What is progress? How and where does it occur? Such questions are not easy to answer. Debates about the nature of progress have given rise to entire theories of historical development. “Whig history,” for example, relates the story of humanity as one of a rise from an oppressive past to a more enlightened present. Two world wars, the Holocaust, and Soviet terrorism in the 20th century, however, put some major dents in the idea that the modern world could be only an undiluted blessing.
Another problem is that identifying progress can be a perilous exercise. In the 1920s, for example, eugenics and racial hygiene were widely accepted by most educated Western opinion—especially progressives—as being at the very forefront of scientific development. Few would make such an argument today.
Read Full Article »