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Restoring Human Progress (Paperback)
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Restoring Human Progress (Paperback)
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Is human progress possible? If so, how can it be achieved? Many
progressive intellectuals and activists once turned to socialism
for answers to both questions, but such individuals generally now
appreciate that the answers provided were simplistic and misguided
in important respects. Many have thus embraced nihilism, doubting
that human progress is achievable or even conceivable. Such
individuals then necessarily turn away from efforts to create a
better world. The world would benefit from the outline of a
coherent program for human progress that manages to escape the
simplifications inevitable in adherence to one narrow ideological
perspective. This book aims to describe such a program. Some
elements of this program are concrete enough for activists to
advocate immediately. In other cases there is much work for
intellectuals to do in further clarifying the best policies for a
society to undertake. This book is intended to revitalize the
efforts of both intellectuals and activists. Whereas a generation
or two ago there was widespread confidence that economic growth,
technological advance, and/or the spread of democracy would
gradually create a better world, many today fear that these
processes generate more problems than they solve. This skepticism
regarding the possibility of progress is closely associated with
three other attitudes. There is widespread doubt, at least among
the intellectual class, that human reason and ingenuity can solve
the world's problems. This doubt is related to a concern that the
contemporary world is too complex and unpredictable for purposeful
human action to have much impact on the future course of events.
Finally, there is doubt that there are universal ethical standards:
if humanity cannot agree on what is the nature of the good life, we
can hardly work toward progress nor recognize it if we achieve it.
This book starts from a belief that there is considerable merit in
these four related concerns. However, it will be argued that they
need not lead to despair: the idea of human progress is still
viable, though progress is not inevitable. This book will therefore
outline a variety of goals for both activists and intellectuals to
pursue in order to generate a progressive future for humanity. The
legitimate concerns noted above regarding complexity, ethics, and
the exercise of reason must first be addressed; it will turn out
that answers to these three critiques will provide coherence to the
various reform initiatives to be outlined. Firstly, a universal
ethics can (ironically) be grounded in diversity by appreciating
that diverse ethical perspectives often point in the same
direction. This book identifies five types of ethical analysis and
an 'ethical core' of statements supported by each of these.
Secondly, complexity can be coped with in both scholarship and
public policy analysis through the pursuit of interdisciplinarity
and by organizing human understanding in terms of exhaustive
classifications of the phenomena studied and theories and methods
applied. These classifications are provided, as is a best-practice
process of interdisciplinary analysis. Finally, the role of reason
in human affairs can be enhanced by identifying and pursuing higher
standards of human discourse.
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