Ranke, Burckhardt und die "Orientalische Renaissance"

Abstract

The essay outlines Ranke's and Burckhardt's responses to the "Eastern Renaissance" triggered by Romanticism and late nineteenth-century culture. Main topics are the productive role of violence in history, the meaning of "sacrifice" and the danger of anonymity in metropolitan life. An important reference is found in a Quinet's book, which is used here as an undelying theme.