As you know, the human body cannot function separately from nature. Man is a part of the biosphere, its component, its microorganism. The development of human society in a historical context must be considered in the system of its interaction with nature. Moreover, the successes of scientific and technological progress in this case were far from always used by man for good. How the interaction of human society with nature has changed can be traced within the framework of the main stages of socio-historical development.
Primeval stage of development
This is the period of the greatest dependence of man on nature. Actually, at this stage of development, the individual did not separate himself from her. In addition, all natural objects and phenomena were endowed with his soul (animism), and some even became objects of religious worship, acquiring divine properties in the eyes of man. Thanks to the animation of nature, man conditionally got the opportunity to communicate with animals and plants at a special level of an intangible nature. True, only shamans were endowed with this opportunity, but it was believed that in some cases an ordinary person could also speak with spirits.
Anthropologization of nature was a kind of human attempt to understand it. Forming the idea of the world in his own image and likeness, a person at the same time showed deep respect and awe. Nevertheless, with the development of primitive tools, as well as with the "taming" of fire, a person begins to intervene more actively in the natural system. Also, speaking of how the interaction of human society with nature has changed, a significant role in hunting should be noted. Successful hunting made a person less dependent on the environment, adding to him self-confidence and self-reliance.
Transition to the production stage
Not only the development of tools, but also the material, spiritual, as well as cognitive prerequisites for the development of society, contributed to the transition from the appropriating type of economy to the producing one. Thus, the individual is distinguished from the biological world. At the same time, the impact of human society on nature is increasing, and the volume of consumed natural resources is increasing . Man is no longer limited to hunting and gathering, he is mastering a new type of activity - agriculture. From the point of view of V.I. Vernadsky, the emergence of agriculture was a turning point in the history of the development of human society. Also, the discovery of this type of economy, that which connects man with nature, is commonly called the "Neolithic revolution", since these events coincided with the beginning of the Neolithic.
The connection of man with nature in modern times
By this period, the attitude of human society to nature undergoes significant changes. The divine essence is replaced by a essence of a utilitarian nature. Nature becomes an object of practical development and a source of scientific knowledge. Among the ideologists of a new attitude to the surrounding flora and fauna - F. Bacon. One of the first he advocated the development of nature empirically.
The modern (anthropogenic) stage of development
So, we saw how the interaction of human society with nature has changed in a historical context. What can be said about our time? Undoubtedly, modern technologies have reached an unprecedented level of development, which greatly expanded the opportunities for the exploitation of natural resources. The relationship of man with nature at the anthropogenic stage is distinguished by the following features:
- there is an increase in human pressure on nature in an extensive (expansion of the area of impact) and intensive (expansion of areas of impact) plan;
- purposeful human actions to change the flora and fauna;
- violation of the ecological balance: in connection with the increased burden on nature from the side of human society, the ecosystem does not have time to recover to the required extent;
- the growing threat of side negative effects of human society on the environment.
The problem of restoration of natural resources
A separate problem is the situation with exhaustible natural resources. These include plant and animal life, as well as fertile soils — renewable resources; minerals - non-renewable resources. In the first case, the rate of use of resources is approximately comparable to the rate of their recovery, in the second case, recovery is impossible. And although the processes of rock formation, as well as ore formation occur continuously, their speed is significantly behind the rate of extraction of these minerals.
However, with inexhaustible resources (air, solar energy, wind energy, sea waves, etc.) at the present stage of human-nature interaction, there are also difficulties.
Considering the question of how the interaction of human society with nature has changed, it should be noted that the influence of the
anthropogenic factor on the ecology has reached such proportions that the atmosphere and hydrosphere began to change in their physical state and chemical composition. These changes significantly reduce the value of air-water resources. To solve this problem, serious costs for restoration processes are needed.
Thus, the Michurin’s idea, “We cannot wait for favors from nature, take it from us - our task”, taken as a basis, is expensive for modern society. The interaction of man with nature by now does not just come to a standstill, but threatens a global environmental catastrophe.