T

Tachism

A trend in art which originated in France following the Second World War. One of the latest variants of abstract art, Tachism is based on the principles of subjectivist and idealist aesthetics. It separates the artist's creativity from reality, from the people's vital interests and moral spiritual requirements, and makes art a means of expressing all sorts of subjectivist conceptions. Hence, the striving of Tachism to dehumanise the content of artistic works.

One of the founders of this trend, Jean Dubuffet (b. 1901), claimed that "the colour of dirt is no less beautiful than the colour of the sky". And in actual fact tachists try to express their inner self by reproducing on canvas chaotic conglomerations of shapeless, motley stains. To this end they employ such "highly expressive" means as tar, coal, sand, broken glass, etc. All this shows that Tachism has nothing in common with real art.

Tai Chen, or Tai Tung-yuan (1723–1777)

Chinese materialist philosopher, studied natural sciences, particularly mathematics and astronomy. According to Tai Chen, nature is eternal and exists independently of human consciousness. Of the interconnection between the ideal li and the material ch'i, the two fundamental concepts of the Neo-Confucian philosophy of nature, Tai Chen said that ch'i was primary and li secondary. The world, he said, is in a state of continuous inception and development.

He described motion as the interaction of opposite forces—the positive yang and the negative yin. The action of these forces is eternal, indestructible and indivisible from nature. All phenomena and things are subject to natural necessity.

Tai Chen believed sensations to be the basis of cognition, denied the existence of "innate knowledge" and advocated experimental verification of general conclusions. He maintained that the liberation of the people depended on the development of education and the moral self-improvement of the individual.

T'ai Shih, or "The Great Ultimate"

One of the basic concepts of the ontological and natural philosophical systems in the history of Chinese philosophy. It is first mentioned in the Book of Changes, where this concept denotes the initial stage, the prime cause of origin and development of all phenomena and things.

The term T'ai Shih is of primary importance in Neo-Confucianist philosophy. For instance, in his work Explanation of the Diagram of the Great Ultimate, Chou Tun-i (1017–73) proves the process of world development. Initially, nature was in the state of chaos, or the "unlimited Great Ultimate". The self-motion of the Great Ultimate gives rise, through the connecting links yin and yang and the five agents, or "elements" of Water, Fire, Wood, Metal and Earth, to the multiformity of reality and its development.

The greatest of the Neo-Confucians, Chu Hsi (1130–1200) gave an idealistic interpretation of T'ai Shih and identified it with li, the absolute law.

Tan Ssu-tung (1865–1898)

Chinese philosopher, ideologist of the bourgeois reformation movement towards the end of the 19th century. He expounded his philosophical views in his book Jen-hsüeh (A Study of Benevolence), which played a big role in developing the bourgeois-revolutionary movement in China.

Tan Ssu-tung sought to justify the demands of the reformers' movement theoretically. His teaching was but a combination of the ideas of Chinese traditional philosophy with certain natural scientific conceptions held in Western Europe. The main concept of his teaching—Jen—means both an ethical standard and a metaphysical principle. Jen is the unifying factor in the interaction of all phenomena and things in the "ether".

Tan Ssu-tung professed the dependence of ethics and morality on social regulations. Philosophically, he was not consistent, his scientific conceptions being interwoven with religion, materialism with idealism, and dialectics with metaphysics.

Tantrism

A philosophico-religious teaching in ancient India, initially associated with the cult of female deities and magic rites performed to obtain greater fertility of the land. Historically, Tantrism changed its form several times under the impact of the religions which later developed; it was Buddhist, Shivaist, Shaktist and Vishnuist.

In the Middle Ages, Tantrism opposed the teaching of Vedanta on the maya advaita and admitted the reality of the world and its evolution out of the spiritual primary principle. Tantrists held that the structures of the microcosm and the macrocosm were identical and tried to find a key to the knowledge of nature in man's knowledge.

Their teaching on the human body (deha vada) contains much information that enables us to judge of the development of chemistry and medicine in ancient and medieval India. It is indicative that the tantrists' psycho-physical exercises (sadhana) have no connection with ascetic renunciation of the world. Moreover, the traditional religious aim, mukti (Skr. spiritual liberation), is combined with bhakti (enjoyment).

An important feature of Tantrism is its appeal to all Indians, irrespective of their caste, sex and age. This is due to the fact that Tantrism maintains a number of essential features of primitive-communal ideology. Tantrism greatly influenced Indian philosophy, in particular the ideas of the early Sankhya. Among those influenced by Tantrism in recent times were Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Tagore, and Aurobindo Ghose.

Tao

One of the key categories in Chinese classical philosophy. Originally, Tao denoted "the way", and was later used in philosophy to denote the "path" of nature, the laws governing nature. Tao also connoted the purpose of life and the "ethical standard" (tao te). Tao also means logic, reason and argument (tao li).

The concept changed in step with the development of Chinese philosophy. Such materialist philosophers as Lao Tzu, Hsun Tzu, Wang Chung, etc., interpret Tao as the natural way of things and the law that governs things. The idealists interpret it as the "ideal principle", the "true non-being" (Wang Pi, etc.), the "divine way" (Tung Chung-shu and others). Tao is thus one of the basic questions over which materialists and idealists part ways.

Taoism

The doctrine of tao or "the way" (of things), originated in China in the 6th or 5th century B.C. Lao Tzu, who is considered its founder, set out its basic ideas in a book Tao Te Ching (The Canon of Reason and Virtue). It maintains that all things originate and change due to their own "way", or tao. All things are mutable and turn into their opposite in the process of mutation. Man should adhere to the naturalness of things, without striving or crying.

Taoism opposed domination and oppression, and urged a return to the primitive community of the ancients. Yang Chu, Hsun Tsiang, Yin Wen and Chuang Tzu, were prominent exponents of Taoism in the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. Yang Chu contended that by observing the natural laws of life (tao) man would "preserve his nature intact", while Hsun Tsiang and Yin Wen believed that adherence to tao would yield every man wisdom and knowledge of the truth.

They averred that man's soul consists of delicate material particles, "ching chi", which come and go depending on the "purity" or "pollution" of our "thought organ" (hsin). Chuang Tzu blended his somewhat puerile materialistic world outlook with such idealistic propositions as non-existence of objective truth, life being an illusion, and true being springing from the eternal and independently existing tao. Chuang Tzu's views were the ideological embryo of Taoism as a religion, which originated at the dawn of the new era (Taoism as a philosophy is to be distinguished from Taoism as a religion).

Subsequently, the rational philosophical ideas of Taoism were advanced in the works of Chinese materialists, such as Wang Chung, and others.

Tarski, Alfred (1902–1983)

Logician and mathematician, an eminent representative of the Lvov-Warsaw school.

Taste, Aesthetic

Man's ability acquired through sharing in the life of society to understand and appreciate the beautiful and the ugly. Good aesthetic taste implies the ability to enjoy something truly beautiful, and also a sense of the necessity to create the beautiful in one's work, everyday life, behaviour, and art.

Tautology

1. In traditional logic, the most glaring logical mistake committed in defining a concept. In this meaning Tautology is a logically untenable definition in which the definitive is a mere repetition in other words of what is contained in the part to be defined.

2. In mathematical logic, the same thing as the identically true statements.

Technocracy

A modern sociological trend which came into being in the USA on the strength of the ideas of the economist Thorstein Veblen. It gained popularity in the thirties (H. Scott, G. Loeb, and others). Technocratic societies have sprung up in the USA and some European countries.

Adherents of Technocracy claim that anarchy and instability of contemporary capitalism are the result of the administration of state affairs by politicians. They hold that capitalism may be cured provided that economic life and state administration are taken over by technicians and businessmen. Their demagogic criticism of capitalist economy and politics camouflages their striving to justify the direct subordination of the state machinery to industrial monopolies. Closely associated with Technocracy is managerism, which is now widespread in the USA.

Technology

The totality of machines, mechanisms, systems and means of control, collection, storing, processing and transmitting energy and information, created for the purposes of production, research, war, etc. The requirements of Technology underlie the development of natural science. As Engels said, once society develops a technological requirement, it advances science more vigorously and quickly than a dozen universities. Practical results of science find their expression in Technology. On the other hand, Technology supplies science with experimental equipment.

The development of Technology, of the productive forces in general, determines the socio-economic structure of society. Labour is organised and distributed according to what instruments society possesses. The progress of mechanical Technology gave birth to the working class, paved the way for its organisation and the building of a socialist mode of production. In its turn, social structure greatly influences the rate and nature of the development of Technology.

Thus, the development of Technology under capitalism engenders chronic unemployment, crises of overproduction and converts the worker into an appendage of the machine; in capitalist society the progress of modern automatic Technology leads to a lowering of the standard of the worker's education, to his intellectual degeneration. The decay of imperialism is reflected in the accelerated development of those industries which bring in greater profit, even if the results of this growth are prejudicial to man (military Technology).

Only socialism provides unlimited possibilities for developing Technology, since its sole purpose is to ensure man's domination over nature. Under socialism, Technology, based on automation, electronic computers and new technological processes, transforms science into a direct productive force and facilitates the conversion of labour into a play of man's physical and spiritual powers.

Teleology

The theory of the purposefulness of all natural phenomena. According to Teleology, not only man but also all natural phenomena are guided by final purposes and have souls of a special kind. While man sets himself a task in a conscious manner, a purpose in nature is implemented unconsciously.

Teleology is indissolubly connected with hylozoism, panpsychism, pantheism, etc. Teleology holds that the principle of life and thought is rooted in the very basis of matter, which consists not of dead atoms, but of live monads, possessing a vague capacity of imagination. Teleology tries to explain the universal interconnection of all natural phenomena and their law-governed character.

The first consistent system of Teleology was elaborated by Aristotle. To him, every thing has its own predestination, bears in itself an active purposeful principle, soul, entelechy, and all purposes in nature are subordinate to one supreme goal. The main idea of Aristotle's Teleology was preserved in the teachings of Thomas Aquinas, Leibniz, Hegel, Heidegger, and others.

The concept that the purpose of nature lies beyond the world and represents the supreme basis and ultimate goal of the world process served as a physico-teleological proof of the existence of God. Kant proved the logical insolvency of this concept, which was carried to the extreme in the theory of pre-established harmony.

The teleological view of living nature was widespread in the biological theories of the 17th-19th centuries. Darwin's theory of evolution gave a rational interpretation of the relative purpose of living creatures and thereby undermined the domination of Teleology in biology. After Darwin, teleological conceptions in biology were preached by neo-vitalism, Neo-Lamarckism, etc.

Contemporary cybernetics shows that purposefulness is the process of optimum adaptation of objects to the surroundings. While rejecting idealistic teleological speculations, dialectical materialism provides the basis for a rational explanation of purposefulness in living nature.

Telesio, Bernardino (1508–1588)

Italian natural philosopher of the Renaissance, materialist. He wrote De Natura rerum juxta propria Principia (1565). He urged philosophers to study nature by means of experiments and emphasised the importance of the sense-organs, which he held to be the main source of human knowledge. He opposed the speculative syllogistic method specific to scholasticism. Telesio was a predecessor of Francis Bacon.

In his interpretation of nature Telesio proceeded from the fact that matter, filling up all the space (thus excluding void), is as eternal as God. Like all other natural philosophers of his time, Telesio adhered to hylozoistic ideas. Telesio's system of cosmological conceptions implies that heat and cold as the antithetical and animated elements aspiring to self-conservation are in combat for matter, heat being concentrated on the Sun and cold on the Earth.

Temperament

The sum total of the individual qualities of a person characterising the dynamics of his or her psychic activity. Temperament is manifested in the strength of man's feelings, their depth or superficiality, the speed with which they are displayed, their stability or variability. Temperament is similarly manifested in the peculiarities of the individual's movements.

The basis of Temperament is man's higher nervous activity. A strong, balanced and mobile type corresponds to the sanguine Temperament, distinctive features of which are quickly arising but easily changeable emotions, and vivacious movements. A strong, balanced, but immobile type corresponds to the phlegmatic Temperament, which is characterised by the stability of feelings, by calm movements. A strong, unbalanced type corresponds to the choleric Temperament, whose distinctive features are suddenly changing emotions, emotional excitability, impetuous movements. A weak type corresponds to the melancholic Temperament with deep and lasting feelings, to which little outward expression is given.

It should be noted that Temperament depends not only on the inborn qualities of the nervous system, but also on the conditions of man's life and work. Temperament is not invariable throughout an individual's life. No type of Temperament is necessarily a hindrance to the development of all the socially essential qualities of the person. However, every Temperament requires special ways and means of forming these qualities. Temperament is one of the prerequisites of originality of character in man.

Term

1. A word having only one meaning, fixing a definite concept of science, technology, the arts, etc. Term is an element of the scientific language whose introduction was determined by the necessity for exact and unambiguous designation of the data of science, especially those data which have no corresponding names in the everyday language. As distinct from words used in everyday language Term is devoid of emotional connotation.

2. In logic, Term is an essential element of a proposition (subject or predicate) or a syllogism (the predicate of a conclusion is called the major term, the subject of the conclusion is the minor term, and the concept contained in the premisses of a syllogism but not in its conclusion is called the middle term).

Thales of Miletus (c. 624–547 B.C.)

The first historically known ancient Greek philosopher. In ancient tradition he was considered one of the "seven wise men". According to legend, Thales of Miletus mastered the mathematical and astronomical knowledge of Egypt and Babylon. He is credited with predicting the solar eclipse in 585-584 B.C.

Thales of Miletus was the founder of the spontaneous-materialistic Miletian school. He sought a single first principle in the diversity of things (element) and considered it as a corporeal substance perceptible by the senses. He held water to be the primary element of all that exists.

Theism

A religious philosophy which acknowledges the existence of a personal God as a supernatural being endowed with reason and will and mysteriously influencing all the material and spiritual processes, including the lives of people. According to Theism, all that occurs in the world is the implementation of divine providence, on which, it holds, the laws of nature depend.

Theism is the ideological basis of clericalism, theology, and fideism. Theism is essentially hostile to science and the scientific world outlook (see Atheism).

Theodicy

(Gk. theos—God; dike—justice), a term used to designate philosophico-religious treatises which strive to justify the glaring and irreconcilable contradiction between belief in an almighty, good, creative God and the existence of evil and injustice in the world. In the 17th and 18th centuries Theodicy became an independent branch of philosophical literature.

Leibniz's essay on evil, Theodicee (1710), which was widely famous at the time, was subjected to scathing criticism by Voltaire in his satirical philosophical novel Candide (1759). By its social content Theodicy is an attempt at philosophico-religious justification of the evil and injustice reigning in a society based on antagonistic classes and exploitation. This is the main topic of many theological works, including Catholic ones, which sophistically treat evil not as a reality but as a privation ("privatio"), a lack of something.

Theogony

1. A system of religious myths concerning the origin of the gods, the genealogy of the gods. The first known poetical collection of ancient Greek myths in European literature was Theogony by Hesiod (8th century B.C.).

2. Theogonie is the title of a work published by Feuerbach in 1857. It critically views the evolution in the conceptions of God in antique, Judaic and Christian mythology and in theology.

Theology

Or the science of God, the system of dogmas in a given religion. Christian Theology is based on the Bible, the decrees of the first oecumenical councils and the "Holy Fathers", the Holy Scriptures and the sacred traditions, and is divided into basic theology (fundamentalism and apologetics), dogma, morals, and worship, etc.

The prominent features of Theology are extreme dogmatism, authoritarianism, and scholasticism. Closely related to Theology is religious philosophy, which tries to prove that Theology is compatible with science. Theology has been severely criticised by progressive thinkers of all times.

Theorem

In modern formal logic and mathematics, any proposition in a strictly built (e.g., axiomatically) theory, which is proved (or deduced) by applying the permissible rules of deduction. The concepts "axiom" and "Theorem" are relative: the same propositions of a given theory may be regarded in some cases as axioms, and proved in others as Theorems. Absolute division of the propositions of a theory into axioms and Theorems is only possible within the framework of a concrete system.

Theory

A system of generalised knowledge and explanation of different aspects of reality. The term Theory has different connotations: as opposed to practice or a hypothesis (unverified, suppositional knowledge) Theory differs from practice, since it spiritually or mentally reflects and reproduces reality. At the same time it is inseparably linked with practice, which places pressing problems before knowledge and requires it to solve them. For this reason practice is part and parcel of every Theory.

Each Theory is complex in structure. For example, two parts may be distinguished in physical theories: formal calculations (mathematical equations, logical symbols, rules, etc.) and a "substantive" interpretation (categories, laws, principles). The structure and treatment of this "substantive" part of Theory are connected with the scientist's philosophy and with definite methodological principles of approach to reality.

Both natural-scientific and social Theories are determined by the historical conditions in which they originate, by the historically given level of production, technology and experiment, and the dominant social order, which may favour or, contrariwise, hamper the creation of scientific Theories. Theories may and actually do play a big role in transforming society by revolutionary means. Thus, while appearing as a generalisation of the cognitive activity and results of practice, Theory is conducive to transforming nature and social life. The criterion of the truth value of Theory is practice (see Criterion of Truth).

Theory and Practice

Philosophical categories denoting the spiritual and materialist aspects of the single socio-historical process of cognition and transformation of nature and society. Theory is the people's experience generalised in their consciousness, the sum total of their knowledge of the objective world; a relatively independent system of knowledge interrelated by the inherent logic of concepts reproducing the objective logic of things.

As distinct from empiricism and positivism (pragmatism, in particular), Marxist philosophy regards Practice not as the sensuous subjective experience of the individual and not as an action performed by subjective motives alone, but as the activity of people to sustain the existence and development of society, as the objective process of material production, which constitutes the basis of people's lives, and also as the revolutionary and transforming activity of classes and all the other forms of social activity which bring about changes in the world. Scientific experiment is also a form of practice.

Theory and Practice form one indissoluble unity; they do not exist without each other and constantly influence each other. Practice is the basis of this interaction. It is practical socio-productive activity that generates and determines at each stage both consciousness and the theoretical assimilation of reality. People act in a conscious way, trying to find the purport of reality. This does not mean that they are guided in their actions by a strictly consistent scientific Theory. But their activity is always directed by a definite totality of knowledge.

At the dawn of human history one undivided "everyday consciousness" was the only form of existence of such knowledge. Understanding of the purport of the habits of work, empirical generalisation of the results of actions and observations, tradition and belief, the true or fantastical reflection of social being—this Theory was not a logical and harmonious system of concepts, nor a scientific reproduction of the objective laws of reality. The relation of Theory to Practice, however, was so complete that this Theory was directly "woven" into the "language of real life", into the practical activity of people.

With the division of labour into mental and physical, Theory and Practice separate and are ascribed to different social spheres. Although they continued to be dependent on each other and to interact upon each other, they turn into relatively independent forms of social activity. As Marx and Engels put it, "from this moment consciousness is able to emancipate itself from the world and begin the building of 'pure' theory, theology, philosophy, morality, etc." (Werke, Bd. 3, S. 31.)

The appearance of "pure" Theory meant a great revolutionary leap in the history of mankind. The development of theoretical investigations, the abstract logical form of "pure" Theory enabled people to penetrate deeply into the essence of natural phenomena and to create a constantly changing scientific picture of the world. On the other hand, scholars themselves failed to see in full the obvious connection between Theory and Practice. In conjunction with the individualistic world outlook inherent in societies where private ownership dominated, there arose various illusions; beginning with the view of cognition as an act of individual passive contemplation of the surroundings by a "theorist" and ending with the idealistic systems which regard theoretical consciousness (ideas) as the creator of reality. "From this moment consciousness is actually able to imagine that it is something different from the recognition of the existing practice." (Ibid.)

The capitalist mode of production, which socialises labour, develops productive forces on an unprecedented scale, creates objective prerequisites for bridging the gap between Theory and Practice. Theory acquires an immeasurably greater role in the process of production. The practical movement of the masses aimed at abolishing private ownership unites with the advanced, Marxist theory, which discloses society's objective laws and directs the entire activity of the working-class party towards the achievement of communism, a scientifically realised goal.

With the emancipation of labour, the abolition of class antagonisms, and the obliteration of distinctions between mental and physical labour, the gap and the antithesis between Theory and Practice is eliminated. After the victory of socialism, and particularly in the period of full-scale construction of communism, Marxist-Leninist Theory and science in general come into closer contacts with Practice. The powerful productive forces brought to life by free labour to benefit the whole of society require direct participation of Theory in production. Moreover, science, as the highest form of theoretical activity and an essential aspect of the habits of mechanised and automated work, becomes itself a productive force.

Only the emergence of mankind's true history visibly discloses the essence of the single socio-historical and practico-theoretical process of cognition and transformation of nature and society.

Theory of Knowledge

See Epistemology, Cognition, and Reflection, Theory of.

Theosophy

A mystic teaching acknowledging that God may be known by a direct link with the other world. Relying on Buddhism, Brahmanism and other oriental philosophies, Theosophy claims that the human soul alternates its presence and absence on earth several times until it finally expiates sin and merges with God. Theosophic societies have arisen in the USA, Britain and other capitalist countries since the end of the 19th century.

"Thermal Death" of the Universe

The ultimate condition of the world which is alleged to emerge as a result of the irreversible conversion of all forms of movement into its heat form, of the diffusion of heat in space and the transition of the world into the state of balance with a maximum value of entropy. This conclusion is drawn on the basis of making an absolute of the second law of thermodynamics and extending its application to the entire Universe.

The idea of "Thermal Death" holds no water, since (1) the Universe is infinite in space and represents an unbounded totality of an endless number of qualitatively different systems; (2) the number of possible conditions of matter in the Universe is infinite and cannot be reached over any lapse of time; the concept of the most probable condition identified with the maximum value of entropy is inapplicable to the world as a whole; (3) the second law of thermodynamics does not determine the trends of all possible changes in matter; there are other laws in the world which condition the concentration of diffused matter and energy and their inclusion in new cycles of development.

The formation of stars and galaxies is but one of the manifestations of this process. The irreversible changing of matter in the Universe does not imply that the world is hurtling to an ultimate condition, but means an endless emergence of qualitatively new conditions, possibilities, and trends of development.

Thermodynamics

The branch of theoretical physics studying the laws of heat motion, the conversion of heat into other types of energy. As distinct from statistical physics, Thermodynamics is a classical example of a descriptive theory of physical phenomena, which involves no suppositions concerning the structure of matter.

For the most part Thermodynamics is based on two principles that originated experimentally and play the role of axioms in the deductive system. The first principle is the application of the law of the conservation of energy to the phenomena which have bearing on the changes of inner energy. It assumes the form of the law of the equivalence of heat and work. Sometimes the first principle is formulated in terms of the impossibility of effecting a perpetual motion of the first kind.

Under the second principle of Thermodynamics heat cannot of itself pass from a cooler body to a hotter body without changes in any other bodies. The second principle of Thermodynamics is a limited law, which has no bearing on systems consisting of a small number of particles. Attempts to extend its application beyond its sphere, particularly to the world as a whole, lead to the emergence of contradictions and to false philosophical conclusions (see "Thermal Death" of the Universe).

"Theses on Feuerbach"

Eleven theses found in Marx's notebook, written in the spring of 1845. After more precise formulation they were first published by Engels in 1888 as an appendix to Marx's work Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of German Classical Philosophy. As Engels put it, "Theses on Feuerbach" are "invaluable as the first document in which is deposited the brilliant germ of the new world outlook". (Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 359.) According to their content, "Theses" are close to The German Ideology.

In his "Theses" Marx concisely formulates the cardinal principles of a new philosophy. Their central idea is the analysis and elaboration of a scientific understanding of practice. This task required a materialistic understanding of history, the basic propositions of which Marx expounds. These are: that social life is mainly practical, that man is the product of his own labour, that he is essentially social by nature, that ideological phenomena (for instance, religion) depend on the conditions of society's existence and development.

From this viewpoint Marx criticised the historical idealism of Feuerbach and the utopian socialists. Proceeding from the unity of theory and practice, Marx raised the problems of epistemology in a new light, criticised the entire "preceding" materialism, noting that its main shortcoming was its contemplative approach. He also criticised idealism for its distortion of the "active aspects", i.e., the activity of the subject in the process of its interaction with the object (see Subject and Object).

Marx's theses substantiated the essence, tasks and role of the philosophy of dialectical materialism in the practical transformation of society.

Thing

Any part of the material world possessing relatively independent and stable existence. Its characteristic feature is the integral unity of the properties by means of which it is connected and interacts with other things.

"Thing-in-Itself" and Phenomenon (Thing-for-Us)

Philosophical terms, the former meaning things as they exist by themselves, independently of us and our knowledge, the latter denoting things as they reveal themselves to man in the process of cognition. These terms acquired particular significance in the 18th century, when it was stated that it was impossible to know "things-in-themselves".

First stated by Locke, this proposition was developed in detail by Kant, who claimed that we are concerned only with the phenomenon, which is completely removed from the "thing-in-itself". For Kant, the "thing-in-itself" also means essences which are supernatural, unknowable, inaccessible to experience: God, freedom, etc.

Dialectical materialism, which proceeds from the premise that it is possible to acquire exhaustive knowledge of things, regards cognition as the process of turning the "thing-in-itself" into the phenomenon on the basis of practical experience (see Cognition, Theory and Practice).

Thomism

The leading trend in Catholic philosophy started by Thomas Aquinas. Thomism was most widely accepted in the various schools of the Dominican Order. In the Middle Ages Thomism was opposed by the adherents of Duns Scotus who grouped around the Franciscan Order.

The most prominent continuator of Thomism in the epoch of the Renaissance was the Italian Dominican Thomas del Vio (Cajetan of Tiene). The earlier bourgeois revolutions, the Reformation, and the resultant loss by the Catholic Church of its former supremacy were responsible for a certain renovation of Thomism, by the Spanish Jesuit Francisco Suarez.

The mid-19th century saw the last revival of Thomism (see Neo-Thomism), the prominent representatives of this trend being Stockl, Baeumker (Germany), de Wulf, Mercier (France), Newman (Britain), Liberatore (Italy), and others. The main tendency of contemporary Thomism is to falsify modern natural science theoretically and to adapt Thomas Aquinas' system to the philosophies of Kant and Hegel and to modern idealistic theories (see Husserl, Heidegger, Nikolai Hartmann, and others).

Thoreau, Henry David (1817–1862)

American idealist philosopher and writer, graduated from Harvard University in 1837. He was a member of the circle of transcendentalists, headed by Emerson. Thoreau's views took shape under the influence of European romantics, especially Carlyle and Rousseau.

He criticised capitalism and its culture from petty-bourgeois positions. "The luxury of one class is counterbalanced by the indigence of another. On the one side is the palace, on the other are the almshouse and 'silent poor'," wrote Thoreau in his main work Walden or Life in the Woods (1854).

Thoreau's pantheistic world outlook has a flavour of mysticism: the laws of nature coincide with universal reason (including the moral order). The purpose of knowledge is truth, which people reach through understanding the divine reality that surrounds them, i.e., nature. He actively opposed slavery in the USA.

Thought

1. The highest product of the brain as specially organised matter; the active process through which the objective universe is reflected in concepts, judgements, theories, etc. Thought arises in the process of the social and productive activities of men, ensures a mediate reflection of reality and reveals the natural connections within it.

The material physiological mechanisms of Thought were investigated by I. Pavlov and resulted in his theory of the second signalling system. Nevertheless Thought, being inseparably linked with the brain, cannot be fully explained by the activity of the physiological system. The inception of Thought is associated primarily with social development, rather than biological evolution. From the standpoint of its mode of inception, its method of functioning, and its results Thought is a social product.

The explanation of this is found in the fact that Thought is inseparably linked only with such activities as labour and speech, which are peculiar only to human society. Hence, man's Thought occurs in closest association with speech and its results are expressed in language. Thought comprises such processes as abstraction, analysis, and synthesis, the formulation of definite tasks and the discovery of their solutions, the advancement of hypotheses, concepts, etc. The process of Thought invariably produces some idea.

The fact that Thought is capable of generalised reflection of reality finds expression in man's ability to form general concepts. The formation of scientific concepts is frequently associated with the formulation of corresponding laws. The fact that Thought is capable of mediate reflection of reality finds expression in man's ability to arrive at logical conclusions and proof. This ability greatly increases the range of cognition. It enables man to proceed from an analysis of facts which may be directly perceived to cognition of that which cannot be perceived through the sense-organs.

Concepts and systems of concepts (scientific theories) record (generalise) the experience of mankind, represent the sum total of man's knowledge, and serve as a point of departure for further cognition of reality. Thought is the object of study of various disciplines (physiology of higher nervous activity, logic, cybernetics, psychology, epistemology, etc.) by various methods. Prominent among experimental studies in the field of Thought has lately been modelling in the shape of various cybernetic devices.

Thought does not exist in the life of each individual as a purely intellectual process, but is inseparably linked with other psychological processes, i.e., it has no existence isolated from man's consciousness as a whole. Idealism has always striven to dissociate Thought from matter (the human brain, language, society's practical activities), and when it did recognise such an association, it strove to present the Thought of single individuals as something derived from certain spiritual principles superior to matter and the consciousness of individuals (e.g., Hegel).

Denial of Thought as something really existing is taught by neo-positivism. Reducing mankind's entire range of experience to facts directly observed, as does behaviourism, neo-positivism declares Thought to be a fiction, just like matter (unlike language, which is invariably regarded as a fact perceived through the sense-organs). Neo-positivism ignores the fact that language is a means of expression, a form of the existence of thought. Language analysis is used in the study of those properties of the brain known as thought.

1. In psychology, Thought is the process of interaction of the cognising individual with the object of cognition, the pre-eminent mode of the individual's orientation in reality. Thought as such is always creative; it arises in situations where the solution of problems requires the acquisition of new knowledge and methods of altering the environment to meet the needs.

The products of Thought are psychological models of reality seen epistemologically as the images of objects. Thought is the essential prerequisite of any other activity, inasmuch as the latter is its summarised and digested result. Thought undergoes a complex evolution, producing derived forms of intellectual activity, such as the processes of perception, imagination, acquiring various habits, etc. As these latter gain in strength, Thought utilises them in solving new and more complicated problems.

In an elementary form Thought is characteristic of animals as well. At the stage of man the appearance of labour led to the shaping of the speech form of Thought characteristic of the human being and representing a theoretical form of activity as singled out of practice. As a result of the development of the second signal system Thought in its highest form is transferred to the inner plane of activity. Psychic models rather than real things may be its objects. Models of reality constructed with the aid of speech may be the subjective results of such Thought. These model not only the relationships between subject and object but also the relationships among various objects.

From an epistemological standpoint these models constitute concepts, judgements, conclusions reflecting the laws governing the movement of objects, their specific aspects and properties, which are frequently outside the range of direct perception, basic associations and interrelationships. The objective products of the speech form of Thought participate in practical activity and are fixed in the corresponding transformations of real things. They constitute socio-historical experience, which is acquired by the younger generation through the process of learning.

Thought may be productive, creative (psychology of creative activity) or reproductive (memory, habit). Both these forms of Thought are closely interrelated: productive Thought may be transformed into reproductive, and reproductive Thought may become one of the prerequisites of creative Thought.

Time and Space

Basic forms of existence of matter. Philosophers are mainly concerned with whether Time and Space are real or simply pure abstractions which exist only in men's consciousness. The idealist philosophers deny the objectivity of Time and Space and make them dependent on the individual consciousness (Berkeley, Hume, Mach). They regard them as a priori forms of sensory contemplation (Kant) or as categories of the absolute spirit (Hegel).

Materialism recognises the objectivity of Time and Space and denies the existence of any reality outside them. Time and Space are inseparable from matter, this being a manifestation of their universality. Space is three-dimensional and Time has only one dimension; Space expresses the distribution of simultaneously existing objects, while Time expresses the sequence of existence of phenomena as they replace one another. Time is irreversible, i.e., every material process develops only in one direction—from the past to the future.

The development of science has exploded the metaphysical idea that Time and Space exist independently of material processes and separately from each other. Dialectical materialism proceeds not from the simple connection of Time and Space with matter in motion, but from the fact that motion is the essence of Time and Space, and that, consequently, matter, motion, time, and space are inseparable. This idea has been confirmed in modern physics.

The natural science of the 18th and 19th centuries, while recognising the objective nature of Time and Space, followed Newton in regarding them as divorced from each other, as something self-dependent, existing completely independently of matter and motion. Following the atomistic views of the ancient natural philosophers (see Democritus and Epicurus), natural scientists right up to the 20th century identified space with a vacuum, which they considered absolute, always and everywhere the same and motionless, with Time flowing on always at the same pace.

Modern physics has discarded the old conceptions of Time and Space as empty receptacles and proved their profound relation with matter in motion. The main conclusion in Einstein's theory of relativity is precisely the establishment of the fact that Time and Space do not exist by themselves, in isolation from matter, but are part of a universal interrelation in which they lose their independence and emerge as relative aspects of the integral and indivisible space-time.

Science has proved that the flow of time and the extent of bodies depend on the speed at which these bodies move, and that the structure or geometrical properties of the four-dimensional continuum (space-time) change according to the accumulation of masses of substance and the field of gravitation caused by them. The ideas of Lobachevsky, Riemann, Gauss, and Bolyai contributed much to the present-day theory of Time and Space.

The discovery of non-Euclidean geometry refuted Kant's teaching on Time and Space as forms of sensory perception outside the range of experience. The researches of Butlerov, Fyodorov, and their followers revealed the dependence of spatial properties on the physical nature of material bodies, and the dependence of the physico-chemical properties of matter on the spatial distribution of atoms.

The fluctuations in people's views on Time and Space are used by the philosophical and physical idealists as an excuse for denying their objective reality. According to dialectical materialism, human cognition is producing a more profound and correct conception of the objectively real Time and Space.

Timiryazev, Kliment Arkadyevich (1843–1920)

Russian scientist, follower of Darwin, founder of plant physiology in Russia. Timiryazev's world outlook was shaped under the impact of the ideas of the Russian revolutionary democrats. At an early stage he realised that further progress of biology would depend on success in the cognition of the deep-going processes of vital activity in the organisms (physiology, biochemistry and biophysics).

His experimental work in plant photosynthesis played a considerable role in substantiating the unity of living and inanimate matter. Timiryazev did not confine his research within the narrow framework of experimental methods; he made broad philosophical generalisations and fruitfully applied the historic method, which in many respects coincides with the dialectical materialist method.

Timiryazev strove to place biology at the service of the people. He associated his research with the practice of land cultivation, popularised the achievements of biology. Of great importance was the struggle Timiryazev waged against the idealistic theories in biology (see Vitalism). He was the first among the prominent Russian natural scientists to accept the Great October Socialist Revolution. The collection of his articles published in 1920 under the title Nauka i demokratiya (Science and Democracy) was highly appraised by Lenin.

Toland, John (1670–1722)

English materialist philosopher, advocate of free-thinking. He greatly influenced Voltaire, Diderot, Holbach, Helvetius, and others. Having begun with deistic criticism of religion, Toland adopted atheism: he denied the immortality of the soul, retribution in another life, the creation of the world and miracles, and tried to prove the secular origin of the "sacred" books and to explain that religion originated from conditions on earth. His book Christianity not Mysterious (1696) infuriated the clergy and was burnt; Toland, however, managed to escape. His great merit was his theory of the unity of matter and motion. Motion, he held, is an essential and indispensable property of matter. He criticized Spinoza, who did not regard motion as the basic property of matter, and also Newton and Descartes, who believed that God is the source of motion.

According to Toland, matter is eternal and indestructible, and the Universe is infinite. However, he adhered to mechanistic materialism, denied contingency, regarded thought as a purely physiological movement of the cerebrum, and held that the movement of matter does not undergo qualitative changes.

Tolstoi, Lev Nikolayevich (1828–1910)

Great Russian writer and thinker. His works of art and his teaching reflected for the most part the epoch between 1861 and 1904, that is, the epoch of the accelerated growth of capitalism and the ruin of the patriarchal peasantry. As Lenin said, Tolstoi embodied in his works in amazingly bold relief "the specific historical features of the entire first Russian revolution, its strength and its weakness", one of its principal distinguishing features being "a peasant bourgeois revolution". (Vol. 16, p. 324.) Tolstoi gave an appraisal of the reality in his day from the standpoint of the Russian peasantry. Hence the "crying" contradictions in his viewpoints: on the one hand, we see ruthless criticism of capitalism and the official church, and exposure of the anti-popular essence of the exploiting state and, on the other hand, the preaching of submissiveness, the doctrine of non-resistance to evil, a refined form of religion.

Tolstoi's philosophico-religious views were influenced by Christianity, Confucianism, and Buddhism, and also Rousseau and Schopenhauer. The basic concept of Tolstoi's teaching is the concept of faith, which he understood mainly rationalistically: faith is the knowledge of what man is and the meaning of his life. The meaning and the value of human life consist in uniting people on the basis of love and in uniting them with God on the basis of realizing their divinity. In this the great thinker saw the ideal of a "true" Christian religion. According to Tolstoi, the state, church, and civilization as a whole prevent the implementation of this ideal. He exposed the vices of bourgeois civilization, denied its culture in general, and called upon people to take to plain living, to undertake a simple, peasant work.

Man is only free when he serves God (the good, or unconditional, "universal and invisible principle"). In other spheres he is not free; the historical process is guided by God and is influenced by the activity of the masses, the individual having no importance in actual fact. Thus Tolstoi came to fatalism. In his works on aesthetics (for instance, What Is Art?, written in 1897-98), Tolstoi strongly opposed decadence and the official art of the gentry. In defining art as human activity by means of which people convey to one another their feelings, Tolstoi regards it as an essential condition of human life. It must unite people, help them realize their ideals; it must be also understandable by them. However, Tolstoi saw the supreme goal of mankind in the establishment of "God's kingdom on earth" and for this reason came to the unscientific conclusion that a religious idea must be the guiding idea in the arts.

Tolstoi enjoyed great authority not as a preacher of reactionary and utopian ideals, but as a brilliant realistic writer, as the author of War and Peace, Anna Karenina, Resurrection, and other highly remarkable works, as a humanist who upheld the protest of the masses against social inequality and oppression. His main philosophico-religious works are: Issledovaniye dogmaticheskogo bogosloviya (Investigation of Dogmatic Theology), 1880; Ispoved (Confession), 1880-82; V chom moya vera? (What Do I Believe In?), 1883; Tsarstvo bozhiye vnutri nas (God's Kingdom Inside Us), 1891, and Put zhizni (Path of Life), 1910.

Totemism

One of the early forms of religion in primitive-communal society. As a term it was used for the first time by John Long at the end of the 18th century. The main feature of totemism is belief in the common origin, blood relationship and association of a group of people with a definite kind of animal, plant, object or phenomena. The emergence of totemism was conditioned by the primitive economy (hunting, fruit gathering, etc.) and the lack of knowledge of the other ties in society besides consanguinity.

The primitive conception of the totem is the animal-ancestor, its portrayal or symbol, and also a group of people. The totem, the powerful protector of people, supplies them with food. Totemism is widespread among the aboriginal tribes of Australia, North and South America, Melanesia, Polynesia, and Africa. The survivals of totemism are preserved in developed religions (God is the father of believers; pure and impure animals; the eucharist means the partaking of God's body), and in folklore (tales of marital and blood relationships between people and animals).

Toynbee, Arnold Joseph (1889–1975)

English historian and sociologist. His philosophy of history replaces the concept of social progress by the "theory of cycles". He holds that world history proceeds in great cycles of ups and downs and is a sum total of various "civilizations", which pass through the same phases: birth, growth, downfall, disintegration, and destruction. In treating the problem of the motivating forces of history, Toynbee combines belief in "divine revelation" as the meaning of history, and "a hope of communion with Him" with the cult of individuals, "creative individuals" or "creative minorities". Toynbee differs from Spengler in trying to prove that it is possible to save "Western civilization" by means of clericalism.

Traduction

A sort of indirect inference in which the premises and conclusions are propositions of equal degree of generality. The analogy and also the conclusions drawn in analogue simulation are examples of traductive inference. Depending on the nature of the premises and the conclusion traduction may be one of three types: (1) inference from the singular to the singular; (2) inference from the particular to the particular; (3) inference from the general to the general.

Tragic, The

A category of aesthetics expressing the contradictions of social development, the individual and society, the struggle between the beautiful and the ugly. The tragic reflects the contradictions which are unresolvable at a given time, the contradictions between historically necessary requirements and the practical impossibility of implementing them. Tragic contradictions lead to painful emotions, sufferings, and even to the death of the hero.

Marxist aesthetics sees the main cause of tragic developments in the collision of social forces resulting from the laws of social development. Marx and Engels made a distinction between the tragic nature of the progressive forces, opposing the obsolescent order and unable to triumph in the given conditions, and the tragic nature of the historically obsolete class, which nevertheless has not yet exhausted its potentialities. A tragic situation sets in also when certain representatives of the old social order realize the doom of their class, but cannot sever their ties with it and adopt the positions of a new class which has the future on its side.

In life and art, the tragic evokes in people's hearts both grief and an aesthetic delight (see Catharsis), since the tragic purifies man's feelings and consciousness, fosters in him hatred for vile motives and steels his will and courage. The era of the socialist revolution and the building of a new society has given rise to new types of tragic contradiction and conflict, whose heroes display revolutionary optimism and purposefulness, understand that communist society is inevitable, believe in the forces of the people and are ready to face the most difficult trials and even death for the triumph of communism. The tragedy is a specific form of expression in art (for instance, Hamlet by Shakespeare, Boris Godunov by Pushkin, and the Optimistic Tragedy by Vsevolod Vishnevsky).

Transcendent

A term denoting that which is beyond consciousness and cognition as opposed to the immanent. This term is of vast importance in the philosophy of Kant, who held that man's knowledge is unable to penetrate into the transcendent world, the world of the "things-in-themselves". On the other hand, man's behaviour is dictated by the transcendent standards (free will, immortal soul, God).

Transcendental

In scholasticism, the transcendentalia are notions which apply to any being and mean the supercategorial. The transcendental definitions of being are broader in scope than the traditional categories of scholastic philosophy: form and matter, act and potentiality, etc.; they express the universal, supersensuous properties of being which are cognized through intuition, before any experience. According to scholasticism, the three principal transcendentals (there are six of them in all) denote: unity, the relation of being to itself, or the identity of being; truth, the comparison of being with the infinite spirit, or the apprehension of being in divine reason; blessing, the comparison of being with the infinite will, or purposefulness of being determined by the divine will.

Transcendentals were mentioned for the first time by Alexander of Hales (a 12th-13th century Franciscan scholastic and realist), Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas. The term transcendental was introduced later, in the 16th century. The development and recognition of the theory of transcendentals as the nucleus of scholastic metaphysics date back to a later period (16th-17th centuries). In recent times the theory has been criticized from the standpoint of nominalism. Spinoza and Hobbes called it "naive" and "senseless", and Kant "sterile" and "tautological".

According to Kant, the only transcendental is knowledge which deals both with objects and the method of their a priori cognition. The knowable being, or the transcendent world of "things-in-themselves", as Kant postulated, lies beyond the limits of experimental knowledge and for this reason is not reflected in the transcendental (logical) definitions. The modern scholastics hold that the theory of transcendental is independent of experience and the concrete sciences, and seek to prove the "eternal value" of metaphysics and the philosophical justification of the theological truths. By its objective content the theory of the transcendental definitions is but an attempt to create a purely contemplative, complete theory of being. Marxist philosophy does not use the term transcendental.

Transcendental Apperception

A term introduced by Kant, denoting a priori, that is non-empirical, initial, pure, and invariable consciousness, which, he claimed, determines the unity of the world of phenomena, from which it receives its forms and laws. According to Kant, the unity of transcendental apperception is the condition for the interrelation of human conceptions, their preservation and reproduction; the identity "ego", i.e., the fact that the thesis "I think" is included in any conception, forms the basis of this unity. Basing himself on this idealistic postulate of Kantianism, Fichte created his own system of subjective idealism.

Transcendental Idealism

A term denoting a special kind of philosophical idealism whose representatives were Kant and his followers. In scholastic philosophy it was used to designate concepts which rise above all the thinkable categories (see Transcendental). According to Kant, all idealism that preceded him developed the theory of being in a "dogmatic" way, that is, failed to investigate beforehand the conditions and the very possibility of unconditionally universal and unconditionally necessary truths. Kant held that theoretical philosophy ("metaphysics") should explain how these truths are possible in science and whether they are possible in philosophy.

In his opinion, explanations of this kind are supplied by transcendental idealism (also known as "critical"), which tries to prove that the a priori forms of consciousness are the condition for such truths and studies the possibility of applying these forms both within the framework of experience and beyond it. In accordance with this approach, a number of theories enunciated in Kant's Critique of Pure Reason has been called transcendental (e.g., transcendental aesthetics, transcendental logic).

Transcendentalists

A group of the US idealist philosophers and writers who set up the so-called Transcendental Club in Boston in 1836. In 1840-44, transcendentalists published their official organ The Dial. This group included Emerson, George Ripley (1802-80), Margaret Fuller (1810-50), Thoreau, and others. Although the members of this group called themselves transcendentalists (thus revealing their connection with the philosophy of Kant and Schelling), their world outlook was influenced mainly by the ideas of Plato, the Lake poets in England (Samuel Coleridge and William Wordsworth), and also of Carlyle and Rousseau.

The club members were chiefly petty-bourgeois intellectuals. They criticized capitalism from the standpoint of romanticism and a petty-bourgeois ideology for its brutality and called upon people to perfect themselves morally and draw nearer to nature. Many of the transcendentalists opposed slavery in the USA. In 1841, George Ripley set up a colony based on the teaching of Fourier, known as Brook Farm; it existed till 1847.

Transcensus

The passage from the subjective to the objective, from the sphere of consciousness to the sphere of the objective world effected in the course of human practice, but prohibited or restricted by the subjective idealists and agnostics. According to Kant, transcensus can be achieved only by faith, and not by knowledge. Hume denied transcensus in general. As Lenin noted, the very idea of transcensus taken to mean that there is a boundary in principle between the appearance and the "thing-in-itself", is a nonsensical idea of the agnostics.

Transformism

A conception of changes occurring in plant and animal organisms. Transformism, however, does not recognize continuity and progressive development in the organic world. The term transformism is sometimes used as a synonym to the theory of evolution.

Transition from Quantity to Quality

One of the basic laws of dialectics, explaining how and in what condition motion and development take place. This universal objective law of development states that the accumulation of imperceptible, gradual quantitative changes leads of necessity at a definite moment for each process to radical changes of quality, to a leap-like transition from the old to a new quality (see Quality and Quantity, Measure, Leap). This law holds true in all processes of development in nature, society, and thought.

Quantitative and qualitative changes are interconnected and interdependent: there is not only transition from quantity to quality, but also an opposite process—change of quantitative indications as a result of a change in the quality of objects and phenomena. Thus, the transition from capitalism to socialism involved a considerable change in quantitative indications: acceleration of economic and cultural development, growth of national income and workers' wages, etc. Quantitative and qualitative changes are relative. A change may be qualitative in respect to some (less general) properties, and only quantitative in respect to other (more general) properties. Thus, the transition from the pre-monopolistic to the monopolistic stage of capitalism is not an absolute change of quality: the quality of capitalism changed only in the sense that certain new essential features and properties have appeared, but its essence remains unchanged.

Any process of development is at the same time both continuous and discontinuous. Discontinuity appears in the form of a qualitative leap, and continuity in the form of a quantitative change (see Evolution and Revolution). Such a conception of development is diametrically opposed to the metaphysical view, which one-sidedly sets off evolution against leaps originating from no one knows where. Marxism has proved the unscientific character of the views of the revisionists and those sociologists who reduce the development of society to slow evolution and minor reforms, deny leaps and revolutions, and of the anarchists and Left-wing adventurists who disregard the long and painstaking work of accumulating strength and preparing the masses for decisive revolutionary actions.

The dialectical materialist understanding of the law of transition from quantity to quality is in direct opposition to that of idealism. Hegel, who was the first to formulate this law, mystified it like other laws of dialectics. In his teaching the categories of quantity and quality and their mutual passages initially appeared in an abstract form—in the absolute idea—and only later in nature. Marxist philosophy considers this law not as a prerequisite for constructing the world, but as a result of the study of nature, as the reflection of what happens in reality. Being a most important law of the objective world, it is also a vastly important principle for knowing the world and consciously transforming it in practice.

In changed conditions of social development the laws of dialectics are revealed in a specific form. Thus, under socialism the passage from quantity to quality (leaps) does not take the form of political revolutions; social changes here take place gradually through the dying away of the old and the emergence of elements of the new. This is the basic law of the growth of socialism into communism.

Transmutation of Chemical Elements

The transformation of one kind of atoms into another (for example, uranium atoms into lead atoms, etc.). The idea of the possibility of the mutual transmutations of elements was expressed by ancient Chinese and Indian philosophers, by Plato, Aristotle, and others. Such ideas were, in essence, the outcome of conjectures concerning the profound internal unity of matter, its variability, although often cloaked in an idealistic form. The belief in the philosopher's stone was based on these ideas.

When the chemical elements came to be connected with certain kinds of atoms (Dalton), which were considered to be indivisible and immutable, independent of one another, the idea of the transformation of elements was put aside for a long time. Metaphysical views of the eternal, immutable, and simplest elements of matter—"the bricks of the Universe"—came to predominate. Mendeleyev's periodical system of elements played an important role in paving the way for the idea of the transmutation of chemical elements. However, this idea received a firm scientific foundation and practical application only with the discovery of radioactivity, the complex structure of the atom and the atomic nucleus, and nuclear reactions.

Transmutation of chemical elements confirms the tenet of dialectical materialism on the development of matter, the unity and mutability of its various forms, and shows the insolvency of the metaphysical views on the existence of eternal and immutable primary elements in nature.

Trendelenburg, Friedrich Adolf (1802–1872)

German metaphysician, professor of Berlin University, opponent of Hegel. The rational kernel of his criticism of Hegel was his striving to show that Hegel tacitly used the concept of the external world in deducing his categories, and only because of this can these categories be considered as having imaginary independence, insofar as they are isolated from the material world. But having revealed the illusiveness of the dialectical transitions in a purely idealistic understanding, Trendelenburg proved to be anti-dialectic in principle. In actual fact he was an eclectic, an adherent of teleology. Trendelenburg was a prominent connoisseur of Aristotle and translator of his works. His main work: Logische Untersuchungen (1840).

Triad

Trinity, three-phase development. The concept triad was introduced by the Neo-Platonists, in particular Proclus. It was widely used by German classical philosophers, including Hegel. According to Hegel, every process of development passes through three phases: thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. Every next phase denies the previous one, turning into its opposite, while synthesis not only denies antithesis but also combines in a new way certain features of both previous phases of development. In its turn synthesis begins a new triad, and so on.

Triad reflects one of the peculiarities of development, in which the original starting point is reached again, but on a higher plane owing to the experience accumulated. Hegel made an absolute of triad and, contrary to his own statements, transformed it into an artificial scheme imposed on reality, a formal method of building a philosophical system, a scheme of the three-phased development of the concept. Marxist philosophy applies the rational content of triad to characterize the process of development (see Negation of the Negation, Law of).

Tribe

A form of human community peculiar to the primitive-communal system. The foundation of tribe is formed by the gentile relations, resulting in the tribes' territorial, linguistic, and cultural disunity. Only the individual's attachment to a tribe made him co-owner of the common property, gave him a definite share of the produce, and the right to participate in social life. The replacement of gentile relations by commodity-exchange relations led to the disintegration of the tribes and united them in nationalities.

Tropes

Principles with the aid of which the ancient sceptics formulated the impossibility of attaining objective knowledge of what exists. It was Aenisidemus who gave the greatest number of tropes in the most consistent form. The first four tropes deny the possibility of attaining knowledge of things on the strength of the fluidity, indefiniteness, and contradictoriness of man's sensuous perception. Four other tropes proceed from the state of the object. The ninth trope generalises all the other eight tropes, since it deals with the relativity of perception in connection with the infinite variety of relations between the perceiver and the perceived.

The tenth trope, unconnected with the previous nine tropes, deals with the impossibility of acquiring objective knowledge owing to the variety of people's opinions, moods, actions, intentions, etc. (for instance, some people have their own laws, other people have different laws; some people hold that the soul is immortal, others that it is mortal). The falseness of all tropes is seen from the following: in order to affirm the relativity of cognition of objects, one must have an idea of the autonomous and independent existence of those objects; that is, if a sceptic does not know what is the independent object, he can neither prove the relativity of cognition of them nor even know of their existence.

Trubetskoi, Sergei Nikolayevich (1862–1905)

Russian idealist philosopher, graduate of Moscow University, professor of that university. In 1900–05 was editor of the journal Problemy Filosofii i Psikhologii. In 1905, he was elected Rector of Moscow University. Trubetskoi's world outlook was formed under the influence of German classical philosophy and the views of Vladimir Solovyov. According to Trubetskoi, a true world outlook can be built only on the basis of the absolute, which is to be understood as "a universally united concrete being". This ideal being reveals itself both as an autonomous existing entity and as "volitive" subject, engendering all the multiplicity of empirical things. Space, time, necessity are other forms of the other being of this absolute. Trubetskoi called his views "concrete idealism".

Cognition of being proceeds in empirical (scientific) and speculative philosophical forms. Faith is also a source of knowledge. Trubetskoi's "concrete idealism" is closely related with the recognition of God as "infinite love" and the idea of unification of people in the fold of the church. A member of the Zemstvo liberal movement of Russia, Trubetskoi advocated the system of representative organs of power, the autonomy of universities. At the same time he was a staunch supporter of monarchy, an opponent of socialism and revolutionary methods of struggle.

His main works are: O prirode chelovecheskogo soznaniya (The Nature of Human Consciousness), 1890; Osnovaniya idealizma (Principles of Idealism), 1896; Ucheniye o logose v ego istorii (The Theory of Logos and Its History), 1900. He was also the author of a number of works on the history of ancient philosophy.

"True Socialism"

A variety of petty-bourgeois socialism which arose in Germany in the mid-1840s (K. Grün, M. Hess, H. Kriege, O. Lüning, and H. Püttmann). The philosophical views of the "true Socialists" were an eclectic combination of the ideas of French and English utopian socialists and Young Hegelians with Feuerbach's ethics. "True Socialists" considered socialism as a supra-class theory, declaring it to be the realisation of some kind of general human essence. They denied the class struggle, preached reconciliation of social contradictions, non-participation in politics and in the struggle for bourgeois democratic freedoms, and urged the proletariat not to take part in political revolutions.

Marx and Engels resolutely fought against the ideology of "True Socialism" and its influence on the working-class movement. In their works The German Ideology, A Circular Against Kriege, German Socialism in Poetry and Prose and Manifesto of the Communist Party they criticised "True Socialism", demonstrating the reactionary role it played during the period when the revolution was maturing in Germany. Under the influence of Marx and Engels a number of "true Socialists" (Weydemeyer, Dronke, and others) broke with their old views. During the 1848 revolution many "true Socialists" discarded their pseudo-socialist phraseology and joined the ranks of petty-bourgeois democrats. Some ideas of "True Socialism" are now utilised to falsify Marxism in a spirit of idealist ethics.

Truth

The true, correct reflection of reality in thought, which is ultimately verified by the criterion of practice. The characteristic of truth is applied to thoughts and not to things themselves or the means of their linguistic expression. Marxism was the first to provide a materialist basis for the understanding of truth and to indicate new dialectical aspects of its study.

Truth, Absolute and Relative

Categories of dialectical materialism that define the development of knowledge and the relation that is revealed between (1) that which is known and that which will become known as science develops; (2) that part of our knowledge which may be changed, made more precise or refuted as science develops, and that which is irrefutable.

The theory of Absolute and Relative Truth provides the answer to the question "Can human ideas which give expression to objective truth, express it all at one time, as a whole, unconditionally, absolutely, or only approximately, relatively?" (Lenin, Vol. 14, pp. 122–23). Absolute Truth is understood (1) as complete, exhaustive knowledge of reality and (2) as knowledge which will not be refuted in the future. At every stage of development our knowledge is conditioned by the level achieved in science, technology and production. As knowledge and practice (experience) develop, man's conception of nature is deepened, perfected and made more exact.

Scientific truths, therefore, are relative in the sense that they do not give complete, exhaustive knowledge of the subjects being studied and contain elements that will be changed and made more exact and profound as knowledge develops or will be replaced by others. At the same time every Relative Truth is a step forward in the cognition of Absolute Truth and will contain, if it is truly scientific, elements or grains of Absolute Truth. There is no impassable barrier between Absolute Truth and Relative Truth. Absolute Truth is composed of the totality of Relative Truths.

The history of science and social experience confirm that knowledge develops in this dialectic way. As scientific knowledge develops the properties of objects and relations between them become known more fully and profoundly and we draw nearer to Absolute Truth, which is confirmed by the application of theory in practice. On the other hand, theories that have been elaborated are constantly being developed and made more exact; some hypotheses are refuted (e.g., the hypothesis of the existence of the ether), others are confirmed and become proved truths (e.g., the hypothesis of the existence of the atom); some conceptions are excluded from science (e.g., thermogen and phlogiston), others are made more exact and summarised (cf. the concepts of simultaneity and inertia in classical mechanics and in the theory of relativity), etc.

The theory of Absolute and Relative Truth is given concrete form in science in the principle of correspondence. This principle is opposed to metaphysics, which declares every truth to be eternal and immutable ("absolute"), and to the various idealist conceptions of relativism which maintain that all truth is only relative and that the development of science is only evidence of a series of errors that replace each other in sequence so that there cannot be any objective truth. Actually, to use Lenin's words, "Every ideology is historically conditional, but it is unconditionally true that to every scientific ideology (as distinct, for instance, from religious ideology) there corresponds an objective truth, absolute nature". (Vol. 14, p. 136.)

Truth in Formalised Languages

A basic concept of logical semantics which specifies the Aristotelian concept of truth as applied to propositions in formalised languages. Attempts to define the concepts of a "true proposition" in a spoken language inevitably leads to antinomies of the type of "liar". The first strict and non-contradictory definition of the concept "true proposition" was obtained by Tarski in 1931 for a language of calculus classes with the help of the concept of decidability in a specially constructed metalanguage in the following form: statement X is true if and only if it is decidable by all subjects (by all classes in a language of calculus classes) and is false if there are no objects which decide it.

Tarski showed that a formally exact definition of the concept of a true proposition in a particular language L can be given only in some metalanguage ML; ML must be logically richer than L, that is, it must contain language L as a part of itself and, moreover, ML must have expressions of higher logical types than language L. This condition is definitely not decided if L is a natural language without any restrictions. A substantial result of these studies was the establishment of the non-coincidence of classes of true and demonstrable propositions of a language of calculus classes (and other logically richer classes): every demonstrable proposition is true, but not every true proposition is demonstrable.

The existence of true non-demonstrable propositions in a formalised language is proof of its incompleteness and non-contradiction. There are also other methods of defining the concept of truth in formalised languages (McKinsey, Carnap, Martin).

Truth, Objective

Content of human knowledge which does not depend on the will and desire of the subject. Truth is not constructed by the will or desire of people, but is determined by the content of the object reflected and this is what determines its objectivity. The doctrine of Objective Truth is directed against all possible subjective idealist conceptions of truth, according to which truth is constructed by man and is a result of conventions between people. Such understanding of truth is unscientific and reactionary, inasmuch as it allows all kinds of superstitions, religious beliefs, etc., to be regarded as truth because they are shared by most people.

Contemporary idealist philosophy opposes the objectivity of truth. This leads to a subjective approach to scientific knowledge, thereby undermining and discrediting science. Pragmatism, for example, holds that a proposition is true if its acceptance ensures success in life; neo-positivism declares mathematical and logical truths to be conventions.

Turgot, Anne Robert Jacques (1727–1781)

French economist, sociologist, statesman. He shared the materialist views of Holbach, Diderot and Helvétius. In his philosophico-historical studies he advocated the idea that society's progress is closely related with the development of the forms of economic life. He recognised the importance of economic growth, the progress of science and technology in the interests of social development. He joined the economic school of the physiocrats, who in contrast to mercantilists held that the "produit net", i.e., surplus value, is created in the sphere of production, not in the sphere of circulation. Turgot advanced some ideas about the class division of society and the essence of wages. He approached the scientific definition of the class. His main work was Réflexions sur la formation et la distribution des richesses (1776).

Turing, Alan (1912–1954)

English logician and mathematician. In 1937, he suggested a definition of an abstract computer ("the Turing Machine"), with the aid of which it would be possible in principle to perform any calculation or logical process according to an exactly formulated instruction. "The Turing Machine" was one of the first exact conceptions of the algorithm, anticipating a number of features common to the universal numerical computers that came into existence later. Turing was the first to emphasise the importance of creating teaching machines, i.e., machines which could accumulate the necessary experience and improve their behaviour in the process of interaction with the environment.

Twofold Truth

The term denoting the mutual independence of the truths of philosophy and theology. The theory appeared in the Middle Ages, when science strove to shake off the trammels of religion. The notion of Twofold Truth was set out most clearly in Arab philosophy. Ibn-Rushd believed that philosophy contained truths unacceptable to theology, and vice versa. The idea of Twofold Truth was propounded by exponents of Averroism and nominalism, such as Duns Scotus, William of Ockham, and by Pietro Pomponazzi at the time of the Renaissance, etc. At present the Twofold Truth doctrine is employed by theologians and reactionary philosophers to defend religion and to combat the scientific materialist world outlook.

Types, Theory of (the Hierarchy of Types)

A method of building formal (mathematical) logic, by which a distinction is made between objects of various levels (types); it aims at excluding paradoxes or antinomies from logic and the theory of numbers. Ernst Schröder was the first to develop Theory of Types and to apply it to the logic of classes (1890). In 1908–10, B. Russell built a detailed system of Theory of Types and applied it to the calculus of predicates. It is based on distinction according to types between: individuals (type 1), properties (type 2), the properties of properties (type 3), etc. He also introduced the division of types into orders. Theory of Types is but one of the methods of removing antinomies from constructions in the theory of plurality and formal logic.

Typification in the Arts

An artistic method of penetrating into the essence of things and phenomena; a method of reproducing human life, thoughts and feelings in the form of vivid artistic images. Typification is a complex process which represents the mutually penetrating unity of two antithetical aspects of creative work: artistic generalisation and individualisation of objective content. In conformity with his ideological design and the peculiarities of his poetical nature the artist processes this content, imparts to it a lively and original emotional form which gives man high aesthetical enjoyment.

In order to create a typical image, the artist must truthfully portray the typical phenomena of life and reveal the essence of processes and contradictions underlying social development. To this end he studies life, selects and picks out the most characteristic features—the conduct, habits, tastes, outward features which are common to a certain group of people. With the aid of creative imagination he embodies his generalisations in original characters acting in peculiar circumstances. Artistic types are capable of great ideological and emotional influence.