[FoRK] Nietzsche's Severe Rationalism

[Kevin Elliott]

On Jan 29, 2008, at 2:28 PM, Corinna Schultz wrote:

>> and showed that Enlightened faith in progress was
>> just as illusory as belief in an afterlife.
>
> I agree with this sentiment, and I would think that it's obvious. Look
> at all those dystopic/post-apocalyptic sci-fi stories. "Progress" is
> as much a fallacy as the notion of "more evolved".

This is one of those ideas that I completely reject.  By and  
reasonable measure we've progressed.  We've systematically  
exterminated the horrors and ills of previous generations.  Yes, we've  
made mistakes, and it hasn't been a smooth path.  BUT... in defense of  
my belief I present the following puzzle:

Divide all of human history into 100 year chunks.  You can now choose  
one of those centuries to be randomly born into (no cherry picking  
like paths!).  I submit that the sensible choice is the 20th century.

I submit that the disbelief in human progress is mostly driven by a  
failure to recognize just how awful the human condition used to be.