Moral foundations of family life. Practical lesson "moral foundations of life"

"The Moral Foundations of Family Life", which is designed for students in the tenth and 11th grades and should prepare them for "creating a strong, happy family with many children." The authors of the course are priest Dmitry Moiseev and nun Nina Krygina. In November, the Ministry of Education and Science will consider the issue of its inclusion in the list of mandatory. However, the course already has many opponents who point to incorrect statistics and the imposition of Orthodoxy in the textbook. The Village gathered the opinions of a protodeacon, a sexologist and other experts to see how good the new course is.

“On the basis of studies conducted in the United States and Europe regarding the mental abilities of people of different sexes, it was concluded that among men there are more highly gifted people and, at the same time, more mentally retarded individuals. That is, the range of mental abilities of men is much wider than that of women. (page 34)

"Scientific facts are mixed with statements of a religious nature"

It is a pity that the list of used literature is not indicated in the textbook. It is very interesting to read the studies, according to which, for example, “girls, even at 13 years old, do not have specialization of the hemispheres” (page 34). The authors also interpret real-life works in a very peculiar way: for example, from the information that men are generally more pretentious, they draw a conclusion about deep differences in psychology, recorded at the genetic level.

Not the most pleasant feature of the textbook is also the desire of the authors to mix unequal statements into one heap. So, in topic 5.2 "The Miracle of Life" there is an extremely simplified paragraph about the information encoded in DNA. A few lines later, the author of the section proceeds to the appearance of a soul in the zygote - and the tone of the narration does not change, and all this is presented as another common truth. Scientific facts are mixed with statements of a religious nature, which is incorrect, since matters of faith do not meet the Popper criterion (a criterion for the scientific nature of an empirical theory. - Approx. ed.), and for the scientific method it is the basis. It seems to me that the existence of a soul in a single cell does not fully correlate with the official position of the Church.

There are a number of universally valid norms that are valid for all times. These are the simplest requirements of morality - do not lie, do not steal, do not commit violence, which a person raises to his imperative command. Only on this moral basis can the personal independence of the individual be affirmed, his ability to direct his activity develop, to build his life meaningfully and responsibly.

Irresponsibility is most alien to individual independence. There is nothing more detrimental to personal integrity than unscrupulousness.

The most severe trials that befell people in the 20th century confirmed the validity of these statements. In 1938, the Viennese psychiatrist Bruno Bettelheim was imprisoned in a concentration camp. During the two years spent in Dachau and Buchenwald, he composed a book in his mind, which analyzed the state and behavior of people in the conditions of the monstrous mass experiments started by fascism. In 1960, she was published under the title "Enlightened Heart".

The purpose of the Nazi concentration camp, Bettelheim testified, was "the amputation of personality in a person" - the formation of an "ideal prisoner" who would react to the overseer's commands instantly, without reasoning, like an automaton or a frightened child. Keeping people in conditions of chronic malnutrition and herd crowding, applying humiliating punishments, supporting the “general background of terror” with the help of arbitrary executions, the Nazis basically achieved what they aspired to.

However, it turned out that the “ideal prisoner”, as a rule, became a completely unviable creature. After the “amputation of the personality”, the qualities of individuality and the individual were also destroyed in him: abilities atrophied, memory faded, even the instinct of self-preservation was dulled. The "ideal prisoner" was exhausted, but did not feel hungry until the warden shouted "eat", he moved mechanically, resignedly weakened and, finally, as they say, "all died out." According to Bettelheim, the quickest to turn into "ideal prisoners" were either prudent cynics, or people with bureaucratic-clerkish psychology, who never knew a duty that went beyond the instructions, and got used to thoughtlessly saying: "I had an order." And, on the contrary, those who are usually called rigorists resisted the destruction of personality longer and more successfully than others: “people of duty”, “people of principle”.

Universal moral norms form the foundation on which the whole variety of later moral values and norms is built.

It is possible to single out such characteristics of a person that he possesses while living in society:

1. A person is initially active, all his specific properties are formed in the course of the development of objective activity, that is, historically.

2. A person cannot exist without other people, because a specifically human way of life support - labor, by its origin, is already a collective joint activity.

3. The special significance that a person receives within society is ultimately determined by his place in a complex and diverse system of relations that develop in relation to social labor. All the special roles and virtues that distinguish one individual from another are social relations. Each of the qualities inherent in a separate individual is something real only insofar as it is realized as a relation of this individual to other people.

Morality is not just a means of social regulation of individual behavior, it is also a means of spiritual and personal survival of the individual himself. Where there are no freely chosen moral duties, the general degradation of man begins. I would like to agree with the opinion of the Eastern poet Anvari:

For man, thought is the crown of all living things,

And the purity of the soul is the basis of being.

By these signs we find a person:

He is above all creatures on earth from time immemorial.

And if he lives without thinking and not believing,

That person is indistinguishable from a beast.

The French sociologist E. Durkheim in his book “Suicide” drew attention to the fact that the calculation with life, as a rule, is preceded by an “anomaly” (lawlessness), a value-normative crisis, a state when nothing is sacred and not necessary for a person.

“He went and strangled himself,” says the Gospel about the end of Judas Iscariot, who renounced his principles and betrayed his teacher to his enemies. Even thirty pieces of silver appointed for betrayal lost all value and interest in the eyes of Judas: before his death, he threw them in the face of the paying priests. An anomaly, complete apathy and flight into death.

The vitality of an animal is instinctively involuntary. Human vitality is based on the will to live and involves constant personal effort. The meaning of life is essentially “superpragmatic”, the main question is: “what to live for?”. One of the heroes of V. M. Shukshin speaks like this: “Well, you live, well, you eat, well, you will give birth to children - why? .. I wish I was born once! BUT? Let it not be considered that he lived.

The search for the meaning of life is one of the most difficult tasks facing a person. Self-realization, deploying one's talent is possible only in society. A person is given not talents, but prerequisites, inclinations. For the self-realization of the individual, the principle of high humanism, a healthy team, benevolence, kindness are needed - in general, objective conditions that can raise the human spirit. Every normal person sooner or later asks himself the question of life and death, the finiteness of individual existence.

The reaction to the realization of one's mortality is different. A person lives, weighed down by the knowledge of his own impending death, although this knowledge is hidden in the hidden depths of consciousness. And the presence of such knowledge in the spiritual experience of a person largely explains the acuteness with which he faces the question of the meaning and purpose of life.

A person, realizing the finiteness of his earthly existence and wondering about the meaning of life, begins to develop his own attitude towards life and death.

And this theme occupies a central place in the entire culture of mankind. The history of world culture reveals the eternal connection between the search for the meaning of human life with attempts to unravel the mystery of non-existence, as well as with the desire to live forever, and if not materially, then at least spiritually, morally defeat death, for example, “No, all of me will not die” by A.S. . Pushkin.

Numerous sciences are engaged in the search for an answer to this question, each of which tries to offer a person certain solutions.

Philosophy appeals to the human mind and proceeds from the fact that a person himself is looking for an answer, making his own spiritual efforts.

The moral experience accumulated by mankind was comprehended for a long time within the framework of religious systems, and the generalization of the moral values justified by them was supported by references to the judgment and retribution that await everyone after death.

The philosophical concept of the meaning of human life comes primarily from its self-worth and self-goal, but it is important not only to see the meaning of human life in life itself, but also to answer the question: “Why live?”. Such a scientific understanding of human life is organically combined with a value approach. Human life turns out to be not random and not meaningless, since the individual is considered as part of the whole - human society.

The problem of the meaning of life has another side, relating to the real, natural and biological infinity of mankind and the immortality of its mind, as well as the possibility of other forms of life and mind, extraterrestrial civilizations in the infinite Universe. This extremely interesting side of the issue is widely discussed in modern scientific and philosophical literature. Cosmization of mankind (going out into the infinite expanses of the Universe in the future) will largely change our understanding of time, which will be associated with a new understanding of the meaning of human life, its activities, death and immortality, will lead to the realization of the cosmic destiny and responsibility of man and mankind.

I. Kant wrote that the most really necessary science for a person is that which will help a person to take a specified place in the world and teach him to be a person. He proclaimed man, human happiness (good, bliss) as the highest value and highest goal. The concept of the highest goals of the human mind, formulated by Kant, is imbued with humanism.

Humanism is a set of views expressing respect for the dignity and rights of a person, his value as a person; concern for the welfare of people, their comprehensive development, the creation of living conditions worthy of a person. As an ideological trend, humanism takes shape in the Renaissance (IV-VI centuries). During this period, humanism is the ideology of the progressive bourgeoisie, who fought against feudalism and the geological views of the Middle Ages.

Humanists proclaimed the freedom of the human person, the right of man to enjoy and satisfy earthly needs. The largest humanists of the Renaissance - F. Petrarch, A. Dante, D. Boccaccio, Leonardo da Vinci, E. Rotterdam, D. Bruno, F. Rabelais, M. Montaigne, N. Copernicus, W. Shakespeare, F. Bacon and others – played an important role in the formation of a new civic worldview.

Man is the main figure of society and its history. From this we must proceed when we consider humanistic traditions in the history of society. A person has many dimensions, but the most important thing is the awareness of freedom. The freedom of a person means his independence and emancipation, on the one hand, from natural, on the other hand, from social dependence. It is the need to preserve freedom that makes a person unite, because only the united efforts of people allow them to resist the realm of blind necessity, nature. Influencing nature, a person begins to use it for himself, expanding his tiny island of freedom.

The problem of freedom is closely related to the problem of justice. Justice is a moral category associated with historically changing ideas about human rights.

The ideas of humanism were incorporated into the system of traditions of human communication and have their own centuries-old history. In Russia, there have long been family dynasties of scientists, politicians, military figures, and industrialists. From the older generation to the younger, not only professional skills were passed on, but also norms of behavior, certain moral attitudes. The content of universal human values is the knowledge of language, literature, the ability to understand painting, art. This contributes to the development of humanism.

Each historical epoch forms its own values, which to one degree or another determine human behavior. In the process of his self-affirmation, a person relies on those values that seem undeniable to him. In our time, such undoubted values are peace, democracy, progress, and man himself as a value of a special kind. These values are closely related. This is a world in a democracy, a democracy serving the world, a person as the highest value and a democratic society with humanistic social institutions and relations; democratic society as a form of human community, conducive to solving the vital problems of mankind.

The knowledge of these values by each person serves as the basis for the formation of a holistic person. Hence, the image of a person appears in the unity of the material and spiritual world, when not only one side of his being, say, the rational, spiritual, as opposed to the bodily, biological, is recognized as a truly human essence. The image of a holistic person is based on the humanistic unity of spirit and nature, contained in the person himself.

The image of a new type of person is undoubtedly an ideal, but a vital ideal, to a certain extent determining the dialectics of objective and subjective personal forces of social development. This ideal of an integral person is objectified to a certain extent in the results of material and cultural activity.

Similar information.

F. R. WEISS
MORAL FOUNDATIONS OF LIFE

MINSK
"UNACTVA
1994

Published according to the edition:
Weiss F. R. Moral foundations of life. - St. Petersburg, 1881
For senior school age
Translation from French

Dear reader!

In your hands is an unusual book. She is about two centuries old. But, having appeared at the very beginning of the nineteenth century, it is still relevant and useful today. For it is dedicated to the moral foundations of life, its meaning, which is eternal for a person at all times, as well as for the society in which he lives.

Translated into Russian, these popular philosophical reflections were published as a separate book in 1881 in St. Petersburg and have not been republished.

Offering a new edition of the book, we do not make any abbreviations and do not claim that everything in it is flawless from the standpoint of modernity. We only want to emphasize that in this book there are many answers to many questions that life poses, from moral and ethical questions relating to an individual to broad public ones.

Written in a confessional, easily accessible manner, the book, nevertheless, is deep in content, philosophically pointed and generalized, and most importantly, readable, as if it were created today. "Philosophy of everyday life" - so capaciously one could say about the book.

We hope that it will become no less popular than the works of the famous American researcher in the field of human relations D. Carnegie.

So, good luck, reader. And if the book makes you think, encourages your soul to work, then our efforts are not in vain.
Yunatsva Publishing House

From the publisher (Introductory article to the St. Petersburg edition of 1881.)

When publishing a work by a writer who died long ago, but whose significance is best proved by the fact that the book offered to readers went through ten editions in its time (the last was in 1828), it is necessary to say a few words about the personality of the author himself, as well as about the reasons according to which the publisher considered the appearance of the aforementioned work to be useful for the modern Russian reading public.

Francis Rodolphe Weiss, a Swiss by birth, was born in Yverdun in 1751. Gifted by nature with remarkable abilities and an irresistible thirst for the acquisition of knowledge, he spent most of his life traveling. In his youth, he held the position of a bail in Moudon, then he was the head of the city guard in Bern, a member of the city council of the same city. Sympathizing with the ideas that then prevailed in France, he asked for and received a place as a plenipotentiary agent of the Berne Senate at the Paris Convention, and then was made in 1797 the commandant of the Vaad canton, where he remained until the French invaded Switzerland. After this event, Weiss left his political career and devoted the rest of his life to travel and literature. After living quite a long time in Germany, he returned after the 18th Brumer to his fatherland, where he found everything so changed that he could no longer count on getting any position or any occupation. Struck and heartbroken in his best dreams of benefiting society by personal service, he spent the rest of his life as a voluntary exile and, finally, unable to withstand the attacks of a terrible nervous illness, which he was subjected to as a result of the same failures and sorrows, committed suicide in Nyon in 1818.

Weiss wrote a rather large number of moral and philosophical works, but only the book now offered in translation, which in the original is entitled: "Principes philosophiques, politiques et moraux", brought him true authorial fame. Living in an age when idealistic philosophy was entering a period of its highest development and when almost everyone involved in philosophy rushed to solve higher metaphysical problems, Weiss was not carried away by this general current and, instead of a guy in the vague areas of metaphysics, chose a person with his moral activity as the subject of his research. found in the most ordinary events of everyday life. The expression "know thyself" would serve as a fine epigraph to his book, and it itself would best be entitled "The Philosophy of Everyday Life." Indeed, when reading his book, one cannot help but marvel at the sincerity and inexorable truth with which the author opens up the scalpel of philosophical research and brings to light those secret, fundamental motives that guide a person in the actions of his life, from the most important to the most ordinary. Nothing remains hidden before the penetrating gaze of a straightforward researcher. When reading a book, the reader, as it were, confesses to himself and is often forced against his will to confess and say: “Yes! Such are people, such is myself, such are my own motives and actions!

The conclusions and conclusions of the author sometimes breathe simplicity, reaching the point of naivety, especially when he talks about everyday trifles, but nine-tenths of our life consists precisely of trifles, and therefore, in order to get to know life well, these trifles cannot be left without research. The fact that it is written in the most understandable, simple language, which makes reading it equally accessible to people of all classes and conditions, at whatever stage of development they may be, gives a lot of dignity and interest to the book, which, unfortunately, cannot be said about most philosophical and moral writings. The tone and views of the author are so pure and sincere that sometimes they resemble almost evangelical simplicity.

In view of this significance of the book, the publisher believed that its appearance at the present time in Russian, in any case, would not be useless. In general, we cannot boast of the dissemination in our society of information that would have as an object the moral essence of man and, moreover, in that form of his activity that relates to the everyday facts of life. In this case, we, as in science, are more fond of solving world problems and consider it below our development and dignity to deal with closer and simpler questions. As for moral self-esteem, then in it (one can be sure that everyone who reads these lines will agree with this) we are very prone to self-delusion. If this book opens anyone's eyes to himself to some extent and helps to take a step along the path to true self-esteem and self-improvement, then its publication can already be considered to have brought the expected benefits from it.

In conclusion, it is necessary to remind the reader that the author of the book lived and wrote almost a hundred years ago; therefore, paying tribute to the justice of the philosophical and moral part of his work, it should be noted that the historical and other facts he cites in many cases can no longer have their former significance. The natural sciences, to which the author often refers, have gone far ahead; in our time there is also neither the Inquisition, nor many other abuses, and, finally, many views on social relations, which were considered correct at that time, have now changed completely, such as the question of the significance of women in society. Nevertheless, the prudent reader will understand that every author is the son of his age and can reason only on the basis of the facts that existed in his time, which, however, does not prevent his views and conclusions from remaining true and worthy of attention. The publisher did not consider himself entitled to make any editions in the work, except for the most insignificant, relating to questions that had already decidedly lost all significance, but, in any case, when reading a book, it is easy to separate outdated and erroneous from true and good in it, and this the latter lies in it, in the opinion of the publisher, is too sufficient to excite and interest the attention of readers.

FOREWORD

At twenty I considered myself a wise man, at thirty I began to suspect that I was nothing more than a fool. My rules were shaky, my judgments lacked restraint, my passions contradicted one another.

I saw a lot, read a lot and managed to experience in life almost as many joys as sorrows. I blamed fate and people indifferently. They were indeed to blame in many ways, but not to the extent that I imagined.

One happy day, I suddenly asked myself a bold question: did not people have as much reason to complain about me as I do about them? Looking impartially at my life, I seemed to see clearly that most of the events that I called misfortunes were caused by mistakes on my own part, that I had been fooled by my own youthful passions and that if I had less pride and stupidity and, conversely, more moderation and tact, I probably would have avoided many unpleasant situations, of which one memory still chills me.

This painful, but at the same time comforting confession, made by me to myself, led others. I wanted to know what my own beliefs and my knowledge were based on. I tried to give myself an account of my views and was struck by their inconsistent weakness in the most important questions. I saw clearly that my conclusions were dictated much more by routine and chance than by reason, that wit and someone else's example tempted me much more than the strict conclusions of my own mind, and that, having picked up an abyss of unnecessary information for nothing, I lost sight of the most necessary . Having become more modest, I began to look for a guide among the best writers. I wanted to borrow and develop for myself views equally alien to both superstition and wickedness, with the help of which my mind could bring my strivings into perfect harmony. But my attempt was in vain: one author turned out to be a hypocrite, another an atheist, one superficial, the other obscure.

The majority developed only individual issues, and the best were not alien to our common national shortcomings: they bowed to authority, encouraged slavery, or, even worse, showed a lack of experience, honesty and generosity.

Dissatisfied with them, I began to think about the issues that occupied me myself and, remembering everything I knew, developed my own system of worldview. The effect this system has had on my own happiness convinces me most of all of its truth.

Having thus established order in my thoughts, I was able to harmonize my feelings more, bring more consistency to my actions, and achieve better success in my undertakings. Before, I was always worried - now I have become calm; my former disgust for everything was replaced in me by a feeling of contentment. I realized that I could live with pleasure in society and not in the least be burdened by loneliness. If I could not continue to respect people, then I learned at least to forgive them, realizing that I myself often had to need their condescension.

Any increase in knowledge instills in everyone a desire to be more useful, and that is why I thought that a frank account of my past mistakes could warn other people from them. I have decided to present them not as a revelation of truth, but simply as a series of ordinary conjectures. Therefore, I invite every reader not to trust them unconditionally, but, on the contrary, to subject them to a mature discussion. I warn you that there are many people who consider themselves very smart, in whose eyes I am nothing more than an exalted head infected with exorbitant pride. And, perhaps, just to hide this pride, I am publishing my book not as an independent good work, but as a series of comments and additions to a work of this kind, which has not yet been written by anyone. Every person is obliged to give an account to society of his activities and strive to ensure that his life does not pass without an honest trace.

In pursuing this goal, I cared much less about fame than about the simple desire to be useful. I had not the slightest pretension to say anything new in the field in which the great writers of all ages labored. Fortunately for humanity, the principles I am talking about are as old as itself, and therefore modern authors are left here not so much to make new discoveries as to choose, compile and apply to circumstances already known for a long time.
People in general should be more concerned with improving the existing than striving to create something new. I wanted, under the cover of a possibly small book, to combine as many truths as possible, relating both to private and public life, but at the same time I constantly tried to avoid dryness and darkness. My object was to compose a short treatise on how to think, and at the same time to give the whole work that character of unity and harmony, which is so difficult to achieve when processing content borrowed from works of extremely diverse and, moreover, often holding completely opposite views. I wanted to speak in that mediating tone, which, bringing together completely opposite opinions, often manages to reconcile them with each other and bring them under one common system.

My plan is too broad, my subjects too varied, the limits within which I can act too narrow, and therefore I cannot claim to have accomplished my task perfectly. It is difficult to reconcile materiality with prejudice, morality with the demands of politics, strength with weakness, the true with the doubtful, and at the same time to speak about all this accurately, impressively and pleasantly. Of course, I have often sinned against this program in detail, but, comparing my work with attempts of this kind by my predecessors, it seems to me that I was happier than they were in general. However, who can point out to me an author who would not value his work above its dignity? Although I would very much like to hear the opinion of my book only from those who have read it from beginning to end, but I understand that this would mean asking too much.

Speaking of man in general, of course, I could only talk about objects that are already too well known, passions, causes and effects; but should an artist refuse to paint figures just because his paintings, just like those of his fellow craftsmen, will necessarily consist of eyes, mouths, legs and hands? I paint the way many paint, that is, because I feel the need for it, and not at all by profession. (Authorial vocation is one of the most unpleasant. The life of most writers, even the most brilliant, usually presents a picture of political persecution to which they were subjected, literary strife and material needs.) and at the same time, speaking sincerely, I myself attach as little importance to my work as, no doubt, the public will pay a little attention to it. I am accustomed to meet her censures with the same indifference with which she expresses them. I studied this public for a long time and more than once asked myself the question: are there many people among them whose praise could give me real pleasure? The answer to this question surprised me! Should I speak?.. It turned out that I did not know a single person whom I would like to please unconditionally. There are even many such people whose praise would be tantamount to the most humiliating reprimand for me, because by praising me, they would thereby prove that my moral principles are similar to their own.

This distrust of the judgment of others, however, did not destroy in me that respect that every reasonable person should have for his own opinions. If I am accused of having written a bad book, I will agree without much grief, consoling myself with the thought that wasting time on such work is by no means worse than wasting it on ordinary pleasures. Stupidity for stupidity - and besides, one is worth the other. If I cherished a chimera, then the pleasure it gave me was reality. Amusement delivered to oneself without the slightest intervention of someone else's whim, in any case, is pleasant. I liked my idea, it amused me, and often the morning work helped me to pass the evening cheerfully, although I readily admit that the result of my work turned out to be much lower than my expectations. To tell the truth, I was waiting to create something more and even felt that I was capable of it, but in order to achieve such a goal, more work and time had to be spent, which I did not want to waste without being sure of success. Say what you like, but my self as a secular person is always ready to make fun of my self as a writer.

Let's laugh, perhaps, together with me at his claim to teach the human race, but still forgive him for the honesty of his intentions!

However, whatever the result of my attempt, I still do not agree to say that my goal has not been achieved at all. First of all, I wanted to evaluate my moral being. A work of this kind is, in any case, a true depiction of the soul, the degree of knowledge and mental development. If its result is limited even to the fact that I myself become more modest, then even here I will consider myself rewarded. If they show me a lower place against the one I wanted to occupy, I will retire to this place without the slightest shame or bad mood, I will return again to the crowd, where, having been reduced to the level of a mere spectator, I will applaud without envy those who manage to shake the escaping laurels from me. Deprived of the title of a great man, I will without regret be satisfied with the modest title of a good man, which, perhaps, is much more suitable for my requirements, and, moreover, much calmer. I will give up tasks that are too difficult for me and, lulled by carelessness, I will peacefully taste the peace and embrace of golden mediocrity, comforting myself with the thought that I belong to the majority of people.

I protest in advance against the tyrannical verdict of the mob, which wants without fail to single out from its midst anyone who has submitted his thoughts to her judgment, and to set him apart from the class of people from whom much is demanded and, on the contrary, very little is given to them. Such people are usually thought very highly at first, and then reduced to an extremely low degree. Their words and deeds are constantly compared with what they write, and they are amazed, often finding that one is the opposite of the other. I warn you that the principles expressed in my book are far better than those that I have applied in practical life myself. The principles of my composition are among the finest, brightest images that ever appeared to my imagination, and, moreover, many truths I thought of only when it was too late to apply them to the case.

Although philosophy embraces in a broad sense all activities of the mind, its conclusions are much more understandable when they are applied to practical purposes. I have always preferred the real to the speculative and cared much more about content than about form. The manner of thinking of the philosophers made knowledge suspicious in my eyes, and I am sure that the lofty conclusions of metaphysics have produced many pedants, many hypocrites, and very few honest people.

The educated reader will understand from the first glance at my book that I could have written it much deeper and more thoroughly, but then I would not have been so sincere and the book would not have been widely distributed, and therefore would not have brought such benefits. I am very willing to talk with scientists, but I do not like to write for them. These gentlemen know everything even without me, but I, for my part, would only advise them to bring their theories closer to practice. I tried with all my might to follow this rule myself, and I also wish them success in that.

To learn, of course, should be the one who feels the most need for it. As for this book, without denying the usefulness of the teaching in people of mature age, I must say that I wrote it mainly for young men who are just beginning life. Let them be warned that by devoting themselves to the pursuit of the great, the true, and the just, they thereby sacrifice themselves to the public good! Perhaps they will have to suffer and endure for a long time because their views and feelings will contradict the views and feelings of the crowd. But let not their hearts be troubled! One more step towards self-improvement, and they will achieve that peaceful and conscious calmness with which a convinced person enters into himself and acquires that decisive sense of consciousness of his own dignity, which satisfies us even in the absence of the natural companions of virtue: friendship, trust and respect. They will feel strong enough in themselves to resist even misfortune and persecution, and they will get used to seeing the hand of good fortune in everything that concerns them. They will understand that the principles of life cannot be learned from the crowd, that nobility can always go hand in hand with straightforwardness, and that this latter achieves its goals only through courage, activity and perseverance. Passion for someone else's example will lose all charm for them; they will cease to be astonished at it, and thereby avoid the disgust that is the inevitable consequence of such teachings. My goal is to make them stop in time on this slippery path, where experience is acquired at too high a price and often already when the time has passed to take advantage of its instructions. I want to give them the true concepts of virtue, to warn them against being carried away by false virtues, and at the same time to prevent the danger that threatens them from false philosophical conclusions. Let them understand that life must be taken as it is, and not as we would like to make it. Finally, I would like to contribute to the education of their mind and heart; make them happy and useful!

Such are the moral foundations which I sincerely wish I had reached in my youth, and which I will certainly try to pass on to my own children. I had to endure a lot in my life as a result of my too late acquaintance with these fundamentals, and they saved me from many bad things when I managed to think of them. In this latter case, the success exceeded my wildest expectations.

If the thoughts I express may sometimes seem harsh, then I will object to this that, in my opinion, only firmly established truths can contribute to the formation of a firm character. Ordinary trivial rules, sufficient for childhood, will not make any impression on a person who has reached adulthood. People demand that even in the ability to bow before an inevitable disaster, there should be an energy capable of fighting a disaster of a lower degree, despising dangers and conquering obstacles. Although there is not a single fact in my book that has not been verified by experience and not explained in its consequences, I, however, accept responsibility only for the purity of my intentions, and in no way for the unconditional infallibility of my conclusions. The desire to be brief has compelled me sometimes to eliminate superfluous details and introductory explanations, as a result of which I may justly be reproached for the lack of connection in what I wrote; but I hope that this shortcoming will be rewarded with precision and clarity.

In my exposition, I tried to free myself from all scholastic rules and followed exclusively the order, which, as it seemed to me, was more in line with simple sound reasoning and the natural flow of consequences from their causes. I looked at a person in general from the point of view of his personal interest, which, as you know, is the main stimulus for all our activities.

Having first renounced all religious views, I began by instilling the conviction that virtue and honor are exactly the same thing, and only then only reinforced this conviction with religious conclusions. Having established the idea of religion, I proved the existence of a future life and God as a just judge and retributor for our sins and virtues.

The most difficult thing is to speak in a language that is equally understandable for all states. If a complete renunciation of prejudice is highly desirable in the educated upper classes, it is almost more useful to wish that these prejudices to some extent be preserved in the lower classes. To deprive the unfortunate of their imaginary consolations would be as cruel as deliberately inculcating heroic feelings in the hearts of slaves.

Different nations will hardly understand the truth if it is presented to them in the same form. Being unchangeable in its basis, truth may appear in detail under very diverse forms, depending on the time and place of its application to the case. In a poorly educated society, where the mind is still timid, and philosophy has not left the cradle, mediocre writings will certainly have more success than good ones, due to the simple circumstance that they are less at odds with accepted ideas and order. Three hundred years ago, compositions that are now recognized as exemplary would certainly have been classified as worthless. They would have been burned by the hand of an executioner, or at least they would not have been read, and this is due to the same reason why an ignoramus, yawning over the writings of Locke and Montesquieu, reads with delight some stupid tale about the adventures of Fortunatus or the beautiful Magelona, or by the same reason why thoughts freely expressed in London, Petersburg, Berlin, and more recently even in Vienna, would be forbidden in Paris, would be considered dangerous in Venice, godless in Rome, damned in Madrid and worthy of a fire in Lisbon. One and the same book cannot satisfy all people with its content, just as one and the same code of laws cannot be applied to different peoples. The climate, the state structure, the degree of enlightenment of society and its tolerance - everything should have an impact on the style of presentation of the author. I believe that I pay due tribute to the justice of my homeland, expressing the hope that I have not crossed the boundaries of these last conditions in relation to it.
If my main goal were to get better, it would cost me nothing to achieve this by softening my tone a little and flattering someone else's vanity, thus ensuring the triumph of my own. A few extra days of labor would be sufficient to smooth out those too harsh truths that neither serious nor careless people can please. I have asked many sensible people what effect they think my book will have. According to them, I will make a few mediocre friends and many sworn enemies.

However, I was more interested in the answer to another question, namely: will my book be useful? It will, they answered me. And if so, let them print it.
If highly developed people find that I was too restrained and did not finish many deeper and more serious thoughts, then I ask such people to remember that too much light for others may seem too dazzling. If I am reproached for being too light on other quite serious questions and, on the contrary, for being too strict with matters of secondary importance and if, finally, they find that I sometimes used too brilliant words and metaphors to the detriment of simplicity, then I will answer this, that in order to teach, one must first be liked, that in order to carry thoughts one must get them read, and that indulgence in trifles prompts one to take important subjects more seriously.

In general, my answer to all strict critics will be the same: write better! And then I will be the first to read you with pleasure and gratitude.

Only on this moral basis can the personal independence of the individual be affirmed, his ability to direct his activity develop, to build his life meaningfully and responsibly.

Irresponsibility is most alien to individual independence. There is nothing more detrimental to personal integrity than unscrupulousness.

Universal human moral norms form the foundation on which all the diversity of later moral values and norms is built.

It is possible to single out such characteristics of a person that he possesses while living in society: 1.

A person is initially active, all his specific properties are formed in the course of the development of objective activity, that is, historically. 2.

A person cannot exist without other people, because a specifically human way of life support - work, by its origin, is already a collective joint activity. 3.

The special significance that a person receives within society is ultimately determined by his place in a complex and diverse system of relations that develop in relation to social labor. All the special roles and virtues that distinguish one individual from another are social relations. Each of the qualities inherent in a separate individual is something real only insofar as it is realized as a relation of this individual to other people.

For man, thought is the crown of all living things,

And the purity of the soul is the basis of being.

By these signs we find a person:

He is above all creatures on earth from time immemorial.

And if he lives without thinking and not believing,

That person is indistinguishable from a beast.

The French sociologist E. Durkheim in his book "Suicide" drew attention to the fact that the calculation with life, as a rule, is preceded by an "anomaly" (lawlessness), a value-normative crisis, a state when nothing is sacred and not necessary for a person.

A person, realizing the finiteness of his earthly existence and wondering about the meaning of life, begins to develop his own attitude towards life and death.

Numerous sciences are engaged in the search for an answer to this question, each of which tries to offer a person certain solutions.

Philosophy appeals to the human mind and proceeds from the fact that a person himself is looking for an answer, making his own spiritual efforts.

Kant wrote that the most really necessary science for a person is that which will help a person to take a specified place in the world and teach him to be a person. He proclaimed man, human happiness (good, bliss) as the highest value and highest goal. The concept of the highest goals of the human mind, formulated by Kant, is imbued with humanism.

The problem of freedom is closely related to the problem of justice. Justice is a moral category associated with historically changing ideas about human rights.

5.4. Value understanding of human social problems

in consumer cooperation

Each historical era forms its own values, which to some extent determine human behavior.

In social work such values are: tolerance, empathy, charity. The values of consumer cooperation are also respect for a person, help, the fight against poverty, the revival of spirituality, care for society, and mutual assistance.

Cooperative culture is a socially significant creative activity, embodied in cooperative norms, values, and traditions.

Cooperative philosophy is a way of being a person in the world, a way of relating to the world through a system of cooperative values.

Social work in cooperation is a type of professional activity aimed at satisfying the socially guaranteed and personal interests of shareholders, at creating conditions that make it possible to alleviate life's difficulties and overcome poverty.

Psychology of management in cooperation is a branch of psychological science that studies the dynamics of human mental activity in personnel management in cooperation. Psychological relations in the management of cooperative organizations are determined by the specifics of the norms, tasks and values of the cooperative movement.

Consumer cooperation is characterized as a socially oriented system. This means that it realizes a social mission.

The social mission includes such features inherent only in cooperation as democracy, the dominant role of shareholders, autonomy, and also provides for the fight against poverty, providing people with work, taking care of the disabled, the disabled, pensioners, attracting women and youth to management and control bodies, and many others.

The fulfillment of the social mission of consumer cooperation is associated with the preservation of jobs at existing enterprises and the creation of new jobs by increasing the volume of activities and developing new industries. The implementation of the social mission includes an increase in household and industrial services for the population.

The task of consumer societies and unions is to turn cooperatives into centers of the spiritual life of the rural population.

Hence, the image of a person appears in the unity of the material and spiritual world, the image of a holistic person is based on the humanistic unity of spirit and nature, contained in the person himself. The ideal of a holistic person is objectified to a certain extent in the results of material and cultural activity.

Phenomenological reduction makes it possible to understand the human consciousness as a real participant in the real world. Without the inclusion of consciousness in a specific picture of the world, it is impossible to understand the world of cultural forms, as well as the evolution of the Universe.

Many authors, paying tribute to the time, attacked the thesis that consciousness reflects social being, calling this thesis meaningless. However, such a paradigm of thinking has not yet been created that would help rationally explain and predict all the phenomena of social life. Therefore, the problem of a holistic person as a subject and as an object of social work sounds so relevant.

Today, the problem of a holistic understanding of a person both as a subject and as an object of social work, its theoretical comprehension, modeling and practical, applied development as everyday social practice has arisen.

A place for the transfer of life experience from the past to the future. A strong family becomes the guardian of tradition and the creative laboratory of the new. ... The family is a place of love and warmth, constant work and good rest, ”the authors, the compilers and initiators of the experimental course, believe that Priest, Priest of the Church of the Nativity of Christ in Yekaterinburg D.A. Moiseev. and nun Nina (Krygina), a resident of the Sredneuralsky convent in honor of the icon of the Mother of God, a candidate of psychological sciences.

The need for this subject for high school students is obvious: the crisis of family relations is observed not only in Russian society, but throughout the world. Over the past century in our Fatherland, the connection between generations has been broken, the moral foundations of family traditions have been lost, and often family relations are of a formal, purely partnership nature. Truly family life in modern conditions is a feat, and one must prepare oneself for this.

The purpose of the course, as rightly considered by the authors of the textbook "The Moral Foundations of Family Life", is "the introduction of high school students into the traditional system of family values for our Fatherland, preparing them to create a strong, large, happy family"

This experiment was offered to 2 schools in the city of Sharya - No. 21 and No. 4.

The choice of the school as an experimental one was not accidental. Our school (No. 4) is a municipal support platform for spiritual and moral education. Since 2007, the school has been implementing the program of spiritual and moral education "Renaissance". A lot of experience has been accumulated on this topic. The family, its traditions, moral foundations have become an important direction in the work of the teaching staff. The ideological inspirer and true ascetic was Sheveleva Nina Alexandrovna, a teacher of the Russian language and literature. For a huge contribution to the spiritual and moral education of students, she was awarded high awards - a commemorative medal "1020th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia", a medal "For the moral feat of a teacher."

In order to increase the status and responsibility of the family to society, the state, systematic work is carried out at the school: parent conferences, literary lounges, folklore holidays, the participation of clergy in school events, the organization of online games for city schools - this is only a small part of what is traditional in our country. school and allows to involve all participants in the educational process with true family values.

In our opinion, an example of the relationship between parents and children, a boy and a girl, a man and a woman is the upbringing of children in the Romanov family. It is about the Romanov family that we are talking at historical and literary evenings that contribute to the revival of former family values in Russia.

We called the sincere conversation about the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna "Heavenly Angel", for she was a model of virtue, she knew how to forgive and love enemies, which is important for a Christian.

Vladimir Paley, poet, warrior, great martyr, was a discovery for us. It is to his short but bright life that we dedicated a poetic evening. Our students emotionally, sincerely, with special trepidation presented the image of a real citizen of Great Russia, a patriot who was not broken by the Bolsheviks and who did not betray his own father at the cost of his own life.

A significant addition to spiritual and moral education was the subjects of the spiritual and moral cycle introduced into the curriculum: "Origins" (grades 2-9), "Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture" as part of the course "Fundamentals of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics" (grades 4-5) and from this year - "The moral foundations of family life" (Grade 10)

For me, this experiment was a discovery and allowed me to be more critical of myself, my family, relationships within the family. The degree of responsibility is high: the teacher is required to have a high spiritual and moral level of development, professional skills. In addition, knowledge of developmental psychology, physiology of students is required. And most importantly, in my opinion, the teacher needs constant self-development and self-education, work on shortcomings in character, because in the eyes of students he should be a moral ideal, a model. He is required to behave correctly, tactfully. When submitting material, one should be careful, foresee a possible unpredictable reaction in advance, since at present many students live in disharmonious families.

The former Soviet version of the course - "Ethics and Psychology of Family Life" - considered family life as a subject of study, primarily from an ideological point of view. Existential and anthropological questions, spiritual ones were hardly raised. Listen to the titles of the topics that the authors of the new textbook offer us: “Who am I?”, “Me and others”, “Premarital relations”, “Wedding. The beginning of a life together "and others.

Realizing the psychological unpreparedness of students for a sincere conversation, you try to overcome the barrier that arises in the process of dialogue. I try to build my classes on the basis of trusting relationships. Illustrative material, literary examples help me in this (because I am a teacher of literature). In the new course, special attention is paid to the problems of family happiness, the meaning of life, which are considered in the context of family issues, personality, its place in society, as well as in the aspect of building a future family by it. The main thing for the teacher is not to require students to formally memorize educational material, but to perceive its content as personally significant. Family values should be experienced and projected by students for future family life. After all, I so want the Russian family to be strong, large and happy. The teacher must help build a hierarchy of personal values that will become a moral guide in the life of each student. The top of this hierarchical ladder should be the family (father, mother, children, happy childhood). A special niche is occupied by pious upbringing, respect for elders, striving for goodness, responsibility for the family and before it, and, of course, love for the Motherland and service to the Fatherland. In this I see my main task.

Shumilova L.I, teacher MOUSOSH №4

Portal for the student. Self-training

"Scientific facts are mixed with statements of a religious nature"

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