The Ideal: Following the Footsteps of E.V. Ilyenkov

Abstract

The article attempts to analyze the initial form of the ideal, following its definition in the work of E.V. Ilyenkov. The objective certainty of the ideal form of social la­bor was shown by Marx. Ilyenkov, exploring this problem, comes to the defini­tion of the ideal, which has become a classic today. The essence of the ideal lies in the emergence of such relationships within socially organized labor that express only the functional meaning of the things put into this relationship. These relation­ships are ideal because the things placed in this relationship do not have any natural connections between them. This functional meaning is given by the form of social work and expresses the relation of each element within work to the objectively holis­tic meaning and content of socially historically organized activity. This also generates the image of an object: the social form of a thing does not coincide and is opposite in meaning to natural existence. And thus the problem of truth is fully posed. The ideal in Ilyenkov’s work manifests itself in all the subjects of his philosophical research. The proposed article is an effort to enter into the dialectic of the ideal form, in which the essential identity with the concepts of consciousness and thinking is manifested. The functional relationship that arises in social productive work, being an ideal relationship, manifests the content of the objective world in an ideal form. The truth of objective content is expressed through categorical thinking, which, in turn, represents the true forms of the ideal. Objective representation, as the leading concept of the article, is highlighted in the context of consciousness and thinking.