The Idea of Progress and the French Enlightenment

Abstract

Lord Acton in his essay "The Heralds of the Revolution" declared that it was the combination of the American example with the influence of the French enlightenment that caused the French Revolution. Granting that generalizations such as the above are misleading, it does serve as a point with which to open this study, for underlying both of the causes as well as the effect mentioned above is the concept of "progress". Today, we tend to take for granted such a concept, for it has permeated our thinking to such an extent that it, consciously or unconsciously, motivates much of our actions, but in the eighteenth century it was a new belief -- really a new faith, which threatened to upersede Christianity. In this paper we will study the idea of Progress in eighteenth century France, its most outstanding home, chiefly by reference to five representative writers, but also by outlining the views of other important figures. [From introductory section]