42)The decisive role of labour operations in the formation of man and his consciousness

was materially expressed in the fact that the brain as an organ of consciousness developed simultaneously with the development of the hand as an organ of labour. It was the hand, the "receiving" (or coming directly in touch with things) organ, that gave instructive lessons to other sense organs, such as the eye. The actively operating hand taught the head to think even before it be­came a tool doing the will of the head which plans practical actions in advance. In the development of labour activity, and above all in the perfection of the hand, tactile sensations were specified and en­riched, and the ability developed for perceiving the finest nuances of human speech sounds. The logic of practical actions was re­corded in the head and transformed into the logic of thought: man learnt to think. Before tackling some job, he was already mentally able to visualize its result, the mode of its realization, and the instru­ments of achieving that result. "A spider conducts operations that resemble those of a weaver," wrote Marx, "and a bee puts to shame many an architect in the construction of her cells. But what distin­guishes the worst architect from the best of bees is this, that the architect raises his structure in imagination before he erects it in re­ality. At the end of every labour-process, we get a result that already existed in the imagination of the labourer at its commencement."¹ Of course, the bee's instinct containing the "design" of a cell is present in the bee's psyche, but, as distinct from man, the resuIt of its labour is present in an instinct rather than in an illumined field of consciousness.

Along with the emergence of labour, man and human society evolved. Collective labour presupposed cooperation among people "and thus a division, however elementary, of labour actions among its participants: some kept up the fire, others prepared food, still others hunted, there were those who dug up roots, etc. A division of labour effort is only possible if the participants perceive, in one way or another, the connection between their actions and those of the other members of the collective, and thus their bearing on the at­tainment of the ultimate goal. The formation of the consciousness of man is linked with the emergence of social relations which signify the subordination of the individual's life to a socially fixed system of needs, duties, and disciplined conduct, all expressed in and regu­lated by language, historically shaped customs and mores.

43)Consciousness elements: Knowledge, emotions, will-linked by law-governed relations.

The development of consciousness assumes above all enrichment of it through addition of new knowledge about the surrounding world and about man himself. The rich sphere of emotional life comprizes feelings proper, which are the attitude to external influences (plea­sure, joy, grief, etc.), moods, or .emotional states (cheerful, de­pressed, etc.), and affects (fury, horror, desperation, etc.). The pro­cess of cognition involves all aspects of our inner world—needs, in­terests, feelings, and will. Our intentions are realized through an effort of will. But consciousness is not a sum total of its constituent elements: it is an integral, complex structured whole.

Self-consciousness. Reflexion. Man thinks and knows himself. He realizes what he does, thinks, and feels. Both historically and in the course of his individual perfection man is first aware of objects and his own practical actions, and at a higher level of development, of his thoughts about objects and actions. He realizes himself as a per­sonality. Self-consciousness presupposes the singling out and dif­ferentiation of man, of his own self from everything that surrounds him. Self-consciousness is the realization by man of his actions, emo­tions, thoughts, motives of behaviour, interests, and position in society. An essential role in the formation of self-consciousness is played by the sensations of man's own body, of his movements and actions. Man can only become himself in interaction with other people, with the world, through his practical activity and communication. The formation of self-consciousness is socially conditioned not only through direct communication between people and their reciprocal evaluations but also through the formulation of society's imperatives imposed on the individual, through his realization of the rules for mutual relations.

Self-consciousness is closely linked with such a spiritual phe­nomenon as reflexion (these concepts are sometimes used as sy­nonyms). Reflexion is a principle of human consciousness which guides man towards a conscious realization of his own spiritual and intellectual processes, towards a frequently critical analysis of his spiritual and psychical states with due attention to all the contradic­tions in the orientation of the emotions, impulses and thoughts; re­flexion is contemplation of the devices used in thought processes and of their social significance

44) 44) Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something, which can include information, facts, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. It can be implicit (as with practical skill or expertise) or explicit (as with the theoretical understanding of a subject); and it can be more or less formal or systematic.^[1] In philosophy, the study of knowledge is called epistemology, and the philosopher Plato famously defined knowledge as "justified true belief." However no single agreed upon definition of knowledge exists, and there are numerous theories to explain it.

Knowledge acquisition involves complex cognitive processes: perception, learning, communication, association and reasoning; while knowledge is also said to be related to the capacity of acknowledgment in human beings.^[2