Aristotle's View Research Articles

The Anthropocene, Self-Cultivation, and Courage: The Jesuit François Noël as a Witness of Inter-Religious Dialogue between Aristotelian and Confucian Ethics

This article explores the specific role of courage in the context of the Anthropocene’s moment; it first examines Aristotle’s conception of virtues, focusing on courage, before comparing it to Confucian thought and analyzing the historical dialogue between Western and Chinese traditions on ethics through the works of François Noël (1651–1729). Aristotle views moral cultivation as a social process wherein habits shape inner dispositions; in his view, courage is linked to other virtues, such as temperance and justice. For Aristotle, courage implies the appropriate balance between extremes and must be directed toward a worthy end, such as promoting positive change within a community. This Aristotelian perspective was later incorporated into a biblical framework by Aquinas and Suarez, emphasizing dichotomies between body and soul, as well as between humans and other living beings. These dichotomies must be challenged in the face of the Anthropocene’s emergencies. The second part of this contribution proceeds to a detour examining Confucian ethics, which rests on a different anthropology, emphasizing continuities rather than discontinuities. Like Aristotelian thought, Confucian thought also underscores moral education within a community; it prioritizes humanity, embodied through empathy and loyalty. In the Analects, courage is balanced by a sense of rituals and righteousness. Mencius further distinguishes several types of courage, stressing self-cultivation and the ruler’s responsibility to make empathetic, appropriate decisions for the community’s sake. From this perspective, courage is understood as the continuous perseverance in self-cultivation, coupled with a firm intention oriented toward the good of the community. Zhu Xi’s comments on Zilu’s courage in the Analects extend this Confucian tradition. Finally, this article highlights how a dialogue between Aristotelian and Confucian ethics began four centuries ago, particularly through Noël’s Philosophia Sinica, which combined these traditions. This inter-religious approach to ethics, enriched by figures such as Aquinas, Suarez, Zhu Xi, and neo-Confucian thinkers, requires re-evaluation because the understanding of personal ethics and nature has evolved. The modern naturalistic approach, with its emphasis on dichotomies, has contributed to a mechanistic view of nature, fostering its exploitation, and a devaluation of the body. This contrast highlights the urgent need for renewed dialogue between Western and Chinese ethical traditions to address contemporary challenges, with François Noël serving as a historical witness of these exchanges.

Unalienated labor as cooperative self‐determination: Aristotle and Marx

AbstractIn this paper, I offer an original interpretation of Marx's conception of unalienated labor, which I frame as a response to Aristotle's view of work, or technē. Both Aristotle and Marx share a particular conception of freedom as “normative self‐determination,” according to which an activity is free insofar as it does not depend for its value on externally valuable things. For instance, when my activity is a mere means for satisfying some need separate from it, it comes to depend for its value on the externally valuable effect—the “needs‐meeting”—it achieves. Or, when my activity is only causally—but not normatively—enabled by the cooperative contributions of others, it comes to depend for its value on those externally valuable contributions. On Aristotle's view, work is unleisurely (ascholos) and servile (doulos) because it is normatively dependent in both of these ways. For Marx, by contrast, work possesses the capacity to “internalize” these external determinants of its value. Unalienated work does this, first, by satisfying “internal” needs, or needs whose satisfaction does not constitute a normatively external effect of the work that satisfies them. The satisfaction of internal needs is valuable because of the manner or way in which they are satisfied. Second, unalienated work would not only be causally, but also normatively, enabled by the contributions of others, in that those contributions would help to make it the distinctively valuable act that it is. Unalienated work would be valuable because, and not despite, its cooperative character. In both of these respects, then, cooperation is essential to make work fully free.

Environmental Determinism in Aristotle

abstract: The present article reassesses Aristotle's views on the relationship between ethical character and the natural environment. The standard reading, to the effect that Aristotle endorsed environmental determinism, is rejected. The discussion invites a more careful examination of Aristotelian texts commonly adduced to support the orthodox reading, while also providing a clear account of what environmental determinism is. I argue that the textual evidence presented by defenders of the standard reading does not match that account. All in all, I conclude, we are not authorized to invoke Aristotle's views on the relationship between natural environment and human beings in order to discredit his ethical and political project.

«Критика чистого разума» И. Канта: источники исторического влияния и особенности дискурса

The article presents the experience of methodological and cultural-historical reconstruction of one of the main works of I. Kant “Critique of Pure Reason”. The author outlines the problems associated with difficulties in understanding this work: what is the general idea of “Critique of Pure Reason”, how to understand reason, different sources of knowledge, things in themselves, and finally, a combination of rational and sacred arguments. The author shows that Kant relies on the pictures of reality of Aristotle and Nicholas of Cusa, rethinking them, and also analyzes the works of Galileo, which made it possible to make a conviction in the priority of a priori ideas. A hypothesis is formulated about how Kant understood the mind: culturally, following the Enlightenment. The main strategies of thought are outlined, with the help of which Kant creates “Critique of Pure Reason”, while his ideas are compared with the views of Aristotle and Nicholas of Cusa. These include: rethinking transcendental ideas (not similarities and mathematics like those of Nicholas of Cusa), but thinking through the conditions of conceivability, reflection of the foundations of knowledge (this is the critique of reason); the introduction of schematisms of thinking, as explaining the connection between a priori ideas and intuitions; a special interpretation of mind and reason, allowing them to include rules, categories and ideas; projection of the rethought ways of thinking of philosophers onto the mind (for example, Kant transfers to the mind the ability to build a system of scientific knowledge, which he borrowed from E.B. de Condillac); elucidation of the conditions of conceivability, they allowed Kant to find the mind as a whole and to find out the condition of contemplation and action of the mind (according to Kant, these are “self-consciousness” or the idea of the “synthetic unity of apperception”).

Aristotle’s Static World and Traditional Education – A Secondary Publication

The purpose of this study is to understand the characteristics of Aristotle’s view of nature that is, the staticview of the universe, and find implications for education. Plato sought to interpret the natural world using a rationalapproach rather than an incomplete observation. He thought that viewing the world from the perspective of geometry andmathematical regularity was the best way to understand the world. On the other hand, Aristotle believed that we couldunderstand the world through observations. His worldview portrayed a static reality, imbued with individual purpose anda sense of deliberate legitimacy. In addition, the natural motion of earthly objects and celestial bodies, which are naturalmovements towards the world of order, are the original actions. Aristotle thought that all natural things would carry outsome movement. Above all, Plato and Aristotle view the world as a static universe. It is possible to fully grasp the worldby approaching the objective nature that exists independently of human beings with human reason and observation.After all, for Aristotle, like Plato, their belief that the natural world was subject to regular and orderly laws of nature,despite the complexity and seemingly unceasing changes, became the basis of Western thought. The universe, rooted inthe metaphysical perspective of ancient Greece and carried forward in modern philosophy, has traditionally depended ondeveloping a dichotomy of comprehension, distinguishing between what is already accomplished or predetermined, theideal and the inevitable. This dichotomy forms the foundation of traditional teaching methods that often do not prioritizethe opinions of learners.

Consciousness, 4E cognition and Aristotle: a few conceptual and historical aspects

The new approach in cognitive science largely known as “4E cognition” (embodied/embedded/enactive/extended cognition), which sheds new light on the complex dynamics of human consciousness, seems to revive some of Aristotle's views. For instance, the concept of “nature” (phusis) and the discussion on “active intellect” (nous poiêtikos) may be particularly relevant in this respect. Out of the various definitions of “nature” in Aristotle's Physics, On the Parts of Animals and Second Analytics, I will concentrate on nature defined as an inner impulse to movement, neither entirely “corporeal,” nor entirely “incorporeal,” and neither entirely “substantial,” nor entirely “accidental.” Related to that, I will consider the distinction in On the Soul between the “active” and the “passive” intellect, which Aristotle asserted as generally present in “nature” itself. By offering a conceptual and historical analysis of these views, I intend to show how the mind–body problem, which is essential for the explanation of consciousness, could be somewhat either eluded or transcended by both ancients and contemporaries on the basis of a subtle account of causation. While not attempting to diminish the impact of the Cartesian paradigm, which led to the so-called “hard problem of consciousness,” I suggest that the most recent neuroscience discoveries on the neurophysiological phenomena related to human consciousness could be better explained and understood if interpreted within a 4E cognition paradigm, inspired by some Aristotelian views.

Analisis Pandangan Aristoteles Tentang Lima Fungsi Bahasa Dalam Komunikasi

Basically, humans have different characters, from one to another. So, these differences in character cause people to use language differently. Differences in using language cause the emergence of sounds that are not arranged based on a meaningful system. The aim of this research is to discuss Aristotle's views on the five functions of language and communication. This research uses a descriptive method with a literature review or literature study. The research results show that language as a communication tool is the most effective way to convey thoughts, aims and objectives to the people we communicate with. Language as a means of communication has the main function of language, namely that communication is the delivery of a message or meaning by someone to another person. The function of language as a tool of human communication includes five basic functions, namely expression function, information function, exploration function, persuasion function and entertainment function.

Aristotle on the Objects of Natural and Mathematical Sciences

In a series of recent papers, Emily Katz has argued that on Aristotle's view mathematical sciences are in an important respect no different from most natural sciences: They study sensible substances, but not qua sensible. In this paper, I argue that this is only half the story. Mathematical sciences are distinctive for Aristotle in that they study things ‘from’, ‘through’ or ‘in’ abstraction, whereas natural sciences study things ‘like the snub’. What this means, I argue, is that natural sciences must study properties as they occur in the subjects from which they are originally abstracted, even where they reify these properties and treat them as subjects. The objects of mathematical sciences, on the other hand, can be studied as if they did not really occur in an underlying subject. This is because none of the properties of mathematical objects depend on their being in reality features of the subjects from which they are abstracted, such as bodies and inscriptions. Mathematical sciences are in this way able to study what are in reality non-substances as if they were substances.

Is it true that all human beings have dignity?

The discussion around dignity in nursing philosophy has been underway for many years. The literature still lacks philosophical arguments that would justify the thesis that all people have dignity. Scholars who defend dignity as an intrinsic value most often refer to Kant. However, Kant does not seem to be the most suitable candidate to defend the thesis that all human beings possess dignity. In this paper, I attempt to show that Aristotle's and Aquinas's views can help justify this thesis. To this end, I distinguish between actual dignity, potential dignity, and existential dignity. I state that all human beings have existential dignity or potential dignity.

USAGE OF METAPHORIC MEANS IN ADVERTISING TEXTS

In advertising text, metaphor often takes a dominant position: it affects the will and feelings of consumers, prompting them to act. With its help, only the necessary and positive properties and characteristics of the product or service, their merits, are updated, which makes it difficult for consumers to evaluate them objectively. Main points of view of Aristotle, and those of some modern linguists (Sklyarevskaya G.N., Richards A.A, Black M., Zaretskaya, Y.N., Kharchenko, V. K., etc.) of metaphors are investigated in this research. In this article, metaphorical models used in advertising are studied. Specialists identify fifteen functions of metaphor in advertising: nominative, informative, mnemonic, style-creating, text-creating, genre-creating, heuristic, explanatory, emotional-evaluative, ethical, automatic suggestion, coding, conspiratorial, playful, ritual. Together with the above-given features, metaphors are considerer to be “a fast and powerful means to convey an idea.”, and in advertisings they lead to- brightness of advertising image; the advertisement is easily understood by the recipient; identification through stereotypes; the speed of communication (short texts give faster and more information). So, metaphor is defined as a hidden comparison, carried out by applying the name of one object to another, and thus revealing some important feature of the other.

The Promise and Problem of Habit in Austen's Mansfield Park

Jane Austen uses “habit” and its variants four times as often in Mansfield Park as she does in her previous novel, Pride and Prejudice. In what seems, then, to be a deliberate exploration of habit, the novel repeatedly recalls Aristotle's views on habit, which could well have been conveyed to Austen through eighteenth-century divines who saw them as compatible with their Anglican theology. Like Aristotle, Austen emphasizes habit as crucial to an ethic that defines virtue not as self-denial, but as fulfillment within a well-governed polis, or, in her case, within an idealized estate. But as Austen explores the promise of habit in Mansfield Park, she also reveals the problems it can create. Most prominently, Austen's novel reminds us that the conditions for cultivating virtue through habituation can also function to cultivate vice or, what is more insidious, virtue understood as resignation and passivity rather than as active principle.

Aristotle's "Catharsis" as an Inspiration for Modern Drama Therapy

This work is an attempt to decipher the therapeutic essence of the Hellenic theater through the prism of "catharsis", starting with the Athenian orgy, when theatrical performances turned into a tool for collective healing. The article deals with the theoretical views of Aristotle, in whose aesthetics catharsis has become the main concept that testifies to the healing abilities of the Greek theater to purify and harmonize the personality. The author shows how these ideas can be used in modern theatrical art, helping to identify and eliminate the mental problems of today's audience. Dramatic "catharsis", named and analyzed in the theoretical system of Aristotle, in turn, became a theoretical generalization of the healing abilities of the Greek theater. The scientific novelty of this work lies in the fact that the study of the essence and form of healing in the Greek theater can be used as a theoretical basis for the development of modern drama therapy. The work uses an interdisciplinary approach, a cultural-historical method and the principle of comparative analysis in the 70-80s. In the twentieth century, drama therapy began to be explored as a separate discipline that awakened creativity and imagination, contributed to the reunification of people with their inner world, removed the burden of difficult experiences, changed behavior and life circumstances, thus revealing the healing abilities of theatrical "catharsis". The rise of modern theater therapy reflects a new direction in the development of psychotherapy and theater, as well as a return to the ancient traditions of healing and artistic creativity and the development of fresh ideas and new creative ideas based on them.

Many infinities, or only one?

In this short note we first account for Aristotle's views on infinity, by clarifying the way his notion of potential infinity should be understood, in the light of his notion of entelechy. We then present four distinct ways in which mathematicians attempted to tame the notion of actual infinity, and we ask the question of whether they are indeed four different ways, or whether they ultimately are variations on the same concept. We suggest that what mathematicians are doing is indeed to find a way to construct a form of actual infinity that subsumes, into itself, the potential infinity, and observe how the presence of the former brings to a different view about potential infinity than Aristotle's.

Socrates and Sortition

Abstract In consonance with the view of Aristotle in book 4 of the Politics, Montesquieu wrote that “selection by lot is in the nature of democracy; election by choice is in the nature of aristocracy.” Although the drawing of lots was a marker of classical Athenian democracy, Socrates — according to Xenophon's Memorabilia — was strongly opposed to it as irrational. According to Socrates and Plato, the citizen of a democracy exists in a moral anarchy, and every choice he makes is random, as if drawn by lot, hence the appropriateness of random choice as a principle of Athenian democracy. And yet, despite this negative assessment of the institution, Socrates was willing to participate in a lottery that made him a member of the Council of Five Hundred, the supreme political body of Athens. This essay — a contribution to the Common Knowledge symposium “Antipolitics” — attempts to explain this paradoxical stance, with reference to Plato's allusions to it.

Spinoza's Epistemology through a Geometrical Lens by Matthew Homan

Reviewed by: Spinoza's Epistemology through a Geometrical Lens by Matthew Homan Yitzhak Y. Melamed Matthew Homan. Spinoza's Epistemology through a Geometrical Lens. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021. Pp. xv + 256. Hardback, €114.39. Like most, if not all, of his contemporaries, Spinoza never developed a full-fledged philosophy of mathematics. Still, his numerous remarks about mathematics attest not only to his deep interest in the subject (a point that is also confirmed by the significant presence of mathematical books in his library), but also to his quite elaborate and perhaps unique understanding of the nature of mathematics. At the very center of his thought about mathematics stands a paradox (or, at least, an apparent paradox): Mathematics provides Spinoza with an epistemic model. Mathematical knowledge is certain (Spinoza, Opera, ed. Carl Gebhardt [Heidelberg: Carl Winters Universitätsbuchhandlung, 1925], referred to as G and cited by volume.page.line number; G II.138.9), clear (G IV.261.8), and free from teleological thinking (G II.79.33), but the objects of mathematical knowledge—namely, mathematical entities—are nothing but "auxilia imaginationis [aids of the imagination]" (G IV.57.16 and II.83.15; quotations are from The Collected Works of Spinoza, trans. Edwin Curley, 2 vols. [Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1985–2016]), entities that are not real and merely assist the imagination in carving up the world in a manner that is suitable to our limited and distortive cognitive capacities. Matthew Homan's new book is a study of Spinoza's epistemology "based on an interpretation of the epistemic and ontological status of mathematical entities in Spinoza" (4). The book has many virtues. It is well written, clear, and highly informed by the secondary literature. For the most part, Homan defends his claims through serious engagement and [End Page 329] consideration of objections and alternatives to his reading. The book is also quite ambitious in its scope as it describes Spinoza's response to skepticism, his view of the ontology of mathematics, his scientific methodology, his understanding of essence, and the notion of scientia intuitiva, the highest kind of cognition in Spinoza's epistemology. It is impossible to do justice to such a book in a brief review. For this reason, I will focus my discussion here on two critical points: one related to Spinoza's understanding of mathematics, the other to his understanding of the proper order of philosophizing. According to Homan, Spinoza is a (weak) realist about mathematics and mathematization. He defines this notion of realism as the thesis "that all finite bodies in nature are geometrical inasmuch as they have some figure—whether circular, triangular, or what have you—just by virtue of being spatially extended" (8). Thus, to count as a genuine realist it would suffice to assert that "bodies must have one kind of shape or another" (9). This radically relaxed definition of mathematical realism includes even views that assert that mathematical entities "exist [only] as properties of bodies" (8), as long as these entities (or properties) are mind-independent (views of this latter kind Homan calls "weak realism" [8]). According to Homan, the category of weak realism encompasses not only the views of Aristotle and his followers, but also those of Pierre Gassendi, Thomas Hobbes, and even Spinoza (9). One might question the analytical benefit of employing such a deflationary definition of mathematical realism (few philosophers will count as nonrealist under this definition), but for my part, I was still unsure whether Spinoza would count as a realist even under Homan's permissive definition. In one of his late letters, Spinoza notes that geometrical shapes are just "beings of reason, and not real beings" (G IV.335.4). Addressing this passage, Homan suggests that Spinoza might be referring in this passage only to shapes that are abstracted from concrete bodies, while shapes that are embedded determinations of concrete bodies are—so claims Homan—real (148; cf. 70). Unfortunately, Homan provides hardly any textual support for the suggestion that Spinoza draws such a distinction between different conceptions of shape. Moreover, one may wonder in what sense embedded shapes are the objects of mathematics (prima facie, geometrical proofs seem to be indifferent to the fact...

Avicenna's Theory of Science: Logic, Metaphysics, Epistemology by Riccardo Strobino

Reviewed by: Avicenna's Theory of Science: Logic, Metaphysics, Epistemology by Riccardo Strobino Thérèse-Anne Druart Riccardo Strobino. Avicenna's Theory of Science: Logic, Metaphysics, Epistemology. Oakland: University of California Press, 2021. Pp. xvi + 428. Hardback, $95.00. Strobino's remarkable book does not simply present Avicenna's theory of science; it also highlights the importance of demonstration not only for logic but also for metaphysics and epistemology. Hence, Strobino's work is essential to appreciate and better understand Avicenna's philosophy as a whole. Strobino grounds his research on Avicenna's theory of science in his Book of Demonstration in the Shifā', which focuses on Aristotle's Posterior Analytics. Taking into account the lack of any translation into English or any other main modern language as well as the lack of a full medieval Latin translation (only chapter 7 of book 3 exists in a medieval Latin version) of Avicenna's text, Strobino kindly provides in appendix C (357–71) a detailed "map" of this text, useful not only to readers who cannot handle Arabic but even to those who can, as the [End Page 326] text is so rich and complex. A simple but careful look at this map confirms what Strobino makes clear and insists upon: Avicenna greatly develops, enriches, completes, and even outgrows some of Aristotle's views. The Book of Demonstration is far more than a commentary on the Posterior Analytics; it is a complete reworking of it. Strobino shows that Avicenna grounds his theory of demonstration and science on two basic notions—conception (tasawwur) and assertion (tasdīq, which some other scholars translate as "assent")—and so gives a unified approach to his theory. Scientific conceptions require better understanding of definition and description. Avicenna builds definitions and descriptions on essentialism and, therefore, grounds them in metaphysics. As for scientific assertions, in contradistinction to nonscientific ones, they must be necessary and give the cause. Therefore, Avicenna places great importance on modality and develops modal syllogisms, whereas Aristotle focused on categorical syllogisms and neglected hypothetical and disjunctive syllogisms. Avicenna also elaborates a sophisticated account of modality and its metaphysical implications. Furthermore, he broadens and enriches the appreciation of causality and explanation. These developments, according to Strobino, lead Avicenna to set forth an intricate division and hierarchy of the sciences under metaphysics, which provides their ultimate principles and allows for a unified understanding of the sciences while respecting their particularities. According to Strobino, Avicenna is keen to develop a theory of science that gives a good account of science as it is practiced. Strobino carefully shows how Avicenna's theory better reflects this practice than does Aristotle's. Strobino does not simply highlight how much Avicenna distances himself from Aristotle and goes far beyond what the Posterior Analytics yields, but also shows how much Avicenna relies on points adumbrated by his predecessor al-Fārābī in his own Book of Demonstration. The way Strobino through his analysis of demonstration links Avicenna's understanding of logic, epistemology, and metaphysics underscores the coherence and unity of Avicenna's philosophy. Scholars were aware of the importance of demonstration for Avicenna in various philosophical fields, but until the release of this book, they seemed not to have fully grasped the centrality and essential role played by the Avicennian understanding and focus on demonstration. Of course, Strobino does not limit himself to an analysis of passages in the Book of Demonstration. He has an encompassing knowledge of Avicenna's texts and uses them well to flesh out and enrich what remains terse in the Book of Demonstration. He even takes into account the way one of his successors, al-Tūsī, reads him. He also shows an extensive and wide-ranging knowledge of Aristotle's texts and of Aristotelian scholarship, as well as an interest in the Greek commentators and Galen and their relevance for interpreting Avicenna. Avicenna's Theory of Science is not an easy book to read, as it is often very technical, particularly when dealing with purely logical points or issues, but reading it is rewarding if one does so slowly and meditatively. The author, in fact, illuminates difficult matters but does not waste words. From...

CULTURE OF THE CITY IN ANCIENT: STRUCTURE, PECULIARITIES, POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE

This article for the first time provides an overview of the ethnological, historical, demographic aspects of the city’s culture from a philosophical point of view, its genesis and evolution. Explanations were given to Plato’s ideas about the city, including records about the island of Atlantis or about the city on it, the opinions of researchers who were seriously interested in its mythological and real moments were analyzed, conclusions were drawn that Atlantis is an archetypal prototype of cities. Also, considering the social philosophy of Plato, whose ideas about other Greek polis are intertwined with forms of government, its historical cognitive significance is revealed. The author analyzes Aristotle’s ideas about the forms of power over society: royal power, aristocracy, polity; tyranny, oligarchy, democracy in terms of social philosophy. From the views of Aristotle on the policies, general conclusions were made: preference for military structures, spheres of spiritual life, such as education, politics, upbringing, etc. A philosophical analysis of the structure and political social significance, historical morality of the Roman city-capital of the Roman Empire was also carried out. As a result, the meaning and essence of the cities of the era of antiquity, structural and functional foundations were fixed.

The Ontological and Axiological Position of Tuche or Fortune in Aristotle's View

The Ontological and Axiological Position of Tuche or Fortune in Aristotle's View

Понятие насилия в социально-политической философии Аристотеля

Violence, despite all the democratic efforts of politicians, has not been overcome. As a result, humanity was forced to find a balance between violence and nonviolence. On the one hand, violence is necessary to maintain law and order, but on the other it needs to be normalized and regulated. Since the emergence of ancient philosophy, as the basis of European culture, many of its representatives have offered their ideas for a better way of life of society. One of the striking examples is the socio-political ideas of the great ancient philosopher Aristotle. He largely determined the course of devel-opment of further socio-political ideas in the history of Europe and the world. For this reason, the task of the study is to analyze and systematize Aristotle's views on violence. The main method of research is analysis. In his works, Aristotle examines many socio-political aspects in the life of society. They are all very diverse, but Aris-totle makes a detailed analysis and regulation on the degree of permissibility of the use of each type of violence, or prohibition.

THE PROBLEM OF GENERATION AND TIME IN PHILOSOPHY AND DAILY CONSCIOUSNESS

In this article, the category of generation was considered as an attribute of a person’s social life. In the course of work the ideas of Aristotle, one of the founders of philosophical science, representatives of German philosophy I.Kant and A.Schopenhauer, about the generation and their role and period in time, were studied. In particular, Aristotle views a man as a freedom-loving creature living in continuous motion. The magnitude of this movement is to determine its time by a person in which Aristotle explores activity in two directions: one biological, the other social. The direction of studying the surname, generation of a person in the past and present can be found in the works of I.Kant, A.Schopenhauer. The goal is to achieve a new stage of social change through the upbringing of a person, including the achievement of social and legal significance especially the level of a state. In the current generation of Kazakhstan, external objective situations, trends, and situations where they are aware of their internal time and associate it with social activity predominate. This ability makes young people go astray in understanding the essence and significance of the country. Therefore, it is difficult for the younger generation to assess their future. Because I.Kant defines the nature of posterity as his foresight. A.Schopenhauer is an individual, it is a subject that creates movement in one direction which, through self-identification, through the study of himself, cognizes others.K.Jaspers studies that an individual who listens to others and considers other people to be significant, valuable in society, creates a certain environment associated with his nation, population and spiritual traditions.