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WAS CIVILISATION A MISTAKE?
ROUSSEAU, CHASTELLUX.

1.
The optimistic theory of civilisation was not unchallenged by rationalists.

In the same year (1750) in which Turgot traced an outline of historical Progress at the Sorbonne, Rousseau laid before the Academy of Dijon a theory of historical Regress.

This Academy had offered a prize for the best essay on the question whether the revival of sciences and arts had contributed to the improvement of morals.