Progress’ between renunciation and re-appropriation. On the history of a basic concept of political language in 20^th century Germany

Lecture by Simon Specht, Potsdam.

‘Progress’ is often regarded as a central concept of modernity, representative of a linear and open-ended conception of time and the future. Since the 19^th century, claims and attributions as to what constituted ‘progress’ and who stood for or against it structured political conflicts. In the 20^th century and up until today, various experiences prompted contemporaries to conclude that the belief in ‘progress’ was no longer tenable. However, the concept continued to be used regularly in everyday political discourse. The lecture will explore this ambivalence and present central dynamics of the history of the concept of ‘progress’ in 20^th century political language in Germany.

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