Matt Slaboch: On Progress (3x3)

Dr. Matt Slaboch joins Josh for a discussion of his book, A Road to Nowhere: The Idea of Progress and Its Critics. The conversation opens with a discussion of Dr. Slaboch's experience in the modern academy hunting for a job post-PhD. They discuss the nature of progress, and trace both the idea of progress and the criticisms of progress from the Enlightenment to the present day. With shoutouts to Hegel, Tolstoy, and many others, Dr. Slaboch takes listeners on an intellectual tour de force, highlighting the way governments can use the idea of progress to lean totalitarian. They discuss the Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court Case, and whether correcting a political course counts as progress, and then consider the idea of progress within both the Trump and Biden administrations. Enjoy the conversation!