Human and Social Progress

Social progress has been defined in modern times in terms ofthree dominant social projects: the scientific-technological, theeconomic and the political. Each of these projects is founded on aclassical humanist doctrine, such as Condorcet`s theory of thehistorical progress of the sciences and the arts, Adam Smith`sconception of the progressive increase of national wealth, and KarlMarx`s view of social progress through improving politicalinstitutions. Although originally humanist, these projects havereceived technocratic interpretations, which have distorted theirdirection and content. This has been possible because all threedoctrines adopt a static-universalist perspective, in which theorder of priority among the desirable dimensions of humanness isconsidered absolute, universal, immutable and empiricallydetermined. Instead, a dynamic-relational perspective is proposed,in which all dimensions of humanness are conceived asinter-limiting and inter-supportive. This model may not lead todesigning large-scale social systems, but does provide an effectivecritical instrument for safeguarding ideals of human fulfilmentagainst technocratic and reductionist distortions.