V.O. Klyuchevsky on social evolution and progress

The article is devoted to the analysis of the views of the Russian historian Klyuchevsky V.O. on the socio-historical process and the idea of progress as a means of cognition. The relevance of the problem is due to the need to generalize the views of Russian sociologists and the need to identify the main trends in the development of domestic sociology. The author considers heuristic possibilities of interaction between sociology and history in the study of the past of Russia, the peculiarities of Klyuchevsky's views. His view of historical sociology, the mechanism (sources and driving forces, interaction of historical forces) of the general and local historical process, general course of history, assessment of cognitive potential of the concept “progress”. The author draws a conclusion about the evolutionist views of the sociologist on the historical process and about his critical attitude to progress. It is recognized that the key merit of Klyuchevsky V.O. is his development of the concept of historical sociology, which has become the basis for a number of scientific studies.