The adjective retrograde has two different meanings. On the one hand, it serves to indicate that a person has outdated, conservative or outmoded ideas, on the other hand, it refers to a certain type of movement .
The retrograde mentality
There are certain ways of understanding life that don’t fit with the present time. Thus, when a person has thoughts or ideas from the past, it means that he is a backward person, that is, someone outdated, outdated, obsolete and reactionary. It is an adjective used in a pejorative way, because through it it is understood that the mentality of a person who is not very advanced and is anchored in the past. Retrograde
Although the word retrograde can be applied in different contexts, it is usually used in relation to political ideas or about evaluations of some social trends. Thus, when a person defends slavery, opposes the female vote, or declares against divorce, he is likely to be considered retrograde.
The fact that certain people receive this qualification reminds us that ideas evolve. Among the various examples of transformation of ideas, we can highlight the change in values in relation to homosexuality. A few decades ago homosexuality was seen as a perverse and abnormal behavior, nowadays, the vast majority of people admit homosexuality with normality and without scandals.
In relation to the movement of the planets
Some planets in the solar system move erratically through space. Planets like Mercury, Saturn or Mars move from west to east, but this movement has interruptions for a certain time and the direction from east to west changes, that is, inversely. When this happens, one speaks of the retrograde movement of the planets, as there is a momentary setback until the planetary orbit can return to normal again.
The scientific understanding of the retrograde movement of the planets only occurred from the 16th century when the astronomer Copernicus presented the foundations of the heliocentric theory.
In music there is also the concept of retrograde movement
In musical terminology, this movement happens when a melody is read in the opposite direction to the usual one, that is, when it starts at the end and ends at the beginning. This circumstance is a form of contrapuntal technique .
