ABSTRACT
In the era of the world village, of the third technological revolution, of the ascendancy of economics over human destiny, and of the expansion of society, can one speak of history, of the past, of historical experience and of continuity? Since the Second World War, the ideology of social sciences has propagated notions of change, of mutation, and of discontinuity. But, even outside academic circles, the general ideology of our time, elaborated and diffused by decision-makers as by the media, or spontaneously commanding the attention of all thinking persons, is distinctly interpreted as being a privilege accorded to the most recent contemporary epoch, that of the technological and media revolution. Is this the ordinary narcissism of the conscience of any epoch, or a unique sentiment deriving from the uniqueness of the period we are living in, that cannot be measured against any other? Illusion or reality?
