Yury Viktorovich Pushkarev, Elena Aleksandrovna Pushkareva Personality self-determination and its philosophical reflection: the value of philosophical knowledge

Introduction

In modern researches the problem of the personal adaptation (Zacher, 2016; Perikova, Bysova, 2018) (schoolchildren (Collie, Martin, 2017), students (Martens, Lairamore, 2016; Nagovitsyn, Saltykova, Maksimova, 2018), professional (Nilforooshan, Salimi, 2016; Savchenkov, 2018)) is actively investigated.

Such activity in this research area is associated with the rapidly changing conditions of the information society to which the modern person must be able to adapt quickly (Pushkarev, Pushkareva, 2016a).

Researchers is called the personal Adaptation in culture one of the main socio-psychological mechanisms of socialization. The personal Adaptation is directly related to its adaptation to changing conditions of the social environment.

Adaptation promotes adequate assimilation by the person of the world of culture which she masters in the course of training and education.

As sources of personality disadaptation researchers often call internal subjective personality traits or external social, emanating from the social environment.

Least of all, as a source of disadaptation of the personal researchers see significant changes in the information development of society, a huge array of information that a modern person needs to rethink.

In this article we turn to these reasons of personality disadaptation, investigate the relationship between self-determination of the person, successfully adapted in society, and its ability to reflect.

Materials and Methods

The methodology of the article is based on the philosophical analysis and generalization of scientific research in the field of information and knowledge development of society, philosophy of education, lifelong learning education.

Results

The adaptive capacity of the personal self-determination

In General, the research literature considers the following possible variety of personality adaptations (Krichevsky, Dubovskaya, 2009):

1. The personality Adaptation by overcoming the problematic socio-cultural situation. This is the so-called active adaptation, when the resources of the personal are mobilized to restore an adequate socio-cultural situation. In this situation, positive changes are formed primarily for the personal (acquisition of new knowledge and skills, the formation of social competence).
2. The personality Adaptation by means of leaving the problematic socio-cultural situation. This is the so-called “passive” adaptation, when a person undergoes changes that most often do not contribute to its self-actualization and self-improvement.
3. The personality Adaptation with preservation of a problem sociocultural situation and adaptation to it. This is the so-called “neutral” adaptation, which leads to the transformation of perception of the situation (for example, through the creation of its non-problematic subjective image), or to a deeper change in the personality itself.

These types of personal adaptation are considered by scientists on the basis of the methodology of adaptive processes of complex systems (Rastrigin, 1981), when the concept of adaptation as an active action has two General meanings:

– adaptation to a fixed environment (conventionally called passive adaptation);

– search for an environment adequate to the system (conventionally called active adaptation, respectively).

In the first case, the adaptive system functions in such a way as to perform its functions in the given environment in the best way, that is, it maximizes its criterion of efficiency of functioning in the given environment.

In the second case, the adaptive system functions in such a way as to change the environment in order to maximize the efficiency criterion, or an active search for an environment in which the desired comfort can be achieved.

In fact, both types of adaptation occur simultaneously and interact with each other. Plants have mainly passive adaptation, and animals have mainly active adaptation.

In social life and she and the other adaptation is manifested in equal measure.

In summary, we present the types of social adaptation in Table 1.

Researchers of social processes also distinguish the following varieties of socio-cultural adaptation: external – the process of the personality adaptation to objective external problems; internal – the process aimed at resolving various internal problems of the individual.

Social motives in the process of adaptation play the most important role, because they tend to focus on another person, on the social significance of educational activities. An important social motive of learning is the success of learning.

Developing various aspects of the problem of the personality self-determination of the student, we considered the adaptation mechanisms that determine the course of this process (Pushkareva, Sudorgina, 2012). Among those, the mechanism of identification plays the greatest role.

Table 1. The types of the personality adaptations

Under the mechanism of the personality self-determination we mean a stable sequence of changes in the attitudes and interactions of the personal, which leads to significant changes in its internal position on socio-cultural values and roles.

There is a problem of two types of identity − personal and social.

Personal identity is self-determination in terms of physical, intellectual and moral personality traits;

– social identity is self-determination in terms of self-identification to a certain social group (Andreeva, 2007).

– To identify personal identity, it is necessary to describe the “I-concept”, and to identify social identity, it is necessary to study the relationship of the personal with his group.

Researchers say that a person always strives to preserve a positive identity (Andreeva, 2001).

Its presence contributes to the perception of the world as more stable, reliable and fair. On the contrary, the loss of positive identity not only disorganizes its own inner world, but, as a rule, leads to disorganization of its impressions about the surrounding world (Pushkareva, 2014).

Adaptability through the ability of philosophical reflection

The most important indicator of the personality adaptability, from our point of view, is its ability to consciously and wilfully regulate the “flow” of sensations, vague ideas and unclear ideas. The way from vague ideas to clear concepts lies through the comprehension of the principles of cognition and ways of cognitive action.

Reflection is necessary to overcome the inertia of the personality of sensual thinking. Reflection-the ability to give up for the sake of truth from bias, from his personal subjectivity, educating the attitude to the truth as a process, taming the constant revision and improvement of concepts (Pushkarev, Pushkareva, 2015).

The term “reflection” (from lat. reflexio – “turning back”) is considered in various Humanities and is understood as the ability of human thinking to critical introspection (Pushkarev, Pushkareva, 2016b).

In pedagogical science, the concept of “reflection” is defined as the process of understanding something through study and comparison. Reflection is also understood as reflection, full of doubts, contradictions, experiences. Reflection is a special source of knowledge, based on the internal experience of the subject in contrast to the external experience of its sensations¹.

Modern personality needs to process (analyze) a large amount of information. This can be done successfully not so much with the help of modern computer technologies or large opportunities of information exchange in training, which is provided today by the international computer network of the Internet (Sizikova et al., 2017), but on the basis of a systematic knowledge of the methodology of analysis and synthesis of scientific and educational information.

Emphasis should be placed on systematic training aimed at analysing and synthesizing information (Trofimov, 2015; 2018).

¹ Pedagogical dictionary, http://www.pedpro.ru/termins/185.htm

Philosophical reflection and philosophical methodology

Philosophy as the science of the most General laws of nature, society and the process of cognition is the most General methodological system.

A modern researcher cannot successfully conduct research, determine the strategy and purpose of his research activities, if he does not know the General laws of science, which are the source in any scientific knowledge, or if the researcher does not know how to use them.

Philosophical methodology forms the highest level of methodological analysis, representing the:

– ideological generalization of the results of science,

– the analysis of the General forms and methods of scientific thinking,

– the analysis its categorical structure in terms of a particular picture of the world.

Philosophy forms the personality ability to think critically, to reflect (to think reflexively) (Pushkarev, Pushkareva, 2017).

The main purpose of philosophical knowledge is the development of reflexive abilities, the ability to read complex texts, to use abstract concepts, without which it is impossible not only scientific knowledge, but also thinking as such.

Conclusions

So, let’s sum up some results.

1. Social motives in the process of the personality adaptation play the most important role, because they tend to focus on another person, on the social significance of educational activities. An important social motive of learning is the success of learning.
2. The most important indicator of the personality adaptation, from our point of view, is its ability to consciously volitional self – regulation (reflection).
   Reflection is necessary to overcome the inertia of the personality of sensual thinking.
3. Modern personality needs to process (analyze) a large amount of information. This can be done successfully on the basis of the systematic methodology knowledge of analysis and synthesis of scientific and educational information.
4. Philosophy forms the personality ability to think critically, to reflect (to think reflexively). The main purpose of philosophical knowledge is the development of reflexive abilities.

In other words, the main value of philosophical knowledge is its ability to increase the level of the active personality adaptation in the modern information society.

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