Progress and Science: Essays in Criticism

Progress And Science: Essays In Criticism by Robert Shafer surveys the reception of the doctrine of progress in Western thought, focusing on the form of progress through science as its oldest articulation. Shafer critiques Marvin’s The Living Past and The Century of Hope, and traces influences from Bacon, Descartes, Newton, and Darwin to the nineteenth century revolution in science, industry, and social theory. He argues that the belief in science as a unifying, rational force to advance humanity often served to legitimize rapid material progress while compromising liberal education and genuine moral development. The book critically examines claims of universal social progress, including the ideas of the Encyclopedists, Lamarckian biology, Darwinian evolution, and reformers such as G. D. H. Cole and Miss Follett, showing how political and educational schemes frequently rest on optimistic but unfounded premises. Shafer ultimately differentiates the external achievements of science from the deeper, inward life of individuals, warning that progress is not guaranteed and that human values require more than technocratic triumphs.