Humanity does not stand still, but is constantly growing in all areas. The life of society is getting better with the development of technology, mechanical engineering and processing of valuable resources. The inconsistency of social progress lies in the philosophical assessment of human actions.
What is this?
In a broad sense, progress is a systematic development from the lowest to the highest. That is, the constant desire to grow up, improve and modernize. Progress is not fast or slow, it is determined by the degree of movement. With progress, the number of internal organizational connections increases, their level becomes more complicated. The opposite of progress is regression.
There is also social progress, it is determined by the criteria of social progress and shows how developed humanity is in scientific, technical, moral and other areas. Our species has progressed from a wild ape to Homo sapiens.
Problems of progress in society
In the Stanford Philosophical Encyclopedia maintained by the University of the same name, available in the freeaccessed online and constantly updated with hundreds of articles from the world's leading experts, three important questions have been identified that address progress.
- Does progress bring humanity to prosperity? If so, why?
- Where does progress come from and what are its historical laws?
- What is the empirical evidence for the theory of progress?
The problem of social progress is the impossibility of defining it unequivocally as a positive or negative phenomenon in a person's life. Researchers of progress understand the well-being of society in different ways. One part of theorists is of the opinion that the measurement of the standard of living takes place in material terms. And others completely deny the above, declaring a spiritual basis. The main values are: freedom, self-realization, personality actualization, happiness, public support. Otherwise, a person's values may be unrelated.
Modern discussion
The concept of social progress arises with the development of history. During the period of the Enlightenment, the main theses of the development of man and his role in world history were formulated. The researchers tried to find patterns in the historical process, and based on their results, they planned to predict the future.
At the time, key philosophers were divided. Hegel and his followers considered ideas that would contribute to the overall development and improvement. And the famous socialist Karl Marx believed that it was necessary to increase the growth of capital and, as a result, material well-beinghumanity.
Criteria for social progress
At the moment there is no consensus regarding the assessment of progress. As noted, philosophers identify three key issues for development. And since it is unrealistic to consider progress as a negative or positive phenomenon, we can single out the criteria for progress:
- Increasing production capacity.
- Scientific and technological development supported by the state.
- Expanding freedom of expression, freedom of speech and respect for human rights.
- Developing morality.
- Gradual progress in the human mind.
The criteria described in the aggregate often contradict each other in terms of assessing any progress (social, economic). For example, technological development contributes to environmental pollution. However, it is extremely useful for the development of society and is also harmful to the person himself, since it worsens his he alth, moral social development falls. Progress can negatively affect the development of another area of human activity.
Another striking example is the creation of the atomic bomb. The first research in the field of nuclear fusion showed mankind that nuclear energy can be converted into electricity. With progress in this direction, the nuclear bomb appeared as a by-product. And if you go deeper, then a nuclear warhead is not so bad. It provides relative stability in world politics, and the planet does not see global wars anymore.over 70 years.
Progress in society. Revolution
This is the fastest, but cruel way to abruptly change one socio-political system to another. A revolution is started when there is no other possibility of a change of power.
Examples of social progress that occurred through violent change of power:
- The October Revolution of 1917 in Russia.
- Turkish Kemalist Revolution 1918-1922.
- The Second American Revolution, when the North fought the South.
- Iranian Revolution of 1905-1911.
After the establishment of the power of the people, the proletariat, the military and other leaders of the revolution, the life of ordinary citizens, as a rule, worsens. But then it gradually recovers. During mass actions with the use of weapons, protesters forget about civil norms and rules. And in most cases, during the revolution, mass terror begins, a split in the economy and lawlessness.
Progress in society. Reforms
Revolution does not always happen with the rattling of arms. There is also a special form of change of power - a palace coup. This is the name given to the bloodless seizure of power by one of the political forces from the current rulers. In this case, no special changes are planned, and the improvement of the economic, political, social situation occurs through reforms.
The authorities are systematically building a new society. Social progress is achieved through plannedchanges and usually affects only one area of life.
A bit of history and a deeper meaning of the term
Social progress is a large-scale historical process of the development of society. In a broad sense, it implies a desire for the highest, from the primitivism of the Neanderthals to the civilization of modern man. The process is carried out through the development of scientific, social, political, cultural and other areas of society.
The French publicist Abbé Saint-Pierre made the first mention of the theory of progress in his book "Remarks on the Continuous Progress of the Universal Mind" (1737). The description in the book is very specific to modern man. And, of course, it is not worth taking it for the only true one.
A well-known publicist said that progress is God's providence. As a phenomenon, the progress of society has always been and will be, and only the Lord is able to stop it. At the moment, research is ongoing.
Social criterion
It indicates the level of development of the social sphere. It means the freedom of society and people, the standard of living, the correlation of the amount of money the population has, the level of development, taken as an example of a separate country of the middle class.
Social criterion is achieved through two meanings: revolution and reform. If the first implies a drastic change of power and a radical change in the existing system, then thanks to reforms, society is developing systematically and not so rapidly. The reforms also amortize the proposed shiftpower and crises. It is impossible to give any assessment to them or the revolution. One can only consider the opinions of political and philosophical schools.
One group of researchers believes that it will be correct to change power only by armed means. Democratic speeches with banners and peaceful slogans often turn out to be fruitless. This method is extremely effective if an authoritarian regime is established in the country and power is usurped.
If there is an adequate leader in the country who understands his failure, then he can cede power to the opposition and give an opportunity to carry out reforms. But are there many such cases? Therefore, most of the radical population adheres to the ideas of the revolution.
Economic criterion
Acts as one of the forms of social progress. Everything related to economic development falls under this criterion.
- GDP growth.
- Trade links.
- Development of the banking sector.
- Increasing production capacity.
- Production of products.
- Modernization.
There are a lot of such parameters, and therefore the economic criterion is fundamental in any developed state. Singapore is a prime example. This is a small country located in Southeast Asia. There are absolutely no reserves of drinking water, oil, gold and other valuable resources.
However, in terms of living standards, Singapore is ahead of oil-rich Russia. There is no corruption in the country, and the welfare of the population is growing every year. All thisimpossible without the following criterion.
Spiritual
Very controversial, like all other criteria for social progress. Judgments about moral development vary. And it all depends on the state in which any issue is being discussed. For example, in Arab countries, sexual minorities are godless and obscurantist. And their equality with other citizens will be a social regression.
And in European countries where religion does not act as a political force, sexual minorities are equated with ordinary people. They can have a family, get married and even adopt children. Certainly, there are factors that unite all countries. It is a rejection of murder, violence, theft and social injustice.
Scientific criterion
It's no secret that today a person is in the information space. We have the opportunity to buy in the store whatever your heart desires. Everything that a person did not have a little more than 100 years ago. Communication issues are also resolved, you can easily call a subscriber from another country at any time.
No more deadly epidemics, no more viruses that killed millions. We forgot about time, because the speed of moving from one point of the planet to another is minimal. If our ancestors traveled from point A to point B in three months, now it takes this time to fly to the moon.
How does social progress happen?
We will look at the example of an ordinary person, his formation fromprimitive individual to mature personality. From birth, the child begins to copy his parents, adopts their style and behavior. During the period of awareness, it greedily absorbs information from all sources.
And the more knowledge he gets, the easier it will be to switch to school. From the first to the fourth grade, the child actively interacts with the external environment. Skepticism and distrust of society are not yet manifested, but friendliness is developed along with childish naivety. Further, the teenager develops as society needs. That is, he develops basic skills of distrust, it is not recommended to express feelings and emotions. There are other stereotypes imposed by society.
And from the ninth grade, a teenager enters puberty. At this time, his reproductive system is actively developing, the first facial hair appears. And at the same time, the mental system is reformed inside the personality, and the teenager himself experiences incredible difficulties in self-determination.
During this period, a young person chooses a social model for himself, which will be almost impossible to change in the future. In an unfortunate set of circumstances, a teenager grows up as an underdeveloped personality whose needs revolve around alcohol, sexual pleasures and watching TV. These are the people who make up the bulk of the electorate in poor countries with poor education.
Or a person is born who has his own opinion and sees himself in society. This is a creator, he never criticizes, because he always offers. Such people becomein a society where there are many middle-class people, the political system is actively working, the economy is developed.
Society and its development
There are two ways of becoming a group of individuals. This is their collective interaction, described in the writings of Karl Marx and other socialists, and individual, reflected in the book "Atlas Shrugged" by the writer Ayn Rand (Alice Rosenbaum).
In the first case, the outcome is well known. Soviet society collapsed, leaving behind the achievements of science, the best medicine, education, industrial enterprises, and infrastructure. And most of the immigrants from the Soviet Union formally still live on the benefits of a collapsed country. Unfortunately, modern Russia will not leave anything behind after the collapse. At the same time, individualism reigns in it.
Now about America, it is also dominated by the ideology of individualism. And it is the most militarized country that has military bases all over the world. He spends a lot of money on the development of science and reaches certain heights, also develops medicine, education, etc. And what is very strange, what is good for one society is deadly for another.
