Big encyclopedia of oil and gas. Concepts of historical development briefly

History is the movement of society through time. The dynamic unity of past, present and future reveals history as a directed process. There are several approaches to determining the general direction of the historical process˸ linear(stadial) and nonlinear.

The linear approach evaluates history as the progressive ascent of society to more advanced states based on the continuity of accumulated experience and knowledge, as well as the descent of society to simpler states. Within the framework of the linear approach, such interpretations of history are distinguished as regressism And progressivism. The concept of social progress reflects the process of progressive movement of society along uplink, leading to the complication of the systemic and structural organization of society. The opposite of progress is social regression - the process of simplification and degradation of society.

The most developed version of the progressivist approach is presented in Marxist concept of socio-economic formations. Socio-economic formation represents historical type society, based on a certain method of production and acting as a stage in the progressive development of world history. The law of transition from one formation to another determines the specificity of the mode of production on which society is based, and the nature of the contradictions. K. Marx identified five formations: primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal, capitalist and communist, including socialism as the first stage. Communism as a society of social justice and equality is the goal historical development. The concept of K. Marx became the basis formational approach to history.

E. Toffler identified 3 waves in the development of society: agrarian, industrial and post-industrial, the transition to which is carried out through a scientific and technological revolution.

In the second half of the nineteenth century. social and economic crisis Western Europe dispelled claims Eurocentrism - directions in the philosophy of history, according to which the history of Europe is an ideal model of development as a whole. Social science of this time focused not only on the general and universal, but also on the special, unique in history. This side of the historical process was developed in nonlinear concepts of history, within the framework of which history appeared as a multitude of civilizations, cultures, as well as global independent cycles and states. The most authoritative concept of cultural and historical types is N.Ya. Danilevsky, the concept of local cultures by O. Spengler, the concept of civilizations by A. Toynbee, the theory of cultural supersystems by P. Sorokin.

There are a number of eternal questions that have long troubled minds. Who are we? Where did they come from? Where we are going? These are just some of the problems facing broad disciplines such as philosophy.

In this article we will try to understand what humanity is doing on Earth. Let's get acquainted with the opinions of researchers. Some of them view history as a systematic development, others - as a cyclical closed process.

Philosophy of history

This discipline takes as its basis the question of our role on the planet. Is there any meaning at all to all the events that happen? We are trying to document them and then link them into a single system.

However, who really is actor? Does a person create a process, or do events control people? Philosophy of history tries to solve these and many other problems.

During the research process, concepts of historical development were identified. We will discuss them in more detail below.

It is interesting that the term “philosophy of history” first appears in the works of Voltaire, but the German scientist Herder began to develop it.

The history of the world has always interested humanity. Also in ancient period people appeared trying to record and comprehend the events taking place. An example would be the multi-volume work of Herodotus. However, then many things were still explained by “divine” help.

So, let's delve deeper into the features of human development. Moreover, there are only a couple of viable versions as such.

Two points of view

The first type of teachings refers to unitary-stage teachings. What is meant by these words? Proponents of this approach see the process as unified, linear and constantly progressing. That is, both individuals and the entire human society as a whole, which unites them, are distinguished.

Thus, according to this view, we all go through the same stages of development. And Arabs, and Chinese, and Europeans, and Bushmen. Just on this moment We are at different stages. But in the end everyone will come to the same state of developed society. This means that you either need to wait until the others move up the ladder of their evolution, or help them with this.

The tribe must be protected from encroachments on territory and values. Therefore, a warrior class was formed.

The largest faction were ordinary artisans, farmers, cattle breeders - the lower strata of the population.

However, during this period people also used slave labor. Such disenfranchised farm laborers included everyone who was included in their number by various reasons. It was possible to fall into debt slavery, for example. That is, not to give the money, but to work it off. Captives from other tribes were also sold to serve the rich.

Slaves were the main labor force this period. See the pyramids in Egypt or the Great the Chinese wall- these monuments were erected precisely by the hands of slaves.

The era of feudalism

But humanity developed, and the triumph of science was replaced by the growth of military expansion. A layer of rulers and warriors of stronger tribes, fueled by priests, began to impose their worldview on neighboring peoples, at the same time seizing their lands and imposing tribute.

It became profitable to take ownership not of powerless slaves who could rebel, but of several villages with peasants. They worked in the fields to feed their families, and the local ruler provided them with protection. For this they gave him a part harvested and raised livestock.

Concepts of historical development briefly describe this period as a transition of society from manual production to mechanized production. The era of feudalism basically coincides with the Middle Ages and

During these centuries, people mastered both external space - discovering new lands, and internal space - exploring the properties of things and human capabilities. The discovery of America, India, the Great Silk Road and other events characterize the development of mankind at this stage.

The feudal lord who owned the land had governors who interacted with the peasants. This freed up his time and could spend it for his own pleasure, hunting or military robberies.

But progress did not stand still. Scientific thought moved forward, as did social relations.

Industrial society

The new stage of the concept of historical development is characterized by greater human freedom compared to the previous ones. Thoughts begin to arise about the equality of all people, about the right of everyone to a decent life, and not vegetation and hopeless work.

In addition, the first mechanisms appeared that made production easier and faster. Now what a craftsman used to take a week to do could be created in a couple of hours, without involving a specialist or paying him money.

The first factories and plants appeared in place of the guild workshops. Of course, they cannot be compared with modern ones, but for that period they were simply excellent.
Modern concepts of historical development correlate the liberation of humanity from forced labor with his psychological and intellectual growth. It is not for nothing that entire schools of philosophers, natural science researchers and other scientists arise at this time, whose ideas are still valued today.

Who hasn't heard of Kant, Freud or Nietzsche? After the Great French Revolution, humanity began to talk not only about the equality of people, but also about the role of everyone in the history of the world. It turns out that all previous achievements were obtained through human efforts, and not with the help of various deities.

Post-industrial stage

Today we live in a period of greatest achievements, if we look at the historical stages of development of society. Man learned to clone cells, set foot on the surface of the Moon, and explored almost every corner of the Earth.

Our time provides an inexhaustible fountain of opportunities, and it is not for nothing that the second name of the period is information. Now so many appear in a day new information, which was not the case in a year before. We can no longer keep up with this flow.

Also, if you look at production, almost everyone makes mechanisms. Humanity is more occupied in the service and entertainment sectors.

Thus, based on a linear concept of historical development, people move from understanding the environment to becoming familiar with their inner world. It is believed that the next stage will be based on the creation of a society that was previously described only in utopias.

So, we have considered modern concepts historical development. We also understood more deeply. Now you know the main hypotheses about the evolution of society from the primitive communal system to the present day.

By open he meant a modern society open to the exchange of information, to the free movement of people, to the expansion of human freedoms and rights. Closed meant fascist and socialist social systems, tightly closed to external influence. In the modern world, this division is designated by other terms: democratic (open) society and totalitarian (closed).
Conclusion: 1. Society is a collection of people united by historically determined social forms joint life and activities. In order to present society in all the diversity of its phenomena and processes, and also to understand different approaches To study it, it is necessary to become familiar with a number of basic provisions and concepts with the help of which the structure of society can be explained, i.e. the nature of the relationships and interdependencies of its parties, as well as the mechanisms of its functioning and development.
2. There are many ways to classify societies. In sociology, it is customary to distinguish types of society according to certain characteristics. For example, Marx identified 5 types of society, which successively replaced each other and represented the following formations: primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal, capitalist, communist (or socialist).
Tennis classifies societies into traditional (implying a peasant community) and industrial (industrial-urban society).
Durkheim's typology of societies is based on the regularity of the structural organization of society.
Popper, a German sociologist of the mid-20th century, identified 2 types modern society: open and closed society.
3. Development process social systems this is, first of all, the development of the dialectical system “society - nature”, the development of which is reflected in the progress of scientific and technical equipment of human society: in increasing the level of development of industrial potential, in increasing labor productivity, in improving technologies for the production of vital goods, in increasing the standard of living of those who form society of individuals, as well as in the constant increase from generation to generation in the level of education - an increase in the volume of knowledge about nature - of these individuals, as a consequence, which periodically becomes the cause, of the scientific and technological progress of society.

Chapter 2. The process of historical development of society

2.1. Merxist-Leninist approach to the development of society

The process of development can be considered from the point of view of the simultaneous givenness of its moments (logical aspect) and from the point of view of the implementation of development in time (historical aspect). In this part of the work we will focus on the characteristics of the development of society over time.
The discovery of the materialist understanding of history by K. Marx and F. Engels made it possible to understand history as a natural historical process, as a process that occurs with necessity, naturally and at the same time is carried out thanks to the activities of people who have freedom of choice, free will (at different stages of historical development, the nature and degree freedoms are different).
To understand the process of historical development, it is necessary to determine its change over time, and if the development is natural, then the change must be carried out in some necessary direction. This natural development does not exclude the activity of people as conscious, thinking beings; on the contrary, the historical development of society is a resultant, consisting of the activity of masses of people. However, the activity of people is carried out ultimately for the sake of maintaining the physical existence of their own species under certain objective, primarily natural conditions. And for this reason alone, the historical development of society, i.e., the historical interaction of people, cannot be carried out purely arbitrarily.
The history of society cannot be free from accidents, zigzags, breaks, etc. But still, if you take a sufficiently long period (the duration of such a period varies depending on specific conditions), you will discover a direction of development that makes its way through all the accidents , zigzags, breaks, etc.

Characterizing any historical development process means, first and foremost, considering its general direction, and therefore the beginning of the process, the stages it goes through, as well as the “mechanisms” of transition from one stage to another, the specificity, continuity and direction of the development process.
It is necessary to specifically emphasize that by affirming the presence of a direction of development, we note the main direction of development, abstracting from the fact that along with the main direction there may be other, dead-end directions of development, and that interaction can occur between them and the main direction.
Society is, as noted above, an “organic” whole, passing through a series of stages, steps, stages in its ascending, progressive development.
Really existing history society is not a process of development of an “organic” whole in a “pure” form. However, in order to understand the complexity of the historical development of society, it is necessary to highlight in a “pure” form, first of all, the main direction of development of society and only then introduce complicating circumstances into the field of consideration.
Society, the social form of movement, is qualitatively different from the biological form of movement, but at the same time, society arises from nature and most closely from the biological form of movement.
Consequently, if society is an “organic” whole, then the history of society must be divided into stages, stages that every “organic” whole goes through in its development:
1. The formation of the historical prerequisites of society, the formation of the social in the depths of the biological, in general the natural. At this stage, the prerequisites for the emergence of society appear, but society itself does not yet exist.
2. The initial emergence of society.
3. Formation of society. The process of transformation of the inherited natural foundation by the emerging society is underway.
4. Maturity of society. The process of transforming the inherited natural foundation is complete. The natural basis in a significantly transformed form is included as a moment in the process of development of society.
At the stage of formation of the historical prerequisites of society, natural laws reign supreme. The source of development here should be sought in the development of nature. At the stage of the initial emergence of society, a fundamentally new source of development is formed and begins to operate.
At the maturity stage, the social factor becomes not only leading, but also dominant.
So, at the first stage, the source of development is in nature, at the second stage, a social source of development arises, it immediately turns out to be leading. Thanks to the emergence of this fundamentally new factor and its manifestation, an interaction is formed between it and the natural factor. The interaction of social and natural factors predominates with the primacy of the social. At the third stage, the emerging social factor continues to be the leading, the main one. At the fourth stage, the social factor completely subjugates the natural factor, and only at this stage does it reign supreme, which means that only now self-movement, self-development of society, interaction between people as an end in itself, the development of human essence as an end in itself, reign supreme.
The stage of formation of the historical prerequisites of human society begins with the existence of the ape-like ancestors of man. At this stage, due to purely natural reasons (interaction of the body and the environment natural environment) the prerequisites are created for the transition to next stage, prerequisites that are of a natural nature.

The factual material collected by the historian requires its own explanation, which is carried out on the basis of theories (concepts). Thus, on the one hand, knowledge of specific facts is necessary, on the other hand, the historian must comprehend the entire set of facts in order to identify the causes and patterns of development of society.

Theories of historical process (theories of study) determined by the subject of history. A theory is a logical diagram that explains historical facts. Historical facts themselves, as “fragments of reality,” do not explain anything. Only a historian gives an interpretation of a fact. But this interpretation depends on ideological and theoretical views, political and other preferences.

What distinguishes one theory of the historical process from another? The differences lie in the subject of study and the system of views on the historical process. Each theory-scheme from the set historical facts selects those that fit into its logic. Based on the subject historical research Each theory identifies its own periodization, defines its own conceptual apparatus, and creates its own historiography. Various theories They identify only their own patterns or alternatives (variants of the historical process) and offer their vision of the past, give their forecasts for the future.

By subject of study, three theories of study are usually distinguished:

religious-historical, world-historical, local-historical.

In religious-historical theory, the subject of study is the movement of man towards God, the connection of man with the Higher Mind, the Creator - God. The essence of all religions is the awareness of the short-term existence of the human material body and the Eternity of the soul. Within the framework of religious-historical theory, there are several directions (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, etc.) From the point of view of Christianity, the meaning of history lies in the consistent movement of man towards God, during which a free human personality is formed, overcoming its dependence on nature and coming to knowledge of the ultimate truth given to man in Revelation. The liberation of man from primitive passions, his transformation into a conscious follower of God is the main content of history.

In world-historical theory, the subject of study is the global progress of mankind, which makes it possible to obtain increasing material benefits. It is put at the forefront social essence man, the progress of his consciousness, allowing him to create an ideal person and society. Society has become isolated from nature and man is transforming nature in accordance with his growing needs. The development of history is identified with progress. All nations pass through the same stages of progress. Some go through the progressive path of development earlier, others later. The idea of progressive social development is considered as a law, as a necessity and inevitability.

However, the Eurocentrism inherent in this theory limits the possibilities of constructing a picture world history, because it does not take into account the peculiarities of development not only of other worlds (Asia, Africa), but also of the so-called European periphery ( Eastern Europe and especially Russia). Having absolutized the concept of “progress” from a Eurocentric position, many historians of this trend seemed to “line up” peoples along a hierarchical ladder. As a result, a somewhat simplified scheme for the development of history with “advanced” and “backward” peoples emerged, which other historians cannot agree with.

In turn, within the framework of world-historical theory there are directions: a) materialistic; b) liberal; c) technological.

The materialist direction, studying global development - the progress of mankind, gives priority to the development of society, social relations associated with forms of ownership, class struggle, passing through centuries and leading to the destruction of private property and the establishment of public property. History appears as a natural change of socio-economic formations, at the “junctions” of which revolutionary changes occur. The change in formations is based on the contradiction between the level of development of productive forces and production relations. Driving force development of society is the class struggle between the haves who own private property (exploiters) and the have-nots (exploited), ultimately leading to the destruction of private property and the construction of a classless society.

The liberal direction gives priority to the development of the individual, ensuring his rights and freedoms and, above all, the right to private property. Self-realization of the individual is possible only on the basis of private property, and the development of society is carried out on the basis of cooperation of individuals representing all layers of society. The condition for progress is a free personality. Liberals believe that in history there is always an alternative to development. And the choice itself, the vector of progress, depends on strong personality- “hero”, charismatic leader.

The technological direction, studying global development - the progress of humanity, gives priority to technological development and accompanying changes in society. Humanity is “doomed” to technical development, going through the path from being separated “from the animal world” to the exploration of space. Milestones in this development are fundamental discoveries: the emergence of agriculture and cattle breeding, the development of iron, the creation of horse harness, the invention of a mechanical loom, steam engine etc., as well as their corresponding political, economic and social systems. Fundamental discoveries determine the progress of mankind and do not depend on the ideological “coloring” of one or another political regime. The technological direction divides the history of mankind into periods: traditional (agrarian), industrial, post-industrial (information).

In local historical theory, the subject of study is local civilizations. Each of the local civilizations is original, united with nature and goes through the stages of birth, formation, flourishing, decline and death in its development. The lost civilization is replaced by another civilization. At the forefront of this theory is the genetic and biological essence of man and his specific habitat. Humanity is part of nature-biosphere and changes with it. It is not the progress of consciousness, the human mind, but his subconscious, eternal biological instincts: procreation (sexuality), envy, the desire to live better than others, greed, gregariousness determine and inevitably repeat in time one or another form of social structure born by nature. It is not history that repeats itself at a new stage of development, but the biological species that repeats itself - man in time with his constant biological instincts. In nature there is a steady cycle of life cycles.

As we have already noted, if society is an “organic” whole, then the history of society must be divided into stages stages that every “organic” whole goes through in its development.

1. The beginning of the process of historical development of society, that is, the formation of the historical prerequisites of society, the formation of the social in the depths of the biological, generally natural. At this stage, the prerequisites for the emergence of society appear, but society itself does not yet exist.

2. The initial emergence of society. Here we include the primitive communal system.

3. Formation of society. The process of transformation of the inherited natural foundation by the emerging society is underway. The formation of society includes all class-antagonistic formations.

4. Maturity of society. The process of transforming the inherited natural basis (meaning earthly conditions, the “earthly bosom” of history) is completed. The natural basis in a significantly transformed form is included as a moment in the process of development of society. A mature society is a communist formation.

These are the stages, stages of the ascending development of society as an “organic” whole. We refer to the first three stages as formation human society.

Due to the fact that we are considering logic all history, to the formation of human society we include not only the formation of man as biological species, but also the formation of humanity in public respect.

At the stage of formation of the historical prerequisites of society, natural laws reign supreme. The source of development here should be sought in the development of nature. At the stage of the initial emergence of society, a fundamentally new – social – source of development is formed and begins to operate. The leading, main factor of development with the emergence of man as new biological species becomes social, and not a natural factor. True, the natural factor, the natural basis, is only beginning to be transformed by a new process. At the stage of formation of society, the transformation of the natural basis continues, but to one degree or another the natural basis still remains untransformed. And, therefore, the social, although it is the main, leading factor of development, is also does not dominate in the sense that legacy process not fully converted – natural base.

At the stage of maturity of society social the factor becomes not only leading, but also directly dominant.

So, on first stage the source of development is in nature, on second stage arises social source of development, it immediately turns out to be leading. Thanks to the emergence of this fundamentally new factor and its manifestation, an interaction is formed between it and the natural factor. The interaction of social and natural factors predominates with the primacy of the social. On third stage the emerging social factor continues to be leading, main. On fourth stage social factor fully subjugates the natural factor, and only at this stage does it reigns supreme, which means that only now they reign supreme self-movement, self-development of society, interaction of people as an end in itself, development of the human essence as an end in itself. Here we are talking about the “earthly” existence of humanity. But already at the last stage of formation, the prerequisites are created for the “cosmic” existence of humanity, for a cosmic civilization and for a new round of interaction between humanity and nature.

The initial emergence of society.

A characteristic feature of the animal’s attitude towards the environment (Form II) is a mainly active lifestyle, movement of the body with the help of special locomotion organs in search of favorable conditions environment (primarily in search of food and protection from attack). Animals mainly adapt to the environment, but at the same time there is also a more developed reverse effect on the environment. With predominantly direct communication with environment the plant also has an inverse effect on the environment: by consuming some substances and releasing others. Animals retain this reverse influence on the environment in a transformed form, but their characteristic reverse influence is the influence of movement itself (for example, trampling of plants) and “tearing out” the object of prey from its environment, moving the prey. Nevertheless, the decisive, determining impact in relation to animals and the environment remains the impact of the environment on a living organism. The reverse effect plays a subordinate role. The active, reverse influence of animals on the environment is developing.

The stage of the initial emergence of human society starts when random, unstable consumption of natural objects as a means of influencing other natural objects gradually becomes necessary, sustainable(Form IV). The more often and more stable the use of objects of nature becomes to influence other objects of nature, the more stable the form and material of the means of influence become, the more the means of influence are differentiated according to their material, the nature of the object on which the influence occurs, and the reason for which the influence is carried out (for the sake of satisfy a particular need). Work from instinctive is turning into human labor itself with all its components(goal, means, objects, process, result, subject of labor).

Labor and production.

Chronologically, the emergence of labor as a social process of transformation of nature occurred, judging by the excavations of sites of ancient people, no later than two to three million years ago in the era of the beginning of the Paleolithic (ancient stone Age).

The need to use means of influence (stone tools) is fixed in the creation and production of these very means. They often say: “Labor created man.” This statement - at first glance - is not entirely accurate, because it may give the impression that labor was formed first, and then man. Meanwhile the emergence of man was underway exactly in the process of labor emergence.

Due to the very nature of the forelimbs and then the upper limbs, the impact on natural objects could be mainly mechanical. Of the natural objects most often encountered and given by nature in finished form, the most suitable for mechanical influence on other natural objects was stone. Manual mechanical processing of stone, turning it into a means of influence, goes through a number of stages.

The method of maintaining existence as mining originates from the beginning of human history. In the first stages of the stage of the initial emergence of history, it is not production that directly dominates, but extraction, for this is a society of hunters, fishermen, and gatherers.

As manual mechanical processing of stone reaches perfection and basically exhausts its capabilities, that is, as the transition to the Neolithic (the new Stone Age, originating about twelve thousand years ago), there eventually occurs an improvement in mining that leads to the exhaustion of production possibilities. After all, the possibilities of production are determined by the given nature in finished form, the quantity and quality of animals and the biological needs of humans. The more advanced the means of extraction become, the more the natural “storehouse” is exhausted, and the need to influence this very “storehouse” of nature arises and grows. And this impact is realized by the transition to cattle breeding and agriculture, that is, to dominance no longer appropriating, A producing economy, to dominance no mining , A production . With the transition to the Neolithic there is also a transition to the first stage of cattle breeding and agriculture, to the early stage producing farms.

Production with help produced means of influence more complex (requires more complex preparation and organization, complicates the extraction process itself...), more effective than extraction without such means. Her education determines increased stability of the herd, consistency of actions members of the herd, leads to an increasingly urgent need for eliminating conflicts within the herd. The most common source of conflict is the struggle for satisfaction of sexual instinct. As you grow herd sustainability is installed prohibition of herd members from having sexual intercourse with each other. Formed genus . In addition to increasing the role production of means of influence and improvement, increasing the complexity of production carried out with the help of these means, their influence on the growth of the stability of the herd and on the exclusion of sexual relations within the herd, it makes sense to recognize the role natural selection in the origin of the family. Prohibitions on having sexual intercourse within herds(exogamy), becoming originally from, there is one or another awareness of the need to exclude these connections. Awareness – product of origin social (in the broad sense of the word) relations. Using natural selection to explain the emergence of the mentioned prohibitions it is forbidden. But it does not follow from this that unconscious natural selection Not contributed to the formation of the clan by leading to the degeneration and death of those herds in which intra-herd sexual relations took place(agamy).

The clan finally arises when sexual relations within the herd are completely excluded and sexual relations between members of different clans become regular and stable. Apparently, these two processes were not quite identical.

Given the possibility of regular, periodic meetings of different herds (genus), and even more so with constant residence in the zone of their accessibility in relation to each other, sexual partners could well live each in their own herd, which turned into a genus, without moving into the genus of sexual partners. If there were community meetings - due to the circumstances of residence - irregular, difficult, then in such conditions arose need for transition male or female persons into the genus of their sexual partners.

The most likely thing, apparently, was that the trend of moving one's sexual partner(s) into the clan would eventually prevail.

Firstly, because the connections between different herds during the period of transformation of the herd into a genus, in general, most likely were quite difficult and irregular.

Secondly, a curbed instinct could hardly be curbed sufficiently steadily if it was not at the same time sufficiently regularly satisfied in accordance with its nature.

The predominance of the eventual migration of one's sexual partner(s) into the clan was determined, in our opinion, not only by the nature of the economy, but also by the natural living conditions of communities, and the need for fairly regular satisfaction of the sexual instinct in accordance with its nature.

Family members, together with persons, p resettled into the clan from other clans, form community , different from the genus. If the race lives apart, then the community and clan represent immediate identity, they do not differ from each other.

Both agamy and exogamy in themselves do not exclude the struggle for sexual partners, even if they are outside the clan. A fairly stable elimination of conflicts of this kind is achieved, in our opinion, in the case when a more or less stable paired partnership is formed, couples family.

Method of production and human nature.

How production, so herd bonds are inherited from animal world, both in the end transformed by emerging production. On early stages the initial emergence of human society, production already exists and plays a leading role in development, but production directly dominates, and production is subordinate to it. On late stage stages of the initial emergence of human society, when this stage matures, dominance goes to production- these are the communities of the early pastoralists and farmers.

Returning to the statement “Labor created man,” we emphasize that the formation of man, the formation of the core of his nature occurred in the process of the formation of labor, that is targeted action on transformation nature. The purpose of these actions is to obtain consumer goods using manufactured tools. The lack of development of these tools in that era forced the entire community, young and old, to work.

Since the beginning of mankind, labor has had a pronounced public, collective character. The same can be said about industrial relations, as naturally occurring collective ties. When the necessary labor for oneself was inseparable(for every person) from the necessary labor for the entire community.

The determining factor for the formation human nature began the work of making flint and then bone tools. The increasingly complex production of these first means of labor required long training period for each new employee. A the learning process itself became difficult labor process and he himself demanded the formation of complex methods of such training. So about 200 thousand years ago there arose Homo Sapiens- a reasonable person. Human, able to explain complex tasks and to my colleagues joint work, and the younger generation, using not only sign language, but also human speech. The man whose cubs were found childhood . In other mammals, including primates and early humans, babies reached sexual maturity, that is, became adults, one to three years after birth. For Homo sapiens, childhood and adolescence lasted for more than a decade and a half, during which they learned not only complex work, but also collectivist production relations.

Exactly like this complex collaborative teamwork, requiring long-term training, and formed man as a being social, initially collectivist; as a being, on the one hand, in need of support other members of the community, and on the other hand, aware that the good of his community is also his good, that the death of his community is also his death. That's why conscious creation of good for others, free from any coercion, became the essence of human nature.

Therefore, when we talk about the essence of human nature, we are talking not so much about homo sapiens, but about man humane . The formation of humankind lasted two to three million years and had basically already taken place by the beginning of the Neolithic, when man began to gradually move from mining to early cattle breeding and agriculture.

However, the dialectic of human nature is such that need of conscious creations of good arose historically natural , as a result naturally occurring collectivist industrial relations, and this need was not the result inner conviction person. That is, man's humanity was spontaneous , since it was not the result inner spiritual work, was not the result of inner conviction. Humanity was a natural but spontaneous product of the evolution of the species . And this inner human need to do good is fully feasible only in natural for her conditions - in a teamwork environment. IN primitive society this was the situation the result of naturally occurring production relations.

Therefore, man initially became social animals , because - as in animals - we find

“...that there is still a huge discrepancy between the goals set for oneself and the results achieved, that unintended consequences continue to prevail, that uncontrollable forces are much more powerful than forces set in motion according to a plan. And this cannot be otherwise until the most essential historical activity of people, that activity that raised them from an animal state to a human one, which forms the material basis of all other types of their activity, is production aimed at satisfying the vital needs of people, then is in our time social production - is especially subject to the blind play of influences of uncontrollable forces that were not part of their intentions, and while the desired goal is realized here only as an exception, much more often results directly opposite to it are realized ... "

(F. Engels. Dialectics of nature).

And as the history of the development of society has shown, innate humanity, due to its spontaneity and unawareness of its emergence, is also subject to the blind play of forces that are uncontrollable and uncontrollable by man.

Cattle breeding and agriculture, with their development, take society beyond , determine decomposition primitive community and the transition to slavery.

With the transition to early cattle breeding and early agriculture, the possibility of forming a product exceeding a necessary minimum of life. Before the transition to the dominance of production, the human race, in fact, fought for biological survival. Providing biological needs fluctuated around vital minimum, gravitated to him.

Early cattle breeding and early agriculture already create opportunities for exceeding the vital minimum, but these opportunities have not yet been developed. With the further development of cattle breeding and agriculture, sustainable production of products, exceeding vital minimum required, but not allowing to achieve vital optimum(the latter is also not achieved in all class-antagonistic societies). Opportunities are being created for appropriation by part of society products, exceeding a vital minimum. The struggle begins between people for surplus product. If before this a person collectively, jointly, brotherly fought with external forces, now contrary to innate collectivism begins struggle within the team with other members of this team.

The logic of history is such that the development of productive forces in a primitive communal society gives rise to new relations of production, denying naturally occurring community structure, and with this it begins suppression of naturally occurring human nature . The struggle between people for surplus product leads to the accumulation of wealth in private hands. Formed monogamous family, which differs from a paired family in that significant the connection between the members of this family is economic connection.

At the stage of the initial emergence of society, the social and biological are in relation concrete identity, that is, identity with difference. Productive forces, production relations, the method of production in communities of people who live mainly by extraction have already emerged, play a leading role in development, but do not directly dominate, directly, in everyday practice, extraction dominates - a method of provision, although modified by production, but by that no less inherited from the animal world.

Man, in this relation to nature and to other people, has already separated from nature and at the same time remains generally identical with it. There is a transition to early cattle breeding and early agriculture transition to dominance in the life of society production, production method. But early cattle breeding and early agriculture were most likely only open up opportunities for the dominance of the mode of production in the life of society, rather than implementing them: in terms of productivity, early cattle breeding and early agriculture do not yet exceed developed production sustainable, only mainly created possibilities for sustainable exceeding of the vital minimum.

For everyone stages of initial emergence human society is characterized by the struggle of the human race for biological survival, only in end of stage this fight is steadily heading towards victory human race. In addition, primitive cattle breeding and agriculture are mainly human impacts on natural conditions natural, biological generation of animals and plants raised by him, to create favorable natural conditions their functioning. Moreover, this influence of people, in general, by its nature similar to beneficial effects for animals and plants virgin nature(compare, for example, watering by dams and spring flooding). If there is an effect directly on the animal and plant itself, then it is carried out mainly through selection ( similar to the action of natural selection). Consequently, production here has the character impact on external conditions those processes, the completion of which produces a product that serves as a means of life. Which means the production method remains external in relation to these processes, does not significantly transform their,does not penetrate inside these processes.

Herd relationships are natural, biological connections. The emergence of production (it seems, along with the action of natural selection) leads to their transformation into a genus.

But, firstly, herd ties with the formation of a clan do not disappear at all. Thus, judging by the herds of primates and the primitive relationships that persist in fairly developed human societies, the herd of animals of human ancestors was hierarchical.

In a hierarchical herd, the best food is consumed by the leader, then the cubs, as well as females and males close to the leader. The most aggressive individual becomes the leader; if its place in the herd is contested, it enters into a fight for it. The leader can be overthrown at any time by another individual. At the same time, the leader performs functions that are useful to the herd as a whole: he protects it, bears the brunt of the fight against external attack, etc. The position of the leader in the herd is unstable, the balance of forces in the herd can change, members of the herd can break up into groups, etc. P.

Preservation within the genus of remains herd relations played an important role during the period emergence and development of private property.

Secondly, clan is the transformation of the herd by eliminating sexual relations within the clan, and the resettlement of members of other clans into this clan directly meant the possibility of regular satisfaction of the sexual instinct (which at that time the process of reproduction was also necessary). In the clan and clan community, the immediate priority was to curb the sexual instinct, exclude sexual relations within the clan, and ensure regular sexual relations with members of other clans. Social factor acted on the nature of sexual relations and reproductive relations. But it was precisely sexual relations of a certain nature that directly dominated, relations of reproduction, that is, biological communications.

At the stage of the initial emergence of human society, the social has already emerged, its difference from the biological has emerged, but the identity of the social with the biological still directly prevails.

With the final establishment of the genus, the community as distinct from the clan and like one in which the clan represented the “core” of the clan community.

Tribal community – first historical form of community. We don't have the ability to sort it out here different shapes communities and their evolution due to the limited scope of our course. Let's just say in general view: every community represents one form or another naturally occurring community. This does not deny the role of the social in the formation and functioning of the community, but emphasizes the fact that a community in any form is distinguished by one degree or another indivisibility(in unity with dismemberment) natural and social. So, for example, in in the tribal community there is an incomplete separation of the social from sexual relations, from breeding connections. IN territorial community an essential feature are commonality and differences in territory, in an agricultural community the community is determined by one or another general relationship to the land, that is, mainly by the relationship to what is naturally given, A not to produced means of production.

So, speaking of naturally occurring community, we didn't mean purely natural community, we were talking about such a community, in which the social is not completely separated from the natural, didn't quite transform him, wherein comes directly to the fore natural conditioning . For example, the dependence of a community on the use of such a naturally occurring means of production as land is a naturally determined dependence.

What's next?

In the next lecture we will begin to study the stage of formation of society, which includes slave, feudal and capitalist societies.

Literature

F. Engels. Dialectics of nature,
F. Engels. The role of labor in the process of transformation of ape into man,
F. Engels. Anti-Duhring,
V.A. Vazyulin. Logic of history. Issues of theory and methodology,
E. Fromm. Marx's contribution to human knowledge,
Lecture one. “Is Marxism outdated? (Part I)",
Lecture two. “Why do communists need dialectics?”
Lecture three. “Dialectical knowledge of society. The beginning: the simplest attitude of society",
Lecture four. “The transition from the simplest relation of society to the essence of society. Dialectics of labor",
Lecture five. “The essence of society. Public way production",
Lecture six. “The phenomenon and reality of society. Social consciousness (Part I)",
Lecture seven. “The phenomenon and reality of society. Social consciousness (Part II)",
Lecture eight. "The superstructure of society and its material basis."
Lecture nine. "Man as a Personality."
Lecture ten. "Logic of History"