| Term Paper Title | Progress |
| # of Words | 537 |
| # of Pages (250 words per page double spaced) | 2.15 |
Progress
The idea of progress is the revolutionary new idea that came to Europe in the mid 18th century. It was the concept of using knowledge to improve the conditions in the world for people. Frances Bacon used the idea of utilitarianism, that all actions should be directed toward achieving the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. This goes along with the idea of progress, and always working to make things better for everyone. At first, this concept was seen as blasphemous. The people of the time thought, “God created the world, who are we to change it?”
Another element that went along with the idea of progress was that of Descartes’, the supremacy of reason. This idea used the scientific method to discover the third element of the idea of progress, the unchanging laws of nature. A radical idea for the time, this threatened the belief of God’s role in our world. Until then, everything had been based on religion. In 1687, Isaac Newton provided the piece of the puzzle that would put everything into place. He proved for the first time an unchanging law of nature, gravity. Then he discovered another unchanging law, the Theory of Relativity (E=mc2), proving again to the world that science was the wave of the future. The laws of nature were then to be used to improve the world for the people, a basis of utilitarianism thought out by Bacon. Descartes did believe, however, that science was for reason, and not for government.
By 1750, the idea of progress was going strong and captivating th...Read entire document
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