Many leading philosophers and historians have been looking for an explanation for the original development of individual regions, countries, cultures, as well as all of humanity as a whole. Such scientists as O. Spengler, V. Schubart, N. Danilevskiy, F. Northrop and others were interested in this issue. The most representative and interesting theories of civilizational cultures include the works of A. Toynbee. His theory of local civilizations is recognized by many as a masterpiece of macrosociology.
He bases his research on the assertion that the real object of research should be societies that have a much greater extent in space and life span than ordinary nation-states. Such a society is a local civilization.
There are more than 20 developed civilizational cultures. These include: Western Orthodox Russian, Orthodox Byzantine, Antique, Indian, Arabic, Sumerian, Chinese, Egyptian,Andean, Mexican, Hittite and other civilizations. Toynbee also focuses on the five "stillborn" as well as four civilizations that stopped in development - Momadic, Eskimo, Spartan and Ottoman. I wonder why some cultures develop dynamically, while others stop developing in the early stages of their existence.
The origin of civilizations cannot be explained by the influence of such factors as the geographical environment, racial criteria, aggressiveness or favorable conditions, and the presence of a creative minority in the society. The theory of local civilizations states that only groups where there are many of these factors in the aggregate, evolve into civilizational cultures. Communities where these conditions are absent are at the pre-civilizational level. For example, a moderately favorable environment will always challenge society, creating problems that need to be understood and solved with the use of creativity. Such a society lives on the principle of challenge-response and is always in motion, because it does not know rest. Therefore, it will eventually create its own civilizational culture.
The theory of local civilizations says that the history of mankind is perceived as a community of histories of local civilizational cultures that go through the following path: birth - dawn - decline - disappearance. Each of them is unique. The signs of civilization are the creative core around which original forms are formed.spiritual life, as well as economic, social and political organization.
One local civilizational culture can give rise to others. For example, Ancient Greece led to the emergence of Western, Orthodox Russian and modern Orthodox Greek cultures. If a civilization loses its cultural and creative core, then this leads to its death. A culture is viable as long as it can adequately respond to external challenges that threaten its existence.
Toynbee's theory of local civilizations calls for abandoning "Western-centric" views and stopping considering cultures that are incomprehensible to Western society and do not fit into its worldview as "backward" or "barbaric".
