Around the corner from me here in Paris is a café called Le Progrès. I imagine its pavement tables a century ago, populated by early French socialists in hats and elaborate moustaches. These were men (yes, mostly men) who believed in progress. They met in the cafés and halls of eastern Paris to discuss uplifting the poor. They believed that humanity had been slowly rising, like an ancient lift clanking upwards, ever since 18th-century Parisian philosophers rediscovered the idea of “progress”.
從我巴黎住處出發拐一個彎,就能看到一家名為“進步”(Le Progrès)的咖啡館。我想象一百年前,法國帶著禮帽、留著精心修飾的八字須的早期社會主義者坐在人行道桌子邊的場景。這是一些相信進步的男人(沒錯,大多數是男人)。他們聚集在巴黎東部的咖啡館和禮堂里,討論如何提高窮人的地位。他們相信,自從18世紀巴黎哲學家們重新發現“進步”的理念以來,人類一直在緩慢崛起,就像一臺陳舊的起重機,咣當咣當地舉升。