Abstract
It is said that Czar Nicholas I once issued an ordinance in which he forbade the use of the word ‘progress’.1 I do not feel I have much in common with the Czar of all the Russias and, on the other hand, I do not have the misfortune to be one of his unhappy subjects. Because of this, I have no reason to indulge in the intellectual habit2 of shamefully avoiding the word ‘progress’. I shall say more. I believe that progress does exist and that consequently it is worth pursuing. If for no other reason, I believe that it is progress that Czars can no longer promulgate such edicts. The attitude of those ‘progressives’ who do not believe in progress, for me remains an enigma. He who does not believe in progress can be at the most a conservative (every change is a worsening). But in reality the step from that position to obscurantism does not seem very long.
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References
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G. Holton, Thematic Origins of Scientific Thought, Kepler to Einstein ( Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1973 ), pp. 385–386.
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© 1980 D. Reidel Publishing Company
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Toraldo di Francia, G. (1980). The Concept of Progress in Physics. In: Dalla Chiara, M.L. (eds) Italian Studies in the Philosophy of Science. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 47. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8937-5_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8937-5_18
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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