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Some thought God would bring about the New Jerusalem, others looked to history or evolution.
一些人认为上帝会带来新的耶路撒冷，其他人则把希望寄托在历史发展或进化演变上；
Some thought people would improve if left to themselves, others thought they should be forced to be free;
一些人认为如果任由人类自由发展，他们就能进步，其他人则认为自由应该被强加在人们身上；
some believed in the nation, others in the end of nations;
一些人相信国家是一定要存在的，其他人则认为国家注定要消亡；
some wanted a perfect language, others universal education;
一些人盼望有一种完美的语言，其他人则要求有普及的教育；
some put their hope in science, others in commerce;
一些人寄希望于科学，其他人则寄希望于商业；
some had faith in wise legislation, others in anarchy.
一些人坚信英明的立法，其他人则信仰无政府主义。
Intellectual life was teeming with grand ideas.
思想界充斥着各种宏论。
For most people, the question was not whether progress would happen, but how.
对大多数人来说，问题不在于进步是否会发生，而在于如何发生。
The idea of progress forms the backdrop to a society.
进步的观念是一个社会存在的前提：
In the extreme, without the possibility of progress of any sort, your gain is someone else's loss.
极端一点儿讲，如果没有任何进步的可能，你的所得就是其他某个人的所失。
If human behavior is unreformable, social policy can only ever be about trying to cage the ape within.
假如人的行为是无法改造的，那么社会政策只能是用来设法控制人的动物本性。
Society must in principle be able to move towards its ideals, such as equality and freedom, or they are no more than cant and self-delusion.
原则上社会必须能够向某种理想的状态发高，比如平等和自由，否则，这些理想就只能是伪善的言辞和自欺欺人。
So it matters if people lose their faith in progress.
因此，如果人们失去了对进步的信心，问题就大了。
And it is worth thinking about how to restore it.
如何才能重塑这种信心值得思考。
