Regresso. Il passato di un'idea moderna

The idea of “regress” is not at the center of contemporary philosophical and political debate. The reason for this absence is not accidental. It depends on two structural factors: on the one side, the non-evaluative perspective that characterizes contemporary social sciences; on the other side, the conceptions of time and history that are dominant today. Indeed, it is possible to speak of “regress” only if there exists a linear perspective of history that has characterized large sections of modernity, but which today seems to be replaced by a conception of time and history as “instant”, understood as “eternal present”.