Social progress, its criteria and inconsistency. Social progress

Social progress is considered in the school course in a multifaceted way; it becomes possible to see the inconsistency of the process. Society develops unevenly, changing positions like a person. It is important to choose the path that will lead to improved living conditions and preservation of the planet.

The Problem of the Progressive Movement

Since ancient times, scientists have tried to determine the paths of development of societies. Some found similarities with nature: the seasons. Others identified cyclical patterns of ups and downs. The cycle of events did not allow us to give precise instructions on how and where to move the peoples. A scientific problem has arisen. The main directions are laid down in the understanding two terms :

Progress;
Regression.

The thinker and poet of Ancient Greece Hesiod divided the history of mankind into 5 eras :

Gold;
Silver;
Copper;
Bronze;
Iron.

Rising upward from century to century, a person should have become better and better, but history has proven the opposite. The scientist's theory failed. The Iron Age, in which the scientist himself lived, did not become an impetus for the development of morality. Democritus divided history into three groups :

Past;
Present;
Future.

The transition from one period to another should show growth and improvement, but this approach did not become true either.

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Plato and Aristotle conceived of history as a process of movement through cycles with repeating stages.

Scientists proceeded from an understanding of progress. According to social science, the concept of social progress is movement forward. Regression is an antonym, a contrast to the first concept. Regression is a movement from higher to lower, degradation.

Progress and regression are characterized by movement, its continuity has been proven. But movement can go up - for the better, down - to a return to previous forms of life.

Contradictions of scientific theories

Hesiod reasoned on the basis that humanity develops by learning the lessons of the past. The inconsistency of the social process refuted his reasoning. In the last century, relations of high morality should have been formed among people. Hesiod noted the decomposition of moral values, people began to preach evil, violence, and war. The scientist put forward the idea of a regressive development of history. Man, in his opinion, cannot change the course of history, he is a pawn and does not play a role in the tragedy of the planet.

Progress became the basis of the theory of the French philosopher A. R. Turgot. He proposed viewing history as a constant movement forward. He proved it by suggesting the properties of the human mind. A person constantly achieves success, consciously improves his life and living conditions. Supporters of the progressive path of development:

J. A. Condorcet;
G. Hegel.

Karl Marx also supported their faith. He believed that humanity penetrates nature and, by studying its capabilities, improves itself.

It is not possible to imagine history as a line rising forward. It will be a curve or broken line: ups and downs, surges and declines.

Criteria for the progress of social development

Criteria are the basis, the circumstances that lead to the development or stabilization of certain processes. The criteria for social progress have gone through different approaches.

The table helps to understand the views on the development trends of society of scientists from different eras:

*Scientists*	*Progress criteria*
A. Condorcet	The human mind develops, changing society itself. The manifestations of his mind in various spheres enable humanity to move forward.
Utopians	Progress is built on the brotherhood of man. The team acquires the goal of moving together to create better conditions for coexistence.
F. Schelling	Man gradually strives to create the legal foundations of society.
G. Hegel	Progress is built on a person’s awareness of freedom.
Modern approaches of philosophers	Types of criteria: Development of productive forces of a different nature: within society, within a person. Humanity: the quality of personality is perceived more and more correctly; society and every person strive for it; it is the engine of progress.

Examples of progressive development

Examples of moving forward include the following public phenomena and processes :

economic growth;
discovery of new scientific theories;
development and modernization of technical means;
discovery of new types of energy: nuclear, atomic;
the growth of cities that improve human living conditions.

Examples of progress are the development of medicine, the increase in the types and power of means of communication between people, and the passing of concepts such as slavery into the past.

Regression examples

Society is moving along the path of regression, which phenomena scientists attribute to backward movement:

Environmental problems: damage to nature, environmental pollution, destruction of the Aral Sea.
Improving types of weapons that lead to the mass death of humanity.
The creation and spread of atomic weapons across the planet, leading to the death of a huge number of people.
An increase in the number of industrial accidents that are dangerous for people located in the territory where they are located (nuclear reactors, nuclear power plants).
Air pollution in large populated areas.

The law defining the signs of regression has not been established by scientists. Each society develops in its own way. Laws adopted in some states are unacceptable to others. The reason is the individuality of one person and entire nations. The determining force in the movement of history is man, and it is difficult to fit him into a framework, to give him a definite plan along which he follows in life.

Social progress - the movement of society from simple and backward forms to more advanced and complex ones.

The opposite concept is regression - a return of society to already obsolete, backward forms.

Since progress involves assessing changes in society as positive or negative, it can be understood differently by different researchers, depending on the criteria of progress. These include:

development of productive forces;

development of science and technology;

increasing people's freedom;

improvement of the human mind;

moral development.

Since these criteria do not correspond, and often contradict each other, the ambiguity of social progress appears: progress in some areas of society can lead to regression in others.

In addition, progress has such a feature as inconsistency: any progressive discovery of humanity can turn against itself. For example, the discovery of nuclear energy led to the creation of the nuclear bomb.

P Progress in society can be achieved in various ways:

I .

1) revolution - a violent transition of society from one socio-political system to another, affecting most spheres of life.

Signs of revolution:

a radical change in the existing system;

affects all spheres of public life sharply;

abrupt change.

2) reform - gradual, successive transformations of individual spheres carried out by the authorities.

There are two types of reforms: progressive (beneficial for society) and regressive (having a negative impact).

Signs of reform:

a smooth change that does not affect the basics;

As a rule, it affects only one sphere of society.

II .

1) revolution - sharp, abrupt, unpredictable changes leading to qualitative transformation.

2) evolution - gradual, smooth transformations, predominantly quantitative in nature.

1.17. Multivariate development of society

Society - such a complex and multifaceted phenomenon that it is impossible to unambiguously describe and predict its development. However, in social science several types of classification of the development of societies have developed.

I. Classification of society according to the main factor of production.

1. Traditional (agrarian, pre-industrial) society. The main factor of production is land. The main product is produced in agriculture, extensive technologies dominate, non-economic coercion is widespread, and technology is underdeveloped. The social structure is unchanged, social mobility is practically absent. Religious consciousness determines all spheres of social life.

2. Industrial (industrial) society. The main factor of production is capital. The transition from manual labor to machine labor, from a traditional society to an industrial one - the industrial revolution. Mass industrial production dominates. Science and technology are developing, and they are improving industry. The social structure is changing and the possibility of changing social status appears. Religion fades into the background, individualization of consciousness occurs, and pragmatism and utilitarianism are established.

3. Post-industrial (information) society. The main factor of production is knowledge and information. The service sector and small-scale production dominate. Economic growth is determined by the growth of consumption (“consumer society”). High social mobility, the determining factor in the social structure is the middle class. Political pluralism, democratic values and the importance of the human person. The importance of spiritual values.

the progressive development and movement of society, characterizing the transition from lower to higher, from less perfect to more perfect. The concept of social progress applies not only to the system as a whole, but also to its individual elements. In philosophy, the idea of public (social) progress arose by analogy with the idea of the development of nature. In the history of mankind, the idea of progress took shape in the 17th century, which was associated with the development of science and technology, accompanied by the recognition of the legislative power of reason. However, social progress was viewed and assessed differently. Some thinkers recognized social progress, seeing its criterion in the growth of science and reason (J. Condorcet, C. Saint-Simon), the rooting of the ideals of truth and justice in society (N.K. Mikhailovsky, P.L. Lavrov); others rejected the idea of progress, considering it false (F. Nietzsche, S.L. Frank).

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

Social progress

progressive development of society from lower to higher levels. O.p. manifests itself in the growth of the material capabilities of society, the humanization of social relations, and the improvement of man. Idea of O.p. was first expressed in the 18th century by J. Condorcet and A. Turgot and became widespread in European social thought of the 19th century under the conditions of the rapid development of capitalism. A progressive character is inherent in the concepts of society of Hegel and Marx. The criteria of social progress characterize progressive processes in the main spheres of society: economic, political, social and spiritual. To the economic criteria of O.p. include the level of development of the productive forces of society and the degree of compliance of production relations with the needs of the development of productive forces. Political criteria O.p. are the degree of involvement of the masses in historical transformations, the degree of participation of the masses in political life and management of society, the degree of liberation of the masses from exploitation and social inequality, the degree of political protection of fundamental human rights. Social criterion O.P. is the quality of life of people, which is characterized by the achieved level of material security, accessibility of healthcare and education, environmental safety, social security, the degree of employment of the active population, the level of social justice and humaneness of society. Spiritual criteria of O.P. are the level of education and culture of the masses and the degree of comprehensiveness and harmonious development of the individual. It should be noted that among famous philosophers there are not only supporters, but also many critics of the idea of progress: F. Nietzsche, O. Spengler, K. Popper, etc.

In the extensive literature devoted to social progress, there is currently no single answer to the main question: what is the general sociological criterion of social progress?

A relatively small number of authors argue that the very posing of the question of a single criterion for social progress is meaningless, since human society is a complex organism, the development of which takes place along different lines, which makes it impossible to formulate a single criterion. Most authors consider it possible to formulate a single general sociological criterion of social progress. However, even with the very formulation of such a criterion, there are significant discrepancies. Article “The Concept of Social Progress in Social Philosophy” // Internet data: http://filreferat.popal.ru/printout1389.html

Condorcet (like other French educators) considered development to be the criterion of progress mind. Utopian socialists put forward moral criterion of progress. Saint-Simon believed, for example, that society should adopt a form of organization that would lead to the implementation of the moral principle: all people should treat each other as brothers. Contemporary of the utopian socialists, 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 perfectibility of mankind are completely entangled in disputes about the criteria of progress. Some talk about the progress of mankind in the field morality, others are about progress science and technology, which, as Schelling wrote, from a historical point of view is rather a regression, and proposed his solution to the problem: the criterion in establishing the historical progress of the human race can only be a gradual approach to legal device. 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, society develops progressively.

As we see, the question of the criterion of progress occupied the great minds of modern times, but they did not find a solution. The disadvantage of all attempts to overcome this task was that in all cases only one line (or one side, or one sphere) of social development was considered as a criterion. Reason, morality, science, technology, legal order, and the consciousness of freedom - all these are very important indicators, but not universal, not covering the life of a person and society as a whole. Man and society: Proc. manual for students of 10-11 grades. / L.N. Bogolyubov, E.A. Glushkov et al., “Enlightenment”, 1996, pp. 155-156.

The prevailing idea of limitless progress inevitably led to what seemed to be the only possible solution to the problem; the main, if not the only, criterion of social progress can only be the development of material production, which ultimately predetermines changes in all other aspects and spheres of social life. Among Marxists, V.I. Lenin more than once insisted on this conclusion, who back in 1908 called for considering the interests of the development of productive forces as the highest criterion of progress. After October, Lenin returned to this definition and emphasized that the state of the productive forces is the main criterion of all social development, since each subsequent socio-economic formation finally defeated the previous one due precisely to the fact that it opened up greater scope for the development of productive forces and achieved higher social productivity labor.

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

It is noteworthy that the conclusion about the state and level of development of the productive forces as the general criterion of progress was shared by opponents of Marxism - technicalists, 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 discovers social progress, first of all, in the development of scientific knowledge, but scientific knowledge acquires its highest meaning only when it is realized in practice, and above all in material production.

If we take the development of production forces as a criterion of progress; assessing them in dynamics, this presupposes comparison not from the point of view of 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 the method of production of material goods as a general sociological criterion of social progress. A strong argument in favor of this position is that the foundation of social progress is the development of the mode of production as a whole, that by taking into account the state and growth of production forces, as well as the nature of production relations, the progressive nature of one formation in relation to another can be shown much more fully.

Without denying that the transition from one mode of production to another, more progressive one, underlies progress in a number of other areas, opponents of this point of view almost always note that the main question remains unresolved: how to determine the very progressiveness of this new production method.

Fairly considering that human society is, first of all, a developing community of people, another group of philosophers puts forward the development of man himself as a general sociological criterion for social progress. 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 strengths, abilities, and inclinations. The advantage of this approach is that it allows us 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 of society, i.e. the position of the individual in it: the degree of his 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 point of 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 disclosure his truly human qualities - intellectual, creative, moral. The development of human qualities depends on people's living conditions. The more fully a person’s various needs for food, clothing, housing, transport services, and his requests in the spiritual field are satisfied, the more moral the relations between people become, the more accessible to a person the most diverse types of economic and political, spiritual and material activities become. The more favorable the conditions for the development of a person’s physical, intellectual, mental strength, his moral principles, the wider the scope for the development of individual qualities inherent in each individual person. In short, the more humane the living conditions, the greater the opportunities for human development: reason, morality, creative powers.

Let us note, by the way, that within this indicator, which is complex in its structure, it is possible and necessary to single out one that essentially combines all the others. This, in my opinion, is the average life expectancy. And if in a given country it is 10-12 years less 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 must be decided accordingly. For, as one of the famous poets said, “all progress is reactionary if man collapses.”

The level of humanism of a society as an integrative criterion (i.e., passing through and absorbing changes in literally all spheres of society’s life) criterion incorporates the criteria discussed above. Each subsequent formational and civilizational stage is more progressive in personal terms - 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 regard the status of slave and serf, serf and wage worker under capitalism. At first, it may seem that the slaveholding formation, which marked the beginning of the era of exploitation of man by man, stands apart in this regard. But, as F. Engels explained, even for a slave, not to mention free people, slavery was progress in personal terms: if before a prisoner was killed or eaten, now he was left to live.

So, the content of social progress was, is and will be the “humanization of man,” achieved through the contradictory development of his natural and social forces, i.e., productive forces and the entire gamut of social relations. From the above we can conclude about the universal criterion of social progress: Progressive is that which contributes to the rise of humanism.

The world community's thoughts about the “limits of growth” have significantly updated the problem of criteria for social progress. Indeed, if in the social world around us not everything is as simple as it seemed and seems to progressives, then what are the most significant signs that can be used to judge the progress of social development as a whole, the progressiveness, conservatism or reactionary nature of certain phenomena?

Let us note right away that the question “how to measure” social progress has never received an unambiguous answer in the philosophical and sociological literature. This situation is largely explained by the complexity of society as a subject and object of progress, its diversity and quality. Hence the search for our own, local criterion for each sphere of public life. But at the same time, society is an integral organism and, as such, the main criterion of social progress must correspond to it. People, as G. V. Plekhanov noted, make not several stories, but one story of their own relationships. Our thinking is capable and must reflect this single historical practice in its integrity.

And yet, the prevailing idea of limitless progress inevitably led to what seemed to be the only possible solution to the problem; the main, if not the only, criterion of social progress can only be the development of material production, which ultimately predetermines changes in all other aspects and spheres of social life. Among Marxists, V.I. Lenin more than once insisted on this conclusion, who back in 1908 called for considering the interests of the development of productive forces as the highest criterion of progress. After October, Lenin returned to this definition and emphasized that the state of the productive forces is the main criterion of all social development, since each subsequent socio-economic formation finally defeated the previous one due precisely to the fact that it opened up greater scope for the development of productive forces and achieved higher social productivity labor.

It is noteworthy that the conclusion about the state and level of development of the productive forces as the general criterion of progress was shared by opponents of Marxism - technicalists, on the one hand, and scientists, on the other. The position of the latter obviously needs some comments, because 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 discovers social progress primarily in the development of scientific knowledge, but scientific knowledge acquires its highest meaning only when it is realized in practice, and above all in material production.

In the process of the ideological confrontation between the two systems, which was just receding into the past, technologists used the thesis of productive forces as the general criterion of social progress to prove the superiority of the West, which was and is ahead in 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 the 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 promotes or inhibits the rational use of productive forces and their further development. And although the amendment is indeed significant, it does not take the criterion accepted as the main one beyond one - economic - sphere of social reality, does not make it truly integrative, that is, passing through and absorbing changes in literally all spheres of society.

Such an integrative, and therefore the most important, criterion of progress is the level of humanization of society, that is, the position of the individual in it: the degree of his economic, political and social liberation; the level of satisfaction of her material and spiritual needs; the state of her psychophysical and social health. Let us note, by the way, that within this indicator, which is complex in its structure, it is possible and necessary to single out one that essentially combines all the others. This, in our opinion, is the average life expectancy. And if in a given country it is 10-12 years less 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 must be decided accordingly. For, as one of the famous poets said, “all progress is reactionary if man collapses.”

The level of humanization of society as an integrative criterion absorbs the criteria discussed above in a subtracted form. Each subsequent formational and civilizational stage is more progressive in personal terms - 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 regard the status of slave and serf, serf and wage worker under capitalism. At first, it may seem that the slaveholding formation, which marked the beginning of the era of exploitation of man by man, stands apart in this regard. But, as F. Engels explained, even for a slave, not to mention free people, slavery was progress in personal terms: if before a prisoner was killed or eaten, now he was left to live.

Condorcet (like other French educators) considered the development of reason to be a criterion of progress. Utopian socialists put forward a moral criterion of progress. Saint-Simon believed, for example, that society should adopt a form of organization that would lead to the implementation of the moral principle: all people should treat each other as brothers. A contemporary of the utopian socialists, the 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 perfectibility of mankind are completely confused in disputes about the criteria of progress. Some talk about the progress of mankind in the field of morality, others - about the progress of science and technology, which, as Schelling wrote, from a historical point of view is rather a regression, and proposed his own solution to the problem: the criterion for establishing the historical progress of the human race can only be a gradual approach to legal structure.

Another point of view on social progress belongs to G. Hegel. He saw the criterion of progress in the consciousness of freedom. As the consciousness of freedom grows, society develops progressively.

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

One of the existing points of view is that the highest and universal objective criterion of social progress is the development of productive forces, including the development of man himself. It is argued that the direction of the historical process is determined by the growth and improvement of the productive forces of society, including the means of labor, the degree of man’s mastery of the forces of nature, and the possibility of using them as the basis of human life. The origins of all human life activities lie in social production. 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 here considered as the main thing in the productive forces, therefore their development is understood from this point of view as the development of the wealth of human nature.

This position has been criticized from another point of view. Just as it is impossible to find a universal criterion of progress only in social consciousness (in the development of reason, morality, consciousness of freedom), so it cannot be found only in the sphere of material production (technology, economic relations). History has provided examples of countries where a high level of material production was combined with the degradation of spiritual culture. In order to overcome the one-sidedness of criteria that reflect the state of only one sphere of social life, 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 freedom.

Freedom, as you already know, is characterized not only by knowledge (the absence of which makes a person subjectively unfree), but also by the presence of conditions for its implementation. A decision made on the basis of free choice is also necessary. Finally, funds are also required, as well as actions aimed at implementing the decision made. Let us also recall that the freedom of one person should not be achieved by infringing on the freedom of another person. This 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, freedom acts as a necessary condition for self-realization. In fact, self-realization is possible if a person has knowledge about his abilities, the opportunities that society gives him, about the methods of activity in which he can realize himself. The wider the opportunities created by society, the freer a person is, the more options for activities in which his potential will be revealed. But in the process of multifaceted activity, the multilateral development of the person himself also occurs, and the spiritual wealth of the individual grows.

So, according to this point of 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 the revelation of his truly human qualities - intellectual, creative, moral. This statement brings us to consider another perspective on social progress.

As we have seen, we cannot limit ourselves to characterizing 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 people's living conditions. The more fully a person’s various needs for food, clothing, housing, transport services, and his needs in the spiritual field are satisfied, the more moral the relations between people become, the more accessible to a person the most diverse types of economic and political, spiritual and material activities become. The more favorable the conditions for the development of a person’s physical, intellectual, mental strength, his moral principles, the wider the scope for the development of individual qualities inherent in each individual person. In short, the more humane the living conditions, the greater the opportunities for human development: reason, morality, creative powers.

Humanity, the recognition of man as the highest value, is expressed by the word “humanism”. From the above, we can draw a conclusion about a universal criterion of social progress: that which contributes to the rise of humanism is progressive.

Criteria for social progress.

In the extensive literature devoted to social progress, there is currently no single answer to the main question: what is the general sociological criterion of social progress?

Social progress, its criteria and inconsistency. Social progress

The Problem of the Progressive Movement

Contradictions of scientific theories

Criteria for the progress of social development

Examples of progressive development

Regression examples

1.17. Multivariate development of society

I. Classification of society according to the main factor of production.

Social progress

Criteria for social progress.

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