THE IDEA OF PROGRESS AND THE AGONISTIC ETHOS OF WESTERN MAN by Clare Ellis B.A. in Philosophy (Honours) and Sociology, UNB, 2008 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master’s in Interdisciplinary Studies in the Graduate Academic Unit of Interdisciplinary Studies Supervisors: Dr. Ricardo Duchesne, PhD, Sociology Dr. David Flagel, PhD, Philosophy Examining Board: Dr. Daniel Downes, PhD, Information Communication Studies, Chair Dr. Janet Bums, PhD, Sociology This thesis is accepted by the Dean of Graduate Studies THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK August, 2011 © Clare Ellis, 2011 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du 1+1Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-91863-0 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-91863-0 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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Canada On missionnaire du mpyen ftge raconte qu’il avail troavd ie point oil le del et la Terre se toucbent... 1 ' This is a wood engraving with the caption: “A medieval missionary tells that he has found the point where heaven and Earth meet...” and is found in Camille Flammarion’s L'Atmosphere: M&dorologie Pomilaire. (Paris: 1888), 163. DEDICATION For R and G Mentors and friends Ellis iv ABSTRACT The idea of progress is found in the ancient Greeks in the form of individual and social- cultural cyclical developmentalism and metaphor. The Christians modified this ancient developmentalism such that it acquired a sacred linearity and emphasised progress in knowledge and spiritual perfection, ideas which were then secularised by Enlightenment thinkers. These latter thinkers also transformed the idea of progress into a theory applicable to the evolution of humanity as a whole. The efficient cause of progress has historically been conceived as a dialectical interplay of contesting entities. Modem liberalism seeks to do away with conflict, aggression, inequality, and suffering in order to create a global progressive order. My thesis is that creative progress requires conflict and modem liberalism is in denial of the agonistic nature of life. Ellis v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my appreciation to my supervisory committee: Dr. Ricardo Duchesne and Dr. David Flagel. Thanks for giving time, thought, and guidance to my questions, ambitions, and research. Special thanks to Dr. Duchesne for your patience, understanding, and support, and for being a most excellent adviser. Dr. Flagel, it has been an honour to work with you. I would also like to thank Dr. Don Desserud, Dr. Chris Doran, Dr. Hugh Williams, and Dr. Bob Whitney for the many discussions and different points of view that aided in my seeing and managing obstacles to my research, as well as suggesting reading materials that have been undoubtedly important in the process of my work. Thanks to Marilyn MacLeod for happily giving the amazing help and skills to provide all the important details of writing, defending, and publishing my thesis and easing the process of bringing it all together. It could have been mayhem without you! Big gratitude goes to Sam, Glen, David, and my mum, for listening and believing in me throughout my research. I thank you for your love and support, for always being open to discuss and share experiences and knowledge and never afraid to express your opinions and disagreements. Ellis vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION.................................................................................. iii ABSTRACT..................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................... vi INTRODUCTION.............................................................................. 7 I: Methodologies................................................................................. 11 II: A Critical Evaluation of Robert Nisbet and the Idea of Progress in the Ancient Greeks, Romans and Christians............................................................... 16 1. The Greeks and Romans............................................................... 16 2. The Christians....................................................................... 26 III: Setbacks and Developments in the Idea of Progress during the Renaissance and The Age of Modem Science............................................................ 34 VI: The Development of the Modem Theory of Progress.................................. 41 1. The Re-evaluation of Human Nature........................................... 47 V: Nineteenth Century Developments in the Theory of Progress...................... 64 VI: Twentieth Century Developments in the Theory of Progress...................... 80 VII: Criticisms of Progress........................................................................ 87 VIII: Leo Strauss and the Distinctions betweenNomos and Physis and Classical and Vulgar Conventionalism....................................... 99 IX: Leo Strauss and Alasdair MacIntyre on Liberalism versus Conservatism................................................................................ 105 X: Conflict....................................................................................... 117 1. Conflict as Necessary to Progress: Saint Augustine to John Maynard Keynes............................................................................... 139 CONCLUSION................................................................................ 154 APPENDIX A: Some Identifiable Dualisms in History................................ 160 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................. 162 CURRICULUM VITAE Ellis 7 INTRODUCTION Are we immortal as a species as Kant once postulated? Is human progress intrinsic to the nature of things and human history? Or will we, at some point, through natural or man- made causes, wither, decay, and become extinct? Who are we? Where are we going?2 Are there timeless truths about human beings, our origins, our condition, and our destiny, or are there only illusions to the truth? There have been different answers to these kinds of perennial questions at different times in the course of Western history. Greeks, Romans, Christians, modems, post-modernists, conservatives, liberals, and socialists have given out explanations and answers to the human condition, involving cyclical, linear, evolutionary, and multi-evolutionaiy conceptions of change in history. These explanations are associated with notions of teleology, meaning and purpose, with standards of justice, morality, politics, human nature, and actual historical events; and of course, a sense of uncertainty of the way things really are, or a sense of profound meaninglessness amongst glimmerings of hope as captured by Lucretius in his myth of Sisyphus: Here, too, is Sisyphus - the man who pants For public honours, and the giddy crowd Caresses ever, ever but in vain. For thus to toil for power, itself at best A bubble, and that bubble ne’er to boast, Yet still toil on - is doubtless to roll back Up the high hill, the huge, stem, struggling stone; That which, the steep peak once urged up, rebounds Rapid, resistless, over all the plain3 2 These are also questions of the 19th century French painter and writer Paul Gauguin, who wrote these as the title on his most famous and brilliant piece of work ‘Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?’ Of course, these questions have been asked by many throughout history, but my point is that just over 100 years ago we find the questions still being asked by a man who, according to Robert Wright, “suffered acutely from cosmological vertigo induced by the work of Darwin and other Victorian scientists” - Robert Wright, A Short History of Progress. (Toronto;