[83] Now another example: philosophy^a. I would say, with respect to technical analysis-for instance, in the realm of logic, or certainly in the knowledge of nature--we are in many respects superior to Plato^b and even to Aristotle^c, although it's hard to say that! [some laughter] But it's true! But if you take these two men AS PHILOSOPHERS, as people who had a vision in which ultimate concern is expressed in rational terms, then I would say: even Parmenides and Heraclitus, BEFORE Plato, have not been surpassed by any philosophy, EVER SINCE, IN THE POWER AND DEPTH OF VISION INTO THE NATURE OF THINGS AND MEN. There is no progress^d whatsoever. But there is change: we have learning--[which is] [?] something else. I come now to the last argument for and against the idea of progress (and here we finish this whole section), coming out of the religious realm. And here, theologians would say: "Now isn't there a progress from the Old Testament to the New Testament, from the Synagogue to the Church? Isn't it one of the beloved subjects of Medieval art, that the blindness of the Synagogue is taken away by the opened eyes of the Church? And isn't that a progress? Now this argument, of course, has to be taken very seriously, but the question is: What does that mean for the idea of progress^e? It certainly does mean that according to the Christian doctrine, there is a center of history^f, and that this center of history is the appearance of Jesus as the Christ^g--there is no doubt about this, insofar as we are in the realm of Christian thought. And everything before [this] --paganism and Judaism and humanism, all three--are preparations. And everything since are reception of what has happened in this moment. BUT, there is no progress in the sense that the appearance of the Christ is the RESULT of progressive developments before Him, and there is no progress AFTER Him, in the sense that the church may ever produce somebody, or mankind may ever produce somebody, who will surpass Him. This is completely outside of Christian thinking. The idea is a structural idea, and not an idea of moving, progressive activities. There is the idea of a center, a center which is surrounded by preparation and reception. But this is not the idea of a continuous progress. But if there is a progress in the period of reception, the period after the appearance of the Christ, then the official Christian doctrine, especially the last book of