From Tolerant Consciousness To World Cognition

Abstract

The article is devoted to the consideration of the tolerant consciousness problem in modern world: its nature, its formation conditions and its role in modern world cognition, which is in demand with a new force today for alleviating social tensions. Going to the world cognition, in its unity and integrity, being responsible for a fragile world are the tasks of every person living on earth. The social economic and political transformations of the world we live in have led people to the need of searching the ways leading to mutual respect, mutual tolerance, and mutually acceptable collaboration of all peoples and countries. Today, it seems to be eventual to protect young people from extremist influence and overcome the crisis in people's relationships through the education and upbringing of young generation on the basis of tolerant consciousness, in the vector of an interdisciplinary approach. The paths leading to the cultural processes cognition and modern world understanding depend both on the peoples living on earth and on a single person conquering envy, hate and intolerance inside him. The latter can be replaced by other forms of cognition, such as humanism, tolerance, respect. And this vector of cultural balance will lead to an awareness of one's own being in this world and the multiplication of good over evil in the modern world. We are children of one planet and a great responsibility for the world fate, for a rational solution of the controversial, global problems of our time lies with us.

Keywords: Tolerant consciousnesseducationyouthextremismthe world of a mansocial transformations

Introduction

Tolerant consciousness is the dominant of the new century, the general trend of the world process. Prejudice and intolerance are destroyed by tolerant consciousness that is carefully nurtured in the process of the world historical development from Socrates (Socrates, 2017), calling for a law-abiding behavior, Platon who believed that overspace ideas are the basis of social consciousness (Platon, 2016), Aristotle who believed that only people are able to unite in society voluntarily and consciously (Aristotle, 1976), Voltaire showing that all religions are merciful in their essence in the “Treatise on Religious Tolerance” (1763). Susan Mendus, D. Horton, M. Matravers, P. Nicholson, M. Walzer and others can be attributed to modern scholars of tolerant liberal interpretation. Many of them work at the University of York city in the UK, which is now a world center for the tolerance study. Life shows that nothing is able to replace the humanistic foundations laid in the ethnic image, culture and spiritual heritage of people. Tolerant consciousness depends on real life of a person and his needs world, forming on the basis of the spiritual heritage. A person often gets into an argument in this complex process, participates in discussions with a multitude of people of very different levels and statuses, while agreeing to compromises based on the interests and opinions of others. This is a great intellectual work and mental stress of the human brain. And a change in the person himself is happening in this process, in his consciousness and attitude to the issues that he needs to solve.

Problem Statement

The problem of tolerant consciousness attracts the attention of philosophers, psychologists, educators in order to understand the contradictions of man in the modern world, the specifics of complex relationships with his surrounding reality. The younger generation demands a special attitude to themselves today, taking into account the manifestation of xenophobia, extremism and other forms of intolerance, which gives rise to a crisis in people's attitudes in society. “Young people all over the world are looking for a new order, a world revolution is happening. But there is no feeling of joy from a new life born. The shadow fell on the world. The cycle of historical and cosmic catastrophes and landslides began” (Berdyaev, 1994). Considering the nature of tolerant consciousness in the world cognition under the circumstances, from our point of view, is relevant because the consciousness reveals the depth of human capabilities, flexibility of the human mind, wealth of the person inner world who is able to negotiate with the opposite side.

In the era of globalization, the world needs talented, rationally minded people with a stable psyche and being ready for the transformations taking place in the modern multipolar world. The process of globalization is carried out in the forms of economic, political and cultural integration, affects all sectors of society, upgrading social relations. Consequently, a value-practical approach to man and society development requires the understanding of tolerant consciousness nature. “Only a person - because he is an individual - can rise above himself as a living being, and, proceeding from one center, as if on the other side of space-time world. To make everything the subject of his cognition, including himself” (Scheler, 1994).

Research Questions

In fact, the natural essence of a person is not aggressive, but in modern life conditions, many people have circumstances causing fear of uncertainty, making it difficult to look at reality from the point of view of tolerant consciousness. Initially, tolerant consciousness does not question the dignity and diversity of other people, the diversity of their values. The main thing for a person is to determine with his being in this world, and to believe in the opportunity of his "I", as a creative principle. And in this regard, one of the most difficult task facing the education is to shape the younger generation worldview, being able to conduct a dialogue of cultures, bringing people together on mutually beneficial conditions. From A.G. Asmolov point of view, one of the tasks of “social cultural education upgrading is associated with the targeted formation of civic identity as a prerequisite for strengthening the society, as the “unity of diversity” and solidarity in the sphere of social and interpersonal relations of Russian citizens. Without solving this problem, the identity crisis, being observed in various regions and national republics, will increase, giving rise to political and social risks on the way of country development” (Asmolov, 2008). Everything new is attractive, but it is important what approach to this new thing for the benefit of the person himself, regardless of ethnic or religious affiliation, is chosen by mankind. This choice does not seem to be simple and should be approached from the rational thinking and tolerant consciousness position. The education and upbringing of young people on the basis of tolerant consciousness will help shape an ideological view that will help protect them from extremist influence. The humanism demonstration to another person, regardless of language, culture, religion, is simply because he is a human being and deserves respect. The culture of communication, respect, compassion, empathy and understanding of another individual is very important for the person adaptation in a modern world.

We live in a world with too many temptations, deceptions, lies that lead to the abyss, and a man as a rational being does not have the moral right to follow the wrong way, contrary to common sense, the truth of his being. Everything is much more complicated than what we see in everyday life, no simple recipes and short-term solutions exist. “A tense struggle for influence spheres, natural resources, minds and souls of people is taking place in the modern world. The Islamic factor, including Islamic fundamentalism, also plays an active and tangible role” (Mankiev, 2017). To our mind, with the established complicated relationships between nations in the modern world, we need a deliberate, balanced approach to the problems that have arisen, based on a tolerant consciousness, which will determine the cognition vector. The joint solution of the emerged problems may give positive results, which may partially or fully satisfy everyone. This is a kind of philosophical approach. Philosophy is a theoretical form of human cognition from the very beginning of its appearance. Today it is capable of showing tolerant consciousness possibilities, its nature being able to keep the mankind spiritual culture from the danger of extremism, nationalism, from the decay into many hostile forces, from hate, envy.

Everyone loves life, but life makes sense, it is important to love the meaning of life. Few can search for the life meaning; they live an everyday life and do not reflect on the high significance of man on this earth. “Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of people do not realize where they are going. They do not understand that the new society, to which they are moving, is so radically different from the Greek and Roman, medieval and traditionally industrial society, the agricultural society is different from the society of gatherers and hunters. Most people still cogitate in the categories of the first industrial revolution. People see that we have more and that they are better than they were fifty years ago and they mark it as progress” (Lorenz, 2008). Some people exist who had the meaning of life and lost it, cracked, despaired and do not want to search for a new meaning, and anyone rarely thinks that a person finds the life meaning when he joins the process of self-knowledge. Each of us has a hidden potential of the possibilities of our consciousness, which can unfold when we entirely join the world cognition, leaving the closed inner world. “The consciousness that a spiritual tradition brings you, rooted in the depths of the centuries, enables to oppose to all coming misfortunes a sense of secrecy, inspiring confidence” (Bonhoeffer, 1989).

A person builds his own life with the society direction, and in a modern information society, talented people who are creatively related to life are in demand. Where people of science, art, painting exist, there is no place for hostile forces, there the power of talent of the human mind and soul is found. Despite the fact that the power of talent is slowly born, but owing to creativity and talent, a person feels relevant in society and communicates with the whole world. The main thing is to preserve this fragile world, to rejoice in every day, small success, and if it passed you, do not despair, do not rush into panic. It is the period when young people are easily accessible to those who involve them in different groupings, imposing their ideology. Young people do not always have enough strength, intelligence and patience to resist the imposed ideology. Without attention from significant adults, an inexperienced young man with a weak immune system is influenced by informative extremism. “A human being possessing a mind is not only aware of finiteness, mortality, but also gets the opportunity to “see” the existing general and global movement tendency in which he is naturally involved. And since the world process is directional, the thinking person cannot but wonder and what its task is, the function in this single process. The motives are hidden in this circumstance, that cause the need to comprehend their purpose in the universe from a reasonable person, to perceive only his assigned role in the life of the universe” (Keligov, 2012).

The external world enters the inner world of man, where the consciousness, feelings, beliefs affect the external world, and this world is far from perfect, as well as the world of a man himself. The inner world of man has a very strong influence on the reasoning logic. In most cases, a person does not understand himself, because now everything in the world is formlessly and randomly changing. A person faces a difficult task to bring order into this chaos, which will be a peculiar call for a harmonious life. In this way, the consciousness, acquiring new knowledge, forms a belief that combines knowledge, faith and opinion into a single system. But faith is characterized by emotional relationships, which often lead to delusions and for some time these delusions dominate the mass consciousness of young people. If you deeply think about understanding of a person existence, his relationship with the world, then unwittingly, our attention is attracted by the question of the mutual responsibility of people. Perhaps, many people living on earth do not reflect on this disturbing question that affects any person, regardless of language, culture, traditions, nationality, religion. “There are many ways of being in the world, every of which has its advantages and disadvantages, and all of them are essential in order to make us people in the full sense of the word and solve the issues of our coexistence in this world”, says Feyerabend (Feyerabend, 1986).

Today, when instability, social transformations and globalization change human way of life, taking a responsible and tolerant approach to solving problems in everyday reality seems to be significant. Contrary to everything, each person creates his own world of being and his speculative ideas are aimed at achieving the set final goal to which he is heading. He wants to get answers to many questions which are peculiar only to him and sometimes he often forgets about those who are close and how he is responsible for them. This deep delusion and the desire to be saved alone give rise to even more problems. At the present stage of social development, a person, joining the global economy, comprehends soul-searching. The need for rapid material enrichment pushes him to rash actions. Many studies consider tolerance as respect and recognition of equality, but this way remains a great mystery and secret for most people in a difficult period of transformation and modernization of social relations. How to reach an agreement on mutually beneficial conditions, without prejudice to any of the parties? The desire to cooperate through mutual respect, taking into account the interests of all parties, is an obligatory condition in this situation. We need a new look at the problem of the modern world, guaranteeing the security of a person, understanding his openness to the world, the generosity of the soul, refusal to plunder natural resources. The modern consumer consciousness of a person should gradually pass into a tolerant consciousness between people, nations and countries. The problem of moral education in intercultural dialogue sets the task of a tolerant approach to humanity, since tolerance is a reasonable path to the truth. The views and beliefs of a person are formed through the dialogue of diverse cultures, ethics. The way to overcome the crisis in human relationships is much more difficult than the economic crisis, which is temporary. This is a serious emotional, intellectual work and mental stress for a person and any peoples living on earth. Changing the person himself, his stereotypes and consciousness will help to go adequately through this difficult, thorny life path, and take a worthy place in the world.

Humanity at the present stage of social development must take into account all the challenges of our time. “The modern world, nations living both in the East-West and the South-North are experiencing various kinds of challenges and threats. They are multifaceted, multidimensional, most often are of an anthropogenic character, resulting from the irresponsible activity of a reasonable person, his predatory inclinations, manifested in all spheres of social economic, spiritual and cultural life” (Akayev, 2017). It is substantial to prevent perceptions about the prevalence of peoples own exclusivity in relations between them, which can lead to confusion and interfere with the agreement achievement at various levels of interaction. Cultural equilibrium can be achieved through an understanding of tolerant consciousness nature, as an effective regulator of human relationships that guide people, nations, countries to the manifestation of humane relations based on moral values. “The true problem of the human species at their evolution stage is cultural inability to keep up with the times and fully adapt to the changes they have superinduced to this world. Since the problem that arose at the critical stage of their development, is inside, but not outside of a human being, taken both on an individual and collective level, its solution must come, mainly, from the inside of them... If we want to curb the technical revolution and rule humanity towards its worthy future, then we need, first of all, to think about changing the person himself, about the revolution inside the man” (Pechchei, 1985).

New, holistic knowledge about oneself, the environment, about the world will help a person determine his worthy path in the development of society, and his inner voice will reveal the secrets of tolerant consciousness nature of uniting people into a single whole. The preservation of the peoples cultural values, the multiplication of universal human values as the main capital of any society progress is an important condition for peaceful coexistence. Tolerant consciousness, as the conscious need for peaceful coexistence, helps to ensure that each person hears the voice of a person from another culture, sees the beauty of art, painting, sculpture of other ethnic groups. This will lead to the mutual enrichment of peoples and a special tolerant view formation of the world and a change in attitudes towards a person’s greatest value - real life. Under real life, one need to see the life that defines its meaning with all the joys, hopes, the ability to endure suffering adequately, the ability to deal with your own shortcomings, to realize the potential of abilities, improving educational and professional level. Each individual determines his essence, which is far from being on the surface.

Information tools make our planet an observable community for all people of the planet and lead to the realization that the world is diverse and, therefore, world views are also diverse. And in this diversity, a person needs to act on the strength of his abilities based on tolerant consciousness and mind. A difficult task is set before any person and mankind as a whole, how to save life and the planet from a thermonuclear threat, from an environmental problem, from terrorism and extremism. The main thing in this difficult period of human life is to search and find contact points and go to a global planar agreement in solving global problems. To come together in a common cause, to achieve some kind of agreement on the basis of tolerant consciousness, where the real possibilities of man and society are revealed, each nation position is defined including the evolution of a peace culture and friendly communities development. “Tolerance and respect for another culture are not expressed in the presence of a negative attitude towards them, but in the desire to know and borrow everything valuable and useful. Setting up dialogue and agreement is more difficult than rejection and hostility that do not contribute to personal development and demonstrate a narrow outlook and ignorance” (Tishkov, 2001).

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to identify the value nature of tolerant consciousness in the world and man cognition in the era of globalization, allowing for a constructive dialogue between them, revealing its understanding as an effective regulator of human relationships.

Research Methods

In consequence of the study, general philosophical methods (dialectical, analytical, hermeneutic, etc.) were used. A special place is given to the dialectical method used to show the dynamics of tolerant consciousness development in the modern world.

The hermeneutic method is used to understand tolerant consciousness nature: the need for peaceful coexistence, mutual enrichment of the world nations, awareness of their own being in the world, etc.

Interdisciplinary approach is the need to attract information and methods from other areas of humanitarian knowledge.

Findings

Tolerant consciousness is a directly given subjective reality, with the help of which a person changes the world and himself. Currently many theories are explaining the nature of tolerant consciousness. But these theories largely contradict each other and, generally speaking, do not give an answer to the question of what tolerant consciousness is in the problem of universal humanity. At one time, the famous medieval philosopher, one of the so-called “fathers of the church,” Augustine Aurelius, argued that the truth is hidden from man or as a punishment for his pride, or in order for him to exercise in humility.

Tolerant consciousness as the most important ideological category and value of society can find ways of compromise and mutual understanding in the knowledge of the modern world. Therefore, the aspiration of man to this higher and stable, and everlasting spiritual substance is an important and ineradicable psychological need, giving impetus to moral activity, the spiritual society development, without which no great accomplishments are possible. The establishment of economic, political and social ties that improve the human being depends on education quality based on tolerant consciousness. The peoples of the world should understand that the new model of human relationships leading to the world and man harmony lies through tolerant consciousness, since globalization processes affect all people on the planet.

Global problems make new demands on the existence of both man and the world as a whole and a great deal depends on the correct analysis and synthesis of the danger that threatens the world. A man, as a natural, social and spiritual being in the process of his life, should proceed from the fact that human development has no end, cognition is unlimited.

Conclusion

The need of the modern world is the development of tolerant consciousness. State-members of the UN declared the 16th of November as International Day of Tolerance. “Tolerance is what makes peace possible and leads from a war culture to a peace culture”, is said in the Declaration of Principles on Tolerance, adopted by General Conference of UNESCO in 1995. According to the documents of the United Nations and UNESCO, learning the peace culture means to build and develop social relations based on the principles of freedom, justice, democracy, tolerance and solidarity, rejection of any kind of violence. This type of social relations provides for the prevention of conflicts at an early stage of their development, through the elimination (or minimization) of the causes generating them, through the establishment of dialogue and negotiation.

Going from a tolerant consciousness to the sustainable development of the world on earth seems to be relevant, overcoming enormous contradictions in everyday reality. Today, every person needs to see and understand the global challenges threatening all people of the world and requiring global interaction, mutual tolerance, mutual respect for the progressive development.

Increasing self-demand and tolerance for other views, convictions, beliefs, traditions, and customs is necessary to find a reasonable compromise.

Tolerant consciousness is a kind of moral core of the modern world culture, increasing and improving the results of social collaboration in the era of globalization. “Tolerance must be effective, a way of listening the position of others, of improving the understanding and approach. The result of the dialogue and polylogue should be consequent on the death of categorical opposites, on the removal and transformation of the values that serve globalized spheres of human society, fundamental ideals - freedom, individual and society rights, target and value rationality, liberal and consocional democracy, etc” (Bilalov, 2017).

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