Philosophical Thinking on the Way to Freedom

The article considers one of the ways to achieve philosophical truth – the inner freedom of the subject. The doctrines of evolutionary epistemology and radical constructivism equate thinking with a means of adaptation. The best thinking is the one, thanks to which the organism survives and leaves maximum offspring. Freedom of thinking in such doctrines is absent, it is determined by the brain and its adaptive tasks. However, at a higher level of analyzing the human personality, one can speak of freedom. Heidegger establishes an inseparable connection be­tween freedom and truth: freedom is “letting beings be”. Only by letting this the cognizing subject can adequately cognize. This requires the renunciation of power, of mastery over the world, of its use as an instrument. Marion argues similarly in the doctrine of the saturated phenomenon. However, this kind of freedom can be called external. The notion of inner freedom is introduced. It is also inseparable from truth, and is now the truth of self-knowledge. Self-knowledge requires non-trivial approaches, as psychoanalysis has shown. The ar­ticle discusses the teaching of D. Winnicott on the true and false self and the theory of E. Ghent of “surrender”. The greatest obstacle to self-knowledge, according to Ghent and other theorists, are psychological defense barriers. They allow us to displace thoughts about ourselves that are unpleasant to us and undermine our self-confidence. In doing so, we alienate ourselves from our true Self. Ghent’s theory of “surrender” describes the breaking down of defense barriers and the in­ner liberation of the Self. Outwardly and inwardly free philosophical thinking is not the proof of a pre-known truth, but wandering (Heidegger). Genuine philo­sophical questioning does not know in advance where it will arrive, but on the way of wandering in a contemplative state it analyzes what is revealed to it