Fontenelle and the Origin of Early Modern Conception of Progress at the Turn of 17th and 18th Century

Abstract

This paper presents a view of the constitution of the early modern idea of progress in works of Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle. The idea of progress was for the first time framed in Fontenelle's works. The intellectual discussion Querelle des anciens et des modernes was the cue of Fontenelle's considerations. This dispute had to decide the predominance of moderns under the anciens, or the anciens under the moderns. Fontenelle participated on this debate, and his conclusions had been an important part of his theory of progress proposed in his works and panegyrics.