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BASICS OF SOCIAL LIFE

The study of human societies begins with the study of the basic conditions that determine their functioning, their "life". The concept of "social life" is used to refer to a complex of phenomena that arise in the course of interaction between a person and social communities, as well as the sharing of natural resources necessary to meet needs. The biological, geographical, demographic and economic foundations of social life differ.

When analyzing the foundations of social life, one should analyze the features of human biology as a social subject that create the biological possibilities of human labor, communication, and mastering the social experience accumulated by previous generations. These include such an anatomical feature of a person as a straight gait.

It allows you to better capture the environment and use your hands in the process of work.

An important role in social activity is played by such a human organ as a hand with an opposed thumb. Human hands can perform complex operations and functions, and the person himself can participate in a variety of labor activities. This should also include a look directed forward, and not to the sides, allowing you to see in three directions, a complex mechanism of the vocal cords, larynx and lips, contributing to the development of speech. The human brain and complex nervous system enable the high development of the psyche and intellect of the individual. The brain serves as a biological prerequisite for reflecting the entire wealth of spiritual and material culture and its further development. The brain to the adult state of a person increases 5-6 times compared to the brain of a newborn (from 300 g to 1.6 kg). The lower parietal, temporal and frontal areas of the cerebral cortex are associated with speech and labor activity of a person, with abstract thinking, which provides specifically human activity.

The specific biological properties of a person include the long-term dependence of children on their parents, the slow stage of growth and puberty. Social experience, intellectual achievements are not fixed in the gene apparatus. This requires extra-genetic transmission of moral values, ideals, knowledge and skills accumulated by previous generations of people.

Of great importance in this process is the direct social interaction of people, "live experience." It has not lost its significance in our time, despite the colossal achievements in the field of "materialization of the memory of mankind, primarily in writing, and more recently in the memory". On this occasion, the French psychologist A. Pieron noted that if a catastrophe befell our planet, as a result of which the entire adult population would die and only small children would survive, then, although the human race would not cease to exist, cultural history humanity would be thrown back to its origins, there would be no one to set culture in motion, introduce new generations of people to it, reveal to them the secrets of its reproduction.

When asserting the great importance of the biological basis of human activity, one should not absolutize some stable differences in the characteristics of organisms, which are the basis for dividing humanity into races and allegedly predetermining the social roles and statuses of individuals. Representatives of anthropological schools, based on racial differences, tried to justify the division of people into higher, guiding races, and lower ones, called to serve the first. They argued that the social position of people corresponds to their biological qualities and that it is the result of natural selection among biologically unequal people. These views have been refuted by empirical research. People of different races, brought up in the same cultural conditions, develop the same views, aspirations, ways of thinking and acting. It is important to note that upbringing alone cannot arbitrarily shape the educatee either. Innate talent (for example, musical) has an important impact on social life.

Let us analyze various aspects of the influence of the geographical environment on the life of a person as a subject of social life. It should be noted that there is a certain minimum of natural and geographical conditions that are necessary for the successful development of man. Beyond this minimum, social life is not possible or has a certain character, as if frozen at a certain stage of its development.

The nature of occupation, type of economic activity, objects and means of labor, food products, etc. - all this significantly depends on the habitation of a person in a particular zone (in the polar zone, in the steppe or in the subtropics).

Researchers note the influence of climate on human performance. The hot climate shortens the time of active activity. The cold climate requires great efforts from people to maintain life.

The temperate climate is most conducive to activity. Factors such as atmospheric pressure, air humidity, winds are important factors that affect the state of human health, which is an important factor in social life.

Soils play an important role in the functioning of social life. Their fertility, combined with a favorable climate, creates conditions for the progress of the people living on them. This affects the pace of development of the economy and society as a whole. Poor soils hinder the achievement of a high standard of living, require significant expenditures of human efforts.

No less important in social life is the terrain. The presence of mountains, deserts, rivers can become a natural defensive system for a particular nation. J. Szczepanski, a well-known Polish sociologist, believed that "democratic systems developed in countries with natural borders (Switzerland, Iceland), that in countries with open borders prone to raids, strong, absolutist power arose in the early stages."

At the stage of the initial development of a particular nation, the geographical environment left its specific imprint on its culture, both in its economic, political, and spiritual and aesthetic aspects. This is indirectly expressed in certain specific habits, customs, rituals, in which the features of the life of the people associated with the conditions of their residence are manifested. The peoples of the tropics, for example, are unfamiliar with many of the customs and rituals characteristic of the peoples of the temperate zone and associated with the seasonal cycles of work. In Russia, for a long time there has been a cycle of ritual holidays: spring, summer, autumn, winter.

The geographic environment is also reflected in the self-consciousness of the peoples in the form of the concept of "native land". Some of its elements are either in the form of visual images (birch for Russians, poplar for Ukrainians, oak for the British, laurel for the Spaniards, sakura for the Japanese, etc.), or in combination with toponymy (the Volga river for Russians, the Dnieper for Ukrainians, Mount Furzi among the Japanese, etc.) become a kind of symbol of national identity. The names of the peoples themselves testify to the influence of the geographical environment on the self-consciousness of the peoples. "taiga people".

Thus, geographical factors played a significant role in the formation of culture at the initial stages of the development of a particular people. Subsequently, being reflected in culture, they can be reproduced by the people regardless of the original habitat (for example, the construction of wooden huts by Russian settlers in the treeless steppes of Kazakhstan).

Based on the foregoing, it should be noted that when considering the role of the geographic environment, "geographical nihilism", a complete denial of its impact on the functioning of society, is unacceptable. On the other hand, one cannot share the point of view of the representatives of "geographical determinism", who see an unambiguous and unidirectional relationship between the geographical environment and the processes of social life, when the development of society is completely determined by geographical factors. Accounting for the creative potential of the individual, the development of science and technology on this basis, cultural exchange between peoples create a certain independence of man from the geographical environment. However, human social activity must harmoniously fit into the natural and geographical environment. It must not violate its basic eco-ties.

Demographic processes that affect the entire population as a whole have a great influence on the functioning of social life. Important demographic categories are fertility, natural increase, increasing population density, the percentage of people of a certain age in the population (number of children, youth or old people), which are different for different societies.

In modern conditions, the lowest birth rate is in the countries of Southern Europe (from 1.3 to 1.5 births per woman of reproductive age), and the highest in the African countries of Rwanda, Malawi and Côte d'Ivoire (from 8.5 to 7 4) In Russia, the population in 1994 amounted to almost 149 million people, having decreased by 300 thousand people in 1993. A decrease in the population is noted in 49 regions of the country (in 1992 - 41 times, in 1991 - 300 thousand people). - 33 times.) The number of births per year decreased by 13%, while the number of deaths was 18% more.

Life expectancy in Japan is higher than in the rest of the world. It is 83 years for Japanese women and 76.3 years for men. Over the past 11 years in a row, Japan has consistently held the lead in this indicator. During this period of time, Switzerland, France, and Sweden also fell into the top three long-livers more often than others.

Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan are among the three countries with the highest infant mortality rates (30.2 and 26.7 per 1,000 newborns), second only to the southern regions of Brazil (32.5). The situation is completely different in Japan (4.5), Finland ( 5.2), Singapore (5.4).

The above demographic characteristics affect economic and social processes (the development of production, the standard of living, the supply of labor and the structure of employment, cause migration, etc.). Population density has a dual effect on social life. Population density causes competition, promotes more frequent contacts between individuals and groups. Thus, it favors the rapid spread of ideas, increases the intensity of invention, and is thus a factor in cultural development. At the same time, excessive population growth is the cause of underdevelopment of economic development, hinders the growth of living standards, is the cause of hunger, and a source of social unrest. Rapid population growth creates a problem for the entire globe.

Demographic processes are an important factor in social life, which, together with others, determines the functioning of society.

It should be noted that the biological characteristics of the organism and the processes occurring in it, geographical conditions and demographic processes constitute the necessary basis of social life, but do not unambiguously determine its processes. People with the same genetic inclinations and living in the same geographical environment can develop different forms of living together, develop different economies and cultures. Within the limits that nature has established for man, there are opportunities for different behavior, activities and creativity. The organization of social life is formed and largely determined by its economic foundations, i.e. first of all, the totality of branches of production and labor within society.

LABOR AS A FUNDAMENTAL FORM OF HUMAN ACTIVITY

An essential characteristic of the economic foundations of social life is social labor. It becomes so because in the process of labor people enter into certain relationships, interactions, relationships. Human labor is the unification of many types of labor into a common, single labor process, for the implementation of which its organization is necessary. The organization of labor is the distribution of individuals and groups with certain tasks, and their relationships in the working environment. The organization of labor is socially conditioned; it is carried out in the specific conditions of certain forms of social life.

In modern society, several types of labor organization have developed. Let's take a look at some of them. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Taylor organization of labor became widespread. It is based on the exclusion of workers from creative roles and the limitation of their activities to performance; exclusion of workers from the preparation and control of the labor process, exclusion of workers from the process of training at work,

the worker does not have the opportunity to get acquainted with labor technology, labor organization and enterprise management; on the exclusion of workers from the temporary regulation of the labor process (working rhythm, norm and break are determined by the management of the enterprise), on the isolation of workers from employees - Taylorism limits contacts at work to contacts between superiors and inferiors, because contacts with other workers are considered non-functional; on the individualization of labor and income (individualization of work orders and pay).

Since the 60s of the twentieth century, a different type of labor organization has become widespread - industrial democracy. This term refers to the democratization of relations in the management of industrial enterprises.

At the same time, such forms of participation of workers in management as "participation in decision-making", "workers' control", "production committees", etc. are highlighted. It covers the system of bodies through which the right of workers to participate in decision-making on social, personnel and economic issues or forms of participation of workers' representatives in the work of management and control bodies that make the most important decisions; includes employees to veto (prohibit) certain decisions related to the operation of the enterprise, etc. However, it should be noted that employees involved in management are endowed only with advisory functions.

Social work has a dual nature. Sociologists view it as a process of transforming nature in order to meet social needs, and also as a process of reproduction of man himself.

Man, acting on nature, creates the material goods necessary to meet his needs. The production process consists of three main elements: 1) purposeful human activity, i.e. labor itself; 2) objects of labor that a person transforms through labor; 3) the means of labor with which a person acts on the objects of labor. By changing the world around, a person forms himself as a person, develops his abilities. Labor is a specific form of self-expression and self-affirmation of a person. Thus, labor is a conscious, universal and organized human activity, the content and nature of which are determined by the degree of development of the means of labor and the characteristics of the social relations within which it is carried out.

The social essence of labor is revealed in the categories "content of labor" and "character of labor". The concept of "content of labor" reveals labor in the unity of its material (subject, means, product of labor) and personal aspects and expresses the specific labor activity of the worker.

The content of labor expresses the composition and distinctive features of labor functions, predetermined by the level of development of the objects of labor and the functions of the participants in the labor process, the level of qualification, their intellectual and other abilities; the measure of the transformation of science into a direct productive force (this is expressed in the achievement of a level of mechanization and automation of labor and the place of the worker in the production process); the level of labor organization, the ratio of the costs of mental and physical energy; the presence in the activity of elements of creativity. It should be noted that routine elements of labor are present in any kind of activity, even in creative work. They make up at least 50-70% of a person's labor activity. The remaining 30-50% (in different professions, their share varies) falls on the creative elements of labor associated with setting goals, choosing the optimal place of work from several alternative ones, and solving unexpected problems.

In the narrow sense of the word, the content of labor means the totality of the operations performed by the worker and the prescribed functions.

It should be noted that the labor process is characterized by a certain motivation of the participants in labor relations. Motivation is understood as internal incentives for action in a certain person, this is an internal factor that pushes and directs the individual's behavior.

In connection with how the influence of motives on the activity of an individual in the working environment or in the labor process is understood, several theories of labor motivation are distinguished. The need-to-achieve theory highlights one need - the need to achieve success. According to this theory, a person's desire to work is mainly due to

the intensity of his need to succeed.

Representatives of the theory of justice, or social comparison, believe that the main thing in the satisfaction of the individual in the labor process lies in the degree of justice or injustice that a person feels in his working position. At the same time, the degree of justice is understood as the ratio between what a person invests in labor (for example, efforts) and what he receives in return from the enterprise (for example, payment) and a comparison of the ratio of these values among other participants in the labor process. The person analyzes what his contribution is, how he is valued, and compares this with how much others invest and receive. Based on the conclusions from this comparison, he can reduce or increase his labor activity.

Expectancy theory proceeds from the fact that the motive for achieving success in work is due to the individual's expectation of results in the future, that is, the increased value of a possible result. Supporters of the dual theory of motivation emphasize that there are two sets of factors that affect labor productivity, and they are independent of each other. As a satisfaction factor, achievement of results, recognition, responsibility and promotion are taken. Factors of dissatisfaction that arise from labor relations include the policy of enterprise management, forms of control by immediate supervisors (democratic or autocratic), working conditions, wages.

According to the hierarchy of needs theory, individual behavior is determined by needs, which can be divided into five groups. The first (lower) group consists of needs, the satisfaction of which is the basis for maintaining life (needs for food, clothing, shelter, water, air, etc.). The second is the need for confidence, not only physical, but also socio-economic (work, status, authority). The third is the human need to be in contact with other people (belong to their society and be accepted by them). The fourth is the individual's needs for self-respect (a sense of self-importance), as well as the individual's desire to be valued and respected by other members of the group. The fifth group consists of developmental needs, which are manifested in the desire of a person to develop, to implement something new and thereby fulfill himself as a person.

Theories of work motivation remain the basis for taking measures to increase labor motivation and increase labor productivity, and on their basis certain motivational models have arisen: the traditional model, the model of human relations, the model of human resources. The traditional model is based on a pessimistic view of human nature and assumes that most people find work disgusting and that people care less about what they do than how much they get paid for it, and that only a few people can do it. creative work under self-control.

The model of human relations is based on the assumption that people want to feel useful, to feel that they belong to a group, that they are recognized by the group. And this is more important for them in their work motivation than material rewards.

The human resource model is based on the premise that work in itself is not disgusting to the individual and that most individuals can be creative and improve in their profession to a much greater extent than they are required by the conditions of production. The human resource model does not neglect monetary motivation, but it recognizes the importance of other motivational factors as well.

The above motivation for labor activity is confirmed by specific studies of Western sociologists. They show that it is in the sphere of work that people most often experience a sense of powerlessness, meaninglessness. Failure to satisfy the need for work to be interesting and give more opportunities for self-reliance negatively affects both labor morale and labor productivity, and the general psychological well-being and self-esteem of workers.

People value independence, the ability to make responsible decisions themselves. This is manifested in their attitudes towards society, towards themselves and towards their children. Specific working conditions are also important: more complex and independent work favors the development of more flexible thinking and an independent attitude towards oneself and society. Routine work, which limits the independence of the worker, makes his thinking more stereotyped. This leads to the formation of a conformist attitude towards oneself and society.

A person whose labor activity is relatively autonomous, free from petty external guardianship, better perceives and realizes the inner meaning and value of his work. On the contrary, scrupulous external control causes the worker to feel his own powerlessness, which is often transferred to the whole society, and sometimes causes neuropsychiatric disorders. Studies indicate that the less a person has the opportunity to show initiative in work, the more he is inclined to focus on external authority in other areas of activity, to consider the world around him as hostile and threatening.

The qualities that are formed in work are also manifested in the sphere of leisure and in family life. People engaged in more complex and independent work are more intellectual in their leisure time. They also highly value independence and bring it up in their children. There is also feedback. Complexity, flexibility and independence increase the level of the individual's requirements for the content and conditions of his work.

Sociological studies conducted in our country have revealed the differentiation of workers depending on the motives for participation in the labor process:

supernormative type; this group includes only conscientious workers;

normative type; this category is made up of fairly conscientious workers;

subnormative type; includes insufficiently conscientious workers;

non-normative type (unscrupulous workers). The number of selected typological groups, depending on their attitude to work, is distributed as follows: 5%, 60%, 30%, 5%.

The content of labor is closely related to the nature of labor. The latter reflects the socio-economic quality of social labor, the interaction of man and society, man and man in the labor process. In society, workers are assigned to economically and socially heterogeneous types of work. Belonging to a profession determines the place of the individual in the labor process. The nature of work gives rise to differences between social groups in various spheres of life: in the cultural and technical level, participation in the management of production, the level of material well-being, the structure and ways of spending free time, etc.

The foundations of social life discussed above affect the functioning of society.

HISTORICAL TYPES OF ORGANIZATION OF SOCIAL LIFE

In sociology, there are two main approaches to the analysis of society as a special category.

Proponents of the first approach ("social atomism") believe that society is a collection of individual individuals and the interaction between them.

G. Simmel believed that the "interaction of parts" is what we call society. P. Sorokin came to the conclusion that "society or collective unity as a set of interacting individuals exists.

Representatives of another direction in sociology ("universalism"), as opposed to attempts to summarize individual people, believe that society is some kind of objective reality that is not limited to the totality of its constituent individuals. E. Durkheim was of the opinion that society is not a simple sum of individuals, but a system formed by their association and representing a reality endowed with special properties. V. Solovyov emphasized that "human society is not a simple mechanical collection of individuals: it is an independent whole, has its own life and organization."

The second point of view prevails in sociology. Society is inconceivable without the activities of people, which they carry out not in isolation, but in the process of interaction with other people united in various social communities. In the process of this interaction, people have a systematic impact on other individuals, form a new integral formation - society.

In the social activity of the individual, persistently recurring, typical features are manifested, which society forms in her as an integrity, as a system.

A system is a set of elements ordered in a certain way, interconnected and forming some integral unity, which is not reducible to the sum of its elements. Society, as a social system, is a way of organizing social ties and social interaction that ensures the satisfaction of people's basic needs.

Society as a whole is the largest system. Its most important subsystems are economic, political, social, spiritual. In society, such subsystems as classes, ethnic, demographic, territorial and professional groups, family, etc. are also distinguished. Each of these subsystems includes many other subsystems. They can mutually regroup, the same individuals can be elements of different systems. An individual cannot disobey the requirements of the system in which he is included. He more or less accepts its norms and values. At the same time, in society there are simultaneously various forms of social activity and behavior, between which a choice is possible.

In order for society to function as a whole, each subsystem must perform specific, strictly defined functions. The functions of subsystems mean the satisfaction of any social needs. Yet together they aim to maintain sustainability.

society. Dysfunction (destructive function) of a subsystem can disrupt the stability of society. The researcher of this phenomenon, R. Merton, believed that the same subsystems can be functional in relation to one of them and dysfunctional in relation to others.

A certain typology of societies has developed in sociology. Researchers single out a traditional society. It is a society with an agrarian way of life, with sedentary structures and a tradition-based way of regulating relations between people. It is characterized by extremely low rates of development of production, which could meet the needs only at a minimum level, a great resistance to innovation, due to the peculiarities of its functioning. The behavior of individuals is strictly controlled, regulated by customs, norms, social institutions. The listed social formations, consecrated by tradition, are considered unshakable, even the idea of their possible transformation is denied. Performing their integrative function, culture and social institutions suppressed any manifestation of individual freedom, which is a necessary condition for the creative process in society.

The term "industrial society" was first introduced by Saint-Simon. He focused on the production basis of society. Important features of an industrial society are also the flexibility of social structures, which allows them to be modified as the needs and interests of people change, social mobility, and a developed system of communications. This is a society in which flexible management structures have been created that make it possible to reasonably combine the freedom and interests of the individual with the general principles governing their joint activities.

In the 1960s, two stages in the development of society were supplemented by a third. The concept of a post-industrial society appears, actively developed in American (D. Bell) and Western European (A. Turin) sociology. The reason for the emergence of this concept is structural changes in the economy and culture of the most developed countries, forcing a different look at society itself as a whole. First of all, the role of knowledge and information has sharply increased. Having received the necessary education, having access to the latest information, the individual received preferential chances in moving up the ladder of the social hierarchy. Creative work becomes the basis for the success and prosperity of both a person and society.

In addition to society, which in sociology is often correlated with the boundaries of the state, other types of organization of social life are analyzed.

Marxism, choosing the mode of production of material goods as the basis (the unity of the productive forces and the production relations corresponding to them), defines the socio-economic formation corresponding to it as the basic structure of social life. The development of social life is a gradual transition from lower to higher socio-economic formations: from primitive communal to slave-owning, then to feudal, capitalist and communist.

The primitive appropriating mode of production characterizes the primitive communal formation. A specific feature of the slave-owning formation is the ownership of people and the use of the labor of slaves, the feudal - production based on the exploitation of peasants attached to the land, the bourgeois - the transition to economic dependence of formally free wage workers, in the communist formation it was supposed to establish an equal attitude of all to ownership of the means of production by abolishing private property relations. Recognizing the cause-and-effect relationships between economic, political, ideological and other institutions, production and economic relations are assumed to be decisive.

Socio-economic formations are distinguished on the basis of what is common to different countries that are within the same formation.

At the heart of the civilized approach lies the idea of the originality of the path traveled by peoples.

Civilization is understood as a qualitative specificity (originality of material, spiritual, social life) of a particular group of countries, peoples at a certain stage of development.

Among the many civilizations, Ancient India and China, the states of the Muslim East, Babylon, European civilization, the civilization of Russia, and others stand out.

Any civilization is characterized not only by a specific social production technology, but also, to no lesser extent, by a culture corresponding to it. It has a certain philosophy, socially significant values, a generalized image of the world, a specific way of life with its own special life principle, the basis of which is the spirit of the people, its morality, conviction, which also determine a certain attitude towards oneself.

The civilizational approach in sociology presupposes taking into account and studying that peculiar and original that exists in the organization of the social life of an entire region.

Some of the most important forms and achievements developed by a certain civilization are being universally recognized and spread. Thus, the values that originated in European civilization, but are now acquiring universal human significance, include the following.

In the sphere of production and economic relations, this is the achieved level of development of technology and technology generated by the new stage of the scientific and technological revolution, the system of commodity-money relations, the presence of a market.

In the political sphere, the general civilizational base includes a rule of law state operating on the basis of democratic norms.

In the spiritual and moral sphere, the common heritage of all peoples is the great achievements of science, art, culture, as well as universal moral values.

Social life is formed by a complex set of forces, in which natural phenomena and processes are only one of the elements. Based on the conditions created by nature, a complex interaction of individuals manifests itself, which forms a new integrity, society, as a social system. Labor, as a fundamental form of activity, underlies the development of diverse types of organization of social life.

Work plan:

Introduction.

The structure of human nature.

The role of biological and geographical factors in the formation of social life.

Social life.

Historical types of social life.

Social connections, actions and interactions as a basic element of social life.

Social ideal as a condition of social development.

Conclusion.

Introduction.

More interesting than the man himself, there is nothing in the world.

V. A. Sukhomlinsky

Man is a social being. But at the same time, the higher mammal, i.e. biological being.

Like any biological species, Homo sapiens is characterized by a certain set of specific features. Each of these signs can vary in different representatives, and even within large limits. Social processes can also influence the manifestation of many biological parameters of a species. So, for example, the normal life expectancy of a person is currently 80-90 years, given that he does not suffer from hereditary diseases and will not be exposed to harmful external influences such as infectious diseases, traffic accidents, etc. Such is the biological constant of the species, which, however, changes under the influence of social laws.

Like other biological species, man has stable varieties, which are denoted, when talking about man, by the concept of "race". Racial differentiation of people is associated with the adaptation of various groups of people inhabiting different regions of the planet, and is expressed in the formation of specific biological, anatomical and physiological characteristics. But, despite the difference in certain biological parameters, a representative of any race belongs to a single species of Homo sapiens and has biological parameters characteristic of all people.

Each person is by nature individual and unique, each has his own set of genes inherited from his parents. The uniqueness of a person is also enhanced as a result of the influence of social and biological factors in the process of development, because each individual has a unique life experience. Consequently, the human race is infinitely diverse, human abilities and talents are infinitely diverse.

Individualization is a general biological regularity. Individual-natural differences in a person are supplemented by social differences, due to the social division of labor and differentiation of social functions, and at a certain stage of social development - also by individual-personal differences.

A person is included in two worlds at once: the world of nature and the world of society, which gives rise to a number of problems. Let's consider two of them.

Aristotle called man a political animal, recognizing in him a combination of two principles: biological (animal) and political (social). The first problem is which of these principles is dominant, determining in the formation of abilities, feelings, behavior, actions of a person and how the relationship between the biological and the social in a person is carried out.

The essence of another problem is this: while recognizing that each person is unique, peculiar and unrepeatable, we nevertheless constantly group people according to various characteristics, some of which are determined biologically, others socially, and some - the interaction of biological and social. The question arises, what is the significance in the life of society of biologically determined differences between people and groups of people?

In the course of discussions around these problems, theoretical concepts are put forward, criticized and rethought, new lines of practical action are developed that contribute to the improvement of relationships between people.

K. Marx wrote: “Man is a directly natural being. As a natural being… he is… endowed with natural forces, vital forces, being an active natural being; these forces exist in him in the form of inclinations and abilities, in the form of drives ... ”This approach was substantiated and developed in the works of Engels, who understood the biological nature of man as something initial, although not sufficient to explain history and man himself.

Marxist-Leninist philosophy shows the importance of social factors along with biological ones - they both play qualitatively different roles in determining human essence and nature. It reveals the dominant meaning of the social, without ignoring the biological nature of man.

Neglect of human biology is unacceptable. Moreover, the biological organization of a human being is something intrinsically valuable, and no social goals can justify either violence against it, or eugenic projects to remake it.

Among the great diversity of the world of living beings living on planet Earth, only one person has a highly developed mind, largely thanks to which, in fact, he was able to survive, to survive as a biological species.

Even prehistoric people, at the level of their mythological worldview, knew that the cause of all this is something that is in the person himself. This "something" they called the soul. Plato made the greatest scientific discovery. He established that the human soul consists of three parts: mind, feelings and will. The whole spiritual world of a person is born precisely by his mind, his feelings and his will. Despite the innumerable diversity of the spiritual world, its inexhaustibility, in fact, there is nothing else in it, except for the manifestations of intellectual, emotional and volitional elements.

The structure of human nature.

In the structure of human nature, three components of it can be found: biological nature, social nature and spiritual nature.

The biological nature of man was formed over a long, 2.5 billion years, evolutionary development from blue-green algae to Homo sapiens. In 1924, the English professor Leakey discovered the remains of Australopithecus in Ethiopia, which lived 3.3 million years ago. From this distant ancestor descend modern hominids: great apes and humans.

The ascending line of human evolution has gone through the following stages: Australopithecus (fossil southern monkey, 3.3 million years ago) - Pithecanthropus (monkey man, 1 million years ago) - Sinanthropus (fossil "Chinese man", 500 thousand years ago) - Neanderthal man (100 thousand years ago) ) - Cro-Magnon (Homo Sapiens fossil, 40 thousand years old) - modern man (20 thousand years ago). At the same time, it should be taken into account that our biological ancestors did not appear one after another, but stood out for a long time and lived together with their predecessors. So, it is reliably established that the Cro-Magnon lived with the Neanderthal and even ... hunted him. Cro-Magnon, thus, was a kind of cannibal - he ate his closest relative, ancestor.

In terms of indicators of biological adaptation to nature, man is significantly inferior to the vast majority of representatives of the animal world. If a person is returned to the animal world, he will suffer a catastrophic defeat in the competitive struggle for existence and will be able to live only in a narrow geographical zone of his origin - in the tropics, on both sides close to the equator. A person does not have warm wool, he has weak teeth, weak nails instead of claws, an unstable upright gait on two legs, a predisposition to many diseases, a degraded immune system ...

Superiority over animals is biologically ensured to man only by the presence of a cerebral cortex, which no animal has. The cerebral cortex consists of 14 billion neurons, the functioning of which serves as the material basis for the spiritual life of a person - his consciousness, ability to work and live in society. The cerebral cortex abundantly provides space for the endless spiritual growth and development of man and society. Suffice it to say that for today, in the entire long life of a person, at best, only 1 billion - only 7% - of neurons are included in the work, and the remaining 13 billion - 93% - remain unused "gray matter".

In the biological nature of a person, the general state of health and longevity is genetically laid; temperament, which is one of four possible types: choleric, sanguine, melancholic and phlegmatic; talents and inclinations. At the same time, it should be taken into account that each person is a biologically non-repeated organism, the structures of its cells and DNA molecules (genes). It is estimated that 95 billion of us, people, were born and died on Earth in 40 thousand years, among which there was not at least one second identical.

Biological nature is the only real basis on which a person is born and exists. Each separate individual, each person exists from that time until his biological nature exists and lives. But with all his biological nature, man belongs to the animal world. And man is born only as an animal species of Homo Sapiens; is not born a man, but only a candidate for a man. The newborn biological creature Homo Sapiens has yet to become a man in the full sense of the word.

Let us begin the description of the social nature of man with the definition of society. Society is an association of people for the joint production, distribution and consumption of material and spiritual goods; for the reproduction of their kind and their way of life. Such association is carried out, as in the animal world, to maintain (in the interests of) the individual existence of an individual and to reproduce Homo Sapiens as a biological species. But unlike animals, human behavior - as a creature that is inherent in consciousness and the ability to work - in a team of its own kind is controlled not by instincts, but by public opinion. In the process of assimilation of the elements of social life, the candidate for a person turns into a real person. The process of acquiring elements of social life by a newborn is called human socialization.

Only in society and from society does man acquire his social nature. In society, a person learns human behavior, guided not by instincts, but by public opinion; zoological instincts are curbed in society; in society, a person learns the language, customs and traditions developed in this society; here, a person perceives the experience of production and production relations accumulated by society ...

Spiritual nature of man. The biological nature of a person in the conditions of social life contributes to his transformation into a person, a biological individual - into a person. There are many definitions of personality, highlighting its features and characteristics. Personality is the totality of the spiritual world of a person inextricably linked with his biological nature in the process of social life. A person is a being who knowingly (consciously) makes decisions and is responsible for his actions and behavior. The content of a person's personality is his spiritual world, in which the worldview occupies a central place.

The spiritual world of a person is directly generated in the process of activity of his psyche. And in the human psyche there are three components: Mind, Feelings and Will. Consequently, in the spiritual world of man there is nothing else but elements of intellectual and emotional activity and volitional impulses.

Biological and social in man.

The biological nature of man inherited from the animal world. And the biological nature of every animal being steadily requires that, having been born, it satisfies its biological needs: eat, drink, grow, mature, mature and reproduce its own kind in order to recreate its kind. To recreate one's own kind - that's why the individual animal is born, comes into the world. And in order to recreate its kind, the born animal must eat, drink, grow, mature, mature in order to be able to reproduce. Having carried out what is laid down by biological nature, an animal being must ensure the fruitfulness of its offspring and ... die. To die so that the family may continue to exist. An animal is born, lives and dies for the sake of procreation. And the life of an animal has no meaning anymore. The same meaning of life is invested by biological nature in human life. A person, having been born, must receive from his ancestors everything necessary for his existence, growth, maturation, and having matured, reproduce his own kind, give birth to a child. The happiness of parents is in their children. Washed away their lives - to give birth to children. And if they do not have children, their happiness in this regard will be detrimental. They will not experience natural happiness from fertilization, birth, upbringing, communication with children, they will not experience happiness from the happiness of children. Having raised and let children into the world, parents must eventually ... make room for others. Must die. And there is no biological tragedy here. This is the natural end of the biological existence of any biological individual. In the animal world, there are many examples of the fact that after the completion of the biological cycle of development and the reproduction of offspring, parents die. A one-day butterfly leaves the chrysalis only to be fertilized and lay eggs - to die immediately. She, a one-day butterfly, does not even have organs of nutrition. The female cross-spider, after fertilization, eats her husband in order to give life to the fertilized seed with the proteins of the body of "her lover". Annual plants, after growing the seeds of their offspring, calmly die in the bud ... And in humans, his death is biologically laid down. Death for a person is biologically tragic only when his life is interrupted prematurely, before the completion of the biological cycle. It is not superfluous to note that biologically human life is programmed for an average of 150 years. Therefore, death at the age of 70-90 can also be considered premature. If a person exhausts the time of life genetically determined for him, death becomes as desirable for him as sleep after a hard day's work. From this point of view, "the purpose of human existence is to go through the normal cycle of life, leading to the loss of vital instinct and painless old age, reconciled with death." Thus, biological nature imposes on man the meaning of his life in maintaining his existence for the reproduction of the human race for the reproduction of Homo Sapiens.

The social nature also imposes on man the criteria for determining the meaning of his life.

Due to the causes of zoological imperfection, an individual person, isolated from a team of his own kind, can neither maintain his existence, much less complete the biological cycle of his development and reproduce offspring. And the human collective is a society with all the parameters inherent only to it. Only society ensures the existence of a person both as an individual, personality, and as a biological species. People live in society primarily in order to biologically survive for each individual and for the entire human race in general. Society, and not a separate individual, is the only guarantor of the existence of man as a biological species of Homo Sapiens. Only society accumulates, preserves and passes on to the next generations the experience of man's struggle for survival, the experience of the struggle for existence. Hence, in order to preserve both the species and the individual (personality), it is necessary to preserve the society of this individual (personality). Consequently, for each individual person, from the point of view of his nature, society is of greater importance than he himself, the individual person. That is why, even at the level of biological interests, the meaning of human life is to protect society more than one's own, separate, life. Even in the event that in the name of preserving this, one's own, society, it is necessary to sacrifice one's personal life.

In addition to guaranteeing the preservation of the human race, society, in addition to this, gives each of its members a number of other advantages unprecedented in the animal world. So only in society does a newborn biological candidate for a person become a real person. Here it is necessary to say that the social nature of a person dictates to him to see the meaning of his, individual, existence in the service of society, other people, up to self-sacrifice for the benefit of society, other people.

The role of biological and geographical factors in shaping social life

It allows you to better capture the environment and use your hands in the process of work.

Researchers note the influence of climate on human performance. The hot climate shortens the time of active activity. The cold climate requires great efforts from people to maintain life.

Social life

Historical types of social life