The Idea of Progress: An Inquiry Into Its Origin And Growth

We may believe in the doctrine of Progress or we may not, but in either case it is a matter of interest to examine the origins and trace the history of what is now, even should it ultimately prove to be no more than an idolum saeculi, the animating and controlling idea of western civilisation. Contents: - Some Interpretations of Universal History: Bodin and Le Roy - Utility the End of Knowledge: Bacon - Cartesianism - The Doctrine of Degeneration: the Ancients and Moderns - The Progress of Knowledge: Fontenelle - The General Progress of Man: Abbe De Saint-Pierre - New Conceptions of History: Montesquieu, Voltaire, Turgot - The Encyclopaedists and Economists - Was Civilisation a Mistake? Rousseau, Chastellux - The Year 2440 - The French Revolution: Condorcet - The Theory of Progress in England - German Speculations on Progress - Currents of Thought in France After the Revolution - The Search for a Law of Progress: - Progress in the French Revolutionary Movement (1830-1851) - Material Progress: the Exhibition of 1851 - Progress in the Light of Evolution