Book description
Social progress has been defined in modern times in terms of
three dominant social projects: the scientific-technological, the economic
and the political. Each of these projects is founded on a classical
humanist doctrine, such as Condorcet's theory of the historical progress of
the sciences and the arts, Adam Smith's conception of the progressive
increase of national wealth, and Karl Marx's view of social progress through
improving political institutions. Although originally humanist, these
projects have received technocratic interpretations, which have distorted
their direction and content. This has been possible because all three
doctrines adopt a static-universalist perspective, in which the order of
priority among the desirable dimensions of humanness is considered absolute,
universal, immutable and empirically determined. Instead, a
dynamic-relational perspective is proposed, in which all dimensions of
humanness are conceived as inter-limiting and inter-supportive. This
model may not lead to designing large-scale social systems, but does provide
an effective critical instrument for safeguarding ideals of human fulfilment
against technocratic and reductionist distortions.
About the author
Cristina Neesham has worked as an organisational consultant
in Eastern Europe. She teaches applied philosophy and public
policy in the Faculty of Business and Economics at Monash University.
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