Society and nature are the environment. Abstract of lectures on philosophy. Interaction of human society and nature

One of the topical topics of modern social science is the relationship between society and nature. Both nature and society have always aroused the interest of philosophers. In domestic science until about the middle of the 20th century. these objects were considered mainly in two aspects: historical and economic. Historical aspect means an analysis of the conditions and ways of the emergence and development of society. Economic aspect involves the study of the resources of nature and the possibility of using them to meet the needs of people.

But in the second half of the XX century. increased attention to the negative impact on humans industrial production to the natural environment. In this regard, the third is becoming increasingly relevant - environmental aspect.

Of course, this problem existed before, but it was not of such an acute and widespread nature (accidents of pipelines, tankers, chemical and other hazardous industries, etc.). Therefore, an acute global problem arose: “Is it possible for mankind to survive in modern conditions? ". Before considering this problem, let us define the basic concepts.

In the scientific literature, the concept of "nature" is used in several senses.

Nature(in a broad sense) is the whole world, the Universe.

Nature(in the narrow sense) is the entire material world, with the exception of society.

There is an even narrower concept.

Nature- this is a part of the world with which society interacts, in this sense they talk about the environment.

The concept of "society" is also used in a narrow and broad sense.

Society(narrow sense) is a collection of people united by diverse ties (material and spiritual).

In this sense, the concept of "society" is synonymous with "anthroposphere".

Society(broad sense) - people and the part of nature with which they interact. Here the synonym is "sociosphere".

In concept "sociosphere" both natural and artificial objects are included. Thus, society is both included in nature and opposed to it. This contradictory position was the source of the various positions of man in relation to nature.

In philosophical views on nature, on its essence, two extreme, opposite points of view can be distinguished. One of them considers nature only as chaos, the realm of blind elemental forces, chance. The other comes from the fact that strict laws prevail in nature.

The evolution of philosophical ideas about the relationship between society and nature was determined by the degree of development of society itself, as well as by the economic, political, religious and other views that dominated at one time or another. In antiquity, nature was regarded as a model of perfection, as a higher education, superior to man and his creations. The natural harmony of nature aroused admiration and a desire to imitate it in everything. Man and nature were conceived as a single, harmoniously interconnected whole. The ideal of society was to know nature and the desire to live in harmony with it (Epicureanism, Stoicism). In the Middle Ages, views changed. Nature and man were seen as God's creations. Man, as a higher being, created by God in his own image and likeness, endowed with an immortal soul, begins to be opposed to a “lower” sinful nature. And it is no longer about the merging of man with nature, but about their opposition and exaltation of man over nature. Interest in the study of the material world is falling and not encouraged. In the Renaissance, nature is seen as a source of beauty, joy and inspiration and is contrasted with a destructive and vicious civilization. In the XVII-XV1I1 centuries, sciences began to develop rapidly, numerous experiments were set up and carried out, aimed at the formation and development of production. In the philosophical views of the New Age, and in practical actions, it is increasingly clearly indicated new type relationship between man and nature. The central idea is that man must conquer nature, master it, become master. The ever-increasing technical and energy power of society contributed to the emergence and dominance of such ideas.

The approach to nature only as a means of achieving human goals was preserved and more and more intensified, right up to the middle of the 20th century. And only at the turn of a potential global environmental catastrophe did it become obvious the task of finding a reasonable balance in the relations of society and nature, an appropriate understanding of the ongoing processes.

Human interaction with nature Let's look at the relevant concepts.

Geographic environment- this is the flora and fauna, water, soil, the Earth's atmosphere, i.e. that part of nature that is involved in the sphere of social life.

The geographic environment has a significant impact on the most diverse aspects of society and, above all, on the development of material production. The diversity of nature has long been the natural basis for the division of human labor (hunting, fishing, farming, cattle breeding, mining, etc.). Specific areas of human activity depend on the characteristics of the natural environment, in particular, the development of certain industries in various countries and on the continents.

plays an important role in the life of society environment. This is a broader concept than the geographical environment. The structure of the environment includes two major components: natural and artificial habitats.

Under the natural habitat imply inanimate and living parts of nature, i.e. geosphere And biosphere.

Geosphere- this is one of the concentric shells of the Earth: the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the earth's crust, the Earth's mantle and the Earth's core. Each of the geospheres is studied by a separate science.

Biosphere is the realm of all life. It includes both the living organisms themselves and their habitat (upper part of the earth's crust, water, atmosphere). The positive results of the development and transformation of natural resources for humans are undeniable. This is, first of all, the growth of the material and spiritual values of society, more high level life. And all this was taken by man from nature directly or in a transformed form. But man could not become a rational being if he had not learned to create something of his own, something that does not exist in nature.

artificial habitat- this is everything that was created by man himself: a wide variety of objects, as well as animals and plants bred by him as a result of selection and domestication.

With the development of society, the importance of the artificial habitat for a person is growing more and more. However, the dynamics of the growth of the artificial habitat and its impact on the environment cannot but worry. The volume of technical mass (the weight of everything created by man) already exceeds the biomass (the weight of all living organisms) by an order of magnitude. The growing influence of society on nature was reflected in the teachings of V.I. Vernadsky about noosphere.

Until now, the history of interaction between nature and society has gone through two main periods. Now humanity is faced with the need to move to the third period. The basis for periodization is the factor that determines this interaction. The general periodization is as follows.

1. Biogenic (adaptation) period, about 2 million - about 30 thousand years ago.
2. The technogenic (transformative) period continues to the present.
3. Noogenic (system-transformative) period.

The first and longest period covers the time:

“handy man” (up to about 2 million years ago), “upright man” (up to about 1 million years ago) and “reasonable man” (up to about 30 thousand years ago). The defining factor in the life of people at that time was biosphere. Hence the name of the period. Ancient people were forced to adapt (adapt) to natural conditions. Even then, they were causing damage to their environment. Basically, these were forest fires, the extermination of some species of animals and plants in their places of residence. Of course, these phenomena were local in nature and rather quickly compensated for by natural processes.

These problems were partly resolved with the transition from the appropriation of natural products to their production. We are talking about the development of agriculture and animal husbandry. With these changes, the beginning of the second stage in the attitude of society towards nature is connected. Since artificial tools became the determining factor here (technique), that's why the period is called. During this period, the transformation of nature took on a large scale (the destruction of forests for the sake of arable land, the selection of animals and plants, the appearance of artificial structures, etc.). Hence the second name of this period.

The position of people in the struggle against the elemental forces of nature has been significantly strengthened. However, the transformations of nature were spontaneous, so the damage to the environment increased. The fires of forests and steppes became more frequent, all living things died there; pastures were degraded, arable lands were eroded. It was to this time that the appearance of deserts in North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia dates back. These changes are associated with the agrarian stage of the technogenic period.

The emergence of manufactory production gave rise to the industrial stage of the technogenic period. Industry on a mass scale began to produce things and processes that do not exist in natural conditions. This creates not only necessary to a person products, but also many by-products of production - waste. With the increasing complexity of industrial technologies, these wastes are increasingly becoming not only superfluous, but also very dangerous. Thus, environmental pollution turns from local to regional, and then to global. Humanity, due to its unbalanced relationship with nature, is on the brink of an ecological disaster.

What is ecology? This term was first used in 1866 by the German biologist E. Haeckel (1834-1919).

Ecology(according to Haeckel) - the doctrine of the relationship of living organisms with the environment.

The scientist believed that the new science would deal only with the relationship of animals and plants with their environment. This term has firmly entered our lives in the 70s of the XX century. However, today we are actually talking about about social ecology.

social ecology- a science that studies the problems of interaction between society and the environment.

The ecological situation in the world will be described as close to critical. Global environmental change is :

thousands of species of plants and animals have been destroyed and continue to be destroyed;
the forest cover has been largely destroyed;
the available stock of minerals is rapidly declining;
the world ocean is depleted due to the destruction of living organisms and ceases to be a regulator of natural processes;
the atmosphere is so polluted that fresh air becomes a deficit
the ozone layer, which protects all living things from cosmic radiation, is partially broken;
the surface is polluted and natural landscapes are disfigured.

The perniciousness of the consumer attitude of society towards nature has become quite obvious. For humanity, a change in attitude towards nature becomes vital. These relationships must become harmonious. The joint development of the biosphere and humanity is necessary. And this requires new knowledge and a new morality.

This new knowledge is presented in scientist about the noosphere. First time term "noosphere"(lit. - realm of the mind) used in 1927 by the French researcher E. Leroy(1870-1954). IN AND. Vernadsky began to develop and express the basic ideas of the doctrine of the noosphere at the beginning of the 20th century. Even then, he comprehended the possibilities of the human mind in the global transformation of the world, the prospects for human influence on nature, the need for the speediest harmonization of their relationship.

Noosphere means a new stage in the existence of the biosphere and the entire planet as a whole, when the conscious activity of man, the mind becomes not only a decisive factor in the evolution of the biosphere, but at the same time a factor in its preservation. At the same time, society is reaching the level of conscious regulation of the now spontaneous development of industry, adequate intervention in natural processes.

At the stage of the noosphere, the needs of society must become commensurate with the capabilities of the geo- and biosphere. The expansion of the noosphere will mean the onset of the noogenic period in the history of the interaction between society and nature.

At present, it is important at least not to worsen the existing state of the environment. It is necessary not only to love nature, to strive to preserve the environment, but also to be able to do this. To do this, it is necessary to have the appropriate knowledge and skills, to have environmental education. The main points here are:

1. Nature is not an enemy, but a friend of man. It is necessary not to fight with it, but to constantly take care of preserving its wealth. The protection of the environment is the protection of man himself.
2. It is necessary to abandon the idea of the inexhaustibility of the riches of nature.
3. It is required to maintain and develop various combinations of animals, plants and microorganisms (biocenoses). A person makes up a single system with them, is connected by various cycles.

Thus, a system of restrictions and prohibitions is needed in the transformative activity of people.

In addition to the above-mentioned threatening changes in the environment, to which a worthy response has not yet been found, humanity has yet to find answers to two groups of global problems.

The first is related to the need to establish civilized relations between states. Here it is necessary to eliminate the threat of world war and achieve a just world political structure. Related to this is the need to establish a fair economic order: to overcome or significantly reduce the gap in the welfare of the countries of the North and the South, the West and the East. The unresolved nature of these problems gives rise to new crisis situations, in particular, the need to combat international terrorism.

The second group is associated with the need to establish harmonious relations between society and the individual. Here it is necessary to eliminate demographic imbalances in various countries, find ways to treat widespread diseases, and put an end to absolute illiteracy and insufficient education, which is unacceptable in the age of the most sophisticated technology and technology. Global problems form a kind of integrity, the solution of any of them is impossible without the solution of others.

The priority global goals of mankind are determined (survival strategy ):

in the political sphere - reducing the likelihood and in the long term the complete exclusion of military conflicts, preventing violence in international relations;
in the economic sphere - the development and implementation of resource- and energy-saving technologies, the transition to non-traditional energy sources, the development and widespread use of environmental technologies;
in the social sphere - raising the standard of living, global efforts to preserve people's health, the creation of a world food supply system;
in the spiritual sphere - the restructuring of the mass moral consciousness in accordance with today's realities.

Review questions:

1. What is the content of the concept of "nature"?
2. What is the difference between natural and artificial environment?
3. What is the meaning of the term "noosphere"?
4. What periods of interaction between society and nature do you know?
5. What groups of global problems do you know?
6. What is the strategy for the joint survival of mankind?

Society and nature are in constant interaction. Human influence on the world has acquired such proportions that the issue of nature conservation has become one of the most urgent. We will find out what the relationship between society and nature is, what ecology is and what options for protecting the Earth exist.

Nature

There are two definitions of this concept:

in a broad sense: the world in all its forms and manifestations;
in a narrow sense: the natural conditions of human life, or the biosphere.

Considering the stages of human development, one can trace what the relationship between society and nature was like.

primitiveness: a person respectfully treated nature, deifying it, and could not cause serious harm to it;
with the development of science and technology, man increasingly invaded the surrounding nature, using its resources;
a new social order has developed in which it has become profitable to extract natural resources - for sale and receiving funds.

Now we can talk about a real ecological crisis. There was disharmony in the relationship between man and nature. Contamination of land and soil, the emergence of ozone holes - these and many other problems reflect the new environment.

Ecology

Environmental pollution affects all areas of life and forces society to develop ways to protect it. There is a whole science - ecology, which studies the interaction of society and nature.

What have we learned?

Having considered the topic of social science "Society and Nature", we learned that society is inextricably linked with nature and its existence directly depends on it. But a person, developing economic activity, developing natural resources, polluting the earth, air and water, endangers his life, thereby creating global environmental problems. Solving these problems is one of the main tasks of modern states.

The topic of this-day-not-th lesson is “Society and nature”. We talk with you about how people and society influence nature, and how it, in turn, appears -was your influence on them.

Yes-wai-te for na-cha-la opre-de-lim that we na-zy-va-em p-ro-doy. Just as in the case of society, there are two definitions of nature - in the wide-ro-com and in the narrow-no-ma-nia.

In a shi-ro-com sense, pri-ro-yes is the All-len-naya, the whole ma-te-ri-al-ny world. In a narrow nature, na-zy-va-et-sya is that part of the object-tiv-no-th world, with which a person enters into the environment the stven-noe interaction-and-mo-action and some-paradise is a natural condition of human life. In the narrow sense of the word, pri-ro-doy na-zy-va-yut bio-sphere. This term was introduced in 1875 by the Austrian geologist Eduard Suess.

In the same way as society, nature is-la-et-xia sa-mo-time-vi-va-yu-shche-si-ste-my. Its parts are-la-yut-sya-a-sphere, hydro-sphere and tro-po-sphere (Fig. 1). At-ro-yes in a hundred-yan-but once-vi-va-et-sya.

Rice. 1. Structure-tu-ra bio-sphere

From-no-she-nie to nature in the history of social thought has repeatedly changed. For an-tich-noy fi-lo-so-fi ha-rak-ter-na the idea of gar-mo-nii man-lo-ve-ka and nature as living-in-go, ode-shev- flax-no-go and upo-rya-to-chen-no-go Kos-mo-sa.

In the middle-not-ve-ko-howl Ev-ro-pe gos-under-stu-is con-chain-tion damage-no-sti of nature as re-zul-ta-ta gre-ho-pa -de-niya che-lo-ve-ka. God and the nature of pro-ti-in-on-stav-le-na. At-ro-yes - after her, the lower-neck link of the ladder-ni-tsy.

The cape-whether-the-whether of the era of the birth-de-niya again identified God and nature. Such a concept is called “pan-the-ism”.

In the early New Age, the slogan “Back to the pri-ro-de” was advanced, someone was in a po-la-ren in a li-ti-che-sky and these -che-sky with-chi-us. The French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Fig. 2) believed that the most natural person is the most natural person. In the 20th century, this idea was taken up by the movement of the "green" ones.

Rice. 2. J.-J. Rousseau

At the same time, it appeared so on-zy-va-e-my pre-ob-ra-zo-va-tel-noe in-no-ma-nie of nature, you-ra- feminine in the phrase "Pri-ro-yes is not a temple, but a workshop." But not everyone agreed with this.

In the 18th century, the Swedish biologist Carl Linney (Fig. 3) in his work “Sy-ste-ma of nature” introduces man-lo-ve-ka as a special type of homo sapiens . The American physicist and sociologist Ben-Ja-min Franklin (Fig. 4) defines a person-lo-ve-ka as “animal-but- go, de-la-u-th tool-diya ”(toolmaking animal), and Charles Dar-win creates a theory of evolution, according to someone -lo-very yav-la-et-sya is inseparable-le-my part of nature.

Rice. 3. Carl Lin-ney

Rice. 4. Ben-ja-min Fran-klin

In the 20th century, the concept of “no-o-spheres” appeared - “the kingdom of ra-zu-ma”. Ter-min was introduced in 1927 by the French scientist Eugene Leroy, and his po-la-ri-for-th-rum and the most famous side of the theory but-osphere-ry became V. I. Ver-nad-sky.

By the way, often the theory of but-o-spheres is under-der-zh-va-li fi-lo-so-fy, the look of someone is difficult, but to call ma-te- ri-a-li-sti-che-ski-mi. In the middle of the 20th century, one of the active parties to this theory was theo-sophist Pierre Teilhard de Charden.

No matter how we perceive-at-ni-ma-whether che-lo-ve-ka - as part of nature or as its an-ti-te-zu, we still recognize that nature and society influence each other. Su-shche-stvu-et spe-tsi-al-naya on-learning dis-tsi-pli-on eco-logia. So they call it a complex unification on-scientific dis-qi-plin, investigating the following interaction of living or- ha-niz-mov, che-lo-ve-ka, che-lo-ve-che-societies with the environment.

This term was introduced in 1866 by one of the after-before-wa-te-leys of Ch. . 5), someone defined eco-logia as the science of from-no-she-ni-yah or-ga-niz-mov to the environment. You and I, of course, but first of all, we are talking not just about eco-logia, but about so-qi-al-noy eco-logia - dis-ci- plyne, lying at the junction of the natural, technical, humanitarian, and social sciences.

Rice. 5. E. Haeckel

How does society affect nature? It:

Iz-cha-et and use-uses nature, in a hundred-yan-but expanding the volume and pre-de-la of its use;

Influences the structure of the environment;

Influence-I-et on the restoration of nature.

In-ro-yes, in turn:

Gives the means to the su-sche-stvo-va-niyu;

Influence-I-et on the development of the pro-of-di-tel-forces;

Influence on the development of society;

Can uni-reap something re-zul-ta-you che-lo-ve-che-sky de-I-tel-no-sti.

Ko-nech-but, the degree of for-vi-si-mo-sti of society from nature in the process of development of co-beauty. The first attempts to torture the pre-ra-zo-va-niya of nature in the form of the construction of canals the ancient Egyptians and residents Me-so-po-ta-mii before-at-ni-ma-li back in IV thou-sya-che-let-tii BC.

One-on-one, you should teach that nature remains the most important fact of society tiya. About this and other facts-of-so-qi-al-no-go times-vi-tia we will go-to-rim next time. And our se-th-day lesson is over. Thank you for your attention.

Dar-vi-na award

As a matter of fact, Charles Darwin believed that man and ape had common ancestors. Some of our modern-day-ni-ki so-ver-sha-ut so go-from-steps that sometimes it seems that animals smarter che-lo-ve-ka.

To such people, who are so-ver-shi-whether the most go-from-to-step-ki with a let-tal-is-ho-home for themselves, the Dar - vi-new-sky award. Among the la-u-re-a-tov - a man-lo-age, someone-ry-py-tal-sya dis-pour gra-on-that; trans-step-nick, someone who hid from the li-tion, getting over the wall of the prison. In 1982, pre-miyu pri-su-dee-li in-zh-lo-mu ameri-kan-tsu, someone decided to go 50 me-teo-ro-lo-gi -che-sky balls, it’s true, he remained alive.

Vla-di-mir Iva-no-vich Ver-nad-sky

Go-vo-ryat, the time for en-tsik-lo-pe-di-stov has passed. But there was a scientist in the history of our country in the 20th century, someone-ro-go is often called-zy-va-yut after him en-tsik-lo-pe-di-stom .

This is Vla-di-mir Ivan-no-vich Ver-nad-sky (Fig. 6). Phil-lo-sof, scientist-geo-chi-mic, he was one of the co-creators and leaders of the parties of ka-de-tov, entered the time-men- noe pra-vi-tel-stvo of Ke-ren-sko-go in due-sti for-me-sti-te-la mi-ni-stra. Or-ga-ni-za-tor and first pre-zi-dent of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine-i-ny, os-no-va-tel and rector of Ta-vri-che-sko-go uni-ver-si -te-ta.

Rice. 6. V. I. Ver-nadsky

The conditions necessary for the re-re-ho-yes of the bio-sphere in the no-sphere: all-general equality, de-mo-kra-tia, going out into space, discovering new sources of energy, stopping wars.

Pri-ro-yes takes revenge on che-lo-ve-ku?

It often seems that nature, as it were, is taking revenge on a person. Ka-ta-stro-fs follow one after the other. But in-add-nye ka-ta-stro-fa would-wa-whether and earlier.

In 1883, it came from the same vul-ka-na Kra-ka-tau (Fig. 7), something practical-ti-che-ski uni-what-zhi-lo island. If before it was a mountain you-with-a few hundred meters, then now it is three islands, separated by the sea (Fig. 8 ).

Rice. 7. Volcano Kra-ka-tau

Rice. 8. Kra-ka-tau after from-ver-same-nia

But this does not mean that people do not in any way influence such ka-ta-stro-fs. In the 1980s, in the USSR, there was a pre-v. volume of Siberian rivers to Central Asia. Se-year-nya ana-logic-ny project re-a-li-zu-et-xia in China.

lecture source - http://interneturok.ru/ru/school/obshestvoznanie/10-klass/bobwestvob/obschestvo-i-priroda?seconds=0&chapter_id=347

video source - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMaz4klDVyw

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presentation source - http://ppt4web.ru/obshhestvoznanija/obshhestvo-i-priroda.html

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Society and nature are phenomena that cannot exist in isolation from each other. Under nature all the diversity of the surrounding world both on Earth and in the Universe is understood. Nature is a set of natural conditions for the existence of all living things. It arose long before the appearance of man. The history of nature can be considered to have begun with the formation of the Earth and the birth of the first forms of life on it. The "living" shell of the Earth, the whole animal and vegetable world got the name biosphere.

Man is also part of the biosphere. He stood out from the animal world about two million years ago, and only about 40 thousand years ago a man of the modern type appeared - homo sapiens . It was then that human society was born. Throughout the existence of mankind, society and nature have closely interacted with each other. Man was a part of nature and had to reckon with its laws. However, unlike other living beings, man adapted to the difficult conditions of the struggle for survival and began to use nature for his own purposes. He took food from nature, used natural hiding places, such as caves, as dwellings, and then learned how to make fire. Fire allowed ancient people to warm themselves in cold weather, drive away predators, and change the quality of food due to thermal cooking. With the beginning of the use of fire and the appearance of tools, man increasingly influenced nature. The cause of large-scale fires in antiquity was, apparently, not only natural phenomena (lightning, volcanic eruptions, etc.), but also careless use of fire by man. With the increase in the number of people, more and more animals that made up the human diet were exterminated.

For centuries, the life of primitive people practically did not change. The main goal was survival. In difficult climatic conditions, one person could not survive. With the existence of primitive tools of labor, to provide oneself with food, protect oneself from predators, etc. only a group of people could. Therefore, the basis of organization and source of power in primitive society was genus (tribal community), all members of which were related to each other.

The family was originally polygamous . Kinship was established on the maternal side, since the mother of the child was known, but the father was not. The woman in these conditions occupied the main position (matriarchy) . Over time, in connection with the improvement of tools and the complication of production methods, male physical strength played an increasingly important role. And with the streamlining of relations between the sexes and the appearance of a paired family, kinship began to be transmitted through the father. Replaced matriarchy patriarchy.

The economy of primitive society wore appropriative , based on public property and egalitarian distribution of products. Labor productivity was low, so everything that was produced was consumed.

The extinction of large animals caused by climate change (warming climate, retreat of the glacier) and mass extermination by their people, forced man to look for new sources of food. He began to domesticate wild animals and grow edible plants. That's how it happened transition from an appropriating to a producing economy . As a result, the position of a person in the field of food production has become more stable. He became less dependent on the vagaries of nature.

The increase in the population has led to an expansion of cultivated areas and an increase in the number of livestock. Man began to struggle with those natural phenomena that interfered with his life. He cut down forests, destroyed weeds, exterminated predatory animals dangerous to livestock.

The killing of certain animal species was sometimes caused not by an objective necessity, but by the desire of people, primarily leaders, kings, etc., to show their strength and dexterity in a one-on-one fight with a terrible beast. So the tours were destroyed - huge bulls that lived on the territory of modern Lithuania, Belarus, Poland. Their fate was almost shared by bison. During the heyday of ancient Rome, gladiator fights involving wild predatory animals were not uncommon.

With the advent of capitalist relations and industrial production, the impact of man on nature began to intensify. 200-300 years ago no one cared about the environment. Uncontrolled use of natural resources - forests, waters, bowels of the earth - was a common occurrence. Waste from industrial production merged into rivers and lakes, dumped outside the gates of industrial enterprises, which turned flowering fields into a lifeless desert, and reservoirs into fetid pits. The extermination of elephants, rhinos, walruses for the sake of tusks in demand has become massive. In the pursuit of profit, numerous entrepreneurs destroyed entire rookeries of fur seals for their valuable fur. The disappearance of many species of animals and plants was caused by a change in the conditions of their existence. They simply could not adapt to a human-modified environment in a short time.

With the development of scientific and technological progress, the impact of society on nature is increasingly intensifying. The 20th century is especially indicative in this regard. It was at this time that mass production appeared, man learned to use atomic energy and began to conquer space. And it was at this time that new, more powerful sources of pollution of nature appeared, and each of us, without knowing it, participates in this process. Now almost every family has a car. We have learned well the well-known idea that a car is not a luxury, but a means of transportation. But millions of cars on the planet emit such a quantity of harmful exhaust gases that the air, especially in major cities becomes heavily polluted. This, in turn, is the cause of many diseases.

In the course of their life activity, a person “produces” a huge amount of household waste, which in most cases accumulates in landfills and is often burned there, releasing into the atmosphere harmful substances. Of particular danger to all living things are nuclear waste, the half-life of which is thousands of years.

Nature does not reconcile itself to such actions of man. She answers him with droughts, floods, earthquakes, with which humanity is not yet able to cope. In past centuries, frequent epidemics led to massive deaths of people. Now cancer, AIDS, SARS are considered practically incurable.

20th century became not only the time of the apogee of human impact on nature. Mankind began to think about how to prevent the harmful consequences of scientific and technological development. The construction and improvement of treatment facilities at plants and factories, the creation of waste-free and energy-saving technologies, the construction of enterprises for the processing of household waste have become especially important.

Constructors different countries pilot models of environmentally friendly vehicles powered by electricity and solar energy have already been created. But their mass production has not yet begun due to the alleged high price of them.

In many countries, reserves and national parks have been created, on the territory of which active human activity is prohibited, and animals and plants exist in natural conditions. Endangered species are listed in the Red Book. Efforts are being made to breed endangered species in captivity. States adopt laws establishing liability for damage to nature.

But it is impossible to solve all environmental problems by the forces of one state, since they are global, i.e. planetary character. The cooperation of states in the environmental sphere is manifested in the conclusion of agreements on issues of nature protection. Some of them concern disarmament issues. In 1963, an agreement was signed in Moscow between the USSR, the USA and England on the prohibition of nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere, in space and under water. In subsequent years, more than a hundred states acceded to this treaty. Such international legal documents as the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, which declares Antarctica a neutral territory intended only for scientific research, and the 1979 Convention on Transboundary Air Pollution.

International environmental organizations are also doing a lot of work on nature protection. In 1948, the International Union for Conservation of Nature was established, and in 1963 - the World Wildlife Fund, and in 1971 - Greenpeace (Green World). Greenpeace activists are fighting against the extermination of animals, including whales. They block the path of whaling ships, preventing them from approaching these marine inhabitants. Greenpeace organizes pickets at nuclear power plants and military bases where there are warehouses with nuclear weapons, organizes other non-violent protests to draw the attention of the public and governments to the need to solve environmental problems.

There is extensive environmental legislation in our country. Constitution Russian Federation declares land and natural resources to be the basis of the life and activities of the peoples of Russia (Article 9) and proclaims the right of everyone to a favorable environment, reliable information about her condition and compensation for damage caused to health by an environmental offense (Article 42). The most important source environmental law is served by the law "On the Protection of the Environment" of 1991, which formulates general provisions nature conservation. It is supplemented by such documents of Russian environmental legislation as the law on the sanitary and epidemiological welfare of the population, the law on the protection of wildlife, the law on the protection atmospheric air, the subsoil law, the land code, the water code, etc. The norms of environmental law are contained in the criminal code and the code on administrative offenses. They establish penalties for causing harm to nature. Such acts as the destruction of forests, poaching, pollution of water bodies and air, damage to natural monuments, entail criminal liability with imprisonment for various periods.

But no matter how many prohibitions are set, measures to protect nature will not be effective without awareness of environmental problems by each of us. Resting outside the city, we should not leave garbage in the forest, make fires, especially in summer, when there is a great danger of fire, and collect plants listed in the Red Book. It is necessary to instill in the younger generation the basics of ecological culture through environmental education and upbringing. Parents should play a major role in this educational institutions, the media.

Thus, the protection of nature is the business of all mankind as a whole and of each person individually. Destroying nature, humanity will perish. Nature has existed for millions of years. She can live without man, but man without nature cannot. Fantasy novels and films are already depicting the consequences of environmental disasters: natural resources are exhausted, water and air are polluted, humanity is dying from incurable diseases, the survivors go underground and lead a miserable existence. In centuries, nature will restore the ecological balance, but there will be no place left for man on Earth. It will be replaced by other forms of life. Humanity will repeat the fate of the dinosaurs.

But humans, unlike dinosaurs, are intelligent beings. We see and realize the consequences of our impact on nature, we know how to solve environmental problems. All this allows us to hope for the restoration of harmony between society and nature.

Questions and tasks

1. What is sex understood by the word "nature"?

2. What is the relationship between man and nature?

3. How did the relationship between society and nature develop throughout the existence of mankind?

4. Give a description of the primitive society. What was the main purpose of bringing people together?

5. Why did the impact of man on nature intensify with the formation of an industrial society?

6. How has the attitude of man towards nature changed in the 20th century? Why did this happen?

7. How to modern world solve environmental problems?

8. What is environmental legislation? What documents is it presented in Russia?

9. Protection of nature is not only the business of the state, but also of every person. How can each of us contribute to nature conservation?

10. Conduct a discussion on the topic "Man and nature in the XXI century."

Nature (from Greek physis and Latin natura - to arise, to be born) is one of the most general categories of science and philosophy, originating in the ancient worldview.

Nature in the broad sense of the word is the whole world in all its infinity of forms and manifestations. In the narrow sense of the word, this is the entire material world, with the exception of society, i.e. the totality of the natural conditions for the existence of human society.

The concept of "nature" is used to denote not only the natural, but also the material conditions of its existence created by man - the "second nature", to some extent transformed and formed by man.

Society as a part of nature isolated in the process of human life is inextricably linked with it. This relationship looks like this: people who are gifted with consciousness and have goals act in society, while blind, unconscious forces act in nature.

The separation of man from the natural world marked the birth of a qualitatively new material unity, since man has not only natural properties, but also social ones.

Society has come into conflict with nature in two respects: 1) as a social reality, it is nothing but nature itself; 2) it purposefully, with the help of tools, affects nature, changing it.

At first, the contradiction between society and nature acted as their difference, since man still had primitive tools of labor, with the help of which he obtained his livelihood. However, in those distant times, there was no longer a complete dependence of man on nature. As the tools of labor improved, society exerted an increasing influence on nature. A person cannot do without nature also because the technical means that make life easier for him are created by analogy with natural processes.

As soon as it was born, society began to have a very significant impact on nature, improving it somewhere, and worsening it somewhere. But nature, in its turn, began to “worse” the characteristics of society, for example, by reducing the quality of health of large masses of people, etc. Society as a separate part of nature and nature itself exert a significant influence on each other. At the same time, they retain specific features that allow them to coexist as a dual phenomenon of earthly reality. This close relationship between nature and society is the basis of the unity of the world.

Ideas about the relationship between society and nature:

1) Antiquity. Nature is a perfect cosmos, the opposite of chaos. The principle is life in harmony, in harmony with nature. Man and nature are one and the same.

2) Middle Ages. Nature is the result of the creation of God, something lower in comparison with man, since only man has the Divine principle - the soul. The principle is to rise above nature. Attitude towards nature, and at the same time towards its sinful generation - human body- as something negative that needs to be curbed, subjugated. Since nature is the result of Divine creation, it was believed that a person, endowed with a spark of the Divine mind, reveals the innermost plan of God in the process of knowing nature.

3) Revival. Nature is a source of joy, pleasure. The principle is the unity of man and nature. Departure from nature is seen as something unnatural and contrary to the true destiny of man.

4) New time. Nature is an object of human experimentation, an inert and inert force that requires conquest and submission. reasonable person. The principle is the domination of man over nature through the development of science, which leads to a rupture of the connection established for centuries between man and nature.

5) Modernity. The need to form a new worldview, synthesizing the best traditions of Western European and Eastern cultures; nature is a unique holistic organism, the basis of human life. The principle is partnership, cooperation, open dialogue between man and nature.