Western Civilisation

The Age of Vaunting Pride and Gnawing Doubt

The title of Dickens novel "Great Expectations" aptly summarizes a dominant theme in Victorian England (and the West in general at that time, for that matter).  There was a widespread, burgeoning belief that nirvana was just ahead.  Much of the optimism was due to advances in technology and science. 

To our jaded eyes, technological advances have become the norm.  Another "breakthrough" has become decidedly deja-vu.  But in the late eighteenth century this was not the case.  Consider Sebastien Mercier's account of the first balloon flight in November 21, 1783:

A memorable date.  On this day, before the eyes of an enormous gathering two men rose in the air.  So great was the crowd that the Tuileries Gardens were full as they could hold; there were men climbing over the railings; the gates were forced.  This swarm of people was in itself an incomparable sight, so varied it was, so vast and so changing.  Two hundred thousand men, lifting their hands in wonder, admiring, glad, astonished; some in tears for fear the intrepid physicists should come to harm, some on their knees overcome with emotion, but all following the aeronauts in spirit, while these latter, unmoved, saluted, dipping their flags above our heads.

What with the novelty, the dignity of the experiment, the unclouded sky, welcoming as it were the travellers to hsi own element, the attitude of the two men sailing into the blue, while below their fellow-citizens prayed and feared for the safety, and lastly the balloon itself, superb in the sunlight, whirling aloft like a planet or the chariot of some weather-god--it was a moment which never can be repeated, the most astounding achievement the science of physics has yet given to the world.  [Cited in I. F. Clarke, The Pattern of Expectation 1644--2001 (London: Book Club Associates, 1979), p.29f)

Very quickly, in the popular mind, arose the general belief that nothing was impossible from this point onwards.  Man could conquer every dimension, every limitation.  He would be as God.  He would become his own redeemer.

The poet, Robert Southey, reflecting on Jenner's discovery of the healing powers of vaccination, called him the "liberator of mankind".  Here is Southey's picture of the glorious future about to dawn:

Fair promise be this triumph of an age,
When Man, with vain desires no longer blind,
And wise though late, his only war shall wage
Against the miseries which afflict  mankind,
Striving with virtuous heart and strenuous mind
Till evil from the earth shall pass away.
Lo, this his glorious destiny assign'd!
For that blest consummation let us pray,
And trust in fervent faith, and labour as we may.
Ibid., p.42

But, at the same time,  there arose a deeply pessimistic view of the future.  Thomas Malthus and his followers, arguing from the limit of finite resources, painting a picture of development and growth to the point of causing calamity.  Malthus raised the question of whether the human race would survive.  One vivid presentation of the forthcoming calamity was penned by Frenchman, Cousin De Grainville in Le Dernier Homme (The Last Man).  So distressed did de Grainville eventually become, he took his own life on February 1, 1805.  He had penned that, due to rapid human advances, the end of human life was very close.  Here is his vision of mankind's future:

The inhabitants of the ancient world, after having exhausted their soil, inundated America like torrents, cut down forests coeval with creation, cultivated the mountains to their summits, and even exhausted that happy soil. They then descended to the shores of the ocean where fishing, that last resource of man, promised them an easy and abundant supply of sustenance.  Hence, from Mexico to Paraguay, these shores of the Atlantic Ocean and the South Seas are lined with cities inhabited by the last remains of the human race.
[Cited by Clarke, ibid., p. 44f]

These two contradictory themes were a distinct product of the Enlightenment: firstly, man builds Paradise upon earth through reason, discovery, and technological prowess; secondly, and conversely, man destroys the planet.  Both themes dominate discourse in the West to this day, with the balance currently in favour of the pessimistic option. The destructive power of technology so evident in two world wars and the bloodshed of the twentieth century has caused the optimistic belief in inevitable progress to wither.  Climate changers have become the modern-day manifestations of de Grainville and Malthus. 

T. S. Eliot told us the world would end, not with a bang, but a whimper.  When men proclaim their liberation from the Living God and replace Him with Mankind as the self-saviour, a paralyzing scourge of fear and doubt begins to gnaw at the edges of the mind.  It is inevitable.  Man was made to serve God, and therein lies his glory.  When he casts God out and seeks to take His place in the Garden, dread stalks his imagination.  His self-proclaimed glory is eventually overtaken by an insipid sterile whimpering and whining in the dark.

Byron has already written the obituary of Western Unbelief:

I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;
Morn came and went--and came, and brought no day