Everyone knows that progress is a positive phenomenon that means moving towards a higher organization. But regression is exactly the opposite direction from complex to simple, from high organization to low, degradation.
Let's consider different views on the history of society from the point of view of these two oppositely directed phenomena.
- Golden age concept. At first there was a society of justice without crises and problems, with complete mutual understanding, after which it went down the path of regression: disputes, 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 already 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, elevation to God. The regression criteria are completely opposite. Some researchers considered the increase and improvement of the quality ofperformance. But later it became clear that progress was not observed in all spheres of life, in many areas one could meet regression. This called into question this model of social development.
Components of progress
In general, there are two main components of progress:
- The formation of social groups that provide the organization of society.
- The level of happiness, human freedom, the integrity of the individual, individuality, confidence in social society.
It can be concluded that the history of the development of society cannot go linearly, revealing some patterns. It either soars upward towards progress, or unexpectedly encounters regression. This is a feature that is somewhat of a developmental contradiction. Sometimes its price is so high that we do not notice when we start to sink.
Nature seems to have a certain balance that cannot be disturbed. If we begin to develop one side of life, then well-being in the other begins to fall with great speed. There is an assumption that this balance can be maintained if the emphasis is 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 diversity of forms, a decrease in protection against external factors. It may be the reason for the complete disappearancekind
Progress in the biological sense is the development of an organism or several organisms for their best adaptation in the environment. Here, not only complication is possible, but also simplification of the organization of species, the main thing is to increase the level of survival in a given environment. Biologist A. N. Severtsov developed four main characteristics of biological progress:
- improving the adaptation of species to the environment;
- increase in the number of group representatives;
- variety of forms;
- range expansion.
