The two faces of 1968: The student revolution and the humanae vitae

All rights reserved. The year 1968 is usually seen as a time of contestation. Its cultural climate could be characterized as a mixture of public protest and private hedonism. However, already at that time, voices emerged, such as that of Augusto del Noce, who warned about the future convergence between the cultural left and technocratic capitalism. In this context, another event that took place in 1968 stands out, namely the publication of the encyclical HumanaeVitae, which shows a very different face to the previous one. This pontifical text understands sexuality as a way of exercising virtue. From another point of view, Horkheimer also expressed objections to the pill, because it implied a colonization of sexuality by instrumental rationality.