The Historical Process and Its Features

The Concept of the Historical Process

The diversity of social subjects and forms of human activity, occurring under various conditions, gives rise to an exceptionally complex dynamic of social development, influencing the evolution of different social organisms. The outcomes characterizing any given activity also vary widely, with many producing negligible effects on the fundamental traits of the social organism, leaving little to no trace in its historical narrative. However, there are those outcomes that lead to qualitative transformations within the social organism, imprinting themselves on its essential characteristics and thereby shaping the historical process.

Every process (from the Latin processus — progression, advancement) is a collection of events, states, and changes that possesses a certain integrity and direction. The interrelated components of a process fulfill various functions: some serve as the foundational elements, acting as the starting point or consequences of the process, while others provide the conditions necessary for transforming the initial point into an outcome. Thus, any process consists of a series of states that sequentially replace one another in the developing object under investigation, reflecting their interconnections and transitions between prior and subsequent states.

Like any other process, the historical process manifests as a succession of developmental states of a social organism, which successively transform one into another—historical states. The independence of the formation, existence, and development of social organisms from the will and consciousness of the individuals that constitute them underscores the objectivity of the historical process.

The aforementioned characteristics are crucial for defining the historical process. However, while they are also intrinsic to other social processes, they do not fully reveal the essence of the phenomenon we are examining. This deeper understanding can only be achieved by uncovering the specificities of its formation and the nature of its constituent parts.

When discussing the peculiarities of the historical process, we should first highlight the specificity of its determinism. Among social processes, we can distinguish between those that are immanent, with their source residing within the organism itself, and those determined by external forces. The historical process is governed by internal causal factors that play a decisive role in the development of the social organism. External factors, while sometimes instigating qualitative changes, are often incidental and serve a supplementary role.

Furthermore, the development of social organisms—be it a specific class, a particular society, or humanity as a whole—emerges as a complexly organized system of economic, political, social, and spiritual processes that characterize the diverse activities of a given social organism. Each of these processes, influenced by various internal and external factors, reflects a particular aspect of the social organism's vitality and, as such, is characterized by a certain degree of autonomy. For instance, one could isolate and analyze the process of economic development in Ukraine or any other nation that emerged after the dissolution of the USSR, as well as in the countries of Europe, America, Asia, and Africa. Nevertheless, it is vital to remember that both the process itself and its specific condition cannot be comprehensively understood in isolation from the political, social, and spiritual development processes. These processes, on one hand, serve as primary constituents of the historical process, while on the other, they are themselves integrated into and determined by it. This integrative characteristic of all social processes inherent to societies, classes, or humanity as a whole constitutes the second key feature of the historical process.

While the second characteristic of the historical process is related to the specificity of its constituents, the third pertains to the outcomes of their actions—historical states. By "historical state," we refer not to the entire range of properties and relationships inherent to a social organism during a specific period of its formation and development, but rather to that portion in which the essence of the social organism is expressed. This primarily concerns the nature of economic, political, social, spiritual, and ideological relationships.

Identifying the character of these relationships, i.e., the historical state and its transformations, allows us, on one hand, to affirm the existence of the historical process in its entirety, and on the other, to create the potential for an adequate reflection of various phenomena that occurred in the past through diverse forms of social consciousness, thus determining the direction of the historical process.

From the preceding analysis, it is reasonable to define the historical process as one of the fundamental concepts of social philosophy and the philosophy of history, denoting a series of sequentially changing historical events and states that have objectively emerged, expressing a change in the essential properties and relationships inherent to the developing social organism.

The complex structure of a developing social organism gives rise to the relative autonomy of the components of the historical process within the whole. This pertains, firstly, to the previously mentioned processes reflecting various facets of the life activity of social organisms and, secondly, to historical events and states. These can be viewed as relatively independent. However, it is essential to acknowledge that they are simultaneously integral parts of the historical process, organically interconnected with one another, shaped by the integrity of the developing social organism.

Recognizing this condition serves as a starting point for comprehending the dialectic of the historical process, allowing us to discern its specificity.