The sense of history between doctrinal Optimism and relativistic Pessimism: Introductory notes

Abstract

The text displays the complexity of the discussion about the sense and the direction of history, specially the great difficulty of endowing any sense to historical development in the present world. The essay reconstructs briefly the pessimist position of the Frankfurt School, which represents a response to the conventional optimism of liberalism and marxism, response conceived from a critique of the results due to technology and considering ecologic problems. At last the essay sketches the moderate scepticism of Karl Löwith as an acceptable compromise.