The idea of ​​progressive development entered science as a secularized (secular) version of the Christian faith in providence. The image of the future in biblical stories was an irreversible, predetermined, and sacred process of development of people led by divine will. However, the origins of this idea are discovered much earlier. Next, we will analyze what progress is, what its purpose and significance are.
First mention
Before saying what progress is, a brief historical description of the emergence and dissemination of this idea should be given. In particular, in the ancient Greek philosophical tradition, there is reasoning about improving the existing socio-political structure, which developed from a primitive community and family to an ancient polis, that is, a city-state (Aristotle "Politics", Plato "Laws"). A little later, during the Middle Ages, Bacon tried to apply the concept and concept of progress in the ideological field. In his opinion, the knowledge accumulating over time is increasingly enriched and improved. Thus, each next generation is able to see further and better than its predecessors.
What is progress?
This word has Latin roots and means “success”, “forward movement” in translation. Progress is a direction of progressive development. This process is characterized by a transition to the higher from the lower, from less to more perfect. The progress of society is a global, world-historical phenomenon. This process involves the ascent of human associations from wildness, primitive states to the heights of civilization. This transition is based on political and legal, ethical, scientific and technological achievements.
Main components
It is described above what progress is and when they first started talking about this concept. Next, we will analyze its components. In the course of improvement, the following aspects develop:
- Material. In this case, we are talking about the most complete satisfaction of the benefits of all people and the elimination of any technical restrictions for this.
- The social component. Here we are talking about the process of bringing society closer to justice and freedom.
- Scientific. This component reflects the process of continuous, deepening and expanding knowledge of the surrounding world, its development in both the micro and macro spheres; the liberation of knowledge from the boundaries of economic feasibility.
New time
During this period, the driving forces of progress in natural science began to be seen. G. Spencer expressed his point of view on the process. In his opinion, progress - both in nature and in society - was subject to the universal evolutionary principle: the continuously increasing complexity of internal functioning and organization. Over time, the forms of progress began to be seen in literature, in general history. Not left without attention and art. In different civilizations there was a variety of social. orders, which, in turn, led to different types of progress. A so-called "staircase" was formed. At its peak were the most developed and civilized societies of the West. Further, various cultures stood at various steps. The distribution depended on the level of development. There was a "westernization" of the concept. As a result, such forms of progress as "Americanocentrism" and "Eurocentrism" appeared.
Latest time
During this period, a decisive role was assigned to man. Weber emphasized the trend towards a rationalization of a universal nature in the management of diverse social processes. Durkheim gave other examples of progress. He spoke of the trend of social integration through "organic solidarity." It was based on the complementary and mutually beneficial contribution of all participants in society.
Classic concept
The turn of the 19th and 20th centuries is called the "triumph of the idea of ​​development." At that time, the general belief that scientific and technological progress was guaranteed to provide continuous improvement in life was accompanied by a spirit of romantic optimism. In general, in society there was a classic concept. It was an optimistic idea of ​​the gradual liberation of mankind from fear and ignorance on the way to the increasingly refined and high levels of civilization. The classical concept was based on the concept of linear irreversible time. Here, progress was a positively characterized difference between the present and the future or the past and the present.
Goals and objectives
It was assumed that the described movement will continue uninterruptedly, not only in the present, but also in the future, despite random deviations. The belief that progress could be maintained at all stages, in every basic structure of society was widely spread among the masses. As a result, everyone had to achieve complete prosperity.
Main criteria
Among them, most often met:
- Religious cultivation (J. Bushe, Augustine).
- Increased scientific knowledge (O. Comte, D. Vico, J. A. Condorcet).
- Equality and justice (K. Marx, T. Campanella, T. More).
- The expansion of individual freedom in conjunction with the development of morality (E. Durkheim, I. Kant).
- Urbanization, industrialization, improvement of technology (K. A. Saint-Simon).
- Domination of the natural forces (G. Spencer).
The inconsistency of progress
The first doubts about the correctness of the concept began to be expressed after the First World War. The inconsistency of progress consisted in the emergence of ideas about negative side effects during the development of society. One of the very first to criticize was F. Tennis. He believed that social development from traditional to modern, industrial, not only did not improve, but, on the contrary, worsened the living conditions of people. The primary, direct, personal social ties of the traditional interaction of people have been replaced by the indirect, impersonal, secondary, exclusively instrumental contacts inherent in the modern world. This, according to Tennis, was the main problem of progress.
Increased criticism
After World War II, it became apparent to many that development in one area entails negative consequences in another. Industrialization, urbanization, scientific and technological progress were accompanied by environmental pollution. Which, in turn, triggered an environmental crisis. A new theory has appeared. The belief that humanity needs continuous economic progress has been replaced by an alternative thought about the "limits of growth."
Forecast
Researchers have calculated that as the level of consumption of different countries approaches Western standards, the planet could explode from environmental overload. The concept of the "golden billion", according to which only 1 billion people from wealthy states can be guaranteed to live on Earth, completely undermined the main postulate on which the classical idea of ​​progress was based - orientation towards a better future for all living without exception. The belief in the superiority of the direction of development along which the civilization of the West, which had dominated for a long period of time, was replaced by disappointment.
Utopian vision
This thinking reflected highly idealized ideas about a better society. It must be presumed that a powerful blow was dealt to this utopian thinking. The last of the attempts to implement this type of vision of the world was the world socialist system. At the same time, mankind at this stage does not have in stock projects that "can mobilize collective, universal actions, capturing the human imagination", which could orient society towards a brighter future (the ideas of socialism played this role very effectively). Instead, today there are either simple extrapolations of existing trends or catastrophic prophecies.
Thoughts about the future
The development of ideas about upcoming events is currently going on in two directions. In the first case, reigning pessimism is determined, in which gloomy images of decline, destruction and degeneration are visible. Due to frustration with scientific and technological rationalism, mysticism and irrationalism began to spread. Reason and logic in a given area are increasingly opposed by emotions, intuition, subconscious perception. According to the claims of radical postmodern theories, reliable criteria have disappeared in modern culture, according to which myth was different from reality, ugly from beauty, virtue from vice. All this indicates that the era of "higher freedom" began from morality, traditions, progress, in the end. In the second direction, an active search for new concepts of development that can give people positive guidelines for the upcoming periods, save humanity from unreasonable illusions is visible. Postmodern ideas were mainly rejected by the development theory in the traditional version with finalism, fatalism and determinism. Most of them preferred other examples of progress - other probabilistic approaches to the development of society and culture. Some theorists (Buckley, Archer, Etzioni, Wallerstein, Nisbet) in their concepts interpret the idea as a possible chance for improvement to occur, which may or may not go unnoticed.
Constructivism principle
Of the diversity of approaches, it was this concept that served as the theoretical foundation for postmodernism. The task is to find the driving forces of progress in the everyday normal life of people. According to K. Lash, the solution to the riddle is ensured by the belief that it is exclusively thanks to the efforts of man that improvements can occur. Otherwise, the task is simply unsolvable.
Alternative concepts
All of them, arising in the framework of the theory of activity, are very abstract. Alternative concepts appeal to the "man as a whole", without showing particular interest in cultural and civilizational differences. In this case, in fact, a new type of social utopia is being seen. It is a cybernetic modeling of social cultures of an ideal order, viewed through the prism of human activity. These concepts return positive guidelines, a certain belief in a probable progressive development. Moreover, they name (albeit at a highly theoretical level) sources and growth conditions. Meanwhile, alternative concepts do not answer the basic question: why does humanity, “free from” and “free for”, in some cases choose progress and strive for a “new, active society”, but decadence and destruction often serve as a guide for it, which , in turn, leads to stagnation and regression. If based on the theory of activity, it can hardly be argued that society needs progress. This is because it is impossible to prove whether humanity will want to realize its creative ability in the future. Answers to these questions are absent in cybernetics and systems theory. However, they were thoroughly analyzed by religion and culture. In this regard, sociocultural ethicocentrism can now act as an alternative to constructivist modernism in the theory of progress.
Finally
Modern Russian philosophers are increasingly returning to the Silver Age. Turning to this heritage, they try again to hear the originality of the rhythms of national culture, translate them into a strict scientific language. According to Panarin, the biomorphic structure of cognition shows a person the image of the cosmos as a living, organic whole. Its space awakens a higher-order motivation in people that is incompatible with irresponsible consumer egoism. Today it is clearly clear that modern social science requires a serious revision of existing basic principles, priorities and values. It can tell a person new directions if he, in turn, finds in himself enough strength to use them.