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Philosophical Writings
unchanged form what they had been in Greece in the fifth century B.C. It is with the seventeenth century that the notion of progress and development downed upon the human mind, and within two centuries Europe has become the scene of a great intellectual activity in the cause of general education and culture, emancipation from tradition and with a keen interest in the theoretical and applied sciences. This was the period of “Enlightenment”. An immense optimism swept over Europe. Says Condorcet (1743-1794) the French mathematician - philosopher:
“There is no limit set to the perfecting of the powers of man. The progress of this perfectibility, henceforth independent of any power that might wish to stop it, has no other limit than the duration of the globe upon which nature has placed us."
Then we see the bubbling of the Age of Reason and the upheavals of English and French revolution, the notion of political equality was brought to the masses and infused the future with a new hopefulness. The nineteenth century was terrible age for the industrial countries. “Moreover, Science has abandoned its ideal of "truth”. Limiting itself to the knowledge reached through senses, and consistently refusing to admit any higher source of knowledge, science has found that it can truly know nothing. It declared henceforth truth unknowable and decided to confine itself to efficiency and convenience, i.e. it has taken utility and not truth as its criterion.” 4 No doubt, progress is immense in the scientific and technological fields, resulting in a marked growth in economic sphere and raising of the standard of living. The suppression of slavery and child-labours, improved working conditions and the social status of workers, emancipation of women, improvement in health. elimination of disaster probabilities, increased longevity etc. are some of the definite gains. But human nature has not changed to any appreciable extent. What has happened in the world in the last fifty years is sufficient proof of this obduracy. Egoism, greed, lus! for material wealth and a craze for the physical luxuries have been widely observed even amongst educated and cultured class. With
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