The Idea of Progress: An Inquiry Into Its Origin and Growth.

How Western thought came to trust improvement through knowledge and reform—and why that belief still shapes our world.

This historical study traces the idea of Progress from its early roots through the major thinkers who shaped modern Western civilization, showing how belief in improvement through knowledge and reform became a guiding force across society.

The book surveys the origins and growth of Progress, explaining how philosophical, political, and cultural currents intertwined to make improvement a central goal. It examines the ideas of figures from Bodin to Saint-Pierre and beyond, and it situates these ideas in the broader history of culture, politics, and science. The work emphasizes the complex, sometimes contested, nature of Progress and invites readers to weigh its promises against its limits.
What you’ll experience

• A clear, historical map of how the idea of Progress evolved in Western thought
• Connections between knowledge, reform, and public happiness across centuries
• Profiles of influential thinkers and the debates that shaped modern attitudes toward improvement
• Accessible prose that invites both students and curious readers to explore a foundational topic

Ideal for readers of history of ideas, philosophy, and Western civilization, as well as those curious about how our modern faith in progress began.
{ "genre": "nonfiction", "confidence": 0.75 }

At the time of original publication in 1921, J. B. Bury was Regius Professor of Modern History, and Fellow of King's College, in the University of Cambridge, and was a profound scholar and a philosophic thinker.