Cunoaştere şi adevăr la Vasile Conta
Knowledge and truth in Vasile Conta’s works

Implications for the theory of history

Summary/Abstract: The theory of knowledge of the philosopher of universal undulation, in which experience has a leading role, distinguishes between two broad categories of forms of knowledge: the elementary ones – sensations or perceptions – and the abstract ideas. The former represent less elaborate imprints of the data provided by the senses as a result of which, through the specific functions of thought, through the operations of induction, first of all, as well as through deduction, abstract ideas appear. These are second-degree imprints that the higher faculty of abstraction categorizes in general and in particular. According to Conta, laws, for example, are abstract ideas that represent qualities that belong to an indeterminate number of individual units. By their degree of generalization, abstract ideas can be relative or absolute, and the laws, by the maximum degree of generality, belong to the latter category. The theory of knowledge, in its essence, of materialistic, sensualist nature, augmented with the evolutionary theory, in which Spencer and Darwin had an important role, supported Conta in the elaboration of his own theory, of the undulating evolution of the universe. In our work we will analyse the epistemological concepts, as well as the metaphysical ones, of Vasile Conta’s philosophy, seeking to extract some meanings from the point of view of the theory of history.

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