The concept of reforms and social progress. Social progress, its criteria and features in modern conditions

Chapter XVIII. SOCIAL PROGRESS

2. The contradictory nature of the development of truth The main thesis of materialist dialectics in the doctrine of truth is the recognition of its objective nature. Objective truth is the content of human ideas that does not depend on the subject, i.e.

Social progress- this is the direction of development of human society, which is characterized by its irreversible changes in all aspects of life, resulting in a transition from a lower to a higher state, to a more perfect state of society.

The desire of the majority of people for progress is determined by the nature of material production and the laws of social development determined by it.

Criteria for social progress. Determining the basis of social progress makes it possible to scientifically solve the question of the criterion of social progress. Since economic relations constitute the foundation of any form of social structure (society) and ultimately determine all parties public life, Means, general criterion progress must be sought primarily in the sphere of material production. The development and change in methods of production as a unity of productive forces and production relations made it possible to consider the entire history of society as a natural historical process and thereby reveal the patterns of social progress.

What is the progress in the development of productive forces? First of all, in the continuous modification and improvement of the technology of labor tools, which ensures a constant and steady increase in its productivity. Improving the means of labor and production processes entails the improvement of the main element of the productive forces - work force. New means of labor bring to life new production skills and constantly revolutionize the existing social division of labor, leading to an increase in social wealth.

Along with the progress of technology, improvement of technology and organization of production, science is developing as the spiritual potential of production. This, in turn, increases human impact on nature. Finally, an increase in labor productivity means an increase in the amount of surplus product. At the same time, the nature of consumption, lifestyle, culture and way of life inevitably change.

This means that we are seeing undoubted progress not only in material production, but also in social relations.

We see the same dialectic in the sphere of spiritual life, which is a reflection of real social relations. Certain public relations give rise to certain forms of culture, art, and ideology, which cannot be arbitrarily replaced by others and assessed according to modern laws.

The progressive development of society is determined not only by the development of the method of production, but also by the development of man himself.

The method of production and the social system determined by it constitute the basis and criterion of social progress. This criterion is objective, because it is based on a real, natural process of development and change of socio-economic formations. It includes:

a) the level of development of the productive forces of society;

b) the type of production relations that have developed on the basis of the data of productive forces;

c) social structure that determines the political system of society;

d) stage and level of development of personal freedom.

None of these signs, taken separately, can be an unconditional criterion of social progress. Only their unity, embodied in a given formation, can be such a criterion. It is necessary to keep in mind the fact that there is no complete correspondence in development different sides public life.

Irreversibility of social progress- regularity of the real historical process.

Another pattern of social progress is the acceleration of its pace.

Social progress is closely related to the so-called global problems. Global problems are understood as a set of universal human problems of our time, affecting both the world as a whole and its individual regions or states. These include: 1) prevention of world thermonuclear war; 2) social development and economic growth in the world; 3) the elimination on Earth of blatant manifestations of social injustice - hunger and poverty, epidemics, illiteracy, racism, etc.; 4) rational and integrated use of nature (environmental problem).

The emergence of the above-mentioned problems as global ones, which have a worldwide character, is associated with the internationalization of production and all social life.

All societies are in constant development, in the process of change and transition from one state to another. At the same time, sociologists distinguish two directions and three main forms of social movement. Let's look at the essence first progressive and regressive directions.

Progress(from Latin progressus – movement forward, success) means development with an upward tendency, movement from lower to higher, from less perfect to more perfect. It leads to positive changes in society and manifests itself, for example, in the improvement of means of production and labor, in the development of the social division of labor and the growth of its productivity, in new achievements in science and culture, improvement in people’s living conditions, their comprehensive development, etc.

Regression(from Latin regressus - reverse movement), on the contrary, implies development with a downward tendency, movement backward, transition from higher to lower, which leads to negative consequences. It can manifest itself, say, in a decrease in production efficiency and the level of people’s well-being, in the spread of smoking, drunkenness, drug addiction in society, deterioration in public health, an increase in mortality, a drop in the level of spirituality and morality of people, etc.

Which path is society taking: the path of progress or regression? People’s idea of ​​the future depends on what the answer to this question is: does it bring better life or does it not bode well?

Ancient Greek poet Hesiod (8th-7th centuries BC) wrote about five stages in the life of mankind.

The first stage was "golden age", when people lived easily and carelessly.

Second - "silver Age" - the beginning of the decline of morality and piety. Descending lower and lower, people found themselves in "Iron Age" when evil and violence reign everywhere, justice is trampled underfoot.

How did Hesiod see the path of humanity: progressive or regressive?

Unlike Hesiod, ancient philosophers

Plato and Aristotle viewed history as a cyclical cycle, repeating the same stages.

The development of the idea of ​​historical progress is associated with the achievements of science, crafts, arts, and the revitalization of public life during the Renaissance.

One of the first to put forward the theory of social progress was the French philosopher Anne Robbert Turgot (1727-1781).

His contemporary, French philosopher-enlightenment Jacques Antoine Condorcet (1743-1794) sees historical progress as a path of social progress, at the center of which is the upward development of the human mind.

K. Marx believed that humanity was moving toward greater mastery of nature, the development of production and man himself.

Let us recall the facts from the history of the 19th-20th centuries. Revolutions were often followed by counter-revolutions, reforms by counter-reforms, radical changes in the political system by the restoration of the old order.

Think about what examples from national or world history can illustrate this idea.

If we tried to depict the progress of mankind graphically, we would end up with not a straight line, but a broken line, reflecting ups and downs. In history different countries There were periods when reaction triumphed, when the progressive forces of society were persecuted. For example, what disasters did fascism bring to Europe: the death of millions, the enslavement of many peoples, the destruction of cultural centers, bonfires from the books of the greatest thinkers and artists, the cult of brute force.

Individual changes occurring in different areas of society can be multidirectional, i.e. progress in one area may be accompanied by regression in another.

Thus, throughout history, the progress of technology can be clearly traced: from stone tools to iron ones, from hand tools to machines, etc. But the progress of technology and the development of industry led to the destruction of nature.

Thus, progress in one area was accompanied by regression in another. The progress of science and technology has had mixed consequences. Usage computer equipment not only expanded the possibilities of work, but entailed new diseases associated with prolonged work at the display: visual impairment, etc.

The growth of large cities, the complication of production and the rhythms of everyday life have increased the load on human body, created stress. Modern history, just like the past, is perceived as the result of people’s creativity, where both progress and regression take place.

An important sign social progress, further, scientists also believe that there is a growing tendency towards the liberation of man - liberation (a) from suppression by the state, (b) from the dictates of the collective, (c) from any exploitation, (d) from the isolation of living space, (e) from fear for your safety and future. In other words, the trend towards expanding and increasingly effective protection throughout the world civil rights and freedoms of people.

According to the degree of ensuring the rights and freedoms of citizens modern world presents a very motley picture. Thus, according to the estimates of the American organization in support of democracy in the world community, Freedom House (English: Freedom House, founded in 1941), which annually publishes a “freedom map” of the world, from 191 countries of the planet in 1997.

– 79 were completely free;

– partially free (which includes Russia) – 59;

– unfree – 53. Among the latter, the 17 most unfree states (category “worst of the worst”) are highlighted – such as Afghanistan, Burma, Iraq, China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and others. The geography of the spread of freedom across the globe is curious: its main centers are concentrated in Western Europe and North America. At the same time, out of 53 African countries, only 9 are recognized as free, and among Arab countries - not a single one.

Progress can also be seen in human relationships themselves. All more people understand that they must learn to live together and abide by the laws of society, must respect other people's living standards and be able to seek compromises (compromise - from Latin compromissum - agreement based on mutual concessions), must suppress their own aggressiveness, appreciate and protect nature and everything that previous generations have created. These are encouraging signs that humanity is steadily moving towards relationships of solidarity, harmony and goodness.

Regression is often local in nature, i.e. it concerns either individual societies or spheres of life, or individual periods. For example, while Norway, Finland and Japan (our neighbors) and other Western countries were confidently climbing the steps of progress and prosperity, Soviet Union and its “comrades in socialist misfortune” [Bulgaria, East Germany, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and others] regressed, sliding uncontrollably in the 1970s and 80s. into the abyss of collapse and crisis. Moreover, progress and regression are often intricately intertwined.

So, in Russia in the 1990s, both of them clearly take place. A decline in production, a break in previous economic ties between factories, a decline in the standard of living of many people and an increase in crime are obvious “marks” of regression. But there is also the opposite - signs of progress: the liberation of society from Soviet totalitarianism and the dictatorship of the CPSU, the beginning of the movement towards the market and democracy, the expansion of the rights and freedoms of citizens, significant freedom of the media, the transition from cold war to peaceful cooperation with the West, etc.

Questions and tasks

1. Define progress and regression.

2. How was the path of humanity viewed in ancient times?

3. What changed about this during the Renaissance?

4. Given the ambiguity of change, is it possible to talk about social progress as a whole?

5. Think about the questions posed in one of the philosophical books: is it progress to replace an arrow with a firearm, or a flintlock with a machine gun? Can replacing red-hot tongs during torture be considered progress? electric shock? Justify your answer.

6. Which of the following can be attributed to the contradictions of social progress:

A) the development of technology leads to the emergence of both means of creation and means of destruction;

B) the development of production leads to changes social status worker;

C) the development of scientific knowledge leads to a change in a person’s ideas about the world;

D) human culture undergoes changes under the influence of production.

Condorcet (like other French educators) considered the development of reason to be a criterion of progress. Utopian socialists put forward a moral criterion of progress. Saint-Simon believed, for example, that society should adopt a form of organization that would lead to the implementation of the moral principle: all people should treat each other as brothers. A contemporary of the utopian socialists, the German philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Schelling (1775-1854) wrote that the solution to the question of historical progress is complicated by the fact that supporters and opponents of the belief in the perfectibility of mankind are completely confused in disputes about the criteria of progress. Some talk about the progress of mankind in the field of morality, others - about the progress of science and technology, which, as Schelling wrote, from a historical point of view is rather a regression, and proposed his solution to the problem: the criterion for establishing the historical progress of the human race can only be a gradual approach to legal structure.

Another point of view on social progress belongs to G. Hegel. He saw the criterion of progress in the consciousness of freedom. As the consciousness of freedom grows, society develops progressively.

As we see, the question of the criterion of progress occupied the great minds of modern times, but they did not find a solution. The disadvantage of all attempts to overcome this task was that in all cases only one line (or one side, or one sphere) of social development was considered as a criterion. Reason, morality, science, technology, legal order, and the consciousness of freedom - all these are very important indicators, but not universal, not covering human life and society as a whole.

In our time, philosophers also hold different views on the criterion of social progress. Let's look at some of them.

One of the existing points of view is that the highest and universal objective criterion of social progress is the development of productive forces, including the development of man himself. It is argued that the direction of the historical process is determined by the growth and improvement of the productive forces of society, including the means of labor, the degree of man’s mastery of the forces of nature, and the possibility of using them as the basis of human life. The origins of all human life activities lie in social production. According to this criterion, those social relations are recognized as progressive, which. correspond to the level of productive forces and open up the greatest scope for their development, for the growth of labor productivity, for human development. Man is here considered as the main thing in the productive forces, therefore their development is understood from this point of view as the development of the wealth of human nature.

This position has been criticized from another point of view. Just as it is impossible to find a universal criterion of progress only in public consciousness(in the development of reason, morality, consciousness of freedom), it cannot be found only in the sphere of material production (technology, economic relations). History has provided examples of countries where high level material production was combined with the degradation of spiritual culture. In order to overcome the one-sidedness of criteria that reflect the state of only one sphere of social life, it is necessary to find a concept that would characterize the essence of human life and activity. In this capacity, philosophers propose the concept of freedom.

Freedom, as you already know, is characterized not only by knowledge (the absence of which makes a person subjectively unfree), but also by the presence of conditions for its implementation. A decision made on the basis of free choice is also necessary. Finally, funds are also required, as well as actions aimed at implementing decision taken. Let us also recall that the freedom of one person should not be achieved by infringing on the freedom of another person. This restriction of freedom is of a social and moral nature.

The meaning of human life lies in self-realization, self-realization of the individual. So, freedom appears as necessary condition self-realization. In fact, self-realization is possible if a person has knowledge about his abilities, the opportunities that society gives him, about the methods of activity in which he can realize himself. The wider the opportunities created by society, the freer a person is, the more options for activities in which his potential will be revealed. But in the process of multifaceted activity, the multilateral development of the person himself also occurs, and the spiritual wealth of the individual grows.

So, according to this point of view, the criterion of social progress is the measure of freedom that society is able to provide to the individual, the degree of individual freedom guaranteed by society. The free development of a person in a free society also means the revelation of his truly human qualities - intellectual, creative, moral. This statement brings us to consider another perspective on social progress.

As we have seen, we cannot limit ourselves to characterizing man as an active being. He is also a rational and social being. Only with this in mind can we talk about the human in man, about humanity. But the development of human qualities depends on people's living conditions. The more fully a person’s various needs for food, clothing, housing, transport services, and his needs in the spiritual field are satisfied, the more moral the relations between people become, the more accessible to a person the most diverse types of economic and political, spiritual and material activities become. The more favorable the conditions for the development of a person’s physical, intellectual, mental strength, his moral principles, the wider the scope for the development of individual qualities inherent in each individual person. In short, the more humane the living conditions, the more opportunities there are for the development of humanity in a person: reason, morality, creative powers.

Humanity, the recognition of man as the highest value, is expressed by the word “humanism”. From the above, we can draw a conclusion about a universal criterion of social progress: that which contributes to the rise of humanism is progressive.

Criteria for social progress.

In the vast literature devoted to social progress, there is currently no single answer to main question: What is the general sociological criterion of social progress?

A relatively small number of authors argue that the very posing of the question of a single criterion of social progress is meaningless, since human society is complex organism, the development of which is carried out along different lines, which makes it impossible to formulate a single criterion. Most authors consider it possible to formulate a single general sociological criterion of social progress. However, even with the very formulation of such a criterion, there are significant discrepancies...