The two deaths of the idea of progress (1800-1968)

Abstract

This article deals with the two deaths of the idea of progress, its ups and downs and developments and the consequences that this process had within solid modernity (1800-1968). The first death of the idea of progress occurred, then, in its own formulation; its program was converted into an extension and deepening of the present. The closure began at the end of the sixties, with a paradoxical turn towards the very abyss of the absolute present and daily life and has culminated in our days. Here is the second death of the idea of progress; murdered, this time, by abandonment.