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Ibn Roshd (Ibn Rushd Muhammad, Averroes) (1126–1198)

Arab philosopher and scientist who lived in Spain during the caliphate of Cordova. Without breaking with the Muslim religion, he developed the materialist elements of Aristotle's philosophy. He tried to prove the eternity and uncreatability of matter and motion, denied the immortality of the individual soul and after-life. Founded the doctrine of twofold truth. Sharply criticised the mysticism of the Muslim theologian al-Ghazzali. His comments on the works of Aristotle played a great part in acquainting Europeans with ancient philosophy. His teaching (see Averroism) was persecuted by orthodox Muslims.

Ibn Sina, Abu-ali (Avicenna) (980–1037)

Philosopher and physician, natural scientist and poet of Central Asia; lived in Bokhara and Iran. Although faithful to Islam, played a considerable role in spreading among the Arabs and, through them, in Europe, the philosophical and scientific heritage of the ancient world, above all the teachings of Aristotle. Did much to consolidate rational thinking and propagate natural science and mathematics. In his philosophy preserved both the materialist and idealist tendencies of Aristotle, deviating on some questions from Aristotelianism towards Neo-Platonism. Developed Aristotle's logic, physics and metaphysics. Recognised the eternity of matter, considering it the cause of diversity of individual things, and opposed astrological and other superstitions. His main work, Danesh-name (Book of Knowledge), gives a concise exposition of his views on logic and physics.

Idea

A philosophical term denoting "sense", "meaning", "essence", and closely connected with the categories of thinking and being. In the history of philosophy the category of Idea is used in different senses. When an Idea is regarded only as existing in the mind it denotes: (1) a sensory image that arises in the mind as a reflection of sensory objects (see Naive Realism); (2) "sense" or "essence" of things reducible to sensations and impressions of the subject or to the creative principle which gives being to the Universe (see Subjective Idealism).

In some philosophical systems Idea also denoted the materialist principle. Democritus, for example, called his atoms "ideas". In systems of objective idealism the Idea is the objectively existing essence of all things (see Objective Idea). In Hegel's philosophy, for example, the Idea—the sense and creator of all things—developing purely logically, passes through three stages: objective, subjective, and absolute.

Proper understanding of the relation of thinking to being helps solve the question of Idea. This question has been scientifically and consistently elaborated only in dialectical materialism, which regards Idea as a reflection of objective reality. At the same time it stresses the reverse influence of Idea on the development of material reality with the object of transforming it.

Idea is also understood as a form, a method of cognition, the purpose of which is to formulate the generalised theoretical principle explaining the essence, the law of phenomena. Such, for example, is the idea of the materiality of the world, the dual corpuscular-wave nature of substance and field, and so on.

Ideal

1. Social Ideal. A conception of a perfect social system corresponding to the economic and political interests of a social group, the ultimate goal of that group's aspirations and activity. The Social Ideal is attainable only if it reflects the objective tendencies of social development. The Social Ideal of the proletariat is the establishment of communism, a highly organised society of free and socially conscious members, in which the principle "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" will prevail. The Social Ideal of the bourgeoisie—reconciliation of classes and removal of anarchy in production, while preserving private ownership, social inequality and exploitation—is a utopia.

2. Ethical Ideal. Traits of a character, its moral qualities and corresponding behaviour considered as a model of moral perfection. Ethical Ideal reflects the socio-economic condition of a class and conforms to its criterion of morality and the social ideal. The Ethical Ideal of the working class contains such traits as collectivism, comradely mutual assistance, internationalism, humaneness, a high sense of social duty, truthfulness, modesty, etc.

3. Aesthetical Ideal. The free, fullest, all-round harmonious development of the physical and spiritual capabilities of the individual possible in given concrete historical conditions. It is reflected in the ideas of a given class or people, especially synthesised in typical artistic images. The Aesthetical Ideal is historical, but in the course of man's aesthetical development it acquires the significance of a standard and model and is an objective criterion in the assessment of the beautiful in life and art.

Pre-Marxist doctrines deduced the Aesthetical Ideal from speculative principles, unrelated to work and socio-political activity. Nevertheless, alongside the historical limitations in certain aspects, the Aesthetical Ideal of past epochs (ancient Greece, the Renaissance), contained some general human elements of the human personality, realised to a certain extent in those epochs. The Aesthetical Ideal of communism is a higher and qualitatively new stage in the aesthetical development of mankind. It is based on the all-round integral development of the creative powers of each man, who harmoniously combines spiritual wealth, moral purity and physical perfection.

Ideal, The

A characteristic of human consciousness based on its epistemological contrast to the material, to matter. Consciousness, the mind, is ideal because it is a reflection of the material world in subjective images, concepts, ideas. The meaning and sense of images and language, with the help of which an ideal reflection of reality is achieved, are not something material, although the mind functions only with the help of definite material means and processes (practical activity of society, physiology of the central nervous system, signal means of communication through language, etc.).

The mind, operating not with things themselves, but only with their images, meaning and sense which act as "substitutes" of things, as their models, can reflect the essence of real things, study objective laws and, basing itself on them, create designs of a not yet existent future. The mind can also produce illusory ideas and concepts which distort objective reality. That is why scientific cognition must constantly counterpose and compare its knowledge of objects with the objects themselves to ascertain how exactly and fully our knowledge reflects objective reality, in other words, how true our knowledge is.

Idealisation

An act of thought associated with the formation of some abstract objects which cannot be realised or created in practice experimentally. Idealised objects are cases of extremes of certain real objects; they serve as a means for the scientific analysis of the real objects and a basis for constructing theories about them; they ultimately act as reflections of objective things, processes and phenomena.

The following concepts are examples of idealised objects: "point", "straight line", "actual infinity" in mathematics; "absolutely solid body", "ideal gas", "absolutely black body" in physics; "ideal solution" in physical chemistry. Together with abstraction, with which it is closely associated, Idealisation is a powerful means of cognising the laws of reality.

Idealism

A philosophical trend diametrically opposed to materialism in the solution of the fundamental question of philosophy (see Fundamental Question of Philosophy). Idealism proceeds from the principle that the spiritual, non-material, is primary and the material is secondary, which brings it closer to the ideas of religion on the finiteness of the world in time and space and its creation by God. Idealism regards consciousness in isolation from nature, as a result of which it inevitably misleads human consciousness and the cognitive process and, as a rule, advocates scepticism and agnosticism.

To materialist determinism consistent Idealism counterposes the teleological point of view (see Teleology). Marxism-Leninism, in contrast to metaphysical and vulgar materialism, which regards Idealism merely as an absurdity and nonsense, stresses the existence of epistemological roots in any concrete form of Idealism. (See Lenin, Vol. 38, p. 363.) As theoretical thinking develops, even the most elementary abstraction offers the possibility of Idealism—the divorcement of concepts from their objects. This possibility turns into reality only in a class society where Idealism arises as a science-like continuation of the fantastic concepts of mythology and religion.

In contrast to materialism, Idealism is usually rooted socially in the world outlook of conservative and reactionary sections and classes interested neither in the correct reflection of being, nor in the development of the productive forces, nor in a radical reconstruction of social relations. Idealism turns into an absolute the inevitable difficulties in the development of human knowledge and thereby retards scientific progress. At the same time some idealist philosophers, by raising new epistemological questions and seeking to understand the cognitive process, gave an impulse to the study of a number of philosophical problems (for example, in the dialectics of concepts Hegel "surmised" the dialectics of things).

Marxism-Leninism divides the varieties of Idealism into two groups: Objective Idealism which takes as the basis of reality a personal or impersonal spirit, some kind of superindividual mind; Subjective Idealism which construes the world on the basis of the distinctions of individual consciousness. But the difference between subjective and objective Idealism is not absolute. Many objective idealist systems contain elements of subjective Idealism; on the other hand, subjective idealists, in an effort to get away from solipsism often adopt the position of Objective Idealism.

Objective idealist doctrines first arose in the East (see Vedanta, Confucianism). The philosophy of Plato was a classical form of Objective Idealism. Connection with religious and mythological ideas was typical of Plato's Objective Idealism, and of ancient Idealism in general. This connection was extended at the beginning of our era, during the crisis of ancient society, when Neo-Platonism developed. The latter became closely intertwined also with extreme mysticism. This feature became even more pronounced during the Middle Ages, when philosophy was completely subordinated to Christian and Muslim theology (see St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas).

After Thomas Aquinas, the main concept of objective idealistic and scholastic philosophy became the concept of the non-material form, treated as the purposeful element which fulfils the will of preternatural God who wisely planned the world, finite in space and time. Beginning with Descartes, Subjective Idealism increasingly developed in bourgeois philosophy as individualistic motives grew stronger. The epistemological part of Berkeley's system and Hume's philosophy became the classical expression of Subjective Idealism.

In the philosophy of Kant, materialist assertion of the independence of "things-in-themselves" from the subject's consciousness was combined, on the one hand, with the subjective idealist thesis of a priori forms of consciousness, a thesis providing a basis for agnosticism, and, on the other, with the objective idealist recognition of the superindividual nature of these forms. Subsequently, the subjective idealist tendency prevailed in the philosophy of Fichte while the objective idealist tendency, in the philosophy of Schelling and especially Hegel, the author of an all-embracing system of dialectical Idealism.

The evolution of Idealism after the disintegration of the Hegelian school was a result of the bourgeoisie abandoning its progressive social role and fighting against the philosophy of dialectical materialism. There appeared many teachings standing "between" or even allegedly "above" materialism and Idealism (see Positivism; Neo-Realism). Agnostic and irrationalist trends, disbelief in human reason and the future of mankind grew stronger.

Capitalism's general crisis has led to the spread of such forms of Idealism as existentialism and neo-positivism. The same cause has led to the revival of a number of schools of Catholic philosophy, Neo-Thomism in the first place. These are the three main trends of Idealism, in the mid-1920s, but the fragmentation of Idealism into small epigonic schools continues to this day. The main social causes for the "diversity" of forms of contemporary Idealism (see Phenomenology; Critical Realism; Personalism; Pragmatism; Philosophy of Life) are the disintegration of bourgeois consciousness and the desire to consolidate the illusory "independence" of idealist philosophy from the political forces of imperialism.

On the other hand, an opposite process is under way, the rapprochement and even "hybridisation" of various trends of contemporary Idealism on the basis of their common anticommunist stand. The scientific groundwork for a critique of the contemporary forms of Idealism were laid by Lenin in Materialism and Empirio-Criticism, in which he gave a Marxist analysis not only of the Machist variety of positivism, but also of the main content of all bourgeois philosophy in the epoch of imperialism.

Idealism, Objective

One of the main varieties of idealism. It holds that the spirit is primary and matter secondary, derivative. As distinct from Subjective Idealism, it regards as the prime source of being not the personal, human mind, but some objective other-world consciousness, the "absolute spirit", "universal reason", etc. Plato was the greatest objective idealist of antiquity and Hegel its classical representative in the 19th century. In contemporary philosophy Objective Idealism is represented by Neo-Thomism, personalism, and other trends. Objective Idealism as a rule merges with theology and furnishes a peculiar philosophical basis of religion.

Idealism, Physical

The name given by Lenin in his Materialism and Empirio-Criticism to the subjective-idealist views in modern physics. The breakup of old physical ideas associated with the discoveries at the turn of the century (see Radioactivity; Theory of Relativity) led to a crisis in physics and brought to the fore two factors in the development of this science: its mathematisation and the principle of relativity of knowledge.

Lenin demonstrated that these factors were responsible for the spread of Physical Idealism among scientists who, because of their social position, did not know dialectical materialism. First, the disappearance of sensory visuality in studying the most simple objects of physics and their description in abstract mathematical terms led to the erroneous conclusion that "matter vanished" and only mathematical equations remained. Second, the collapse of customary concepts, coupled with ignorance of the dialectics of absolute and relative truth, led scientists to assert the "pure relativity" of man's knowledge, to deny objective truth and ultimately, to adhere to idealism and agnosticism.

Contemporary Physical Idealism seeks to explain the characteristic features of modern physics by the properties of the subject (observer) who describes the world with the help of a priori mathematics and measurements by instruments. This explanation ultimately rests on the so-called principle of observability, according to which a theory must contain nothing which does not correspond to the subject's direct sensory experience. As a result, Physical Idealism denies the objectivity of knowledge and thereby hampers the development of science. But the progress of science refutes Physical Idealism and confirms the need for a union of physics with the philosophy of dialectical materialism.

Idealism, Physiological

A subjective idealist theory current among biologists and medical men in the mid-19th century. It was founded by Johannes Müller. Feuerbach was the first to use the term "Physiological Idealism". The untenability of this doctrine, revealed by Lenin in his Materialism and Empirio-Criticism arises from its overestimating the dependence of the content of sensations on the activity of the sense-organs. Sensations were regarded not as an image of the objectively real world, but as a symbol of it.

According to Müller, the colour spectrum, the timbre of sound, and the distinctions of taste and smell are determined only by the structural and functional features of the corresponding sense-organs. Supporters of Physiological Idealism raised to an absolute the relative independence of a number of physiological reactions in the organism vis-à-vis the intensity and quality of the external stimuli. The organism was thus put in contrast to the external environment, which was considered as "the external switch" of the autonomously acting sense-organs.

Theories close to Physiological Idealism are now current among some bourgeois natural scientists. These include psycho-somatics, the so-called stress concept, holism, various doctrines of autogenesis and conditionalism.

Idealism, Subjective

A philosophical trend, according to which the objective world cannot be regarded as existing independently of man's cognitive activity and means of cognition. Consistent subjective idealists end up in solipsism. The classical exponents of Subjective Idealism were Berkeley, Fichte, Mach. The modern varieties of Subjective Idealism are pragmatism, operationism, neo-positivism, existentialism, etc.

Subjective Idealism's theory of knowledge is based on an absolutisation of the subjective sides of the real process of cognition. Actually, however, the fact that cognition is subjective does not deny its objective content and source. Practice furnishes proof of the objective nature of our knowledge. At the same time, the subjective and the objective can be contraposed only within the framework of the fundamental question of philosophy (see Idealism; Objective Idealism).

Idealistic Understanding of History

A teaching which regards ideas, theories, people's consciousness, etc., as the main force of social development. Its rule over science was undivided prior to Marx. The development of society was explained either by the activity of an "absolute idea", "universal reason", superindividual mind (for example, Hegel) or the activity of an outstanding personality (for example, Young Hegelians, Narodniks).

Pre-Marxist materialist philosophy also did not go beyond the bounds of these ideas. The 18th century French materialists held that the course of history depends on the views of people, on the spread of knowledge. Feuerbach associated periods in history with changes in religion, and so on.

Contemporary reactionary sociology is completely dominated by idealism, denial of the existence of objective laws governing the development of society, voluntarism, different variants of racialism and Malthusianism. It seeks either to spread pessimism and disbelief in historical progress or to divert the attention of the people from struggle for the revolutionary transformation of social relations. Historical materialism is the scientific theory of social development.

Identically True Statements

Propositions, expressions or formulas of the logical calculi, which are true given any truth-values of their variables. All the laws of formal logic are identically true. Accordingly, identically false propositions or formulas are false given any truth-values of their variables.

Identity

A category expressing the equality and similarity of an object or phenomenon with itself or the equality of several objects. Objects A and B are identical if and only if all the properties (and relations) which characterise A, also characterise B, and vice versa (Leibniz's law). But since material reality undergoes a constant change, there cannot be objects absolutely identified with themselves even in their essential, basic properties.

Identity is concrete, not abstract, i.e., it contains inherent distinctions, contradictions which are resolved in the process of development due to given conditions. The very identification of objects requires that they be distinguished beforehand; on the other hand, various objects often need to be identified (for instance, with a view to classifying them). This means that Identity is inseparably connected with distinction and is relative. Every Identity of things is temporary and transient, while their development and change are absolute.

The exact sciences, however, make use of the abstract Identity, i.e., abstracted from the development of things, in conformity with the afore-mentioned Leibniz's law, since idealisation and simplification of reality are possible and necessary in certain conditions during the process of cognition. The logical law of identity is also formulated with similar limitations. But extension of the application of this law to reality, which is a feature of metaphysics, leads to the conclusion that things are invariable, constant.

Identity, Law of

A law of logic, according to which every meaningful expression (concept, judgement) must be used in reasoning in the same meaning. The premise of its implementation is the possibility to identify or distinguish between the objects which are the subject of judgement. In actual fact, however, this identification and this distinction are not always possible. For this reason the Law of Identity implies some idealisation of the actual character of the objects which are discussed in a given judgement (abstraction from their development and changes), this being determined by the relative stability of things and phenomena in the objective world.

The Law of Identity as described above must be distinguished from the formulas of the logical calculi which are a formal analogy of it. These formulas are as follows: A→A and A≡A in the propositional calculus (they read: "If A then A", "A is equivalent to A"); ∀x(F(x)→F(x)) in the predicate calculus (it reads: "For every object x in the domain in question it is correct that if x has the property of F, then x has this property"), and others. Such formulas are identically true statements, or tautologies and are also usually known as the Law of Identity.

Ideology

A system of views and ideas: political, legal, ethical, aesthetical, religious, philosophical. Ideology is part of the superstructure and as such ultimately reflects economic relations. In a society with antagonistic classes ideological struggle corresponds to the class struggle.

Ideology may be scientific or unscientific, a true or false reflection of reality. The interests of reactionary classes nurture a false ideology, the interests of progressive, revolutionary classes help shape a scientific ideology. Marxism-Leninism is a truly scientific ideology (and, more broadly, a worldview — ed.), expressing the vital interests of the working class and the overwhelming majority of mankind striving for peace, freedom and progress.

The development of ideology is determined by the economy, but ideology possesses a certain relative independence. This is expressed in the impossibility of directly explaining the content of ideology by economics and also in a certain unevenness in economic and ideological development. Moreover, the relative independence of ideology is manifested more in the operation of internal laws of ideological development which are not directly reducible to economics, in the ideological spheres most removed from the economic basis. The relative independence of ideology is explained by the fact that ideological evolution is affected indirectly by a number of extra-economic factors: internal continuity in the development of ideology, the personal role of individual ideologists, the mutual influence of various forms of ideology, etc.

Illusion

Distorted perception of reality. We distinguish two types of illusion. One is caused by unusual external conditions in which the objects are perceived; in such cases the physiological mechanisms function normally. The other is determined by the pathological functioning of physiological mechanisms taking part in perception.

Idealist philosophers frequently utilise illusion as an argument to prove that our perception of the outside world is inadequate. But the very fact that we are able to single out illusion as a separate class of phenomena and oppose them to adequate perceptions attests to the falsity of the agnostic "conclusions". Illusion should be distinguished from hallucinations which, unlike illusions, arise in the absence of the external objects.

Image, Artistic

A specific method employed in art for reproducing objective reality, in a living, concrete, sensuous, directly perceivable form in terms of a definite aesthetic ideal. The Marxist-Leninist theory of reflection provides the epistemological basis for the correct understanding of the essence of artistic image.

Artistic image has a number of distinctions which differentiate it from scientific concepts, political ideas or moral principles. It represents an inseverable, interconnected unity of the sensuous and logical, concrete and abstract, immediate and mediated, individual and universal, accidental and necessary, external and internal, part and whole, appearance and essence, form and content. The dialectical unity of these opposite aspects, effected by methods proper to each art, produces images of characters, events and circumstances expressing definite aesthetic ideas and sentiments and conveying lofty ideas and emotions. Imagination plays an exceptional part in creating artistic image.

Imagination

The ability to create new sensual or thought images in the human consciousness on the basis of the conversion of impressions gathered from reality but not encountered in the reality given at a particular moment. A man acquires imagination through work, which without imagination could be neither purposeful nor fruitful.

Psychology classifies imagination according to the degree of pre-intention (voluntary and involuntary imagination), of activity (reproductive and creative imagination), and generalisation (scientific, inventive, artistic, religious, etc.). In Lenin's words, "in the simplest generalisation, in the most elementary general idea ('table' in general) there is a certain bit of fantasy". (Vol. 38, p. 372.)

The scientist's imagination helps him to know the world by evolving hypotheses, model concepts, ideas for experiments. The function of the imagination is particularly important in creative art. Here it serves not only as a means of generalisation, but as a force that calls to life aesthetically significant images, expressing the artist's knowledge of reality. The ideal, as the image of what should be, and the wish, as the image of what is desired, are both products of the imagination. Unlike vague dreams that lead man away from reality, imagination is connected with the needs of society and helps us to know life and change it.

Immanence

One of the central concepts of traditional speculative philosophy and the modern idealist schools. The term in this acceptation dates back to Aristotle; in its literal sense it was first used in medieval scholasticism. The contemporary understanding of immanence was given by Kant.

Immanence, in contrast to transcendent, denotes the presence of a "thing-in-itself". Immanent criticism is criticism of an idea or system of ideas which proceeds from the idea's or system's own premises. An immanent history of philosophy is an idealist interpretation of philosophy as a process governed solely by its own laws and not subject to the influence of the economy, class struggle and social consciousness.

Immanence Philosophy

A subjective idealist trend in philosophy at the end of the 19th century. Its most outstanding proponents were Schuppe, Schubert-Soldern, Rehmke and Leclair. Mach and Avenarius admitted their affinity with this trend. This school had its followers in Russia.

The immanentists criticised Kant's "thing-in-itself" (criticism from the right). They demanded a reversion from Kantianism to Berkeley and Hume. The main postulates of this philosophy are: "only that which is the object of thought exists", being is immanent in consciousness, the object is inseparably connected with the subject.

To avoid solipsism, the immanentists (with the exception of Schubert-Soldern who openly admitted adherence to the positions of "theoretical cognitive solipsism") introduced the concept of "consciousness in general" or "generic consciousness" supposedly existing independently of the human brain. In Materialism and Empirio-Criticism Lenin gave a profound criticism of Immanence Philosophy and its direct connection with religion. (Lenin, Vol. 14, pp. 212-13.)

The immanentists' rejection of the theory of reflection, their definition of cognition as the "entry of things into consciousness" were subsequently taken over by neo-realism. By the beginning of the 20th century, this school had broken up into many small trends.

Immediate Inference

In traditional logic, a judgement in which the conclusion follows immediately from one premise alone. Immediate inference includes contraposition, conclusions in accordance with the square of opposition, and others. Immediate inference is contrasted to an implicative inference, which consists of two or more premises.

Immediate Knowledge

Knowledge gained without proof, a direct contemplation of truth, as distinct from discursive or demonstrative knowledge, which is always mediated not only by data of experience, but also by logical inference. As the theory of knowledge developed, two kinds of immediate knowledge were differentiated: sensory and intellectual (sensuous intuition and intellectual intuition), which in metaphysical doctrines were sharply opposed to each other.

Prior to Kant, sensuous immediate knowledge was always regarded as knowledge arising from experience. Kant asserted that in addition to immediate knowledge which results from experience, there are also a priori forms of sensuous immediate knowledge (space and time). Kant rejected the possibility of intellectual intuition by the human mind, admitting, however, its possibility for a mind higher than human.

Jacobi considered immediate knowledge the highest form of knowledge; he considered "emotion", and in later works "reason", to be the organ of such knowledge. Intellectual immediate knowledge was recognised in antiquity by Plato and Plotinus; in the 17th century by the rationalists Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz; at the turn of the 19th century, by the German idealists and philosophers of romanticism, Fichte, Schelling, and Schlegel; in the 20th century by Husserl.

Under intellectual intuition they understood the ability of the mind to "see" the truth with the "eyes of the mind", directly, without proof; for example, axioms of geometry were regarded as such truths. In the 20th century, a view arose in the formalist trend of geometry, identifying axioms with definitions and depriving them of the nature of direct proof.

Hegel criticised the early theories of immediate knowledge as undialectical. He saw in immediate knowledge the unity of direct and mediated knowledge. But Hegel wrongly considered the self-developing thought itself as the basis of this unity. Dialectical materialism considers that the unity of direct and mediated knowledge is based on practice: maxims are mediated by practice and thinking conditioned by practice, and they, by virtue of repeated reproduction, become directly truthful.

Imperialism

The highest, monopolistic and last stage of capitalism which began at the turn of the century. In his Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1916) Lenin gave a systematic and detailed exposition of the theory of imperialism. He analysed the economy of the capitalist countries, singled out the economic essence of imperialism and indicated its five main features:

(1) In the epoch of imperialism production and capital are concentrated to such a degree that they give rise to monopolies, which play the decisive part in the economic life of capitalist states;

(2) Monopoly banking capital merges with monopoly industrial capital, forming finance capital, the financial oligarchy;

(3) The export of capital, as distinct from the export of goods, acquires particularly great importance;

(4) The process of monopolisation brings about the formation of international monopolies which divide the world among themselves economically;

(5) The territorial division of the world between a handful of the biggest capitalist powers is completed.

With the transition of capitalism to the monopoly stage it turns into decaying, parasitic capitalism. Lenin characterised the period of imperialism as the eve of the socialist revolution. The October Socialist Revolution, which broke one of the weakest links in the chain of imperialism, signified the beginning of the downfall of imperialism. The subsequent history of world capitalism and the revolutionary struggle of the working class has fully confirmed Lenin's analysis.

The world imperialist system is torn asunder by extremely acute contradictions, economic crises are becoming ever deeper, unemployment is rising and, moreover, becoming chronic. Militarism is devouring vast natural and manpower resources, it is exhausting and ruining the nations and preparing new devastating wars. Imperialism is the greatest oppressor of nations.

At the present stage, monopoly capitalism has turned into state-monopoly capitalism, which combines the power of the monopolies with the power of the state to intensify the exploitation of the people and enrich the monopolies. The formation of the world socialist system has aggravated the crisis of imperialism. Anti-imperialist, national liberation revolutions are developing with ever greater force. The world colonial system has collapsed. Contradictions between labour and capital are mounting. Capitalist politics and ideology are in the grip of a profound crisis.

The Programme of the CPSU gives a comprehensive analysis of contemporary imperialism. "Imperialism," the Programme states, "has entered the period of decline and collapse. An inexorable process of decay has seized capitalism from top to bottom—its economic and political system, its politics and ideology. Imperialism has for ever lost its power over the bulk of mankind. The main content, main trend and main features of the historical development of mankind are being determined by the world socialist system, by the forces fighting against imperialism, for the socialist reorganisation of society."

Implication

The logical operation which forms a complex proposition from two propositions (for example, p and q) through a logical connective conforming to the conjunctive "if ... then": if p then q. In an implicative proposition we distinguish the antecedent preceded by the word "if" from the consequent which follows the word "then".

Mathematical logic proceeds from the concept of material implication (expressed in the form p→q or p⊃q), which is determined through the function of truth-value. Implication is false only if the antecedent (p) is true and the consequent (q) is false, and true in all other cases. This concept proved to be quite effective for the logical proof of mathematical statements.

But logicians, who treat the problem of implication as one of formalised logical sequence have discerned in it a number of properties (for example, "a true proposition follows from any proposition", "of any two propositions one implies the other") which sound paradoxical if we require implication to express the properties of logical sequence in sense, i.e., some connection in meaning between the antecedent and the consequent, as a condition of truth.

In view of this, C. I. Lewis, utilising the concept of modal logic, gave a definition of a strict implication (expressed in the form p \~→q): it is impossible for p to be true and q false (p necessarily implies q). But Lewis' system also gives rise to its own "paradoxes" similar to the case of material implication. There are other methods of eliminating these "paradoxes" (for example, Ackermann's concept of a strong implication).

Impressionism

A method applied in art at the end of the 19th and early 20th century. Derived its name from Monet's painting "Impression" (1872). After the pictorial arts (Sisley, Pissarro, Renoir, Degas, Rodin, Liebermann, Korovin, and others), impressionism spread to music (Debussy, Ravel), literature (Goncourt brothers, Mallarmé, Verlaine, Hauptmann, Rilke, Schnitzler, Oscar Wilde, Knut Hamsun, and others) and the theatre.

In their struggle against officially canonised art standards, the French impressionists demanded truthful portrayal of the artist's vision of the world and direct contact with nature. In their finest works they have to a certain extent achieved their aim of extending the boundaries of portrayal, in particular of vindicating plein-air in painting.

But their limited political and aesthetic outlook led to subjectivism in their art. Reproduction of the changing effects of air and light, the desire to fix constantly varying impressions became an end in itself and made impressionism incapable of penetrating the essential aspects of life, of reflecting processes and conflicts typical of the epoch. It is indicative that the French impressionists, contemporaries of the Paris Commune, have almost no paintings of deep social content, and the landscape is their favourite genre. The best works of impressionism, extolling the beauty of the world, still have artistic significance in our day.

Indeterminism

See Determinism and Indeterminism.

Indian Philosophy

In India philosophy arose on the basis of one of the oldest human civilisations; its traditions, dating back to the 10th-15th centuries B.C., have been preserved to our days. Indian philosophy is usually divided into four periods: (1) the Vedic period; (2) the classical period or Brahman-Buddhist period, from the 6th century B.C. to the 10th century; (3) post-classical or Hinduistic—10th-18th centuries; (4) new and current Indian philosophy.

The very first memorials of Indian thought, the Vedas together with hymns to the numerous gods, contain the concept of a single world order—the concept of Rita. The Upanishads, religious philosophical commentaries to the Vedas, contain ideas which largely shaped all subsequent development of Indian philosophy (unity of Brahman, the world soul, and Atman, the individual soul; immortality of the soul which is reincarnated according to the law of karma, or retribution).

Besides mystic religious idealistic doctrines, the Upanishads reflected the views of the ancient materialists and atheists who denied the authority of the Vedas and the life of the soul after death and regarded one of the material elements—fire, water, air, space or time—as the primary foundation of the world.

In the classical period, Indian philosophy developed under the strong influence of the Vedas and Upanishads. Since the days of the medieval Indian philosopher Madhavacharya (16th century), it has become a tradition to divide all philosophical schools into orthodox, which recognised the authority of the Vedas, and non-orthodox, which rejected the infallibility of the Vedas. The Mimamsa, Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaiseshika, and Vedanta are the principal orthodox schools. The non-orthodox schools include the Buddhist, Jainist and numerous materialist and atheist schools, the most widespread being the Charvakas (Lokayata).

Although this division has historical grounds, it conceals the true mainspring in the development of philosophy: the struggle between materialism and idealism. Both Buddhist and Brahman sources denounce above all the materialist schools. Samkara, the most outstanding Vedanta philosopher, vehemently attacked both the materialist ideas of the Samkhya school and the empiricism of the Nyaya and Vaiseshika. He dissociated himself from the common sense of the Nyaya and was close to the idealist and mystic schools of Buddhism.

Within the bounds of Buddhism the idealist Madhyamika and the Yogacara schools fought against the materialist teaching of the Theravadins and Sarvastivadins. Bitter conflict between different philosophical schools brought into being the art of dispute and the science of the sources of knowledge and authentic knowledge—logic. First information about Indian logic may be gleaned from early Buddhist sources (3rd century B.C.); subsequently, logic was developed in the Nyaya school and later in the treatises of Buddhist logicians Dignaga, Dharmakirti, and others.

Towards the end of the classical period, Jainism was losing its influence, while Buddhism was being ousted from India. In the Hinduistic period the Vishnu and Siva systems of Hinduism were developed. They taught that the Brahman of the Upanishads is the God Siva, or Vishnu. Tantrism and Shaktism spread in the 5th-7th centuries. Under the influence of Islam, various monotheistic doctrines (Kabirpanthism and Sikhism) arose in the 10th century.

In recent times philosophy in India developed under the influence of the people's national liberation struggle. The nature of the new Indian philosophy is determined by the fact that the movement for national liberation was headed by the Indian bourgeoisie, whose ideologists followed the road of reviving national, religious and philosophical traditions. As a result, there arose modernised theism, Brahma Samaj and Arya Samaj, pantheism and idealism, the doctrines of Tagore, Gandhi and Ghose.

Contemporary Indian philosophers (Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and others) advocate a merger of Western science and technology with the "spiritual values" of the East. Gandhi's doctrine of non-violence and so-called democratic socialism are now the prevailing ideology in India.

Indirect Proof

A form of logic proof distinguished by its method of rationalising a proposition. Unlike direct proof, the truth of the proposition to be proved indirectly is rationalised by demonstrating the falsity of certain premises. The latter stand in such a relationship with the proposition to be proved that their falsity necessarily implies the truth of the proposition.

There are several types of indirect proof. Divisory indirect proof has the following pattern. A number of assumptions are examined, which, taken together, exhaust the number of assertions possible in the given case; the falsity of all the assumptions is demonstrated, save one, the truth of which is thus established. Another form of indirect proof is the apagogic proof.

Individual

Definition 1: A human being with his socially determined and individually expressed qualities, intellectual, emotional, and volitional. The scientific understanding of the individual rests on the Marxist definition of man as the sum total of social relations. Hence, an individual in this sense cannot be the vehicle of inherited characteristics but is ultimately determined by the historically given system of society.

A society based on private ownership of the means of production cramps and corrupts the development of the individual. The establishment of socialism opens up the road to the all-round development of the individual. A new type of individual harmoniously incorporating spiritual richness, moral purity, and physical perfection is formed thanks to the creation of the material and technical basis of communism, the development of communist social relations and the carrying out of a cultural revolution.

Definition 2: In psychology, each separate human being with his inherent individual peculiarities of character, intellect, and emotional make-up. The psychological qualities of the individual include character, temperament, abilities, and also the peculiar features of his mental processes. Though psychological conditions (emotional experiences, motives of behaviour, etc.) constantly vary, the psychological make-up of the individual remains relatively stable, this being dependent on the relative stability of his conditions of life and the typological peculiarities of his particular nervous system.

Changes in the psychological make-up of the individual are caused by the changes that take place in his life, by the process of social education. The individual in this sense is the sum total of the inherent features and peculiarities of a human being through which all external influences are refracted. The actions of the individual are motivated by his personal and social requirements. The subjective element in the individual (emotional experiences, consciousness, requirements) is inseparable from the objective relations formed between the individual and his environment. The individual's level of development depends on how progressive these relations are from the historical point of view.

Individual and Society (their interrelation)

The interrelation between the individual and society varies from one historical period to another because there is no such thing as "society in general", there being in reality only socio-economic formations, nor any such thing as the "individual in general", the individual being always the product of a historically given social system.

The theory of an alleged eternal antagonism between the individual and the social qualifies as "eternal" what is particularly characteristic of capitalism and is historically transient. Under socialism the interrelation between the individual and the social is characterised by the natural combination of individual and social interests and, ultimately, complete harmony between them.

Under socialism and communism the source of satisfaction and the general direction of personal and social interests coincide. Both society as a whole and each individual in society are interested in technical progress, in the constant raising of the productivity of labour, in the increasing satisfaction of the material needs and cultural requirements of members of society. This coincidence of interests of the individual and society on the basic questions of their life does not exclude certain partial and temporary contradictions that arise when individual interest must be subordinated to the social interest.

Success in combining social and individual interests depends, on the one hand, on the increase in social wealth, on the activity of the directing organisations, on their correct implementation of the Party's slogan "Everything for the sake of man, for the benefit of man"; on the other hand it depends on each member of society, on his conscious service of the interests of society. The period of the full-scale building of communism signifies a big step forward in the direction of combining the interests of the individual and society.

Party and government policy for creating the material and technical basis of communism in the USSR, shaping communist social relations, extending socialist democracy, and raising the material and cultural wellbeing of the people aims at achieving harmony between the individual and society. The road charted in the Programme of the CPSU is the road to the creation of an association in which, to use the words of Marx and Engels, the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.

Individual, Particular, and Universal

Philosophical categories formed in the course of the development of cognition and expressing different objective relations in the world, and the degree to which we know these relations. Objects possess individuality, which makes them different from other objects, and are, therefore, perceived as something individual. Practical experience, however, shows that these individual objects may have certain recurrent features in common. In other words, the individual possesses general features.

General features and properties may belong either to a restricted group of objects, in which case they are merely particular, or they may be found in all objects and phenomena, in which case they are universal. The individual, particular, and universal are inseparably bound up with each other; the difference between them is relative and they overlap (see Lenin, Vol. 38, p. 361).

The scientific solution of the problem of the relation of the universal in consciousness, its analogue in reality and the individual qualities of objects, has given rise to great difficulties in the history of philosophy. Historically speaking, the first notion of the universal was a naive conception of something similar and recurrent. No one had as yet raised the question of the origin or cause of this similarity, the vital question of the nature of the universal, or whether it reflects qualities that really exist in the objective world, or whether it springs from the ability of the consciousness to generalise, or from the qualities of some spiritual absolute.

This early notion of the universal was shared by the materialists of ancient Greece. Thales conceived the basis of all things, their universal, to be water; Heraclitus conceived it as fire; Democritus as atoms. Most of the idealist philosophers of the ancient world also regarded the universal as objective, but in their view it was detached from material reality and became a special world of essences.

Plato's idealist doctrine of the universal was criticised by Aristotle, who, however, was unable to solve the problem. He did not regard the universal as a special essence isolated from the individual. For him the universal was primarily the abstractions of the human mind. But he was unwilling to pronounce them purely mental essences because this would mean denying their objectivity. He, therefore, regarded the universal as both the essence of individual objects and as the aim for which they exist. In this he is in effect close to Plato's conception. Thus, although he failed to find the solution, Aristotle placed the problem in clear perspective and hence his teaching became the focal point of the controversy between nominalism and realism. Here the contradictory propositions in Aristotle's teaching developed into the antithesis between the schools in philosophy.

Experimental science, which emerged from the struggle with the abstract scholasticism of theology, raised a protest against the theological interpretation of the universal. Once again the objectivity of such a universal was questioned, this time by Locke, who interpreted the universal as a purely abstract, verbal expression of the similarity of phenomena and denied that it had anything to do with reality. This interpretation was in accord with the science of his time, particularly with the classification of phenomena it had adopted. But scientific study of the laws of the objective world exploded Locke's interpretation, and even in Kant and particularly in Hegel, we find a distinction between the "abstract universal", as the verbally expressed sameness of a number of phenomena (the effect of mere resemblance) and the real "concrete universal", understood as the inner essence, the law of existence and change.

According to Hegel, however, only the spiritual—the concept, the idea—is the real universal. The Marxist conception of the particular and the universal is based on recognition of the idea of the universal as a reflection of the objective unity of the phenomena of the world. The essential similarity of objects or processes is merely the expression of this profound objective interconnection. "The form of universality in nature," wrote Engels, "is law" and again "the form of universality, however, is the form of self-completeness, hence of infinity; it is the comprehension of the many finites in the infinite" (Dialectics of Nature, pp. 238, 237).

The universal, therefore, embodies all the richness of the particular and the individual. The objective connection between the individual, particular and universal is reflected in language, in the form in which a subject is expounded, in the ways in which objects are studied. The interrelation between the individual, particular, and universal lies in the fact that they are connected, in the fact that the individual cannot exist without the universal, and that the universal cannot exist without the individual, that the individual under certain conditions may become both particular and universal.

An analysis of these dialectical relations is essential, for instance, for the understanding of the general ways and laws of building socialism and their manifestation in different countries. Thus the categories of the individual, the particular and the universal primarily express the essential relations of the objective world and only because of this do they also characterise the process of its cognition. Practical activity, which is always concentrated on individual objects, is illuminated by knowledge of the universal, of the laws, aspects, and qualities that recur in these objects and are concretised by consideration of their particularities.

Individualisation

A specific aspect of artistic creation: the ability of art, while depicting the essence and typical features of the phenomena portrayed, to preserve their sensorily concrete features, to reproduce all the specific nature of these phenomena, the individual aspect of the human characters in their originality and harmony. Individualisation is a method of reproducing reality inherent in genuine art. It is an element of artistic typification.

Attempts to contrast individualisation to typification adversely affect artistic creation. The characters do not appear as living people, but as "mouthpieces of the spirit of the time", resembling lifeless schemes and allegories. On the other hand, individualisation by itself is incapable of giving a realistically artistic image; it fails to penetrate the essence of what is portrayed, it turns into a mere record of single and accidental facts. Engels aptly described it as "bad individualisation". Only when individualisation is closely combined with artistic generalisation does it become a powerful means for the realistic portrayal of the world.

Individualism

A principle of socio-political ideology founded on recognition of the absolute rights of the individual, of the freedom and independence of the individual from society and the state. Theorists of exploiting classes hold that individualism is inherent in "immutable human nature". In actual fact, individualism, as a principle setting the individual in opposition to the collective and subordinating the social interests to the personal, emerged with the appearance of private property and the division of society into classes.

The social basis out of which the tradition of individualism grew was the centuries-old domination of private property. Individualism was most fully expressed in the philosophy of Stirner and particularly Nietzsche, whose doctrine of the "elite" and "superman" was taken over by fascism. At present individualism is actively championed by the existentialists.

Socialism radically changes the relationship between society and the individual because it renovates both society and the individual. Genuine collectivism arises in a society which knows no exploitation or political oppression and provides conditions for the development of man's personality and abilities.

Induction

(Latin inductio, from inducere—to lead in) One of the types of reasoning and a method of study. Questions pertaining to the theory of induction are already found in the works of Aristotle, but they began to command special attention with the development of empirical natural science in the 17th-18th centuries. A big contribution to elaborating problems of induction was made by Francis Bacon, Galileo, Newton, Herschel, and Mill.

As a form of reasoning conclusion, induction makes possible the transition from single facts to general propositions. Usually three main types of inductive conclusions are distinguished: complete induction; induction through simple enumeration (popular induction); scientific induction (the latter two types are an incomplete induction).

A complete induction represents a general proposition concerning a class as a whole to be concluded on the basis of examining all its elements; it gives a true conclusion, but its sphere is limited because it is applicable only to classes all the members of which can be easily observed. When a class is practically unlimited incomplete induction is applied.

In a popular induction the presence of a feature in some of the elements of a class warrants the conclusion that all elements of the class possess that feature. A popular induction has an unlimited sphere of application, but its conclusions form only probable propositions needing subsequent proof.

A scientific induction also represents a conclusion concerning a whole class based on a number of the elements of that class, but here the grounds for conclusion are provided by the discovery of essential connections between the elements studied which show that the given feature must be possessed by the whole class. Hence, methods of disclosing the essential connections are of prime importance in scientific induction. The disclosure of these connections presupposes an intricate analysis. Traditional logic formulates some of these methods, which are known as inductive methods of study of causal relations: method of agreement, method of difference, joint method of agreement and difference (method of dual agreement), method of concomitant variations and method of residues.

As a method of study, induction means a way of experimentally studying phenomena, in the course of which we pass from single facts to general propositions; the single facts lead to general propositions. Induction always appears in unity with deduction. Dialectical materialism regards induction and deduction not as universal self-sufficient methods, but as aspects of dialectical cognition of reality which are inseparably interconnected and determine each other; it is therefore opposed to the one-sided exaggeration of any one of them.

Inductive Definition

One of the ways of defining objects of mathematical and logical systems. It indicates: (a) the primary or elementary objects of the system; (b) the rules or operations by which we can form new objects of the system from already available objects. This is how a natural number (in arithmetic), properly constructed and demonstrable formulas (in logical calculi) and others are determined. Inductive definition must be complete, that is, it must be used to determine all the objects of a given system and only such objects.

Inference

The process of reasoning in the course of which from one or several propositions called premises an inference, a new proposition, is deduced (called conclusion or consequence) which logically follows from the premises. The transition from the premises to the conclusion is always made according to some rule of logic (rule of inference). A logical analysis of inference consists in singling out the premises and conclusion and in ascertaining the structure of inference. Inferences made according to the same rules of inference and laws of logic are of one and the same logical form. Thus, an analysis of inference serves to bring out its logical form.

Inference is a form of thought in which (alongside a concept, proposition, and other forms of thinking and methods of reasoning) cognition of the external world is effected at the stage of abstract thinking. Every proper inference must meet the following condition: if its premises are true, its conclusion too must be true. This condition is met if in the course of inference the laws of logic and rules of inference are not violated.

In the actual process of thinking some of the premises of inference are often omitted and the rules of inference and laws of logic underlying it are not formulated. This makes errors possible in inference. Logic lays down methods of distinguishing a valid inference from an invalid one and thereby helps to prevent and correct logical mistakes.

Usually, the process of reasoning and proof makes up a chain of inferences, in which the conclusion of a preceding inference becomes the premise of a subsequent inference. For a proof to be valid it is necessary for its initial premises—the basis of proof—to be true, and each inference within it must be correct. The most common division of inferences is into deductive and inductive.

Infinite and Finite

Categories denoting the two inseparably connected opposite aspects of the objective world. For example, an unlimitedly increasing (or decreasing) variable quantity, capable of becoming, and in fact becoming, more (or less) than any pregiven quantity, however large (or small), is called an infinite quantity; a definite quantity, in relation to which another definite quantity may be indicated as larger (or smaller), is known as a finite quantity.

In its application to the objective world the infinite characterises: (1) the existence of the world in space and the essential non-isolation of all material systems; (2) the existence of the world in time, the uncreatability and indestructibility of matter, the eternity of its existence; (3) the quantitative inexhaustibility of matter in depth, the infinite variety of its qualities, interrelations, forms of existence, and tendencies of development; (4) the qualitative heterogeneity of the structure of matter, the existence of innumerable qualitatively different levels of the structural organisation of matter, which possesses at each level different specific properties and is subject to different laws.

The finite is the negation of the infinite, but at the same time every finite object is a form of the manifestation of the infinite. As a given, definite quality, it exists for a limited time. But the matter of which it is composed is uncreatable and indestructible, exists for eternity, and merely changes from one form to another. The existence of a given body may be discovered in any part of the Universe, no matter how distant, to which material rays created by one body interacting with other bodies can penetrate.

Thus the finite also includes the infinite, just as the infinite is composed of innumerable finite objects and phenomena. The contradictory unity of the infinite and finite makes it possible to know the infinite, although at every step in his practical activity and cognition man comes into contact with only finite objects and processes. But since the infinite is either contained or manifested in some way or other in every finite object, "all true knowledge of nature is knowledge of the eternal, the infinite" (Engels, Dialectics of Nature, p. 238).

Infinity, Bad

Metaphysical conception of the infinity of the world, based on the assumption of a monotonous, unceasing repetition of the same specific qualities, processes, and laws of motion on any scale of space and time. Applied to the structure of matter, Bad Infinity implies recognition of the unlimited divisibility of matter, each smaller particle possessing the same qualities and obeying the same specific laws of motion as the macroscopic bodies. Applied to the structure of the Universe, it assumes an infinite hierarchy of mechanical systems with identical qualities and laws of existence. Applied to the development of nature, it implies recognition of infinite cycles of matter constantly returning to the same starting points.

The concept of Bad Infinity was introduced by Hegel. It is disproved by the existence of countless numbers of qualitatively different levels in the structural organisation of matter, which possesses at each level different qualities and obeys different specific laws of motion, and also by the qualitative changes of matter and its general irreversible transformation.

Infinity, Calculated

A logical argument against the application of bad infinity to what actually exists because the fact that an actual whole is composed of an infinite number of parts leads to the contradiction of a calculated, that is, finite infinity. This argument was used by Zeno of Elea in his aporia, Democritus, Aristotle, and Kant in his antinomies against the spatial and temporal infinity of the world, against infinite divisibility, and so on. In modern science these problems are treated from the standpoint of the concepts of actual and potential infinity (for example, paradoxes in set theory).

The argument points to the dialectical character of the infinity of nature, and the role of the process in the actualisation (realisation) of potential infinity. "True infinity was already correctly put by Hegel... in the process of nature and in history." (Engels, Dialectics of Nature, p. 240.) As for bad infinity, it manifests itself not in actual being but in the form of the potential infinity of being, for example, its eternity.

Infinity, Real and Potential

Two ways of perceiving the infinite. In mathematics, Real Infinity is understood as an infinite multitude, complete and realised (for example, the multitude of all natural numbers). Potential Infinity is understood as an infinite quantity that can increase (decrease) endlessly and become greater (smaller) than any given, predetermined quantity.

The paradoxes of Cantor's theory of sets undermined the instinctive belief of mathematicians in the concept of Real Infinity, and some of them asserted that only Potential Infinity is realisable. These latter consider Real Infinity contradictory because once an infinite quantity is realised it is finite and not infinite. The struggle between the two conceptions is still going on.

The solution to it is to be found in the real world. The material world is infinite in space and time, not potentially but in reality, it is not becoming infinite but has always been such. At the same time it is constantly developing and contains within itself the possibility of unlimited changes. Its infinity is, therefore, also potential. The unity of Real Infinity and Potential Infinity is also observed in the structure of matter. Research methods, to reflect this unity, must be based on a dialectical approach to Real Infinity and Potential Infinity.

Information

One of the fundamental concepts of cybernetics. The scientific concept of Information largely detracts from the meaning of messages and deals with their quantitative aspect. Thus, the concept of measurement of information is introduced, being defined as a quantity proportional to the degree of probability of the event mentioned in the message. The more probable the event the less the amount of Information that is carried in a message about its occurrence, and vice versa.

The development of the scientific concept of Information has made possible a uniform approach to many processes that had previously been thought to have nothing whatsoever in common, for example, the transmission of messages along engineering communication systems, the functioning of the nervous system, computer operations, various control processes, etc. In all of these we deal with processes involving the transmission, storage, and processing of Information. Here the concept of Information has played a part similar to that of the concept of energy in physics by providing an opportunity to describe the most diverse physical processes from a common point of view.

Two aspects should be distinguished in the concept of Information. First, Information is a measure of the organisation of a system. The mathematical expression of Information is identical with the expression for entropy, taken with the reverse sign. Just as entropy is an expression of the disorganisation of a system, so Information is the measure of its organisation. Information thus understood constitutes an internal property of a system or process in itself, and as such it can be called structural information.

It is to be distinguished from relative information, which is associated with the interrelationship of two processes. Let there be processes A and B with many different states. If to each state of A there corresponds a certain state of B, and the relations between the states of B are isomorphous with the relations between the states of A, then we can say that process B carries Information about process A. Information theory usually deals with relative Information.

From the point of view of this theory our brain represents a cybernetic system of extreme complexity which receives, stores, and processes Information coming in from the outside world. The brain's ability to reflect and perceive the outside world is seen as a link in the development of processes associated with the transmission and processing of information. That is why one finds in modern information theory an embodiment of Lenin's thesis, according to which all matter possesses a quality akin to perception, namely, reflection.

Innate Ideas

Concepts which, according to idealistic epistemology, are primordially inherent in the human mind and independent of experience. They include axioms in mathematics and logic and the primary principles of philosophy. Some philosophers, notably Descartes, believed these principles to be innate. Others, such as Leibniz, believed them to be inclinations or dispositions of the mind developing at the prompting of sensory experience.

Rationalistic theories of immediate knowledge (theories of intellectual intuition) admit that some principles are not innate but are acquired through the immediate mental perception of truth without logical deduction or proof. Despite the above difference, the theories of Innate Ideas and intellectual intuition contain an equal element of apriorism, that is, knowledge preceding, and independent of, experience.

The apriorism of Kant differs from the theories of Innate Ideas, inasmuch as his a priori knowledge is applied not to the contents of concepts and principles but to universal forms of sensation and reason, which order the contents of our experience. Theories of Innate Ideas originated not only from the primary premises of idealism, but also from an unhistorical, undialectical approach to the origin of general concepts and principles, to the relation between the mediate and the immediate, between the sensory and the rational elements in cognition and between individual and socio-historical experience.

Inspiration

Condition particularly conducive to various forms of creative activity. It is characterised by total concentration of the individual's spiritual energy on what he is creating, and by emotional elevation that makes work exceptionally productive.

In contradistinction to the idealist conception of Inspiration as "divine madness", mystical intuition and revelation (Plato, Schelling, Hartmann, S. Freud, H. Read, and others), materialism denies that Inspiration has any supernatural character and regards it as a mental phenomenon determined by the social and individual incentives to create, and also by the process of work itself.

Inspirationalism

An idealist theory of the mystic religious character of knowledge, according to which truth is revealed not in a rationally logical way, not discursively, but suddenly, without any connection, solely through inspiration, that is, an idea born by inspiration is prompted to man from above in the form of divine suggestion. Inspirationalism in pure form is seldom found, and chiefly in theological doctrines, but actually this principle is shared by all irrational philosophy.

Instinct

A form of psychic activity, a type of behaviour. In the broad sense, instinct is counterposed to consciousness. Instinctive behaviour is characteristic of animals; it is based on biological forms of existence developed in the process of adaptation to the environment. On the other hand, conscious behaviour is expressed in the purposeful changing of nature by man and is based on knowledge of nature's laws.

In a more specific sense, Instinct is a type of behaviour inborn in a given species of animals and fixed by biological heredity. According to Pavlov, Instinct is a chain of unconditioned reflexes. Instinct is most distinctly expressed in animals of relatively low organisation (insects, fishes, birds). With evolutionary development, the role of innate activity is reduced and intricate reflectory activity resting on individual experience becomes more and more important.

Instincts are also a feature of man, but in humans they do not play a decisive role because specifically human activity originates and develops as a consequence of socio-historical processes and is prompted chiefly by social, not biological motives.

Instrument

A means of cognition used for registering different kinds of measurement. The role of Instruments in contemporary scientific knowledge has greatly increased. They are amplifiers of human sense-organs, allowing the investigation of material objects that are inaccessible to direct perception.

Erroneous interpretation of the enhanced role of Instruments in cognition, their subjectivisation, gave rise to so-called "instrumental idealism". Its basis was the proposition of the alleged "principal co-ordination" of object and Instrument, as well as the "principle of uncontrollability", according to which the process of measuring, the determination of this or that property of microobjects causes "uncontrollable breaches". The exponents of "instrumental idealism" (P. Jordan and others) maintain that the subject "prepares", creates the physical reality by means of Instruments.

Instrumentalism

A subjective idealist doctrine of the American philosopher John Dewey and his followers, a variety of pragmatism. The distinctions between subject and object, thoughts and facts, psychical and physical, are, according to Dewey, merely differences within "experience", elements of a "situation", aspects of an "event". Such ambiguous terms and also references to the "social nature" of experience are used to disguise the idealism of this philosophy.

According to Instrumentalism, concepts, scientific laws and theories are merely instruments, tools, keys to the situation, "plans of action" (hence the name of this form of idealism). Recognising cognition as a vital function of an organism, Instrumentalism denies that its importance lies in its ability to reflect the objective world; it regards truth as something justified, which ensures success in the given situation.

Dewey and his supporters do not recognise the reality of social classes, resort to metaphysical abstractions of society, individual and the state "in general". The instrumentalist "theory" of progress (meliorism) holds that progress does not imply the attainment of definite aims by society but the process of movement itself. In fact, Dewey's meliorism resurrects the old opportunist slogan "the movement is everything, the final goal is nothing". Dewey, Hook, Childs, and Schlesinger are the chief proponents of Instrumentalism.

Intellectualism

A philosophical idealist doctrine which places cognition in the foreground through the intellect and metaphysically divorces it from sensory knowledge and practice. Intellectualism is akin to rationalism. In ancient philosophy Intellectualism was represented by those who denied the truth of sensory knowledge and considered only intellectual knowledge as really truthful.

In modern philosophy Intellectualism opposed the one-sidedness of sensationalism and was represented by Descartes and the Cartesians and to some extent by Spinozism. In our days, with a considerable admixture of agnosticism, Intellectualism is advocated by logical positivism. Dialectical materialism recognises the unity of sensory and intellectual cognition.

Intelligible

The philosophical term denoting an object or phenomenon perceivable only by reason or intellectual intuition. The term Intelligible is contrasted with the term "sensible" denoting an object perceived with the help of the sense-organs. The concept Intelligible was widely used in scholasticism and in the philosophy of Kant.

Interaction

Process of mutual influence of bodies on one another, any connection or relation between material objects and phenomena. Interaction determines the existence and structural organisation of any material system, its union with other bodies in a system of a larger order, and also the properties of all bodies, processes, and phenomena. Without the capacity for Interaction matter could not exist. In this sense Engels defined Interaction as the final cause of everything that exists, and beyond which nothing exists or can exist.

In any integral system Interaction emerges as the relation in which cause and effect constantly change places. Physically, Interaction is immediate action, whose speed is equal in the extreme case to the speed of light in a vacuum. But there exist in nature many other forms of Interaction that are not reduced to physical Interaction.

Interest

1. Purposeful orientation of thought and action reflecting the material and spiritual needs of individuals (personal Interest), social groups and historical communities (general Interest). General Interests, which correspond to the objective needs and tendencies of social development, constitute the Interest of society. In a class society these can be only the Interests of classes who express natural historical necessity. Interest is displayed in striving, but, besides subjective elements, it always contains objective elements.

General Interest, as a rule, is objective, inasmuch as it is determined by the conditions of life and the nature of a given social group or historical community. The only exception is the Interest of voluntary associations arising out of certain aspirations and aims. But both the Interest of such associations and personal Interest bear the imprint of the classes to which the individuals belong and the conditions in which those classes exist.

In a society with private property relations and class antagonisms, the Interests of different social groups, just like the Interests of individuals, are often diametrically opposed. Not only the personal Interests, but also the general Interests of reactionary classes come in conflict with the Interests of society. Only with the transition to socialism are conditions created for the unity of the fundamental Interests of all members of society, and an objective basis is created for the harmonious correspondence of personal Interests and social Interests.

1. Interest (in psychology) is manifested in a positive and emotional attitude to an object and in the concentration of attention upon it. A temporary, situational interest arises in the process of performing a given action and vanishes with its completion. A stable Interest is a relatively constant trait of an individual and is an important requisite for a creative attitude of man to his activity, helping to broaden his horizon and enrich his knowledge.

Interpretation and Model

Semantic concepts of metamathematics and metalogic. In a broad sense, Interpretation is the assigning of meanings to initial propositions of a calculus, as a result of which all properly constructed propositions of the given calculus acquire sense. An interpreted calculus is therefore a formalised language, in which various propositions having sense are formulated and demonstrated.

By utilising the concept of Model a stricter definition of Interpretation can be given. Let us take a certain class of propositions K of calculus L; if we replace all constants in these propositions by variables of corresponding types we obtain a class of propositional functions K1. Any number of objects which decide each of the propositional functions of K1 is called Model of the class of propositions K of the calculus L. The concept Model of calculus helps to introduce the concept Interpretation. Being either extracted or specially constructed Model is called the Interpretation of calculus.

In its turn, Interpretation is used to determine the logical and actual truth-value and analytical and synthetic propositions. The theory of models of logical systems has been developed in the works of Alfred Tarski, Rudolf Carnap, John Kemeny, the Soviet mathematician A. I. Maltsev, and others. In the natural sciences, the term "model" is used in a different sense.

Introjection

A concept introduced by Avenarius. According to him Introjection is an impermissible incorporation of the image perceived into the consciousness of the individual and also of the ideal into the thoughts of the subject. In contrast to Introjection he put forward his theory of principal co-ordination between the ego and the environment.

Dialectical materialism, in contrast to anthropological materialism, does not lapse into Introjection because it overcomes the viewpoint of the isolated individual in epistemology. The essence of Introjection was thoroughly criticised by Lenin in Materialism and Empirio-Criticism.

Introspection

Observation of one's own psychic phenomena, self-observation. Introspection is associated with the development of the higher form of psychic activity, that is, with man's understanding of reality around him and with the crystallisation of man's world of inner emotions and the forming of his inner plan of action. Only that which is perceived by consciousness can be the object of Introspection. The results of Introspection can be expressed in the form of statements by people about their thoughts and emotions.

Idealist psychology holds that Introspection is the only or the main method of studying psychic phenomena, and that it enables us to penetrate their essence directly. But materialist psychology holds that the data of Introspection do not go beyond directly sensory knowledge, and that strictly objective methods are necessary for the study of the essence of these data. For scientific psychology, the data of Introspection are therefore not a method, but one of the objects of psychological study.

Intuition

Ability to understand truth directly without preliminary logical reasoning. In pre-Marxist philosophy Intuition was considered a special form of cognitive activity. Descartes, for example, held that the deductive form of proof rests on axioms; the latter are understood purely intuitively, without any proof. According to Descartes, Intuition in combination with the deductive method serves as a universal criterion of complete truth. Intuition also holds a big place in the philosophy of Spinoza who considered it a "third kind" of knowledge, the most fruitful and important, which grasps the essence of things.

In contemporary idealist philosophy Intuition is regarded as a mystical ability of cognition, incompatible with logic and practice. Dialectical materialism does not consider Intuition as a special stage in cognition and rejects any attempts to treat it as a superrational, mystical cognitive ability.

At the same time, Intuition plays a subsidiary role in the process of scientific cognition and aesthetical apprehension of reality. Intuition must not be considered as a kind of fundamental deviation from the usual ways of knowing the truth, it is a natural form of their manifestation based on logical thinking and practice. Behind the ability "suddenly" to grasp the truth, are, in reality, accumulated experience and knowledge. The results of intuitive cognition do not need any special criterion of truth-value ("self-evident nature", etc.), but are also logically proved and verified by practice.

Intuitionism, Ethical

A trend in contemporary ethics, especially widespread in Britain. Its main proponents are George Moore, Charlie Broad, David Ross and Alfred Ewing. The intuitionists maintain that good and moral duty are entirely "unique" concepts and that they cannot be determined by, or deduced from, our knowledge of man, society or nature (see Naturalism, Ethical) and can be cognized only by special intuition; the so-called deontological intuitionists hold that moral duty is "self-evident". Intuitionists sever man's moral conceptions from his social convictions, and ethics from the social sciences, depriving it of its scientific basis.

This leads them to the assertion that moral rules have no roots in history and are not associated with society. By claiming that ethical rules are "self-evident", they justify, in effect, the immutability of bourgeois morality.

Intuitionism, Mathematical

An idealistic philosophical school which arose in the early 1920s in connection with polemics over the theoretical principles of mathematics. Intuitionism is associated with the names of Brouwer, Weyl, Heyting, and others. According to Intuitionism, the exact part of a thought is based on intuition, understood as the ability to distinguish clearly between objects of thought and to identify them. Intuition gives content to a statement, imparts sense to it and also serves as a criterion of truth.

Mathematical proof is convincing not by its strict logic, but by the intuitive clarity of each of its links. Trust in Aristotelian logic is the source of contradiction (antinomy) as soon as we go beyond the bounds of finite pluralities, from which this logic is abstracted. That is why even the applicability of logical rules must ultimately be judged by intuition. But mathematical intuitionism, as distinct from philosophical intuitionism (see Intuitionism, Philosophical), does not oppose intuition to logic.

The philosophical views of the mathematical intuitionist school were not scientific and did not gain wide recognition, but criticism of the concepts of proof and definition by intuitionists has played an important part in the development of constructive logic and constructive mathematics.

Intuitionism, Philosophical

An idealistic trend which had gained great influence in contemporary philosophy. Intuitionism counterposes to rational knowledge the immediate "perception" of reality based on intuition understood as a special ability of the mind irreducible to sensory experience and discursive cognition. Intuitionism is directly associated with mysticism. Bergson and Lossky were the main proponents of Intuitionism.

Invariance

The property of magnitudes, equations and laws to remain invariant, unchanged under certain transformations of coordinates and time. For example, the laws of motion in classical mechanics are invariant in relation to Galileo's space-temporal transformations; the laws of motion in the theory of relativity, in relation to Lorentz's transformations; laws of motion in theories of elementary particles, in relation to transformations reflecting the discrete nature of spacetime.

During the transition from an old theory to a new one the old property of invariance either remains or is generalized, not discarded. Invariance follows from the material unity of the world, from the fundamental homogeneity of physical objects and their properties.

Inverse Relation, Law of

A law of formal logic fixing the dependence between the volume and content of concepts which are in a stable generic-specific coordination (see Genus and Species). It is formulated as follows: the content of the subordinating (generic) concept is part of the content of the subordinate (specific) concept, while the volume of the subordinate concept enters as part of the volume of the subordinating concept (another formulation is: the broader the volume of the concept, the narrower its content, and vice versa).

For example, in the case of the concepts "triangle" and "isosceles triangle", the essential properties (content) of the first concept enter into, but do not exhaust, the essential properties (content) of the second concept; on the other hand, the objects encompassed by the second concept (its volume) are only part of the objects encompassed by the first concept (volume). The processes of generalization and limitation, which lead to the formation of generic and specific concepts respectively, take place according to the Law of Inverse Relation.

Irrational

Not apprehensible by reason, by thought, not expressible in logical concepts. The term is used for characterizing the philosophical trends which deny the role of reason in knowledge (see Irrationalism).

Irrationalism

An idealist trend which declares the world to be chaotic, irrational, and unknowable. Denying the cognitive power of reason, irrationalists put to the foreground faith (Fideistic Irrationalism), instinct (see Freudism), unconscious will (see Schopenhauer), intuition (see Bergson, James), existence (see Kierkegaard). The objective and social meaning of Irrationalism is denial of the possibility of adequate knowledge of the objective laws of social development.

Irreversibility

A quality which makes reversion to the original state impossible, determining the passage into a qualitatively new state. Irreversibility is inherent, to a greater or lesser degree, in all processes in the world. This is determined: (1) by the infinity of matter, the inexhaustible complexity of its structure, and its countless potentialities for change, which cannot be fully realized in any finite period of time; (2) the fact that all the existing material systems are not closed in principle, the diversity of their external ties which are constantly changing and transfer the system into a new state.

That is why every cyclical process includes an element of irreversible change, which is expressed in the general irreversible run of time from the past to the future. Irreversibility of change cannot be reduced to some kind of change in one direction. Development along an ascending line or, the reverse, the degradation of a system with its subsequent death, are specific cases of Irreversibility. Change in one direction can occur only in finite systems. In the infinite Universe Irreversibility presupposes changes in the most diverse directions and never-ending emergence of fundamentally new possibilities of development.

Irritability

The quality of living matter to react instantly to the influence of internal and external environments. Irritability is one of the general biological forms of reflection of matter. The most elementary form of Irritability, inherent in the protozoa is taxis—the movement to the source of irritation (light, smell, etc.) or away from it.

In the process of phylogenetic (historical) development Irritability gives rise to excitability. The latter is the result of the differentiation of tissues. As living creatures become more complex and the nervous system develops, the biological forms of reflection also become more complicated, unconditioned and conditioned reflexes appear. The processes of metabolism, the functioning of albuminous components form the basis of Irritability. The teaching of Irritability provides abundant factual material in support of the Marxist theory of reflection.

Islam

Or Mohammedanism, one of the world religions, the other most important ones being Christianity and Buddhism, widespread chiefly in the Middle East, North Africa, and South-East Asia. Islam arose in the 7th century in Arabia in the period of the Arab peoples' transition from the primitive-communal system to a class society and their unification in the feudal-theocratic state of the Arab Caliphate.

Islam was an ideological reflection of these processes and became the religion defending the interests of the ruling classes. The creed of Islam is expounded in the "holy" book of the Moslems, the Koran; it is compounded of elements of primitive religions and also of Judaism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism. It is based on the dogma of the Almighty God (Allah). The pivot of Islam is the doctrine of divine predestination.

According to the Koran, the fate of every man is predestined by Allah. Advocating man's impotence in face of God, the Koran urges the faithful to be patient, to submit to Allah and his envoys on earth, promising in return heavenly bliss in the other world. Hostility to infidels (giaours), inferiority of women, and legalization of polygamy are characteristic features of Mohammedanism. Islam justifies social inequality and leads people away from the revolutionary struggle into futile waiting for happiness in the next world.

Isomorphism

From Greek: similar, equal in form. A relationship between objects having an equal, identical structure. Two structures (systems or pluralities) are isomorphic when every element of the first structure corresponds to only one element in the other and every operation (connection) of the first structure corresponds to only one operation (connection) of the other, and vice versa.

As a rule, Isomorphism characterizes one of the relations or properties of the objects compared. Full Isomorphism is possible only between two abstract objects, for example, between a geometric figure and its analytical expression in a mathematical formula. The concept of Isomorphism is widely applied in mathematics and also in mathematical logic, theoretical physics, cybernetics, and other fields of knowledge. The concept of Isomorphism is connected with concepts like "model" (see Analogue Simulation), "signal" and "image" (see Reflection; the Ideal).