In recent years, there has been lots of writing about the idea of progress, including within a burgeoning field of “progress studies.” One aspect of this is exploring the origins of the very idea of progress. Specifically, did this very idea need to be invented? And if so, when did the idea of progress first come about?
Lovely insights Sam. As a youth, Ecclesiastes was one of the books that caused me to leave the traditional Christian faith. I knew there has always been progress, and it wasn't being seen, or at least, reported. It deeply serves the Power and Order interests to argue everything stays the same. I like the way you've rehabilitated and reinterpreted the book. Reminds me of the Jefferson Bible, an exercise I greatly admired. Jefferson called it "finding the diamonds in the dung." Amen. But we have to go farther than that, and add our own extensions to those diamonds, as you do here.
Lovely insights Sam. As a youth, Ecclesiastes was one of the books that caused me to leave the traditional Christian faith. I knew there has always been progress, and it wasn't being seen, or at least, reported. It deeply serves the Power and Order interests to argue everything stays the same. I like the way you've rehabilitated and reinterpreted the book. Reminds me of the Jefferson Bible, an exercise I greatly admired. Jefferson called it "finding the diamonds in the dung." Amen. But we have to go farther than that, and add our own extensions to those diamonds, as you do here.