Randall Collins's Macrohistory: Methodological Aspects

This article is devoted to the problem of substantiation of the structure and form of organization of social cognition, so that it can effectively perform the functions of explanation and prediction. To resolve this problem, the methodological analysis model of macro-historical dynamics by Randall Collins has been taken. It is established that Collins's model is organized in accordance with the model of Imre Lakatos's research program. It is noted that this model is the most optimal form of construction of social epistemolo-gy. The core of Collins's program is the Weberian thesis about the legitimacy of the state, its prestige of power, principles of geopolitical dynamics of states. The structure of the protective belt of Collins's program includes provisions on the role of communications and efforts to maintain them, the importance of diplomatic alliances; positive heuristics is formed by the idea of the leading role of geopolitics in relation to various spheres of society. On the basis of the provisions of the core of his program, Collins sets forth certain macro-historical hypotheses. These include the geopolitical hypothesis of revolution as a state disintegration, the geopolitical hypothesis of ethnicity and ethnic dynamics, the geopolitical hypothesis of democracy as a set of structures of collective power, the "four-dimensional" model of modernization, the hypothesis of market dynamics in history (it replaces the concept of mode of production), the hypothesis of "self-transforming capitalism". Collins complements this explanatory model with the prediction model, which is based on the hypothesis of general historical laws of Carl Hempel. The article shows that the heuristic capabilities of Col-lins's program are explained by the implementation of these models, so that it brings social cognition to a high level of theorization. This is manifested in the justification of Collins's thesis about the theoretical load of the empirical foundation of social knowledge. It is also important that Collins explains and predicts with the help of modern scientific concepts that are part of his program and are involved in the formulation of macro-historical hypotheses. Among these concepts are the principles of a system approach, cybernetics and elements of probability theory. Thus, the model of Collins's macro-historical dynamics reveals the structure of social cognition consisting of three levels. The meta-theoretic level, by means of which the problems of social cognition are solved, forms modern scientific concepts. The middle level is formed by social theories that explain the dynamics of economic, political and cultural spheres. The lower level involves the practical application of social knowledge through the creation of long-term social action strategies. Collins's model overcomes the one-sidedness of the narrowly empirical approach in social cognition, reveals the possibility of establishing close links between the latter and the methodology of science.

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