home Cars Social progress and its criteria for social studies. Social development and social progress of society

Social progress and its criteria for social studies. Social development and social progress of society

This is a peculiar type of development in the process of which a transition to more complex, higher, perfect structures is made. This concept was not left alone by modern society, therefore, in the article we consider the main criteria of social progress.

Social progress is ...

Under social progress understand the direction of development of society, which is characterized by irreversible changes occurring in all spheres of human life. As a result, society is turning into a more perfect substance.

Progress has two main features. Firstly, this concept is relative, since it cannot be applied to such areas as art. Secondly, this process is very controversial: what is favorable for one area of \u200b\u200bactivity may adversely affect another. For example, industrial development negatively affects the environment.

In sociology, the criteria of social progress are considered to be such concepts:

The development of the human mind.
Perfection of morality.
Increasing the degree of freedom of the individual.
Scientific and technical progress.
Development of production.

Processes of social dynamics

A. Todd in a book on theories of social progress noted that this concept is so human that everyone thinks in his own way. And yet there are four main ways of developing society. It is better to consider these criteria of social progress in a table.

Subjectivity factor

Some philosophers and sociologists believe that the highest criterion of social progress is not an objective measure. They insist that the concept of progress has purely subjective characteristics, because its study directly depends on the criterion that the scientist is going to investigate. And he chooses this criterion according to his own scale of values \u200b\u200bbased on his views, sympathies, ideals.

Choosing one criterion, we can talk about significant progress, but it is worth choosing some other - and the decline of mankind is evident.

But if you look, for example, at the criteria of social progress from the point of view of materialism, it becomes clear that in society there is a certain regularity that can be investigated from a scientific point of view.

Patterns

Due to the nature of material production, the bulk of people strive for progress. It is in material production that it is worth looking for a general criterion for social progress. It is quite simple to give an example: throughout the entire time of the existence of mankind, various production methods have developed and changed. This makes it possible to reveal patterns considering the whole history as a natural historical process.

Development of production forces

Some researchers believe that the highest criterion for social progress is the development of productive forces. It consists in the constant change and improvement of technologies that provide a constant increase in productivity. In turn, the improvement of the means of labor leads to the improvement of the labor force. New equipment requires a person to develop new skills, and where technological progress is present, science will improve. Along with this, the human impact on the environment increases, plus everything, the amount of surplus product increases and, as a result, the nature of consumption, lifestyle, life and culture of the society inevitably change. This is the highest criterion of social progress.

A similar dialectic can be traced in the segment of the spiritual development of mankind. Each social relation gives rise to its cultural form. Together with it, its own art and ideology arises, which cannot be arbitrarily replaced. Another highest criterion of social progress is the development of man himself. We can talk about progress only when society is not in a state of stagnation - “standing water”. Thus, the basis and criteria of social progress are the mode of production and the social order that it determines.

Constituent elements

From the point of view of materialism, social progress consists of four main components:

The productive forces of society and their level of development.
Production relations that have developed on the basis of productive forces functioning in society.
The social structure that determines the political structure of the state.
The level of development of personality.

It is worth noting that none of the signs can be an unconditional separate criterion of social progress. Social progress is the unity and development of all. Unfortunately, these areas can only be scientifically substantiated from the point of view of materialism, but this does not mean that such an integrative criterion as humanization or morality is not involved in progress.

Pyramid of progressive characteristics

To understand the importance and complexity of the process of social dynamics, it is worth explaining at least a few criteria of social progress. In the table, such information is perceived better.

In addition to these criteria, each of the thinkers of the past defended his point of view, considering the process of social progress. Thus, J. Condorcet said that the development of the human mind is important for society. Only enlightenment and the triumph of thought can move forward social and social progress. insisted that progress is possible only where there is good legislation. If the law protects human rights, the individual, feeling safe, is able to improve and perfect the world around him. Saint-Simon and Owen noted that in a progressive society there should be no exploitation of one person by another, and Karl Marx zealously defended his idea of \u200b\u200bthe development of production.

Social development is a complex and multifaceted process that can be viewed from different points of view. Scientists say that recently studies have shifted to the humanitarian side. But it is most likely to consider progress in the context between the production of goods and their distribution between social groups, because the symbiosis of these two concepts is the highest criterion for social progress.

Progress and regression of society - (from Lat. Progressus - moving forward), a direction of development, which is characterized by a transition from lower to higher, from less perfect to more perfect. The concept of progress is the opposite of the concept of regression. Belief in progress refers to the basic values \u200b\u200bof an industrial society. Progress is directly related to freedom and can be considered as its steady historical realization. Progress can be defined as progressive development, in which all changes, especially qualitative ones, go along an ascending line, revealed as a transition from lower to higher, from less perfect to more perfect. On the cultural and value horizon of mankind, the idea of \u200b\u200bprogress appeared relatively late. Antiquity did not know her. The Middle Ages did not know her either. True faith in progress began to take hold in the struggle against religious faith for the spiritual emancipation of man. The triumph of the idea of \u200b\u200bprogress, the corresponding moods and expectations came in the 18th century, the century of enlightenment, reason, faith in the great liberation mission of science, objectively true knowledge. Belief in progress is taken for granted, and in depth, inner conviction, willingness to serve, follow and obey - even akin to faith in God. Attribute attached to progress
historical immutability.

Progress and regression are dialectical opposites; development is impossible to understand as soon as progress or only regression. In the evolution of living organisms and the development of society, progressive and regressive trends are combined and difficult to interact. Moreover, the relationship of these tendencies in living matter and in society is not limited to alternation or cyclical relations (when development processes are thought by analogy with growth, flowering and subsequent withering, aging of living organisms). Being dialectically opposed, the progress and regression of society are inextricably linked, included in each other. “... Each progress in organic development,” Engels noted, “is also a regression, for it consolidates one-sided development and excludes the possibility of development in many other directions.” 102

In the twentieth century, progress was mixed. A tangible blow to guaranteed progress was dealt by the First World War. She showed
the futility of hopes for a significant improvement in human nature. Subsequent events only strengthened this trend of disappointment in progress. Under the conditions of a post-industrial society, it came to the realization that there was no automatism or guarantee in progress in itself, that we had to fight for it. And that progress is ambiguous, that it brings with it negative social consequences. For an individual, progress means believing in success, endorsing and encouraging productive activities. Success, personal achievements determine the social status of a person, his own progress. Success-oriented lifestyle is extremely creative and dynamic. It allows a person to be optimistic, not to lose heart in case of failure, to strive for new things and tirelessly create them, to easily part with the past
and be open to the future.

Progress and regression in the development of society

All societies are in constant development, in the process of change and transition from one state to another. At the same time, sociologists distinguish two directions and three main forms of society movement. First, consider the essence progressive and regressive directions.

Progress (from lat. progressus - forward movement, us-peh) means development with an upward trend, a movement from the lower to the higher, from less perfect to more perfect. It leads to positive changes in society and is manifested, for example, in the improvement of the means of production and labor, in the development of the social division of labor and the growth of its productivity, in the new achievements of science and culture, in improving the living conditions of people, their comprehensive development and etc.

Regression (from lat. regressus - reverse movement), on the contrary, involves a downward trend, a reversal, a transition from higher to lower, which leads to negative consequences. It can be manifested, say, in a decrease in production efficiency and people's well-being, in the spread of smoking, drinking, drug addiction in society, worsening public health, increased mortality, a drop in the level of spirituality and morality of people, etc.

Which way is society on: the path of progress or regression? What the answer to this question will be like depends on people's understanding of the future: does it bring a better life or does it bode well?

Ancient greek poet Hesiod (8-7 centuries BC) wrote about the five stages in the life of mankind.

The first stage was "golden age",when people lived easily and carelessly.

Second - "silver Age" - the beginning of the fall of morality and piety. Going lower and lower, people ended up in "iron age"when evil and violence reign everywhere, justice is violated.

How did Hesiod see the path of mankind: progressive or regressive?

Unlike Hesiod, ancient philosophers

Plato and Aristotle saw history as a cyclical cycle repeating the same stages.

With the achievements of science, crafts, arts, the revitalization of public life in the Renaissance, the development of the idea of \u200b\u200bhistorical progress is associated.

One of the first theory of social progress put forward by the French philosopher Ann Robber Turgot (1727-1781).

His contemporary is a French philosopher educator Jacques Antoine Condorcet (1743-1794) sees historical progress as a path of social progress, in the center of which is the upward development of the human mind.

C. Marxbelieved that mankind is moving towards an ever greater mastery of nature, the development of production and man himself.

Recall the facts from the history of the XIX-XX centuries. Revolutions were often followed by counterrevolutions, after reforms - counterreforms, after radical changes in the political system - restoration of the old order.

Think about some examples from Russian or world history that can illustrate this idea.

If we tried to depict the progress of humanity graphically, then we would have obtained not a straight line, but a broken line, reflecting ups and downs. There were periods in the history of different countries when the reaction triumphed, when the progressive forces of society were subjected to persecution. For example, what disasters fascism brought to Europe: the death of millions, the enslavement of many nations, the destruction of cultural centers, bonfires from the books of the greatest thinkers and artists, the cult of brute force.

Separate changes occurring in different areas of society can be multidirectional, i.e. progress in one area may be accompanied by regression in another.

So, throughout history, technology progress has been clearly traced: from stone tools to iron, from hand tools to cars, etc. But the progress of technology, the development of industry led to the destruction of nature.

Thus, progress in one area was accompanied by regression in another. The progress of science and technology has had mixed consequences. The use of computer technology not only expanded the possibilities of labor, but also entailed new diseases associated with long-term work at the display: visual impairment, etc.

The growth of large cities, the complication of production and the rhythms of life in everyday life - increased the load on the human body, generated stress. Modern history, as well as past, is perceived as the result of the creativity of people, where both progress and regression take place.

For humanity as a whole, development is ascending. Evidence of global social progress, in particular, can be not only the growth of material well-being and social security of people, but also the weakening of confrontation (confrontation - from lat. con - against + irons - front - counter-standing, confrontation) between classes and peoples of different countries, the desire for peace and cooperation of an increasing number of earthlings, the establishment of political democracy, the development of universal morality and a genuine humanistic culture, everything human in man, finally.

An important sign of social progress, further, scientists also consider the growing tendency to liberate people - release (a) from repression by the state, (b) from the dictatorship of the collective, (c) from all exploitation, (d) from the isolation of life space, (e) from fear for their safety and future. In other words, the tendency towards expansion and increasingly effective protection throughout the world of civil rights and freedoms.

In terms of ensuring the rights and freedoms of citizens, the modern world is a very colorful picture. Thus, according to the estimates of the American organization in support of democracy in the world community "Freedom House" (Eng. Freedom House - Freedom House, founded in 1941), annually publishing the "freedom map" of the world, from 191 countries of the world in 1997

- 79 were completely free;

- partially free (to which Russia is assigned) - 59;

- not free - 53. Among the latter, 17 most non-free states (the category of "worst of the worst") are highlighted - such as Afghanistan, Burma, Iraq, China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and others . The geography of the spread of freedom around the globe is curious: its main foci are concentrated in Western Europe and North America. At the same time, out of 53 African countries, only 9 are recognized as free, and not one among Arab countries.

Progress can be seen in the human relations themselves. More and more people understand that they must learn to live together and abide by the laws of society, they must respect other people's living standards and be able to seek compromises (compromise - from lat. compromissum - agreement on the basis of reciprocal concessions), must suppress their own aggressiveness, value and protect nature and all that created by previous generations. These are encouraging signs that humanity is steadily moving towards a relationship of solidarity, harmony and goodness.

Regression is more often local in nature, i.e., it concerns either individual societies or life spheres, or individual periods. For example, while Norway, Finland and Japan (our neighbors) and other Western countries confidently climbed the steps of progress and prosperity, the Soviet Union and its “comrades for socialist misfortune” [Bulgaria, GDR (East Germany) , Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and others] regressed, uncontrollably slipping into the 1970s and 80s. into the abyss of collapse and crisis. Moreover, progress and regression are often difficult to intertwine.

So, in Russia in the 1990s, one and the other are clearly taking place. The decline in production, the severance of previous economic ties between factories, the decline in the standard of living of many people and the growth of crime are obvious “marks” of regression. But there is also the opposite - signs of progress: the liberation of society from Soviet totalitarianism and the dictatorship of the CPSU, the movement towards a market and democracy, the expansion of the rights and freedoms of citizens, significant freedom of the media, the transition from the Cold War to peaceful cooperation with the West, etc.

Questions and Tasks

1. Define progress and regression.

2. How was the path of mankind considered in antiquity?

What has changed about this in the Renaissance?

4. Is it possible, given the ambiguity of change, to talk about social progress in general?

5. Think about the questions posed in one of the philosophical books: is the replacement of an arrow a firearm or a flintgun an automatic? Is it possible to consider progress as a substitute for torture of red-hot tongs with electric current? Justify your answer.

6. Which of the following can be attributed to the contradictions of social progress:

A) the development of technology leads to the emergence of both means of creation and means of destruction;

B) the development of production leads to a change in the social status of the worker;

C) the development of scientific knowledge leads to a change in human perceptions of the world;

D) human culture undergoes changes under the influence of production.

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USE. Society. Theme 6. Progress. Regression

Any development is a movement forward or backward. So a society can develop either progressively or regressively, and sometimes both of these processes are characteristic of society, only in various spheres of life. What is progress and regression?

Progress

Progress - from Lat. progressus - moving forward, This is such a direction in the development of society, which is characterized by a movement from lower to higher, from less perfect to more perfect, it is a progressive movement forward, for better.

Social progress is a world-historical process, for which the rise of mankind from primitiveness (savagery) to civilization is characteristic, based on the achievements of scientific, technical, political, legal, moral and ethical ones.

Types of progress in society

Social	The development of society along the path of justice, the creation of conditions for the comprehensive development of the individual, for his dignified life, the struggle with the reasons that impede this development.
Material	The process of satisfying the material needs of mankind, which is based on the development of science, technology, improving people's living standards.
Scientific	Deepening knowledge of the world, society and man, further development of micro- and macrocosm.
Scientific and technical	The development of science is aimed at the development of technology, improvement of the production process, its automation.
Cultural (spiritual)	The development of morality, the formation of conscious altruism, the gradual transformation of man-consumer into a man-creator, self-development and self-improvement of the individual.

Progress criteria

The question of the criteria of progress (that is, the signs, the grounds for judging phenomena as progressive) always provoked mixed answers in different historical eras. I will give some points of view regarding the criteria for progress.

Modern criteria for progress are not so clear. There are many of them, in the complex they testify to the progressive development of society.

Criteria of social progress of modern scientists:

The development of production, the economy as a whole, an increase in human freedom in relation to nature, the standard of living of people, the growth of national welfare, and the quality of life.
The level of democratization of society.
The level of freedom enshrined in law, the opportunities provided for the full development and self-realization of the individual, the rational use of freedom.
The moral improvement of society.
The development of enlightenment, science, education, the increase in human needs for scientific, philosophical, aesthetic knowledge of the world.
Life expectancy of people.
Increase in human happiness and goodness.

However, progress is not only a positive development. Unfortunately, humanity simultaneously creates and destroys. Skillful conscious use of the achievements of the human mind is also one of the criteria for the progress of society.

The inconsistency of social progress

Positive and negative consequences of progress	Examples
Progress in some areas can lead to stagnation in others.	A vivid example is the period of Stalinism in the USSR. In the 30s, a course was taken on industrialization, and the pace of development of industry sharply increased. However, the social sphere developed poorly, light industry worked on the residual principle. The result is a significant deterioration in the quality of life of people.
The fruits of scientific progress can be used both for the good and to the detriment of people.	The development of information systems, the Internet is the greatest achievement of mankind, which opens up great opportunities for it. However, at the same time there is a computer addiction, a person’s departure into the virtual world, a new disease has appeared - “gaming computer addiction”.
Achieving progress today can lead to negative consequences in the future.	An example is the development of virgin lands in the reign of N. Khrushchev .. At first, a rich harvest was really obtained, but after a while soil erosion appeared.
Progress in a water country does not always lead to progress in another.	Recall the state of the Golden Horde. This at the beginning of the 13th century was a huge empire, with a large army, advanced military equipment. However, progressive phenomena in this state became a disaster for many countries, including Russia, which has been under the yoke of the horde for more than two hundred years.

Summing up, I would like to note that humanity is characterized by the desire to move forward, opening up new and new opportunities. However, one must remember, and first of all, what the consequences of such a progressive movement will be, whether it will turn into a disaster for people. Therefore, it is necessary to minimize the negative effects of progress.

Regression

The opposite way to progress through social development is regression (from lat. Regressus, that is, a movement in the opposite direction, a return back) - a movement from more perfect to less perfect, from higher forms of development to lower, backward movement, change for the worse.

Signs of regression in society

Deterioration in people's quality of life
The decline in the economy, crisis
Increase in mortality, decrease in average standard of living
Deteriorating demographic situation, declining birth rate
An increase in the incidence of people, epidemics., A large percentage of the population having

Chronic diseases

The decline of morality, education, culture of society as a whole.
Solving issues by force, declarative methods and means.
Reducing the level of freedom in society, its violent suppression.
The weakening of the country as a whole and its international position.

Solving problems associated with the regressive processes of society is one of the tasks of the government and the country's leadership. In a democratic state that follows the path of civil society, which is Russia, public organizations and the opinion of the people are of great importance. Problems must be resolved, and resolved jointly by the authorities and the people.

Material prepared by: Melnikova Vera Aleksandrovna

The concept of social progress

Starting a new business for himself, a person believes that it will be successfully completed. We believe in the best and hope for the best. Our grandfathers and fathers, undergoing all the hardships of life, war years, working tirelessly, were convinced that we, their children, would get a happy life, easier than the one that they lived. And it always has been.

Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when the Europeans expanded the expanses of the Oikumena (Promised Land), opening the New World, when new branches of science began to appear, the word “ progress».

This concept is based on the Latin word progressus - forward movement.

In the modern scientific dictionary under social progress began to understand the totality of all progressive changes in society, its development from simple to complex, the transition from a lower level to a higher one.

However, even inveterate optimists, convinced that the future should inevitably be better than the present, realized that the update process does not always go smoothly and progressively. Sometimes, a backward movement follows a rollback - a backward movement, when society can slide into more primitive stages of development. This process was called “ regress". Regression is opposed to progress.

Also in the development of society, we can distinguish periods when there is no obvious improvement, progressive dynamics, but there is no movement back. This condition was called the word " fromtagnation"Or" stagnation. " Stagnation is an extremely dangerous phenomenon. It means that “braking mechanisms” are activated in society, that it is not able to perceive the new, the advanced. A society in a state of stagnation rejects this new one, striving at all costs to maintain the old, obsolete structures, and opposes renewal. Even the ancient Romans emphasized: “If you do not move forward, you move back” ..

And progress, and regression and stagnation do not exist separately in human history. They are intricately intertwined, succeed each other, complement the picture of social development. Often when studying historical events, for example, reforms or revolutions, you came across such a concept as “counter-reforms”, “reactionary turn”. For example, when considering the “great reforms” of Alexander II, which affected all spheres of Russian society, led to the overthrow of serfdom, the creation of nonsense bodies of local self-government (zemstvos and city councils, an independent judiciary), we cannot but note the reaction that followed - “counter-reforms” of Alexander III. This usually happens when innovations are too significant, fast and the social system does not have time to adapt to them successfully. Inevitable comes the correction of these changes, a kind of "shrinkage" and "utruska". The famous Russian publicist M.N.Katkov, a contemporary of the "great reforms", wrote that Russia has gone too far along the path of liberal reforms, that it is time to stop, look back, and comprehend how these changes relate to Russian reality. And, of course, amend. As you know from the lessons of history, it was in the 1880s and early 1890s that the powers of the jury were limited, and tighter control over the activities of zemstvos by the state was established.

Significant upheaval caused reforms for Peter I in our country, in the words of A. Pushkin, "raising Russia on its hind legs". And to a certain extent, as the modern Russian historian A. Yanov aptly defined, it took “de-deproization” of the country after the death of Tsar Peter.

In other matters, the reaction should not be considered only in a negative way. Although most often, at the lessons of history, we are talking specifically about its negative side. The reaction period is always curtailing reforms, attacking the rights of citizens. "Arakcheevschina", "Nikolaev reaction", "gloomy seven years" - these are examples of such an approach.

But the reaction is different. It can be a response to both liberal reforms and conservative transformations.

So, we noted that social progress is a complex and ambiguous concept. In its development, society does not always follow the path of improvement. Progress can be supplemented by regressive periods and stagnation. Consider another side of social progress that convinces us of the contradictory nature of this phenomenon.

Progress in one of the areas of social life, for example, in science and technology, does not necessarily have to be supplemented by progress in other areas. Moreover, even that which we consider progressive today may turn into a catastrophe tomorrow or in the foreseeable future. We give an example. Many of the great discoveries of scientists, for example, the discovery of x-rays or the phenomenon of fission of the uranium nucleus, brought to life new types of terrible weapons - weapons of mass destruction.

Further, progress in the life of one of the countries does not necessarily entail progressive changes in other countries and regions. History gives us many such examples. The Central Asian commander Tamerlan contributed to the significant flourishing of his country, the cultural and economic upsurge of its cities, but due to what? Due to the robbery and ruin of other lands. The European colonization of Asia and Africa contributed to the growth of wealth and living standards of the peoples of Europe, but in some cases preserved the archaic forms of social life in the countries of the East. We will touch upon another problem that touches on the topic of the progress of society. Speaking of “better” or “worse”, “high” or “low”, “primitive” or “complex” - we always mean the subjective characteristics inherent in people. Progressive for one person, may not be one for another. It is difficult to talk about progress, when we mean the phenomena of spiritual culture, the creative activity of people.

Social development will be influenced by both objective factors that do not depend on the will and desire of people (natural phenomena, cataclysms), and subjective, due to the activities of people, their interests, aspirations, opportunities. It is the action of the subjective factor in history (of man) that makes the concept of social progress so complex and contradictory.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, CULTURE AND YOUTH POLICY OF THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC

KYRGYZ-RUSSIAN SLAVIC UNIVERSITY

Faculty of Economics

on subject "Philosophy"

"Criteria of social progress."

Fulfilled art. column M1-06: Khashimov N.R.

Teacher: Denisova O. G.

Bishkek - 2007

Introduction …………………………………………………………………… 3

1. Social progress. Progress and regression. ……………..four

2. Social progress - the idea and reality ................... ... 8

3. Criteria for progress.

Criteria of social progress ……………………… ..12

Conclusion ……………………………………………………………… ..20

List of used literature …………………………… .22

Introduction

The idea of \u200b\u200bsocial progress is a product of the New Age. This means that it was at this time that the idea of \u200b\u200bthe progressive, upward development of society took root in the minds of people and began to form their worldview. In antiquity there was no such representation. The ancient worldview, as you know, was cosmocentric in nature. And this means that the man of antiquity was coordinated in relation to nature, space. Hellenic philosophy, as it were, inscribed man in space, and space in the view of ancient thinkers was something abiding, eternal and beautiful in its orderliness. And man had to find his place in this eternal space, and not in history. The ancient perception of the world was also characterized by the idea of \u200b\u200ban eternal cycle - a movement in which something, having been created and destroyed, invariably returns to itself. The idea of \u200b\u200beternal return is deeply rooted in ancient philosophy, we find it in Heraclitus, Empedocles, the Stoics. In general, the movement in a circle was considered in antiquity as perfectly correct, perfect. It seemed to the perfect ancient thinkers because it has no beginning and no end and takes place in the same place, which is, as it were, immobility and eternity.

The idea of \u200b\u200bsocial progress is affirmed in the Enlightenment. This era raises the shield of reason, knowledge, science, human freedom and from this angle evaluates history, contrasting itself with previous eras, where, in the view of the enlighteners, ignorance and despotism prevailed. Enlighteners in a certain way understood their contemporary era (as the era of "enlightenment"), its role and significance for man, and through the prism of so-understood modernity, they examined the past of mankind. The contrast of modernity, interpreted as the onset of the era of reason, with the past of mankind, of course, contained a gap between the present and the past, but as soon as an attempt was made to restore the historical connection between them on the basis of reason and knowledge, the idea of \u200b\u200ban upward movement in history arose immediately, about progress. The development and dissemination of knowledge was seen as a gradual and cumulative process. The undeniable model for such a reconstruction of the historical process was enlightenment accumulation of scientific knowledge that took place in modern times. The model also served them as the mental formation and development of an individual person, an individual: being transferred to humanity as a whole, it gave the historical progress of the human mind. So, Condorcet in his Sketch of the Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind says that "this progress is subject to the same general laws that are observed in the development of our individual abilities ...".

The idea of \u200b\u200bsocial progress is the idea of \u200b\u200bhistory, more precisely - the world history of mankind *. This idea is designed to connect history together, to inform it of direction and meaning. But many Enlightenment thinkers, justifying the idea of \u200b\u200bprogress, strove to see it as a natural law, blurring to one extent or another the line between society and nature. The naturalistic interpretation of progress was their way of informing progress of an objective nature ...

1. PUBLIC PROGRESS

Progress (from lat. progressus - moving forward) is a direction of development that is characterized by a transition from lower to higher, from less perfect to more perfect. The merit of the idea and development of the theory of social progress belongs to the philosophers of the second half of the 18th century, and the formation of capitalism and the maturation of European bourgeois revolutions served as the socio-economic basis for the very emergence of the idea of \u200b\u200bsocial progress. By the way, both creators of the initial concepts of social progress - Turgot and Condorcet - were active public figures of pre-revolutionary and revolutionary France. And this is understandable: the idea of \u200b\u200bsocial progress, the recognition of the fact that humanity as a whole, is mainly moving forward, is an expression of historical optimism inherent in advanced social forces.
Three distinctive features distinguished the original progressive concepts.

Firstly, this is idealism, i.e., an attempt to find the reasons for the progressive development of history in the spiritual beginning - in the infinite ability to perfect human intelligence (the same Turgot and Condorcet) or in the spontaneous self-development of the absolute spirit (Hegel). Accordingly, the criterion of progress was also seen in the phenomena of the spiritual order, in the level of development of one form or another of public consciousness: science, morality, law, religion. Incidentally, progress was noticed primarily in the field of scientific knowledge (F. Bacon, R. Descartes), and then the corresponding idea was extended to social relations in general.

Secondly, a significant drawback of many early concepts of social progress was the non-dialectical consideration of social life. In such cases, social progress is understood as a smooth evolutionary development, without revolutionary leaps, without backward movements, as a continuous ascent in a straight line (O. Comte, G. Spencer).

Thirdly, the upward development in form was limited to the achievement of any one chosen social order. Very distinctly, this rejection of the idea of \u200b\u200bunlimited progress was reflected in Hegel's statements. The top and end of world progress, he proclaimed the Christian-German world, asserting freedom and equality in their traditional interpretation.

These shortcomings were largely overcome in the Marxist understanding of the essence of social progress, which included the recognition of its contradictory nature and, in particular, the fact that the same phenomenon and even the stage of historical development as a whole can be simultaneously progressive in one respect and regressive reactive in another. Such, as we have seen, is one of the possible options for the state to influence the development of the economy.

Therefore, speaking of the progressive development of mankind, we have in mind the main, mainstream direction of the historical process as a whole, its resulting as applied to the main stages of development. Primitive communal system, slave-owning society, feudalism, capitalism, the era of socialized social relations in the formation section of history; primitive pre-civilization, agricultural, industrial, and information-computer waves in its civilizational section are the main “blocks” of historical progress, although in some specific parameters the subsequent formation and stage of civilization may be inferior to the previous ones. Thus, in a number of areas of spiritual culture, feudal society was inferior to slaveholding, which served as the basis for the enlighteners of the 18th century. look at the Middle Ages as a simple “break” in the course of history, not paying attention to the great successes made during the Middle Ages: the expansion of the cultural region of Europe, the formation there of great viable nations in the neighborhood with each other, and finally, the huge technical successes XIV- XV centuries and the creation of prerequisites for the emergence of experimental science.

If you try to define in general terms causes social progress, then they will be the needs of man, which are the product and expression of his nature as a living and no less as a social being. As already noted in chapter two, these needs are diverse in nature, nature, duration of action, but in any case they determine the motives of human activity. In everyday life for thousands of years, people did not at all set as their conscious goal to ensure social progress, and social progress itself is by no means some kind of idea (“program”) originally laid down in the course of history, the implementation of which makes its innermost meaning. In the process of real life, people are driven by the needs generated by their biological and social nature; and in the process of realizing their vital needs, people change the conditions of their existence and themselves, for each satisfied need creates a new one, its satisfaction, in turn, requires new actions, the result of which is the development of society.

As you know, society is in constant motion. Thinkers have long thought about the question: in which direction is it moving? Can this movement be likened, for example, to cyclical changes in nature: after summer comes autumn, then winter, spring and again summer? And so for thousands and thousands of years. Or, perhaps, the life of society is similar to the life of a living creature: an organism that has been born grows up, becomes mature, then grows old and dies? Does the direction of development of society depend on the conscious activity of people?

Progress and regression

The direction of development, which is characterized by a transition from lower to higher, from less perfect to more perfect, is called in science progress(a word of Latin origin meaning literally moving forward). The opposite of the concept of progress regression.The regression is characterized by a movement from higher to lower, degradation processes, and a return to obsolete forms and structures.

Ancient greek poet Hesiod(VIII-VII centuries BC) wrote about the five stages in the life of mankind. The first stage was the "golden age" when people lived easily and carelessly, the second - the "silver age", when the decline of morality and piety began. So, sinking lower and lower, people found themselves in the “Iron Age”, when evil and violence reign everywhere, justice is violated. Probably, you can easily determine how Hesiod saw the path of mankind: progressive or regressive?

Unlike Hesiod, the ancient philosophers Plato and Aristotle regarded history as a cyclic cycle repeating the same stages.

With the achievements of science, crafts, arts, the revitalization of public life in the Renaissance, the development of the idea of \u200b\u200bhistorical progress is associated. One of the first theory of social progress put forward by the French philosopher Anne Robert Turgot(1727-1781). His contemporary is a French philosopher educator Jacques Antoine Condorcet(1743-1794) wrote that history presents a picture of continuous change, a picture of the progress of the human mind. Observation of this historical picture shows in the modifications of the human race, in its continuous renewal, in the infinity of centuries, the path that he followed, the steps that he took, striving for truth or happiness. Observations of what a person was and over

what he has become at present will help us, wrote Condor-se, to find means to ensure and accelerate the new successes that his nature allows him to hope for.

So, Condorcet sees the historical process as a path of social progress, in the center of which is the upward development of the human mind. Hegel considered progress not only the principle of reason, but also the principle of world events. This belief in progress was also accepted by K. Marx, who believed that mankind was moving towards an ever-greater mastery of nature, the development of production and man himself.

XIX and XX centuries. were marked by turbulent events that gave new “information for thought” about progress and regression in society. In the XX century. sociological theories appeared that abandoned the optimistic view of the development of society, characteristic of the ideas of progress. Instead, they propose theories of the cyclic cycle, pessimistic ideas of the “end of history”, global environmental, energy and nuclear disasters. One of the points of view on the issue of progress was put forward by the philosopher and sociologist Karl Popper(born in 1902), who wrote: “If we think that history is progressing or that we are forced to progress, then we make the same mistake as those who believe that history has a meaning that can be in it open, not given to her. After all, to progress is to move towards a goal that exists for us as for human beings. For history, this is not possible. Only we human individuals can progress, and we can do this by protecting and strengthening those democratic institutions on which freedom depends, and at the same time progress. We will achieve great success in this if we become more aware of the fact that progress depends on us, on our vigilance, on our efforts, on the clarity of our concept regarding our goals and the realistic choice of such goals. ”

2. Social progress - idea and reality

The degree of satisfaction with the social structure can be considered the most important sociological characteristic. But real customers are not interested in this characteristic of our society.

And what social structure do citizens need? Here we have, especially recently, an unusual obscurity.

The search for stable criteria for matching social structure with people's aspirations, step by step, narrows the range of possible solutions. All that remains is the reductionist option - to find a natural-scientific basis for deriving criteria for evaluating the social structure.

Social self-organization is the result of the behavior of intelligent people. And the muscles of people are controlled by their brain. The most plausible model of the brain today is the idea of \u200b\u200ba brain-optimizer of behavior. The human brain selects the best next step from a set of possible options based on the forecast of consequences.

The quality of predicting consequences distinguishes reasonable behavior from unreasonable - human unreasonable or animal. The depth and volume of causal relationships considered by humans are incommensurable with the capabilities of animals. How this gap occurred is a separate issue. Moreover, in the field of public relations, the predictability of forecasts is poor.

From the idea of \u200b\u200bbiological species as self-organizing systems that compete in limited resources and are in a random stream of destructive external influences, the power spectrum of which is unlimited, and the frequency of occurrence decreases with increasing power, it follows that the objective function of the optimization problem solved by the brain is to maximize the mass of the substance, organized in a structure specific to a particular biological species. If biological species enter into competition, then, ceteris paribus, one of them whose brain deviates from maximizing the mass of the species will lose.

The man survived in biological competition, which means that the human brain initially maximized the mass of the "human" species.

The ability to predict the development of the situation has led to a change in the objective function. A certain functional is maximized from the number and from the degree of protection from destructive external influences, the value of which increases with the growth of each of the arguments. We call this functional the potential of humanity.

The reliability of the forecast, which decreases with increasing depth in time, is not controlled by humans, which often leads to obvious losses. This gives rise to two extreme positions regarding the admissibility and utility of using the forecast when choosing the best next step. According to these positions in human society there are always two trends, two parties - "rationalists" and "traditionalists". The "rationalists" believe that (in a soft wording) it is permissible to act on the basis of their own forecast. The "traditionalists" argue that interfering with the "natural" (read - "traditional") order is harmful. Convinced supporters of both positions can bring a sufficient number of facts of history in support of their innocence.

The noted feature of human psychology gives rise to a specific wave process “saw of social development” at the level of human society.

As a starting point of our consideration, we take the socio-political crisis - a well-known state of human society.

The main goal achieved by uniting people in social structures is to gain in the degree of protection against destructive external influences through the socialization of part of their resources. Therefore, the main function of public structures is to ensure the efficient use of socialized resources. The organization of society should be adequate to the chosen method of using resources.

The socio-political crisis develops when a discrepancy is found between the organization of society and the preferred way of using socialized resources preferred by a significant part of people.

Over the past ten years, Russian society has been on the downstream section of the "saw of social development." The efficiency of using shared resources is low. There is an open competition of ideas. "What to do?" - the main question. The social weight of the "rationalists" is rising. There is no clear choice of society. And if none of the ideas gets a decisive advantage, then people will entrust the management of a particular person - a leader, leader. This is an emergency exit, fascism, protection from chaos, hopeless war of each and every one.

If any of the proposals manages to get enough massive support, the creep out of the crisis along the chosen path will begin. At this point, the supported idea is based on a close and most likely accurate forecast of the situation. For some time, it was possible to solve the inevitable minor problems. Confidence in the correctness of the chosen path is growing. The wheel turns out to be more firmly fixed. The invariability of his position is protected by many people. Social structures are getting better adapted for the chosen movement. With dissidents do not stand on ceremony. Society is on the upstream section of the saw.

With the distance from the crisis point of the idea choice, the natural inaccuracy of the forecast begins to appear. Further more. And the steering wheel is fixed. By that time, at the helm no longer were those "rationalists" practitioners who took the risk of deciding on the sin of realizing the idea, but officials whose position in society keeps on the invariable path.

Crisis phenomena are growing in society. This is the top of the “saw” tooth. The efficiency of using shared resources is declining. "Stop experimenting with us!" - this is how public opinion becomes. Here the "traditionalists" enter the political scene. They convincingly prove that the chosen path was wrong from the very beginning. Everything would be fine if people did not obey these adventurers - "rationalists". Need to come back. But for some reason, not to the cave state, but one step "saw". "Traditionalists", with massive support, form social structures of the transition period. The "rationalists" are rejected. And the crisis continues to grow, because the "traditionalists" rely on the natural "recovery" of society, without reasonable intervention.

Society again finds itself on the falling part of the "saw of social development." Time passes. The acuity of emotions caused by exposing the acts of the "rationalists" is erased. People again face the question: "What to do?" The cycle repeats.

The proposed qualitative model describes the processes of social self-organization in different societies. The specific dynamics of structures can be traced in the history of countries, corporations, and small collectives. The fundamental causes of structural changes may be different, but the implementation of changes is always mediated by the rational behavior of people. This mediation violates the mechanical correspondence between the basis and the superstructure. In the degree of satisfaction with the social structure, the most important role is played by people's assessment of the effectiveness of using socialized resources. This assessment depends on many factors, and its abrupt changes can occur without real significant changes in the effectiveness itself.

Initiators of competing options for social organization often declare their comparative "progressiveness." This quality, without a clear definition, affects public opinion.

The ability to compare options for social structure by their "progressiveness" presupposes a certain ordering of these options with the formation of a certain trajectory of the progressive movement of mankind towards a brighter future. Despite historical experience, scientific forecasts, perspectives drawn by world religions, the idea of \u200b\u200bworld progress, generated by technological achievements of the late 19th - middle of the 20th centuries, occupies an important place in the ordinary minds of people, affects their assessments.

As a real filler of the concept of “progress”, one can take the growth of human potential (functional on the number of people and their degree of protection from destructive external influences) as a result of human activity. At the same time, two processes go in parallel: the growth of the potential of mankind and the increase in the likelihood of meeting with more powerful (and rarer) external influences of various nature. This competition with time in the minds of people is displayed as a contradiction between the assessment of the achieved potential and the idea of \u200b\u200bthe required level of potential.

In relation to social organization, the definition of the quality of "progressiveness" is not applicable. Here, only an assessment of the adequacy of the social structure of the chosen path of capacity building and the technological level of the economy is justified. And this adequacy does not at all imply a one-to-one correspondence.

The social structure should provide (at least not slow down) the activities of people to build capacity. This requirement may be based on people's assessment of its satisfactoryness.

3. Progress criteria

mind. moral Friedrich Wilhelm Schelling(1775-1854) wrote that the decision of the survey on historical progress is complicated by the fact that supporters and opponents of the belief in the improvement of mankind are completely entangled in disputes about the criteria of progress. Some talk about the progress of mankind in the field of moralityothers are about progress science and technology legaldevice.

Another point of view on social progress belongs to G. Hegel. He saw the criterion of progress in consciousnessof freedom.

In our time, philosophers also hold different views on the criterion of social progress. Let's consider some of them.

One of the current points of view is that the highest and universal objective criterion of social progress is development of productive forces, includingthe development of man himself.It is argued by the fact that the orientation of the historical process is determined by the growth and improvement of the productive forces of society, including the means of labor, the degree to which man possesses the forces of nature, and the possibility of using them as the basis of human life. In social production lie the origins of all human activity. According to this criterion, those social relations are recognized as progressive, which correspond to the level of productive forces and open up the greatest scope for their development, for the growth of labor productivity, for human development. Man is considered here as the main thing in the productive forces, therefore their development is understood from this point of view and as the development of the wealth of human nature.

This position is criticized from a different perspective. Just as it is impossible to find a universal criterion for progress only in social consciousness (in the development of reason, morality, the consciousness of freedom), it cannot be found only in the sphere of material production (technology, economic relations). History gave examples of countries where a high level of material production was combined with the degradation of spiritual culture. To overcome the one-sidedness of criteria reflecting the state of only one sphere of society, it is necessary to find a concept that would characterize the essence of human life and activity. In this capacity, philosophers propose the concept of of freedom.

Freedom, as you already know, is characterized not only by knowledge (the absence of which makes a person subjectively not free), but also by the presence of conditions for its realization. A decision based on free choice is also needed. Finally, it also requires funds, as well as actions aimed at implementing the decision. Recall also that the freedom of one person should not be achieved by infringing on the freedom of another person. Such a restriction of freedom is of a social and moral nature.

The meaning of human life lies in self-realization, self-realization of the individual. So, libertyacts as a necessary condition for self-realization. In fact, self-realization is possible if a person has knowledge of his abilities, the opportunities that society gives him, about the ways in which he can realize himself. The wider the possibilities created by society, the freer a person is, the more options for activity in which his potentialities are revealed. But in the process of multifaceted activity, the multilateral development of man himself takes place, and the spiritual wealth of the individual grows.

So, according to this point of view, criterion of socialprogress is a measure of freedom that society is able toto provide an individual with a degree guaranteed by societyindividual of freedom. disclosurehis truly human qualities - intellectual, creative, moral. This statement leads us to consider another point of view on social progress.

As we have seen, one cannot limit oneself to the characterization of man as an active being. He is also a rational and social being. Only with this in mind can we talk about the human in man, about humanity.But the development of human qualities depends on the living conditions of people. The more fully satisfied the person’s various needs for food, clothing, housing, transportation services, his needs in the spiritual field, the more moral relations between people become, the more accessible the person becomes the most diverse types of economic and political, spiritual and material activities. The more favorable the conditions for the development of the physical, intellectual, mental forces of a person, his moral principles, the wider the scope for the development of individual qualities inherent in each individual person. In short, the more humane the conditions of life, the more opportunities there are for the development of the human in man: reason, morality, and creative forces.

Humanity, recognition of man as the highest value is expressed by the word "humanism". From the foregoing, we can conclude about the universal criteria of social progress: aboutwhat is conducive to the exaltation of humanism is aggressive.

Criteria of social progress.

In the vast literature on social progress, there is currently no single answer to the main question: what is the general sociological criterion for social progress?

A relatively small number of authors argue that raising the question of a single criterion of social progress is meaningless, since human society is a complex organism, the development of which is carried out in different lines, which makes it impossible to formulate a single criterion. Most authors consider it possible to formulate a single sociological criterion of social progress. However, even with the very formulation of such a criterion, there are significant differences.

Condorcet (like other French enlighteners) considered development a criterion for progress. mind.Utopian Socialists put forward moralprogress criterion. Saint-Simon believed, for example, that society should take such a form of organization that would lead to the implementation of the moral principle: all people should relate to each other like brothers. Utopian socialist German philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Schelling(1775-1854) wrote that the solution to the question of historical progress is complicated by the fact that supporters and opponents of the belief in the improvement of mankind are completely entangled in disputes about the criteria of progress. Some talk about the progress of mankind in the field of moralityothers are about progress science and technologywhich, as Schelling wrote, from a historical point of view is rather a regression, and proposed his own solution to the problem: the criterion in establishing the historical progress of the human race can only serve as a gradual approximation to legaldevice. Another point of view on social progress belongs to G. Hegel. He saw the criterion of progress in consciousness of freedom.As the consciousness of freedom grows, the progressive development of society takes place.

As you can see, the question of the criteria of progress occupied the great minds of the new time, but could not find a solution. The drawback of all attempts to overcome this problem was that in all cases only one line (or one side, or one sphere) of social development was considered as a criterion. And reason, and morality, and science, and technology, and the legal order, and the consciousness of freedom - all these indicators are very important, but not universal, not covering the life of a person and society as a whole.

The prevailing idea of \u200b\u200bunlimited progress inevitably led to a seemingly unique solution to the problem; the main, if not the only, criterion of social progress can only be the development of material production, which, ultimately, determines the change in all other sides and spheres of society. Among the Marxists, this conclusion was repeatedly insisted by V.I. Lenin, who, as early as 1908, urged to consider the interests of the development of productive forces as the highest criterion for progress. After October, Lenin returned to this definition and emphasized that the state of the productive forces is the main criterion for all social development, since each subsequent socio-economic formation finally defeated the previous one due to the fact that it opened up greater scope for the development of productive forces and achieved higher productivity of social labor .

A serious argument in favor of this position is that the history of mankind itself begins with the manufacture of tools and exists due to continuity in the development of production forces.

It is noteworthy that the conclusion about the state and level of development of productive forces as a general criterion for progress was shared by opponents of Marxism - technicians, on the one hand, and scientists, on the other. A legitimate question arises: how could the concepts of Marxism (i.e., materialism) and scientism (i.e., idealism) converge at one point? The logic of this convergence is as follows. The scientist reveals social progress, first of all, in the development of scientific knowledge, but scientific knowledge acquires the highest meaning only when it is realized in practice, and especially in material production.

If we take the development of productive forces as a criterion for progress; assessing them in dynamics, this implies a comparison not from the point of view of a greater or lesser development of production forces, but from the point of view of the course and speed of their development. But in this case, the question arises, what period should be taken for comparison.

Some philosophers believe that all difficulties will be overcome if we take as a general sociological criterion for social progress the mode of production of material goods. A weighty argument in favor of this position is that the foundation of social progress is the development of the way
production as a whole, which, taking into account the state and growth of production forces, as well as the nature of production relations, can more fully show the progressive nature of one formation in relation to another.

By no means denying that the transition from one mode of production to another, more progressive, lies at the basis of progress in a number of other areas, the opponents of the point of view almost always note that the main question remains unresolved: how to determine the very progressiveness of this new production method.

Rightly believing that human society is, first of all, a developing community of people, another group of philosophers puts forward as a general sociological criterion the social progress of the development of man himself. It is indisputable that the course of human history really testifies to the development of the people who make up human society, their social and individual forces, abilities, and inclinations. The advantage of this approach is that it allows you to measure social progress by the progressive development of the subjects of historical creativity themselves - people.

The most important criterion for progress is the level of humanism in society, i.e. personality position in it: the degree of its economic, political and social liberation; the level of satisfaction of her material and spiritual needs; the state of her psychophysical and social health. According to this view, the criterion of social progress is the measure of freedom that society is able to provide to the individual, the degree of individual freedom guaranteed by society.The free development of man in a free society also means disclosurehis truly human qualities - intellectual, creative, moral. The development of human qualities depends on the living conditions of people. The more fully the person’s various needs for food, clothing, housing, transportation services, his spiritual needs are met, the more moral the relationship between people becomes, the more diverse the types of economic and political, spiritual and material activities become more accessible for a person. The more favorable the conditions for the development of the physical, intellectual, mental forces of a person, his moral principles, the wider the scope for the development of individual qualities inherent in each individual person. In short, the more humane the conditions of life, the more opportunities there are for the development of the human in man: reason, morality, and creative forces.

By the way, we note that within this indicator, which is complex in structure, it is possible and necessary to single out one, which essentially combines all the others. Such, in my opinion, is the average life expectancy. And if it is 10-12 years less in this country than in the group of developed countries, and besides, it shows a tendency to further decrease, the question of the degree of progressiveness of this country should be addressed accordingly. For, as one of the famous poets said, "all progress is reactionary if a person collapses."

The level of humanism of the society as an integrative (i.e., passing through itself and absorbing changes in literally in all spheres of society) criterion incorporates the criteria considered above. Each subsequent formational and civilizational step is more progressive in terms of personality - it expands the range of rights and freedoms of the individual, entails the development of his needs and the improvement of his abilities. It is enough to compare in this respect the status of a slave and a serf, serf and wage worker under capitalism. At first, it might seem that the slave-holding formation, which marked the beginning of an era of exploitation of man by man, stands apart in this respect. But, as F. Engels explained, even for a slave, not to mention the free ones, slavery was a personal progress: if a prisoner was killed or eaten before, now he was left to live.

So, the content of social progress was, is and will be “humanization of man”, achieved through the contradictory development of his natural and social forces, that is, the productive forces and the whole gamut of social relations. From the foregoing, we can conclude about the universal criteria of social progress: progressively that contributes to the rise of humanism.

PUBLIC PROGRESS CRITERIA

Reflections of the world community about the "limits of growth" significantly updated the problem of criteria for social progress. Indeed, if everything is not so simple in the social world around us as it seemed to progressives, then what are the most significant signs that can be used to judge the progressiveness of social development as a whole, the progressiveness, conservatism or reactionaryness of certain phenomena?

We note right away that the question of “how to measure” social progress has never received a definite answer in philosophical and sociological literature. Such a situation is largely due to the complexity of society as a subject and object of progress, its versatility and high quality. Hence the search for their own, local criterion for each sphere of public life. But at the same time, society is an integral organism, and as such it must meet the basic criterion of social progress. People, as G.V. Plekhanov noted, do not make several stories, but one story of their own relations. Our thinking is capable and should reflect this unified historical practice in its integrity.

Nevertheless, the prevailing idea of \u200b\u200blimitless progress inevitably led to a seemingly unique solution to the problem; the main, if not the only, criterion of social progress can only be the development of material production, which, ultimately, determines the change in all other sides and spheres of society. Among the Marxists, this conclusion was repeatedly insisted by V.I. Lenin, who, as early as 1908, urged to consider the interests of the development of productive forces as the highest criterion for progress. After October, Lenin returned to this definition and emphasized that the state of the productive forces is the main criterion for all social development, since each subsequent socio-economic formation finally defeated the previous one due to the fact that it opened up greater scope for the development of productive forces and achieved higher productivity of social labor .

It is noteworthy that the conclusion about the state and level of development of productive forces as a general criterion for progress was shared by opponents of Marxism - technicians, on the one hand, and scientists, on the other. The position of the latter obviously needs some comments, for a legitimate question arises: how could the concepts of Marxism (i.e., materialism) and scientism (i.e., idealism) converge at one point? The logic of this convergence is as follows. The scientist reveals social progress primarily in the development of scientific knowledge, but scientific knowledge acquires the highest meaning only when it is realized in practice, and primarily in material production.

In the process of the ideological confrontation between the two systems, which was still a thing of the past, technicians used the thesis of productive forces as the general criterion of social progress to prove the superiority of the West, which was ahead and was ahead of this indicator. Then their opponents made a significant amendment to their own concept: this highest general sociological criterion cannot be taken in isolation from the nature of production relations prevailing in a given society. After all, it is important not only the total amount of material goods produced in the country, but also how evenly and fairly they are distributed among the population, how this social organization contributes or slows down the rational use of productive forces and their further development. And although the amendment is really significant, it does not take the criterion, accepted as the main one, beyond the limits of one - the economic - sphere of social reality, does not make it truly integrative, that is, letting through itself and absorbing changes literally in all spheres of life society.

Such an integrative, and therefore the most important, criterion for progress is the level of humanization of society, that is, the position of the individual in it: the degree of its economic, political and social liberation; the level of satisfaction of her material and spiritual needs; the state of her psychophysical and social health. By the way, we note that within this indicator, which is complex in structure, it is possible and necessary to single out one, which essentially combines all the others. Such, in our opinion, is the average life expectancy. And if it is 10-12 years less in this country than in the group of developed countries, and besides, it shows a tendency to further decrease, the question of the degree of progressiveness of this country should be addressed accordingly. For, as one of the famous poets said, "all progress is reactionary if a person collapses."

The level of humanization of society as an integrative criterion absorbs the criteria discussed above. Each subsequent formational and civilizational step is more progressive in terms of personality - it expands the range of rights and freedoms of the individual, entails the development of his needs and the improvement of his abilities. It is enough to compare in this respect the status of a slave and a serf, serf and wage worker under capitalism. At first, it might seem that the slave-holding formation, which marked the beginning of an era of exploitation of man by man, stands apart in this respect. But, as F. Engels explained, even for a slave, not to mention the free ones, slavery was a personal progress: if a prisoner was killed or eaten before, now he was left to live.

Conclusion

one). Society is a complex organism in which various “organs” function (enterprises, associations of people, state institutions, etc.), various processes (economic, political, spiritual, etc.) take place at the same time, a diverse activity of people unfolds. All these parts of one social organism, all these processes, various types of activity are in mutual connection and, at the same time, may not coincide in their development. Moreover, individual processes, changes occurring in different areas of society can be multidirectional, that is, progress in one area may be accompanied by a regression in another. Thus, it is impossible to find any general criterion by which one could judge the progress of a given society. Like many processes in our lives, social progress based on various criteria can be characterized in different ways. Therefore, a common criterion, in my opinion, simply does not exist.

2). Despite the inconsistency and ambiguity of many of the provisions of Aristotle's socio-political concept, his approaches to the analysis of the state, the method of political science and its vocabulary (including the history of the issue, statement of the problem, arguments for and against, etc.), emphasis of what is the subject of political reflection and reasoning, have a fairly noticeable impact on political research today. The reference to Aristotle is still a sufficiently powerful scientific argument confirming the validity of conclusions about political processes and phenomena.

The concept of progress, as mentioned above, is based on some kind of value or a set of values. But the concept of progress has become so firmly entrenched in modern mass consciousness that we are faced with a situation where the very notion of progress - progress as such - acts as a value. Progress in this way by itself, regardless of any values, tries to fill life and history with meaning, and verdicts are issued on its behalf. Progress can be thought of as either striving for some goal, or as unlimited movement and deployment. Obviously, progress without foundation in any other value that would serve its purpose is possible only as an endless ascent. Its paradox is that moving without a goal, moving to nowhere, generally speaking, is pointless.

List of used literature:

1. Gubin V.D., Sidorina T.Yu., Philosophy, Moscow Gardarina 2005

2. Volchek E.Z., Philosophy, Minsk 1995.

3. Frolov N.V., Introduction to Philosophy, Moscow 1989.

4. The article "The concept of social progress in social philosophy"

What is progress? The idea of \u200b\u200bregression

Progress (from Latin: "moving forward") - a direction of development, which is characterized by a transition from lower to higher.

Regression - movement from higher to lower, degradation processes, return to obsolete forms and structures.

Humanity as a whole has never regressed, but its forward movement could be delayed and even temporarily stop, which is called stagnation.

Progress Features

1.consistency

2. The specific historical nature

3. Multidimensionality

4. Non-linear character

5. Relativity of progress

Social progress - a global, world-historical process of the ascent of human societies from primitive states (savagery) to the heights of a civilized state based on the highest scientific, technical, political, legal, moral and ethical achievements.

Areas of progress: economic progress, social (social progress), scientific and technological progress.

Forms of social progress:

1. Reformist (evolutionary), ie gradual

2. Revolutionary, ie spasmodic

Reforms can be economic, political, social.

Short-term revolutions (the French Revolution of 1848, the February Revolution of 1917 in Russia, etc.) and long-term revolutions (“Neolithic revolution”, “industrial revolution”) are distinguished.

The inconsistency of progress

What is the inconsistency of progress?

1) If we depict the progress of mankind graphically, we get not a rising straight line, but a broken line, reflecting the ups and downs, ebbs and flows in the struggle of social forces, accelerated forward movement and giant leaps back.

2) A society is a complex organism in which various “organs” function (enterprises, associations of people, state institutions, etc.), various processes simultaneously occur (economic, political, spiritual, etc.). These parts of one social organism, these processes, various types of activity are in mutual connection and, at the same time, may not coincide in their development. Moreover, individual processes, changes occurring in different areas of society can be multidirectional, that is, progress in one area may be accompanied by a regression in another.

Throughout history, technological progress has been clearly traced: from stone tools to iron, from hand tools to machines, from the use of muscle power of humans and animals to steam engines, electric generators, nuclear power plants, from transportation by pack animals to cars, high-speed trains, airplanes, spaceships, from wooden bills with knuckles to powerful computers.

But the progress of technology, the development of industry, chemicalization and other changes in the field of production led to the destruction of nature, to irreparable damage to the human environment, to undermining the natural foundations of society. Thus, progress in one area was accompanied by regression in another.

3) The progress of science and technology has had mixed consequences. Discoveries in the field of nuclear physics made it possible not only to obtain a new source of energy, but also to create powerful atomic weapons. The use of computer technology not only extraordinarily expanded the possibilities of creative work, but also caused new diseases associated with long, continuous work at the display: visual impairment, mental deviations associated with additional mental stress.

The growth of large cities, the complexity of production, the acceleration of the rhythm of life - all this increased the load on the human body, generated stress and, as a consequence, pathologies of the nervous system and vascular diseases. Along with the greatest achievements of the human spirit in the world, the erosion of cultural and spiritual values \u200b\u200bis observed, drug addiction, alcoholism, and crime are spreading.

4) Humanity has to pay a high price for progress. The conveniences of urban life are paid for by “diseases of urbanization”: traffic fatigue, air pollution, street noise and their consequences - stress, respiratory diseases, etc .; ease of movement in the car - congestion of city highways, traffic jams.

Idea of \u200b\u200bthe cycle

The cycle of historical theory - various concepts according to which society as a whole or its individual spheres move in their development in a vicious circle from barbarism to civilization and to new barbarism.

Progress criteria

Progress criteria

1) French Enlightenment (Condorcet): the development of the mind.

2) Utopian Socialists (Saint-Simon, Fourier, Owen): society should take such a form of organization that would lead to the implementation of the moral principle: all people should relate to each other as brothers.

3) Schelling (1775 - 1854): a gradual approximation to the legal system.

4) Hegel (1770 - 1831): as the consciousness of freedom grows, the progressive development of society takes place.

6) Marxism:

The highest and universal objective criterion of social progress is the development of productive forces, including the development of man himself. The focus of the historical process is due to the growth and improvement of the productive forces of society, including the means of labor, the degree of human mastery of the forces of nature, the possibility of their use as the basis of human life. In social production lie the origins of all human activity.

According to this criterion, those social relations are recognized as progressive, which correspond to the level of productive forces and open up the greatest scope for their development, growth in labor productivity, and human development. Man is considered as the main thing in the productive forces, therefore their development is understood from this point of view and as the development of the wealth of human nature.

Just as it is impossible to find a universal, universal criterion of progress only in social consciousness (in the development of reason, morality, a consciousness of freedom), so it is impossible to find it in the sphere of material production (technology, economic relations). History gave examples of countries where a high level of material production was combined with the degradation of spiritual culture.

Conclusion: The drawback of all attempts to solve this problem was that in all cases only one line (or one side, or one sphere) of social development was considered as a criterion. And reason, and morality, and science, and technology, and the legal order, and the consciousness of freedom - all these indicators are very important, but not universal, not covering the life of a person and society as a whole.

Universal criterion of progress

The criterion of social progress is the measure of freedom that society is able to provide to the individual, the degree of individual freedom guaranteed by society. The free development of man in a free society also means the disclosure of his truly human qualities - intellectual, creative, moral.

The development of human qualities depends on the living conditions of people. The more fully the various needs of a person are satisfied in food, clothing, housing, transportation services, in the spiritual field, the more moral relations between people become, the more accessible for a person are the most diverse types of economic and political, spiritual and material activities. The more favorable the conditions for the development of the physical, intellectual, mental forces of a person, his moral qualities, the wider the scope for the development of individual properties inherent in each individual person. The more humane the living conditions, the more opportunities for human development in man: reason, morality, creative forces.

Humanity, recognition of man as the highest value is expressed by the word "humanism". From the foregoing, we can conclude that there is a universal criterion for social progress: progressively that contributes to the rise of humanism.

Integrative indicators of the progressive development of modern society

Integrative indicators of the progressive development of modern society:

1. average life expectancy;

2. infant and maternal mortality;

3. level of education;

4. development of various spheres of culture;

5. interest in spiritual values;

6. state of health;

7. a sense of satisfaction with life;

7. degree of respect for human rights;

Progress - this is an upward development related to the improvement of the content and forms of organization of public life of people, the growth of their material and spiritual well-being.Progress is most often understood as a progressive movement towards a specific goal. If there is progress, then in the essence of existence: a directed movement towards the realization of the goal, innovation is accumulated, succession is carried out, stability in the development of society is maintained. If there is a return to obsolete forms and structures, stagnation and even coagulation and degeneration of any significant functions, then we can definitely say that it happened. regression.

Social progress - this is a transition from less perfect forms of organization of human activity to more perfect ones, this is the progressive development of all world history.

Types of social progress:

1) antagonistic:the progress of one part of society is largely due to the exploitation, oppression and suppression of another part of it, progress in some areas - due to losses in others;

2) non-antagonistic characteristic of a socialist society, where progress will be carried out for the benefit of the whole society, by the efforts of all social groups, without the exploitation of man by man.

2) Revolution - it is a complete or complex change in all or most aspects of social life, affecting the foundations of the existing social system

Reform - it is a transformation, reorganization, change of any side of social life, not destroying the foundations of the existing social structure, leaving power in the hands of the former ruling class. Understood in this sense, the gradual transformation of existing relations is opposed to revolutionary explosions, sweeping away the old order.

Marxism: the evolutionary process is too painful for the people + if reforms are always carried out "from above" by forces that already have power and do not want to part with it, then the result of reforms is always lower than expected: the transformations are half-hearted and inconsistent.

For determining progressiveness level this or that society are used three criteria: How progressive is a society characterized in which these indicators are quite high.

1. Labor productivity - a criterion reflecting the state of the economic sphere of society. Although today it is necessary to take into account the fundamental changes that are taking place in this area

2. Individual freedom level - For a long time it was considered to reflect the progressiveness of socio-political changes in society.

3. The level of morality in society - an integral criterion that brings together the whole variety of approaches to the problem of progress, reflecting the trend of harmonization of social changes.

Of course, we must not forget that in his real life the development process itself is contradictory, and accordingly the path of its direction is also contradictory. In real life of each society there can be a breakthrough (progress) in some areas of society and lag or even regression in others.

The search for a general criterion of social progress in philosophy led thinkers to the conclusion that such a meter should express an inextricable connection in the development of all spheres and processes of people's social activity. The following criteria were put forward as a general criterion of social progress: realization of freedom, people's state of health, development of morality, achievement of happiness, etc. All these are undoubtedly important criteria of social progress, but with the help of these indicators it is still difficult to evaluate the achievements and losses of the modern history movement.

Currently, the ecological comfort of human life is being put forward as the most important criterion for social progress. As for the general universal criterion of social progress, the decisive role here belongs to the productive forces.

Specific features of social progress:

1. Global, the worldwide nature of modern civilization, its unity and integrity. The world is connected into a single whole: a) the all-encompassing nature of scientific and technological progress; b) the processes of internationalization of world economic relations in production and exchange; c) the new worldwide role of the media and communication; d) the global problems of mankind (the danger of war, environmental disaster and the need to prevent them).

2. Multipolarity, segmentation.

Humanity realizes itself in various types of societies, ethnic communities, cultural spaces, religious beliefs, spiritual traditions - all these are poles, segments of world civilization. The integrity of the world does not contradict its multipolarity. There are values \u200b\u200bthat we attribute to universal: moral; a way of life worthy of the humane essence of man; kindness; spiritual beauty, etc. But there are values \u200b\u200bthat belong to certain societies or social communities: classes, individual individuals, etc.

3. Inconsistency. The contradictions are built on one another: between man and nature, the state and the individual, strong and weak countries. The contradictions of the progress of the modern world give rise to global problems of mankind, that is, those problems that affect the vital interests of all the peoples of the planet and pose a threat to its survival, and therefore require urgent solutions, moreover, by the efforts of the peoples of all countries. Among the most serious global problems are the problems of preventing world carnage, environmental disaster, developing and improving education and health care, providing the Earth's population with natural resources, eliminating hunger, poverty, etc.

The concept of progress applies only to human society. As for living and inanimate nature, in this case, the concepts of development or evolution (living nature) and change (inanimate nature) should be used.

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Social progress and its criteria for social studies. Social development and social progress of society

Social progress is ...

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Patterns

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Progress

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Criteria of social progress of modern scientists:

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Regression

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The concept of social progress

2. Social progress - the idea and reality ................... ... 8

What is progress? The idea of \u200b\u200bregression

The inconsistency of progress

Idea of \u200b\u200bthe cycle

Progress criteria

Integrative indicators of the progressive development of modern society