For many centuries, people are trying to findanswers to questions: why people are so similar in many spheres of life, but at the same time they are so different; on which the formation of a particular person depends; that is inherent in a person at the gene level, and what appears under the influence of habitat and communication.
Many scientists in the process of their activitieshypothesized about the formation of man with his unique inner world. In the question of what is inherited and what is acquired in the course of life, Cesare Lombroso, Benedikt Augustin Morel, Sigmund Freud, Abraham Maslow, Bekhterev Vladimir Mikhailovich and many other experts put forward their ideas. Naturally, each of them proved his hypotheses, relying on professional practice, observations, experiments.
Lev Gumilev is known for putting forward a hypothesis about the structure and mechanisms of the development of ethnogenesis and passionarity as an important component of it. What is the difference between this hypothesis and modern scientific theories?
Being the child of two poets, who grew upgrandmother and rejected the society as the son of a "traitor to the Motherland," Lev Gumilev could not ignore the question of why everything is happening this way, and not otherwise in his environment and whether other options for developing the scenario of life are possible. His hypothesis was built on the analysis of historical and geographical factors of the emergence and development of ethnic groups.
According to Gumilyov's theory, the formation andthe subsequent integrity of the ethnos is ensured by the geochemical energies of the biosphere. Each nation develops its own rules for interaction with the surrounding world. The main factor in the emergence of different nationalities is considered an adaptation to the terrain and the nature of the terrain. With the light hand of Gumilev passionarity is responsible for the fate of a particular person and a whole ethnos. What is the semantic meaning of this term?
The origin of the word Latin (passio -enduring, but also passion, affect). In the area of European languages, single-root words have some nuances. In Spain, pasion is treated in the same way as in Latin. In Italy, passione is passionate love. In France and Romania, passione is a description of sensual passions. In England passion is a sign of a flash of anger. In Poland, the term refers to rage. In Holland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, passion is a hobby.
The Russian equivalent of the Latin word is the ancientthe word passion. Many years ago it had a different meaning than today (according to VI Dal) - it's a mate, a torment, a spiritual impulse for anything, a moral thirst, an unconscious desire and an unreasonable desire. According to the Old Russian concepts, the passionarity of the nation was represented in the person of the passionate or the passion-bearers.
However, many ancient words of the Russian language eithercame out of use, or lost the former semantic load, and today "passion is a strong love, a strong sense attraction (according to IS Ozhegov). There is a simplification of the meaning of the word. Therefore, Gumilev speaks not of passion, but of passionarity.
What is passionarity?The definition describes the general statement of VI. Vernadsky on the heterogeneity of the distribution of biochemical energy in a long historical period. The results of uneven distribution of energy pour out into passionarity (according to Gumilev). And the moments of the highest allocation of biochemical energy into space are designated as passionary impulses.
It is asserted that passionarity is causedmicro-mutation at the gene level, but this fact is practically unprovable. And it's not even that the relevant studies have not been carried out, but that the deviation of the gene set (in the form of a mutation), even a tenth of a percent of the norm, causes severe pathology, and 1-2% changes in the species (you can become a dolphin or crocodile).
Gumilyov's statements about passionarity ashereditary trait is true in so far as the types of temperament, the properties of the nervous system are inherited. But such studies are engaged in psychogenetics, in which there are enough terms to describe such phenomena. With the help of research methods, scientists have proved that the notorious desire to "learn and learn new and unexplored" is encoded in a certain group of genes and transmitted by inheritance. This fact is confirmed by laboratory studies, long-term observations and experiments.
According to Gumilyov, passionarity is"A character dominant, an uncontrollable inner aspiration (conscious or more often unconscious) towards activities aimed at the accomplishment of some goal (often illusory)" (the book "Geography of Ethnos in the Historical Period"). There are other definitions. Some psychologists say that the author created a new psychodynamic theory of personality, but in the "classical" typology of characters all features attributed to Gumilev passionaries are described, only in another classification.
The peculiarity of scientific knowledge, in contrast tohypothetical assumptions - in that it is provable, observable, repeatable under similar conditions, it can be used to compile an exact scenario of future events. The theory of passionarity and ethnogenesis is an attempt to look at the history of peoples from a different point of observation (bypassing economic and political patterns). Since it is known that in man only 50% of inherited characteristics, and the remaining ones account for the impact of society and the environment, Lev Gumilev described the possible impact of the latter (the influence of landscapes and their energy saturation).
Gumilev's theory of passionarity inthe book "Ethnogenesis and the biosphere of the Earth". This is a non-standard approach to studying the history and geography of ethnoses and the patterns of their development. However, it is not difficult to see the so-called neo-Eurasianism in it. Eurasianism was a national postulate in the 1920s-1930s. Gumilev's theory of passionarity is based on the ideas of such famous Eurasians as Trubetskoi, Krasavin, Savitsky, Vernadsky. Leo Nikolayevich is the continuer of many ideas of this culturological concept. This can be traced in the description of small ethnic groups (closed and original), their religious and typological characteristics, as well as the role of personalities with a special psyche in historically tense moments of ethnos development.
Lev Nikolaevich was one of those to whom the theoryprogress was disgusting. It was in civilization that he saw signs of the destruction of ethnic systems, which, according to Gumilev, leads to land degradation and deterioration of the ecological state of the habitat. The main pernicious factor in this case is "unnatural migration" and the emergence of cities ("artificial landscapes"). It can be argued that this idea was borrowed and continued by some followers of Lev Nikolayevich from the concept of Werner Sombart.
Since the emergence of passionarity amongthe population of the Earth is affected by "some cosmic force", then the specific share of receiving this attribute will be different. To describe this feature, Gumilev developed levels of passionarity. All in the classification of 9 levels, located on the scale of coordinates within the values from -2 to 6. Conditionally, all levels are divided into three groups (the classical model of division):
How are the levels of passionarity for Gumilev (briefly) in the groups listed:
Gumilev's assertion about the independence of his concept from the doctrine of temperament is quite contradictory. This fact is clearly visible when studying the above classification.
In the issue of interaction between ethnic groups,according to the theory of passionarity, the key importance is the size of interacting ethnos and complementarity (the emotional relationship of ethnoses to each other). Such relations are expressed in different ways of interaction:
An important component of the ethnos as a single organismthe stereotype of the behavior of the group's representatives is determined. According to LN Gumilev, this characteristic appears to be structurally ordered behavioral skills characteristic of a certain ethnos. An opinion is expressed that this factor belongs to the category of inherited (at the biological level). Structurally there are four types of relations:
In stereotypes of behavior Gumilev also includes rules of relations of an ethnic group to foreigners.
According to the theory of Lev Nikolaevich, stereotypesbehavior undergoes changes throughout the life of the ethnos before its "aging" (the state of homeostasis). There are nine stages (or phases of development) of ethnogenesis:
At the base of this pyramid are convictions and consortia. Further, in increasing, - subethnoses, ethnoses and super ethnoses.
The origin and development of the ethnos, according to Gumilyov,begins with consortia and convictions. The first is a group of people with a common historical past, and the second is a group with single-character household and family ways. The interaction of these groups and supports the unity of the ethnos.
The strongest argument in favor of pseudoscientificGumilyov's theory is the description and explanation of phenomena from the standpoint of "patriotism" (scientific knowledge is free of "emotional" theories, not based on a strong factual basis). This circumstance, as seen by critics, prevents the historian from seeing the essence of the historical events that have occurred. According to Gumilev himself, "emotions in science generate errors", but all the author's works are filled with contradictions (this is due to the rejection of some research methods in favor of "patriotism").
It is also justified that the postulate on"Absence of a category of guilt and responsibility" in the development of ethnogenesis. Critics see it as an excuse for any kind of aggression under the guise of "millstones of history" (urgent necessity). The use of Gumilev's concept by radical Russian nationalists can serve as an illustration to justify their actions.
The Eurasian concept sought to justifyRussian revolution (and all the consequences associated with it) without distraction on ethical assessments. The central idea was the integrity of Russia. And the methods and techniques of interaction with ethnoses in neo-Eurasianism (Gumilev's theory) were written off to the prevailing passionarity of the Russian people.
The concept has supporters and opponents, but one thingremained unchanged - the work did not become a scientific work (that's why Gumilev's thesis was not approved by the VAK, because the criteria for assessing the scientific and pseudoscientificness of the commission are the same for everyone). Unfortunately, the contradictions with which Gumilyov's books are filled have not been eliminated by anyone, but there have not been any interested in "cutting" the given "diamond".
However, this fact does not detract from the significance of the work done, embodied in the concept of the Passionary theory of ethnogenesis, Lev Nikolaevich Gumilev.
