ABSTRACT
If civilization exemplifies progress, a comparison with savagery should disclose the important advances which have been made. To those who, like Rousseau, consider the savage superior to the civilized man, the comparison should indicate the extent to which contemporary civilization has departed from the path of progress. Back of comparisons, however, lie criteria, otherwise the comparisons are futile, indeed, meaningless. A criterion of progress implies a theory of values, for without a standard of values there can be no judgment regarding progress. A theory of value must take cognizance of needs, but the things which men choose are not necessarily the things which have most value. Men interpret their needs variously, but the criterion of progress must be objective. The dynamic of culture development is apparent when human history is viewed in ample time perspective. It then becomes clear that man has developed from helplessness to independence, from weakness to power. Yet there can be no surety of progress in the future. The gains already made may facilitate further progress, but also they contain the seeds of ruin and disaster. Men can make progress if they will, but they alone can guide the will, and the good will is indispensable not only to further progress, but even to the retention of the good which has been wrung from obstinate nature and from an even more obstinate human nature.
