The Idea of Progress: An Inquiry into Its Origin and Growth

John Bagnell Bury (1861 - 1927)

John Bagnell Bury was Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge University in the early twentieth century. In The Idea of Progress, he assesses the concepts of history found in the classical period and then traces the historical development of the concept of political and social progress by looking at writers from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. It is interesting to consider what the history of the past hundred years would add to such an analysis. - Summary by Barry Ganong

Genre(s): History, Social Science (Culture & Anthropology), Early Modern

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 Preface Barry Ganong
00:05:41
Play 02 Introduction, Part 1 Barry Ganong
00:30:26
Play 03 Introduction, Part 2 Barry Ganong
00:23:56
Play 04 Chapter 1: Some Interpretations of Universal History: Bodin and Le Roy Barry Ganong
00:18:43
Play 05 Chapter 2: Utility the End of Knowledge: Bacon Barry Ganong
00:21:06
Play 06 Chapter 3: Cartesianism Barry Ganong
00:20:26
Play 07 Chapter 4: The Doctrine of Degeneration: The Ancients and Moderns Barry Ganong
00:31:02
Play 08 Chapter 5: The Progress of Knowledge: Fontenelle, Part 1 Barry Ganong
00:21:14
Play 09 Chapter 5: The Progress of Knowledge: Fontenelle, Part 2 Barry Ganong
00:22:46
Play 10 Chapter 6: The General Progress of Man: Abbé de Saint-Pierre Barry Ganong
00:25:28
Play 11 Chapter 7: New Conceptions of History: Montesquieu, Voltaire, Turgot Barry Ganong
00:22:56
Play 12 Chapter 8: The Encyclopaedists and Economists Barry Ganong
00:27:39
Play 13 Chapter 9: Was Civilization a Mistake? Rousseau, Chastellux Barry Ganong
00:23:07
Play 14 Chapter 10: The Year 2440 Barry Ganong
00:14:28
Play 15 Chapter 11: The French Revolution: Condorcet Barry Ganong
00:22:46
Play 16 Chapter 12: The Theory of Progress in England Barry Ganong
00:31:54
Play 17 Chapter 13: German Speculations on Progress Barry Ganong
00:34:26
Play 18 Chapter 14: Currents of Thought in France after the Revolution Barry Ganong
00:27:48
Play 19 Chapter 15: The Search for a Law of Progress: I. Saint-Simon Barry Ganong
00:18:16
Play 20 Chapter 16: The Search for a Law of Progress: II. Comte Barry Ganong
00:35:40
Play 21 Chapter 17: "Progress" in the French Revolutionary Movement (1830-1851) Barry Ganong
00:16:46
Play 22 Chapter 18: Material Progress: The Exhibition of 1851 Barry Ganong
00:15:14
Play 23 Chapter 19: Progress in the Light of Evolution; and Epilogue Barry Ganong
00:27:41