In The Problem of Being Modern, Thomas P. Saine provides a lucid introduction to German thought in the eighteenth century and the struggle of Enlightenment philosophers and writers to come to grips with the profound philosophical and theological implications of new scientific developments since the seventeenth century. He concentrates on those points at which the essential modernity and the secular viewpoint of the Enlightenment conflicted with traditional thought structures rooted in the religious world view that governed attitudes and behavior far into the eighteenth century.

A book that “could serve as an effective introduction to German history, biblical studies and modern nationalism, among other fields” (German History). As German scholars, poets, and theologians searched for the origins of the ancient Israelites, Ofri Ilany believes, they created a model for nationalism that drew legitimacy from the biblical idea of the Chosen People. In this broad exploration of eighteenth-century Hebraism, Ilany tells the story of the surprising role that this model played in discussions of ethnicity, literature, culture, and nationhood among the German-speaking intellectual elite. He reveals the novel portrait they sketched of ancient Israel and how they tried to imitate the Hebrews while forging their own national consciousness. This sophisticated and lucid argument sheds new light on the myths, concepts, and political tools that formed the basis of modern German culture.

Based on the most recent scholarship, this book provides students and interested lay readers with a basic introduction to key facts and current controversies concerning the Enlightenment. One of the most significant developments in world history, the Enlightenment transformed Europe by promoting reason over faith and advancing skepticism, the scientific method, and intellectual inquiry. It reshaped political and cultural history and formed the foundation for many of today's institutions. The Enlightenment: History, Documents, and Key Questions is a one-stop reference that serves high school and undergraduate students in learning about the background of the Enlightenment. The book also provides readers with key insights into the distant origins of American democracy and technology-based innovation. The text's coverage of the Enlightenment from the late 17th century to the late 18th century in both Europe and its American colonies supports Common Core critical thinking skills for English Language Arts/World History and Social Studies. The inclusion of primary source documents and original argumentative essays work in conjunction with secondary material such as topical entries to engage readers' minds and to give them a fuller understanding the myriad factors that led to the Enlightenment as well as its lasting effects.

This book examines the public battle sparked by the promulgation in 1788 of Prussia's Edict on Religion. Historians have seen in this moment nothing less than the end of the Enlightenment in Prussia. This book begs to differ and argues that social control had a long "enlightened" pedigree. Using both archival and published documents, this book reveals deeply the entire Prussian elite was invested in social control of the masses, especially in the public sphere. What emerges is a picture of the Enlightenment in Prussia as a conservative enterprise that was limited by not merely the state but also the social anxities of the Prussian elite.

This book traces the translation history of twentieth-century German philosophy into English, with significant layovers in Paris, and proposes an innovative approach to long-standing difficulties in its translation. German philosophy’s reputation for profundity is often understood to lie in German’s polysemous vocabulary, which is notoriously difficult to translate even into its close relative, English. Hawkins shows the merit in a strategy of “differential translation,” which involves translating conceptually dense German terms with multiple different terms in the target text, rather than the conventional standard of selecting one term in English for consistent translation. German Philosophy in English Translation explores how debates around this strategy have polarized both the French-language and English-language translation landscapes. Well-known translators and commissioners such as Jean Beaufret, Adam Phillips, and Joan Stambaugh come out boldly in favor, and others such as Jean Laplanche and Terry Pinkard polemically against it. Drawing on Hans Blumenberg’s work on metaphor, German Philosophy in English Translation questions prevalent norms around the translation of terminology that obscure the metaphoric dimension of German philosophical vocabulary. This book is a crucial reference for translators and researchers interested in the German language, and particularly for scholars in translation studies, philosophy, and intellectual history.

The essays in The Question of Peace in Modern Political Thought address the contribution that political theories of modern political philosophers have made to our understandings of peace. The discipline of peace research has reached a critical impasse, where the ideas of both “realist peace” and “democratic peace” are challenged by contemporary world events. Can we stand by while dictators violate the human rights of citizens? Can we impose a democratic peace through the projection of war? By looking back at the great works of political philosophy, this collection hopes to revive peace as an active question for political philosophy while making an original contribution to contemporary peace research and international relations.

In the first single-author account of German history from the Reformation to the early nineteenth century since Hajo Holborn's study written in the 1950s, Dr Whaley provides a full account of the history of the Holy Roman Empire. Volume II extends from the Peace of Westphalia to the Dissolution of the Reich.