Outline of the History of Human Spiritual Progress

Author: Condorcet
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: History is connected with our century and the current state of humanity in those enlightened nations of Europe through a series of continuous facts and observations; the history of the progress of the human spirit thus becomes true history. This book is the last work of Condorcet, an 18th-century French philosopher and one of the most outstanding representatives of the Enlightenment. Through dividing human history into ten eras, its main purpose is to highlight the historical view of the 18th-century Enlightenment, which holds that history is a product of the awakening of human reason and a process of the continuous liberation of human reason. The stages of historical progress are basically corresponding to the stages of human rational development, and the growth of human freedom itself is natural in this process. Therefore, people have reason to place infinite confidence and hope in the future.