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Thus continuous progress in man's knowledge of his environment,
which is one of the chief conditions of general Progress, is a
hypothesis which may or may not be true. And if it is true, there
remains the further hypothesis of man's moral and social
"perfectibility," which rests on much less impressive evidence.
There is nothing to show that he may not reach, in his psychical and
social development, a stage at which the conditions of his life will
be still far from satisfactory, and beyond which he will find it
impossible to progress. This is a question of fact which no willing
on man's part can alter. It is a question bearing on the mystery of
life.
Enough has been said to show that the Progress of humanity belongs
to the same order of ideas as Providence or personal immortality. It
is true or it is false, and like them it cannot be proved either
true or false. Belief in it is an act of faith.
The idea of human Progress then is a theory which involves a
synthesis of the past and a prophecy of the future.


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