On categories of the order

Philosophy

Abstract

The article discusses the categories of the widely used concept of order. The seeming obviousness and simplicity of the meanings of the order conceal a problem, namely the understanding of the sense of what exactly is related to the order. In the analysis of the order, it is noted that the order itself has the meaning of a taxonomic unit, including the meaning of the category. This explains the fact that the order refers to reflective concepts.In this way, the order is associated with discourse. One of the key concepts in philosophy, especially modern philosophy, which again has received a universal significance beyond the strictly philosophical sphere, is discourse, which is directly related to the traditional concept of the order. Solidity and wealth of the order seem to «take off» binarity of «discourse», the core of which is formed by the proportionality of the order of words and the order of things, the signifier and the signified, value and truth, etc. In the article, the net of the categories ofthe order is analyzed through the prism of the theme оrdo amoris formulated by M. Scheler. The choice of this theme is explained by the mutual dependence of the world and the man. The analysis reveals the association of this theme with mythological images of cosmos and chaos, Augustine of Hippo’s idea of the order, the formation of mathesis, which is a universal science of measure and order, law and number, and Norbert Wiener’s understanding of information. Interpretation of Scheler’s conception that combines the normative and the actual (descriptive) meaning of оrdo amoris (the world must be worthy of the man) is presented. The key to this interpretation relies on such meaning of the order as degree.