Awakening and reverse movement. Civilizations: formation and development exam questions The movement of civilization in the opposite direction crossword puzzle
According to the existing theory of the formation of stars and planets, planets are formed from the same building material, as the stars in whose system they are included. Therefore, the direction of their orbits coincides with the rotation of the stars. This was believed until 2008, when several astronomical groups from different countries with a difference of one day, two planets were not discovered moving in orbit in the direction opposite to the rotation of the stars - the central luminaries.
The first discovery took place as part of the WASP (Wide Area Search for Planets) project, in which all the major scientific institutions in the UK took part. The planet, dubbed WASP-17 b, is located in a star system about 1,000 light-years from Earth.
Previously, three planets had already been found there, moving more or less correctly relative to the central star. However, the fourth planet of the system - WASP-17b - does not obey general rule and rotates in the opposite direction in an orbit located at an angle of 150 degrees to the plane of motion of other planets.
WASP-17b is a gas giant whose weight is half that of Jupiter, but the diameter of the planet, on the contrary, is twice as large. The planet is located 11 million kilometers from the star - this distance is eight times less than between Mercury and the Sun. And WASP-17b completes a full revolution around the star in 3.7 days.
The second discovery was made in the HAT-P-7 system, well studied by astronomers. The discovered planet also rotates in the opposite direction around this star. Two groups of astronomers at once - observers from the American Massachusetts Institute of Technology and scientists from the Japanese National Observatory - reported this discovery within a few minutes of each other. And less than 23 hours after the strange orbit of WASP-17b was discovered.
Based on the collected data, scientists are trying to determine the reasons for such strange behavior of the planets. They are not the only ones in their systems, so the planetary collision hypothesis is considered the most popular.
According to it, the change in the direction of rotation of the planets occurred as a result of their collision with neighboring planets, while the initial speed of the bodies was relatively low, which made it possible to overcome inertia. The Geneva Observatory, which specializes in studying the gravitational fields of cosmic bodies, began testing this assumption.
Other hypotheses have also been put forward. One of them says that the discovered “irregular” planets originated in other star systems, and came into the orbit of their current stars as a result of a long interstellar “journey.” This means that the planet is twisted in the same direction as its parent star, the authors of the theory believe.
Finally, there is a hypothesis about the peculiarities of the formation of star systems. Some astronomers suggest that the reverse direction of planetary rotation occurs as a vortex in the stellar disk on early stages the origin of the system.
A single disk-shaped cloud of stellar gas appears immediately after a supernova explosion. This object consists of “building material” - plasma and particles of matter, which subsequently form stars and planets.
The vortices arising in the stellar disk can be caused by various external factors (intrusion foreign body or the influence of external gravitational fields), and little-studied features of the physics of stellar gas. This theory also needs to be tested.
Source: http://www.pravda.ru
My comment: "Other hypotheses have been put forward... there is a hypothesis about the peculiarities of the formation of stellar systems...". Why not put forward a hypothesis that the existing theory of the formation of stellar systems, stars and planets from " a single disk-shaped cloud of stellar gas that appears immediately after a supernova explosion"Isn't it right?
Reverse rotation of planets is not such a rare phenomenon. According to American, Indian, Chinese and other legends, it used to be characteristic of both the Earth and Venus. From the analysis of these legends we can conclude that there are two possible reasons changes in the direction of motion of the planets both around the Sun (in the case of Earth and Venus) and around their axis:
1) capture by the Sun of celestial bodies formed in other places solar system or even in other star systems and “set off on a free wandering” as a result of some catastrophes on a cosmic scale;
2) collision of planets with large asteroids and with each other.
Both of these hypotheses were expressed by scientists in connection with the discovery of planets rotating in the opposite direction, albeit within the framework of the existing concept of the formation of stellar systems, stars and planets.
The possibility of changing the direction of rotation of planets around luminaries (the Sun) and their own axis as a result of their collision with each other and collisions with asteroids confirms the assumption made by me and a number of other researchers about the change in the position of the earth's axis that occurred repeatedly in the past as a result of collisions of asteroids with the Earth (option -
Historical and cultural knowledge is information about the emergence of civilizations and cultures different types as forms of existence of society; about the characteristics of civilizations and cultures of different historical eras; about the place and role of the individual as a subject and creator of culture; about the interaction between cultures of different types, between nature and man.
The origins of the word “civilization” go back to ancient times, the culture of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. The main type of political system in antiquity was a self-governing community of free citizens, a city-state, which the Greeks called “polis” and the Romans called “civitas”. The Romans associated the concept of “civitas” with ideas about the comfortable life of a free state, the foundation of which was reasonable and fair laws established by wise people.
The Latin noun civitas itself means “citizenship, civil society, state, city.” And it is quite natural that from the point of view of the Romans, the model of “civitas” was Rome itself. Outside the Roman state stretched the world of barbarians and eastern despot kings. The Romans associated “Civitas” with a city, which was sharply different from an “uncivilized” village.
The very concept of “civilization” appears in the 18th century, during the Age of Enlightenment, and bears the imprint of the culture and worldview of this era. Its ideals were rationality, science, citizenship, justice, which were to become the foundations of people's public and private life. The figures of the Enlightenment believed that all this was opposed by the dark world of barbarism, ignorance, prejudice, and religious fanaticism. It is precisely as the opposite of this world that the concept of civilization was put forward.
Just as during the times of the Roman state, in the Age of Enlightenment, civilized Europe, contemporary with the Enlightenment, was contrasted with the uncivilized peoples of antiquity, the Middle Ages, all non-Europeans. According to the enlighteners, the civilization of European nations is evidenced not only by their desire to follow the laws of reason, but also by their achievements in the development of crafts, technology, science, and art. So, as we see, initially in the concept of “civilization” the motive of the superiority of Europeans over other people was very strong.
The entire history of the concept of “civilization” is closely connected with the history of the concept of “culture”. Over the past two centuries, these concepts in most cases act as synonyms, unambiguous terms. Just like “culture,” “civilization” means non-biological forms of human reality, a system of phenomena that separates man from nature, a set of things and ideas artificially created by man.
In addition, the concept of “civilization” (like the concept of “culture” in some cases) indicates one or another form of historical life of people, limited by the spatial framework or boundaries of a particular era. For example, they talk about “Eastern civilization”, “European civilization”, “ancient civilization”, etc. A scientific approach based on the desire to accurately establish the geographical and historical coordinates of a civilization (more precisely, civilizations) is called the theory of local civilizations.
One of the meanings of the concept “civilization” is the level, stage of social and cultural development. From this point of view, the “pre-civilized” stage and the era of civilizations are distinguished in the history of mankind. However, they not only follow each other, but can also exist simultaneously in the person of civilized and uncivilized (wild, primitive) peoples. This interpretation goes back to the ancient opposition between the cultured Greeks and Romans and the barbarians. American anthropologist L.G. Morgan in the 19th century identified savagery, barbarism and civilization as periods of evolution of society and culture. At the first stage of this evolution, people lived by appropriating finished products of nature (hunting, fishing, gathering), at the second stage agriculture and cattle breeding appeared, and at the third stage - crafts, trade, and the state. Morgan's periodization has long been recognized as outdated, but the understanding of civilization as a stage of historical development remains.
“Civilization” can also be interpreted in the sense of the totality of achievements of the material and spiritual culture of certain living beings or beings endowed with intelligence, not necessarily people. For example, supporters of ufology (the science that studies unidentified flying objects) talk about “extraterrestrial civilizations,” science fiction writers talk about a “civilization of robots,” “a civilization of insects,” etc.
The theory of civilization: main schools and concepts.
Theories of civilizations are presented with
both are a set of various socio-philosophical concepts in which philosophers and sociologists analyze the origin and development of modern societies.
An “ethnographic” concept of civilization began to take shape, the basis of which was the idea that each people has its own civilization (T. Jouffroy).
IN early XIX V. F. Guizot, laid the foundations of the ethno-historical concept of civilization,” which assumed that, on the one hand, there are local civilizations, and on the other, there is also Civilization as the progress of human society as a whole.
Civilization, Guizot believed, consists of two elements: social, external to man and universal, and intellectual, internal, determining his personal nature. The mutual influence of these two phenomena, social and intellectual, is the basis for the development of civilization.
A. Toynbee considered civilization as a special sociocultural phenomenon, limited by a certain space-time framework, the basis of which is religion and clearly defined parameters of technological development.
M. Weber also considered religion to be the basis of civilization. L. White studies civilization from the point of view of internal organization, the conditioning of society by three main components: technology, social organization and philosophy, and technology determines the remaining components.
Most scientists tend to define civilization “as a sociocultural community with qualitative specificity.
Thus, already in Kant there is a distinction between the concepts of civilization and culture.
Spengler, representing civilization as a set of technical-mechanical elements, contrasts it with culture as the kingdom of the organic-vital. Therefore, he argues that civilization is the final stage in the development of any culture or any period of social development, which is characterized by a high level of scientific and technological achievements and the decline of art and literature.
In addition, some scientists, regardless of their ideas about what underlies civilization, consider it as a world external to man, while they interpret culture as a symbol of his internal heritage, as a spiritual code of life.
Civilization theory in the works of N. Danilevsky, O. Spengler, N. Berdyaev.
The Russian sociologist was the first to look at civilizational relations through the prism of non-Eurocentric self-awareness Nikolai Yakovlevich Danilevsky, who in his book “Russia and Europe” (1869) contrasted the aging European civilization with the young Slavic one. The Russian ideologist of Pan-Slavism pointed out that not a single cultural and historical type can claim to be considered more developed, higher than the others. Western Europe is no exception in this regard. Although the philosopher does not fully support this idea, sometimes pointing out the superiority of the Slavic peoples over their western neighbors.
The next significant event in the development of the theory of local civilizations was the work of the German philosopher and cultural scientist Oswald Spengler"The Decline of Europe" (1918). It is not known for certain whether Spengler was familiar with the work of the Russian thinker, but nevertheless, the main conceptual positions of these scientists are similar in all the most important points. Like Danilevsky, decisively rejecting the generally accepted conventional periodization of history into “ Ancient world- Middle Ages - Modern Times,” Spengler advocated a different view of world history - as a series of cultures independent from each other, living, like living organisms, periods of origin, formation and dying. Like Danilevsky, he criticizes Eurocentrism and proceeds not from the needs of historical research, but from the need to find answers to questions posed by modern society: in the theory of local cultures, the German thinker finds an explanation for the crisis of Western society, which is experiencing the same decline that befell the Egyptian , ancient and other ancient cultures. Spengler's book did not contain many theoretical innovations in comparison with the previously published works of Rückert and Danilevsky, but it was a resounding success because it was written in vivid language, replete with facts and reasoning, and was published after the end of the First World War, which caused complete disappointment in Western civilization and intensified the crisis of Eurocentrism.
N.A. Berdyaev critically rethought Spengler's work "The Decline of Europe" in his essay "The Meaning of History". He wrote the article “The Will to Power and the Will to Culture (1922). It made an attempt to compare the concepts of “culture” and “civilization” in the spirit of Spengler.
According to N.A. Berdyaev, culture has always been the great loser of life. It is civilization that tries to realize life. In any culture, at a certain stage of its development, principles begin to be discovered that undermine the spiritual foundations of culture.
Every culture (even material culture) is a culture of the spirit.
Civilization by its nature is technical; in civilization, every ideology, every spiritual culture is only a superstructure, an illusion, not reality. Civilization, in contrast to culture, is no longer religious in its basis; the reason of “enlightenment” wins in it. Civilization, in contrast to culture, is not symbolic, not hierarchical, not organic. It is realistic, democratic, mechanistic. She wants not symbolic, but “realistic” achievements in life, she wants real life, and not likenesses and signs, not symbols of other worlds. In civilization, collective work replaces individual creativity. Civilization depersonalizes. The liberation of the individual, which civilization is supposed to bring with it, is fatal to personal originality. The personal principle was revealed only in culture. The will to the power of life destroys the personality.
Danilevsky N.Ya. (1822-1885) - Russian philosopher, put forward the idea of "cultural-historical types" (civilizations). They are in constant struggle with each other and with the environment. Each civilization goes through periods of maturity, aging and death in its development. From Danilevsky’s point of view, the most promising cultural and historical type is the “Slavic type.”
Oswald Spengler (1880-1936) - German idealist philosopher. Following Nietzsche, he proceeded from the concept of the organic nature of life and unlimited expansion. Understanding culture as an “organism” that has a rigid unity and is isolated from other cultures. Culture arises, develops and dies. Culture is denied by civilization. The transformation of culture into civilization coincides with the transformation of creativity into sterility, of heroic “deeds” into mechanical work.
Civilization theory in the works of P. Sorokin, A. Toynbee, S. Huntington.
Russian-American sociologist Pitirim Sorokin in his fundamental work “Social and Cultural Dynamics” he presented a detailed theory of cultural supersystems. From Sorokin's point of view, the main factor determining the behavior of individuals and the characteristics of social systems is the cultural factor.
The basic principle of culture is value. Culture, according to Sorokin, is a value system. Without values, culture is impossible. “Deprived of their significant aspects, all phenomena of human interaction become simply biophysical phenomena and, as such, form the subject of the biophysical sciences.”
And since the entire spectrum of cultural phenomena reveals itself through values, then through the analysis of values it is possible to typologize culture, describe the process of its development, and predict the future. Sorokin’s criterion for identifying the type of culture is the dominant worldview. In accordance with this criterion, he identifies three main types of culture: 1. Ideational - based on the principle of the supersensibility and superintelligence of God as the only value and reality; 2. Idealist - Sorokin characterizes it as mixed, intermediate between the first and third, because its main principle is the recognition of the fact that reality is partly supersensible and partly sensory, i.e. idealistic culture, in other words, is oriented towards both God and man; 3. He defines modern culture as sensual. The sensory type of culture is characterized by direct sensory perception of reality.
The basic principle of this culture is that objective reality is sensual, this culture is free “from religion, morality and other values.”
Sorokin believed in the progressive development of humanity; a culture that had lost its humane character, he believed, should be replaced by a culture of a different type, which would be based on new creative values and open up new opportunities for human self-realization.
A much more significant contribution to the study of local civilizations was made by the English historian Arnold Toynbee. In his 12-volume work “Comprehension of History” (1934-1961), the British scientist divided the history of mankind into a number of local civilizations that have the same internal development pattern. The emergence, formation and decline of civilizations was characterized by such factors as external Divine push and energy, challenge and response, departure and return. There are many similarities in the views of Spengler and Toynbee. The main difference is that for Spengler the cultures are completely separate from each other. For Toynbee, although these relationships are external in nature, they form part of the life of civilizations themselves. It is extremely important for him that some societies, joining others, thereby ensure the continuity of the historical process
The merit of the English historian and sociologist Toynbee consists, first of all, in creating a concept for the development of civilizations, which allows not only to characterize various cultures in detail, but also to give a forecast for the further development of civilizations.
The meaning of the theory Samuel Huntington, formulated by him in the article “Clash of Civilizations,” boils down to the following:
The apparent geopolitical victory of Atlanticism throughout the planet with the fall of the USSR, the last stronghold of continental forces disappeared, in fact affects only a superficial slice of reality. The strategic success of NATO, accompanied by ideological formation, the rejection of the main competitive communist ideology, does not affect the deep layers of civilization. Huntington argues that a strategic victory is not a civilizational victory; Western ideology liberal democracy, market, etc. have become uncontested only temporarily, since civilizational and geopolitical features will soon begin to emerge among non-Western peoples.
Refusal of the ideology of communism and shifts in the structure of traditional states, the collapse of some entities, the emergence of others, etc. will not lead to the automatic alignment of all humanity with the universal system of Atlanticist values, but, on the contrary, will make deeper cultural layers, freed from superficial ideological clichés, again relevant.
Huntington argues that, along with Western civilization, which includes North America and Western Europe, one can foresee the geopolitical fixation of seven more potential civilizations: 1) Slavic-Orthodox, 2) Confucian (Chinese), 3) Japanese, 4) Islamic, 5) Hindu, 6) Latin American and possibly 7) African.
Of course, these potential civilizations are by no means equivalent. But they are all united in that the vector of their development and formation will be oriented in a direction different from the trajectory of Atlanticism and Western civilization. So the West will again find itself in a situation of confrontation. Huntington believes that this is almost inevitable and that now we must take as a basis the realistic formula: “The West and The Rest” (“The West and All the Rest”).
The problem of civilization in the works of the classics of Marxism, K. Jaspers, E. Fromm.
In the 19th century, the idea of civilization was also developed from a scientific-materialist position. Within the framework of this direction, civilization was considered as a society that had overcome dependence on nature, had reached a higher standard of living, but in comparison with the period of savagery, characterized by a productive type of economy, a spiritual culture that arose on a professional basis, and possessing a certain systemic organization. The most prominent representatives of this approach were K. Marx and F. Engels, who studied society as a stadium developing formation in connection with the type of technology and social factor. The founders of Marxist philosophy viewed civilization as the result of the achievements of material and spiritual culture, the types of which are determined by the content of socio-economic formations. Speaking about the stages of development of world civilization, they emphasize its specific historical nature, determined by the level of development of social production, and substantiated the need for a transition to a new communist type of civilization.
Marxist philosophy views culture as a specific characteristic of society, expressing the achieved human level of historical development, which includes a certain attitude of man to nature and society, as well as development creative forces and personality abilities. Culture is understood not only as a purely spiritual problem of human upbringing and enlightenment, but also as a problem of creating necessary conditions, including material ones, for the comprehensive and holistic development of the individual. Culture can be understood not from itself, but only in connection with society, with difficulty; it is not only the totality of its results, but also the very process of human activity.
Then the meaning of the term expanded and, in addition to possessing good manners and skills of “civilized behavior,” it began to be used to characterize the stages of human development. L. Morgan, and after him F. Engels, consider civilization as a stage in the development of society that came after savagery and barbarism. At this time, the concept of civilization was also used as a characteristic of European capitalism as a whole.
Karl Jaspers' theory of culture
The central idea of the cultural views of the German philosopher Karl Jaspers (1883-1969) there was an idea of unity human history and culture, the common origin of humanity. He opposed the Spenglerian method of analyzing culture, which, according to Jaspers, does not allow us to see the patterns of cultural development, and therefore (for all the differences in cultures) a single origin and a single path of cultural development. At the same time, Jaspers was critical of the Marxist understanding of history, denying the existence of objective laws of historical development, believing that the development of culture is influenced mainly by spiritual processes, not economic ones.
In the genesis of culture, Jaspers identifies 4 periods. The first, which he called the “Promethean era,” he defines as the prehistory of mankind. During this period, languages appeared, the first tools appeared, and man tamed fire. In the "Promethean era" the formation of man as a species occurs.
The second period is the time of the “great cultures of antiquity,” when high cultures emerged simultaneously in Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and later in China. These cultures are considered by Jaspers as local; their unifying characteristics are the existence of writing and “specific technical rationalization.”
The third period is called by Jaspers "Axial Time" (between 800 and 200 BC). He characterizes this era as the “spiritual foundation of humanity,” which occurred simultaneously and independently of each other in China, India, Persia, Palestine and Greece. During this period, a new type of man, modern to us, was created. During the Axial Age, religious and ethical teachings arose and universal values were developed that still exist today. At this stage, the formation of a single history of mankind took place. The "Axial peoples" - the Chinese, Iranians, Jews, Greeks and Indians - made a great breakthrough of the "Axial Age", they laid the foundation for the spiritual essence of man and his true history as a single world history. Since the “axial peoples”, standing at the origins of a single world history, belong to both the East and the West, Jaspers draws a conclusion about the spiritual unity of all peoples. Common spiritual foundations make it possible to overcome the division of world history into opposite polar models - East-West - and create a single world culture.
The fourth period, according to Jaspers, is the era of “technological development”, characterized by new sources of energy, new technologies. Jaspers tends to be optimistic about the future of humanity. Through world history, humanity, he predicts, is moving towards a distant new “axial time”, the time of the true formation of man, the time of genuine “cosmic-religious” cultural unity.
In the course of rethinking the basic principles of classical psychoanalysis, another direction arose - neo-Freudianism - the largest and most significant representative of which was Erich Fromm (1900-1980).
The neo-Freudian concept of culture seeks to find ways to resolve the inconsistency of human existence, to propose ways to destroy various forms of alienation, to determine the prospects for Western civilization to emerge from the crisis, and to indicate the direction of the free development of modern personality.
Fromm, rethinking Freud's interpretation of the unconscious, focused not on repressed sexuality, but on conflicts caused by sociocultural reasons, and showed the connection between the individual psyche and the social structure of society. Characterizing post-industrial culture, Fromm points out as the main reason for its crisis a person’s loss of himself, the loss of the main meaning of culture - the self-improvement of the human personality. The goal of modern culture has become the development of technology; from a means it has turned into the goal of civilization, while man is increasingly becoming a slave of the machine. The development of technology leads to an increasing rationalization of human life.
Noting the inhumane nature of modern society, which does not contribute to the harmonious development of man, but, on the contrary, deprives him of individuality, “selfhood,” Fromm offers the following way out. It is necessary, from his point of view, to build a society on the principles of humanistic ethics, humanistic management, which should lead to spiritual revival, which, in turn, will be expressed in the creation of new aesthetic values and ethical standards, and, ultimately, will cause the birth of a new religion , in the center of which there will be a renewed person.
Primitiveness as a stage of pre-civilization development of mankind.
Primitive history covers a large period of time when humanity existed in the form of separate groups, united according to blood-related characteristics. This stage begins with the appearance of the first person, society, culture and ends with the emergence of civilization, which means that we consider primitiveness as a stage in the pre-civilization development of mankind. The first civilizations were states in the valleys of the Tigris, Euphrates and Nile rivers at the turn of the 3rd and 4th millennia.
The emergence of centers of civilization does not mean the disappearance of primitiveness as a phenomenon. Until today, in geographically isolated areas of the Earth, there are communities that have preserved the features of primitiveness, but they do not determine the essence of progress and the path of development of society.
Primitive history can be divided into two sections: 1) the origin of man and society - which includes the formation of basic social and cultural institutions: family and marriage, organization of power and social control, types of economic activities (hunting, gathering, farming, animal husbandry), religion, morality , arts; 2) the existence of primitive societies that existed next to and in parallel with the state.
"Neolithic Revolution" and the beginning of the transition to civilization.
The prerequisites for the formation of civilization began to take shape in the Neolithic era (New Stone Age) - 4-3 millennia BC, they are associated with the Neolithic Revolution - the transition from appropriating forms of farming to producing ones.
During the Neolithic period, 4 major social divisions of labor occur:
1. Selection of agriculture, cattle breeding,
2. Highlighting craft;
3. Allocation of builders,
4. The appearance of leaders, priests, warriors.
Some researchers also call the Neolithic period the Neolithic civilization. Its characteristic features:
1. Domestication - domestication of animals,
2. The emergence of permanent settlements, among which the most famous are Jericho (Jordan) and Catal Huyuk (Turkey) - the first urban-type settlements in history,
3. Approval of the neighboring community instead of consanguineous and communal property,
4. Formation of large tribal associations,
5. Unliterate civilization.
Thus, the Neolithic revolution is the transition of human communities from a primitive economy of hunters and gatherers to an agriculture based on crops and livestock. According to archaeological data, the domestication of animals and plants occurred at different times independently in 7-8 regions. The earliest center of the Neolithic revolution is considered to be the Middle East, where domestication began no later than 10 thousand years ago.
The concept of "Neolithic revolution" was first proposed by Gordon Childe in the mid-twentieth century. In addition to the emergence of a productive economy, it includes a number of consequences that are important for the entire way of life of Neolithic man. The small mobile bands of hunters and gatherers who dominated the previous Mesolithic era settled in cities and towns near their fields, radically altering the environment through cultivation (including irrigation) and storage of harvested crops in specially constructed buildings and structures. An increase in labor productivity led to an increase in population, the creation of relatively large armed detachments guarding the territory, division of labor, revitalization of trade, the emergence of property rights, centralized administration, political structures, ideology and new systems of knowledge that made it possible to transfer it from generation to generation not only orally, but also in writing. The appearance of writing is an attribute of the end of the prehistoric period, which usually coincides with the end of the Neolithic and the Stone Age in general.
The consequences of the Neolithic revolution meant a radical change in the way of life of primitive societies. Agriculture made it possible to sharply increase population density, which, in turn, predetermined the division of labor and social differentiation. All this became the main prerequisite for the emergence of early states and high civilizations.
Civilizations of Ancient Mesopotamia: general characteristics.
In the ancient east there were three centers of early agricultural societies: Jordan-Palestine, a center in Asia Minor, northern Mesopotamia and western Iran. In addition, centers are also being established in Greece, Bulgaria, Moldova, and the Caucasus. The first civilizations grew out of those agricultural societies where there was high agricultural productivity and high rates of social development. This happens in 3-4 thousand BC. in Mesopotamia, where the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian civilizations took shape, in Egypt, India and China, they all belong to the type of river civilizations.
Sumerian civilization.
Let's move on directly to the consideration of the civilizations of the ancient east, the first of which was the Sumerian civilization. The Sumerian civilization arose in 4-3 thousand BC. e. in the southern part of Mesopotamia in the territory of modern Iraq. Its history is divided into 2 stages: the period of the Ubaid culture, which is characterized by the beginning of the construction of an irrigation system, population growth and the emergence of large settlements that turn into city-states. The city-state is a self-governing city with its surrounding territory. The second stage of the Sumerian civilization is associated with the Uruk culture (from the city of Uruk). This period is characterized by: the emergence of monumental architecture, the development of agriculture, ceramics, the appearance of the first writing in human history (pictograms-drawings), this writing is called cuneiform and was produced on clay tablets. It was used for about 3 thousand years, but then it was lost and was deciphered by Henry Rowlenson only in 1835. What did the Sumerian civilization give to humanity?
1. The invention of writing, which the Phoenicians first borrowed and on its basis created their own writing, consisting of 22 consonant letters; writing was borrowed from the Phoenicians by the Greeks, who added vowels.
The Latin language was largely inspired by Greek, and many modern European languages are based on Latin.
2. The Sumerians discovered copper, i.e. we can say that they opened the door to the Bronze Age.
3. The first elements of statehood. In peacetime, the Sumerians were ruled by a council of elders, and during the war, a supreme ruler, the Lugal, was elected; gradually their power remained in peacetime and the first ruling dynasties appeared.
4 Temple architecture, a special type of temple appeared there - the ziggurat, this is a temple in the form of a stepped pyramid
The first reforms in the history of mankind. The first reformer was the ruler of Urukavin.
Akkadian civilization.
Akkad is a city located north of Sumer, which was the center of the Akkadian civilization. The population of this territory belonged to the Semitic group of tribes. They adopted Sumerian culture, religion, and writing.
Its characteristic feature is the creation of the first large state with a monarchical form of government and Sargon became the first despot monarch. He was a talented commander and politician who united Sumer and Akkad and created a single state that lasted about 200 years. Subsequently, despotism became the main form of state power in the ancient east. Despotia - from the Greek word meaning unlimited power. Its essence was that the head of the state was a despot who had unlimited power and performed 5 main functions:
1. He was the owner of all lands
2. For the duration of the war, he became the supreme commander in chief
3. Performed the functions of a priest
4. He was the chief judge
5. He was the supreme collector of all taxes.
The stability of despotism was based on the belief in the divine origin of rulers. The power of the despot was exercised by a huge bureaucratic apparatus, which collected taxes, supervised agricultural work and the state of the irrigation system, recruited recruits, and also administered justice.
The second feature of the Akkadian civilization is that it was here that the first attempt was made to systematize knowledge. The same ruler Sargon paid great attention to writing books. Mathematical knowledge developed rapidly here. During this period, a time measurement system was introduced: there are 60 minutes in an hour, 60 seconds in a minute, and a 7-day week was introduced.
Babylonian civilization.
The Babylonian civilization was created by a group of nomadic tribes of the Amorites, of Semitic origin, who conquered Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and created the largest civilization of the ancient east - Babylonian, with its center in the city of Babylon. It entered world history as the first civilization in which a legal system was developed and created. The code of laws was compiled and written on a huge stone slab during the reign of King Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC). The Code of Hammurabi contained 282 laws, where the principle was formulated: “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” This set of laws contained provisions that later became part of the biblical commandments: “thou shalt not kill,” “thou shalt not steal.” Also, the Babylonian civilization is an important source of biblical legends.
In the 8th century BC. under King Tiglathpalassar, Assyria strengthened, a state in the north of Mesopotamia, which was inhabited by a very warlike people and in the 7th century Assyria subjugated Babylon, from which time the stage of coexistence of the Assyrian-Babylonian civilization began. Under Tiglath-palassar, a regular army was created for the first time in history. But, despite the belligerence of the Assyrians, it was here, under the ruler Ashurbanopal, that the first library appeared. The most famous ruler of the joint Assyrian-Babylonian civilization was Nebuchadnezzar (605-562 BC). It was under him that the Tower of Babel and the Hanging Gardens were created.
Conclusion: Mesopotamian civilization as a whole introduced: writing, legislation, courts, monumental construction, the first systematization of knowledge.
Values and achievements of the civilizations of Ancient Mesopotamia.
Mesopotamia is one of the most important centers of world civilization and ancient urban culture. The pioneers on the path to creating this culture were the Sumerians, whose achievements were assimilated and further developed by the Babylonians and Assyrians. The origins of Mesopotamian culture go back to the 4th millennium BC. e., when cities began to emerge. Over the long period of its existence (until the 1st century AD), it was characterized by internal unity, continuity of traditions, and the inextricable connection of its organic components. Initial stages Mesopotamian culture were marked by the invention of a peculiar letters, somewhat later turned into cuneiform. Exactly Cuneiform was the core of Mesopotamian civilization, which united all its aspects and made it possible to preserve traditions.
One of the most amazing achievements of Mesopotamian culture was the invention at the turn of the 4th - 3rd millennia BC. e. letters, with the help of which it became possible to first record numerous facts Everyday life, and quite soon also transmit thoughts and perpetuate cultural achievements.
Of particular importance for Mesopotamian civilization were natural conditions. Unlike other centers of ancient cultures, Mesopotamia had no stone, let alone papyrus, on which to write. But there was as much as you like clay, which provided unlimited opportunities for writing, requiring essentially no costs. At the same time, clay was a durable material. Clay tablets were not destroyed by fire, but, on the contrary, acquired even greater strength. Therefore, the main The writing material in Mesopotamia was clay.
Thus, the central figure of Mesopotamian civilization was scribe, who was the main creator of the richest cuneiform literature. Rulers, temples and private individuals depended on the services of scribes. Some of the scribes occupied very important positions and had the opportunity to influence the kings and took part in important diplomatic negotiations.
One of the greatest achievements of Babylonian and Assyrian culture was the creation libraries. In Ur, Nippur and other cities, starting from the 2nd millennium BC. BC, for many centuries scribes collected literary and scientific texts, and thus extensive private libraries arose.
Among all the libraries in the Ancient East, the most famous was the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (669-c. 635 BC), carefully and with great skill collected in his palace in Nineveh. For her, throughout Mesopotamia, scribes made copies of books from official and private collections or collected the books themselves.
The library of Ashurbanipal contained royal annals, chronicles of the most important historical events, collections of laws, literary works and scientific texts. In total, more than 30,000 tablets and fragments, which reflected the achievements Mesopotamian civilization.
Civilization Ancient Egypt: general characteristics.
Ancient Egyptian civilization developed in Northeast Africa in the Nile River valley. Thanks to the periodic floods of this great river, excellent conditions for agriculture have developed in a narrow valley ranging from 4 to 30 km wide.
Approximately 5 thousand years ago, a single state formed on the territory of modern Egypt, which became important element ancient Egyptian civilization, which lasted for 3 millennia, i.e. longer than Babylonian or Sumerian-Akkadian. Here, as in any other civilizational culture, there were periods of rise, prosperity, then collapse and decline, as well as rare periods of social upheaval. Another important feature of Egyptian civilization was that it was the child of one ethnic group.
In Ancient Egypt, the united Hutt tribes formed a powerful ethnic group and created an extensive social system. There were pharaohs and advisers, nom princes and warriors, priests and scribes, traders, farmers and poor laborers. The system became more complex as it clashed with foreigners. Conquests in Nubia and Syria were carried out by professional troops, treaties with Babylon (and the Hittites) were concluded by experienced diplomats, and canals and palaces were built by specialist engineers trained from childhood. The extensive system survived the Hyksos invasions and was reborn with renewed strength.
Ancient Egypt is the first ancient Eastern civilization that became known to Europeans after centuries of oblivion. A significant factor in the development of ancient Egyptian civilization was natural conditions. The grandiose contrast between the desert, devoid of life, and the flourishing oasis, which the country owes to the Nile, can explain much in the worldview of the ancient Egyptian. The soil in the Nile Valley is very fertile, and there have long been two harvests a year. However, such prosperity was localized only in the territory along the Nile, constituting 3.5% of the territory of all Egypt, while the rest of the territory is a barren desert. 99.5% of the population still lives in the Nile Valley.
Approximately the same ratio existed in the era of the pharaohs - it was not for nothing that the Egyptians called their country “the gift of the Nile.” Natural conditions contributed to the isolation of the country, which in turn determined the peculiarities of the ancient Egyptian’s worldview, in particular, the characteristic phenomenon of ethnocentrism (in the ancient Egyptian language the word “people” means only “Egyptians”).
The rise of ancient Egyptian civilization was, to a large extent, the result of its ability to adapt to the conditions of the river valley and Nile delta. Regular annual floods, fertilizing the soil with fertile silt and the organization of an irrigation system for agriculture, made it possible to produce grain crops in excess quantities, ensuring social and cultural development. The concentration of human and material resources in the hands of the administration contributed to the creation and maintenance of a complex network of canals, the emergence of a regular army and the expansion of trade, and with the gradual development of mining, field geodesy and construction technologies, it made it possible to organize the collective construction of monumental structures. The coercive and organizing force in Ancient Egypt was a well-developed bureaucratic apparatus of priests, scribes and administrators headed by the pharaoh, who, in a complex system of religious beliefs with a developed cult of funeral rites, was often deified.
Values and achievements of the civilization of Ancient Egypt.
Ancient Egypt left a huge cultural heritage for world civilization; works of its art were exported to various parts of the world in ancient times and were widely copied by masters from other countries. The unique architectural forms - majestic pyramids, temples, palaces and obelisks - have inspired the imagination of travelers and explorers for many centuries. Egyptian craftsmen created beautiful wall paintings and statues, methods of glass and faience production were mastered, and new forms in literature were created by poets and writers. Among the scientific achievements of the ancient Egyptians was the creation of an original writing system, mathematics, practical medicine, astronomical observations and the calendar that arose on their basis.
The most important monuments:
Rosetta Stone. For the reconstruction of the history of ancient Egypt, it is of little information, but for the historiography of science it is of fundamental importance. A turning point in Egyptology is associated with this monument. It was thanks to him that it became a full-fledged science, because with his help it was possible to discover the secret of Egyptian hieroglyphs.
The Annals of Thutmose III - a description of the campaigns of the great pharaoh-warrior of the 18th royal house.
Amarna Archive - an archive of cuneiform clay tablets discovered in late XIX century near the town of El Amarna, where the residence of the heretic pharaoh (or reformer pharaoh, as some Egyptologists call him) Akhenaten was previously located. The Amarna archive includes correspondence of the rulers of Western Asia from the middle - late 18th royal house.
The Pyramid Texts are the oldest written source in human history, which reflects ideas about afterlife. The Pyramid Texts are a collection of various texts from several pyramids of the kings of the 5-6 royal houses.
“Texts of sarcophagi” are inscriptions on ancient Egyptian coffins (and not sarcophagi - just such a name has become established in Russian science. In Russian Egyptological literature, another term that has not yet taken root was used - “Texts of Arks”). These inscriptions probably originated from the Pyramid Texts. Classical texts on coffins first appeared during the Old Kingdom.
The Book of the Dead is a genetic continuation of the Sarcophagi Texts and the Pyramid Texts. The Book of the Dead is a collection of scattered funeral prayers and spells that was placed with the buried person. That is why this collection received such a name: the first papyrus scrolls, which were found along with ancient mummies in the early - mid-19th century, were nicknamed “Books of the Dead” by the Arabs; this name was subsequently established in European science. This old name for the collection is being replaced by a new one - “The Book of Ascent to the Light” (or, even better, “The Book of Enlightenment”), as the ancient Egyptians called it. After all, life for an Egyptian is light, and in the book, spells are given in order for the deceased to defeat all dark forces and pass into eternal life with Ra, the source of light. This name has taken root especially well in Western Egyptology.
The so-called “Narmer Palette” and “Narmer Mace” are a stone palette from Hierakonpolis, dating back to the reign of King Narmer, the unifier of Egypt. According to the existing legend, before Narmer there was no united Egypt - there were two independent countries. Narmer (whom some scholars identify with Menes) may have united Egypt, and was the first to wear the crown of a united Egypt, and this palette, according to most Egyptologists, recorded the process of military unification of the Egyptian land.
Papyrus Westcar - now - papyrus of the Berlin Egyptian Museum No. 3033, named after the first owner Henry Westcar. Its first researcher was the German Egyptologist Adolf Ehrmann. The manuscript dates back to the era of Hyksos rule, and contains a literary work of the Middle Kingdom - “Tales of the Sons of Khufu”.
In addition, good sources are city and royal necropolises (in Saqqara, Giza, Dahshur, Abydos and other places), mummies - excellent anthropological material, and, of course, archeology - urban, underwater.
The formation and development of ancient Greek civilization before the Hellenistic era.
Ancient Greek civilization arose on the Balkan Peninsula and also included the western coast of Asia Minor (the western part of present-day Turkey). The Balkan Peninsula is washed on three sides by three seas: the Ionian Sea from the west, the Mediterranean Sea from the south, and the Aegean Sea from the east. You can also remember, if you mentally imagine the Balkan Peninsula, that it is mainly represented by mountainous terrain with very few fertile valleys and the main type of economy was mainly cattle breeding (raising sheep and goats). They also engaged in farming (they grew grapes (wine) and olives (olive oil)), but only in two valleys. It should also be noted that due to the convenient coastline, fishing and navigation were developed. As for minerals, the regions of Ephracia and Macedonia were rich in gold mines. In the south (in the Philoponesus region) iron was mined. Near ancient Greece tin was mined. A building material that was especially valued and found in Greece is marble.
Ancient Greek civilization is divided into three periods:
1. Archaic (8th-6th centuries)
2. Classical (5th-4th centuries)
3. Hellenistic (4th-1st centuries)
In historical science, there is an opinion that ancient Greek civilization did not develop overnight. That there were, as it were, two attempts to form a civilization. The first experience of civilization was associated with the Cretan-Minoan culture or simply Minoan culture. In this case, the ancient Greek civilization was preceded by several civilizations, such as: Ksklatskaya (which arose on the islands of the same name mentioned in ancient Greek myths) which in turn contributed to the emergence of a new, vibrant civilization, the so-called Minoan civilization (on the island of Crete, it received its name from the name of the king Minos who lived in the city of Sknox).
The Minoan civilization arose at the turn of 3-2 thousand years BC. and it lasted for about 500 years. This civilization (Minoan) was discovered by the English archaeologist Arthur Leva in the area of the city of Knossos. He discovered unique palace buildings that belonged to King Minos. Based on the findings of A. Lev, one can imagine the life of the population of that time on the island of Crete. The Minoan civilization is firstly characterized by the dawn of agricultural culture. All the land suitable for cultivation was developed here. Cattle breeding also played a major role. There was progress in handicrafts. It was a strong centralized state, headed by King Minos. In addition, it should be noted that the residents were engaged not only in agricultural work but also in active maritime piracy. King Minos was considered the ruler of the sea. Also, the Minoan civilization can be found under the name palace civilization because of the monumental palaces, the construction of which, according to scientists, was borrowed from the Egyptians. But in the 15th century BC. The island of Crete experienced a terrible catastrophe.
There are two versions regarding the death of civilization. According to one of them, on one of the small islands, which are located about 120 km away. north of Crete, a volcano erupted with a large emission of ash and the resulting tsunami. There is another version that civilization died as a result of the invasion of aggressive Aderiks who came from the mainland to the island. To date, there is no single point of view on the death of the Minoan culture.
In place of the Minoan civilization in this region, as if on the eve of the ancient Greek civilization, the Mycenaean civilization appears.
North of the city of Athens is the city of Mycenae, on the site of which the Mycenaean civilization arose.
Heinrich Schliemann discovered the Mycenaean civilization. While looking for Troy in this region, he came across magnificent palace buildings, which led to the discovery of the Mycenaean civilization, or as it is also called the Archean culture from the name of the Archean tribe. This civilization is very well described in Homer's poems "Hellas" and "Odyssey".
The Mycenaean civilization can be characterized by the following features. Such as the development of palace construction, but also grandiose tombs were built, which were called Tollos. About 600 clay tablets were found in the area of Mycenae and the island of Crete. These tablets represented a certain type of writing.
From the end of the 13th century, within 100 years, the army culture was destroyed. Scientists are also debating the reason for the disappearance of this civilization.
The dominant hypothesis is that this civilization was destroyed by the Dorian Greek tribes. The cities were destroyed, part of the population moved to the islands, and part to the western coast of Asia Minor.
In the 11th - 9th centuries BC. in the history of Greece are designated as “dark” ages.
They got their name due to the fact that in modern history there is no complete, clear idea of what happened in these centuries on the territory of Greece. Everything we know is based on the analysis of Homer’s poems “Hellas” and “Odyssey.” This period is characterized by the primitive development of agriculture, tools, and crafts.
This entire period, the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations, all preceded the emergence of the ancient Greek civilization. This can be compared, as it were, with the first experience of the formation of Greek civilization.
The second experience began in the archaic era (8th -6th centuries BC). Actually, this was the direct construction of ancient Greek civilization.
This was facilitated, firstly, by the increased technological base and economic level of development of society in the conditions of the victory of iron production. Secondly, the deepening of the social division of labor. Thirdly, the formation of genuine urban centers. Fourthly, the formation of a developed type of slavery.
Archaic era. "Iron Revolution". The role of navigation in the life of ancient society.
The emergence of ancient Greek civilization coincides with the beginning of the Iron Age (1 thousand years BC). In terms of technological production, a number of changes have occurred. First of all, the defining moment was the transition to steel production. At that time, the Hallib tribes (northern Asia Minor) were the monopolists in iron mining.
Only in the massive production of steel can we talk about the victory of the Iron Age over the Bronze Age. The advent of steel made it possible to successfully cultivate the land and more productively cut down forests for agriculture. household land, the creation of irrigation canals was simplified. A number of crafts were also revolutionized. Shipbuilding, blacksmithing, carpentry and weapons crafts appeared. The advent of iron and steel revolutionized warfare.
The period of formation of ancient Greek civilization coincides with the so-called great Greek colonization (8-6 centuries BC). For 3 centuries, the Greeks were forced to leave their homeland and move to other countries. This was due to the lack of sufficient land suitable for agricultural activities. Relieving social tension and overpopulation also played a role. And finally, trade was a very important stimulus for the colonization process. The colonization movement was carried out in 3 directions.
The first direction is western. The population of Greece moved to the island of Sicily, to the south of Italy, to the south of France. The second direction is south. This is northern Africa and Lebanon. The third direction is the eastern direction.
The Greeks quite early mastered moving from the Aegean Sea to the Black Sea, which they first called “inhospitable”, and then it received the name “hospitable”. They have mastered the coast, almost the entire coast. Black Sea. In the south, in the area of present-day Turkey, they created colonies such that later became the Trapezunian empire. If you move east they built the city of Fasi, the famous city of Kech which was called by the Greeks Pachykopeia. Further Chersonese and Kolia. If we walk along the western coast, we will see such colonies as Tomy and Odessa.
What did these three centuries of colonization give to the Greeks? First, the colonization of the Greeks brought the Greek world out of its state of isolation. In which she found herself after the collapse of the Mycenaean culture. Historians have long believed that the Greeks were very knowledgeable in terms of historical geography, that they had a good idea of who lived around them. But as recent research shows, the Greeks had a very vague idea, before the period of colonization, of what the world outside their own territories represented.
Secondly: this served to increase the knowledge of the Greeks. For example, the Greeks borrowed writing from the Phoenicians. They introduced vowels into this letter, which consisted of only consonants. Thus, the Greek alphabet was created. They learned how to make glass from the Phoenicians. The Greeks mastered the technology of making glass from sand well. From the Egyptians they learned how to build monumental structures. The Greeks mastered the technology of coinage from the Lygians. They had their own monetary standards, first obols, and then drachmas. Colonization made Greek society more mobile, more receptive, more dynamic. Space has opened up for personal initiative.
The Greeks created colonies that turned into genuine centers of trade. But the most important condition and consequence of the entire colonization movement is that crafts were finally separated from agriculture.
The main result of colonization is the transition from subsistence farming to the stage of commodity-money circulation. Their own banknotes appear, coin standards appear. “Money makes a man” becomes the motto of the archaic era. In modern historical literature there has been an attempt to introduce the concept of “ancient capitalism”. At the head of the colonization movement were the ancient Greek “polises”.
Ancient Greek civilization is also called polis civilization.
Socio-political organization of ancient Greek society.
The main unit of society in ancient Greece was the community of poleis.
A polis is a city of a state; it is a city adjacent to it.
The archaic polis is the capital of a “dwarf” state. The structure included not only cities but also villages. The first policies were very small.
They numbered about a thousand people. And by the end of ancient Greek civilization, the largest polis had a population of about one hundred thousand people. The main living space of the polis was the Agora. Agora is a square where public meetings gathered, where people walked, where information was exchanged, where trade took place, where people made appointments with each other.
The policy itself essentially represented the following picture. It should be mentioned here that ancient Greece is a mountainous area. Usually a temple was built at the very top of the mountains. A temple to the leading god of a particular polis.
There was also a treasury nearby. At the foot was the upper part of the city, which was called the Acropolis. Below were various settlements in which the population of the polis lived.
The main values and achievements of the civilization of the ancient Hellenes.
The heritage of ancient Greece is infinitely rich in its spiritual content, diversity and perfection in its artistic forms. It has had and is still having an impact on the culture of other peoples. But especially - on European culture. The heritage of the ancient Greeks rests on the greatest creations created by nameless demiurges (highly skilled craftsmen, artisans) and famous philosophers, scientists, writers, and poets. Let's name just a few of them.
We believe that we need to start by mentioning the heroic epic, which was called “The Iliad and Odyssey.” This cycle of songs is traditionally attributed to the blind singer Homer. In all likelihood, the singer lived around 800-750 BC. e. He processed a number of songs that had already been composed before him, some of which he composed, perhaps himself, and combined them into a cycle, combining them with an original composition. The poems "Odyssey" (it was created earlier than the "Iliad") and others formed the so-called "Trojan cycle", which included other poems "Cypreae", "Small Iliad". It is in these poems that the myth about the cause of the war is given: an apple with the inscription “To the Most Beautiful,” which was thrown by the goddess of discord Eris.
Subsequently, a series of poems-imitations are created. The creators of this kind of works began to be called epigones (followers): they created “Epheonides”, “The Destruction of Ilion” (Arktin), “Small Iliad” (Lesches), “Telegony”, etc. Among the epigones, Hesiod (7th century BC) occupies a special place . e.). He creates three new genres: cosmogonic - "Theogony", genealogical - "Catalogue of Women", didactic (edifying) - "Works and Days". It is in Hesiod that we find the first attempts to philosophically comprehend the origin (arche) of this world. In "Theogony" ("The Origin of the Gods") the poet asks the Muses: "...what was born first of all?" To which he receives the answer: “Chaos arose first.” Space is order, organization is a later, secondary phenomenon. The epic poems of Homer, Hesiod and other archaic poets will subsequently feed the entire ancient Greek spiritual culture - poetry, theater, philosophy.
One of the most important achievements of Minoan culture was writing, which consistently went through the entire development path from pictographic through hieroglyphic to linear writing. The spread of writing in Crete, as far as one can judge, was closely related to the needs of large palace households. The writings were found mainly on long and narrow clay tablets, their outlines reminiscent of palm leaves. I have found many such tablets; a considerable number of inscriptions have come down to us on seals, vessels and some other objects. Undoubtedly, a large number of inscriptions were made on less durable materials, for example on palm leaves, perhaps on papyrus, etc. The use of ink noted above also testifies to the relatively wide spread of writing.
Minoan art was also unique. From the simplest dotted and linear ornaments through bright multicolored complex geometric figures, Cretan artists gradually moved to realistic depictions of the flora and fauna. The frescoes on the walls of palaces, especially at Knossos, can easily be ranked with the best works of art of the ancient world. Minoan artists of the mid-2nd millennium BC. they skillfully reproduced even the appearance and details of the clothes of participants in magnificent processions, noble women, etc.
The Greeks made a huge contribution to the development of world civilization; theater, museums, democracy, oratory, the alphabet first appeared in Greece... We still use almost all of these achievements. We go to the theater and museum, and they appeared in Greece, we study mathematics, history, geography. And these names are Greek, because the sciences themselves appeared in Greece. In the old days, people did not have the same means of communication as they do today. He could hardly overcome such distances, seas, mountains. Only gradually did people learn about each other, and together with people they crossed borders and things, inventions, ideas. The cultures of individual countries, like streams, merged into a single stream. Every nation - even the smallest - has contributed to the culture of all humanity.
Hellenistic civilization as a Greek-Oriental “symbiosis”.
Hellenistic civilization - a period of intense Greco-Macedonian colonization of the eastern Mediterranean.
The main centers of Hellenism: Alexandria in Egypt, Antioch in Syria, Pergamon in Asia Minor, the island of Rhodes, Athens.
An artificial term introduced into the history of I.G. Droysen, describing only one feature that unites European and Middle Eastern civilizations after the conquest of vast territories from Greece to India by A. Macedonian and the formation, after the collapse of his empire, of states claiming the political and cultural heritage of his power.
The starting point of the era is considered to be the years when Alexander conquered the Achaemenid power, its “end” is the year of death of the last queen of Ptolemaic Egypt, Cleopatra, however, the interpenetration of the features of Greek and Eastern cultures began much earlier than the end of the 4th century. BC e. and did not stop with the conquest of Greece and the Middle East by Rome.
The main features of the period can be considered a unique combination of forms of Greek statehood (polises, democratic institutions, etc.) with Eastern despotism, which recognizes royal power as unlimited and divine, the widest distribution of the Greek language and culture - literature, theater, art, cults - in the East , from Asia Minor to Northern India, the emergence of syncretic cults (the most striking example is Serapis in Egypt, which combined the cults of the Greek Zeus, Hermes and Egyptian Osiris), the construction of a huge number of cities, the population of which united both Greeks and Macedonians, and the local population , hence the phenomenon of a kind of mutual ethnic and cultural assimilation.
Based on the traditions of Greek classical art, using its entire repertoire, Hellenistic art sought new ways of expressiveness and originality.
In the art of this world, the grandiose and the miniature, emotionality, passion and classical simplicity and clarity coexist.
In sculpture and painting there are now images of different ages (statues of old people and children), which was avoided by the Greek classics, which sought the laws of ideal typification, charm and grace (numerous statues of Aphrodite), genre scenes (statues of fishermen, plowmen, gardeners, etc.) , inhuman suffering, pain (“Laocoon”, reliefs of the Pergamon Altar), outright eroticism; The image of a deified ruler (statue of a diadochos, rulers in the images of various deities, etc.) became fundamentally new for Greek art.
In architecture, fundamentally new forms are not created, and monuments of the symbiosis of cultures have not created their own types, however, architectures are distinguished by a desire for enormity - a kind of megalomania has also become a sign of the era (an example of this is the desire to turn Mount Athos into a statue of Alexander the Great, in whose one hand there should be there was a city, across the other - a mountain stream was falling).
The Hellenistic era is extremely inventive in the field of technical engineering (ingenious devices for warning ships and determining the direction of the wind at the Pharos lighthouse in Alexandria, ships of colossal capacity, with gardens and palaces, Syracuse siege engines created by Archimedes, etc.), this is the age of the flourishing of science (Archimedes, Eratosthenes, etc.).
The contrasts of art have parallels in literature: Apollonius of Rhodes creates the epic “Argonautica” in the spirit of Homer, and Callimachus at this time writes epigrams and hymns, declaring his renunciation of the big genre; a completely new genre of the novel appears, in which unexpected twists and turns in the fate of the heroes are combined with psychologism unknown to Greek literature (Heliodorus and others), comedy takes the place of tragedy and breaks away from its cult source, the epigram and the epistolary genre flourish, bucolic poetry is born - the elegant gardening art of Hellenistic literature.
Love for the beautiful, refined, complex and exciting, the unthinkable becomes the taste of the era.
The main centers of Hellenistic civilization were Egypt under the rule of the Macedonian Ptolemaic dynasty, Seleucid Syria, the Kingdom of Pergamon, the island of Rhodes, the half-Greek and half-Eastern states of Asia Minor: Bithynia, Pontus, etc.
Formation and development of ancient Roman civilization.
Roman civilization is not an independent civilizational stage, it is just a crisis period in the development of ancient civilization, the last stage of Greco-Roman civilization.
The cradle of Roman civilization, the city of Rome arose in southwestern Europe, on the Apennine Peninsula, which the Greeks called Italy, after the name of one of the tribes that inhabited this territory. According to some reports, another ancient Roman maritime civilization appeared in the center of the Mediterranean Sea on the Apennine Peninsula. Its creation was facilitated by favorable geographical and climatic conditions.
Ancient Roman civilization was formed under the influence of several factors:
Availability All-Italian Cultural Foundation, in particular, tribal legends, traditions in ceramics and jewelry;
presence Greek influence, including through colonists;
highlighting a significant role Etruscan influence.
Ancient Roman civilization covers the period from the 8th century. BC. (from the founding of Rome) to the 5th century. AD (On August 23, 476, the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed). In its development, civilization goes through three stages: era of kings(VIII-VI centuries BC), Republic (VI-I centuries BC), Empire(I century BC. V century AD). The Age of the Empire is in turn divided into Early imperial period(Principate era): 31 BC 284 AD, and Late Imperial period(dominant era): 284 - 476
Stage 1 -era of the Kings. The state structure of archaic Rome had the following forms: at its head was a king, who performed the functions of a priest, military commander, legislator, judge, the highest authority was the Senate - the Council of Elders, which included one representative from each clan, the other highest authority was the people's assembly or a meeting of curiae - curiat commissions. The main socio-economic unit of Roman society was the family, which was a unit in miniature: headed by a man, a father, to whom his wife and children were subordinate. The Roman family was mainly engaged in agriculture; participation in military campaigns, which usually began in March and ended in October, also played a huge role in the life of the Romans. In addition to the patriciate, there was another layer in Rome - the plebeians, these were those who came to Rome after its founding or residents of conquered territories. They were not slaves, they were free people, but they were not part of the clans, curiae and tribes, and therefore did not take part in the national assembly and did not have any political rights. They also did not have rights to land, so to obtain land they entered the service of the patricians and rented their lands. Plebeians were also engaged in trade and crafts. Many of them became rich.
In the 7th century BC. the rulers of the Etruscan city of Tarquinia subjugate Rome and rule there until 510 BC. The most famous figure of that time was the reformer Servius Tullius. His reform was the first stage of the struggle of the plebeians with the patricians. He divided the city into districts: 4 urban and 17 rural, carried out a census of the population of Rome, the entire male population was divided into 6 categories, no longer based on gender, but depending on their property status. The richest constituted the first category; The lower category was called proles, these were the poor, who had nothing but children. The Roman army also began to be built depending on the new division into categories.
A conspiracy was hatched and Tullius was killed, after which the Senate decides to abolish the institution of the king and establish a republic in 510 BC.
Stage 2 - erasRepublic . The Republican period is characterized by an intense struggle between patricians and plebeians for civil rights and for land; as a result of this struggle, the rights of the plebeians increase. The position of a people's tribune was introduced in the Senate, who defended the rights of the plebeians. The tribunes were elected from the plebeians for a term of one year, numbering first two, then five and finally ten people.
Their personality was considered sacred and inviolable. The tribunes had great rights and power: they were not subordinate to the Senate, could veto Senate decisions, and had great judicial power. During this period, the growth of land among the citizens of Rome was limited; each could have no more than 125 hectares. land. In the 3rd century BC. The Roman patrician-plebeian community was finally formed. The bodies of state power were the Senate, the People's Assembly, and the magistracy-executive bodies.
In 133 BC, Tiberius Gracchus, elected tribune of the people, proposed land reform to the Senate, the essence of which was as follows: he proposed limiting the amount of land that citizens of Rome received for rent from public fields. This reform met resistance from large landowners and ultimately Tiberius Gracchus and 300 of his supporters were killed. Thus, land reform stalled. But 10 years later, Gaius Gracchus, the brother of Tiberius Gracchus, who was the governor of the province in Sicily, the first Roman province, was also elected tribune of the people and proposed to the Senate to continue the land reform, as well as to grant civil rights to the allies of Rome - the Italics, which was the general name for all the tribes inhabiting Apennine Peninsula. However, the Senate did not agree to these reforms. Gaius Gracchus was also killed.
As a result of the Punic Wars, the territory of the Roman state expands and a strong force is needed to effectively manage it. sole power. There were two attempts to gain dictatorial powers in the Roman Republic. The first of them is associated with the name of the commander Sula. Which in the first half of the 1st century BC, at a tense moment of confrontation between the optimates and the populares, which threatened to develop into civil war the senate granted dictatorial powers. The court used tough measures to prevent the outbreak of civil war.
The second figure who received dictatorial powers was Gaius Julius Caesar, a famous and talented commander, who received dictatorial powers as follows: a triumvirate was organized, i.e. all the authority of power was concentrated in the hands of three persons. Pompey, Crassus and Caesar, who was in Gaul. After the death of Crassus, Pompey became the de facto sovereign ruler in Rome; the Senate, in order to prevent Pompey’s sole power, turned to Caesar so that he would return to Rome and limit Pompey’s power. Tenth January 49 BC Caesar crossed the Rubicon River and uttered the famous phrase: “The die is cast” i.e. He sided with the Senate and soon Pompeii was overthrown, and Caesar was given unique, indefinite dictatorial powers. But soon, however, Pompey's supporters conspired and killed Caesar, this happened on March 15, 44 BC.
After the death of Caesar, a struggle for power unfolded after a series of intrigues, in which the main participants were Caesar's associate Antony, his great-nephew Octavian and the Senate, as a result of which Octavian became the only ruler of the huge state, who was proclaimed Augustus (divine), this happened in 30 BC AD At this point, the Roman Republic ceased to exist, and the period of the Roman Empire began.
Stage 3 - erasEmpire . The initial period of the Roman Empire, lasting from 30 BC. to 284 AD was called the period of the Principate, this name came from the naming of Octavian Augustus “Principles”, which means first among equals. The second stage of the Roman Empire is called the period of dominance from the word “dominus” (lord) - 284-476 AD. The first steps of Octavian Augustus: stabilizing relations between different sectors of society. The reign of Octavian is a period of rise of science, literature and especially Roman historiography. Features of the Roman civilization of the era of the Principate:
1. Sole power opens up opportunities for both wise and despotic rulers. Examples: Marcus Aurelius, Nero
2. Roman legislation, which is the basis of many modern legal systems, is being actively improved.
3. The inconsistency of slavery is revealed. Slaves begin to be recruited into the army due to a lack of population.
4. Italy is losing its role as the center of the Roman Empire.
5. Development of construction (roads, water pipelines)
6. Strengthening the education system, increasing the number of literate people.
7. Spread of Christianity.
8. Holidays (180 days a year)
Emperor Anthony Pius - the golden age of the Roman Empire - absence of conflicts, economic growth, peace in the provinces, but this period did not last long; already in 160 AD one of the wars began, which determined the future fate of Roman civilization - the beginning of a catastrophe. The Roman Empire was adjacent to a diverse barbarian world, which included Celtic tribes, Germanic tribes and Slavic tribes. The first clash between the barbarian world and Roman civilization took place under Emperor Marcus Aurelius on the territory of the provinces of Raetius and Noricum, also Panonia - modern. Hungary. The war lasted approx. 15 years old, Marcus Aurelius managed to repel the onslaught of barbarian tribes. Subsequently, during the 3rd century, the pressure of the barbarians intensified, and a “limes” was built along the Danube and Rhine - a border consisting of checkpoints and militarized settlements. On the "limes" trade was carried out between Rome and the barbarian world. In the 3rd century, tribes stood out among the barbarians, waging wars with Rome, on the border along the Rhine these were the Franks, and along the Danube the Goths, who repeatedly invaded the territory of the empire. Then, in the 3rd century, Rome lost its province for the first time in history, this happened in 270, the imperial army left the province of Dacia, then the loss of the “Tithe Fields” occurred - in the upper reaches of the Rhine. At the end of the 3rd century, the era of the principate ends: Emperor Diocletian in 284 decided to divide the empire into 4 parts for more effective management.
The co-rulers were: Maximian, Licinius and Constantine Clore; for himself and Maximian he retained the title of Augustus, and for the other two - the title of Caesar. Although after the death of Diocletian, Clore's son Constantine again became the sole ruler, it was precisely this division that marked the beginning of the collapse of the Roman Empire. In 395, Emperor Theodosius finally divided the empire into two parts between his sons, one of them Arcadius became the ruler of the Eastern Roman Empire, and the other Honorius of the Western Roman Empire. But the situation developed in such a way that the young Gonorrhea could not rule the state and the actual ruler was the vandal Stilicho, who headed it for 25 years. The barbarians began to play a huge role in the army of the Western Roman Empire, this fully reflects the crisis of the empire.
Under pressure from the Huns, in the 4th century the Goths moved to the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire, who, under the leadership of Allaric, in search of land to live, invaded the territory of Italy and captured Rome in the 4th century.
Then in 476, the leader of the Sciri, Odoacer, finally overthrew the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus. This date is the date of the final fall of the western part of the Roman Empire, its eastern part existed for about 1000 years. The era of dominance reflects the crisis of Roman civilization.
Signs of the crisis: I desolation of cities, 2 cessation of tax payments, 3 decrease in the number of trade transactions, 4 disruption of ties between provinces.
Thus, we can say that Roman civilization was broken by three blows: 1 - socio-economic, 2 - spiritual crisis, 3 - great migration of peoples.
16. The main achievements of the civilization of Ancient Rome.
The history of Ancient Rome lasted from the founding of the city of Rome in 753 BC. e. until the fall of the Roman Empire created under his leadership in 476 AD. The period is divided into three main stages: royal (mid-8th century BC - 510 BC), republican (510-30 BC) and imperial (30 BC). BC - 476 AD).
Ancient Rome- one of the most powerful ancient civilizations, named after its capital - Rome. The formation of ancient Roman civilization was strongly influenced by the cultures of the Etruscans, Latins and ancient Greeks. Ancient Rome reached the peak of its power in the 2nd century AD. e., when the peoples of North Africa, the Mediterranean, Europe and the Middle East came under his rule.
Ancient Rome created the cultural soil for European civilization, having a decisive influence on medieval and subsequent history. Ancient Rome gave the modern world Roman law, some architectural forms and solutions (for example, the cross-dome system) and many other innovations (for example, the water mill). Christianity as a creed was born on the territory of the Roman Empire. The official language of the ancient Roman state was Latin, the religion for most of its existence was polytheistic, the unofficial emblem of the empire was the golden eagle (aquila), and after the adoption of Christianity, labarums with Chrism appeared.
The Romans createdstate, the principles of which have been preserved in many countries to this day.Alexander the Greatproved the possibility of a world empire. The Romans created a world empire that lasted for several centuries and left to their descendants the imperial idea, the idea of a special missionRome, which passed through many subsequent civilizations. The Romans created a system of law that is still the core of the legal systems of many countries. The Romans had an ideal citizen and a system of civic values: virtus, ius, libertas (courage, justice, freedom). The Romans, without abandoning their gods (Vesta, Janus), were tolerant of the gods of Egypt and other countries, accepted the Greek gods without worship, but with respect for them, as a force capable of acting for goodRomeand Roman. One of the results of the development of Ancient Roman civilization was the adoption and spread of Christianity, a newmonotheisticthe religion of salvation, which in subsequent millennia had such a powerful influence on the entire course of civilizational development. The Romans created a language that was spoken by all educated Europe in the Middle Ages, and which formed the basis of a whole group of European languages.
The Romans were rational and practical people. But it was in the ancientRomeThose sciences (astronomy, mathematics, agronomy, etc.) were developed that were aimed at solving earthly practical problems, be it war, building temples and roads, cultivating fields or treating wounds and illnesses. And the Roman Colosseum amazes us no less than the Greek Pantheon, and the Romanbasilicabecame the architectural basis of many temples in subsequent centuries.
The Romans left us so many magnificent sculptural portraits, surprising with their psychological depth and reality. And the wall paintings of the Romans and their mosaics were not inferior to the Greek ones. Appeal to earthly man, his thoughts, feelings and actions was also characteristic of Roman literature.Virgilwrote a mythical storyRome, erectinggenuscompletely earthly Emperor Augustus. And he writes Georgiki a poem about agriculture.HoraceAndOvidcreate beautiful poetry. The Romans created a new literary genre - the novel, which received its brilliant development centuries later.
Ancient Roman civilization was measured by its historical period. But, like the Greeks, the Romans proved the possibility of historical immortality of their civilization. Ancient Roman civilization is alive today in the constitutions and laws of states, in the mentality of many peoples, in world culture.
The reverse movement in a person's life - awakening, or dissolution of form - which begins either due to old age, illness, infirmity, loss of ability, or as a result of some personal tragedy, carries with it enormous potential for spiritual awakening - disidentification of consciousness with form. Since there is very little spiritual truth in our modern culture, not many people realize that this process contains an opportunity, and when “it” happens to them or someone close to them, they think that something has happened terrible, wrong, something that should not have happened.
Our civilization is extremely ignorant of the human condition, and the more spiritual ignorance you have, the more you suffer. For many people, especially in the West, death is nothing more than an abstract concept, and therefore they have no idea what happens to a person on the verge of death. Many old people, exhausted by life, are locked in nursing homes. Dead bodies are hidden, whereas in earlier cultures everyone could see them. Try to see a dead body now, and you will find out that it is actually illegal, except in cases involving close family members. In funeral homes, they even put makeup on the face. You are only allowed to see a tamed version of death.
Since for most people death is just an abstract concept, they are completely unprepared for the disappearance of form that awaits them. When death approaches, they experience shock, misunderstanding, despair and great fear. Nothing makes any sense to them anymore because all the meaning and all the goals in their lives were related to accumulation, achieving success, building, protecting and feeling fulfilled. Their life was connected with movement outward and identification with form, that is, with the ego. Most people cannot understand what sense there could be in their life, their world, being destroyed. And yet, there is potentially even deeper meaning in the backward movement than in the outward movement.
The spiritual dimension traditionally enters people's lives precisely through decline in old age, through loss or personal tragedy. In other words, their inner purpose emerges only when the outer purpose collapses and the shell of the ego begins to crack and fall apart. Such events represent the beginning of a reverse movement towards the disappearance of form. Most ancient cultures seemed to intuitively understand this process, and for this reason the old people were so respected and revered. Each of them was a repository of wisdom and gave the others a dimension of depth without which no civilization could last long. In our civilization, completely identified with the outer dimension and ignorant of the inner dimension of the spirit, the word "old" has a mainly negative connotation. It is equated with the meaning of "useless", and if we call someone "old", it almost sounds like an insult. To avoid using this word, we use euphemisms such as "elderly", "venerable" and "senior". In the old days, in Indian tribes, clan elders were treated with great honor and respect, and the “grandmother” was a figure of great importance. In modern society, the word “granny” means, at best, something diminutive. Why is the old considered useless? Because in old age the emphasis shifts from doing to Existence, and our civilization, lost in doing, knows nothing about Existence. She asks: “Existence? And what are you doing with it?
For some people, the outward movement towards growth and expansion is seriously undermined by a decline, a seemingly premature turning around and the beginning of a reversal of the form towards dissolution. In some cases this disruption is temporary; in others it is permanent. We believe that a small child should not have to see death, but the fact is that some children have to see the death of one or both parents, for example due to illness or as a result of an accident, or even look into the face of their own death. Some children have congenital abnormalities that greatly complicate the natural expansion of their lives. Or it happens that a serious limitation enters a person’s life at a relatively young age.
A “premature” disruption of extensive development can also trigger a process of spiritual awakening in a person. Ultimately, nothing happens that is not meant to happen; in other words, nothing happens that is not part of the larger whole and its purpose. Thus, the destruction or undermining of an external goal can lead to the search for an internal one and, therefore, to the emergence of a deeper external goal, attuned to the internal one. Children who have experienced severe suffering often become older than their peers.
What is lost at the level of forms is gained at the level of essence. In the traditional images of the “blind seer” or “wounded healer” found in ancient cultures and legends, certain serious losses of ability or impairment at the level of form became the door to the world of the spirit. If you have had direct experience of the impermanent nature of forms, then you are likely to never again overestimate their importance and therefore not lose yourself in blind pursuit or attachment to them.
The opportunity presented by the dissolution of form, especially old age, is only now beginning to be noticed and recognized in modern culture. Most people continue to tragically miss this opportunity because their ego is just as identified with the backward movement as it was identified with the outward movement. This leads to a strengthening of the egoic shell and is more of a compression than an opening of the channel. The bruised ego then spends the rest of its days whining or complaining, trapped in fear or anger, self-pity, guilt, blame and judgment, or any other negative mental-emotional state, or using escape strategies such as attachment to memories, thinking and talking about the past.
When the ego ceases to be identified with the backward movement, then old age or the approach of death becomes what it should be: a channel into the world of the spirit. I have met people who are the living embodiment of this process. They were glowing. Their weakening forms became transparent to the light of consciousness.
On the new earth, old people will receive universal recognition, and old age will be highly valued as the time for the flowering of consciousness. For those who continue to wander in the external circumstances of their lives, this will be a time of late return home, if, of course, they awaken to the awareness of their inner purpose. For many others it will be the intensification and culmination of the awakening process.
This is quite a powerful, but also difficult mental trick. In some cases, it's just natural to "move backwards." I want to get from London to Edinburgh. I know that once I get to Newcastle it will be very easy to get to Edinburgh from there. But how can I get to Newcastle? So, if I get to York, it's not difficult to get from there to Newcastle. But how do you get to York? You just need to get to Peterborough, and from there it will be easy to get to York. Now we need to somehow get to Peterborough. And the easiest way to get there is from London. So, the route has been chosen. Problem solved.
In some cases, you can move methodically. If I get to this point, then from there it’s not difficult to reach the final goal. But now that this point becomes the goal, how to get to it?
If goods were not available, shoplifting would stop. But how can you make products unavailable? Place them behind a door that can only be opened upon presentation of a credit card. Or simply display samples of goods, and give the goods themselves to the buyer only at the checkout. If shoplifters were easy to catch, they would be careful not to steal. But how can you show thieves that they can easily be caught? Placing video cameras everywhere, giving rewards to all customers who help catch thieves, publicly announcing the names of those caught in the act, etc. are all ways to prevent shoplifting.
If it were impossible to remove the stolen goods from the store, then there would be no point in stealing them. How to make sure that stolen items cannot be taken out of the store? You can, for example, imbue all goods with a special smell, which would only be eliminated at the checkout, and place it at the exit angry dog, which would sniff all customers leaving the store. In a sense, the "going backwards" method is a form of "revision" or "transformation" of the problem.
Going backwards usually requires one or more ideas as steps, as was shown in the shoplifting example. In a sense, the fan of concepts is one of the forms of movement in the opposite direction. You can reach point A from point B. But how can you get to point B now? From point B. So how do we get to point B?
Situation A. The problem of lack of parking spaces.
Generalization method. More spacious parking is needed. This could mean either expanding the existing parking lot, adding a second level or creating an underground area, or building additional parking in a different location, but with bus service to the destination.
Situation B. A new restaurant whose owner wants to grow his business as quickly as possible.
Generalization method. People should find out about a new restaurant as quickly as possible. Create a scandal around him. Invite celebrity lookalikes to dinner. Allow women to go topless in a restaurant.
Situation B. The problem of writing on the wall.
Generalization method. Make the labels invisible. During the day, throw a special curtain on the wall that would cover the inscriptions that appeared at night.
Fan of concepts
It is part of the generalization method.
On the right side of the page we write the purpose of our thinking. It should always involve achieving some result. There is a problem that needs to be solved. There is a result to be obtained. There must be improvement in a certain direction. A fan of concepts does not work with a model or an open, creative situation. The end goal must be clearly defined.
Then we say what general concepts (called directions) will lead us to the final goal. Suppose we are considering the problem of a shortage of skilled workers. General concepts could be:
Increase the recruitment of qualified personnel.
Reduce the need for qualified personnel.
Increase the productivity of existing employees.
We then take each of these concepts and define it as the end goal. How can we achieve it? How can we move in this “direction”?
So how can we increase the number of skilled workers?
Additionally, hire several professionals.
Improve the skills of existing employees.
Recruit qualified workers from another company to work out of state (external source).
How to reduce the need for qualified personnel?
Reduce the complexity of operations.
Introduce automation.
Reduce the number of operations.
Lower work standards.
How to increase the productivity of existing employees?
Increase motivation to work.
Increase the length of the working day.
Constantly use the special skills and abilities of employees.
Make full use of their working time.
We then take each of these “concepts” and try to find practical ways to implement it. This should be done with every concept. Now the fan has opened, offering many ways to solve the problem. Rather than go through every concept, here are just a few examples.
Concept: improve staff qualifications.
Idea: train your own workers.
Idea: delegate the work to your own employees, challenging them to improve their skills themselves.
Idea: Together with other employers who are faced with the same problem, create an institute to improve the skills of workers.
Concept: automation.
Idea: use expert systems to make decisions. Idea: introduce computer control of equipment.
Idea: Electronic scanning and creation of files of all documentation.
Concept: constant use of special skills and abilities of employees.
Idea: Provide workers with specialized skills with assistants to perform work that does not require the use of those specialized skills.
The two main issues associated with using the concept fan are:
1. How does it work? This question takes us to the wide end of the fan, where all the ideas are. What is the real mechanism of how this technique works? How can buses help solve traffic jams? Very simply - they will increase the “density” of movement: more people per vehicle.
2. How can this be achieved? This question takes us to the tapered end of the fan, where certain concepts are located. What specific concepts can help bring this idea to life? How can this concept be applied and where? How to reduce the number of trips during rush hour? By regulating the operating hours of enterprises in a special way. Communicate when rush hour is so people can avoid it.
The same question can be found in different areas of the concept fan. For example, the solution to "do without" is both a broad direction or idea for solving the problem of water scarcity and a concept that serves the idea of "reducing consumption." The concept fan does not involve analysis, so you can repeat the same concept an unlimited number of times.
Typically, several concept fan models are required. First you create your first fan, but then you complement and improve it, getting a second model. There may also be a third one. This is a pretty powerful move, but it takes practice.
In describing the generalization method, I have already said that several ideas of varying degrees of generality can be used simultaneously. In the fan of concepts there are different levels for this. The first level is the most general, it is also called the main “direction”. Then come the concepts. Finally, the very last level is “practical idea”.
Sometimes there may be multiple levels of concepts between a "direction" and a "practical idea". But each subsequent level is always more specific than the previous one.
We will now apply the fan of concepts to each of the three thinking situations and then move on to the third part of the generalization method.
Situation A. Problem of lack of parking spaces.
Fan of concepts . General directions may be as follows:
Expand parking;
Reduce the size of machines;
Reduce the number of clients;
Make people happy with the current situation.
We can follow in any of these directions, but as an example we will consider only one - how to make people content with the current situation:
We allow them to set their own rules for using the parking lot;
We set rewards for those who do not use the parking lot;
We'll draw lots;
We provide them with the best parking.
We allow them to form a committee to develop a parking strategy. Let them choose one of the options proposed by the committee by voting.
We increase the salaries of those who voluntarily renounce their right to use the parking lot. We allow those who do not use the parking lot to come to work later (or leave work early).
Each month, those who will use the parking lot that month are selected by drawing lots. “This will help avoid envy and talk about giving preference to someone.
We are organizing a common stock of cars. Special minibuses are purchased for the foundation. We will organize a direct bus service to the new parking lot.
Situation B. New restaurant.
Fan of concepts. The main directions here might look like this:
Attract local clients;
Win regulars;
Attract people from afar.
For regulars, the concepts may be as follows:
Creation of a special club for regular visitors;
Introduction of permanent vouchers for them;
Providing special privileges for regulars.
For practical ideas on how to provide special benefits for regulars, consider the following options:
Guarantee the availability of a free table at any time or the opportunity to dine for free next time;
Attach the names of their regular customers to the tables;
Enter a discount on wines;
Relieve regulars from having to pay tips.
Provide regular customers with the right to rent a restaurant for private celebrations and events.
You can go in any direction and develop several practical ideas for each concept. Here we have given only a few specific examples.
Situation B. The problem of inscriptions.
Fan of concepts. The main directions could be:
Punish those who paint on the wall;
Make drawing on the wall impossible;
Make sure that the inscriptions can be easily removed;
Make these inscriptions attractive;
Hide captions.
Let's follow the direction of "make the inscriptions attractive." How to achieve this? By using:
Special rules;
Competitions;
Licenses.
How can the concept of “competition” be brought to life?
Idea: groups compete to draw on the wall for a week. First, their proposed ideas are presented to the commission in the form of a sketch. The authors of the best sketch receive the right to use the wall for a week.
Idea: the wall is divided into several areas, and competitors work on topics - each area is dedicated to a different topic. The public acts as a jury and selects the best entry.
Idea: those who voluntarily agree to wash the wall for a certain period receive the right to use it for the same period of time, that is, those who agree to wash the wall for a month receive the right to paint on it for a whole month.
In all the examples above, I have not discussed each fan concept in detail as it would be very tedious for the reader. Working with the concept fan method takes time because you need to think a lot.
One of the main advantages of the fan of concepts is the ability to consider several ultimate goals of our activities: “How to achieve such and such a result?” The result is a cascade effect, since each new goal leads to the emergence of a number of alternative options, each of which itself becomes a goal, again giving a certain number of new alternatives.
This is quite a powerful, but also difficult mental trick. In some cases, it's just natural to "move backwards." I want to get from London to Edinburgh. I know that once I get to Newcastle it will be very easy to get to Edinburgh from there. But how can I get to Newcastle? So, if I get to York, it's not difficult to get from there to Newcastle. But how do you get to York? You just need to get to Peterborough, and from there it will be easy to get to York. Now we need to somehow get to Peterborough. And the easiest way to get there is from London. So, the route has been chosen. Problem solved.
In some cases, you can move methodically. If I get to this point, then from there it’s not difficult to reach the final goal. But now that this point becomes the goal, how to get to it?
If goods were not available, shoplifting would stop. But how can you make products unavailable? Place them behind a door that can only be opened upon presentation of a credit card. Or simply display samples of goods, and give the goods themselves to the buyer only at the checkout. If shoplifters were easy to catch, they would be careful not to steal. But how can you show thieves that they can easily be caught? Placing video cameras everywhere, giving rewards to all customers who help catch thieves, publicly announcing the names of those caught in the act, etc. are all ways to prevent shoplifting.
If it were impossible to remove the stolen goods from the store, then there would be no point in stealing them. How to make sure that stolen items cannot be taken out of the store? You can, for example, impregnate all goods with a special one, which would be eliminated only at the checkout, and place an angry dog at the exit, which would sniff all the customers leaving the store. In a sense, the "going backwards" method is a form of "revision" or "transformation" of the problem.
Going backwards usually requires one or more ideas as steps, as was shown in the shoplifting example. In a sense, the fan of concepts is one of the forms of movement in the opposite direction. You can reach point A from point B. But how can you get to point B now? From point B. So how do we get to point B?
Situation A. The problem of lack of parking spaces.
. More spacious parking is needed. This could mean either expanding the existing parking lot, adding a second level or creating an underground area, or building additional parking in a different location, but with bus service to the destination.
Situation B. A new restaurant whose owner wants to grow his business as quickly as possible.
Generalization method . People should find out about a new restaurant as quickly as possible. Create a scandal around him. Invite celebrity lookalikes to dinner. Allow women to go topless in a restaurant.
Situation B. The problem of writing on the wall.
Generalization method . Make the labels invisible. During the day, throw a special curtain on the wall that would cover the inscriptions that appeared at night.
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