Illustrations of Universal Progress: A Series of Discussions. Spencer Herbert

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      Published by Good Press, 2021

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      EAN 4057664594013

Table of Contents

       I. PROGRESS: ITS LAW AND CAUSE.

       II. MANNERS AND FASHION.

       III. THE GENESIS OF SCIENCE.

       IV. THE PHYSIOLOGY OF LAUGHTER.

       V. THE ORIGIN AND FUNCTION OF MUSIC

       VI. THE NEBULAR HYPOTHESIS.

       VII. BAIN ON THE EMOTIONS AND THE WILL.

       VIII. ILLOGICAL GEOLOGY.

       IX. THE DEVELOPMENT HYPOTHESIS.

       X. THE SOCIAL ORGANISM.

       XI. USE AND BEAUTY

       XII. THE SOURCES OF ARCHITECTURAL TYPES.

       XIII. THE USE OF ANTHROPOMORPHISM.

       INDEX.

       A

       B

       C

       D

       E

       F

       G

       H

       I

       K

       L

       M

       N

       O

       P

       R

       S

       T

       U

       V

       W

I.

       PROGRESS: ITS LAW AND CAUSE.

       Table of Contents

      The current conception of Progress is somewhat shifting and indefinite. Sometimes it comprehends little more than simple growth—as of a nation in the number of its members and the extent of territory over which it has spread. Sometimes it has reference to quantity of material products—as when the advance of agriculture and manufactures is the topic. Sometimes the superior quality of these products is contemplated: and sometimes the new or improved appliances by which they are produced. When, again, we speak of moral or intellectual progress, we refer to the state of the individual or people exhibiting it; while, when the progress of Knowledge, of Science, of Art, is commented upon, we have in view certain abstract results of human thought and action. Not only, however, is the current conception of Progress more or less vague, but it is in great measure erroneous. It takes in not so much the reality of Progress as its accompaniments—not so much the substance as the shadow. That progress in intelligence seen during the growth of the child into the man, or the savage into the philosopher, is commonly regarded as consisting in the greater number of facts known and laws understood: whereas the actual progress consists in those internal modifications of which this increased knowledge is the expression. Social progress is supposed to consist in the produce of a greater quantity and variety of the articles required for satisfying men's wants; in the increasing security of person and property; in widening freedom of action: whereas, rightly understood, social progress consists in those changes of structure in the social organism which have entailed these consequences. The current conception is a teleological one. The phenomena are contemplated solely as bearing on human happiness. Only those changes are held to constitute progress which directly or indirectly tend to heighten human happiness. And they are thought to constitute progress simply because they tend to heighten human happiness. But rightly to understand progress, we must inquire СКАЧАТЬ