Being is a philosophical concept, conceptualizing the existence of phenomena and objects, synonymous with “existence” and “things”.
Being often acts as an element of the conceptual opposition (e.g., being and consciousness, being and thinking, being and essence). The problem of being is studied by such philosophical discipline as ontology.
Being in ancient philosophy
As an independent concept, being appears in ancient Greek philosophy, in the Eleatic doctrine.
Parmenides formulated thesis, which became one of the paradigms of Western ontological standing Thinking: Being is eternal and i’mmutable (неизменное) unity.
Opposing to being (moving manifold) (многообразие) is non-being. Being is the fullness (полнота) of all qualities that merge in the highest ‘certainty (определенность).
In its historical beginning, the category of being perceived (восприниматься) as controversial (спорный) and paradoxical construct.
On the one hand, being was a result of the first Greek philosophers, attempted (пытавшиеся) to find an universal principle of organization of the world. (“Logos” of Heraclitus, the “number” of Pythagoreans)
On the other hand, the category of being criticized by sophists (Gorgias) as an empty concept.
Plato proposed a solution of the antinomies of being in his teaching about “ ideas ”. Being of Plato is a set (совокупность) of inte’lligible (умопостигаемый) forms or essences – “ideas” – which is a reflection of the variety of real world.
Plato holds difference not only between being and becoming (становление), but between being and “beginningless beginning” (безначальное начало) of being which Plato calls as “ blessing ” (благо)
An important feature of Plato’s understanding of being was his connection with the category of truth. Truth is a result of ascension (восхождение) to the mere (истинно сущее), i.e. to the types of being.
In Aristotle’s philosophy:
Ø denial (отрицание) of being as the highest generic concept
Ø identifying being with the substantial essence of individual (единичной) thing
Ø attempt to divide different meanings of the word “to be”
Medieval philosophy was based on the well-known biblical self-determination of God: “I am mere (Jehovah)”
Various interpretations of being expressed in a dispute of realists and nominalists, respectively gravitating (тяготеть) to Platonism and Peripatetism.
Under the influence of Arab peripatetics ontology, distinction between essentia and existentia arises (возникает), which contains two aspects of being in general: its ideal content and its actual situation.
Thomas Aquinas indicates the aspect of creative being, which exists in being itself (ipsum esse), i.e. God as “ actus purus ” (pure act).
Being understood as the realization of all striving (стремящиеся) for perfection qualities, and nothingness is identified with evil as the absence of God.
Philosophy of Early modern time has put forward the problem of being in the form of Cartesian thesis
“ I think, therefore, I am ” (cogito, ergo sum).
At the same time, empiricism of the 17th century interpreted being as factual reality. However, gradually critique of the category of being improved.
In the German classical idealism, being is not a real predicate, but only positing (полагание) (Setzung) of certain content.
19 th century marked (ознаменован) by anti-scholastic ontologism. Idea of being criticized by Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Feuerbach, Nietzsche.
In the 20th century, directions, closed to neo-positivism, seek to solve the problem of being, which is considered as speculation with outstanding (непроясненными) linguistic expressions.
Heidegger’s philosophy can be regarded as a logical final chapter of critique of ontology (in the language of Heidegger – “Metaphysics”).
Being, according to Heidegger, is non-theoretical event (Ereignis) in the world of “things”, “Clearance” (просвет) (Lichtung) in the universe
• Space
• Time
• Field
• Matter
• Movement – Way, Logos
• Information
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent (протяжение) in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction.
Time is a one-dimensional quantity used to sequence (последовательность) events, to quantify the durations (длительность) of events
In physics, field is a physical quantity associated to each point of space-time.
Material objects are in a state of flux (постоянный поток), which is accompanied (сопровождать) by the exchange of energy.
In physics, energy (from Greek ἐνέργεια – energeia, “activity, operation”, from ἐνεργός - energos, “active, working”) is a quantity that is often understood as the ability to perform (выполнение) acts.
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