Author:

Keywords:

Social Sciences, Education & Educational Research, DIGITAL UNIVERSITY, FUTURE, EXPLORATION, SOCIOLOGY, POLICY, SPACE, 1303 Specialist Studies in Education, 1702 Cognitive Sciences, 2202 History and Philosophy of Specific Fields, 3902 Education policy, sociology and philosophy, 3903 Education systems, 5002 History and philosophy of specific fields

Abstract:

Let me say a word on the idea of progress. We conceive of time as an irreversible line, whether interrupted or continuous, of acquisitions and inventions. We go from generalizations to discoveries, leaving behind us a trail of errors finally corrected (…) I cannot help thinking that this idea is the equivalent of those ancient diagrams we laugh at today, which place the Earth at the center of everything, or our galaxy at the middle of the universe, to satisfy our narcissism. Just as in space we situate ourselves at the centre, at the navel of the things in the universe, so for time, through progress, we never cease to be at the summit, on the cutting edge, at the state-of-the-art of development. It follows that we are always right, for the simple, banal, and naive reason that we are living in the present moment. The curve traced by the idea of progress thus seems to me to sketch or project into time the vanity and fatuousness expressed spatially by that central position. (…) This diagram allows us permanently (…) to be not only right but to be righter than was ever possible before. Now I believe that one should always be wary of any person or theory that is always right: he's not plausible; it's not probable. (Serres, 1995:48–49)