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The schoolteacher and poet Hilja Pärssinen (1876–1935) was the most influential and internationally best-known female socialist in Finland before the Finnish Civil War (1918). She was a member of the Finnish Parliament, the leader of the Finnish Social Democratic Women’s Movement, and the most prominent ideologue of the Finnish Social Democratic Party’s (SDP) welfare programme. For instance, Pärssinen promoted paid maternity leave, public daycare, legalised abortion, and compulsory education with free meals and school supplies.Historians have acknowledged Pärssinen’s leading role as the architect of Finnish socialist welfare, but also pointed out that she was an aggressive opponent of the Evangelical Lutheran church. However, the studies have mainly failed to note that instead of rejecting religion itself, Pärssinen claimed all the reforms demanded by socialists were based on Christianity. Finnish scholars have argued—mainly based on writings by the party male elite—that the SDP rejected religion and adopted secular/antireligious ideology at the beginning of the twentieth century. I argue that this paradigm is based on an oversimplified and gendered interpretation. This paper will show that shifting the perspective from male socialist leaders to female ideologues can change and widen the comprehension of the history of socialism drastically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Secuencia: Revista de Historia y Ciencias Sociales is the property of Instituto de Investigaciones - Dr. Jose M. Luis Mora and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article looks at the encyclopedic Liber Floridus (Lambert de St Omer, c. 1121) and the Oxford Chanson de Roland (c. 1100) and how these coeval texts illustrate contemporary ideas about history, an emerging sense of nationalism, the Crusades, and the treatment of human emotions, especially anger and the complex effects it has on the psyche. I argue that in the Liber floridus' analysis there is a source for contemporary emotion theory, and that in the Oxford Chanson de Roland we see something of its practical application. To read the Liber floridus is to encounter doctrinally, politically, stylistically, and psychologically the cultural mind-set that produced the Chanson de Roland and its apocalyptic, divisive, crusading outlook. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article considers a little-researched topic - fundamentally contested classics: when canonical figures in the history of social thought are regularly placed at the center of intense discursive struggles that go beyond the boundaries of normal scientific criticism. First, the author mentions the ambivalent reception of M. Weber’s heritage as a basic element of the sociological canon due to its extremely fragmentary nature even within the positive perception of his ideas. Further, the article schematically reconstructs the long tradition of intellectual struggle with Weber personally and his ideas. The author believes that there is a gap in global Weber studies, which is anti-Weberianism as a significant intellectual and cultural practice that has not yet been explicitly reflected, and proposes an analytical scheme for systematizing permanent attacks on Weber at different levels (personal, discursive and institutional). The first critical strategy focuses on Weber’s personality, emphasizing the incoherence of his scientifictheoretical views and way of life. The second type of criticism focuses on Weber’s ideas, trying, under the guise of academic polemics, to refute the main provisions of Weber’s sociology as untenable for productive work within the current sociological research (as a rule, the leading motives of such a strategy lie outside scientific discussions). The third anti-Weber strategy is openly political/ideological in nature and aims not so much at exposing the scientific fallacy of his theses as at their ideological condemnation, formal ban or “cancellation” as harmful and dangerous for the goals of particular social movements. In conclusion, the author mentions some attempts to “cancel” Weber in Russia - both within the academy and by ideologically biased publicists and bloggers.

European colonialist thinking continues to influence history writing after national independence – even in the construction of national narratives. In the case of Malaysia, the work of the scholar-official, Richard Winstedt, has had a far-reaching impact – and one that is seldom recognised. The 20th century was a crucial period in the political and historical construction of 'Malay(si)a' – a time when a colonial state was imagined, and then positioned as a foundation for post-colonial nation-building. Malay(si)a did not exist as a political entity before this time – it had to be carved out of the Indian (or 'Malay') Archipelago, an enormous region largely under Dutch authority. The historical construction of Malay(si)a was never a homogenous process, even in colonial narratives. This article examines the strategy Winstedt undertook to develop a state narrative – suggesting how his work moved beyond that of earlier British historians. Although Winstedt's project was explicitly 'modern' in its purpose and style, we also note ways in which he was influenced by pre-modern Malay writers. The final section examines Winstedt's impact on local Malay(si)an writing, including Malaysia's standard national narrative. Some local historians, however, resisted Winstedt – and sought to write the Malaysian nation from alternative perspectives. Nation-making in this and other regions of Southeast Asia is all the more interesting because it has been a dialogic rather than merely integrative project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to broaden our historical knowledge about ideas of rationalism and monocultures in forestry science and rational forest management. Empirically, it focuses on the writings of Swedish forestry scientist Henrik Hesselman, active in the early twentieth century. The texts were analyzed using the method of historical contextualization. The study indicates that monocultures historically have been subjected to debates richer than what previous research gives credit for. Besides a rationalist technology, monocultures have been conceptualized as an example of non-rational forestry failing to deliver sustainable yields. Moreover, instead of only simplifications, one-size-fits-all solutions, and top-down reforms, historical forestry science representatives have also at times understood rational forest management as a quest for complexity, site-specific solutions, and bottom-up approaches. It is argued that our understanding of forest use and society–environment relations, more generally, benefit from more historical contextualization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Prussian General Synod of 1846 has been understood as the ecclesiastical precursor of the Vereinigte Landtag of 1847. This essay argues that the General Synod was rather convened by the king on the model of the "Vereinigte Ausschüsse " of 1842. To the extent granted to them by the rules of procedure, the synodals adopted democratic ideas and practices within the limits of their "Ständebewußtsein", widely viewed them critically in the church, and vehemently rejected them in the political context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study presents the Russian historical-philosophical process in the context of the discovery of a new object, themes, personae, set of reactions and formation of a product for the intellectual community. The author's reliance on philosophical empirical material and appropriate hermeneutics in its processing allows the author to highlight those factors that influenced individual and collective reception. The author sees as a convenient case study the “discovery” by the Russian philosophical community of the early 20th century of both American philosophy in general and C.S. Peirce in particular. Since the beginning of the 19th century, Russian thinkers have turned their attention to American philosophy in all the diversity of its manifestations. Russian intellectuals paid special attention to American pragmatism and everything associated with it. In Russia, in addition to translations, numerous reviews of foreign publications on this topic are appearing. Of particular interest to us in the Russian “collective reflection” of American ideas is the system of preferences for ideas, texts, events, and names. The point is that what might have been a priority for a European thinker, for a Russian one turned out to be on the “periphery” of his consciousness, as well as vice versa. While James appeared among the priority figures for Russian thinkers, Peirce was in his “shadow”. Using rich empirical material, the author shows all the stages of Peirce’s image formation in the Russian intellectual community. The research shows that “image” of Peirce, which represents not so much the thinker himself, but characterizes the intellectual community that turned to him. The results of the study may be useful both for contemporary foreign and Russian interpreters of Peirce and for historians of philosophy who are rethinking the past and forming in the present new objects of reception and reflection.

This paper analyzes the specific shift in the meaning of “civilization” that took place in texts and documents of early American philosophical naturalism. Particularly, it will focus on the specific role that naturalization plays in the edification of a newly secularized, science-oriented, and democratic society, as well as of a naturalized conception of culture and civilization. Indeed, as the work of many philosophers and intellectuals of the Forties highlights, naturalism represents not only the banner of a new idea of civilization, but at the same time becomes the symbol of a powerful postwar ideology.

The study builds on the author's earlier research, in which he reflected on professional discussions about the term "absolutism" in European historiography of the 20th century. It tries to capture the broader context of the political history of the early modern period, especially the creation of the state as (to this day) the dominant political discourse and the basic communication structure of society. In his study, the author presents a summary of different approaches to the problem of the emergence of the state, especially the sociological and the culturally anthropological approaches. At the same time, he touches on areas that, thanks to these views to the political history of the early modern period, have undergone significant methodological changes in recent decades, such as the history of administration, the history of diplomacy or the history (emergence) of the public. An integral part of the treatise is also a critical reflection of terms that historians, sociologists, and cultural anthropologists use to describe the development of the state in the 16th to 18th centuries, such as bureaucratisation, the fiscal-military state, the mediality of power or competition of norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the historical and philosophical roots of economic thought, drawing connections between the entrepreneurial mindset and the scholastic traditions that have shaped the conceptual landscape of free markets. Through a multidisciplinary approach, the paper examines how religious and scholastic influences have contributed to the development of economic ideas, providing a nuanced understanding of the ethical dimensions inherent in entrepreneurial endeavors. By unraveling the threads that connect entrepreneurship, prayer, and scholasticism, this paper also seeks to illuminate the symbiotic relationship between faith, intellectual heritage, and the principles that underpin free-market economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Le texte présenté est une tentative de synthèse des orientations intellectuelles françaises influençant le régionalisme polonais. Des phénomènes que l’on peut qualifier d’annonciateurs du régionalisme propre – le développement de la recherche sur l’histoire de localités et de territoires particuliers, le folklore, les travaux géographiques et linguistiques, le développement d’un journalisme local ou d’activités artistiques et éducatives – s’inscrivent dans un large courant d’activités patriotiques, ce qui constitue une différence essentielle entre les conditions dans lesquelles le régionalisme s’est développé en Pologne et en France au tournant du XXe siècle. Indépendamment de ce qui précède, les courants scientifiques, politiques et culturels français ont été suivis de près en Pologne, gagnant ici de nombreux partisans, également parmi les régionalistes.

The widely recognized 12 principles of green chemistry, introduced in 1998, have become a focal point for environmentally conscious chemists worldwide. These principles are regarded as a comprehensive summary of the achievements of green chemistry and a roadmap for future advancements in the field, aligning chemistry with sustainability goals. They have been hailed as groundbreaking in addressing pressing global challenges, including environmental and climate crises. However, a closer examination reveals a more nuanced perspective. Criticisms have emerged, asserting that these principles may stifle the creativity of emerging chemists and distort the history of green chemistry. Dissenting voices are growing, prompting scholars to reevaluate their effectiveness and relevance. It appears that the 12 principles provide an overarching narrative and a common language to practitioners of green chemistry but their success does not proceed from their 'scientific' qualities but should be rather understood in socio-historical terms. Analysing these principles provides insights into the mindset and collective identities of chemists, highlighting how underlying value-driven frameworks shape scientific discourse. It becomes evident that these frameworks can be co-opted and persist unquestioned for extended periods. The objective of this article is to demystify the 12 principles, stimulating dialogue on the necessity of self-reflection within scientific fields that heavily rely on value-laden sustainability-oriented terminology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the role of different forms of translation in the historical movement of ideas. Its main object of study is Abraham Rogerius' description of Hinduism, firs t published in Dutch in 1651 and soon translated into German and French. Both translations add material provided independently by the translator. The German version and its addenda left echoes in a German oriental novel that was, in its turn, translated. An abridgement of the French version became part of a survey of the world's religions that was also translated in its turn and helped shape the Enlightenment. The main aim of my paper is to document the various modes of translation, adaptation and appropriation that enabled this dissemination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of thinking became the subject of historical research after the History of Ideas was separated from the History of Philosophy. This new historical course has come a long way since it took its present form. The History of Ideas became institutionalized in the United States in the late 1930s and was gradually replaced by Intellectual History in the 1970s. In Europe, German historians were the first to take an interest in the history of thinking, dealing with it in the course of Geistesgeschichte, Ideengeschichte, and later Begriffsgeschichte. How these historical movements developed, what methods they used and what problems they solved will be explored in this study, together with a comparison with each other. Finally, we will conclude with a focus on the status and the research of intellectual history today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to contribute to the recent historiographic reflection on the academic phenomenon of rethinking the Conquest in Mexico. For this purpose, the text is centered on the review of the critiques of the works published by the philosopher Miguel León Portilla, as these are the starting points for the new historiographical approaches to this period of Mexican history. We review Leon Portilla's conceptions of the vision of the vanquished, the encounter of two worlds, the anthropological model of Fray Bernardino de Sahagún and the categorization of Nahua thought as philosophy, and contrast them with the main refutations of these themes in order to conclude that Miguel León Portilla, by providing with his work a new historiographical approach to the period of Mexican history, by providing with his work a homogenization of the processes of conquest and proposing, in the light of his critics, urocentric historiographic positions, his intellectual hierarchical position as the almost unique author of the Mexican past was overturned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large literature has formed around the question of how Freud's Jewishness and/or Judaism influenced his psychological discoveries and development of psychoanalytic theory and methods. The article organizes the literature into several core theses but brings new clarity and insight by applying two essential criteria to demonstrate an impact of Judaism on Freud's thinking: direct content and historical timing. First, there should be evidence that Freud incorporated actual content from Jewish sources, and second, this incorporation must have occurred during the most crucial period of Freud's early discovery, conceptualization, and development of psychoanalysis, roughly 1893–1910. Thus, for example, Bakan's well‐known theory that Freud studied Kabbala is completely negated by the absence of any evidence in the required time period. Part I reviews the literature on the influence of Freud's ethnic/cultural Jewish identity. Part II introduces the Judaic sacred literature, explores Freud's education in Judaism and Hebrew, and presents evidence that Freud had the motive, means, and resources to discover and draw from the "Dream Segment" of the Talmud—along with the traditional Judaic methods and techniques of textual exegesis. Freud then applied these same Judaic word‐centered interpretive methods—used for revealing an invisible God—to revealing an invisible Unconscious in four successive books in 1900, 1901, and 1905. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the academic and journalistic activity of the exceptional historian of ideas, researcher of the Polish and Russian socio-philosophical thought of the 19th and 20th c., Professor Andrzej Walicki (15 May 1930-20 August 2020), in the last decade of his life. He authored a few of his own academic biographies. The last one, Idee i ludzie. Próba autobiografii ('Ideas and People. An Attempt at the Autobiography'), published in 2010, showcases his research until 2009. Despite turning 80 in 2010, he continued his academic work, and the last decade of his life brought new publications, as well as new translations and editions of his works. He was also active in the public debate about politics and science, publishing press articles and giving interviews. This paper is therefore a closure of Andrzej Walicki's intellectual 'autobiography.' The article concludes with the complete list of his publications since 2010, which also serves as the main bibliography of this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent innovation in the study of methods in the history of ideas is the introduction of elements of semantic externalism from the philosophy of language. Studies that rely on semantic externalism have done so to address particular questions of method in political theorising, including the interpretation of 'essentially contested concepts', and the issue of relativism in historical contextualism. In this paper, I critically review the use of semantic externalism, and associated methods such as Kripke's causal theory of reference, in the history of ideas. I explore the barriers that might prevent the use of externalism, and how studies relying on externalism seek to overcome such barriers. I then assess both the implications of relying on externalism, as well as a set of limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper delineates the intellectual history of endeavours to generate a unified science of child welfare in Finland in the early twentieth century by elucidating the efforts of leading Finnish protagonists to depict the concept of child welfare science. The idea of such a new science was not unique to Finland; similar trends emerged extensively throughout the industrialising world, in which child welfare was being increasingly championed. The fundamental reasons given for developing a child welfare science in Finland were linked with ambitions to develop child welfare as a consistent system in modern society. The aspiration to develop a scientific basis for child welfare was not only about adapting relevant research-based knowledge to practice, but also about creating historical and theoretical self-understanding in the field. The intention was to construct a comprehensive conceptual framework for the child welfare needed in policymaking, legislation, and systems building, as well as in the development of professional practices. Although focusing on Finland, the review is of more general significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Annelien De Dijn's book Freedom: An Unruly History presents a bold and innovative thesis about the history of freedom. According to De Dijn, our modern belief that individuals should be allowed to pursue their own goals without undue interference from the state was born much later than is usually assumed. It is conservative liberals in the nineteenth century who championed this new, negative understanding of freedom at the expense of an older, more political and collectivist use of the term. My article raises three critical questions about this thesis. i) De Dijn suggests that the triumph of individual freedom can be attributed to a single factor, to be found in nineteenth century politics. Does this not overlook the many other cultural factors involved? ii) Is there indeed a sharp conceptual and chronological opposition between collective and individual freedom, as De Dijn claims, or might individual freedom have evolved in a more gradual manner from collective freedom? iii) De Dijn's book appears to champion the classical ideal of freedom as collective self-government. Is it wise to favour collective self-government over individual liberty, or should we admit that these two ideals complement and maybe even need each other? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, several cases about the legal personhood of nonhuman animals garnered global attention, e.g. the recognition of 'basic rights' for the Argentinian great apes Sandra and Cecilia. Legal scholars have embraced the animal turn, blurring the once sovereign boundaries between persons and objects, recognising nonhuman beings as legal subjects. The zoonotic origins of the Covid-19 pandemic stress the urgency of establishing 'global animal law' and deconstructing anthropocentrism. To this end, it is vital to also consider the extensive premodern legal history that humans share with other animals. Over 200 so-called animal trials have been documented in premodern Europe. In these proceedings, certain nonhuman animals—particularly domestic pigs—were prosecuted, often resulting in their capital punishment or anathema. This paper takes a history of ideas approach to these historical instances where Western philosophy of law and philosophical anthropology intersect, problematising the notion that such trials constitute wholesome precedents of the kind of legal personhood presently debated in jurisprudence. My counter-hegemonic analysis of the legal prosecution and execution of several pigs in fifteenth-century France demonstrates that late mediaeval notions of criminality transcended the alleged human-nonhuman divide whilst reaffirming and reifying human distinctiveness. I propose that pig trials were local laboratories where Christian communities reflected upon the natural hierarchy of God's creation. Ensuing the apparent breach of the prescribed boundaries of nature, these communities renegotiated and re-naturalised everyday interspecies sociability by utilising the offending animals to exemplify particular norms about what it means to be human, generally to the animals' detriment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barry Turner's 1978 Man-made Disasters and Charles Perrow's 1984 Normal Accidents were seminal books but a detailed comparison has yet to be undertaken. Doing so is important to establish content and priority of key ideas underpinning contemporary safety science. Turner's research found socio-technical and systemic patterns that meant that major organisational disasters could be foreseen and were preventable. Perrow's macro-structuralist industry focus was on technologically deterministic but unpredictable and unpreventable "system" accidents, particularly rare catastrophes. Andrew Hopkins and Nick Pidgeon respectively suggested that some prominent writers who wrote after Turner may not have been aware of, or did not properly acknowledge, Turner's work. Using a methodology involving systematic reading and historical, biographical and thematic theory analysis, a detailed review of Turner's and Perrow's backgrounds and publications sheds new light on Turner's priority and accomplishment, highlighting substantial similarities as well as clear differences. Normal Accidents did not cite Turner in 1984 or when republished with major additions in 1999. Turner became better known after a 1997 second edition of Man-made Disasters but under-acknowledgment issues by Perrow and others continued. Ethical citation and potential reasons for under-acknowledgment are discussed together with lessons applicable more broadly. It is concluded that Turner's foundational importance for safety science should be better recognised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose Li Zehou’s idea of “Western Learning for Substance, Chinese Learning for Function” (Xi ti Zhong yong 西體中用) as an interpretative framework for two distinct theories: Sungmoon Kim’s political theory of public reason Confucianism and Yan Lianke’s literary theory of mythorealism. This paper aims to show that Xi ti Zhong yong can provide a unified explanatory framework for these two apparently distinct theories. Second, we show that Xi ti Zhong yong can be applied even more broadly to other phenomena occurring in contemporary discourses on China. In particular, we show that it provides new interpretative perspectives in political philosophy and literary theory.

In the interview he gave to Marianne Doury and Théophile Robineau, Marc Angenot discusses the place of rhetoric in his work. Recalling that ancient rhetoric was essentially based on the judicial model, he emphasizes its interest, but also its limitations, in exploring the social discourse he seeks to account for. He takes up its global perspective, mobilizing ethos, pathos and logos, the combined consideration of which is necessary for an understanding of ideas and the way in which they are carried and discussed in society. But he insists on the necessity of taking account of the fact that social discourse is embedded in a more or less long-term history, which is a prerequisite for its intelligibility. Taking social discourse as the object of research also requires us to reconsider the notion of situation as traditionally understood in rhetoric, and to redefine the way we look at the question of persuasion.

The paper explores the role of different forms of translation in the historical movement of ideas. Its main object of study is Abraham Rogerius’ description of Hinduism, first published in Dutch in 1651 and soon translated into German and French. Both translations add material provided independently by the translator. The German version and its addenda left echoes in a German oriental novel that was, in its turn, translated. An abridgement of the French version became part of a survey of the world’s religions that was also translated in its turn and helped shape the Enlightenment. The main aim of my paper is to document the various modes of translation, adaptation and appropriation that enabled this dissemination.

This article presents a history of jitneys from the Gilded Age streets until their return to discourse among post-1970s transportation neoliberals. Transportation neoliberals were an intellectual set including professors, policymakers, consultants, and con men. They discovered the history of jitneys, which Southern Californians invented during a wartime slump in global commerce in 1914. Abolished in the U.S., jitneys remained in operation in crisis-prone cities like Manila and Harare. Selective memories of jitneys in an age of austere state budgets contributed to the trade’s return as a cheap, unregulated alternative to public transit. History was the tool that led jitneys, in the guise of Lyft and Uber, back into U.S. streets after the global financial crisis.

Purpose. The purpose of this study is to analyze the perception of the common pan-Romance state in the intellectual history of Romance philology. The author analyzes various viewpoints on the common pan-Romance state, including the arguments of supporters and opponents of its existence. Novelty. The novelty of the study lies in the analysis of interpretations of the common pan-Romance state in contexts of the history of the Romance languages through the prism of intellectual history and the history of ideas. Materials and methods. Methodologically, the article is based on the principles of interdisciplinary historiography proposed in intellectual and cultural history, which allows us to analyze the problems of the common pan-Romance state as part of the history of ideas and an invented historiographic tradition or intellectual construct. Results. The article analyzes 1) the arguments of supporters of the existence of a common Romance state as a stage between Latin and Romance languages, 2) the ideas of critics and opponents of the idea of a common Romance state, who tend to look for the origins of the Romance languages directly in Latin, 3) the possibilities and potency of revising early viewpoints in contexts the history of late Latin and the early genesis of the Romance languages. The article also analyzes 1) the arguments of supporters and opponents of the existence of the common Romance state through the prism of intellectual history and the history of ideas, 2) the history of Romance philology through the prism of the archaeology of ideas, which allows us to trace how the arguments of supporters and opponents of the common Romance state have changed, 3) the general logic of the development of Romance philology through the prism of the transformation of ideas about the general Romance state. Conclusions. The results of the study suggest that 1) ideas about the common Romance state in the history of Romance linguistic became a common historiographic place, turning into an invented intellectual and historiographical tradition, 2) discussions and debates about the existence or absence of a general Romance state stimulated the search for new ideas, contributing to the development of Romance philology, 3) the controversy and debatability of the concept of the general Romance state in the history of Romance philology will remain a factor contributing to intellectual discussions and actualization of the role of revisionism as a universal factor in the development of modern interdisciplinary linguistics.

The essay proposes a synthesis of the reception by Italian scholars of Max Dvořák’s art history theories between the 1920s and the 1940s. The resistance to his thought for both linguistic and ideological reasons will be underlined mostly based on the reviews and essays influenced by Adolfo Venturi and Benedetto Croce. Reference will also be made to some unlucky attempts to translate and communicate Dvořák’s writings, and to the evidence of a possible dialogue between Vienna and Rome.

The article analyzes the image of the population of Dalmatia in the Napoleonic era. The analysis is mainly based on documents produced by the French administration of Dalmatia between 1806 and 1813, when the province was first part of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy and from 1809 belonged to a separate entity of the French Empire, the Illyrian Provinces. The study analyzes the picture of Dalmatian society that the French drew for practical administrative purposes and places it in the broader context of the concepts of the Balkans and Eastern Europe and, in particular, the environmental and historical peculiarities of the Mediterranean region. The article shows that the tensions between the settled population on the coast and the semi-nomadic pastoral communities in the Dalmatian hinterland, which was a characteristic phenomenon of the Mediterranean world, had a great influence, at least in the Dalmatian context, on the formation of ideas that later became part of the image of Balkan backwardness and other ideas about the Balkan region that took shape in the Age of Enlightenment.

Copyright of Revue d'Histoire Moderne & Contemporaine is the property of Societe d'Histoire Moderne et Contemporaine and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This address was given in-person at the 2023 annual conference of the Australian Association for the Study of Religion, hosted by the Institute for Ethics and Society at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney. The purpose of the address was to raise the question about the fundamental aspects of our thinking about religion, and via this process of inquiry to underline the importance of our relationship to words, ideas, and their meaning. So as not to take for granted our existing relationship to the language we use, but to recognise that we are always and already in such a relationship. Thinking about religion, therefore, becomes not only the process but the nature of our being in relation to what we understand about religion. The talk drew upon my reflection on the philosophy of Martin Heidegger, the mysticism of Meister Eckhart, and Zen Buddhism-the cross section of which was made particularly significant for me in reading Caputo's The Mystical Element in Heidegger's Thought. All of this, however, is underpinned by the methodological remarks made by Trompf about religious studies in In Search of Origins; something that has stayed with me since my time studying at the Department of Studies in Religion at the University of Sydney [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Michael Rosen's The Shadow of God illustrates a distinctive way of understanding the relationship between ideas and history, while posing several connected questions. Among these are how the human condition of alienation may be overcome in a way that is ethically and intellectually defensible; how the search for reconciliation may generate, paradoxically, further alienation, and inspire terrible inhumanity; and whether a meaningful and good human life can be lived without the assurance of future justice—or, indeed, future existence. Rosen evokes the emotional pull of the quest for reconciliation, and reveals the argumentative richness it has generated; yet reflection on human evil and suffering should chasten our aspirations to attain historical reconciliation or rational understanding. We may have good reason to turn away from both the project of theodicy, and the tendency to identify human value in something detached from living individuals, in favor of a reaffirmation of the value of the personal. Rosen's own work illustrates how a reaffirmation of the personal, and respect for the freedom of others, may be practiced in and through the history of ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quinn Slobodian's volume is an attempt to historicize neoliberalism. It follows the emergence of a group of intellectuals, mostly from Germany, between the end of the World War I and the creation of the World Trade Organization. It identifies its fundamental ideal in the desire to isolate the economy from the excesses of economic nationalism and the redistributive tendencies of democracy, as well as from the rationalist aspirations of experts. The book examines how the paralysis of the World Trade Organization reveals the limits of neoliberal ideology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of the idea of progress and the history of the concept of progress are two different things, not least because they emanate from considerably different intellectual traditions. In anglophone history of ideas, progress has typically been viewed as a belief. Historians of ideas explore the past evaluating the extent to which a given society met certain conditions of belief. By contrast, in the history of concepts as developed by Reinhart Koselleck, progress has occupied the dual role of a 'basic concept' that grasps modern sociopolitical reality and a 'collective singular' that aggregates previous and adjacent meanings in the one linguistic unit. This article compares these two historical research programmes, highlights their merits and deficiencies, and concludes by offering a new approach to the history of concepts as suggested by R.G. Collingwood's theory of a scale of forms. In each of the approaches to the history of ideas and concepts addressed, particular attention is given to the problem of what qualifies as progress, and thus to a longstanding problem concerning the attribution of progress to past societies routinely excluded from its history, including those left out by Koselleck's conventional secular-modern thesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan is often surrounded by the myth of featuring a unique “love for nature”, and its traditional culture and lifestyle as having been “in harmony with nature” before it was corrupted by modernization and Westernization. In this paper, I employ three examples to delineate images of nature in different times of Japanese history and point out the discrepancy between discourse on nature and physical engagement with nature. I argue that the environmental destruction that peaked in the Meiji period (1868–1912) is not primarily derived from a new, dualistic Euro-American understanding of nature. Rather, I demonstrate that environmental harm was already inherent in premodern Japan and was reconcilable with the respective concepts of nature. Therefore, industrialization and the adoption of Western technology solely released the potential for large-scale environmental impact.