Whiggish

Near-synonym: presentist

Finally, whiggish narratives, strewn with heroes, only hinder understanding of how the world works.

Abilafia’s article is a classic example of an old-fashioned “Whiggish” narrative. It claims a uniquely moderate and progressive advance toward the development of British institutions, traced continuously from Magna Carta and isolated from the rages and radicalism of the Continent.

Because this whiggish view depends on the expectation of progress, liberal politicians are more suspectible to it than their conservative brethren.

Of course, the reason we know all this—the reason the episode keeps turning up in Whiggish histories of technology—is that Plato wrote it down.