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Progress is fairly recent idea. When you didnt see much difference between your life and your grandparents, then progress is not obvious. Plus some histories a
by peter303 7y ago
Progress is fairly recent idea. When you didnt see much difference between your life and your grandparents, then progress is not obvious.
Plus some histories and myths have humans degenerating from a golden age- Eden, Atlantis, etc. Other have eternal cycles.
- hacknat 7y agoIf you're interested in the history of the idea of progress there is a great journal article, by John Gray (Oxford philosopher), on the history of the idea of progress: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20027925?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents https://www.jstor.org/stable/20027925?seq=1#page_scan_tab_co...
- mbillie1 7y ago"Progress is merely a modern idea, which is to say, a false idea."
- ThinkingGuy 7y agoIn the United States, the idea seems to date back at least to the early years of independence: "I accost an American sailor, and I inquire why the ships of his country are built so as to last but for a short time; he answers without hesitation that the art of navigation is every day making such rapid progress, that the finest vessel would become almost useless if it lasted beyond a certain number of years." Alexis de Toqueville, "Democracy in America," 1840