» — general concept, denoting belonging to the human race, the nature of which, as noted above, combines biological and social qualities. In other words, man appears in his essence as biosocial being.
Modern man from birth is a biosocial unity. He is born with incompletely formed anatomical and physiological qualities, which are fully developed during his life in society. At the same time, heredity supplies the child not only with purely biological properties and instincts. He initially turns out to be the owner of actually human qualities: a developed ability to imitate adults, curiosity, the ability to be upset and rejoice. His smile (the “privilege” of a person) has an innate character. But it is society that completely introduces a person into this world, which fills his behavior with social content.
Consciousness is not our natural property, although nature creates a physiological basis for. Conscious mental phenomena are formed during life as a result of active mastery of language and culture. It is to society that a person owes such qualities as transformative tool activity, communication through speech, and the ability for spiritual creativity.
The acquisition of social qualities by a person occurs in the process socialization: what is inherent in a particular person is the result of the development of cultural values that exist in a particular society. At the same time, it is an expression, the embodiment of the inner capabilities of the individual.
Natural and social interaction between man and society contradictory. Man is the subject of social life, he realizes himself only in society. However, it is also a product of the environment, reflecting the features of the development of biological and social aspects of social life. Achievement of biological and social harmony society and the individual on every historical stage acts as an ideal, the pursuit of which contributes to the development of both society and man.
Society and man are inseparable from each other both biologically and socially. Society is what the people who form it are, it acts as an expression, design, fixing the inner essence of a person, a way of his life. Man came out of nature, but exists as a man only thanks to society, is formed in it and forms it with its activity.
Society determines the conditions for not only social, but also biological improvement of man. That is why the focus of society should be on ensuring the health of people from birth to old age. The biological health of a person allows him to actively participate in the life of society, realize his creative potential, create a full-fledged family, raise and educate children. At the same time, a person deprived of the necessary social conditions of life loses his “biological form”, falls not only morally, but also physically, which can cause antisocial behavior and crimes.
In society, a person realizes his nature, but he himself is forced to obey the requirements and restrictions of society, to be responsible to him. After all, society is all people, including every person, and, submitting to society, he affirms in himself the requirements of his own essence. Speaking against society, a person not only undermines the foundations of general well-being, but also deforms his own nature, violates the harmony of biological and social principles in himself.
Biological and social factors
What allowed man to stand out from the animal world? The main factors of anthropogenesis can be divided as follows:
- biological factors- upright posture, development of the hand, a large and developed brain, the ability to articulate speech;
- main social factors- labor and collective activity, thinking, language and morality.
Of the factors listed above, he played a leading role in the process of becoming a person; his example shows the relationship of other biological and social factors. So, bipedalism freed the hands for the use and manufacture of tools, and the structure of the hand (thumb spaced, flexibility) made it possible to use these tools effectively. In the process of joint work, close relations developed between the members of the team, which led to the establishment of group interaction, care for members of the tribe (morality), and the need for communication (the appearance of speech). The language contributed by expressing increasingly complex concepts; the development of thinking, in turn, enriched the language with new words. The language also allowed the transfer of experience from generation to generation, preserving and increasing the knowledge of mankind.
Thus, modern man is a product of the interaction of biological and social factors.
Under it biological features they understand what brings a person closer to an animal (with the exception of the factors of anthropogenesis, which were the basis for separating a person from the kingdom of nature), - hereditary traits; the presence of instincts (self-preservation, sexual, etc.); emotions; biological needs (breathe, eat, sleep, etc.); physiological features similar to other mammals (the presence of the same internal organs, hormones, constant body temperature); the ability to use natural objects; adaptation to the environment, procreation.
Social Features characteristic exclusively for man - the ability to produce tools; articulate speech; language; social needs (communication, affection, friendship, love); spiritual needs ( , ); awareness of their needs; activity (labour, art, etc.) as the ability to transform the world; consciousness; the ability to think; creation; creation; goal setting.
A person cannot be reduced solely to social qualities, since biological prerequisites are necessary for his development. But it cannot be reduced to biological features either, since one can become a person only in society. Biological and social are inseparably merged in a person, which makes him special. biosocial being.
Biological and social in man and their unity
Ideas about the unity of the biological and social in the development of man did not form immediately.
Without delving into distant antiquity, we recall that in the Enlightenment, many thinkers, differentiating the natural and the social, considered the latter as "artificially" created by man, including here almost all the attributes of social life - spiritual needs, social institutions, morality, traditions and customs. It was during this period that concepts such as "natural law", "natural equality", "natural morality".
The natural, or natural, was considered as the foundation, the basis for the correctness of the social order. There is no need to emphasize that the social played a kind of secondary role and was directly dependent on natural environment. In the second half of the XIX century. various theories of social Darwinism, the essence of which lies in attempts to extend to public life principles natural selection and the struggle for existence in wildlife, formulated by the English naturalist Charles Darwin. The emergence of society, its development were considered only within the framework of evolutionary changes that occur independently of the will of people. Naturally, everything that happens in society, including social inequality, the strict laws of social struggle, were considered by them as necessary, useful both for society as a whole and for its individual individuals.
In the XX century. attempts at a biologizing "explanation" of the essence of man and his social qualities do not stop. As an example, one can cite the phenomenology of a person by the famous French thinker and naturalist, by the way, the clergyman P. Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955). According to Teilhard, man embodies and concentrates in himself all the development of the world. Nature, in the course of its historical development, acquires its meaning in man. In it, it reaches, as it were, its highest biological development, and at the same time it also acts as a kind of beginning of its conscious, and, consequently, social development.
At present, the opinion about the biosocial nature of man has been established in science. At the same time, the social is not only not belittled, but its decisive role in highlighting Homo sapiens from the animal world and its transformation into a social being. Now hardly anyone dares to deny biological prerequisites for the emergence of man. Even without resorting to scientific evidence, but guided by the simplest observations and generalizations, it is not difficult to detect a person's huge dependence on natural changes - magnetic storms in the atmosphere, solar activity, earthly elements and disasters.
In the formation, existence of man, and this has already been said before, a huge role belongs to social factors, such as labor, relationships between people, their political and social institutions. None of them by itself, taken separately, could lead to the emergence of man, his separation from the animal world.
Each person is unique and this is also predetermined by his nature, in particular, by the unique set of genes inherited from his parents. It must also be said that the physical differences that exist between people are primarily predetermined by biological differences. First of all, these are the differences between the two sexes - men and women, which can be attributed to the number of the most significant differences between people. There are other physical differences - skin color, eye color, body structure, which are mainly due to geographical and climatic factors. It is these factors, as well as the unequal conditions of historical development, the system of education, that largely explain the differences in everyday life, psychology, social status peoples of different countries. And yet, despite these rather fundamental differences in their biology, physiology and mental potencies, the people of our planet are generally equal. The achievements of modern science convincingly show that there is no reason to assert the superiority of any race over another.
The social in man- this is, first of all, tool-production activity, collectivist forms of life with the division of duties between individuals, language, thinking, social and political activity. It is known that Homo sapiens as a person and personality cannot exist outside of human communities. Cases are described when small children, for various reasons, fell under the care of animals, “brought up” by them, and when they returned to people after several years in the animal world, it took them years to adapt to the new environment. social environment. Finally, the social life of a person cannot be imagined without his social and political activity. Strictly speaking, as noted earlier, a person's life itself is social, since he constantly interacts with people - at home, at work, during leisure. How does the biological and social correlate in determining the essence and nature of man? modern science unequivocally answers this - only in unity. Indeed, without biological prerequisites, it would be difficult to imagine the appearance of hominids, but without social conditions, the formation of man was impossible. It's no longer a secret that pollution environment, the human habitat poses a threat to the biological existence of Homo sapiens. Summing up, we can say that now, like many millions of years ago, the physical condition of a person, his existence to a decisive extent depend on the state of nature. In general, it can be argued that now, as with the appearance of Homo sapiens, its existence is ensured by the unity of the biological and social.
The problem of man is the central problem of social science.
There are different concepts of the origin of man. The earliest is religious, which endows a person with a soul - a manifestation of the divine, which makes a person a person. The natural science concept put forward by Charles Darwin in his work “The Origin of Man and Sexual Selection” puts forward a hypothesis about the origin of man from animals in the process of evolution. This theory is developed by F. Engels in his work "The role of labor in the transformation of apes into humans."
The studies of Louis Pasteur, who proved the impossibility of spontaneous generation of life, led to new searches. The result was the paleovisit theory.
At the moment, the main one is the natural science concept, on the basis of which the concept of the biosocial nature of man was born.
In the statements of thinkers about a person, his essence, two main points of view stand out - pessimistic(without faith in the best in man) and optimistic(with faith in man, his capabilities). "Pessimists", first of all, note the animal side of a person. "Optimists", on the contrary, believe that man is a spiritual being, striving for the divine heights of consciousness and behavior. Good and evil are intertwined in man.
Man by nature biosocial being, because at the same time it is a part of nature and, at the same time, is inextricably linked with society.
biological nature of a person is manifested in his anatomy, physiology, gene pool, which is the carrier hereditary information. The biological influences the processes of childbearing, the overall duration of a person's life, and also affects the development of some of his abilities - forms of reaction to the outside world.
Under social in a person they understand such properties as consciousness and reason, the ability to act practically, freedom and responsibility, citizenship, etc.
In resolving the issue of the relationship between the biological and the social in man, two extreme positions have developed: biologization and sociology.
A common feature of biologization concepts is the interpretation of the essence of man mainly from the standpoint of biology. Their representatives seek to explain the social actions of a person by his biological and genetic characteristics and see the key to understanding a person in molecular genetics.
Sociologising concepts absolutize the meaning of social relations. Representatives of this trend believe that all people are born with the same genetic inclinations, and leading role society plays in the development of their abilities. This understanding of man was widespread among the supporters of Marxism.
Most scientists in solving the biosocial problem tend to avoid extremes and consider a person as a complex synthesis, an interweaving of biological and social principles. They believe that a born child is a biological living system that does not yet have thinking and speech. Its physiological organization only has the potential, under certain social conditions, to realize the ability to think and speak. However, it is emphasized that such qualities as the ability to think and act practically have a social origin.
For the study of human essence in philosophy, there is a variety of concepts, the most important of which are man, individual, individuality, personality. These concepts characterize the individual from different sides.
concept human reflects common features (biological organization, consciousness, language, ability to work) inherent in the entire human race. This concept emphasizes the presence in the world of such a special historically developing community as the human race, humanity, which is different from all others. material systems only in his own way of life.
concept individual designates a person as a single representative of the human race. This is a generalized image of a particular person. The concept of an individual does not fix any special properties of a person.
concept individuality characterizes the originality, uniqueness, originality of the individual. Each person has a biological and socio-psychological individuality (temperament, abilities)
In concept personality has an even narrower meaning. A personality is an individual taken in the aspect of his social qualities (views, abilities, moral convictions, etc.). The concept of “personality” reflects everything socially significant in a person.
The internal structure of personality:
1. Temperament. Determined genetically. There are four types of temperament: phlegmatic (psychological stability, balance and perseverance in achieving the goal); choleric (unbalanced, superficial person); sanguine (impressionable, fast, stubborn, but only when he is interested); melancholic (impressive, constantly analyzes and criticizes himself).
2. Character. Translated from Greek, “character” is “chasing”, “sign”. Indeed, character is the special signs that a person acquires while living in society. Just as the individuality of a person is manifested in the peculiarities of the course of mental processes (good memory, rich imagination, ingenuity, etc.) and in the traits of temperament, it reveals itself in the traits of character.
Character is a set of stable individual features personality, which develops and manifests itself in activity and communication, causing typical for the individual ways of behavior.
Character is determined and formed throughout a person's life. The way of life includes the way of thoughts, feelings, impulses, actions in their unity. Therefore, as a certain way of life of a person is formed, the person himself is formed. An important role is played here by social conditions and specific life circumstances in which life path person.
Any character trait is some stable stereotype of behavior. However, character traits cannot be torn out of the typical situations in which they appear, in some situations even polite person can be rough. Therefore, any character trait is a stable form of behavior in connection with specific, typical situations for this type of behavior.
A character trait includes a certain way of thinking, understanding. In the performance of a characteristic act, volitional mechanisms are turned on, feelings are involved.
The formation of character traits cannot be divorced from the formation of behavioral motives. The motives of behavior, being realized in action, being fixed in it, are fixed in the character. The path to the formation of character traits lies, therefore, through the formation of proper motives for behavior and the organization of actions aimed at consolidating them.
Most general properties characters are located along the axes:
strength - weakness;
hardness - softness;
integrity - inconsistency;
breadth - narrowness.
If strength of character is understood as the energy with which a person pursues goals, his ability to get passionately carried away and develop great exertion of strength when meeting difficulties, the ability to overcome them, then weakness of character is associated with the manifestation of cowardice, indecision in achieving goals, instability of views, etc. .d.
The character of a person is manifested in the system of relations:
In relation to other people (at the same time, such character traits as sociability - isolation, truthfulness - deceit, tact - rudeness, etc. can be distinguished);
In relation to the case (responsibility - dishonesty, diligence - laziness, etc.);
In relation to oneself (modesty - narcissism, self-criticism - self-confidence, etc.);
In relation to property (generosity - greed, thrift - extravagance, accuracy - slovenliness, etc.).
A decisive role in the formation of character is played by the attitude of a person to society, to people. The character of a person cannot be revealed and understood outside the collective, without taking into account his attachments in the form of camaraderie, friendship, love, etc.
In order to understand why a person is a biosocial being, one should understand the meaning of the term "biosocial". The concept implies a system of behavior that is a symbiosis of biological and
In other words, the behavior of biosocial beings (humans) is simultaneously determined by natural instincts and social skills.
Man as a biosocial being is a very special being. We are its inseparable part, but at the same time we influence being, changing it. We are simultaneously the object and subject of knowledge.
Not a single isolated science, be it biology, psychology, anatomy, or the like. cannot create a complete image of a person. Only philosophy tries to do this, but its knowledge is reduced to the study of universal human nature.
Why it happens?
Precisely because a person, as a biosocial being, includes too many aspects. It has the following characteristics:
- Universal signs, i.e. is a member of a particular species.
- Special, which means that each individual is a representative of a particular race, nationality, ethnic group.
- Specific: personality, psyche, talents, inclinations, needs.
Man as a biosocial being is also considered because he is dual in origin and nature. On the one hand, although it is highly organized, it is an animal; biological organism. On the other hand, it is a creature with social, political, cultural, and other unique skills. It is this feature that makes it possible to consider that a person is a biosocial being, or, in the words of Aristotle, a “political animal”.
On the one hand, the vital activity of representatives of our species is determined by biological origin. An individual is able to inherit the biological characteristics of his species, has a predisposition to a certain life expectancy, diseases, type of behavior, temperament.
On the other hand, a person does not have a clear predisposition to a daytime or nocturnal lifestyle, type of food, behavior (herd, for example). Therefore, unlike animals, it is capable of developing in any direction.
Inextricably linked with its nature. Only nature is manifested in the body, instincts (for example, the need to eat, multiply, etc.), and the social - in the mind. However, both the natural principle and the social constitute a single conglomerate, which, in its essence, is being.
By the way, there are disputes about the nature of man in science. Some scientists believe that nature is determined solely by the genetics of the species: bipedalism, breathing with the help of the lungs, etc., while others include in the concept the psyche of the individual, his development. This also confirms the complexity of human nature.
In addition, consciousness is a psychological manifestation that is a product of the brain, and the brain has a biological origin. This is another proof of the truth that man as a biosocial being can only be considered simultaneously from several points of view.
Man as a biosocial being.
Plan:
1. The concept of "man". Theories of the origin of man.
2. The binary nature of man. Biosociality and its essence.
3. Distinctive features of a person.
Man is a holistic biopsychosocial being , which is both an organism (representative of Homo Sapiens), the creator and bearer of culture, as well as the main participants in the historical process.
The problem of man is one of the main ones in philosophy. Great importance to understand the essence of man, the ways of his development, it is necessary to clarify the question of his origin.
The theory of human origin, the essence of which is to study the process of its emergence and development, was called anthropogenesis (from Gr. anthropos - man and genesis - origin).
There are several approaches to solving the question of the origin of man:
- Religious theory (divine; theological). It implies the divine origin of man. The soul is the source of the human in man.
- The theory of paleovisit. The essence of the theory is that a person is an extraterrestrial being, aliens from outer space, having visited the Earth, left human beings on it.
- Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution (materialistic). Man is a biological species, its origin is natural, natural. Genetically related to higher mammals. This theory belongs to materialistic theories (natural sciences). Natural science theory of F. Engels (materialistic). Friedrich Engels states that main reason the emergence of man (more precisely, his evolution) is labor. Under the influence of labor, a person formed consciousness, as well as language and creative abilities.
Human - the highest level development of living organisms on Earth. Man is essentially a biosocial being. The binary nature of man It manifests itself in the fact that it is part of nature and at the same time is inextricably linked with society. Biological and social in man are merged into one, and only in such unity does he exist.
The biological nature of man is his natural prerequisite, the condition of existence, and sociality is the essence of man.
Man is a biological being | Man is a social being. |
Man belongs to the higher mammals, forming a special species of Homo sapiens. The biological nature of a person is manifested in his anatomy, physiology: he has a circulatory, muscular, nervous and other systems. Its biological properties are not rigidly programmed, which makes it possible to adapt to different conditions existence | Inextricably linked with society. A man becomes a man only by entering into public relations in communication with others. The social essence of a person is manifested through such properties as the ability and readiness for socially useful work, consciousness and reason, freedom and responsibility, etc. |
Absolutization of one of the aspects of human essence leads to biologizing or sociologizing.
The main differences between humans and animals:
Human | Animal |
1. A person has thinking and articulate speech. Only a person can think about his past, critically evaluating it, and think about the future, making plans. | 1. Some species of monkeys also have communication capabilities, but only a person is able to transmit objective information about the world around to other people. |
2. A person is capable of conscious purposeful creative activity: Models his behavior and can choose different social roles; Possesses prognostic ability, i.e., the ability to foresee the consequences of one's actions, the nature and direction of the development of natural processes; Expresses a value attitude to reality. | 2. The animal in its behavior is subject to instinct, its actions are initially programmed. It does not separate itself from nature. |
3. A person in the process of his activity transforms the surrounding reality, creates the material and spiritual benefits and values he needs. Carrying out practically transforming activity, a person creates a "second nature" - culture. | 3. Animals adapt to the environment, which determines their way of life. They cannot produce fundamental changes in the conditions of their existence. |
4. A person is able to make tools and use them as a means of producing material goods. In other words, a person can make tools with the help of previously made means of labor. | 4. Uses ready-made natural materials without converting them |
A person reproduces not only his biological, but also his social essence, and therefore must satisfy not only his material, but also his spiritual needs. Satisfaction of spiritual needs is associated with the formation of the inner (spiritual) world of a person.
Thus, the person creature unique ( open to the world, unique, spiritually incomplete); being universal(capable of any kind of activity); holistic being(integrates (combines) in itself the physical, mental and spiritual principle).
Man is a biosocial being. I believe that a person is a biosocial being, in which biological and social qualities are inherent in him. What qualities a person acquired from nature, and which are individual and unique? Man is an integral part of nature. Man, like any Living being must satisfy its fundamental needs.
Man, as a biosocial being, uses limited resources to satisfy his unlimited needs. In living nature, only man is a biosocial being. Since any animal needs to drink, eat, sleep, protect itself and its offspring. Like any animal, man depends on the environment. All people on the planet are similar, but still we are different. Each of us is an individual, but similar to the rest. A person is born a person, but he is not born a person, but becomes one. Each of us has his own character, thoughts. Of course, these signs are largely laid down by nature, but the concept of personality is formed only in society. A child is born in a family, he is brought up, his parents take care of him, teach him the skills necessary in life. But what if a person is cut off from society? For example, children who, due to life circumstances, were cut off from society. It is very difficult for such people to adapt to life in society. Man is the highest link in the development of living organisms on Earth. Man, having a biological nature, creates his own culture, can change natural conditions. Man cannot exist without nature, he is dependent on it, but he can shape natural conditions. A person who has grown up in isolation from society is only a biological being. Man is a social being. He is born among people, lives among people and dies among people. In society, a person receives the knowledge he needs in life, cultural norms and values. Man is a combination of biological and social qualities. A person has the gift of speech, thinking, the ability to create tools of labor and use them in the process of social production, the ability to create their own culture. Man, as a biosocial being, is able to create tools of labor and, thanks to this, can use them in the course of social activities. In the process of labor, a person also develops thinking, and new skills come.
It is impossible to imagine a person's life without his social life, without communication with other people. Since a person constantly interacts with other people, his life is social - at school, at work, during leisure. Man lives in the world disabilities rare and paid goods constantly have to make a choice from the available options, a free choice is difficult for a person because you have to give up something.
