There is no grand narrative or master plan for historical progress. Contemporary discussions of progress and enlightenment reflect an improved version of an old debate, which has progressed beyond older debates about metaphysical optimism and pessimism. Responding to recent work by John Gray, Steven Pinker, and others, this paper describes meliorism as a middle path between optimism and pessimism. Meliorism is pragmatic, humanistic, secular, and historically grounded. The epistemic modesty of meliorism develops out of understanding the long history of debates about progress and enlightenment, including the history of meliorism itself. The paper provides a historical account of the development of meliorism, while arguing that understanding this history helps us make progress in thinking about progress.

历史进步没有宏大的叙事或总体规划。当代关于进步和启蒙的讨论反映了旧辩论的改进版本，它已经超越了关于形而上学乐观主义和悲观主义的旧辩论。针对 John Gray、Steven Pinker 和其他人最近的工作，本文将优秀主义描述为乐观主义和悲观主义之间的中间路径。优秀主义是务实的、人文主义的、世俗的和有历史依据的。优胜论的认知谦虚源于对关于进步和启蒙的辩论的悠久历史的理解，包括优胜论本身的历史。该论文提供了优优论发展的历史记录，同时认为理解这段历史有助于我们在思考进步方面取得进步。