Laws of Social Development and Legal Progress

The article examines the ideas of I. Kant, G. V. F. Hegel and the founders of sociological science on the socio-legal development of mankind: Au. Comte, Saint-Simon, J. S. Mill, H. L. Spencer. As a result of the analysis carried out by the author, it is concluded, firstly, that the laws of dialectics do not reveal the direction of socio-legal progress, its starting and ending points. Secondly, the laws of the natural world cannot be transferred to the social sphere, which is based on moral norms and legal ideals. It is impossible to build a theory of social progress on a biological basis, to predict the social future, since it is not determined by the biological nature of man. Thirdly, as humankind progresses from a biological to a social state, external goal-setting is supplanted by internal goal-setting – a conscious socio-legal choice on the part of humanity itself. Fourthly, in order for social and legal progress to become natural, it must be based on a system of legal organization of society. This system should be founded on the idea of social progress, which should become the cornerstone of public consciousness. In this way, legal progress can only become the law of public life when the underlying idea becomes the law of public consciousness.