1 - Great Power Politics in the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century

Summary

If the designation the ‘Age of Enlightenment’ to describe the second half of the eighteenth century is rooted in historical thinking, as cipher it nevertheless points to the broader characteristics of the historical period. Whatever one might think of the aptness of attributing the ‘Enlightenment’ to complex developments in intellectual history and mindsets, contemporaries themselves, or at least their leading thinkers, situated themselves in an era of enlightenment. They propagated a style of thinking that was guided by criteria of rationality in order to deduce a course of action that aimed at order and transparency, or in other words clarity. If this resulted in epoch-making intellectual developments such as increasing scientification, this was not an end in itself. Rather, it served to make one’s own and others’ actions more predictable when other guarantors of predictability such as religious authorities, could no longer be counted on. It was intended to ensure a minimum level of security in a constantly changing world.