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A Critique of Progress in the Light of Western Cultural Traditionalism (1920s-1940s)
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to examine the traditionalist critique of progress by thinkers of the interwar period. I argue that traditionalism rejected the cult of progress while affirming the historical status of regress. The traditionalist vision of history was based on the contestation of the belief in progressus ad infinitum characteristic of the Enlightenment. I contend that the traditionalist historiosophy appealed to Hesiod's intuitions. I propose to introduce the concept of cultural traditionalism into the scholarly literature. Among the cultural traditionalists I include: René Guénon, Julius Evola, Oswald Spengler, Nikolai Berdyaev, and Pitirim Sorokin. I conclude that the traditionalist critique of progress was conditioned by an existential fear of change, of something unknown and new. I examine the traditionalist narrative by referring to the scientific discourse of the philosophy of culture.
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References
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/kw.2025.40.233-254
Date of publication: 2025-12-31 22:58:43
Date of submission: 2025-05-03 03:12:14
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