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THE IDEA OF PROGRESS IN MODERN EUROPE

Research Project

Project/Area Number 08610395
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)

Allocation TypeSingle-year Grants
Section一般
Research Field History of Europe and America
Research InstitutionMEIJI UNIVERSITY

Principal Investigator

MIYAKE Masaki  Meiji Univ./School of Political Science and Economics, /Prof, 政治経済学部, 教授 (50078284)

Project Period (FY) 1996 – 1998
Project Status Completed (Fiscal Year 1998)
Budget Amount *help
¥2,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000)
Fiscal Year 1998: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000)
Fiscal Year 1997: ¥700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000)
Fiscal Year 1996: ¥900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000)
Keywordsgolden age / Fontenelle / Quarrel between the Ancients and Modems / Pascal / Renaissance / authority / environmental pollution / millenarianism / 文明論 / トインビーのルネサンス論 / 「親文明」の「亡霊」 / 「子文明」 / 「創造的な精神の挫折」 / 「古代・近代論争」 / 「ルネサンスの知的な軛」 / ジョン・バグナール・ベリー / 進歩の理念 / 完成可能性 / チュルゴ / コンドルセ / 千年王国論 / 終末論 / ヨアキム / 古代・近代論争 / 古典古代の呪縛 / 文明史家トインビ- / 社会学者ニスベット / ダ-ウィン / 進化論 / 康有為 / チェアダ-エフ
Research Abstract

To establish the idea of progress, it was indispensable to overcome the pessimistic view of history, which Insisted among others that the present age was alwaysinferior to the golden age in the past, such as the age of Greek and Roman antiquity represented for example by the reign of Augustus in Rome. In Europe, an attempt to overcome such pessimism was made by the "Modems" in the "Quarrel betweenthe Ancients and Moderns", which was fought mainly in the French literary circles in the seventeenth century. The leading figures among the "Moderns" were Charles Perrault and Fontenelle. Perrault began the controvercyagainst Boileau, La Fontaine etc. in 1687. Throughout the quarrel it was Fontenelle's writing which contributed the most to the victory of the "Moderns". So I have fully analyzed Fontenelle's work "Digression surles Anciens et Modernes" (1688). The analogy between this work and Pacal's unpublished article "Preface pourIa traite du vide"isimpressive for m Both Fontenell and Pascal believed in the eternal progress of the human spirit. This quarrel was a step necessary for the Europeans to get rid of the "intellectual yoke of the Renaissance" (J.B.Bury). The Renaissance in Italyevoked the cult of the ancient geniuses like Aristotle. There was a danger that they might b come the absolute and unsurmountable authority. It was against this authority that both Fontenelle and Pascal fought. The for those days astonishingdiscoveries of Newton, Boyle, and Huygens butressed the idea of progress in the later part of the seventeenth century. Today we are rather sceptical about the progress of technology, which is producing environmental pollution. lt is also interesting to confirm that between the idea of progress and millenarianism based on the tradition of "St. John's Revelations" there exists a strange similarity.

Report

(4 results)
  • 1998 Annual Research Report   Final Research Report Summary
  • 1997 Annual Research Report
  • 1996 Annual Research Report
  • Research Products

    (7 results)

All Other

All Publications (7 results)

  • [Publications] Masaki Miyake: "The Idea of Progress in the West and the Non-Western World : A Comparative Approach (English)" 明治大学社会科学研究所欧文紀要. 20巻3号. 1-10 (1997)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
    • Related Report
      1998 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Publications] 神川正彦・川窪啓資編: "『講座比較文明』第1巻『比較文明学の理論と方法』分担執筆「トインビーのルネサンス論をめぐる再検討 : 中国のルネサンスと西欧の『古代・近代論争』」" 朝倉書房, 199(82-97) (1999)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
    • Related Report
      1998 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Publications] Masaki Miyake: "The Idea of Progress in the West and the Non-Western World : A Comparative Approach (English)" The Bulletin of the Institute of Social Sciences, Meiji University. Vol.20, No.3. 1-10 (1997)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
    • Related Report
      1998 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Publications] Masaki Miyake: "Toynbee no renaissance ron wo meguru sai-kento : Chugoku no renaissance to seio no kodai-kindai ronse (Toynbee's Theory of Renaissance Reconsidered, Renaissance in China and the Quarrel of the Ancients and Moderns in the West)" Hikaku bunmei gaku no riron to hoho, Kazahikaku bunmei, dai-1-kan (Vol.1.of the Series of Comparative Civilizations, Theory and Method of the Comparative Study of Civilizations), edited by M.Kamikawa et K.Kawakubo.Published by Asakura Shoten, Tokyo. (1999)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
    • Related Report
      1998 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Publications] 三宅 正樹: "近代ヨーロッパにおける進歩の理念" 『政経論叢』(明治大学政治経済研究所刊行). 67巻1・2号. 1-35 (1998)

    • Related Report
      1998 Annual Research Report
  • [Publications] 神川正彦・川窪啓資編: "講座比較文明 第一巻『比較文明学の理論と方法』" 朝倉書店, 199 (1999)

    • Related Report
      1998 Annual Research Report
  • [Publications] Masaki MIYAKE: "The Idea of progress in the West and the Non-Western World:A Comparative Approach" The Bulletin of the Institute of Social Science, Meiji University. Vol.20 No.3. 1-10 (1997)

    • Related Report
      1997 Annual Research Report

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Published: 1996-04-01   Modified: 2016-04-21  

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