Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typ...os. Excerpt from book: THE THIRD CONVERSATION " Audiatur et tertia pars." On this occasion, by mutual consent, we assembled in the garden earlier than usual, so as not to be hurried at the end of the conversation. Consequently all were in a more serious frame of mind than the evening before. Politician (to Mr. Z.).?You, I believe, wished io raise an objection to something or to make a remark upon what I said recently ? Mr. Z.?Yes; with reference to your definition that a peace policy is a symptom of progress, I remembered at once the words of one of the characters in Turgenyef's " Smoke " that " progress is a symptom." I do not know precisely what Turgenyef's character meant by this, but surely the natural meaning of those words is quite accurate. Progress is, in fact, a symptom. Politician.?Of what ? Mr. Z.?It is a pleasure to be talking with intelligent people. It was exactly to this question that I was leading the conversation. I consider that progress?that is, visible, rapid progress?is always a symptom of the end. Politician.?I understand that where there is such progress as, for example, in a case of creepingparalysis, that is a symptom of the end. But in the case of culture or civilisation, why must progress infallibly be a symptom of the end ? Mr. Z.?Well, it is not so apparent as in the case of paralysis; nevertheless, it is so. Politician.?You are convinced, that is clear enough; but to me it is not even clear what it is of which you are convinced. In the first place, I am encouraged by your praise to put again the simple question, which you thought clever. You say, "a symptom of the end." The end of what? I ask. Mr. Z.?The end of that of which we were talking. We were discussing the history of mankind; that historic " process " which certainly has begun to go a...Detailed info »« Brief info