Any era in the history of mankind is associated with personalities who personify this or that time. They, their biographies and characters are such anchors that tie us to time, explaining events, changes, their prerequisites and consequences.
Although not everything is so blissful in the science of philosophy. And in historical science too. Since the time of Plato, philosophers and historians have been arguing among themselves about which is more primary - a forward movement or a person, giving at certain moments an inevitable historical kick to humanity. This dispute has been going on for centuries and, most likely, will be able to be resolved only when mankind decides for itself another no less important philosophical question - about the primacy of matter: what was previously a chicken or an egg.
Clash of theories
The determinists-materialists familiar to us from childhood, Engels, Plekhanov, Lenin, etc., believed that the role of the individual in history is undoubtedly important, but in no way can it be more influential than the general historical, evolutionary, law-forming development.
The personalists - Berdyaev, Shestov, Sheler and others, on the contrary, are sure that it is the personality, and, importantly, the passionary personality who has come into this world, that moves the development of history forward. Whichever side the passionate belongs to - good or evil.
In short, the difference between the theories is as follows: some believe that an individual can influence the course of history, but is not able to reverse its forward movement, others are sure that the progress of historical development largely depends on individuals living in that or another historical period.
Some believe that everything happens exactly when it should happen, and not an hour or a minute earlier, not to mention the fact that by an hour or a minute they mean centuries and millennia. Even if a certain incident happens in history - a person is born, bending the progressive historical process under himself and giving it an unprecedented acceleration, like, for example, Alexander the Great, then with the death of this person everything ends. And even more than that: society sharply rolls back, and instead of progress, regression sets in, as if history or God himself are eliminating themselves and taking a short-term vacation.
Others are sure that only a unique Personality gives humanity the opportunity to progress and progress is the more rapid, the larger the scale of this personality.
Personalities who kicked stories
It would seem that the evidence of the materialists is indisputable. Indeed, with the death of Macedonian, the empire he created fell apart, and some of the previously quite prosperous states fell into decay. The peoples who inhabited them disappeared somewhere in the unknown. As, for example, the Khorezm state defeated by Alexander under the rule of the Achaemenids - according to the legend, the descendants of Atlantis. So, after Alexander, the last beautiful Atlanteans disappeared. And not only them. With his death, what we call Ancient Greece also disappeared. But! It cannot be denied that what he created gave a certain impulse for subsequent generations, for those who were born after him. The Asia he discovered for the West and the West for Asia gave impetus to the endless human Brownian movement for centuries.
In fact, among the many really great people who have left their mark on the history of mankind, perhaps, there are not so many who can be ranked after Alexander the Great.
Perhaps there are just over a dozen of them: Archimedes and Leonardo Da Vinci, Lenin, Hitler and Stalin, Gandhi, Havel and Golda Meir, Einstein and Jobs. The list can be different - large or even smaller. But it is undeniable that these individuals were able to change the world.
