PHIL 373 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Reall, Liberal Democracy, Urap
25 Oct 2016
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He is asking what is happening to us. There"s something happening to us, and we need to try to understand what it is. History is progressing, advancing for the better, towards a condition of universal freedom: others said it was moving towards the classless society, or a more perfect democracy. Jaspers is asking if there is an basis for belief in progress. Jaspers says that our age is no longer a religious age, it is scientific. Before augustan, ancients thought of history as unchanging, cyclical structure. Hegel thinks this is a very pessimistic way of thinking of history: the same events played out recklessly leading nowhere. History was now thought to have a direction and purpose. Our time is somehow profoundly different from the past, and better. There was a real sense of optimism in the 18th century (cid:862) life had (cid:271)ee(cid:374) a(cid:272)(cid:272)epted as it (cid:449)as (cid:863) (page 13, bottom)
