Many commentators, committed to political, religious, or romantic ideologies, fight a rearguard action against it. The Enlightenment project swims against currents of human nature - tribalism, authoritarianism, demonization, magical thinking - which demagogues are all too willing to exploit. But more than ever, it needs a vigorous defense. Far from being a naïve hope, the Enlightenment, we now know, has worked. It is a gift of the Enlightenment: the conviction that reason and science can enhance human flourishing. This progress is not the result of some cosmic force. In seventy-five graphs, shows that life, health, prosperity, safety, peace, knowledge, and happiness are on the rise, not just in the West, but worldwide. "Is the world really falling apart? Is the ideal of progress obsolete? urges us to step back from the gory headlines and prophecies of doom, which play to our psychological biases. Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 493-524) and index.
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