History, biology, philosophy and other sciences always go hand in hand. Therefore, it is not surprising that some concepts can be interpreted from several sides. The concept of “evolution” to this day has very vague explanations. Many scientists are trying to find the best possible interpretation of this term.
General state of affairs
When we hear “evolution,” we immediately see Darwin with his theories and solutions. In fact, the term has a long history and has been analyzed for several centuries in a row. It is more often applied to the question of the development of mankind in the narrow sense and completely forget about other broad areas.
Evolution is also mentioned more than once along with revolution and degradation. One concept is an active continuation of the first. The second denotes its opposite. One way or another, the concept of “evolution” has a common attribute that we will try to find.
Interpretation
As we have already mentioned, this term can be interpreted both in a narrow and in a broader sense. It was first used and generally recognized in the 19th century. If we want to talk about the development of an organism or a person, then in this case the definition of evolution is used as a narrow term. If we want to mention the progress of the people, then in this case, evolution is interpreted even more broadly. If this term is associated with the development of not only the organic world, but also the inorganic one, then it will be explained most extensively, in a philosophical context.
It is important to understand that the interpretation of this word does not change on whether we will narrow or expand the term. One way or another, the definition of evolution lies in the word "development". And from whether this will be the development of an individual, history or world, the meaning will not change. It turns out that in all the above cases, the content remains permanent. It remains only to find common signs.
Conditions of existence
If you are asked: “Give a definition of the concept of evolution,” what will you need to immediately point out? First of all, we need to talk about the conditions without which it cannot exist. The first is mutability. It must be understood that not all changes are evolution, but any evolution entails changes. Obviously, if there were no processes, the world would be devoid of evolution.
The following condition is distinguishing features. Changes are not always positive. But according to interpretation, evolution is different in that in the process there is a transition to a more perfect state. That is, something is changing and becoming more complex, valuable and significant. Moreover, it does not matter whether qualitative or quantitative changes occur.
The following condition relates to the unity of the subject. In this case, the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary provides an example with water. If changes occur with water, and it is divided into components, the result is that both water itself and oxygen with hydrogen could exist independently. So, by and large, no development has occurred. In this case, the concept of "evolution" is not suitable. It can be applied only if the new state could replace the previous one, that is, development has occurred.
Division
They have long tried to apply this term to various spheres of life. And if it can be logically interpreted with respect to living organisms, then historically there are doubts. We can easily claim physical growth. But regarding the development of spiritual principles, questions immediately arise. Mental developments seem to be obvious, although they were suppressed by the decline and even the absolute destruction of entire cultural eras.
Nevertheless, the main reason due to which the basic concept of evolution appeared in philosophy and was transferred from the living world was the demand to analyze everything as one. Of course, a desire could immediately arise to eliminate all existing boundaries between the dead and the living, matter and spirit. Those would appear who would imagine the appearance of life from dead matter and in the reverse order.
The second reason relates to ideas of a moral order. The concept in the evolution of philosophy makes this aspect of social or even individual life a worldwide phenomenon.
Other reasons
Cosmism with geologism also played an important role. Spencer led them under the development scheme and continued the ideas of early scientists regarding the influence of organic evolution on any other.
The researcher notes its essence in the transformation of homogeneous into heterogeneous, and the reason for this process is that any force can produce several changes, just like any occasion creates several acts. Of course, such a scheme easily embodied one of the conditions of evolution about unity.
Touch in Philosophy
Naturally, this term received strong support from Darwinism and transformism. The task of the organic world was easily solved thanks to the explanation that any form can be interpreted by differentiating another or several simplest forms.
Thus, it became clear that evolution is directly related to history. She has all the same perfection and hardship. But this is precisely what led to the conviction that evolutionism only concerns the birth of phenomena and in no way their essence. Therefore, he so needs to be interpreted by philosophy and additions from different philosophical points of view.
Pros and Cons
The concept of evolution began to interpret philosophy from its point of view. Naturally, it could not be combined with dualistic theory; it was also far from subjectivism and solipsism. But evolutionism has become an excellent basis for monistic philosophy. This can be explained by the fact that monism has two forms. One is materialistic, the second is idealistic. Spencer was the representative of the first form; Hegel tried to express the second. Both were imperfect, but, one way or another, boldly supported by the concept of evolution.
The origin of the theory
As mentioned earlier, when we hear the word evolution, Darwin immediately comes to mind. So, the concepts of the theory of evolution originated long before Darwinism. The first thoughts appeared in Greece - this is how the transformist views spoke out. Anaximander and Empedocles are now considered the founders of the theory itself. Although there are no sufficient grounds for such a statement.
In the Middle Ages, it was difficult to find a basis for the development of theory. Interest in the study of all living things was negligible. Theological systems of government were not conducive to the development of evolutionary theory. At this time, Augustine and Erigen tried to understand this issue in every possible way.
In the Renaissance, the main engine was Giordano Bruno. The philosopher looked at the world albeit quite fantastically, nevertheless thought in the right direction. He argued that being consists of a special system that has monads of varying difficulty. Unfortunately, the point of view of Bruno was not accepted by that world and in no way influenced the course of philosophy.
Bacon and Descartes “walked” somewhere nearby. The first talked about transformism, about changing species of plants and animals, but his thoughts were completely devoid of evolutionism. Descartes supported Spinoza with his view of the world as a substance.
Evolution receives real development after Kant. The philosopher himself also did not express vivid thoughts about development. In his works he repeatedly mentioned the theory of evolution, but his philosophy should be attributed rather to involution. Yet Kant was sympathetic to epigenesis.
But then the theory began to receive very distinct explanations and complete justifications. Fichte, Schelling and Hegel began to develop Kant's thoughts. Their evolution began to be called natural philosophy. Hegel did try to apply it to the spiritual world and history.
Human
Sooner or later, the world had to find out what evolution of man is. This concept is now described by the term "anthropogenesis". Thanks to his theories, there is an idea of ​​where, why and when a person appeared. The main opinions are three: creationism, evolutionism and cosmism.
The first theory is the oldest and most classical. She claims that humanity is a work of a mystical being (God). The evolutionary theory proposed by Darwin speaks of ape-like ancestors and that it was from them that modern man arose in the course of development. The third theory is the most unlikely and fabulous that people have an extraterrestrial pedigree, connected either with extraterrestrial beings or with tests of an extraterrestrial mind.
Reality
If we still talk about anthropogenesis as a science, then many researchers adhere to the evolutionary theory. It is the most real, moreover, it is confirmed by archaeological and biological finds. At the moment, this biological evolution points to several stages of human development :
- Australopithecus.
- A skilled person.
- Homo erectus.
- The oldest intelligent man.
- Neanderthal.
- A reasonable new man.
Australopithecus is currently considered the first creature closest to the image of a person. Although outwardly he looked more like a monkey than a man. He lived about 4-1 million years ago in the region of Africa.
A skilled person is considered the first of our kind. They called him that because he could manufacture the first tools of labor and battle. Perhaps he could express himself. Homo erectus occupied not only Africa, but also Eurasia. In addition to weapons, he got fire. There is also the possibility that I could talk. The most ancient intelligent man is a transitional stage. Therefore, it is sometimes overlooked from the description of the stages of anthropogenesis.
Neanderthals were previously considered the direct ancestor of man, but later decided that he was a dead end branch of evolution. It is known that it was a fairly developed people, had its own culture, art and even morality.
The last stage is a new Intelligent Man. He appeared from the Cro-Magnons. Outwardly, they differed little from modern man. They could leave behind a huge legacy: artifacts related to the culture of life and society.
Society
It is worth saying that the concept of "social evolution" appeared before Darwinism. Its foundations were laid by Spencer. The main idea remains that any society begins its journey from a primitive state and gradually goes to Western civilization. The problem with these ideas was that research concerned only individual societies and their development.
The most logical and consistent attempt to analyze and justify the social theory of evolution belonged to Parsons. He conducted research on the scale of the theory of world history. Now there are a huge number of archaeologists and anthropologists who have directed their resources to the study of the theory of multilinear evolution, sociobiology, modernization, etc.
System
Speaking about society, this aspect should not be missed. The evolution of the concept of a system has long reached its climax. More than half a century has passed when all sorts of theories have been accepted by the scientific community. Nevertheless, the main problem to this day remains the lack of a generally accepted approach to all systematic research.
Although most scientists look at this question positively. Many believe that there is still a real community in this “heap” of directions. But so far no one has developed a common understanding of the system. Here, as in many other areas, one half of the interpretations gravitates to a philosophical beginning, the other affects practical use.
The science
Science also remained without a single terminological concept. For a long time, the development of the term “science” could not find itself. Probably, the appearance of the book by P. P. Gaidenko “The Evolution of the Concept of Science” is not surprising. In the work, the author shows not only the development of the term in the 17-18th century, but also the understanding of it, the methods and ways of substantiating knowledge, as well as the further formation of the concept.
The concepts
The concept of evolution has become known not only in biology. The term could extend to all kinds of areas. It turned out that evolution can refer not only to living organisms, philosophy or society, evolution can be interpreted in a narrower understanding, as the development of a term or a specific subject.
Often evolution is remembered in Marxism. Along with the revolution, this term is used to describe various aspects and development. This, by the way, is another influence of philosophy on this concept. Evolution in this regard is a change in being and consciousness. It can have quantitative and qualitative transformations. And if evolution is a gradual change, then the revolution is considered a sharp, cardinal, qualitative transformation.