Мethodological premises of universal phenomena in the context of classical metaphysics

Universal phenomena have been formed since the Vntiquity epoch. The Greeks consider them in connection with such concepts as "substance" ("essence") or with the verb "to be". We can see the substantial line in the works of such philosophers as Thales, Anaximenes, Anaximander. Each of them produces the idea of the universal phenomenon, every time offering a new substance as a physical basis of being and as its metaphysical source. Plato refined this position: he developed the doctrine of entities which organize the world - the ideas. In turn, searches of "the universal phenomenon as being" were made by Parmenides and Socrates. Both represent a specific reality where reason serves as a disciplining force. Universal phenomena fill this reality. They are constructed by a person whose intellect imprints the givens of an empirical reality and then transforms them into abstract concepts. Aristotle organizes these concepts (ten categories). The Greeks managed to build a philosophical methodology where Reason takes the role of a declarative. The medieval philosophy takes rationalism from the Antiquity in terms of universal phenomenon justification. Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas are the best proofs of it. Despite the fact that Faith is declared to be the main value in the culture of the Middle Ages, Reason challenges its directives. Together they create scholastic rationalism. Faith and Reason are two different motivational complexes, but in the Middle Ages, they are complementary. It is not a coincidence that God in medieval scholasticism is considered not only as the Creator of the visible world, but also as the Creator of its rational structure. However, in the Age of Enlightenment universal phenomena acquire a secular character. The claims of Reason in the culture of Enlightenment are very high. At that time universal phenomena do not emanate to the consciousness from the outside. Universal phenomena are the figments of the human Reason. Descartes, Kant, Hegel formulate the moment of the secondary nature of existence in relation to the consciousness, and every object of the material world is revealed only in the process of epistemological procedures. That is why Reason possesses endless power. However, the rationalist background in general is a feature of metaphysics - it is all built on reflection. Universal phenomena are made on this foundation - Thales's "Water", Descartes's "Сogito", Aristotle's "categories", Kant's "things-in-themselves", etc. All these categories are thought up, all of them rest on the "arche", which means "beginning" in Greek. This is a metaphysical way of thinking which originates in the Antiquity, then goes into the Middle Ages and the Enlightenment where it becomes absolutized. The metaphysical way of thinking gives preference to Reason as an "expert" of Truth. This program setting determines the technomorphism of the European culture. The deviation from this paradigm appeared only in the Middle Ages, yet rationality is still part of culture.

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