The Ontological Foundations of the Reality of Harmony in V.T. Meshcheryakov’s Philosophical System

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to make the understanding of harmony closer to the needs of modern including scientific knowledge, based on a critical reflection of modern philosophical theories. Although the starting point of the work is V.T. Meshcheryakov’s theory, his ideas are presented as a statement of problems that have not been solved by the author himself. The article continues their solution in the perspective of modern approaches and methods. If in classical philosophy harmony is understood as a static, non-empirical ideal, then today it is advisable to consider it, on the one side, as a dynamic parameter of the system, an indicator of its viability and stability in conditions of imbalance and variations, on the other side, as a feature of consciousness to monitor the integrity of the system during its radical morphological changes. The research methods include a dialectical method used to identify mechanisms for overcoming contradictions in the dynamics of systems; a systematic approach that is important for determining the criteria for the integrity, autonomy, and functional relationships of the system; a synergetic paradigm that allows to establish the nature of changes under the influence of the ex-ternal environment and the return of the system to a stable state; a phenomenological method to specify the risk of replacing the objective processes of harmonization with cognitive constructs of consciousness. The nov-elty of the work lies in the phenomenological substantiation of harmony as a cognitive tool for structuring reali-ty. The results of the paper show that harmony manifests itself as a universal mechanism of a special percep-tion of reality, which makes it possible to detect patterns in the dynamic nonequilibrium systems liable to the modulation in their set of functions and relationships. The following indicators of harmony have been estimat-ed: integrity, conformity (functional and complementary), optimal balance of opposites, and the ability of the system to return to a steady state after nonequilibrium ones in the process of change. Thus, harmony, in one respect, has an objective component derived from the system’s ability to maintain integrity and necessary func-tions as applied to changes, choose the optimal vector of changes, and restore connections in the event of sudden changes. Opposite, the concept of harmony is a cognitive tool of consciousness necessary for con-structing the holistic representations of objects preserving the unity of attitude towards a thing or system, and substantiating the possibility of the existence of a system with its fundamental morphological changes.