What could be more fundamental to our sense of meaning and purpose than a conception of whether the strivings of the human race over long stretches of time have left us better or worse off? How, in particular, are we to make sense of modernity–of the erosion of family, tribe, tradition, and religion by the forces of individualism, cosmopolitanism, reason, and science? Steven Pinker
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Aldous Huxley said, “What could be more fundamental to our sense of meaning and purpose than a conception of whether the strivings of the human race over long stretches of time have left us better or worse off? How, in particular, are we to make sense of modernity—of the erosion of family, tribe, tradition, and religion by the forces of individualism, cosmopolitanism, reason, and science?” Aldous Huxley and other intellectuals were questioning how people lived their lives and what purpose they served. They wanted to know where we came from and where we were going. What does it mean to be modern? What was the process that brought us to this point?

Source: The Better Angels Of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

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