Did the idea of progress originate with the ancient Greeks — centuries before the Enlightenment claimed it?
In this clip from Part 1 of a three-part conversation, host Marshall establishes the premise that animates the Ehret Interview Arc: tracing the idea of progress back to ancient Greece is itself a challenge to the conventional account. The received view, dominant until the early 20th century, located the origins of progress thinking in the Enlightenment. Researcher Matt Ehret argues that the concepts driving human creativity, dignity, and political freedom are recoverable from Greek and Roman Republican sources that have been, in his view, systematically obscured — and that ending the inquiry at the Enlightenment destroys our ability to understand what progress actually is.
The question the clip surfaces: if the idea of progress has roots in antiquity, who decided the inquiry should begin later — and why?
See the Full Episode , Blog, and Show Notes:
🎧 Full Episode: https://youtu.be/gCE-Q2ceaQE
📖 Curator's Frame — sources, reading list, and reflection questions: https://www.notionsofprogress.com/blog/plato-vs-aristotle-the-flame-the-vessel-and-the-fate-of-human-progress--part-1-of-3/
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