Originally Posted by
Theodor Adorno, Lectures on History and Freedom, 1964-5
But you should also be aware that there is always
something dubious about the talk of individual examples of progress
that have allegedly occurred in the course of history. This is because,
in the society in which we live, every single progressive act is always
brought about at the expense of individuals or groups who are
thereby condemned to fall under the wheels. Thus because of their
particularity, because they disregard the organization of society as a
whole, each of these progressive events means that there are always
groups who are their victims and who legitimately doubt their value.
Nevertheless, we may say – and I believe that even the severest critic
of history would not simply dismiss this view – that we can speak of
something like progress from the slingshot to the atom bomb. 5 It is
not by chance that I am willing to apply the concept of progress to
something as terrifying as the atom bomb, something that is so com-
pletely inimical to the progress of freedom, to the advance of the
autonomy of the human species. There is a good reason for this, or
rather it has a very bad and indeed catastrophic meaning. The fact
is that particularity will be the mark of all historical movements as
long as there is no such thing as what we might call a human race,
that is to say, a society that is conscious of itself and has its fate in
its own hands. As long as that remains true, all progress will be par-
ticular, not just in the sense that progress will always come about at
the expense of groups who are not directly involved in it, and who
have to bear the brunt of progressive changes, but in the sense that
progress has a particular character by nature.