The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Idea of Progress, by J. B. Bury

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

Author: J. B. Bury

Release Date: October, 2003 [Etext #4557]
Posting Date: January 5, 2010

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE IDEA OF PROGRESS

AN INQUIRY INTO ITS ORIGIN AND GROWTH

By J. B. Bury

Regius Professor Of Modern History, And Fellow Of King's
College, In The University Of Cambridge

Dedicated to the memories of Charles Francois Castel de Saint-Pierre,
Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas Caritat de Condorcet, Auguste Comte, Herbert
Spencer, and other optimists mentioned in this volume.

Tantane uos generis tenuit fiducia uestri?

PREFACE

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. For the earthly Progress of humanity is the general test
to which social aims and theories are submitted as a matter of course.
The phrase CIVILISATION AND PROGRESS has become stereotyped, and
illustrates how we have come to judge a civilisation good or bad
according as it is or is not progressive. The ideals of liberty and
democracy, which have their own ancient and independent justifications,
have sought a new strength by attaching themselves to Progress. The
conjunctions of "liberty and progress," "democracy and progress,"
meet us at every turn. Socialism, at an early stage of its modern
development, sought the same aid. The friends of Mars, who cannot bear
the prospect of perpetual peace, maintain that war is an indispensable
instrument of Progress. It is in the name of Progress that the
doctrinaires who established the present reign of terror in Russia
profess to act. All this shows the prevalent feeling that a social or
political theory or programme is hardly tenable if it c