The concept of “man” has such a long history of study that scientists are still finding more and more of its components. In our article, we will try to briefly describe the main features of a person: biological, social, external, psychological, dominant and recessive.

Biological and social signs of a person

  • bodily features adapted to work
  • a highly developed enlarged brain capable of conceptually reflecting the surrounding world
  • consciousness, helping to cognize the world around
  • thinking and language, giving a person the ability to communicate and transfer the accumulated experience
  • upright mode of movement, freeing a person's hands
  • the structure of the teeth, which changed the shape of the skull.

The social in a person is manifested, first of all, in the features of joint life activity and verbal communication of people. Social signs of a person are characterized by the following points:

  • attitude towards work and activity
  • awareness of nature
  • purposeful and planned social activity
  • reproduction and preservation of social and cultural values
  • the creation of the family as a social unit of society
  • upbringing and education of the younger generation
  • development of abilities and talents
  • support for their own kind with obvious deviations from the norm

External and psychological signs of a person

A person's personality is understood as a set of external signs that distinguish him from other people and confirm his belonging to the human race. There are many classifications of external signs of a person, we will consider the main ones:

  1. own and related. Own signs belong to a person by his physical nature and they include: general physical (height, age), demographic (sex, nationality, race), anatomical (external structure of the head, limbs, torso), functional (gait, gestures, speech, habits, posture). Accompanying signs are those elements that form a personality (clothes, personal items, jewelry).
  2. Group and individual. These are the cumulative external signs of a person that are characteristic either for a group of people or for one person.
  3. Permanent and temporary. These signs can either be with a person from birth to death, or come and go (like hair, warts).
  4. Natural and artificial. Such signs are either inherent in a person by nature (wrinkles), or appear as a result of a change in the signs of a person's appearance (tattoos, piercings).

In psychology, the main features of a person that characterize the mental appearance of a person are divided into 8 groups:

  • sensory-perceptual (sight, taste, smell, hearing, touch)
  • physiological (thirst, hunger, sexual desire, pain, need)
  • reactionary (trembling, palpitations, dizziness, nausea, weakness, horror, pallor)
  • emotional (fear, joy, anger, love, despair)
  • verbal (message, request, demand, abuse, complaint)
  • intellectual (imagination, thinking, faith)
  • physical (work, leisure)

Recessive and dominant traits of a person

Since a person is not only a biological, but also a social being, his genetics differs from the genetics of other living organisms. Genetics, which studies the inheritance of human traits, distinguishes recessive and dominant traits in people.

Dominant signs of a person carry the possibility of inheriting diseases in 50% of cases. That is, if one of the parents is healthy and the other is sick, then the probability of having a healthy or sick child is 50/50. Dominant traits include:

  • skin (dark, thick, piebald spotting and pigmented spots in the sacrum);
  • vision (nearsightedness, farsightedness, cataract, strabismus);
  • growth (dwarfism);
  • hands and feet (polydactyly, brachydactyly, left-handedness, thin, hard and flat nails, thick and flattened finger, elliptical patterns on the fingers, varicose veins, second toe longer than the thumb, increased mobility of the thumb);
  • facial features (freckles, round face and chin, dimples on the cheeks and chin, thick unconnected eyebrows, long eyelashes);
  • nose (round, straight and with a hump, round nostrils, high and narrow bridge of the nose);
  • mouth (ability to bend the tongue back, roll up, teeth at birth, protruding teeth and jaws, gap between the incisors, predisposition to caries, full lips, Habsburg lip);
  • ears (sharp ear tip, loose lobe);
  • blood (groups A, B, AB, the presence of the Rh factor).

Recessive traits of a person carry the possibility of inheriting diseases in 25% of cases. Usually, with this inheritance, both parents are considered healthy, but with a potential pathological gene, which is transmitted to their children according to the following scheme: 25% of the offspring will be healthy, 25% of the offspring will be sick, and 50% of the offspring will be hidden carriers of the pathological gene like their parents. Recessive traits include:

  • skin (thin skin, albinism, fair skin);
  • vision (night blindness, color blindness);
  • hands and feet (right-handedness, circular patterns on the fingers, the second toe is shorter);
  • hearing (congenital deafness);
  • processes in the body (diabetes mellitus, hemophilia);
  • facial features (square face and chin, thin connected eyebrows, short eyelashes);
  • nose (pointed, snub-nosed, narrow nostrils, low, wide, straight and bent bridge of the nose);
  • mouth (thin lips);
  • ears (fused lobe);
  • blood (blood type O, no Rh factor).

Of all known diseases, 1000 are transmitted by a dominant trait, and 800 by a recessive one. These signs can explain the transmission of diseases from generation to generation, as well as the sudden manifestation of the disease after its long absence in the family.

1. BIOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL IN MAN

Human- a multidimensional and multidimensional creature, combining biological and social features. Religion ascribes a divine origin to man, science speaks of the origin of man from the animal world.

Scientists discussing this problem consider man to be a product of biological and socio-cultural evolution. Man is superior to the animal world. but as a biological species, it obeys the laws of biology - it eats, sleeps, etc. In man there is biological traits: neuropsychic development, individual features of physiology, sex, age and hominid triad: upright posture, special hand structure, complex brain structure. According to philosophers, a person is distinguished from the animal world and nature by the presence of a soul - his individual spirit. Humans have the following spiritual and psychological traits: feelings, imagination, memory, thinking, character. Combining the features of a biological and social being, a person is an element of social relations: he is born and formed in society, depends on society during his life. Of the main social traits can be called: knowledge and skills, worldview and morality.

Thus, the spiritual, physical and social are inextricably linked in a person and form his individuality.

Individual- a term first introduced by the ancient Roman philosopher Cicero, denoting a single representative of the human race.

society, people or social group. An individual is a single representative of humanity, which is the bearer of a social and economic function.

Individuality- mental and physiological characteristics of each person. It determines the unique combination of natural and social properties of the individual.

Individuality:

Promotes social activity of a person;

Determines his behavior in society in the context of different cultures;

Forms human behavior in specific social and life situations, taking into account the properties of the individual himself.

The individuality of a person is formed on the basis of inherited inclinations, but develops independently in the process of upbringing and life in society. Individual traits of a person can be congenital (fingerprints, perfect hearing, abilities) and acquired (profession, religious beliefs, financial situation). An important feature of individuality is its development and evolution in the course of self-realization and self-determination. The development of individuality creates optimal conditions for the formation of personality.

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Of essential importance for pedagogy is, first of all, the understanding of the very concept of personality. In fact, what is a person and in what relation is this concept with the related concept of man. We will try to approach the disclosure of these issues in a genetic way.

In the general development of a person, interrelated lines are usually observed at the bottom - biological and social. These two lines can be clearly traced if we turn to the process of human development from the moment of its birth. When a child is born, they say that a person was born as a biological being, but by no means can it be said that a personality was born. The development of biological inclinations and properties characterizes the process of functional maturation and formation of a person in the future. He develops a skeleton, muscles, as well as internal organs and systems. The process of biological maturation and change of a person is manifested in the age stages of his development and behavior and finds its expression in the specific biological features of childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age.

However, the process of human biological development is thus combined with the acquisition of a significant number of social properties and qualities that characterize him as a social being. For example, from the age of one and a half months, the child begins to smile at the sight of loved ones, then masters speech, acquires the ability to walk upright, learns the skills and habits of handling things and objects, as well as behavior in the family and on the street, begins to perform certain labor duties. In the future, he enriches himself with knowledge, learns moral norms and rules, learns to follow fashion, develops the ability to more successfully perform a particular job, etc. At the same time, it is characteristic that speech and various skills and habits of behavior and labor activity that are developed in children of the same nationality, but living in different social and domestic conditions, are different. This shows that the named social properties and qualities are not innate, but are formed in a person during his lifetime.

Thus, being a biological being, a person in the process of his life develops and develops in himself many social properties and qualities that characterize his social essence. That is why he is considered in science as a biosocial being, as a subject, i.e. the character of historical activity and cognition. Consequently, the concept of man synthesizes (combines) both his biological and social (public) properties and qualities.

The concept of personality includes only the social properties and qualities of a person, which, as shown above, include speech. consciousness, various habits, etc. and which make it a social being. The biological characteristic of a person is not included in this concept. That is why it is noted in philosophy that the essence of a person is not her beard, not her blood, not her abstract physical nature as such, but her social quality. The property of being a person is connected not with the physical being of a person, but with his social qualities. This allows us to conclude: the concept of "personality" characterizes the social essence of a person and denotes the totality of his social properties and qualities that he develops in his lifetime.

Since personal qualities are formed in vivo, it is quite clear that in some people they can be expressed more clearly, in others - weaker. The question arises: by what criteria can one judge the extent of a person's personal development?

Psychologist S.L. Rubinstein wrote that a person is characterized by such a level of mental development that allows her to consciously control her own behavior and activities. That is why the ability to think over one's actions and be responsible for them, the ability to autonomous activity is an essential feature of personality.

The famous philosopher V.P. Tugarinov attributed to the number of the most important personality characteristics: 1) reasonableness, 2) responsibility, 3) freedom, 4) personal dignity, 5) individuality.

An essential characteristic of a person's personality is also its social activity and adherence to principles, the strength of moral views and convictions. This includes, in particular, activity in work, in upholding one's ideological and moral principles, and so on.

Highlighting the criteria of personality, V.P. Tugarinov associated this concept also with the age and mental maturity of a person. From this point of view, an infant who has not reached a certain mental development, as well as a mentally ill person who is not able to show consciousness in behavior, is not a person.

The personality is all the more significant, the more it reflects in its qualities and activities the tendencies of social progress, the brighter and more specific social traits and qualities are expressed in it, the extent to which its activity is of a peculiarly creative nature. In this sense, the characteristics of the concepts of man and personality are complemented by the concept of individuality.

Individuality characterizes the dissimilarity and difference of one person from another, one personality from another. Individuality, as a rule, is distinguished by special traits of character and temperament (for example, a balanced-strong-willed and purposeful person), originality of creative activity and abilities. So, a worker can differ from his fellow workers by special diligence, rationalizing approach to business. To the same extent, the individuality of a teacher can be expressed in his deep erudition, breadth of pedagogical views, a special manner of approaching children, creative aspirations that characterize teaching and educational work, etc. In other words, the concept of individuality includes that special thing that distinguishes one person from another, one personality from another, which gives it a peculiar beauty and originality and determines the specific style of its activity and behavior.

To complete the characterization of man as a social being, the concept of an individual cannot be bypassed. The word is of Latin origin and translated into Russian means singularity. As a concept, it denotes an individual representative of the human race, regardless of its qualities.

Such is the essence of the concept of personality and related scientific categories associated with it. But since, as shown above, personal qualities develop and form in vivo, it is important for pedagogy to reveal the concepts of development and formation.

Development primarily means the process of quantitative changes in the properties and qualities of a person. Having been born, he grows physically, there is an increase in his individual organs and systems. He has a speech, his vocabulary is enriched. He masters many social and moral skills, labor skills and habits. All this must be kept in mind when it comes to the development of the individual and the person.

However, the main changes in human development are qualitative changes. Thus, the enrichment of speech activity entails an increase and improvement of human cognitive abilities, the development of logical thinking and memory. Disparate opinions and views on life gradually acquire a certain system and contribute to the formation of a worldview. Reactive forms of behavior are increasingly giving way to active-transformative activity. The ability to be independent and manage one's own behavior increases. All these - quantitative and qualitative - changes and characterize the process of human development. So, development should be understood as an interconnected process of quantitative and qualitative changes that occur in the anatomical and physiological maturation of a person, in improving his nervous system and psyche, as well as his cognitive and creative activity, in enriching his worldview, morality, socio-political views and beliefs.

Formation, on the other hand, acts as a result of personality development and denotes its formation, the acquisition of a set of stable properties and qualities. To form means "to give shape to something ... stability, completeness, a certain type."

In scientific philosophy and pedagogy, not only are those factors and conditions under the influence of which a personality is formed are deeply and comprehensively disclosed, but also the relationship and mechanisms of the influence of these factors on its development are shown.

Scientists paid attention primarily to the development of society itself. It arose and improved thanks to human activity. In order to live, people had to earn their livelihood. They not only used ready-made products of nature, but also engaged in agriculture, crafts, and learned about the world around them. In the process of creative and transformative activity, they formed the experience of social relations, accumulated knowledge, enriched their spiritual life, and developed moral and aesthetic culture. All this wealth of material and spiritual culture, created by the labor and creative efforts of many generations of people, acts as a means of development and formation of the individual as a member of society. Only by mastering to some extent the wealth and achievements of society, a person becomes a social being.

As we can see, the person himself creates a social environment and a wealth of social and spiritual relations, which serve as the determining source of his personal development.

Pointing to the decisive role of external, environmental influences on the development and formation of personality, scientists, however, do not abstract from the biological nature of man. Man is a directly natural being. As a natural being, he is endowed with natural forces, inclinations and abilities that cannot but influence the social development of a person, his formation as a person. How, however, is this influence manifested? Let's point out a few points.

First. For the formation of man as a social being, his natural ability to develop is of paramount importance. Experiments carried out in our country and abroad on the simultaneous upbringing of human and monkey cubs have shown.

Second. The biological effect in the formation of a person is also in the fact that people have a certain natural predisposition to one or another activity. For example, many people by nature have a keen ear for music, good vocal abilities, the ability for poetic creativity, phenomenal memory, mathematical inclinations, special physical properties, expressed in height, muscle strength, etc. It is these inclinations that allow people to develop intensively in the relevant forms of art, science and labor and influence their personal formation.

Third. Of no less importance for pedagogy is the fact that biologically a person has very great opportunities for development, that he uses his potential in this regard only by 10-12%. That is why in his work the teacher always needs to proceed, in the words of A.S. Makarenko, from an optimistic hypothesis, believe in the creative forces of students, look for ways to develop and improve them.

As you can see, science does not deny the influence of the biological on the development of the individual. However, this influence should by no means be overestimated. Biological and social are closely intertwined and act as a unity. But this unity does not mean identity, equivalence. In the development of personality, social factors are predominant. But on this occasion, Professor K.K. Platonov noticed that the biologically conditioned substructure of the personality is subordinate to its socially conditioned substructure, i.e. Ultimately, the development of the individual is determined by the possibilities that include external, environmental conditions.

There is, however, another factor that influences the personal development of a person. It is, of course, about education. As shown in the first chapter, with the development of the technical basis of production and the complication of social relations, its role is constantly increasing. In modern conditions, it is already difficult to imagine the introduction of a person to life without a long and specially organized training and education. It is upbringing that acts as the most important means by which the social program for the development of the individual, his inclinations and abilities is implemented. Thus, along with the environment and biological inclinations, upbringing acts as the third essential factor in the development and formation of personality.

However, recognizing the role of these three factors - the environment, biological inclinations (heredity) and education - in human development it is essential to correctly understand the relationship in which these factors are located among themselves. If, for example, we compare the formative influence of the environment and upbringing on the personality, it turns out that the environment influences its development to a certain extent spontaneously and passively. In this regard, it acts as an opportunity, as a potential prerequisite for the development of personality. Moreover, external environmental influences in modern conditions are not in themselves able to provide a solution to those most difficult tasks, the latter are associated with the formation of a personality and its preparation for life. In order for a person to master science, methods of professional activity and form the necessary moral and aesthetic qualities in himself, special and long-term education is required.

The same applies to the creative inclinations of a person. In order for these inclinations to manifest themselves, not only appropriate social conditions and a certain level of scientific, technical and artistic development of society are needed, but also appropriate education, special training in one or another sphere of social activity. Emphasizing this position, the outstanding Russian physiologist and psychologist I.M. Sechenov wrote: "In the immeasurable majority of cases, the nature of the psychological content of 999/1000 is given by education in the broad sense of the word, and only 1/1000 depends on individuality." All this allows us to draw the most important conclusion for pedagogy: education plays a decisive role in the development and formation of personality Only with the help of upbringing is the social program of human development realized and his personal qualities formed.


Similar information.


1. The concepts of "man", "individual", "personality", "individuality"

The word "personality" in English comes from the word "person". It originally referred to the masks worn by actors during a theatrical performance in ancient Greek drama. Thus, from the very beginning, the concept of "personality" included an external superficial social image that a person takes on when he plays certain life roles - a kind of "mask", a public face addressed to others. It follows that the concept of "personality", first of all, is associated with the social essence of a person.

The word "personality" is widely used in everyday communication along with the concepts of "man", "individual", "individuality", which, however, are not identical. It is necessary to distinguish between them in order to define the concept of "personality".

Definition. Human this is a socio-biological being, embodying the highest stage in the evolution of life and being the subject of socio-historical activity and communication.

The concept of "man" is used as an extremely general concept to characterize the universal qualities and abilities inherent in all people.

Using this concept, psychologists emphasize that a person is a biological and social being at the same time, which, through its vital activity, influences the environment.

The main characteristics of a person:

special structure of the body;

ability to work;

presence of consciousness.

Man as a separate representative of humanity is defined by the concept of "individual".

Definition. Individual - a single representative of the human race, a specific carrier of all the psychophysical and social traits of mankind.

General characteristics of the individual:

the integrity of the psychophysical organization of the body;

stability in relation to the surrounding reality;

activity.

Otherwise, we can say that the individual is a "concrete person" from birth to death. An individual is the initial state of a person in phylogenetic and ontogenetic development.

Personality is considered as the result of the development of the individual, the embodiment of proper human qualities. Personality is the social essence of a person.

Definition. Personality this is a specific person who is a carrier of consciousness, capable of knowing, experiencing, transforming the world around him and building certain relationships with this world and with the world of other personalities.

Personality is considered as the embodiment in a particular person of social qualities that are acquired in the process of activity and communication with other individuals. Individuals are not born, individuals are made.

It is more difficult to define the concept of "individuality", because, in addition to personal characteristics, which are the main components of individuality, it includes biological, physiological and other characteristics of a person. We can give the following definition of individuality.

Definition. Individuality This is a specific person who differs from other people in a unique combination of mental, physiological and social characteristics, manifested in behavior, activity and communication.

With the help of the concept of “individuality”, the uniqueness and uniqueness of each person is most often emphasized. On the other hand, in individuality we meet those personal qualities and individual properties that everyone has, but have a different degree of expression and form combinations. All individual qualities are manifested in various ways of behavior, activity, communication.

Instincts, desire to drink-eat, need for a home, shelter, clothing

One of the main problems that immediately confronted scientists was the identification of the line of primates that gave rise to hominids. Throughout the 19th century Several hypotheses have been put forward in this regard. Hominids have a number of differences at the anatomical and biomolecular level, which allow them to allocate a special place among primates. Some of these differences are primary, while others are secondary, i.e. arose as an adaptation to the conditions created as a result of the appearance of primary differences. Walking on two legs. Walking upright is the most important feature of a person. The rest of the primates, with a few exceptions, live primarily in trees and are quadrupedal or, as is sometimes said, "four-armed." The vertical position of the human body, of course, turned out to be associated with many secondary adaptive changes. These include changes in the proportions of the arms and legs, modifications to the foot, the sacroiliac joint and spinal flexures, and the connection of the head to the spinal column. Enlargement of the brain. The next of the primary differences, which puts man in a special position in relation to other primates, is an extremely enlarged brain.

Compared, for example, with the average brain size of a chimpanzee, the modern human brain is three times larger; even in Homo habilis, the first of the hominids, it was twice as large as that of a chimpanzee. However, size is not the only feature of the human brain: its various regions have undergone specialized development, the number of nerve cells has increased and their arrangement has changed. These, as well as some other modifications, have endowed the human brain with its increased capabilities. Unfortunately, skull fossils do not provide sufficient comparative material to evaluate many of these structural changes. Unlike other traits noted above as adaptive to upright posture, brain enlargement is not directly related to it, although an indirect relationship between upright posture and brain development is quite likely. The structure of the teeth. The third of the basic changes concerns the structure of the teeth and their use. The transformations that have taken place are usually associated with changes in the mode of nutrition of the most ancient man. If their cause can still be a subject of discussion, then the nature of the changes is firmly established. These include: a decrease in the volume and length of the fangs; closure of the diastema, i.e. a gap that includes protruding fangs in primates; changes in the shape, inclination and chewing surface of different teeth; the development of a parabolic dental arch, in which the anterior is rounded and the lateral ones expand outward, in contrast to the U-shaped dental arch of monkeys. In the course of hominin evolution, brain enlargement, changes in cranial joints, and transformation of teeth have been accompanied by significant changes in the structure and proportions of various elements of the skull and face. Differences at the biomolecular level. The use of molecular biological methods has made it possible to take a new approach to determining both the time of the appearance of hominids and their kinship with other families of primates. The results are not yet indisputable.

The methods used include the following: immunoassay, i.e. comparison of the immune response of different species of primates to the introduction of the same protein (albumin) - the more similar the reaction, the closer the relationship; DNA hybridization, which makes it possible to assess the proximity of kinship by the degree of correspondence of paired bases in double strands formed by DNA strands taken from different species; electrophoretic analysis, in which the degree of similarity of proteins of different animal species and, consequently, the proximity of these species is estimated by the mobility of the isolated proteins in an electric field; protein sequencing, namely the comparison of the amino acid sequences of a certain protein, for example, hemoglobin, in different animal species, which makes it possible to determine the number of changes in the coding DNA responsible for the identified differences in the structure of this protein, and, moreover, to calculate how long such changes could happen

Lecture 3

Man and humanity as a system. human needs

Biological and social foundations of man.

Human needs: biological, psychological, social, ethnic, labor, economic. Greening needs. The concept of progress. Illusions of progress. The quality of life.

Biological and social foundations of man

Man is a biosocial structure, not reducible to either the biological or the social. As a biological being, man is one of the species of mammals belonging to order of primates . In the late Miocene (11–12 million years ago), an anthropoid lineage separated, consisting of two genera Australiopithecus and Homo (V. Grant). The genus Homo is only the last link in that branch of the evolution of higher primates, which in its totality constitutes hominin family , which includes both fossil man (Pithecanthropus, Sinanthropus, Neanderthal) and modern humans.

The specificity of the human genetic program is such that different individuals are born under the same conditions, the personality and form of social behavior of which is based on the work of many genes. This gene pool is considered as the total genetic material of a certain ethnic group. The history of the emergence of man and human society has long been studied by biologists, anthropologists (anthropology is the science of variability within genera, species and species characteristics of the family of hominids), social scientists and sociologists, but so far there is no consensus either about the time of the origin of man or about his ancestors.

Some biologists believe that man has not changed biologically over the past 40,000 years, that mankind is genetically homogeneous throughout this period, since selection factors do not work in human populations. The basis for this is the morphophysiological similarity of modern people with their ancestors who lived 40 thousand years ago. A genetic study of modern human races (Negroid, Mongoloid, European, Australoid and American) testifies to the unity and homogeneity of mankind, since 97% of their genes are identical.

Another statement is that throughout the entire period of human existence, racial and adaptive differentiation has been going on, the evolution of living material has not ended with the appearance of man and it will not stop there. There is an assumption that now there is a formation of a new kind of people - the New Man (Homo innovatus).

In the course of evolution, man as a biological being was doomed to extinction, since his instincts were poorly developed, he was not sufficiently rooted in nature, but he had some tenacity due to the presence of reason and the ability to learn and work. The constant strategy of human life was independence from the environment, which was dictated by the animal's desire for self-preservation. Cultural evolution helped man in this.

The originality of a person lies in his ability to overcome his own specific limitations. Knowledge, experience, and their transfer from generation to generation has become one of the decisive factors in the social environment of Homo sapiens in the struggle for existence. Thus, man is a biosocial being that combines elements of the natural and the social. In different cases, one or the other comes to the fore.

W. Grant (1991) believes that the decisive difference between man and animal is culture. Man is a being endowed with culture (not a single animal has created its “second” nature). According to the definition of the famous philosopher I.T. Frolov, a person is a subject of a socio-historical process, the development of material and spiritual culture on Earth, a biosocial creature genetically related to other forms of life, but separated from them due to the ability to produce tools that have articulate speech and consciousness, creative activity and moral self-awareness.

V.I.Vernadsky considered man as an integral part of the living matter of the Earth of a certain evolutionary type, inextricably linked in its development and existence with the entire biosphere of our planet. At the same time, a person is a person, that is, an element of certain social structures. Only he, man, has the ability to influence the nature around him with energy categories that are inaccessible to any other living beings.

Humanity is a collection of people, a complex, hierarchically built system. The unification of a person into social groups goes hierarchically up to humanity as a whole. The complex multi-level system of mankind is reflected in Table 3.1.

N.F. Reimers names the following features of a person and human groups:

- a person has a number of anatomical and physiological features of an adaptive nature, which determines the degree of influence of the natural environment on his body (for example, it is impossible to mechanically swap blacks and Eskimos as populations);

— the ethological and behavioral variants of a person are quite noticeable: the type of southerners differs from the type of northerners;

- the ethnic specificity of people has developed historically and evolutionarily - for example, the Scandinavian ethnos differs from the German or British, and even more so from the Mongolian;

- there are differences in such social groups of people, such as workers, peasants, businessmen, intellectuals, etc., although they may be temporary;

- different social groups differ in life goals, etc.

All these components play an important role in modern man, although historically they did not arise simultaneously - there was a gradual complication of the social world. The most ancient was the anatomical and physiological structure, which was then supplemented by ethological and behavioral characteristics. A variety of forms of labor went in parallel with the formation of races, which led to the formation of ethnic groupings with different systems of relationships "man - nature". At the same time, primary social structures and mechanisms arose. Later, economic aspirations arose.

Thus, one of the characteristics of man and mankind is their diversity - as you know, there are no two genetically identical people and the same personalities. But at the same time there are groups of people of the same type. This makes it possible to identify regularities and consider man and mankind as an inexhaustible system that cannot be reduced to a certain number of separate parts, which lends itself to specific analysis. Among the regularities of the existence of human society, one can single out the presence of a number of needs, which determine the nature of behavior, the direction of thinking, feelings and will of a person, etc.

Table 3.1. Model-matrix of humanity as a multi-level

system set (according to N.F. Reimers)

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Characteristic signs of a person

Early stages of evolution ref. Primates

Approximately 40-60 million

years ago, two more families appeared - Lemurs (Strepsirins) and Tarsiers (Haplorins). Lemurs - lead an arboreal lifestyle; size - with a cat, a long tail, an elongated muzzle with eyes turned forward and to the side; well developed sense of smell; nocturnal activity is characteristic; live in the tropical forests of Madagascar and South Africa and South Asia.

Already in the early stages of primate evolution, three main trends can be distinguished:

enlargement of the brain

shortening of the muzzle

Active adaptation of the forelimbs for grasping movements and further replacement of claws with nails.

Approximately 38 million liters. the line of Gaplorin monkeys separates back, which is possibly associated with the transition to daily activity and, as a consequence: the strengthening of the role of vision, the improvement of the structure of the brain, the development of herding and social forms of behavior.

Broad-nosed and narrow-nosed monkeys diverged about 35 million years ago. At this time, the Americas are separated from Eurasia and Africa.

The lower narrow-nosed and Hominoids diverged about 23 million years ago. It is possible that the Hominoids continued to more actively adapt to the terrestrial way of life. There is a further enlargement of the body size (gorillas - up to 180 cm and 200 kg). The body is short, the limbs are long. They move on the ground, relying on the forelimbs. In addition, they have more complex behavior and there is a further enlargement of the brain.

Hominids separated from the rest of the hominoids about 6 million years ago.

All paleontological finds of early hominids are found on the African continent.

Characteristic features of a person.

One of the main problems that immediately confronted scientists was the identification of the line of primates that gave rise to hominids.

Hominids have a number of differences at the anatomical and biomolecular level, which allow them to allocate a special place among primates. Some of these differences are primary, while others are secondary, i.e. arose as an adaptation to the conditions created as a result of the appearance of primary differences.

Walking on two legs. Walking upright is the most important feature of a person. The rest of the primates, with a few exceptions, live primarily in trees and are quadrupedal or, as is sometimes said, "four-armed." Although some marmosets, such as baboons, have adapted to a terrestrial existence, they nevertheless move on four limbs. And great apes, in particular gorillas, which mostly live on the ground, walk in a characteristic partially straightened position, often leaning on their hands.

The vertical position of the human body, of course, turned out to be associated with many secondary adaptive changes. These include:

  • changes in the proportions of the arms and legs,
  • foot modification,
  • sacroiliac joint and spinal flexures,
  • connection of the head with the spinal column.

Enlargement of the brain. The next of the primary differences, which puts man in a special position in relation to other primates, is an extremely enlarged brain. Compared, for example, with the average brain size of a chimpanzee, the modern human brain is three times larger; even Homo habilis, the first hominin, it was twice the size of a chimpanzee. Unlike other traits noted above as adaptive to upright posture, brain enlargement is not directly related to it, although an indirect relationship between upright posture and brain development is quite likely.

The structure of the teeth. The third of the basic changes concerns the structure of the teeth and their use. The transformations that have taken place are usually associated with changes in the mode of nutrition of the most ancient man. If their cause can still be a subject of discussion, then the nature of the changes is firmly established. These include:

  • reduction in the volume and length of fangs;
  • closure of the diastema, i.e. a gap that includes protruding fangs in primates;
  • changes in the shape, inclination and chewing surface of different teeth;
  • the development of a parabolic dental arch, in which the anterior is rounded and the lateral ones expand outward, in contrast to the U-shaped dental arch of monkeys.

In the course of hominin evolution, brain enlargement, changes in cranial joints, and transformation of teeth were accompanied by significant changes in the structure of various elements of the skull and face and their proportions.

Differences at the biomolecular level. The use of molecular biological methods has made it possible to take a new approach to determining both the time of the appearance of hominids and their kinship with other families of primates. The results are not yet indisputable. The methods used include the following: immunoassay, i.e. comparison of the immune response of different species of primates to the introduction of the same protein (albumin) - the more similar the reaction, the closer the relationship; DNA hybridization, which makes it possible to assess the proximity of kinship by the degree of correspondence of paired bases in double strands formed by DNA strands taken from different species; electrophoretic analysis, in which the degree of similarity of proteins of different animal species and, consequently, the proximity of these species is estimated by the mobility of the isolated proteins in an electric field; protein sequencing, namely the comparison of the amino acid sequences of a certain protein, for example, hemoglobin, in different animal species, which makes it possible to determine the number of changes in the coding DNA responsible for the identified differences in the structure of this protein, and, moreover, to calculate how long such changes could occur, and thereby assess the degree of relatedness of the compared species and how long ago they separated.

These methods have shown a very close relationship and, therefore, a relatively recent separation in the course of evolution of species such as gorilla, chimpanzee and man. For example, in one study on protein sequencing, it was found that differences in the structure of chimpanzee and human DNA are only 1%.

A1 The concept that characterizes a person as a separate, single being and determines his belonging to the human race is called

1) organism 3) personality

2) object 4) individual

A2 A person for whom the predominant feature is focus on his inner world is called

1) extrovert 3) conformist

2) introvert 4) nonconformist

A3 Motive is

1) a relatively stable system of self-image

2) then. Why does a person perform certain actions?

3) the realization of a person's relationship to other people and to himself

4) actually achieved result

A4 The materialistic approach to history was based on the fact that:

1. society is a living organism

2. society is a simple sum of people living in it

3. the integrity and unity of society is manifested in the spiritual life

4. the real material life of people determines their consciousness

A5 The stage approach of the American sociologist W. Rostow characterizes the “shift period” in the history of mankind as a stage

1. the predominance of the agricultural sector in the economy

2. beginnings of industrialization and the industrial revolution

3. Appearance of highly developed/ economically countries

4.High level of mass consumption

A6. The elements of spiritual culture are

1) rules of conduct 3) vehicles

2) household items 4) military equipment

A7 The function of the historical continuity of culture is manifested in

1) value needs and guidelines of a person

2) the exchange of cultural achievements between people and communities

3) the possibility of human adaptation and various natural conditions

4) accumulation, storage and transmission of information

A8 In the social structure of society, socio-ethnic communities are distinguished

1. age and gender groups

2. disabled population

3. tribal associations

4. able-bodied population

A9 French sociologist P. Bourdieu. characterizing the social status of people, singled out

1. methods of obtaining and share of social class wealth

2. class privileges, duties, social wealth and power

3. natural causes of inequality in society

4. economic and three types of social capital

A10 Typical distortions in the perception of conflict include "double ethics", this

1) see the shortcomings of opponents, but not their own

2) evaluate your own and your opponent's actions differently

3) it seems that the truth is completely on your side

4) an unambiguous negative assessment of the opponent's intentions is given

A11. By the nature of motivation, alternative amateur performances of youth groups

1) complies with generally accepted norms of behavior

3) is based on dubious value orientations

4) manifests itself in actions that do not comply with generally accepted norms

A12 Imperative communication as a directive form of influence on a person is typical for

1) statutory relations between military personnel

2) relationships between close friends

3) communication via phone or internet

A13. Dignity is called such a moral attitude towards oneself, which

1. proceeds from the recognition of the value of each individual as a moral person

2. involves mandatory care for people

3. involves monologue communication with other people

4. provides objective self-assessment

A14 Indicate the correct statement

1) the motives and actions of a person always correspond to each other in terms of their moral basis

2) any action must be considered in conjunction with its motives and consequences

3) the external assessment of the act must always coincide with the internal

4) the defining moment of a person's moral behavior is self-demanding

A 15 World religions include

1) Christianity, Islam, Hinduism

2) Buddhism, Christianity, Islam

3) Islam Confucianism. Christianity

4) Buddhism Judaism Christianity

A16. The specifics of ancient science was

1) obtaining a systematic objective. empirically confirmed knowledge of reality

2) putting into practice precise intentions and mathematical methods

3) the use of scientific achievements in everyday life

4) rare use in practice of the results of scientific knowledge

A17. The aesthetic sphere that characterizes the aesthetics of everyday life includes

1) create tools 3) decorate your home and clothes

2) gardening art 4) making household utensils

A 18 Feature of medieval philosophical thought consisted in

1) substantiation of the possibilities of people in comprehending the truth

2) distrust of reason and reassessment of all values

3) independent search for truth

4) interpretation of the truths revealed to people by God

A19. The process of creating a useful product is called

1) production 3) consumption

2) distribution 4) exchange

A20. A security that secures the right of its owner to receive within a specified period of time the amount of money established in it is called

1) testament 3) bond

2) share 4) cash receipt

A21. Money, which is used as an intermediary to pay for goods and services, performs the function

1) means of payment

2) means of circulation

3) means of accumulation

4) cost measures

A22 Market, performing a selective function

1) regulates the volume and structure of production

2) does not allow long-term shortages or overproduction of goods

3) helps to reduce the cost of production of goods

4) saves social production from economically weak participants in commodity-money relations

A23. Direct state regulation of the economy is carried out through

1) tax system

2) credit and financial system

3) research funding

4) activity of the regulatory legal framework

A24 Demand and supply are the most powerful economic levers that will put everything in its place, the American economist considered

1) Already Keynes 3) Tveblen

2) P Szmuelison 4) M Friedman

A25 According to the State Scheme of the Integrated Territorial Organization of the Republic of Belarus, the urbanized regions of the country are characterized by

1) high concentration of production and labor

2) a unique opportunity for tourism and spa treatment

3) accelerated development of the fodder base for livestock

4) the leading role of production and processing of agricultural products

A26 A form of mass activity of citizens, which is distinguished by a certain social base, weak organization, is called

1) reference group

2) political party

3) significant movement

4) public association

A27 Positive legal theory views human rights as:

1) given to him by the state

2) conquered in the struggle for power

3) earned by labor activity

4) natural, inalienable, independent of the state

BUT 28 The form of government of the state is

1) a set of political institutions and organizations

2) ensuring order and security in the state

3) administrative-territorial structure of the state

4) the structure of the highest bodies of state power, the procedure for their organization and functioning

A29 One of the characteristics of a democratic political system

1) a certain term of office of officials

2) equality of all citizens before the law and the court

3) the exercise of state power in accordance with the will of a minority of the population

4) the presence in society of parties, movements that express the interests of various groups of the population

AZO Vienna System of International Relations

1) was characterized by the opposition of capitalist and socialist

2) was characterized by ignoring the interests of the defeated and newly formed countries after the First World War

3) was based on the idea of ​​the nation state and the principle of state sovereignty

4) developed after the Napoleonic wars and was based on the idea of ​​a balance of power between the great European powers

A32. The function of law, aimed at protecting the political, economic and other relations provided for by law, suppressing actions hostile to the social system, is called

1) communicative 3) protective

2) regulatory 4) educational

Part in

IN 1 The type of temperament of an energetic, active, sociable person, with abrupt mood swings, which I. P. Pavlov called "a fighting, perky, easily irritated type", is called ______

IN 2 The way to resolve differences in conflict through mutual concession is a strategy of ________

AT 3 The name “Local Poveta* XXI” was given to the strategy of __________ development of the regions of the Republic of Belarus

AT 4 The division of people in society into groups occupying different social positions is called social __________

AT 5 The political system, determining the strategic directions of social development, performs the function of __________

AT 6 A rule of behavior sanctioned by the state, which has developed historically and is fixed in the behavior of people as a stable form,

called legal _________

B7 Indicate two features , characterizing the slave system as an economic system of society

1) Private ownership of the means of production

2) public ownership of the means of production

3) personal dependence of peasants on landowners

4) the use of employees in the production of labor

5) the complete dependence of a working person on the owner of the means of production

AT 8. In accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Belarus, indicate two positions which characterize the electoral system of the Republic of Belarus

1) Elections deputies are direct

2) participation in the electoral process is mandatory for citizens

3) the entire population of the country takes part in the elections

B9 Specify two differences I'm right from morality

2)set out in writing

3) develop normative-value settings for society

4) consolidate the most effective forms of social behavior

5) arise with the advent of the state

A1 The concept that characterizes a person as a separate, single being and determines his belonging to the human race is called

1) organism 3) personality

2) object 4) individual

"- a 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 man at each 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 by 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 sort of secondary role and was directly dependent on the 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 of 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 the selection of Homo sapiens from the animal world and its transformation into a social being is noted. 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 and the system of education, that largely explain the differences in everyday life, psychology, and the social status of the 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 a 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, were “brought up” by them, and when they returned to people after several years in the animal world, it took them years to adapt to a new 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 is no longer a secret to anyone that pollution of the environment, the human habitat poses a threat to the biological existence of Homo sapiens. Summing up, we can say that now, as 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.


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