✳flâneur — a map of the web's best reading

Why do we need a NEW philosophy of progress?

rootsofprogress.org · 2,403 words · saved by 1 readers

I’ve said that we need a new philosophy of progress for the 21st century. But why a new philosophy? Why can’t we just return to the 19th-century attitude towards progress, which was pretty enthusiastic? In short, the view of progress that persisted especially through the late 19th century and up until 1914 was naive. It fell apart because, in the 20th century, it met challenges it could not answer. We need to answer those challenges today. What follows is a hypothesis that needs a lot more research and substantiation, but I’m putting it forward as my current working model of the relevant intellectual history. Here are a few key elements of the Enlightenment-era worldview: Nature was an obstacle to be conquered. Nature was imperfect; human reason could improve it—and it was fitting and proper for us to do so. Kipling wrote, “We hold all Earth to plunder / All time and space as well.” Nature was a means to our ends. There was a deep belief in the power of human reason both to understand

Why do we need a NEW philosophy of progress? The Roots of Progress About the blog • Writing • Speaking • Bibliography • Subscribe • Roots of Progress Institute Why do we need a NEW philosophy of progress? Why the 19th-century philosophy of progress failed, and what challenges the progress movement needs to answer by Jason Crawford · January 25, 2022 · 9 min read I’ve said that we need a new philosophy of progress for the 21st century . But why a new philosophy? Why can’t we just return to the 19th-century attitude towards progress, which was pretty enthusiastic? In short, t

Explore this link on the map →

related reading