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Originally Posted by Heather Blue
You have photographs of some of the greatest thinkers in history in your signature and yet, you don't believe in human progress?
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Philosophy is possibly one of the worst examples you could have chosen as being progressive, since determining how it approaches its goal of providing an accurate description of the world is problematic - indeed, any such measurement would probably presuppose the validity of some system - and philosophical trends are mostly mere re-hashings which come and go in cycles. A very real change came with the analytic philosophy of men like Russel, Carnap and Wittgenstein, which first provided the methods to throw away 90% of philosophy for the wordy babbling it is - which is what I am using here.
Thinkers at most are contributors towards the increase of knowledge, i.e. the progress of science, which is a horrible choice of words, since it seems to imply that empirical investigation and theorising has progressed, when we really mean that knowledge has been gained from this.
If you want to put "human progress" ≡ the progress of science, then be clear about that and note that "human progress" can have no meaning beyond the progress of science. We could also put x ≡ the progress of science, or jumbowumbo ≡ the progress of science, which are equivalent, albeit that the latter are not emotionally loaded like "human progress", a psychological result, no doubt, of throwing in "progress" with "human".
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That does not make sense, Sándor Petőfi. What you are saying and your signature are at odds with each other. I have the feeling you do believe in human progress.
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I can't believe or disbelieve in a term which has no meaning.
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I'm sure Sandor will respond with his famous "Idiot" to my post Heather, but I'll give it a shot. He's a traditionalist, as am I. Traditionalists believe in a cyclical, not linear, history.
Most traditionalists believe we're in a dark cycle now, Kali Yuga, in which there will be no golden ages. Like the monks in the dark ages, we have to preserve the memory of our last golden age. One day, it will come again.
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Not at all. I am a traditionalist. History is cyclical.
Achitectural "progress"
All I see is functionality and economy winning out over beauty. And that is called progress. Make money, save time, buy toys, be entertained, stay informed, extend life ... all for what? To make more money, save more time, buy more toys, be more entertained, stay more informed, extend life more. A bird in a tree is more content than 99.9% of men.
Artistic "progress"
