The idea of progress from the Enlightenment to postmodernism is
still very much with us. In intellectual discourse, journals,
popular magazines, and radio and talk shows, the debate between
those who are "progressivists" and those who are "declinists" is as
spirited as it was in the late seventeenth century. In History of
the Idea of Progress, Robert Nisbet traces the idea of progress
from its origins in Greek, Roman, and medieval civilizations to
modern times. It is a masterful frame of reference for
understanding the present world.
Nisbet asserts there are two fundamental building blocks
necessary to Western doctrines of human advancement: the idea of
growth, and the idea of necessity. He sees Christianity as a key
element in both secular and spiritual evolution, for it conveys all
the ingredients of the modern idea of progress: the advancement of
the human race in time, a single time frame for all the peoples and
epochs of the past and present, the conception of time as linear,
and the envisagement of the future as having a Utopian end.
In his new introduction, Nisbet shows why the idea of progress
remains of critical importance to studies of social evolution and
natural history. He provides a contemporary basis for many
disciplines, including sociology, economics, philosophy, religion,
politics, and science. History of the Idea of Progress continues to
be a major resource for scholars in all these areas.
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