Adorno and Critique of the Idea of Progress

Abstract

Philosophical proponents of the idea of progress believe that the human condition has improved throughout history and to this day, and will continue to do so in the future. Adorno writes in his writings that man has not progressed to date, but there is a possibility of progress in the future. Adorno's position thus becomes that he is not opposed to the idea of progress, but to the claim that progress has been made in the history of mankind. Our claim in this article is that according to the Dialectic of the Enlightenment, it is not just the catastrophes of the twentieth century that Adorno's reason for not making progress in human history, but he believes in the dialectical rule of rationality and domination of human history. If we accept this claim, then it must be said that such an idea eliminates even the possibility of progress in the future, and therefore there is a contradiction between the dialectic of the Enlightenment and the idea of progress.

Keywords

• : adorno
• progress
• enlightenment
• philosophy of history
• rationality
• backward-looking progress
• forward-looking progress