The article considers the most widespread point of view in the domestic literature, mainly in the educational literature, determining progress as a transition from the lower to the higher, from the less perfect to the more perfect. The concepts of "inferior", "higher", "less perfect" and "more perfect" cannot be considered definite, since they are used irrespective of anything. The same point of view is being considered, which considers the concept of "progress" to inorganic nature inapplicable in connection with the cyclical nature of its processes. Social processes are considered, which can also be considered cyclical. The author gives a general definition of progress and explores the scope of the notion of "progress". Progress is defined as the improvement of the degree of fitness of the system that implements and implements the system in its activities towards the environment and at the same time the degree of independence (autonomy) of the given system from the environment in relation to its past and future states. The author claims that adaptation to the environment, which is of a progressive type, is carried out through the realization of mental goals. In other cases, development can be explained by evolutionary changes in the system.