“INNATE IDEAS” AS A POTENTIAL MANIFISTATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Abstract

Summary. The aim of the article is to argue the potentiality of consciousness as a phenomenon, given the philosophical search for «a priori knowledge». Study based on following tasks: 1) search for a conditional beginning of philosophical thinking in relation to pre-acquired knowledge; 2) formation of understanding of arguments and counter-arguments concerning “innate ideas”; 3) comprehension of consciousness in its potential manifestation through “a priori knowledge”. In research process where used methods of historical and comparative analysis, the method of mental modeling and the transcendental-phenomenological method. Scientific novelty. Article examines the views of philosophers on pre-acquired knowledge. The appeal to Plato’s metaphysical search forms an understanding of the conditional beginning of thinking in relation to pre-acquired knowledge. Rene Descartes’ “doubts”, John Locke’s critique of “innate ideas” and Gottflich Leibniz’s “new experiments” examine arguments and counter-arguments about innate knowledge. Immanuel Kant’s “a priori” develop understanding of consciousness as a meta-object. Despite the criticism of “innate ideas” by John Locke, the relevance of consciousness is opposed to the potentiality of its manifestation. Seems, that consciousness as a metaphysical structure, presents itself to the physical world through pre-acquired knowledge. Conclusions. Plato’s epistemology illuminates the idea of “remembrance”. Incarnate, the soul has knowledge of the «world of Ideas», but the body obscures perception. Dialectical cognition makes it possible to restore clarity in the understanding of essences. In the XVII century, Rene Descartes revived the question of “innate ideas”, basing research on “doubt” about the knowledge of past eras. The French philosopher, through distrust, comes to the conclusion that, one way or another, there is undoubted knowledge. In contrast to Descartes, John Locke argues that, due to the lack of consensus among people, the existence of some “innate truths” is impossible. Although, on the path of the same study, J. Locke comes to understand the potentiality in the acquisition of empirical knowledge, the philosopher rejects the possibility of the potentiality of the discovery of the truths of the soul. Later, Immanuel Kant points out that there are truths on which the perception of things is based. The concepts of “a priori” connect knowledge with reality and make it possible to establish patterns while trying to understand nature. Principles, we think, which nature operates, are known together with the knowledge of nature itself. But there are also truths that are known through reflection. Such truths the philosopher calls “transcendental ideas”, which lead a person to the knowledge of “will”. According to Kant, understanding of “transcendental ideas” can affect understanding of fundamental moral laws. Thus, comprehension is possible thanks to the mind, which also gives a person the opportunity to choose. Thus, man, even comprehending the metaphysical, has an act of will to regulate the physical in view of the moral. Knowledge of “innate ideas” has a potential character. It is through the universal laws that reveal themselves through the intentionality of thinking to the transcendent that consciousness is able to manifest itself in the physical world.