By the word "nature" a person, as a rule, understands the physical world. In science, the term is used to denote the biosphere - part of the environment, which is a necessary condition for the existence of life. During the development of philosophical thought, human social studies, society and nature, their relationships, considered differently.
The opinion of thinkers
The predecessor sciences of modern social science tried to analyze society and nature. The philosophy of the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome is characterized by cosmocentrism. The ancients believed that man is a small universe, a microcosm and should live in harmony with the outside world. Medieval Christianity, proclaiming the soul as a divine component, ignored the natural principle in man. The Renaissance brought a new attitude. God, like nature, is everywhere. They are identified.
The French thinker Jean-Jacques Rousseau voiced the call "Back to Nature!" Voltaire, an equally famous thinker, wrote that Rousseau invites everyone to stand on all fours and crawl back into the Stone Age. With the development of science, the development of views on the essence of man is traced. In the XVIII century, the concept of man as an animal spreads. For example, the biologist Karl Linney calls it a separate species - homo sapiens. American physicist Benjamin Franklin looks at man as an animal making tools.
Charles Darwin creates a theory of evolution proclaiming that man is an inseparable part of society.
No matter how a person is perceived, as part of the natural environment or as its contrast, in the 20th century in social science, society and nature are considered in correlation. A theory of the noosphere appears, according to which, knowledge affects the world around us, just as, for example, geological or oceanic processes.
The transformation of the world
The interaction of society and nature in social science, geography and biology is devoted to entire sections. Why is it so important to sort this out?
The transformation of nature by man is studied in the course of the historical process. The first attempts to change the habitat belong to a primitive society. The transition from gathering to farming and animal husbandry, plant growing and animal breeding are examples of such an effect. The oldest ways to change nature include the construction of irrigation canals, practiced in Egypt and Mesopotamia in the IV-III century BC. e.
The industrial revolution that began at the beginning of the 18th century in Great Britain swept the whole world and negatively affected the environment.
Deforestation, necessary for mass production, made vast territories unviable. Trees that produce oxygen and thereby heal the atmosphere are necessary to neutralize the toxic substances emitted by plants. The activity of chemical and metallurgical enterprises leads to pollution not only of air, land and water.
The increased release of toxic substances into the atmosphere has caused global warming, glaciers are melting, oceans are increasing. As a result, certain animal species disappear. The agricultural revolution led to no less serious consequences. The use of new types of fuel, the use of pesticides and other chemicals, could not but affect the health of the biosphere.
The consequences of scientific and technological progress
The program on social studies about society and nature, their relationship, is told in the context of industrialization. Scientific and technological progress, the fruits of which mankind uses every day, has led to almost irreversible consequences. The ozone content in the atmosphere over the past 25 years has decreased by more than a quarter. Depletion of the protective ozone layer is the cause of about 2 million cases of oncology diseases per year. Every inhabitant of planet Earth feels the seriousness of environmental problems on themselves. The quality of drinking water, air, land and, as a result, products suffers. Maybe man is one of the endangered species?
Conclusion
Nature is an essential factor in human development. In our enlightened time, it is clear that it requires a careful attitude to itself. Social science considers society and nature in an inseparable connection from each other. Uncontrolled consumption of resources, environmental pollution contributed to the emergence of an environmental crisis that threatened the existence of life on the planet. The protection of nature is the task of the whole society. The living world has existed for millions of years, it can do without a person, and an individual cannot survive without it.
The relationship of society and nature in social science (school discipline) is emphasized. Perhaps it is time to re-read the textbooks and take at least one small step to restore the destroyed planet.