Everyone knows that progress is a positive phenomenon, which means a movement towards a higher organization. But regression is exactly the opposite direction from complex to simple, from high organization to low, degradation.
Let us consider various views on the history of society from the point of view of these two multidirectional phenomena.
- Golden Age concept. At first there was a society of justice without crises and problems, with complete understanding, after which it followed the path of regression: disputes began, wars began, the standard of living fell . This theory echoes the story from the Bible about the expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise.
- Cyclic development. This concept arose in ancient times. It says that the development of society goes through the same stages at certain intervals, everything repeats.
- Progressive development. This idea also appeared in antiquity, but French philosophers of the 18th century made a great contribution to this theory.
In the Christian religion, the criterion of progress was spiritual development, exaltation to God. The regression criteria are completely opposite. Some researchers considered progress to increase and improve the quality of productivity. But later it became clear that far from all spheres of life, progress was observed, in many areas it was possible to meet regression. This cast doubt on this model of social development.
Components of progress
In general, two main components of progress are distinguished:
- The formation of social groups that ensure the organization of society.
- The level of happiness, human freedom, integrity of the individual, individuality, confidence in a social society.
We can conclude that the history of the development of society cannot go linearly, revealing any laws. It soars upward towards progress, then unexpectedly meets regression. This is a feature that is some developmental contradiction. Sometimes its price is so high that we do not notice when we begin to sink.
Nature seems to have a certain balance that cannot be broken. If we begin to develop one side of life, then well-being begins to fall at a tremendous speed in the other. There is an assumption that this balance can be maintained if emphasis is placed on the humanization of society, that is, the individuality of each person will be recognized as the highest value.
Biological Progress and Regression
Biological regression is a decrease in the number of individuals of a certain species, a deterioration in the variety of forms, a decrease in protection against external factors. It can be the cause of the complete extinction of the species.
Progress in the biological sense is the development of an organism or several organisms for their best fitness in the environment. Here it is possible not only complication, but also simplification of the organization of species, most importantly, to increase the level of survival in a given environment. Biologist A.N. Severtsov developed four basic characteristics of biological progress:
- improved adaptation of species to the environment;
- increase in the number of group representatives;
- variety of forms;
- range extension.