The concept of Arnold Toynbee: civilization is a society that has overcome the external challenge

This concept comes from the Latin word civis, which can be translated as "civil" or "state." In a more or less modern sense, it was first mentioned by the French Enlightener Victor Mirabeau. According to his understanding, civilization is a set of certain social norms that distinguish Human society from the animal existence: knowledge, courtesy, softening of morals, politeness and so on. This term is also mentioned in the work of another prominent philosopher of the era - Scotsman Adam Ferguson. For him, civilization is a stage in the development of human society. Ferguson saw history as a consistent development of human culture (writing, cities, socium) - from barbarism to a highly developed culture. In a similar vein, the idea of the subject developed in the studies of later philosophers, historians, and sociologists. For them all, civilization is a concept, one way or another connected with human society and possessing a set of features that characterize this society. However, approaches have changed. For Marxists, for example, civilization is a stage in the development of the productive forces of society.

The historical approach of Arnold Toynbee

An interesting model of the historical process was proposed by the English historian Arnold Toynbee. In his famous work "Comprehension of History", consisting of several volumes, he considers the entire history of human societies as a nonlinear aggregate of the origin, development and decline of civilizations emerging at different times and in different regions of the globe. Features of each Civilizational community is explained to them by different conditions of the external environment: the climate of the area, the historical neighbors, and so on.

This process Arnold Toynbee called the law of challenge and response. According to his theory, all sorts of known and secret civilizations arise out of pracivilization communities as a result of a response to some external challenge. And in the course of their answer they either perish, or create a civilization. For example, ancient Babylonian and Egyptian civilizations arose. In response to the aridity of land for survival, local tribes required the creation of a whole system of artificial irrigation canals, which afterwards required careful care. This, in turn, caused the emergence of an apparatus for compelling peasants, the emergence of wealth, and consequently, the state, which took a civilizational form dictated by external climatic features.

Christian medieval Civilization in Russia arose as a reaction to the constant raids of nomadic tribes, rallied the scattered East Slavic tribes. In the first volume of his "Comprehension of History" Toynbee identifies twenty-one civilizations in the history of mankind. Among them, besides mentioned, the ancient Chinese, Hellenic, Arab, Hindu, Andean, Minoan, Mayan, Sumerian, Indian, Western, Hittite, Far Eastern, two Christian - in Russia and the Balkans, Iranian, Mexican and Yucatan. In later volumes, his views underwent changes, and the number of civilizations decreased. In addition, the historian noted some communities that had a chance to become civilizations, but could not successfully overcome their own challenge. Such were, for example, Spartans, medieval Scandinavians, nomads of the Great Steppe.