ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ЗНАННЯ ПРО ПРИРОДУ НА РАННІХ ЕТАПАХ СУСПІЛЬНОГО РОЗВИТКУ

Introduction. An important place in understanding modern global environmental problems is given to the study of the content andnature of scientific knowledge about nature, human interaction with it, the methods served as a methodological basis for understandingand gaining new knowledge of natural processes. The study of the problems of the scientific knowledge formation in the field of natureand society interaction in the historical aspect allows a deeper understanding of the current state of the issue and contributes to theimprovement of its methodological foundations. The aim and tasks of this article are aimed at the analysis of the features of theformation and nature of knowledge of nature at the early stages of social development. Research methods. The methodological basisof the study is primarily the theoretical foundations of the dialectical approach in understanding the interaction between nature andsociety, in particular, the mediation of such interaction through human labor, as well as the theoretical legacy of philosophical researchon the problems of science, the specifics of the formation of scientific knowledge. Research results. . The characteristic features ofknowledge of nature and its interaction with man inherent in that phase of development of the spiritual culture of society are: a) theeffect of "dissolution" in nature for primitive man with the formation of a figurative and emotional perception of the world,anthropomorphization of the forces of nature and its general spiritualization; b) the integration of nature into the structure of the universewithout separating it into a separate object of cognition or understanding it as an expression of the abstract essence of man, cosmologyin comprehending the world; c) holistic "feeling" of nature and contemplation in its understanding as the basis for cognition of itsharmony and perfection; d) the presence in the system of cognition of nature as an obligatory component of the supernatural substance;e) knowledge about nature as part of a system of religious beliefs; f) the interweaving of elements of rational and mythologicalknowledge, their indivisibility. Discussion. The worldview aspect of the mythological understanding of the relationship between natureand man, the explanation of natural processes and phenomena can be understood through the scientific concept of religiousconsciousness in general and its characteristic features, cognitive features of the human mind. One of the ways to study the issues ofinteraction between nature and society is to analyze the characteristics of individual and social labor as a mediating process betweenman and nature. At the heart of the primitive mythological understanding of nature is also a specific type of knowledge about the natureof man's relationship with the world around him. Соnclusion. The characteristic features of knowledge about nature and the interactionof a person with it, inherent in this phase of development of the spiritual culture of society, are contemplation and dissolution of thecognizing subject in nature, anthropomorphization of the forces of nature, their spiritualization, cosmology in comprehending the world.The origins of such a close interweaving of various forms of spiritual culture and social consciousness of primitive man, the indivisibilityof his knowledge of nature and the cognitive sphere as a whole, lie in the indivisibility of social life itself. The similar nature of the relationship to nature and the methods of its cognition reflected the level of development of the material productive forces of society, culture, cognitive activity, general living conditionsУ статті розглядаються особливості формування та характер знання про природу на ранніх етапах суспільногорозвитку. Показується детермінованість процесу взаємовідносин між природою та людиною та специфіки системи знаньпро природу особливостями індивідуальної і суспільної праці. Доводиться, що витоки переплетіння різних форм духовноїкультури та суспільної свідомості первісної людини, нерозчленованість її знань про природу і пізнавальної сфери загаломполягають у нерозчленованості самого суспільного буття. Подібний характер ставлення до природи та засоби її пізнаннявідображали рівень розвитку матеріальних продуктивних сил суспільства, культури, пізнавальної діяльності, загальні умовижиття