1st Edition

Languages of Reform in the Eighteenth Century When Europe Lost Its Fear of Change

Edited By Susan Richter, Thomas Maissen, Manuela Albertone Copyright 2020
452 Pages 4 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

450 Pages 4 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

450 Pages 4 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

Societies perceive "Reform" or "Reforms" as substantial changes and significant breaks which must be well-justified. The Enlightenment brought forth the idea that the future was uncertain and could be shaped by human beings. This gave the concept of reform a new character and new fields of application. Those who sought support for their plans and actions needed to reflect, develop new arguments,... Read more

Introduction: Languages of Reform and the European Enlightenment
Pascal Firges, Johan Lange, Thomas Maissen, Sebastian Meurer, Susan Richter, Gregor Stiebert, Lina Weber, Urte Weeber, and Christine Zabel

Section I: Semantics of Languages of Reform

1. The Concept of Reform in Polyglot European Enlightenment
Gisela Schlüter

2. The Dawning of the Age of Reform: Epistemic and Semantic Shifts in Georgian Britain
Sebastian Meurer

3. The Making of "Federalism" in Eighteenth-Century France: Between Reform and Revolution
Manuela Albertone

4. Ambiguity in Translation: Communicating Economic Reform in the Multilingual Republic of Berne
Lisa Kolb and Lothar Schilling

Section II: Strategies and Rhetoric of Reform

5. Change and Improvement to Save the State: Administrative Reforms in Maria Theresian Austria
Gregor Stiebert

6. Reform as Verbesserung: Argumentative Patterns and the Role of Models in German Cameralism
Susan Richter

7. Luxury as an Eighteenth-Century Language of Reform of Society Between France and Italy: Jean-François Melon, Antonio Genovesi and Georges-Marie Butel-Dumont
Cecilia Carnino

8. A Useful Public Institution?: Languages of University Reform in the German Territories, 1750–1800
Johan Lange

Section III: Thematic Vocabularies in Specific Contexts

9. A Kind of Sovereignty?: Legitimising Freedom of Contract in the 18th Century
Johannes Süßmann

10. From Economic Reform to Political Revolution: The Language of Dutch Patriotism
Lina Weber

11. Mending the Boat While Sailing: Languages of Linguistic Reform in the German Territories, c. 1750–1815
Theo Jung

12. From a Reform-Language of Speculation to a Speculative Language of Reform: Liberalising Trade in Mid-18th-Century France
Christine Zabel

13. From the Civic Improvement of the Jews to the Separation of State and Church: Languages of Political Reform in Brandenburg-Prussia, 1781-1799
Avi Lifschitz

Section IV: Adaption and Translation of Reform Languages

14. The Difficult Reform of Military Discipline in the Latter Half of Eighteenth-Century France
Isabelle Deflers

15. Writing on "The New Order": Ottoman Approaches to Late Eighteenth-Century Reforms
Pascal Firges

Section V: Reflecting on Reform

16. Reform, Revolution, and the Republican Tradition: The Case of the Batavian Republic
Wyger R.E. Velema

17. Words and Things: The Language of Reform in Wilhelm Traugott Krug and Karl Ludwig von Haller
Béla Kapossy

Conclusion: Bringing a Despotic Agenda into the Public Sphere — Concluding Remarks on Languages of Reform
Thomas Maissen

Biography

Susan Richter is Full Professor of Early Modern History at Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel.



Thomas Maissen is Professor of Early Modern History at Heidelberg University.



Manuela Albertone is Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Turin.