Civilization and Progress

University of Kentucky UKnowledge Philosophy Arts and Humanities 1971 Civilization and Progress Radoslav A. Tsanoff Rice University Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation Tsanoff, Radoslav A., "Civilization and Progress" (1971). Philosophy. 4. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_philosophy/4 CIVILIZATION AND PROGRESS This page intentionally left blank CIVILIZATION AND PROGRESS Radoslav A. Tsanoff McManis Professor of Philosophy Rice University The University Press of Kentucky To Corrinne S. Tsanoff ISBN 978-0-8131-5511-1 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 74-160051 Copyright @ 1971 by The University Press of Kentucky A statewide cooperative scholarly publishing agency serving Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, Kentucky State College, Morehead State University, Murray State Uni versity, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. Editorial and Sales Offices: Lexington, Kentucky 40506 Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction 1 PART ONE A Historical Review of the Idea of Social Progress ONE Alternatives and Approaches to the Idea of Progress in Classical Antiquity 19 TWO Divine Providence and Human Progress in the Christian Tradition 32 THREE The Upsurge of the Idea of Progress during the Renaissance and the Seventeenth Century 61 FOUR Philosophies of Progress in the Eighteenth Century 83 FIVE The Problem of Progress in the Nineteenth Century 115 SIX Contemporary Criticism 152 SEVEN Utopian Visions of the Perfect Society 182 PART TWO Social Confidence and the Despair of Progress: Alternative Judgments of Civilization EIGHT The Evolution of the Family and the Emancipation of Women 213 NINE Household Economy and Bodily Well-Being 237 vi CONTENTS TEN Economic Values, Technology, and Human Progress 249 ELEVEN Social Order and Personal Freedom 279 TWELVE Intellectual and Aesthetic Values 309 THIRTEEN Moral and Religious Development 334 Epilogue 358 Index 369 Acknowledgments QuoTATIONs from other works are acknowledged in the Notes. Where the translator of a cited passage is not indicated, the English version, prose or verse, is mine. I thank the publisher's reader of this work for his careful examination of my manuscript and for his many suggestions to clear up details in my exposition. Throughout the entire course of my work I have had the steady help of my wife-now as always during the past half century. This page intentionally left blank Introduction DoEs THE couRsE of history manifest any significant trend upward and forward? Is historical development an epical rhythm of positive achievement which we can scan; or is it a continual decline; or else is it merely a fortuitous or cyclical rise and fall, or even a random, meaningless succession of events? In fact, are we warranted in speak ing at all of historical development and growth? These questions are implicit in the problem of social progress. This problem has reemerged in a new context of harsh negation. On all sides today we hear grim words. In books and articles and in general discussion the view is expressed that our civilization is on the verge of col lapse, that our traditional values are discredited, that our entire social system faces ruin. Many evils now appear in our technical and industrial society, which had been regarded as destined eventually to raise human life to much higher levels. To many, our hopes now appear illusory, our society heading toward disaster. It should be noted that our age does not disparage technical advance itself. We would not consider de claring a moratorium on scientific research or on technical applications of it. What we deplore is the disparity between technical proficiency and human welfare in our civilization. In raising the problem of social progress we are probing the principles of critical evaluation of social order and history. We may begin by an explanation of terms. What do we mean by progress? A mere dictionary definition of course will not suffice; all the same, the etymology of 2 INTRODUCTION the word may be found enlightening. Progress, coming from the Latin verb progredior, means "going forward." Now, all going is not going forward. Some crustaceans move backward; crabs usually crawl sidewise and can proceed in any direction without really turning. In the crab's philosophy of life the term progress, as moving forward, would be confusing; forward and back, outward and in-all would be one to the crab. And also to many men who see progress mainly as vigorous movement. If the going is ceaseless and energetic, it is judged by some to be progressive, as with the man who "never lets up," or of a community in which "something's doing every minute." The least reflection should serve to dismiss this identi fication of progress with mere energetic activity or change, for the most vigorous movement may be most futile or ruinous if it is misdirected. Vigorous and energetic ac tivity and development are, of course, the media through which progress may be achieved. But the decisive factor in progress is the direction of movement: toward what value does activity tend? Progress, individual and social, involves unambiguously personal fulfillment in terms of values that were not but now are, and are yet to be. The idea of progress emphasizing personal fulfillment may be stated simply as a change for the better in this world. That there is really a "better," is the basic convic tion of moral intelligence. It is the great word alike of classical and Christian wisdom, the acknowledgment of a Highest Good or summum bonum, a Pearl of Great Price, the pursuit and possession of which mark the life really worth living. The ABC of morals is this hierarchical outlook on the values of life: that some are to be spurned, and others to be kept subordinate, while our chief concern is with the highest and supreme values. The dismissal of this selective judgment by thoughtless or skeptical minds is the devil's folly in men's lives. INTRODUCTION 3 The second fundamental feature of the idea of human progress is the recognition of its secular aspect. While it transcends the perspectives of mechanical determinism, it is also to be distinguished from the opposite rigid providential determinism of some types of theology. There have always been grave doubts in most of the world's religions that man could achieve progress by his own efforts. The Islamic notion of kismet or fate in Muham madan doctrine, that all of our thoughts and words and deeds have been eternally written in the Book of Allah, rules out any belief in man's own achievement. History could only be the unrolling of Allah's everlasting scroll. Many Christian theologians who do not expound pre destination in its extreme form, fatalist or Calvinist or even Augustinian, are yet finally insistent on a providen tial determination of men's lives and of the whole his torical process. In that outlook the idea of progress as man's own active attainment and increasing possession of high values must appear ambiguous, if not impious. As our historical review will show, the clear idea of progress is a modern expression, emerging since the Renaissance and that "century of genius," the seventeenth. The belief in progress has been called the modern man's secular religion, and some traditional religionists have considered it as ungodly. The important point is to recog nize the characteristic perspective in which the idea of progress is manifested significantly: in an outlook on life definitely secular which just as definitely and unambig uously acknowledges personal and spiritual activities and values. In this view of human lives and historical processes we can raise significantly the question of progress; but how is it to be answered? The first part of our work is a review of the idea of social progress as it has been entertained in the history of thought. The belief in progress was not a vital idea in classical antiquity which in the main did not view history 4 INTRODUCTION as a progressive achievement. The classical mind gen erally viewed the course of history either as a continual decline from an original golden age to lower and lower grades of living; or else as a cyclical process of eternal recurrence, in which a round of cosmic processes repeats itself aeon after aeon through measureless time. Some notable classical approaches to a belief in progress, how ever, are cited as early anticipations of later views. The second chapter reviews the medieval-Christian tradition which in its orthodox development emphasized both the idea of original sin and a providential determina tion of human life and destiny not only in men's daily careers but also in its expectations of some coming mil lennium and in apocalyptic visions of God's final judgment. While the many extravagant expressions of these pious speculations were rejected by more sober religious re flection, the basic conviction of human life under divine Providence resisted any recognition of progress as attain able by man's own endeavors. The following four chapters, surveying the secular ideas of social-historical progress since the Renaissance, contain a review of alternative affirmations and denials, and some considerable suspense of judgment. Outstanding and gen erally familiar has been the liberal view of progress de rived from the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century. Here human nature is regarded as developing in the process of experience. Under the right conditions of education and social-political order, with governments subject to popular control and sovereignty, men's capac ities for improvement would be realized in ongoing progress.

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