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Marcus Roberts, "The Endurance of History? Reflections
on John Gray's Post-Enlightenment Pluralism", Res Publica III/2
(1997), 185-212: This article examines John Gray's recent critique of the
'Enlightenment Project'. It is especially concerned with his defence of
a form of value pluralism, and, in particular, with his claim that this
doctrine renders the enlightenment conception of human progress 'meaningless
or incoherent'. It is argued that Gray is himself committed to a conception
of human progress, both because he concedes that there is a universal minimum
morality, and because his allegiance to value pluralism necessarily commits
him to the view that there can be general progress in moral understanding.
It is further argued that, paradoxically, acceptance of this version of
value pluralism is inconsistent with the reproduction of many of the traditions
within which, or so Gray himself claims, human beings have flourished. The
general thrust of the argument is that while Gray's arguments are successful
against the more myopic and hubristic progeny of the enlightenment, they
provide no conclusive arguments for abandonment of a generic conception
of human progress.
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