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T.I. Demchenko*
ABOUT CONDITIONAL VERITY OF LEGAL CONSCIOUSNESS
Abstract. The article is devoted to understanding and importance of conditional verity of legal consciousness that paves the way for perceiving unconditional verity that stays at the top of the formally logical knowledge and determines it. The current state of the Russian society, state, consciousness, culture, the necessity of working out the national idea, state-and-law ideology and corresponding politics, new geopolitical reality encourage further in-depth study of legal consciousness, the perception of its theoretical verity, the uncovering of practical significance in providing foundation of the state-and-law life. According to the materialistic pattern, legal consciousness, like consciousness in general, is the reflection of the state-and-law and any other substantive world, the product of the process undergoing in a human brain. Its basis is formed by the knowledge obtained with the help of sense perception organs. The determination of verity is linked with the ideas and reasons which reflect substantive reality in an adequate way. Conditional verity is acquired with the sense perception, logical thinking, rational knowledge emerging in the definite historical surroundings and changes in accordance with the alterations of these conditions.
Keywords: jurisprudence, rational knowledge, conceptual thinking, empirical legal consciousness, temporal legal consciousness, legal determinism, conditional verity, unconditional verity, objective verity, historical verity.
The current state of the Russian society, state, consciousness, culture, the necessity of working out the national idea, state-and-law ideology and corresponding politics, new geopolitical reality encourage further in-depth study of legal consciousness, the perception of its theoretical verity, the uncovering of practical significance in providing foundation of the state-and-law life.
According to the materialistic pattern, legal consciousness, like consciousness in general, is the reflection of the state-and-law and any other substantive world, the product of the process undergoing in a human brain. Its basis is formed by the knowledge obtained with the help of sense perception organs. The determination of verity is linked with the ideas and reasons that reflect substantive reality in an adequate way1. Such judgments being a form of psychic activity give conditional verity. Conditional verity is acquired with the sense perception, logical thinking, rational knowledge emerging in the definite historical surroundings and changes in accordance with the alterations of these conditions. This is a discretionary verity; it is composed of the
knowledge defined by special2 and temporal3 limits. The representation of legal consciousness by these aspects makes possible to talk about territorial4 and
Aristotle. Metaphysics. M.-L., 1934. P. 162.
2 Space is understood as natural geographical environment, as physical space. Geographical space is characterized by continuity. From the politics-and-law viewpoint, the territorial space occupied by the state, is regarded as a discretionary, discontinuous one. The state territory can be a discretionary one only if it enjoys a special physical condition (i.e. the space of the state territory the city of Kaliningrad. Basing on this understanding L.I. Grach says that the isthmus connecting the Crimea and the Ukraine is too narrow, but the strait separating it from Russia is still narrower (Grach L.I. Geopolitics and Actual Life // Marxism and Actual Life. 1995. № 2. P. 34).
3 Time in Plato's interpretation is a flowing image of the eternity. According to Bergson's interpretation it is a permanent process of the past evolving into the future (Bergson A. The Creative Evolution. Substance and Memory / translated from French. Minsk, 1998. p. 18). Nowadays time is regarded as condition between past and future, space - as the process involving the objectivity of the distance, as the state between two opposite choices whose possibility of realization limits the state that exists between them (Violyeva L., Loguinov D. Antiquity // Hyperborean Faith of the Russes. M., 2003. p. 15-27).
4 S.N. Baburin speaks about territorial consciousness as state
ideology (Baburin S.N. The Territory of State. Legal and Geopo-
litical Problems. M., 1997. P. 7 and others).
© Demchenko T.I., 2014
* Demchenko Tamila Ivanovna — Cand. Sc. (Law), professor of the Theory and History of State Department of the North-Caucasian Federal University. [tamila-d23@mail.ru] 355000, bld.1, Pushkin Str., Stavropol.
temporal5 legal consciousness, about the peculiarities of their origin and their further development. Conditional verity has been developing from the dimensional-showy, attributive, religious-mythological, imagery perception of the ambient world to the territorial and temporally thinkable, logical understanding of the surrounding world6.
The religious-mythological cognition, attributive perception of the ambient world where logical thinking is linked with pre-logical learning of the world is normally characteristic of the primeval period.
Rationalizing of consciousness, assertion of logical form of thinking have led to the predominance of the territorial and temporal aspects. They provide historical verity of social phenomena, including verity of consciousness and particularly legal consciousness, in which different sense is applied, depending on how verity and its role in understanding consciousness were interpreted by various thinkers.
Along with rationalizing of consciousness a certain outlook has been gaining more and more popularity: only reason leads us to genuine cognition, and its coordination with the outside world gives us verity. Reason and science based on it, as well as natural law, turned into rationalistic substantiation of positive law, were criticized by many thinkers. Most strongly they were criticized by representatives of historical, empirical schools, and also in Kant's works.
The former ones focused their attention on the historical traditions, the latter ones — on the role of experience in the formation of knowledge and on the determination of its verity. Kant, according to some authors, did not follow the empirical way, proceeding from things to their percepts, he engaged in learning the nature of thinking and consciousness irrespective of outside world7.
We believe that the position of Kant is not unambiguous as it is sometimes described. Kant spoke of experimental as well as of transcendental way of cognition. He believed that every cognition starts from experience, but this does not mean that it wholly is drawn from experience; he affirmed that there exists empirical knowledge which depends on sense perception and it becomes accessible only by means of experience and it also depends on tran-
5 Temporal (from the Latin tempus — time). In western philosophy there has evolved the school devoted to the study of the problem of time and methodology of the temporal analysis (Modern Western Philosophy. Dictionary / under the editorship by V.N. Sadovsky. M., 1991. P. 298).
6 Applying to Russian legal consciousness these aspects are represented by common Slavic consciousness, consciousness of Kiev Rus, Rus in the times of Horde, Moscovia, Great Rus, Tzar-ist, Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia.
7 It can be possible, the authors say, that in New Time the speculative sense of natural law was substituted by the mechanistic or naturalistic concepts of the Enlightenment (Albov A.N., Maslennikov D.V., Salnikov V.N. Russian Philosophy of Law — Philosophy of Existence, Faith and Morality // Russian Philosophy of Law: Philosophy of Faith and Morality. SPb., 1997. P. 15).
scendental knowledge which does not depend on any experience. Among types of transcendental knowledge he singled out pure knowledge which has nothing to do with empirical knowledge and which derives from the reason which is able to produce principles of transcendental knowledge8.
Cognition, according to Kant, proceeds from contemplation, providing sensuality, which he calls the ability to perceive, to receive ideas about objects affecting us. From this he proceeds to concepts and ends up with ideas. According to Kant, objects are given by sensuality, but they are thought by reason producing concepts. Those contemplations that relate to the object by means of perception (it embodies the ability to imagine the object) are called empirical.
Empirical cognition is the cognition of consecutive revelation of the infinite substance movement, dialectical process of development of substantive things from the simplest forms to superior and most sophisticated forms (from natural phenomena to religion and philosophy). Since the infinite, according to Kant, can be rendered only in the concept, cognition is the process of identifying verity by means of absolute idea. It is realized by the discursive, i.e. logical way, by means of concepts and by intuitive way, by means of revelation, spontaneous, immediate comprehension of verity9.
Hegel terms verity as correspondence of the comprehensive concept to its reality, it is perceived in the process of self-realization of spirit as an absolute concept, as an infinite idea. According to Hegel, spirit is essence uniting in itself the origins of the subjective, the objective and the absolute. Consciousness is the stage of the reflection and the development of spirit both as essence and as phenomenon. Spirit as the essence appears as an ideal and actual reality — a concept. Spirit as the phenomenon is consciousness that is expressed in the attitude to the subject and in the knowledge about it10. The link between consciousness as phenomenon and the object makes it dependable on numerous objects, phenomena, historical forms of social life, on actual events of the world history which are the realization of the objective spirit. Under these conditions a veritably real thing is the universal represented in the form of absolute idea that is the basis of the development of everything, including consciousness. The purpose of spirit as consciousness consists in making it equal to its essence. Considering spirit as consciousness only in relation to others (this approach was shared by Hegel, Kant and Fichte) produces the theory of consciousness11.
8 Kant I. The Critic of Pure Reason. M., 1994. P. 9, 10, 32, 33, 36, 46, 66, 350, 500, 548-551 and others.
9 Kant I. The Critic of Pure Reason. M., 1994. P. 11, 45, 48, 417 and others.
10 Hegel Philosophical Propaedeutics. Works of different years in 2 volumes. Vol. 2. M., 1973. P. 7, 80.
11 Hegel. Philosophy of Spirit // Encyclopedia of philosophical sciences. Vol. 3. M., 1977. p. 12, 13, 15, 21, 34, 218-223 and others.
Consciousness as revelation of spirit in the process of approaching it as essence is regarded by Hegel as a given, internally contradictory phenomenon which passes the stages of its own development in definite conditions. At the first stage Hegel views consciousness as sense perception of external, in relation to man, single objects appearing before consciousness as existent phenomena. Hegel calls it proximate consciousness since it acquires authentic knowledge about itself through sensual appeal to the object.
This consciousness may be termed as esurient consciousness since after perceiving the features of the external object it turns to this object which is thought to be the source of satisfying human wishes. The dependence of consciousness upon the external object values highly the attitude of the subject's consciousness towards the object. The acknowledgement of the features and ties of external objects gives the initial experience which is formed, according to Hegel, at this particular stage of consciousness development. It is here that contradictions between a single object perceived by means of senses and its diverse features appear. This is, according to Hegel, the destructive consciousness, since satisfying of the esurience, initiated by the demands of human physical nature, is realized through the destruction of the object's independence12. A man with such consciousness is called by I.A. Ilyin as a socially dangerous one13.
Consciousness being aware of itself in the object corresponding to certain esurience, depending on this subject, mediating it, is dissolved in it, dissolved in the «not-I». It appears to be self-consciousness as single, proximate knowledge about itself and attitude to itself not having «I» as personality. This is natural consciousness which does not have two facets, does not have attitude with the expressed social character. Having as its origin the attitude of the proximate-sensual consciousness of the subject to the proximate-single object there emerges the proximate verity of such consciousness, which according to Hegel, is necessary only to be totality in itself and for itself14.
The further way of consciousness is characterized by the removal of the dependence of consciousness on the external object, by its transition from the unique, directly given, the external into the internal when consciousness bears in itself the knowledge of itself and the outer world. Such consciousness enters the relationship with another self-consciousness removing by this singleness and positioning itself as a specific phenomenon, as the subject of a certain type. Entering the relationship with another self-
consciousness; it looks for and attains recognition of its individuality by it and performs it through battle15 which often leads to death.
Carrying out a battle for recognition that is done by one person at the sake of the other is, on the one hand, the proof of freedom, though in case of death, both the one who remains alive and the dead one, are left as non-recognized in terms of freedom. Hegel believed that battle for recognition is characteristic of natural conditions. This battle for recognition and the subjection to the authority of another person generated the common life of humans which in its turn initiated state. And violence appeared as indispensible phenomenon of law. Marxism has made class struggle the most important social condition of emerging and existing of state and law and its destruction — the condition of their dying-off. Battle for recognition occurring in natural conditions, according to Hegel, is alien to state and civil society, since the result of this battle — the act of recognition — takes place here. Man is recognized as reasonable, free, he is recognized as personality.
Here the recognition of one person at the expense of another person is altered by the recognition of the existence of one thing in the other thing, by mutual recognition of the existence and freedom, by the recognition of their identity. This signifies that veritable freedom of one creature is possible only on condition that the other creature is free too, if the former one acknowledges this freedom and on condition that freedom of the one in the other unites people in the internal way. Here we see the difference of the two levels of recognition of self-consciousness — the natural one, linking people only by external means, and the social one, linking them internally16.
This testifies that freedom, according to Hegel, in contrast to the preceding thinkers of the New Times, who attributed freedom to natural state, is a social phenomenon, connected with social communication that has as its foundation struggle for the recognition of identity. Hegel says that the definition of freedom as natural phenomenon, given by the Greeks and the Romans, the existence of slavery in their free states testifies to the fact that they failed to perceive the essence of freedom. They have failed to realize that the right to freedom is embodied in the concept of reason, based on self-consciousness of man as it is, as universal «I», on the recognition of similar rights of another person.
12 Hegel. Philosophy of Spirit. P. 221-230, 236-239.
13 Ilyin I.A. About the Upbringing of the Coming Russia. Vol. 2. Book 2. M., 1993. P. 184.
14 Hegel. Philosophy of Spirit. P. 228, 235-237.
15 Struggle as the foundation of social existence and development was recognized by many thinkers. Heraclitus attributed universal existence principle to it. Hesiod supposed that it emerges in the conditions of Silver Age following Golden Age and intensifies in the forthcoming periods. According to Hobbes, struggle accompanies natural, pre-historical condition of the human society. One might suppose that it was this struggle that was mentioned by Hobbes while saying that in natural conditions man's attitude to another man is similar to wolf's behaviour.
16 Hegel. Philosophy of Spirit. P. 224, 232-235, 240-244.
The attitude of mastery, instigated by directing one self-consciousness at another self-consciousness, one of which in the process of confrontation prefers life, is alienated from itself, it becomes devoid of its essence and becomes a slave for the one who becomes a master, bears no evidence of social freedom. The master confronting the slave, waging a fight for freedom for his human rights recognition, is not free either. His liberation is performed through setting free the slave17.
In the process of transition from the direct to the indirect reflection, consciousness becomes reasonable consciousness, capable of perceiving verity, law, the essence of which is in the compulsory inner connection of the differentiated definitions. Under the law, crime is connected with punishment. But this consciousness as the knowledge about laws does not reach the level, making it possible to develop in a dialectic way the contrary definition out of the set of differentiated definitions. This means that integrity still remains not in accordance with the «I» activity, and in consciousness there exists definite attitude to objects, hence it is also conditional.
The highest stage of consciousness, according to Hegel, is characterized by reason which is understood by him originally as a simple coordination with the object, as a correct perception of the object. Then — as the knowledge of veritable contents about the object and about itself, as a complete unity of the subjective and the objective, where universality, achieved through self-consciousness, dominates over the both sides, or specific features, and dissolves «them in itself». In the state of universality that is actually essence and foundation, self-consciousness ceases to be self-consciousness in the proper sense of the word. It turns into reason, in which amalgamation of a singular and a universal phenomenon takes place, where the singular phenomenon constitutes the foundation of the universal and universality18. Here he drafted the transition from conditional consciousness to absolute consciousness.
Hegel's thesis that an object is perceived by self-consciousness in the form of concept19, that it is supposed in a subjective way20, was taken as a crucial point in considering consciousness. Con-
sciousness was viewed as appearance of this objective world (and not the appearance of spirit that should become identical to spirit — the essence, as seen by Hegel and other thinkers), with this world's more ample reflection the perception of verity of consciousness was connected. Logical forms are recognized as the product of the objective world reflection21. Reflection was awarded the title of universal explanatory principle.
It is unlikely that Hegel's thesis which he employs to characterize the first stage of self-consciousness may be regarded as the foundation of cognition and understanding of consciousness as a whole. According to Hegel, self-consciousness at this stage in his proximate relation to an external object is the unique in its own way of existence, in terms of contents — self-loving, in terms of direction — esurient, impermanent and ceding to a new quest and satisfying it at the expense of the quest object, hence — leading to destruction. That means that its subjectivity fails to enjoy any stability. Hegel himself believed that viewing consciousness only in relation to another object produces the theory of consciousness22.
Scientific progress has enabled us to assert that consciousness acquires the feature of highly organized substance as a result of more sophisticated reflective activity valued as the comprehensive explanatory principle, based on the ability to respond, react on the impact of the outside world23. It acquires the ability
17 Hegel. Philosophy of Spirit. P. 245-249.
18 Hegel. Philosophy of Spirit. P. 230, 248-250; Hegel. Philosophical Propaedeutics. Works of different years in 2 volumes. Vol. 2. M., 1973. P. 81-90.
19 Hegel. Philosophy of Spirit. P. 238.
20 «Subjective» is understood as a specific form of the expres-
sion of objective reality that is primary in relation to conscious-
ness which exists outside it and independently on it. The fact that
the object is reflected with a different rate of adequacy, compre-
hensiveness and penetration into its essence testifies, according to
Marx supporters, in favour of subjectivity (Zhivkovich L. Theory
of Social Reflection. M., 1969. P. 19, 26-28, 40. Kopnin P.V Dia-
lectics as Logic and Theory of Cognition. Experience of Logic-
Epistemological Research. M., 1973. P. 48-54, 106-111; Pavlov T.D. Information, Reflection, Creativity. M., 1967. P. 73.
21 Lenin VI. Materialism and Empiriocriticism // Complete set of works. Vol. 18. P. 50, 66, 239. The same author «Philosophical Notebooks» // Complete set of works. Vol. 29. P. 162.
22 Hegel. Philosophy of Spirit. P. 12, 13, 15, 21, 34, 218-223, 233-239 and others.
23 Elementary biological ways of reaction are called tropisms (from the Greek «tropos» — turning, direction, movement, change of positioning provoked by some excitatory). Such is the reaction of animals with the plexiform excitatory system, for instance, coelenterates (Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary. M., 1979. P. 1367). Tropisms provide the organism with the adaptability capacity to natural surroundings. Depending on the natural phenomena (light, warmth, electricity and others) tropisms are divided into photot-ropisms, thermotropisms, galvanic tropisms and others. Scholars single out the specific reaction of plants to the gravitation (geotro-pism), to touching (stereo- and tigmotropisms). (Big Medical Encyclopedia. Vol. 25. M., 1985. P. 330-331). Physiologists employ the term «neurotropism» that is used to denote the phenomenon of directional growth of the neuron fabric under the influence physics-chemical factors. The next level is characterized with the appearance of the plexiform, then ganglioform excitatory system that is represented by the cluster of excitatory cells that by means of fusing form interrelated excitatory centres. This system allows not only to react by means of adaptable actions to the proximate excitators, but to process them as well. Arthopods enjoy the in-born reaction system based on the instinct. Animals enjoy sensitivity. The emerging of clusters of excitatory cells-receptors (from the Latin receptor — receiving), performing a signaling function, the formation of the central excitatory system that upgrades the receptors' function, leads to the appearance of specific reflection organs — spinal cord and brain cord (Big Medical Encyclopedia. Vol. 22. M., 1984. P. 267; Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary. P. 1135; Leontyev A.N. Psychic Development Problems. P. 45-46). It is presumed that excitatory system has emerged as a special mechanism of consciousness in the physical plane.
to receive and fix information at the level of biological memory (genetic, immunological and neurological with the purpose of self-reproduction and preservation of its physical existence, biological species and the whole bio-informational system. It becomes possible for consciousness to process sensual images24 by means of thought, keep them in mind25, fix information and reproduce it on the level of neurological memo-ry26. Neurological memory is a new type of memory in terms of evolution, connected with the functioning of the central excitatory system where structural changes occur under the impact of protein synthesis in the cells. It is presumed that the basis of the excitatory system is provided by the systems similar to those ones which are used in ECM (electronic computing machines), i.e. systems equipped with switches.
Sophisticating of the reflection process, the appearance of logical thinking27, provide conditions for the ability to analyze the increasing amount of empirical ties, summarize knowledge about the products of the present-day reflective, intellectual and emotional activities, the past activity that is kept in mind; educe stable characteristics, logical relations; elaborate theoretical concepts. The elaboration of concepts is tightly connected with the formalization of knowledge — the process actively employed by many thinkers — Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and others.
Cassidy believes that Heraclitus played a special part in it. In Cassidy's opinion, Heraclitus succeeded in preserving the unity of existence and essence in thinking, succeeded in perceiving by means of intuition the universal in the singular and succeeded in expressing clearly the message of the abstract concept. According to the author, Heraclitus' concepts are not pure concepts yet, they are images-concepts, implied images, the knowledge formalization process was completed by Aristotle and since that time has become a characteristic feature of the European tradition28.
Conceptual thinking has been recognized as a comparatively young, more sophisticated capacity of the human psychic and valued as the supreme form
of reflection. This process has provided the assertion that consciousness is a conceptual activity29, this process has brought it to be considered as the product of cognitive-reforming30 activity, that by means of becoming more and more complex, drives to «the identity of the thought with the object»31, according to V.I. Lenin. According to Hegel, this identity occurs at the first stage of consciousness formation. The Ancient Greek thinkers, for example, Heraclitus, shared the idea that unity of man, thought and surrounding world is the initial state of consciousness.
Conceptual thinking is formed on the basis of human psychic activity, aimed at his sensual perception of the ambiance, including the state-and-law world, at the formation of attitude to it and knowledge about it. Its emergence and development is connected with the needs of human physical nature, with personal interests, including the subject of law, society and state. At the conceptual thinking level one can determine legal challenges and their consequences, the line of legal conduct recognized as mandatory under given conditions, evaluate the accumulated experience that is acknowledged from the rational viewpoint as the basis of legal consciousness and the criterion of the consciousness verity. In terms of conceptual thinking, nature itself, so to say, attains the summit of its reflection in itself, in a human brain32 as a part of natural organic substance, and thus it becomes reasonable33.
Theoretical foundation of concept formation and the perception of conditional verity in general and legal consciousness in particular are provided by the construction of the «concretely empirical». «Concrete»34 in application to legal consciousness means fusing of lots of elements, their interrelations, rooted in the law if its existence, forming a complex combination, unity, integrality. Concrete legal consciousness is integrity in the multitude of its emotional, rational, irrational elements. Concreteness of legal consciousness is the origin of its synthesis. Concreteness of legal consciousness embodies the limits of its changes and its preservation as an integral phenomenon.
24 According to Kant it is expressed, for instance, in the ability «to think over the object of sensual contemplation» (Kant I. Essays of the Critical Period // Anthropology of the world philosophical works in four volumes. Vol. 3. M., 1971. P. 107-116).
25 Memorizing is considered to be a process proceeding in time. Taking into account a temporal factor one might single out short-termed and long-termed memory. Short-term memory that enjoys the minimal duration up to several seconds includes operational, sensor memory. Long-termed memory, with the duration from several minutes up to the all human life, is based on the synthesis of proteins, determining the alterations in the central excitatory system.
26 General Psychology / Under the editorship of A.V. Petro-vsky. M., 1986. P. 63-88.
27 «About Thinking» see Muller Max «The Science of Thought». SPb., 1891. P. 1-24, 194-204 and others.
28 Cassidy F. Heraclitus. SPb., 2004. P. 76-79.
29 V.P. Tugarinov, for example, asserted that thinking is operating with concepts and logical forms derived from them, that consciousness is conceptual activity based on the concepts of the objects (Tugarinov V.P. Philosophy of Consciousness. M., 1971. P. 51).
30 Nowadays criticism is aimed not so much at the reflective activity but more at the reforming activity (Kasatkin S.N. Legal Consciousness as the Category of the Science of Law. Theoretical-Methodological Aspect thesis of the Cand. Sc. (Law). Samara, 2003. P. 21).
31 Marx K. and Engels F. The Writings. Vol. 19. P. 350-351; Vol. 37. P. 418; Lenin VI. Complete set of works. Vol. 29. P. 170, 176, 177.
32 Nowadays it is viewed as an autonomous immunological system.
33 Reason is recognized as the supreme capacity of understanding and acknowledgement of the ambiance, sense — as the lowest capacity (Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary. M., 1979. P. 1110, 1116, 1176, 1248; New Encyclopedic Dictionary. M., 2004. P. 1001).
34 «Concrete» from the Latin «concretus» — grow together.
«Empirical»35 is devoid of integrity, it serves the reflection of the multitude. The «empirical» embodies the possibility and scope of disintegration of legal consciousness, as an integral unity, into different structural elements by means of thoughts (in the process of logical operations). There exists in it the possibility to determine their special and temporal location. In terms of space, objects, phenomena, ideas, concepts are laid down in a definite way, they coexist in each other's proximity, correlate with one another; in terms of time, they succeed one another. The issue of succession — which phenomenon or concept precedes and which one succeeds — is crucial36 for conditional, psychic consciousness.
Space and time are necessary forms of the concrete-empirical phenomena. Their veritable nature is not in their concreteness, but in their discontinuity. In terms of space this world is infinitely fragmentized; in terms of time it permanently alters and dies.
According to Hegel, expressing his viewpoint on the world and rational consciousness, the veritable nature of the concrete-empirical is embodied not in the concreteness, but in the disintegration, continuity of the endless multitude of single objects. The most proximate verity of consciousness is sensual subjective authenticity of the concrete-empirical, specialtemporal reality, presented by the disintegrated object singleness, determining esurient attitude towards it and the initial simplicity of consciousness37.
The only thing that is deemed unchanged in the concrete-empirical world is that this world is doomed to death. Hegel and later I.A. Ilyin believed that it embodies the epistemological essence of this world. This world, subject to cognition by means of senses, is neither veritable, nor absolute reality. Its consciousness lacks integrity and it is extremely limited; sensual knowledge is not scientific knowledge. Therefore the concrete-empirical may be assessed only in terms of opinion38, but not in terms of knowledge.
Referring to the esurient attitude to the concrete-empiric world and its cognition, one may trace that Hegel speaks about a certain instance of involvement and here we can see a definite similarity to the ideas of L. Levy-Bruhl who viewed conceptual thinking and its role in the formation of integral consciousness39
in a rather peculiar way. But the conclusion made by Hegel is absolutely opposite to the one made by L. Levy-Bruhl. According to Hegel, this consciousness is the consciousness of initial simplicity; according to L.Levy-Bruhl, it is the consciousness of great complexity40, ample contents and integrity.
L. Levy-Bruhl supposed that consciousness, devoid of integrity, is unable to adapt to thinking where the logical and pro-logical coexist and are revealed in mental operations. It determines a domineering role of the one-sided logical consciousness which excludes the pre-logical one. The author believed that differences between the levels of perception and the states of consciousness — static and dynamic ones, between actions, aimed at themselves and at another object, were insignificant for the integral consciousness. He did not attach much importance to intermediate chains and to cause-and-effect relations. This consciousness is connected in a closer way to motor, instinctive, emotional and intuitive activities. Therefore it did not require any thorough analysis, compulsory logical explanation of the ambient world and providing conceptual basis for it41. Space and time were rather low-key issues for this consciousness. But we are able to understand all this only if we give up all our deep-rooted mental skills42.
Dealing with the issue of the concrete-empirical world of singular, finite objects, surrounding man, I.A. Ilyin used to speak that the vision of them is the most common, the most stable and, perhaps, the least perceived. This idea proves to be so incorporated into human consciousness that it seems impossible to reject it. «What people know is, most likely, their knowledge of this world of our empiric idea; their science is the science about it, their mind is this world's mind. To disre-
35 «Empirical» from the Greek «empeiria» — experience.
36 In terms of unconditional consciousness it is absolutely irrelevant.
37 Hegel. Phenomenology of Spirit and Logic. Philosophical Propaedeutics. Works of different years in 2 volumes. Vol. 2. P. 79-100 and others; Hegel. Philosophy of Spirit // Encyclopedia of philosophical sciences. Vol. 3. M., 1977. P. 221-230, 236-239.
38 Ilyin I.A. Hegel's Philosophy as Doctrine about Concreteness of God and Man. SPb., 1994. P. 29-35.
39 L. Levy-Bruhl believes that conceptual thinking may emerge
not only as a result of sense perception analysis, but also while
processing images and even in the moments preceding reasoning, perceiving, associating, revealing. This consciousness was termed
by him as pre-logical, synthetic, integral; in order to form and un-
derstand this consciousness alongside the laws of rational logic drawn from the outer experience, one should pay special attention to the principle of participation, involvement, preconditioned by the inner experience and specific thinking that value rather law space and time. Because of the involvement, of a certain fusion of cognitive powers and the object of cognition, the ancient knowledge was not alienated from the outer world, objects, activities, people that were involved into it. The participation consciousness was able to speak the language of nature, perceive it in an integral and abstract way, perform the in-depth cognition of its essence, integrity, see the sense in other factors, invisible and non-active at the moment (Levy-Bruhl L. Supernatural in the Primeval Thinking. M., 1999. P. 35, 52, 61-65, 87-9, 304, 349 and others).
40 Many Russian thinkers regarded Russian legal consciousness, state, positive law as complicated phenomena. For example, Russian conservatives (the end of the XIX — the beginning of the XX centuries) attached great importance to the spiritual side of the legal existence while not ignoring rational knowledge. In the Soviet period some views were expressed, according to which alongside the conceptual consciousness there exist its other expressions. The issue about spiritual life was raised. (Spirkin A.G. Consciousness and Self-consciousness. M., 1972. P. 149-150; Common Consciousness and Its Forms. M., 1986. P. 24 and others.
41 Though it does not remember, according to the author, when it has learnt it — the in-born language of the ambient world (Levy-Bruhl L. The above-indicated work. P. 35, 52, 57, 61, 62-65, 87-90, 304, 349 and others).
42 Levy-Bruhl L. The above-indicated work. P. 20, 303-305.
gard this way of vision, get off this mind would mean, most likely, lose one's mind, generally speaking»43.
Realizing of the one-sidedness of the conceptual cognition as well as the science based on this cognition, is present in Hegel's works when he says that disintegrated singleness is unlikely to be of great scientific value. Sensual contemplation of the empiric reality and abstract-formal concepts serve the basis of the empirical, formal science and philosophy, but not of the authentic science and philosophy. They restrict consciousness.
Consciousness in general and legal consciousness in particular are restricted by applying materialistic approach to understanding verity. V.I. Lenin posed the question «Does there exist the objective verity, i.e. can there exist in human imagination the type of contents which does not depend on the subject, does not depend either on man, or on mankind?»44 The objective verity, according to him, is represented by the absolute and relative verity which symbolizes any dynamic process including the concordance of a thought with an object, expresses different stages of human cognition of the objective world45. At the same time it is asserted that absolute verity is achieved by means of human thinking and it is formed by summing up relative verities46 which appear to be the result of the concrete-empirical world's reflection.
Legal consciousness is restricted by its orientation at the empirical state-and-law world, at the positive law. Some Russian thinkers believed that legal consciousness, based on the law and on the power drawn from it, is the one-sided, faulty, unfit consciousness. Referring to such legal consciousness Khomyakov said that the mere use of the term «law» can be nothing but its abuse47.
Despite the fact that wise thinkers considered rational conceptual cognition of the concrete-empirical existence to be a blatant mistake48, the mind enjoying such orientation was called by them a faulty tool49, and the theory based on common sense and on the reflection principle, was considered the most serious subjectivists' error50, it has
43 Ilyin I.A. Hegel's Philosophy as the Doctrine of God and Man's Concreteness. P. 23-24.
44 Lenin V.I. Complete set of works. Vol. 18. P. 123.
45 Lenin V.I. Complete set of works. Vol. 29. P. 176-177.
46 Lenin V.I. Complete set of works. Vol. 18. P. 137.
47 Khomyakov A.S. Foreigners' Opinion on Russia // Selected articles and letters. M., 2004. p. 46; by the same author Regarding the Article by I.V. Kireevsky About the Character of the Enlightenment in Europe and His Attitude to the Enlightenment in Russia // the same place. P. 134-135.
48 Such interpretation was called by F. Nietzsche «the philosophers' blindness and failing to proceed in the framework of classical Enlightenment» and suggested it should be stopped (Nietzsche F. Will to Power. M., 1994).
49 Klizovsky A.I. The Basis of World Perception of the New Epoch. Minsk, 2000. P. 34, 42. Now this issue is being dealt with by VP. Malakhov (Malakhov V.P. Philosophy of Law. M., 2002. P. 25).
50 Popper K.R. The Objective Knowledge. Evolutionary Ap-
proach. M., 2002. P. 10.
become nevertheless the deeply rooted skill in our nation's psychology, sociology, jurisprudence.
Even today, despite the serious and numerous instances of mentioning the necessity of rejecting the one-sided rational cognition focusing on the revealed, empirical, permanently changing state-and-law world, the principle of socio-economical determinism, including the legal one, retains its domineering position.
While taking such an approach, the formation and understanding of legal consciousness is linked with the reflection of state-and-law phenomena developing in the concrete historical conditions with one — external experience51, with one source — psychic activity, expressed in sense perception, conceptual thinking, ending up with a logically structured idea. It is acknowledged that alterations, improvements in state-and law phenomena are sure to bring qualitative changes and improve legal consciousness.
This way of forming conditional, historical, transitive verity of legal consciousness, drawn from the conformity of legal knowledge to the reflected ob-ject52 — state-and-law being, is realized by means of logical, conceptual thinking and is linked with the accumulation of knowledge about the object and about phenomena reflected by it.
According to modern scholars, it is this verity that constitutes the purpose of legal consciousness, which is defined in most cases as the system of knowledge about law (the law, to be more precise) and the relations with it, presented by legal ideology and legal psychology, which are the products of psychic activity.
Such cognition has determined the state of the science of law and legal consciousness which is actually presented by legal consciousness. The asserted views on legal consciousness, the science of law in general testify to their limited opportunities in cognition of the legal consciousness verity. The limited opportunities are preconditioned by human psychic activity which is directed at the empiric reality, at the cognition of legal consciousness in the framework of concrete historical conditions. Empirical percepts, which are considered to be the in-born features of human consciousness, were called by L. Levy-Bruhl an illusion53. They are of extreme importance, especially in researching physical, substantive world, which, in terms of space, permanently disintegrates; in terms of time, it permanently changes, disappears and dies. According to K.R. Popper, they are important for studying the third logical world, the world of ideas, concepts, theories54, which are worked out by the definite state within a definite area and in definite historical conditions.
51 V.I. Lenin believed that «practice is superior to theoretical cognition since it enjoys not only the benefit of universality but also the advantages of proximate reality» (Lenin V.I. Complete set of works. Vol. 29. P. 195).
52 This is the way of dealing with the issue of scientific study in general (Philosophy and Methodology of Science. M., 2004. P. 33).
53 Levy-Bruhl L. The above-indicated work. P. 304.
54 Popper K.R. The above-indicated work. P. 78 and others.
It is believed that data, provided by natural science discoveries, quantum, holographic and information theories, can discourage the limited understanding of legal consciousness and can encourage «breaking» of deep-rooted mental skills and illusory concepts relevant to this consciousness. They provide for broader understanding of legal consciousness, enable us to see in it not only the product of rational, psychic, emotional and intellectual activity, but the product of activity based on intuition as well. They allow us to say that veritable, i.e. supreme, absolute knowledge is unlikely to represent the sum of relative pieces of knowledge derived from numerous subjective opinions enjoying conditional character.
It does not mean the negation of rational ways of cognition and their significance in the study of legal consciousness, all the state-and-law reality, in
the cognition of verity. Rational cognition involving sense perception, general definitions, the logics of their laying and interrelation and conditional verity forms intuitive attaining of the essence of existence, formalizes state-and-law life, introduces the culture of thought55 in it.
The state of legal consciousness is determined in a proximate way on the basis of conditional verity, taking into account the specific features of a given historical period; the national idea, corresponding state-and-law ideology and policy are also elaborated on the basis of conditional verity; goals, tasks, directives of state-and-law activities are determined on the basis of conditional verity as well. By means of probing into conditional verity of legal consciousness we pave the way for the cognition of unconditional verity which is superior to the formally logical knowledge and determines it.
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Перевод Е.В. Владимировой, ст. преп. кафедры английского языка № 2 Университета имени О.Е. Кутафина (МГЮА)
55 See: Ilyin I.A. Hegel's Philosophy as the Doctrine of God and Man's Concreteness. SPb., 1994. P. 43.
