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Political Philosophy

Revolt & Complacency

Stefan Catana on three revolutionary thinkers and their ideas for creating progress in politics.

The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw the birth of modernity, as Enlightenment ideas about science, reason and progress started permeating the intellectual circles of the Western world. Accompanying this, the very idea of ‘modern’ became identified with progress towards improvement and innovation. History was the march of civilizations and peoples in the direction of something better, something to look forward to which would bring more peace and move away from war and desolation. But such hopes were eradicated as the twentieth century took these ideals and one by one rendered them baseless. World wars, fascism, communist authoritarianism, and an overall wave of illiberalism, became the stark opponents of Enlightenment ideals.

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