In primitive societies, social progress is extremely slow, change stretched to generation.The most obvious changes were observed in the political sphere (the transformation of the political system, the enslavement of peoples).
human nature to desire and the ability to tailor their actions to the world-wide movement.The idea of progress began to think the philosophers of the ancient world, which was called so the term "advance" from lower to higher, from simple to complex (the book of Ecclesiastes).Plato and Aristotle believed that social progress is a more complex phenomenon.
First thoughts about the direction of the life of all mankind came with the birth of Christianity.The term appeared in the Enlightenment.Its use in their work and A.R.Tyurgo A.Kondorse.At the same time the criteria of social progress every philosopher and thinker understood in different ways.Utopian socialists A.Sen-Simon, the main criterion of progress called morals;Hegel - awareness of their liberty;F.V.Shelling - legal development;Karl Marx - the development of productive forces and social relations.However, criteria such as the development of technology, freedom, rights, social progress and the economy in a sense, incomplete.To create a more harmonious picture these concepts to be synthesized, as the main aim of the society is the all-round improvement of life in its every possible aspect and formation of individuals as human beings - free, humane and creative.
Social progress is not a one-way process.Reform and revolution are replaced by countermeasures, activity time - a period of stagnation, crises and downs.All progressive phenomena have their negative aspects: the development of technology associated with an increased risk to human health, revolutions are not without casualties and human suffering.
Some researchers stop at the position that the main criterion can be considered productive forces of society, leading to an argument that the whole story started and exists because of continuity in their evolution.Another part of the authors believe that the level of development of productive forces is difficult to compare for different people, because when a relationship develops, they may be of lower quality.
If we compare their dynamics, that there are difficulties with the selection period for comparison.Therefore, this research team chooses as the main criterion of the mode of production.The argument for this is that the foundation for the progress of the development of the mode of production, which, combined with the growth of productive forces and the nature of the relationship helps better to show the level of development of a formation relative to the other.
However, in this case, is the problem of determining the progressiveness of a new mode of production.A third group of scientists proposes as a criterion to take a combination of the degree of development of productive forces and freedoms in society.But these elements are internally inconsistent, which makes it vulnerable and, at first glance, the most optimal test.
fourth group of researchers believe that the fundamental criterion of progress - the development of man himself (his abilities, inclinations and individual forces).Indeed, society as a whole is evolving only through the development of individuals who compose it.
Today, social progress understood as the direction of development of the human race, which is characterized by irreversible changes in all aspects of life, in which there is a transition from simple to more complex conditions and perfect.Many authors agree that society is too complex an organism, the development of which is on several lines.Therefore speak of a single criterion is unlawful.
Thus, at the moment so there is no answer to the question of how to relate to social progress and its criteria, what is the main backbone of the principle of humanity.
