ipl-logo

What Does It Mean To Be Skeptical Of The Modern Idea Of Progress

1610 Words7 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Of the meaning of progress

Progress: Pro and Contra Final Take Home Essay Exam Due: Midnight, Sunday, June 11th Length: 1,000 words Please double-space, edit for clarity and concision. Please feel free to write in the 1st person (this is, after all YOUR intellectual journey), but ground your essay in course texts, lectures, and discussions. Please begin your final by re-reading the course description: Course Description What does it mean to be skeptical of the notion of progress? Where and when did we start believing in human progress and human perfectibility? Does progress imply that history has a particular direction? Is the idea of sustainability a viable alternative to the idea of progress? Much of our everyday thinking about politics, society, and even personal interactions depend on some concept of progress. This course challenges that basic assumption by engaging with thinkers who have cast the idea of progress into radical doubt. We ask where and when our modern idea of progress originated and …show more content…

I think with all of the course readings and viewings that I’ve done, I think that I will still maintain a belief in progress. I do think that skeptics of progress like Bourne, Grey, Popper, and Adorno have offered very convincing arguments against progress and I do think that their discontent with the way that people think/thought about progress is valid. However, I do believe that the rhetoric needs to be centered around progress, however disillusioned we may be. Fear or negativity is perhaps the strongest emotion utilized to compel people to do things, but it is hard, in my opinion, to use that to get people to improve knowledge, living conditions, etc. To end, I had a wonderful time in this class and have gathered so much from the insightful lectures and productive conversations in section that I will take with me into my everyday

Show More
Related

Inequality In Will Allen's Growing Power

656 Words | 3 Pages

The image of progress is often depicted by the migration from an agrarian lifestyle to the makings of industry. In the eyes’ of Will Allen, this departure from nature has created an unsustainable environment where people no longer

Read More

Apush Dbq Industrialization

705 Words | 3 Pages

Consequently, many rich Americans believed in this view, and used it as an explanation of why some are poor and some are rich. Additionally, a similar view is expressed in Progress & Poverty, written by J.M Dent. (Doc. 11). In Progress & Poverty, Dent explains that an uneven distribution of wealth will aid social progress, because it will drive people to work harder, which in almost all cases, never worked, and only caused social unrest and strikes. Conversely, some politicians fought for workers’ rights and developed legislation in response.

Read More

Lewis Morgan Book Review

458 Words | 2 Pages

Knowledge that would be gained by way of inventions and discoveries and by the growth of the ideas of government, of family, and property. Morgan demarcated this evolution of culture into three eras; savagery being the bottom, barbarism being the middle, and civilization being the top and what man would strive for. Taking it even further those stages were then divided by technological inventions including, use of fire, pottery, and weapons in the savage era, horticulture, domestication and cultivation in the barbarism era, and finally the alphabet, writing, and architecture in civilization thus showing a correlation between social progress and technological progress. Morgan viewed this technological progress as the single driving force behind social progress, and believed that any social change has their beginning in the change of

Read More

Abraham Flexner Contribution To The Progressive University

1105 Words | 5 Pages

There are four main goals of progressivism. The first goal is to protect social welfare. The next task is to encourage moral improvement. The third target is to establish economic reform and the last goal is to promote efficiency ("Origins of Progressivism"). Abraham Flexner is one of the many people in the progressive movement that improved health care in society by reforming medical education institutions.

Read More

Why Is The Cotton Gin Important In American History

412 Words | 2 Pages

Throughout U.S history, new innovations are being developed constantly. In other words, society has fallen in reliance to the new technological innovations, as a result making the U.S constantly evolve. With evolution, new technological innovations are becoming more and more complex rewriting our history. Although technological innovations have positive effects on society and mankind, it also has its fair share of flaws. Such innovations include but are not limited to is cotton gins and the invention of automobiles.

Read More

Progression: The Progressive Era

98 Words | 1 Pages

Ever since the birth of the new nation, people were focused in one thing, progression. Progression defined a specific time period. This is known as the Progressive Era which took place from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. It was a time of social activism and political reform. However, due to the corruption in society and shifted morals, the progressive moments definition was based on perception.

Read More

Emile Durkheim Vs Baraka

878 Words | 4 Pages

In Baraka you get the sense that their is no progress from traditional to a modern society. This could be true since the industrialization changed the way of living; everything went from simple to

Read More

Progressive Era

995 Words | 4 Pages

They promoted the traditional education style that had been in place, “…the traditional teacher-dominated, subject-centered curriculum” (Urban 197). Urban tells us that despite some reforms made by the pedagogical progressives, they overall were unable to break American education completely away from the rigid system already in place. The differences between these two groups of educational progressives reflects the political nature of the Progressive Era. The pedagogical progressives tried to make more liberal reforms to improve the democratic aspect of society. However, like many other progressive groups before them, they failed to completely change how the capitalistic, bureaucratic ways of American society at the

Read More

The Enlightenment Dbq Essay

662 Words | 3 Pages

During the late 17th and 18th centuries, Europe was going through a cultural and intellectual change and movement, known as the Enlightenment. During this time, writers, philosophers, and politicians heavily defended newer and modern ways of thinking. These ideas and people would eventually set the standards for today’s world and way of thought. The writers, philosophers, and politicians of this age went above and beyond to champion modern ways of thinking.

Read More

Progress And Religion

1518 Words | 7 Pages

The thought of progress is a phenomenon that is unquestioned of why it is happening within the world. Progress is the notion that a certain subject or object is being brought into a greater or better outcome than it was set at its predetermined state. With the thought of progress, there is no telling whether progress happens because of a Devine being setting a predetermined fate for the human public or by reflecting on the past and learning from past occurrences. Throughout history of the world thus far, progress has been stationed through two factors. The two factors consist of Religion and REN (race, ethnicity, or nationality).

Read More

Let's Just Sing A Song Analysis

725 Words | 3 Pages

Serotonin: The chemical which causes happiness. Lack of serotonin causes a chemical imbalance which in turn leads to depression. In an allegorical sense Mystery Jets are the five piece band that, without, many fans would plummet into depression. Hailing from Eel Pie Island is Henry Harrison, Blaine Harrison, William Rees, Kapil Trivedi and the latest member to join the Jet family, Jack Flanagan.

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Progressivism

1484 Words | 6 Pages

Progressivism was a reform movement that began during the end of the 19th century and continued through the first couple decades of the 20th century. During this time, many writers, politicians, and social welfare advocates came forward as leaders of the Progressive movement and sought to solve societal problems that were caused by capitalism and the Industrial Revolution. While these Progressives often differed in what they saw as America’s main problem and how it could be fixed, they shared the common belief that in order for the reforms to work, the government needed to take the lead, be actively involved in the reforms, and be more democratic. All citizens, similarly, were to take responsibility for their society as well. What follows is

Read More

Similarities Between Kant And Nietzsche

940 Words | 4 Pages

In an effort to understand progress in humanity, philosophers Immanuel Kant, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Nietzsche each present their theories with Kant believing progress is made through the reform brought on by antagonism and social instability in humanity which will ultimately lead to perpetual peace, Marx arguing that a worker’s revolution and the adoption of true communism will lead to utopia, and Nietzsche deducing that progress will be found in the coming of a redeemer that will do away with the slave mentality. These German thinkers seek to define the guiding the force beneath humanity’s constant state of evolution to understand where it is headed and advise towards a goal they find ideal for humanity. Through an analysis of human characteristics,

Read More

A Brave New World Symbol Analysis

456 Words | 2 Pages

Society is extremely advanced and technological in a Brave New World which could be considered progress. However, I consider it digression because people have lost their humanity and their true emotions. It is progress in the sense of technology but digression in the sense of human interaction and human

Read More

Saber Tooth Curriculum Summary

1239 Words | 5 Pages

My challenge is to move them away from traditional thinking. The Progressivist approach allows me to plan my lessons to develop curiosity in children. Their homework does not involve worksheets but it is hands-on projects based rather than memorization. I aim to serve as a facilitator

Read More

More about What Does It Mean To Be Skeptical Of The Modern Idea Of Progress

Related Topics

Open Document