ABSTRACT
A study of the theories of history is not only a necessary condition for analysing views on the historical process, but also an important source from which to understand the very laws of human civilization. The value in studying the development of social thought lies in the fact that it can allow to grasp the true nature of social change even better than the analysis of specific historical events. The development of historical thought, however, has inevitably meant that approaches of this kind have found fewer and fewer adherents. An important feature of conceptions of this sort is the researchers' strict approach to criteria of periodization and thus the sufficiently coherent nature of these criteria. The researcher, in consequence, while often exaggerating the significance of the present, tends to play down as far as possible the importance of earlier changes and to turn insignificant events into historical milestones.
