The idea of progressive development entered science as a secularized (secular) version of the Christian belief in providence. The image of the future in the biblical stories was an irreversible, predetermined and sacred process of development of people guided by the divine will. However, the origins of this idea are discovered much earlier. Next, let's look at what progress is, what its purpose and meaning are.
First mentions
Before we talk about what progress is, we should give a brief historical description the emergence and spread of this idea. In particular, in the ancient Greek philosophical tradition there are discussions about improving the existing socio-political structure, which developed from the primitive community and family to the ancient polis, that is, the city-state (Aristotle “Politics”, Plato “Laws”). A little later, during the Middle Ages, Bacon tried to apply the concept and concept of progress in the ideological field. In his opinion, knowledge accumulated over time is increasingly enriched and improved. Thus, each next generation is able to see further and better than its predecessors.
What is progress?
This word has Latin roots and translated means “success”, “moving forward”. Progress is a direction of development of a progressive nature. This process is characterized by the transition to the higher from the lower, from the less to the more perfect. The progress of society is a global, world-historical phenomenon. This process involves the ascent of human associations from savagery, primitive states to the heights of civilization. This transition is based on political, legal, moral, ethical, scientific and technical achievements.
Main Components
The above describes what progress is and when they first started talking about this concept. Next, let's look at its components. During the improvement, the following aspects develop:
- Material. In this case we're talking about about the fullest satisfaction of the benefits of all people and the elimination of any technical restrictions for this.
- Social component. Here we are talking about the process of bringing society closer to justice and freedom.
- Scientific. This component reflects the process of continuous, deepening and expanding knowledge of the surrounding world, its development in both the micro and macro spheres; liberation of knowledge from the boundaries of economic feasibility.
New time
During this period, they began to see progress in natural science. G. Spencer expressed his point of view on the process. In his opinion, progress - both in nature and in society - was subject to a general evolutionary increasing complexity internal functioning and organizations. Over time, forms of progress began to be seen in the literature, general history. Art did not go unnoticed either. In different civilizations there was a diversity of social orders, which, in turn, determined different types progress. A so-called “staircase” was formed. At its apex were the most developed and civilized societies of the West. Next, at various stages, stood other cultures. The distribution depended on the level of development. There was a "Westernization" of the concept. As a result, such types of progress as “American-centrism” and “Eurocentrism” appeared.
Modern times
In this period a vital role was assigned to a person. Weber emphasized the tendency to rationalize the universal in the management of diversity. Durkheim gave other examples of progress. He talked about the trend social integration through "organic solidarity". It was based on the complementary and mutually beneficial contribution of all participants in society.
Classic concept
The turn of the 19th and 20th centuries is called the “triumph of the idea of development.” At that time, there was general confidence that scientific and technical progress capable of guaranteeing continuous improvement of life, accompanied by a spirit of romantic optimism. In general, there was a classical concept in society. It represented an optimistic idea of the gradual liberation of humanity from fear and ignorance towards ever more refined and high levels civilization. Classic concept was based on the concept of linear irreversible time. Here progress was a positively characterized difference between the present and the future or the past and the present.
Goals and objectives
It was assumed that the described movement would continue continuously not only in the present, but also in the future, despite random deviations. There was a fairly widespread belief among the masses that progress could be maintained at all stages, in every basic structure of society. As a result, everyone would achieve complete prosperity.
Main criteria
The most common among them were:
- Religious improvement (J. Buset, Augustine).
- Increase scientific knowledge(O. Comte, J. A. Condorcet).
- Equality and justice (K. Marx, T. More).
- Expansion of individual freedom in combination with the development of morality (E. Durkheim, I. Kant).
- Urbanization, industrialization, improvement of technology (K. A. Saint-Simon).
- Dominion over natural forces (G. Spencer).
The inconsistency of progress
The first doubts about the correctness of the concept began to be expressed after the First World War. The inconsistency of progress consisted in the emergence of ideas about negative side effects with the development of society. F. Tennis was one of the very first to criticize. He believed that social development from traditional to modern, industrial, not only did not improve, but, on the contrary, worsened people’s living conditions. Primary, immediate, personal social connections traditional interaction between people were replaced by indirect, impersonal, secondary, exclusively instrumental contacts inherent modern world. This, according to Tennis, was the main problem of progress.
Increased criticism
After World War II, it became obvious to many that development in one area entails negative consequences in another. Industrialization, urbanization, scientific and technological progress were accompanied by pollution environment. Which, in turn, provoked the appearance new theory. The belief that humanity needs continuous economic progress, was replaced by an alternative thought about the “limits to growth.”
Forecast
The researchers calculated that as the consumption level approaches different countries By Western standards, the planet could explode from environmental overload. The concept of the “golden billion,” according to which only 1 billion people from wealthy states can be guaranteed a secure existence on Earth, has completely undermined the main postulate on which it was based classic idea progress - focusing on a better future for everyone living without exception. Conviction in the superiority of the direction of development followed by Western civilization, which dominated for a long period of time, gave way to disappointment.
Utopian vision
This thinking reflected highly idealized ideas about the best society. According to this utopian thinking, it must be assumed that powerful blow. The last attempt to implement this type of vision of the world was the world socialist system. At the same time, humanity is at this stage does not have in stock projects “capable of mobilizing collective, universal action, capturing people’s imagination” that could orient society toward a brighter future (this role was very effectively played by the ideas of socialism). Instead, today there are either simple extrapolations of existing trends, or catastrophic prophecies.
Reflections on the future
Development of ideas about upcoming events is currently going in two directions. In the first case, a reigning pessimism is determined, in which gloomy images of decline, destruction and degeneration are visible. Due to disappointment in scientific and technical rationalism, mysticism and irrationalism began to spread. Reason and logic in one area or another are increasingly opposed to emotions, intuition, and subconscious perception. According to radical postmodern theories, V modern culture The reliable criteria by which myth differed from reality, ugly from beautiful, virtue from vice, disappeared. All this indicates that the era has begun" supreme freedom"from morality, traditions, progress, in the end. In the second direction we can see active search new concepts of development that can give people positive guidelines for the coming periods, and rid humanity of unfounded illusions. Postmodernist ideas mainly rejected the theory of development in the traditional version with finalism, fatalism and determinism. Most of Of these, she preferred other examples of progress - other probabilistic approaches to the development of society and culture. Some theorists (Buckley, Archer, Etzioni, Wallerstein, Nisbet) in their concepts interpret the idea as a possible chance of improvement, which can occur with a certain degree of probability, or may go unnoticed.
The principle of constructivism
Of all the variety of approaches, it was this concept that served as the theoretical foundation for postmodernism. The task is to find in the everyday normal life of people driving forces progress. According to K. Lash, the solution to the riddle is ensured by the confidence that improvements can occur solely through human efforts. IN otherwise the task is simply impossible.
Alternative Concepts
All of them, which arose within the framework of activity theory, are very abstract. Alternative concepts appeal to the “man as a whole” without showing much interest in cultural and civilizational differences. In this case, in essence, it looks new type social utopias. It represents a cybernetic simulation social cultures perfect order, viewed through the prism of human activity. These concepts return positive guidelines, a certain belief in probable progressive development. Moreover, they name (albeit at a highly theoretical level) the sources and conditions of growth. Meanwhile, alternative concepts do not answer the main question: why humanity, “free from” and “free for,” in some cases chooses progress and strives for a “new, active society,” but often the guideline for it is decadence and destruction, which , in turn, leads to stagnation and regression. Based on this, it can hardly be argued that society needs progress. This is explained by the fact that it cannot be proven whether humanity will want to realize its creative ability in the future. There are no answers to these questions in cybernetics and systems theory. However, they were analyzed in detail by religion and culture. In this regard, sociocultural ethicocentrism can today act as an alternative to constructivist modernism in the theory of progress.
Finally
Modern Russian philosophers are increasingly returning to " Silver Age". Turning to this heritage, they are trying to hear the originality of the rhythms again national culture, translate them into scientific strict language. According to Panarin, the biomorphic structure of cognition shows a person the image of the cosmos as a living, organic integrity. Its space awakens motivation in people higher order, incompatible with irresponsible consumer egoism. Today it is clearly clear that modern social science requires a major re-examination of existing core principles, priorities and values. It can suggest new directions to a person if he, in turn, finds in himself enough strength to take advantage of them.
Lecture:
Concepts of progress, regression, stagnation
The individual and society as a whole tend to strive for the best. Our fathers and grandfathers worked so that we could live better than them. In turn, we must take care of the future of our children. This desire of people contributes to social development, but it can proceed in both a progressive and regressive direction.
Social progress- this is the direction of social development from lower to higher, from less perfect to more perfect.
The term "social progress" is associated with the terms "innovation" and "modernization". Innovation is an innovation in any area that leads to its qualitative growth. And modernization is the updating of machines, equipment, technical processes to bring them in line with the requirements of the time.
Social regression- this is the opposite direction of progress of social development from higher to lower, less perfect.
For example, population growth is progress, and its opposite, population decline, is regression. But there may be a period in the development of society when there are neither shifts nor recessions. This period is called stagnation.
Stagnation- a stagnant phenomenon in the development of society.
Criteria social progress
In order to assess the presence of social progress and its effectiveness, there are criteria. The most important of them are:
- Education and literacy of people.
The degree of their morality and tolerance.
Democracy of society and the quality of realization of the rights and freedoms of citizens.
Level of scientific and technical innovation.
The level of labor productivity and the welfare of the people.
Life expectancy level, population health status.
Paths of social progress
In what ways can social progress be achieved? There are three such paths: evolution, revolution, reform. The word evolution translated from Latin means “unfolding”, revolution means “coup”, and reform means “transformation”.
Revolutionary path involves rapid fundamental changes in social and government foundations. This is the path of violence, destruction and sacrifice.
An integral part of social development is reform - legal transformations in any sphere of society, carried out on the initiative of authorities without affecting the existing foundations. Reforms can be both evolutionary and revolutionary in nature. For example, reforms Peter I were of a revolutionary nature (remember the decree on cutting the beards of the boyars). And Russia’s transition since 2003 to Bologna system education, for example, the introduction of the Federal State Educational Standard in schools, undergraduate and graduate levels in universities, is a reform of an evolutionary nature.
The contradictions of social progress
The directions of social development listed above (progress, regression) occur interconnectedly in history. Often progress in one area can be accompanied by regression in another, progress in one country by regression in others. P The following examples illustrate the contradictory nature of social progress:
The second half of the 20th century is marked by rapid progress in science - automation and computerization of production (progress). The development of this and other branches of science requires huge expenditures of electricity, heat and atomic energy. NTR supplied everything modern humanity to the brink environmental disaster(regression).
The invention of technical devices certainly makes a person’s life easier (progress), but negatively affects his health (regression).
The power of Macedonia - the country of Alexander the Great (progress) was based on the destruction of other countries (regression).
By studying history, we see how things change over time. different sides public life, one type of society replaces another.
Social changes
Various changes are constantly taking place in society. Some of them are being carried out before our eyes (they choose a new president, introduce social programs assistance to families or the poor, legislation changes).
Social changes are characterized by their direction; they can be positive ( positive changes for the better), they are called progress, and negative (negative changes for the worse) are called regression.
We advise you to remember!
Social progress - consistent positive changes in society; the process of its ascent from one historical stage to another, the development of society from simple to complex, from less developed forms to more developed ones.
Social regression is the movement of society back to lower stages of development.
Let's turn to historical example. The Roman Empire developed progressively over hundreds of years. New buildings were erected, architecture, poetry and theater developed, legislation was improved, and new territories were conquered. But during the era of the Great Migration, barbarian nomadic tribes destroyed the Roman Empire. Livestock and poultry were grazed on the ruins of ancient palaces; aqueducts no longer supplied fresh water to the cities. Illiteracy reigned where arts and crafts had previously flourished. Progress gave way to regression.
Paths of social progress
Progress is being made different ways and ways. There are gradual and spasmodic types of social progress. The first is called reformist, the second - revolutionary.
We advise you to remember!
Reform is a partial gradual improvement in any area; transformation carried out by legislative means.
Revolution is a complete change in all or most aspects of social life, affecting the foundations of the existing social system.
The first revolution in human history was the so-called Neolithic revolution, which represented a qualitative leap, a transition from an appropriating economy (hunting and gathering) to a producing economy (agriculture and cattle breeding). Neolithic Revolution began 10 thousand years ago. It was a global revolution - it swept the whole world.
Second global process there was an industrial revolution in the 18th-19th centuries. She also played outstanding role in human history, led to the spread of machine production, the replacement of an agrarian society with an industrial one.
Global revolutions affect all spheres of society and many countries, and therefore lead to qualitative changes.
Revolutions taking place in all spheres of people’s lives also lead to reorganization in individual countries. A similar thing happened to Russia after October revolution 1917, when the Soviets of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies came to power. Authorities have changed, entire social groups(For example, nobility), but new ones appeared - the Soviet intelligentsia, collective farmers, party workers, etc.
Reforms are partial changes that affect not the whole of society, but certain areas of it.
Reforms, as a rule, do not affect all countries, but each one separately, since this is an internal matter of the state. Reforms are carried out by the government, are transparent, are planned in advance, the general population is involved in their discussion, and the progress of the reform is covered by the press.
Interesting Facts
One of the greatest reformers in history was Byzantine emperor Justinian I (527-565) - He established a commission to create a body of Roman law (in Latin - Corpus juris civilis) with the aim of replacing outdated laws. It was also necessary to eliminate contradictions in legislation. When the Justinian Code was created, all laws not included in it became invalid. Still Roman law is the basis of the civil law of the majority modern countries(including Russia).
Today our country is undergoing an education reform, which began back in the 1990s and led to the appearance of new textbooks, examination Unified State Examination systems, state educational standards.
Clever idea
“Progress is a way of human existence.”
- - Victor Hugo, French writer - -
The impact of technological progress on society
The basis for the development of society is technical progress - the improvement of tools and technology, as it changes production, quality and productivity of labor, affects people and the relationship between society and nature.
Technical progress has a long history of development. About 2 million years ago, the first tools appeared (remember what they were), from which technical progress began. Approximately 8-10 thousand years ago, our ancestors moved from gathering and hunting to agriculture and cattle breeding, and about 6 thousand years ago, people began to live in cities, specialize in certain types of labor, and divided into social classes. In the second half of the 17th century, with the beginning industrial revolution, the era of industrial factories opened, and in the 20th century - computers, the Internet, thermonuclear energy, and space exploration. Modern Personal Computer superior in performance computing centers 80-90 years of the last century.
What replaced the forge (1), plow (2), pen and inkwell (3)? Can we talk about social progress in these cases?
Perhaps no other society has valued innovation as highly as the modern one. In the 20th century, unique inventions were made: electricity, radio, television, cars, airplanes, nuclear power, rocket science, computers, laser technology and robots. Each new invention, in turn, led to the creation of even more advanced generations of technology.
Technological progress has also affected social sphere. Technical devices make a person’s life much easier, help people solve everyday problems (cook food, clean the apartment, do laundry, etc.), come to the aid of people with disabilities health. The advent of the automobile radically changed ideas about the place of work and residence, and made it possible for a person to live many kilometers from his workplace. People have become more mobile, including teenagers, who, thanks to the Internet, began to communicate with their peers from geographically distant places.
Technological progress has changed the lives of millions of people, but at the same time it has created many problems. Active human intervention in nature has led to many negative consequences: many species of plants and animals are disappearing or are on the verge of extinction, forests are being cut down, industrial enterprises pollute water, air and soil. The conveniences of city life are accompanied by air pollution, transport fatigue, etc.
Let's sum it up
Social progress is the movement of humanity from lower to higher levels. It has a global character, covering the whole world. On the contrary, regression is a temporary retreat from the conquered positions. Revolutions and reforms are two types of social progress. Revolutions can be global or limited to one or several countries. Reforms are carried out only in one society and are gradual.
Basic terms and concepts
Social progress social regression, reforms, revolution, technical progress.
Test your knowledge
- Give examples social changes. Do changes in social life always lead to positive consequences? Justify your answer.
- Explain the meaning of the concepts: “social progress”, “social regression”, “reform”, “revolution”, “technical progress”.
- Pick up keywords characterizing social progress, social regression, revolutions, reforms.
- Give examples from history that illustrate different ways social progress.
- How do you think wars influence the development of society? Do they serve a progressive or regressive role? Explain your answer.
Workshop
The topic is closely related to the problems of social change social progress.
One of the first scientific concepts social development How consistent advancement of societies through ascending levels of progress, which is determined increase in knowledge, belongs to A. Saint-Simon.
His ideas were developed by the founder O. Comte. Comte's law of intellectual evolution of mankind directly points to the direction and criterion of social progress - the degree of advancement to the highest in his concept, the scientific (positive) stage of development. G. Spencer, sharing the idea of the nonlinear nature of evolution, assumed measure social progress by the achieved degree of complexity of societies. Social evolution is similar to biological and gradually leads to the fact that the world is getting better. In the theory of K. Marx, the issue of social progress was resolved almost unambiguously. Achievement highest level human development- building a classless communist society where free labor will reign free people, - inevitable, although distant in time.
If O. Comte, G. Spencer and E. Durkheim designed concept of progress as bilateral process differentiation and integration regardless of its beneficial consequences, then L. Ward, N. Mikhailovsky and others believed that progress is about increasing human happiness or decrease human suffering. In one of his first works P. Sorokin indicated that both of these currents are insufficient and they need to be synthesized. Otherwise, the theory of progress risks giving a formula of stagnation instead of a formula for progress.
Most supporters social evolutionism convinced of availability of intellectual and technical progress, however regarding moral progress, opinions differ. Those who believe that moral progress exists belong to the school of evolutionary ethics . They proceed from the fact that the very presence of morality as the basis for interaction and mutual assistance of people is already the most important factor survival of society. Moral evolution does not cancel struggle for existence, but humanizes her, forcing her to find ever softer ways to fight.
Among evolutionists for a long time The prevailing idea was the unidirectionality of evolution for all societies, when each of them goes through successively identical stages of development on the path to progress. In the 20th century this view was found untenable on the basis of anthropological research. It turned out that not only non-Western, but also many European countries developed not according to one, but according to different scenarios, including different quantity and the sequence of stages.
On new basis evolutionary approach reborn in last years: evolution is not unidirectional, but can go in many directions. According to theory evolutionary changes structural functionalist T. Parsons, societies tend to become increasingly differentiated in their structures and functions, and new structures must be more functionally adapted than previous ones.
The position of the supporters is significantly different cyclical development. and periodic economic crises raised doubts about the overall progressive development of humanity. Thus, the German scientist Oswald Spengler in his book “The Decline of Europe” (1918) substantiated the periodization of the development and decline of cultures by analogy with the stages life cycle man, including decline and death. In his opinion, each of the eight cultures he studied existed for about 1000 years. Therefore, if we assume that Western European culture originated about 900 years ago, then its end is already near.
The English historian Arnold Toynbee also believed that the development of civilizations occurs along one path, improving and moving towards decline in similar stages. Arising as a response to any natural or natural challenge human factors, civilization flourishes as long as its elite is able to counter this challenge. Otherwise, there will be a split and disintegration of civilization and, due to the increase internal conflicts- movement towards decline.
Cyclic theories should also include the sociocultural dynamics of P. Sorokin, which contains a very pessimistic assessment of the prospects for the development of modern Western society.
Another example of cyclical theories is the concept of “world-economy” by I. Wallerstein, according to which Third world countries will not be able to repeat the path, passed by states - leaders modern economy; capitalist world-economy, which originated more than 500 years ago, in 1967-1973. entered into the inevitable the final phase of the life cycle - crisis phase.
Social progress and forecasting in philosophy
Modern is carried out within the framework scientific and technological progress, which in turn acts as a party social progress.
Issues of social progress were paid attention to by D. Vico, I.G. Herder, A. Turgot, J. Condorsse, O. Comte, K. Marx, F. Engels and others.
Social progress- this is an objective tendency of the upward development of humanity, expressed in the improvement of forms human life, needs, abilities to satisfy them, in the development of science, technology, technology, means mass media, medicine, etc.
The question of the criteria for social progress is debatable. Some researchers in as a criterion of social progress call the level of development of the method of production, others in this capacity highlight the level of development of the productive forces of society, others reduce it to labor productivity. It seems that we can accept as the most representative point of view, according to which the level of development of productive forces, expressed in labor productivity, can be accepted as a criterion of social progress.
In a philosophical explanation social process two points of view have been fighting for a long time - evolutionary And revolutionary.
Some philosophers preferred evolutionary development society, while others saw great attraction in revolutionary changes in social life. Obviously, we should be thoughtful about the ways and means of social progress. The course of the latter does not exclude a combination of revolutionary and evolutionary transformations of social life. When carrying out progressive changes and reforms, one should be guided by the fact that their implementation does not result in a decline in the economy, a decrease in the level of development of productive forces and a reduction, but, on the contrary, an increase in the economic wealth of society based on an increase in the level of development of productive forces and labor productivity.
Anticipating the future in different forms always played important role in the life of society. The importance of foresight especially increased during turning points in history, during periods of acute social conflicts. This is especially true for modern era, when it becomes obvious that both the distant and immediate future of humanity will be radically different from its present and recent past.
Foresight- this is knowledge about the future, i.e. about what does not yet exist in reality, but what is potentially contained in the present in the form of objective and subjective prerequisites for the expected course of development. Scientific foresight and social forecasting must contain an answer not only to the question of what can happen in the future, but also answers to questions such as when this should be expected, what forms the future will take and what is the measure of probability of this forecast.
There are three main ways social forecasting:- extrapolation;
- modeling;
- expertise.
The most reliable method of social forecasting is expertise. Any social forecast combines scientific and ideological purposes. There are four types of forecasts: search; normative; analytical; forecast-warning. Anticipating the future is an interdisciplinary study, and it is fruitful only in the process of integrating humanities, natural sciences and technical knowledge.
Before studying social progress, we should find out what the terms “progress” and “regression” mean. The key concepts for understanding the identified problem are the concepts of “change” and “development”. Change means the transition of systems from one state to another. Changes can be quantitative and qualitative, reversible and irreversible. Development but this is only a qualitative, natural and irreversible change in systems.
So, three features reveal the essence of the concept of “development”.
1. Development does not characterize all changes, but only qualitative ones.
2. Irreversibility is the most important characteristic of development. If any process is reversible, that is, its properties and qualities can appear, disappear and appear again, then this is a change, but not development.
3. Regularity . The absence of a pattern is typical for random processes, for example, disasters. They cannot be considered development.
So: the proposed understanding of development does not characterize all types of quantitative and qualitative changes, but only those that result in natural, irreversible qualitative changes.
Development is a contradictory phenomenon and can be carried out both in an ascending and descending direction - both progress and regression.
Progress- a form of development associated with the transition from a less perfect to a more perfect state, from lower to higher.
Regression– the opposite concept is a form of development associated with the transition from a higher to a lower state. This is a backward movement, these are processes of decay, destruction, loss of the system’s ability to perform the necessary functions.
Social progress- this is the ascending, progressive development of humanity, associated with the transition from a less perfect to a more perfect state.
Community development is contradictory in nature: it is the unity of the progressive and the regressive. In this regard, the question arises: how to distinguish progressive development from regressive? In other words, what is the criterion, i.e. “measurement”, sign progressive development?
There are criteria for social progress are common And private.
The general criterion for the progress of society can be considered as trinity the following indicators:
1. The degree of development of the productive forces of society - engineering, technology, science, transport, communications and, finally, the most important thing - a person who knows how and wants to work.
2. Degree of compliance economic, legal, political and other laws, operating in society, development needs productive forces .
3. Degree of social freedom working population and social security disabled population.
Except general criterion social progress, to assess the nature of the development of individual aspects of social life, and private criteria.
Let us give some examples of particular criteria in various fields public life.
In spiritual life these will be: opportunities for creative personal expression; the quantity and quality of books, magazines, museums, libraries, theaters, other cultural institutions and their accessibility to the population; availability and quantity of free time, quality of leisure.
IN material life technical progress is important, i.e. improvement of equipment, technology, penetration of technology into the spheres of everyday life, culture, and art.
Think about what scientific progress is, whether there is progress in morality, progress in the field of art.