History, biology, philosophy and other sciences always go side by side. Therefore, it is not surprising that some concepts can be interpreted from several sides. The concept of "evolution" to this day has very vague explanations. Many scientists are trying to find the best possible interpretation of this term.
General state of affairs
When we hear "evolution", we immediately imagine Darwin with his theories and solutions. In fact, the term has already a long history and has been analyzed for several centuries in a row. It is more often applied to the question of the development of mankind in the narrow sense and completely forgotten about other broad areas.
Evolution is also mentioned more than once along with revolution and degradation. One concept is an active continuation of the first. The second denotes its opposite. One way or another, the concept of "evolution" has a common feature that we will try to find.
Interpretation
As we have already mentioned, this term can be interpreted both in a narrow and in a broader sense. It was first used and generally recognized in the 19th century. If we want to talk about the development of an organism or a person, then in this case the definition of the concept of evolutionused as a narrow term. If we want to mention the progress of the people, then in this case evolution is interpreted even more broadly. If this term is associated with the development of not only the organic world, but also the inorganic one, then it will be explained on the largest scale, in a philosophical context.
It is important to understand that the interpretation of this word does not change whether we narrow or expand the term. One way or another, the definition of the concept of evolution lies in the word "development". And from whether it will be the development of an individual, history or the world, the meaning will not change. So it turns out that in all the above cases, the content remains permanent. It remains only to find common signs.
Conditions of existence
If you are asked: "Define the concept of evolution", what will you need to immediately indicate? First of all, we need to talk about the conditions without which it cannot exist. The first is mutability. It must be understood that not all change is evolution, but any evolution entails change. Obviously, if there were no processes, the world would be devoid of evolution.
The next condition is distinctive features. Change is not always positive. But according to the interpretation, evolution differs in that in the process there is a transition to a more perfect state. That is, something changes and becomes more complex, valuable and significant. And it does not matter whether qualitative or quantitative changes occur.
The next condition concerns the unity of the subject. In this caseThe encyclopedic dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron gives an example with water. If changes occur with water, and it is divided into components, then in the end it turns out: both water itself and oxygen with hydrogen could independently exist. So, by and large, no development took place. In this case, the concept of "evolution" does not fit. It can only be applied if the new state has been able to replace the previous one, that is, development has taken place.
Division
This term has long been tried to apply to various areas of life. And if it can be logically interpreted with respect to living organisms, then historically there are doubts. We can easily assert physical growth. But questions immediately arise regarding the development of spiritual principles. Mental developments seem obvious, although they were stopped by the decline and even the absolute destruction of entire cultural epochs.
However, the main reason why the basic concept of evolution appeared in philosophy and was transferred from the living world was the demand to analyze everything as a whole. Of course, there could immediately arise a desire to eliminate all existing boundaries between the dead and the living, matter and spirit. There would be those who would imagine the emergence of life from dead matter and vice versa.
The second reason has to do with the ideas of the moral order. The concept in the evolution of philosophy makes this aspect of social or even individual life a worldwide phenomenon.
Other reasons
An important role was played by cosmism and geolism. Spencer brought them under the development scheme and continuedideas of early scientists regarding the influence of organic evolution on any other.
The researcher notices its essence in the transformation of the homogeneous into the heterogeneous, and the reason for this process is that any force can produce several changes, just as any occasion creates several deeds. Of course, such a scheme easily embodied one of the conditions of evolution about unity.
Touch in Philosophy
Naturally, this term received strong support from Darwinism and transformism. The problem of the organic world was easily solved thanks to the explanation that any form can be interpreted by the differentiation of another or several simple forms.
Thus, it became clear that evolution is directly related to history. It has all the same perfections and deprivations. But this is precisely what led to the conviction that evolutionism concerns only the birth of phenomena and in no way their essence. Therefore, he so needs interpretation from the side of philosophy and additions from different philosophical points of view.
For and against
The concept of evolution began to interpret philosophy from its point of view. Naturally, it could not unite with the dualistic theory; it was also far from subjectivism and solipsism. But evolutionism has become an excellent basis for monistic philosophy. This can be explained by the fact that monism has two forms. One is materialistic, the other is idealistic. Spencer was the representative of the first form, Hegel tried to express the second. Both were imperfect, but, one way or anotherotherwise, boldly supported by the notion of evolution.
The Birth of Theory
As mentioned earlier, when we hear the word "evolution", Darwin immediately comes to mind. So, the concepts of the theory of evolution originated long before Darwinism. The first thoughts appeared in Greece - so the transformist views were spoken. Anaximander and Empedocles are now considered to be the founders of the theory itself. Although there are no sufficient grounds for such an assertion.
In the Middle Ages it was difficult to find grounds for the development of theory. Interest in the study of all living things was negligible. Theological systems of government were not conducive to the development of evolutionary theory. At this time, Augustine and Erigen tried their best to understand this issue.
During the Renaissance, the main driver was Giordano Bruno. The philosopher looked at the world, albeit quite fantastically, nevertheless he thought in the right direction. He argued that being consists of a special system that has monads of varying difficulty. Unfortunately, Bruno's point of view was not accepted by that world and did not influence the course of philosophy in any way.
Bacon and Descartes "walked" somewhere nearby. The first spoke about transformism, about changing the species of plants and animals, but his thoughts were completely devoid of evolutionism. Descartes supported Spinoza with his idea of the world as a substance.
Evolution gets its real development after Kant. The philosopher himself also did not express bright thoughts about development. He mentioned the theory of evolution more than once in his works, but his philosophy should rather be attributed toinvolutions. Yet Kant sympathized with epigenesis.
But then the theory began to receive quite clear explanations and full justifications. Fichte, Schelling and Hegel began to develop Kant's ideas. They called evolution natural philosophy. Hegel even tried to apply it to the spiritual world and history.
Man
Sooner or later the world had to know what human evolution is. This concept is now described by the term "anthropogenesis". Thanks to his theories, there is an idea of where, why and when a person appeared. There are three main opinions: creationism, evolutionism and cosmism.
The first theory is the oldest and most classic. She claims that humanity is the product of a mystical being (God). The evolutionary theory proposed by Darwin speaks of ape-like ancestors and that it was from them that modern man arose in the course of development. The third theory, the most unlikely and fabulous, is that people have an extraterrestrial ancestry, associated either with alien beings or with trials of extraterrestrial intelligence.
Reality
If we still talk about anthropogenesis as a science, then many researchers adhere to the evolutionary theory. It is the most real, moreover, it is confirmed by archaeological and biological finds. At the moment, this biological evolution indicates several stages in the development of mankind:
- Australopithecine.
- Skillful man.
- Human erectus.
- Ancient Homo sapiens.
- Neanderthal.
- A reasonable new man.
Australopithecine is currently considered the first creature closest to the image of man. Although outwardly he looked more like a monkey than a man. Lived about 4-1 million years ago in Africa.
A skilled person is considered the first of our kind. It was named so because it could produce the first tools of labor and combat. Perhaps he could explain. Homo erectus occupied not only Africa, but also Eurasia. In addition to weapons, he produced fire. It is also possible that he could talk. The most ancient Homo sapiens is a transitional stage. Therefore, it is sometimes omitted from the description of the stages of anthropogenesis.
Neanderthals used to be considered the direct ancestor of man, but later they decided that he was a dead end branch of evolution. It is known that it was a fairly developed people, had its own culture, art and even morality.
The last stage is the new Homo sapiens. He came from the Cro-Magnons. Outwardly, they differed little from modern man. They were able to leave behind a huge legacy: artifacts related to the culture of life and society.
Society
It is worth saying that the concept of "social evolution" appeared before Darwinism. Its foundations were laid by Spencer. The main idea remains that any society begins its journey from the primitive state and gradually moves towards Western civilization. The problem with these ideas was that the studies touched on only a fewsocieties and their development.
The most logical and consistent attempt to analyze and substantiate the social theory of evolution belonged to Parsons. He conducted research on the scale of the theory of world history. Now there are a huge number of archaeologists and anthropologists who have directed their resources to the study of the theory of multilinear evolution, sociobiology, modernization, etc.
System
Speaking of society, this aspect cannot be overlooked. The evolution of the concept of a system has long since reached its apogee. More than half a century has passed since all kinds of theories have been accepted by the scientific community. Nevertheless, the main problem to this day remains the lack of a generally accepted approach to all systems research.
Although most scientists are positive about this issue. Many believe that there is still a real commonality in this “heap” of directions. But so far no one has developed a common understanding of the system. Here, as in many other areas, one half of the interpretation tends to be philosophical, the other affects practical use.
Science
Science was also left without a single terminological concept. For a long time the development of the term "science" could not find itself. Probably, the appearance of P. P. Gaidenko's book "The Evolution of the Concept of Science" is not surprising. In the work, the author shows not only the development of the term in the 17-18th century, but also the understanding of it, methods and ways of substantiating knowledge, as well as the further formation of the concept.
Concepts
Conceptevolution has become known not only in biology. The term was able to spread to all sorts of areas. It turned out that evolution can refer not only to living organisms, philosophy or society, evolution can be interpreted in a narrower sense, as the development of a term or a specific subject.
Evolution is often remembered in Marxism. Along with revolution, this term is used to describe various aspects and development. This, by the way, is another influence of philosophy on this concept. Evolution in this sense is a change in being and consciousness. It can have quantitative and qualitative transformations. And if evolution is a gradual change, then a revolution is considered a sharp, cardinal, qualitative transformation.
