Was Ruskin anti-progress?
It is not progress itself that I opposed, but a specific kind of 'progress' that advanced at the expense of human spirit and natural beauty. The unfettered industrialization of my time, with its smoke, its squalor, and its disregard for craftsmanship, represented a spiritual and aesthetic decay. I championed a different path, one where technological advancement served humanity and beauty, rather than subjugating them.
Ask John Ruskin the follow-up →