THE IDEA OF PROGRESS I

Where did such an idea come from?

What was it conceived to do?

 

The idea of progress as a human achievement can be traced back to the early 6th Century BC.

 

The first well known Presocratic philosopher with whom it is associated is Xenophanes, died circa 470 BC.

 

It was conceived, at least by Xenophanes, to counter the Homeric and Hesiodic Greek pantheonic explanation of human history as resulting from a fall from a prior golden age.