Summary The concept of the psyche

Chapter 3. The concept of the psyche and its evolution • 75
organism, regulation of behavior. These functions are interrelated and are in fact elements of the integrative function of the psyche, which is to ensure the adaptation of a living organism to environmental conditions.
The more developed a living being, the more complex the mechanisms of its adaptation. We observe the most complex adaptation mechanisms in humans. The process of human adaptation to a certain extent is similar to the process of adaptation of higher animals. As with animals, human adaptation has an internal and external orientation. The internal focus of adaptation is that, thanks to the process of adaptation, the internal environment of the organism is maintained constant and, thus, the integrity of the organism is maintained. The external manifestation of adaptation consists in ensuring adequate contact of the living being with the external environment, that is, in the formation of appropriate behavior in more developed creatures or in behavioral reactions in less developed organisms. Consequently, both the inner and outer sides of adaptation primarily provide for the possibility of the biological existence of the living being. In humans, the construction of contact with the external environment has a more complex structure than in animals, since man contacts not only the natural, but also the social environment, which operates according to laws different from the laws of nature. Therefore, we have the right to believe that human adaptation is directed not only at ensuring its biological existence, but also at ensuring its existence in society.
In addition, we have the right to assume that the regulation of the internal state of a person occurs at a more complex level, since the flow of information about the changed environmental conditions gives rise to certain changes in the course of mental processes, that is, a person's mental adaptation also occurs.
There is another problem of scientific knowledge of the psyche, about which we have already spoken and on which we must again focus our attention. This is the problem of the origin of the psyche. What caused the existence of such a phenomenon, what is the psyche? Earlier it was already mentioned about the existence of different points of view regarding the origin of the psyche. С одной точки зрения — идеалистической — психическое (душа) в своем происхождении не связано с телом (биологическим носителем души) и имеет божественное происхождение. С другой точки зрения — дуалистической — у человека существуют два начала: психическое (идеальное) и биологическое (материальное). Эти два начала развиваются параллельно и в определенной мере взаимосвязаны друг с другом. С третей точки зрения — материалистической — феномен психики обусловлен эволюцией живой природы, и его существование должно рассматриваться как свойство высокоразвитой материи.
Споры о происхождении психики не прекращаются и по сей день. Это обусловлено тем, что проблема происхождения психики является не только одной из самых сложных в научном познании, но и основополагающей. Объяснить происхождение психики пытаются многие ученые в рамках не только психологической науки, но и философии, религии, физиологии и т. д. Сегодня еще пет однозначного ответа на этот вопрос.