis for the philosophical generalizations of the French materialists of the 18th century.

The philosophy of French materialism is composed of the materialist doctrine of nature and the doctrine of man and society.
The founder of French materialism of the 18th century. Julien-Aufret La Mettrie (1709-1751) expressed in general form almost all the ideas that were subsequently developed, enriched, and specified by Helvetius, Diderot, Holbach and some naturalists - Buffon, Maupertuis and others.
La Mettrie argued that not only every form is inseparable from matter, but also all matter is associated with movement. Deprived of the ability to move, inert matter is only an abstraction. Substance is ultimately reduced to matter, in the nature of which is rooted not only the capacity for movement, but also the universal potential capacity for sensitivity or sensation. Contrary to the teachings of Descartes, La Mettrie not only sought to prove the animation of animals, but at the same time pointed out the material nature of animation itself - animals and humans. Although for us, La Mettrie argued, the mechanism by which matter is endowed with the property of sensation is currently still unclear, there is no doubt that all our sensations are caused by the connection of feeling - through the nerves - with the material substance of the brain. Therefore, no sensation and no change in an existing sensation can arise without a specific change in the corresponding organ of sensory perception.
La Mettrie only outlined a number of basic ideas, but did not give them a detailed systematic development. The most systematic propagandist of the philosophical teachings of French materialism was Paul Holbach (1723-1789). The fruit of the mutual exchange of thoughts with friends was Holbach’s “System of Nature” (1770), in the writing of which, in addition to Holbach, Diderot, Nezhon and others took part. “System of Nature” is the largest of Holbach’s works devoted to the theory of materialism.
The main idea of ​​the treatise is the idea of ​​the reducibility of all natural phenomena to various forms movements of material particles, “forming in their totality the eternal uncreated nature. All theological and idealistic prejudices about the nature of the forces operating in nature and their causes are consistently refuted.
The basis of all natural processes is matter with its inherent property of movement. In the “System of Nature,” two types of movement are distinguished: 1) the movement of material masses, thanks to which bodies move from one place to another; 2) internal and hidden movement, depending on the energy inherent in the body, that is, on the combination of action and reaction of the invisible molecules of matter of which this body consists. Referring to Toland, Holbach proves the universality of movement in nature. Everything in the Universe is in motion. The essence of nature is to act; if we carefully examine its parts, we will see that there is not a single one of them that is at absolute rest. Those that seem to us to be devoid of movement are actually in relative rest. In contrast to Descartes, who taught that motion was imparted to matter by God, Holbach argues that nature receives its motion from itself, for nature is a great whole, outside of which nothing can exist. Matter is always moving, there is movement necessary method its existence and the source of its initial properties such as extension, weight, impenetrability, figure, etc.
The materialistic understanding of nature is incompatible with the assumption of any supernatural causes. According to Holbach, there can only be natural causes and actions in nature. All movements arising in it follow constant and necessary laws. We can at least judge by analogy about those laws of phenomena that elude our observation. The laws of causality are as universal as the property of motion in nature. Therefore, if we know the general laws of motion of things or beings, decomposition or analysis will be enough for us to discover the movements that entered into combination with each other, and experience will show the consequences that we can expect from them. The strictest necessity reigns over all connections of causes and actions in nature: nature in all its phenomena acts necessarily, in accordance with its inherent essence. Thanks to movement, the whole comes into contact with its parts, and the latter with the whole. The universe is just an immense chain of causes and effects, continuously flowing from each other. Material processes exclude any kind of randomness or expediency. Holbach extends the proposition of necessity to human behavior and to the emergence of all his sensations and ideas. This teaching is undoubtedly mechanistic materialism. This teaching reduces human behavior in society and his actions to mechanical necessity. French materialism does not suspect the existence of a special pattern and necessity generated by the emergence of society.
Since everything in nature is necessary and since nothing that is in it can act otherwise than it acts, then from this Holbach derives the denial of chance. In a whirlwind of dust raised by a stormy wind, no matter how chaotic it may seem to us, there is not a single molecule of dust that is located randomly; Each molecule has a specific reason why it occupies exactly the place where it is located at each moment. From the theory of universal determinism, Holbach also derives the denial of order and disorder in nature. The ideas of order and disorder are subjective and represent only our assessment of a necessary and objective situation.
The doctrine of nature, set forth in Holbach’s “System of Nature,” was further developed in the works of the most outstanding representative of French materialism, Penny Diderot (1713-1784). Diderot went from ethical idealism and deism to materialism in the doctrine of being, in psychology, in the theory of knowledge, and also to atheism in matters of religion. Diderot's philosophical writings of the 40s and 50s clearly reflect this evolution. In the later written “Ramo's Nephew”, “D'Alembert's Conversation with Diderot” and “D'Alembert's Dream”, the exposition of the theory of materialism reaches the highest inspiration, the charm of literary form, ingenuity and wit in argumentation. Simultaneously with these philosophical works, Diderot wrote a lot on issues of art, aesthetics and art criticism. In the “Salons” he published, in correspondence with the sculptor Falconet, in “The Paradox of the Actor,” he developed a new aesthetics of realism, contrasting it with the theories of the epigones of classicism and the naturalistic understanding of truth. Diderot sought to implement the theoretical principles of aesthetics in his works of art - in novels and dramas.
Like other representatives of French materialism, Diderot proceeds from the position of the eternity and infinity of nature. Nature was not created by anyone; besides it and outside of it there is nothing.
Diderot introduced some features and ideas of dialectics into the materialist doctrine of nature. Through his views on organic nature, the thought of development, of the connection between processes occurring in nature, breaks through. In a number of issues, Diderot's teaching breaks through the narrow framework of mechanistic metaphysics. According to Diderot, everything changes, disappears, only the whole remains. The world is constantly being born and dying, every moment it is in a state of birth and death; There has never been and never will be another world. Certain features of Diderot's dialectics were highly appreciated by Engels.
Diderot's particular attention was attracted to the problem of the materialistic interpretation of sensations. How can the mechanical movement of material particles give rise to a specific content of sensations? There can be two answers to this question: either sensation appears at a certain stage in the development of matter as something qualitatively new, or an ability similar to the ability of sensation should be recognized as a property of all matter, regardless of the form of the material body and the degree of its organization. According to the latter view, organization determines only the type of animation, but not the quality of animation itself, which belongs to matter as such.
Diderot was a supporter of the idea of ​​the universal sensitivity of matter. As stated above, La Mettrie was already inclined towards this view. Later, the inconsistent materialist Robinet (1735-1820), author of the treatise “On Nature,” also defended the doctrine of the universal sensitivity of nature and organic embryos as its material primary elements.
Diderot not only developed a clear formulation of this doctrine, but, in addition, refuted the arguments usually put forward against it. In “D'Alembert's Conversation with Diderot,” he argued that the recognition that the difference between the psyche of man and animals is due to differences in their bodily organization does not contradict the idea that the ability to sense is a universal property of matter.
Developing this view, Diderot outlined a materialist theory mental functions, which in many ways anticipated the newest teaching on reflexes. According to this theory, in the ways of communication between animals and people there is nothing except actions and sounds. An animal is an instrument with the ability to sense. People are also instruments, gifted with the ability to sense and memory. Our feelings are “keys” that are hit by the nature around us and which often hit ourselves. At one time, Descartes drew the conclusion from similar ideas that animals are simple machines . According to Diderot, something else follows from them. Man, like animals, contains something automatic in his organization, and the automatism of organic forms is not only not devoid of animation, but presupposes the possibility of sensation as a universal property of matter. From inert matter, organized in a certain way, under the influence of other matter, as well as heat and movement, the ability of sensation, life, memory, consciousness, emotion, thinking arises. This teaching is incompatible with the ideas of idealists about the spontaneity of thinking. According to Diderot, we are not the ones who draw conclusions: they are all derived by nature, we only register related phenomena known to us from experience, between which there is a necessary or conditioned connection. Recognition of the existence of the external world independent of consciousness, as well as recognition of the ability of sensations to reflect the properties of external things, does not mean, however, that sensations are mirror-exact copies of objects. Already Fr. Bacon found that the human mind is not like a smooth mirror, but like a rough mirror, in which things are reflected in an inaccurate way. According to Diderot, there is no more similarity between most sensations and their causes than between these same ideas and their names. Together with Locke and with all the mechanistic materialism of the 17th-18th centuries. Diderot distinguishes between “primary” qualities in things, that is, existing in the things themselves and independent of the attitude of our consciousness towards them, and “secondary” qualities, consisting in the relationship of an object to other things or to itself. The latter qualities are called sensual. As Diderot explained, sensory qualities are unlike the ideas that are created about them. However, unlike Locke, Diderot emphasizes the objective nature of “secondary” qualities, i.e., the fact that they exist independently of the consciousness of the perceiving subject. Based on the materialist doctrine of nature, French materialism put forward the doctrine of the dependence of all forms of knowledge on experience, on sensations, which are transformed at a higher stage of development into forms of thinking and inference. Knowledge that is experienced in its source has the goal not of abstract comprehension of the truth, but of achieving the ability to improve and increase human power. French materialists adopted this view from Fr. Bacon. Diderot developed this view, taking into account the role of technology and industry in the evolution of thought and knowledge. The condition for the emergence of any knowledge is the excitement of the soul, sensation from the outside. The work of memory, which preserves acquired knowledge, comes down to material organic processes.
Diderot and other French materialists recognized experiment and observation as methods of knowledge. Fighting against the idealism of Leibniz, the dualism of Descartes and theology, French materialists, starting with La Mettrie, argued that the cognitive value of reason is not diminished by the fact that it relies on the data of external senses, experience and observation. It is on this basis that knowledge can achieve, if not complete reliability, then at least a high degree of probability.
The conditioning of cognition by the mechanism of sensations and physical causes does not reduce the importance of language in the development of intelligence. In language, La Mettrie sees a system of signs invented by individuals and communicated to people through mechanical training. In the process of understanding someone else's speech, French materialism sees a reflex of the brain excited by words, similar to how a violin string responds to a strike on a piano key.
With the establishment of signs associated with various things, the brain begins to compare these signs with each other and consider the relationships between them. The brain does this with the same necessity with which, for example, the eye sees objects, when their influence is transmitted along the nerve from the periphery of the visual apparatus to the brain. All ideas of the human mind are conditioned by the presence of words and signs. In turn, everything that happens in the soul comes down to the activity of the imagination. Various types mental talent is only various ways using the power of imagination.
In their doctrine of society, French materialists still remain, like all pre-Marxist philosophers, idealists. However, they oppose the idealistic-theological understanding of human history, arguing that the driving force of human history is the human mind, the progress of enlightenment. In the doctrine of human nature, education, society and the state, French materialists defend determinism, that is, the doctrine of the causality of all human actions. Although man is a product of external forces and physical conditions, he still cannot be exempt from responsibility for everything he does to society. Since imputing an offense to a person only means attributing the commission of this offense to a certain person, the necessity of the actions performed by a person does not in any way exclude the legality of punishment. Society punishes crimes because the latter are harmful to society, and they do not cease to be harmful because they are committed by virtue of necessary laws. Further, punishment itself is the strongest means of preventing future crimes.
The doctrine of morality, according to French materialists, should be based on experience. Like all sentient beings, man is driven solely by the desire for pleasure and an aversion to pain. A person is able to compare various pleasures and choose the greatest of them, as well as set goals for himself and find means. Therefore, rules and concepts about actions that underlie morality are possible for him.
Physical pleasures are the most powerful, but they are fickle and, in excess, cause harm. Therefore, preferences deserve mental pleasure - more durable, lasting and more dependent on the person himself. Strictly speaking, the starting point of wisdom should not be pleasure, but a knowledge of human nature guided by reason.
Since people cannot live alone, they form a society, and from their union new relationships and new responsibilities arise. Feeling the need for the help of others, a person is forced, in turn, to do something useful for others. This is how a general interest is formed, on which the private interest depends. According to the teachings of Holbach and Helvetius, correctly understood personal interest necessarily leads to morality.
Claude-Adrian Helvetius (1715-1771) saw the main task of ethics in determining the conditions under which personal interest as a necessary stimulus for human behavior can be combined with public interest. Helvetia devoted his treatise “On the Mind” to the substantiation of this idea. According to Helvetius, not only is the individual part of a broader whole, but also the society to which he belongs is a link in a larger community or a single society of peoples, bound by moral ties. This view of society should become, according to the French materialists, the motivating reason for the complete transformation of all social life. Existing condition The Holbach and Helvetian societies are considered far from ideal. They did not see this ideal in the “state of nature,” because nature made an isolated existence impossible for man and pointed out to him the reciprocity of benefits as the basis of a rational community. Without mutual benefit, no happiness is possible for a person. By virtue of the social contract, we must do for others what we want them to do for us. At the same time, the obligations arising from the social contract are valid for every person, regardless of what part of society he belongs to. From here, French materialists, for example Holbach, derived precepts of philanthropy, compassion, etc., common to all people.
According to French materialists, there is no such form of government that would fully satisfy the requirements of reason: excessive power leads to despotism; excessive freedom leads to self-will, that is, to an order in which everyone will be a despot; concentrated power becomes dangerous, divided power becomes weak. French materialists see the means of getting rid of the shortcomings of existing methods of government not in revolution, but in enlightening society. Education guided by a wise government is the most reliable means of giving people the feelings, talents, thoughts, and virtues necessary for the prosperity of society. At the same time, individual representatives of French materialism assess the role of education differently. Holbach considers the purpose of education to be the remaking of the original, original personality make-up. Helvetius sees in man a being from whom, thanks to upbringing, one can make anything he wants. The natural givenness of temperament does not prevent the possibility of changing it in any direction. The process of raising a person has a decisive influence on his physical, mental and moral abilities.
In the worldview of French materialists, an important place was occupied by proof of the independence of ethics from religion and proof of the possibility of a highly moral society consisting of atheists. This teaching, as well as the proof of the inconsistency of all beliefs and dogmas of religion, especially shocked contemporaries. Not only Voltaire, who considered direct attacks on the very principle of religious beliefs dangerous for a society of property owners, but even people like D'Alembert, Diderot's colleague in the Encyclopedia, condemned Holbach's atheism and ethics as a teaching, although sublime, but not supported by philosophical principles.

Pedagogical ideas of French enlighteners of the 18th century. (Voltaire, K.A. Helvetius, D. Diderot)

Denis Diderot is one of the most prominent French materialists of the 18th century. Like all representatives of this trend, Diderot was a materialist from below (in the explanation of nature) and an idealist from above (in the interpretation of social phenomena). He recognized the materiality of the world, considered movement inseparable from matter, the world knowable, and resolutely opposed religion.

Standing on the position of materialistic sensationalism, Diderot considered sensations to be the source of knowledge. But unlike Helvetius, he did not reduce the complex to them. process of cognition, but recognized that its second stage is the processing of sensations by the mind. He also believed that “opinions rule the world,” and mistakenly associated the possibility of reorganizing society not with revolution, but with the publication of wise laws and the spread of education, correct upbringing. He outlined his thoughts on education mainly in the work “Systematic Refutation of Helvetius’s Book “On Man.”

Diderot rejected Helvetius's assertion about the omnipotence of education and the absence of individual natural differences among people. He sought to limit the extreme conclusions to which Helvetius came. Thus, Diderot wrote: “He (Helvetius) says: Education means everything.

Diderot correctly argued that all people, and not just a select few, are endowed with favorable inclinations by nature. Diderot rebelled against the dominance of classical education in schools and brought real knowledge to the fore; in high school, he believed, all students should study mathematics, physics and natural sciences, as well as humanities.

Claude Adrian Helvetius - became famous as the author of the book “On the Mind,” which was published in 1758. and provoked furious attacks from all forces of reaction and ruling circles. The book was banned and sentenced to be burned. Helvetius developed his ideas even more thoroughly in the book “On Man, His Mental Abilities and His Education.” This book, written in 1769, in order to avoid new persecution, Helvetius bequeathed to be published only after his death, and it was published in 1773.

In his works, Helvetius, for the first time in the history of pedagogy, quite fully revealed the factors that shape a person. As a sensualist, he argued that all ideas and concepts in humans are formed on the basis of sensory perceptions, and reduced thinking to the ability to sense.

He considered the most important factor in the formation of a person to be the influence of the environment. Man is a product of circumstances (social environment) and upbringing, Helvetius argued. The atheist Helvetius demanded that public education be taken out of the hands of the clergy and made unconditionally secular. Sharply condemning the scholastic methods of teaching in the feudal school, Helvetius demanded that the teaching be visual and, if possible, based on the child’s personal experience, the educational material should be simple and understandable to students.

Helvetius recognized the right of all people to education and believed that women should receive equal education with men. Helvetius believed that all people with normal physical organization naturally have equal abilities and opportunities for development. He resolutely rejected reactionary opinions about the inequality of mental development of people due to their social origin, race or nationality. In fact, he stated, the cause of inequality is rooted in social conditions that do not allow most people to receive the right education and develop their abilities.

François Marie Voltaire (1694–1778). Known as a poet, playwright, writer, historian, philosopher. Voltaire did not leave special pedagogical works, and ideas of education are quite rare in his work, but his entire philosophy and his entire ideology became the actual basis of many pedagogical concepts, ideas and attitudes in the field of upbringing and education.

Pedagogical ideas of French enlighteners of the 18th century. (Voltaire, K.A. Helvetius, D. Diderot) - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Pedagogical ideas of French enlighteners of the 18th century (Voltaire, C.A. Helvetius, D. Diderot)" 2017, 2018.