The Myth of Human Progress

The book “<a href="https://amzn.to/3VaUETM" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals</a>” by British philosopher John Gray is perhaps one of my favorite philosophical books written in the 21st century. But it’s not for the faint of heart. It’s a profound yet challenging book — “challenging” not in the sense of comprehension but in a way that will surely poke at established beliefs and the unquestioning “ray of sunshine” worldview we’re all supposed to bathe in. It’s a book that takes a hammer to our preconceived notions and the conventional wisdom that we rarely take the time to reexamine. The prevailing theme of Gray’s provocative philosophy is that human beings are not as unique or special as we often think we are, and that our attempts to control the world around us are not only futile but ultimately the root of our many woes. “Action,” in the words of Gray, “gives us consolation for our inexistence…a refuge from insignificance.” Gray also challenges many of the revered assumptions of Western modernity, including the idea of progress and the belief in the power of science and technology to solve all of our problems. As he writes, “Science will never be used chiefly to pursue truth, or to improve human life. The uses of knowledge will always be as shifting and crooked as humans are themselves. Humans use what they know to meet their most urgent needs — even if the result is ruin.” Overall, <a href="https://amzn.to/3VaUETM" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Straw Dogs</a>, in the words of writer Will Self, “is that rarest of things, a contemporary work of philosophy devoid of jargon, wholly accessible, and profoundly relevant to the rapidly evolving world we live in.” The following is a brief FORWARD to the paperback version of the book written by the author himself, John Gray. <a href="https://medium.com/@erikrittenberry/the-myth-of-human-progress-2022d817d3a2">Click Here</a>