“Progress consists of deploying knowledge to allow all of humankind to flourish in the same way that each of us seeks to flourish.”
Steven Pinker · Enlightenment Now, 2018
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Enlightenment ideals are timeless, but their realization at any moment is the strenuous achievement of nations.
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About this quote
Meaning
This line draws a distinction between ideals and their practical realization. The values associated with the Enlightenment, such as reason, liberty, and human dignity, do not expire or become irrelevant with time. What changes is how much work any given society must put in to actually live by those values. Progress is not automatic; it demands sustained collective effort from the institutions and citizens that make up a nation.
Context
Steven Pinker wrote this in Enlightenment Now, published in 2018, a book that argues human welfare has improved dramatically over centuries thanks to reason, science, and humanist values. Throughout the book he pushes back against the assumption that modern civilization is in decline. This particular line appears in the context of defending Enlightenment principles against critics who say they are naive or outdated. Pinker's point is that difficulty of achievement is not a reason to abandon the ideals; it is precisely the reason to keep working toward them.
About the author
Steven Pinker is a cognitive psychologist and linguist who has spent much of his career at leading research universities in the United States. He is known for writing ambitious, data-driven books aimed at general audiences, examining topics that range from how the mind works to the long-term arc of human violence and well-being. His willingness to defend optimism and Enlightenment liberalism in public debate has made him one of the more prominent and contested public intellectuals of his generation.
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