THE IDEA OF PROGRESS IN CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY

Edelstein, Ludwig

ISBN 10: 0801801850 / ISBN 13: 9780801801853

Published by John Hopkins University Press, 1967

About this Item

Scholar's name to ffep (Carolyn Dewald). DJ is price-clipped with light chipping. ; Challenges the belief that the idea of progress is of modern origin and the outcome of a specifically Christian view of history ; 211 pages.

Seller Inventory # 39245

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE IDEA OF PROGRESS IN CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY
• Publisher: John Hopkins University Press
• Publication Date: 1967
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0801801850
• ISBN 13: 9780801801853
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Seller catalogs:
  • Classical Studies
  • Philosophy

About this title

Synopsis

Originally published in 1967. Ludwig Edelstein characterizes the idea of progress in Greek and Roman times. He analyzes the ancients' belief in a tendency inherent in nature or in man to pass through a regular sequence of stages of development in past, present, and future, the latter stages being--with perhaps occasional retardations or minor regressions--superior to the earlier. Edelstein's contemporaries asserted that the Greeks and Romans were entirely ignorant of a belief in progress in this sense of the term. In arguing against this dominant thesis, Edelstein draws from the conclusions of scholars of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and discusses ideas of Auguste Comte and Wilhelm Dilthey.