Progress and History

By F. Melian Stawell , late Lecturer at Newnham College, Cambridge. IV. PROGRESS IN THE MIDDLE AGES 72 By the Rev. A. J. Carlyle , Tutor and Lecturer at University College, Oxford. V. PROGRESS IN RELIGION 96 By Baron Friedrich von Hügel . VI. MORAL PROGRESS 134 By L. P. Jacks , Principal of Manchester New College, Oxford. VII. GOVERNMENT 151 By A. E. Zimmern , late Fellow of New College, Oxford. VIII. INDUSTRY 189 By A. E. Zimmern . IX. ART 224 By A. Clutton Brock . X. SCIENCE 248 By F. S. Marvin . XI. PHILOSOPHY 273 By J. A. Smith , Waynflete Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy, Oxford. XII. PROGRESS AS AN IDEAL OF ACTION 295 By J. A. Smith . I THE IDEA OF PROGRESS F. S. Marvin The editor of these essays was busy in the autumn of last year collating the opinions attached by different people to the word 'progress'. One Sunday afternoon he happened to be walking with two friends in Oxford, one a professor of philosophy, the other a lady. The professor of philosophy declared that to him human progress must always mean primarily the increase of knowledge; the editor urged the increase of power as its most characteristic feature, but the lady added at once that to her progress had always meant, and could only mean, increase in our appreciation of the humanity of others. The first two thoughts, harmonized and directed by the third, may be taken to cover the whole field, and this volume to be merely a commentary upon them. What we have to consider is, when and how this idea of progress, as a general thing affecting mankind as a whole, first appeared in the world, how far it has been realized in history, and how far it gives us any guidance and hope for the future. In the midst of a catastrophe which appears at first sight to be a deadly blow to the ideal, such an inquiry has a special interest and may have some permanent value. Words are the thought of ages crystallized, or rather embodied with a constantly growing soul. The word 'Progress', like the word 'Humanity', is one of the most significant. It is a Latin word, not used in its current abstract sense until after the Roman incorporation of the Mediterranean world. It contains Greek thought summed up and applied…