THE IDEA OF PROGRESS IN MODERN EUROPE

要确立进步的观念，就必须克服悲观的历史观，这种历史观坚持认为，现在的时代总是不如过去的黄金时代，例如以罗马奥古斯都统治时期为代表的古希腊和古罗马时代。在欧洲，“现代主义者”在“古今之争”中试图克服这种悲观主义，这场斗争主要发生在17世纪的法国文学界。“现代派”中的领军人物是查尔斯·佩诺和丰特奈尔。1687年，佩诺开始了与布瓦洛、拉封丹等人的争论。在整个争论中，丰特奈尔的写作对“现代派”的胜利贡献最大。所以我对丰特奈尔的作品《离题》（1688）进行了全面的分析。这本书与帕斯卡未发表的文章《关于人类本性的序言》之间的相似性给我留下了深刻的印象。方特内尔和帕斯卡都相信人类精神的永恒进步。这场争论是欧洲人摆脱“文艺复兴时期知识分子枷锁”的必要步骤（j·b·伯里）。意大利文艺复兴激起了对亚里士多德等古代天才的崇拜。有一种危险是，他们可能会成为绝对的、不可战胜的权威。丰特奈尔和帕斯卡都反对这种权威。当时牛顿、波义耳和惠更斯的惊人发现巩固了十七世纪后半叶的进步论。今天，我们对技术的进步持怀疑态度，因为它正在造成环境污染。同样有趣的是，在进步观念和基于《圣约翰启示录》传统的千禧年主义之间，存在着一种奇怪的相似之处。

To establish the idea of progress, it was indispensable to overcome the pessimistic view of history, which Insisted among others that the present age was alwaysinferior to the golden age in the past, such as the age of Greek and Roman antiquity represented for example by the reign of Augustus in Rome. In Europe, an attempt to overcome such pessimism was made by the "Modems" in the "Quarrel betweenthe Ancients and Moderns", which was fought mainly in the French literary circles in the seventeenth century. The leading figures among the "Moderns" were Charles Perrault and Fontenelle. Perrault began the controvercyagainst Boileau, La Fontaine etc. in 1687. Throughout the quarrel it was Fontenelle's writing which contributed the most to the victory of the "Moderns". So I have fully analyzed Fontenelle's work "Digression surles Anciens et Modernes" (1688). The analogy between this work and Pacal's unpublished article "Preface pourIa traite du vide"isimpressive for m Both Fontenell and Pascal believed in the eternal progress of the human spirit. This quarrel was a step necessary for the Europeans to get rid of the "intellectual yoke of the Renaissance" (J.B.Bury). The Renaissance in Italyevoked the cult of the ancient geniuses like Aristotle. There was a danger that they might b come the absolute and unsurmountable authority. It was against this authority that both Fontenelle and Pascal fought. The for those days astonishingdiscoveries of Newton, Boyle, and Huygens butressed the idea of progress in the later part of the seventeenth century. Today we are rather sceptical about the progress of technology, which is producing environmental pollution. lt is also interesting to confirm that between the idea of progress and millenarianism based on the tradition of "St. John's Revelations" there exists a strange similarity.