The Idea Of Progress: An Inquiry Into Its Origin And Growth - Softcover

John Bagnell Bury

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0461310201 ISBN 13: 9780461310207

Publisher: HardPress, 2021

Synopsis

The Idea Of Progress: An Inquiry Into Its Origin And Growth by John Bagnell Bury explains how Western civilization has interpreted and tested the idea that history moves toward a desirable end. In this historical survey, Bury shows that the notion of progress is not an ancient certainty but a late product of the Renaissance and early modern thought. He analyzes how Greek, medieval, and Christian traditions treated time and change, arguing that the Greeks generally viewed time as cyclical and time's ruinous tendency, while medieval thought subordinated earthly improvement to providence. The book then traces how Bodin, Le Roy, and especially Bacon began to articulate a historical theory of advancing knowledge; how Cartesianism helped or hindered the belief in future improvement; and how the Enlightenment, the Encyclopaedists, and the French Revolution mobilized progressive hopes. It ends by examining nineteenth-century prospects and the claim that the future may preserve the possibility of further human fulfillment through science, inquiry, and social reform.

Edition details

• Publisher: HardPress
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0461310201
• ISBN 13: 9780461310207
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 412