Progression in History - Essay Example

We have almost everything at the tip of fingers. The use of science and technology has created doors for us to discover a lot of things, like in the field of investigation wherein we now have advanced tools that can recreate bullet impacts or match DNA just from a single hair strand or even just a small piece of skin. Digital imaging help recreate faces from the skulls buried long ago and excavated days ago. We have gone a long way in terms of science and technology but have we progressed or have we just adapted to the times?

Through this paper, I seek to deliberate whether there is human progression or just adaptation. The different periods in time, from the Old Age to the Modern era, shows us that humans are pursuing different areas of development. We have expansion, arts and culture, science and technology and even political dominion. The different periods in time give us a glimpse on how human life has moved from one dimension to another. So is there progress or do we regress from time to time that’s why we look back at history and rediscover things?

The Machiavellian notion of human progress is associated with the fixed human nature, that human nature is geared towards change and development because of desire and ambition (Gutfreund, 208). With this, Machiavelli sees progress as a goal, an end result that moves towards man’s ambition and desire to become better and more powerful. This indicates that human progress is not fixed rather than an effect of the human fixed on it nature (Lemon, 105). For Machiavelli, there is no real progress in human history, rather, there is a continuous experience, by which, we learn, grow, and move towards our ambition and desire.

There is no such thing as meaning in history, only learning, as human experiences are guided by human nature, a clear statement that indicates that progress is non-existent and what humans experience are their natural-born instincts. This is partly what I personally believe as human progress. That it is associated with human nature. But I don’t agree with Machiavelli that human nature is fixed and unchanging towards desire and ambition. Because of experience and learning, humans develop, mature and change.

For me, progress means to change for the better. It means development and improvement. But it is more than that, progress is a combination of stability, change and growth. With this, I agree with Luther’s notion of progress and its relation to a struggle. For Luther, progress is a goal towards justice, by which humans need to sacrifice and to suffer before being able to reach it (Paulson, 90). Luther’s progress is a goal towards justice and equality. His progress is idealistic. With this, it contradicts with my belief that progress is associated with human nature.

Human nature is not idealistic. It has flaws, that’s why humans need to look back and understand the past and use these learnings in order to move towards progression. But human’s are not perfect and ideal, that’s why we always regress to old habits and make the same mistakes. Progress, then, is a continuous struggle, but not to Luther’s goal of justice and equality, but to human’s desire to become better. Bacon’s belief in the notion of progress created an idea that technological advancement is associated to progress (Attar, 70).

For him, science and technology are the means to control nature, that humans can