There are a number of eternal questions that have long haunted the minds. Who are we? Where did they come from? Where we are going? These are just a few of the challenges faced by broad disciplines such as philosophy.
In this article we will try to understand what humanity is doing on Earth. Let's get acquainted with the opinions of researchers. Some of them consider history as a systematic development, others as a cyclical closed process.
Philosophy of history
This discipline is based on the question of our role on the planet. Is there any sense in all the events that take place? We are trying to document them, and then link them into a single system.
But who is the real protagonist? Does a person create a process, or do events control people? The philosophy of history tries to solve these and many other problems.
In the process of research, the concepts of historical development were identified. We will discuss them in more detail below.
Interestingly, the term "philosophy of history" itself first appears in the writings of Voltaire, but the German scientist Herder began to develop it.
The history of the world has always interested humanity. Also inIn the ancient period, people appeared who tried to record and comprehend the events taking place. An example is the multi-volume work of Herodotus. However, at that time many things were still explained by "divine" help.
So, let's delve deeper into the features of human development. Moreover, as such, there are only a couple of viable versions.
Two points of view
The first type of exercises refers to the unitary-stage. What is meant by these words? Proponents of this approach see the process as a single, linear and constantly progressing process. That is, both individual types of culture are distinguished, as well as the entire human society as a whole, which unites them.
So, according to this view, we all go through the same stages of development. And the Arabs, and the Chinese, and the Europeans, and the Bushmen. Right now we are at different stages. But in the end, everyone will come to one state of a developed society. So, you need to either wait until the others move up the ladder of their evolution, or help them in this.
The second view of the stages of human development is called pluralistic. Their point of view is fundamentally different from the previous one. If supporters of the unitary-stage concept consider progress to be infinite, then pluralists doubt it.
According to their theory, the history of the world consists of many independent entities that go their own way of development. It's like a mushroom in the forest. From it grows several mushrooms standing nearby. Each of them will grow in their own way,but according to the same law. After flowering comes decay and death. But a new plant will come to replace it.
Thus, it turns out that there is no constant evolution, and history repeats itself. Everything that we know today was once the property of previous peoples who reached their point and came to naught.
Naturalistic concept
We are talking about such a concept as "the concept of historical development." Formational, civilizational or naturalistic - it doesn't matter. The main thing is that scientists agreed on a common opinion. There is a sense in development, because even supporters of pluralism do not deny that peoples develop according to the same laws and stages, but in a spiral.
That is, when a man in the Stone Age wanted to eat, he went hunting or plucked fruit from a tree. The first action assumed a powerful work on the extraction of the resource. Compare with the real one. The meat is already ready, but you also need to get it. You have to go to work to get money, and then change it for food. Thus, the process remained the same, only it became more difficult.
Now, naturalistic concepts are only good in theory, because they consider man in isolation. Each individual is valued outside of society. The meaning of this theory lies in the fact that morality, laws and principles are already inherent in a person from the very beginning. That is, we are not developing, but simply revealing our potential.
However, thanks to such a vision, it is impossible to somehow convincingly unite all the ongoing processes. Therefore, we will dwell on the remaining two options in more detail.
Civilization concept
The first of the two most common versions suggests a non-linear development of mankind. Its proponents, such as Danilevsky and Spengler, portrayed history as disparate civilizations, existing separately and distinctly, interacting only occasionally.
During the development of this theory, some laws were derived that allowed the events in the evolution of society to be standardized and combined into a single classification.
The civilizational concept of historical development implies the correspondence of certain communities to certain conventions. They are called cultural-historical laws.
To date, five of them have been bred. So, a civilization can only be considered a society that contains all the items from the following list:
1. A common language or languages so that groups can communicate with each other.
2. Independence from other rulers and ideologies, which creates room for progress.
3. The identity of culture, traditions, religious beliefs.4. The development process is finite. That is, every civilization has periods of birth, prosperity and decline.
Thus, the supporters of this concept of historical development single out several local formations. If you name them by country, you get about fifteen regions: China, India, Mesopotamia, the Semitic world, Mexico, Latin America, Greece, Rome and others.
Based on this theory, it turns out that history is not a sequential process, butcyclical. And our civilization will also decline, and a completely new formation will come to replace it.
Formation concept
Proponents of this approach see successive stages of development in history. Among the scientists who developed these ideas were Marx, Ferguson, Smith, Engels.
This approach implies the linear evolution of man from the simplest forms to the modern type. This applies to both physical structure and technological progress.
What is the essence of their theory? They saw the basis of human development in the change of forms of production. We'll go into more detail later, but the bottom line is this. In the beginning, people didn't create anything, they just used what they could get their hands on. Hunting, picking vegetables, and fishing were widespread.
Later various species of animals were tamed, cultivars of cereals, vegetables and fruits were bred. It became possible to plan the situation of the tribe and the people, unlike the case and luck at the previous stage.
Further, people began to produce goods even in excess. There was trade, crafts. There was a stratification of society into rich and poor. Slaves appeared.
This system is being replaced by the feudal one, during which mechanisms are being created to replace human labor. But they are still used on a par with farm laborers. Further, such production capacities appear in which people occupy only an auxiliary role, but the labor of workers in factories is still common.
The real stage involves only minimal participationperson in production. All that is needed is to fix the breakdown and give the mechanisms the necessary tasks.
Thus, if we talk about the formational concept, we must say that it adopted the following phased division of human history. Its basis is the production of material goods. Let's look at each period in more detail.
Hunters and Gatherers
The main concepts of historical development emphasize the time when people lived separately by each tribe, did not produce or grow anything, but only used the gifts of nature.
This happened at the dawn of mankind. In archeology, this period corresponds to the Stone Age or Paleolithic.
The scientific name of the stage is tribal or primitive communal. At that time, man did not yet know how to grow plants or livestock, did not tame a single animal. Only relatively recently did I manage to get comfortable with fire.
The only ways to get food and clothing were hunting and gathering. The production of weapons and tools of this period is divided into several stages. At first, improvised means were used - sticks, stones, bones. Later learned to process these materials to improve efficiency.
Scientists find chipped slabs of silicon that fit together on a piece of wood or antler to form some kind of blade. This is what the first knives looked like. Further, people learned how to make darts and spears, invented a bow with arrows.
To feed the tribe, it was necessary to work together to drive largeanimals. During this period, communication develops. At first, gestures and sounds are used for it, then coherent speech is formed.
The second way to feed was gathering. Edible fruits, herbs, roots were found by trial and error. Later gardening developed from this.
Slave system
Over time (we remind you that we are talking about the basic concepts of historical development), society began to divide by position and property. Layers formed, or, as they are also called, castes.
The most honored were those who could command and take responsibility for the entire tribe. They became leaders, rulers, power.
Priests became the second layer. This included people who knew how to heal, knew certain secrets of substances and discovered for themselves some possibilities that most did not even know about. Subsequently, scientists and religious institutions of power (church, monastic orders, etc.) turned out of them.
The tribe must be protected from encroachment on territory, values. Therefore, the warrior class was formed.
The largest fraction were ordinary artisans, farmers, pastoralists - the lower strata of the population.
However, during this period, people also used the labor of slaves. Such disenfranchised laborers included everyone who fell into their number for various reasons. It was possible to fall into debt slavery, for example. That is, not to give money, but to work out. They also sold captives from other tribes into the service of the rich.
Slaves were the mainlabor force of this period. Look at the pyramids in Egypt or the Great Wall of China - these monuments were erected by the hands of slaves.
The Age of Feudalism
But humanity developed, and the triumph of science was replaced by the growth of military expansion. A layer of rulers and warriors of stronger tribes, fueled by priests, began to impose their worldview on neighboring peoples, at the same time seizing their lands and imposing tribute.
It became profitable to take possession of not disenfranchised slaves who could rebel, but several villages with peasants. They worked in the fields to feed their families, and the local ruler provided them with protection. For this, he was given part of the harvest and livestock raised.
Concepts of historical development briefly describe this period as the transition of society from manual to mechanized production. The era of feudalism basically coincides with the Middle Ages and modern times.
In these centuries, people explored both the external space - they discovered new lands, and the internal - they explored the properties of things and the possibilities of man. The discovery of America, India, the Great Silk Road and other events characterize the development of mankind at this stage.
The feudal lord who owned the land had governors who interacted with the peasants. By doing this, he freed up his time and could spend it at his own pleasure, hunting or military robbery.
But progress did not stand still. Scientific thought moved forward, as did social relations.
Industrialsociety
The new stage of the concept of historical development is characterized by greater freedom, a person, compared to the previous ones. Thoughts begin to arise about the equality of all people, about the right of everyone to a decent life, and not vegetation and hopeless work.
In addition, the first mechanisms appear that made production easier and faster. Now what an artisan used to do in a week could be created in a couple of hours, and without involving a specialist and without paying him money.
In place of the guild workshops, the first factories and factories appear. Of course, they cannot be compared with modern ones, but for that period they were simply on top. Modern concepts of historical development correlate the liberation of mankind from forced labor with its psychological and intellectual growth. It is not for nothing that entire schools of philosophers, researchers in the natural sciences and other scientists arise at this time, whose ideas are still appreciated today.
Who hasn't heard of Kant, Freud or Nietzsche? After the French Revolution, humanity started talking not only about the equality of people, but also about the role of everyone in the history of the world. It turns out that all previous achievements were obtained thanks to the efforts of a person, and not with the help of various deities.
Post-industrial stage
Today we are living in a period of great achievements, if we look at the historical stages of the development of society. Man has learned to clone cells, set foot on the surface of the moon, explored almost all corners of the Earth.
Our time gives an inexhaustible fountain of opportunities, notin vain the second name of the period is informational. Now there is as much new information in a day as there was not before in a year. We can't keep up with this flow.
Also, if you look at production, almost everything is made by mechanisms. Humanity is more engaged in service and entertainment.
Thus, based on the linear concept of historical development, people go from understanding the environment to getting to know their inner world. It is believed that the next stage will be based on the creation of a society that was previously described only in utopias.
So, we have considered the modern concepts of historical development. We also delved deeper into the formational approach. Now you know the main hypotheses about the evolution of society from the primitive communal system to the present day.
