Some Prerequisites for the Formation of a Grand Challenges Paradigm in Concepts of Social Systems

Changes and patterns of development of social systems in the methodology of the great challenge research are an important element of philosophical analysis. The study of relevant concepts creates a structural framework for examining grand challenges. In this article, the author examines them in the context of the theories of autopoiesis, the biology of cognition, the challenge response, the world of systems, and the civilizational cycles. From a methodological perspective, the paradigm of great challenges is based on two main principles: the principle of systemicity and the principle of historicism. These two principles allow us to see civilization as a kind of material, spiritual, semantic, and value unity that unfolds in space and time. According to the author, in modern theories of society, the paradigm of great challenges can reformat the very space of analysis and provide an optic that connects historical existence with social existence.