THE NATURE OF HISTORICAL CAUSALITY: ACTORS AND FACTORS
The article discusses the epistemological consequences of the anthropological shift in historical studies. The author argues against excessive emphasis on anthropological factor in history, since the real history effects are always distanced from the presumed goals of historical figures. Some superpersonal history measures have been identifi ed. First, this is the infrastructural dependence, i.e. the probable effect of the preceding ages and conditions on the future periods (the effect of the past on the present and the future); the heritage created by the past generations — technological, material and institutional infrastructures, geopolitical and symbolic landscapes, etc. undoubtedly set the stage for contemporary actions of historical personages. Second, exogenous causality (systemic dependencies, interstate competition, demonstration effect), which may accelerate the processes of social dynamics, correct, transform, deform of block such processes. The exogenous causality is generated within the large-scale social systems which have a structural, superpersonal nature. The mechanisms of social transmission which often act as a social relay also have a supernatural character. As a result the historical process is presented in the form of a continuous interaction of structures and actions, which can not be reduced solely to the manifestation of human mind and will.