The Origins of Geospheric Thinking and Its Significance for Understanding the Global World.

Abstract

The article discusses one of the most pressing problems of man – his aggres-sive nature and the permanent state of war in which he lives, but for which, despite all possible attempts, no effective countermeasure has yet been found in the entire history of mankind. In this regard, the author refers to the history of understanding both the nature of war and the possibility of establishing a stable peace, as well as to globalization, which has radically changed the man’s position of on the planet in the last four centuries. In particular, attention is drawn to the fact that the current scale, quality and nature of military operations in the context of multidimensional globalization threaten with a complete destruction of intelligent life on Earth. The article suggests that, although not an absolute, but an unconditional countermeasure to this is the formation of geospheric thinking among, at least, a certain part of the inhabitants of the planet, reflecting the diversity and the way of cognition of the multi-layered global world. It is shown how geospheric consciousness and thinking, which form the basis of the global worldview, have emerged and developed historically. The analysis gives grounds to conclude that people began to think in terms of global spheres only in the nineteenth century and at the verbal level, the geospheric (planetary) thinking became a reality only by the end of the twentieth century. As a result, it is concluded that, progress in the for-mation of geospheric thinking, however slow, can contribute to the prevention of war and the maintenance of peaceful life on Earth.