Languages of Reform in the Eighteenth Century: When Europe Lost Its Fear of Change (Routledge Research in Early Modern History)

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, and offer new reasons to address an anonymous public. This book aims to compile these changes under the heuristic term of “languages of reform”. It analyzes the structures of communication regarding reforms in the eighteenth century through a wide variety of topics. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series Title 3 Title 4 Copyright 5 Contents 8 List of Figures 11 Preface 12 Introduction: Languages of Reform and the European Enlightenment 14 SECTION I Semantics of Languages of Reform 40 1 The Concept of Reform in Polyglot European Enlightenment 42 2 The Dawning of the Age of Reform: Epistemic and Semantic Shifts in Georgian Britain 75 3 The Making of "Federalism" in Eighteenth-Century France: Between Reform and Revolution 98 4 Ambiguity in Translation: Communicating Economic Reform in the Multilingual Republic of Berne 115 SECTION II Strategies and Rhetoric of Reform 138 5 Change and Improvement to Save the State: Administrative Reforms in Maria Theresian Austria 140 6 Reform as Verbesserung: Argumentative Patterns and the Role of Models in German Cameralism 166 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 194 8 A Useful Public Institution? Languages of University Reform in the German Territories, 1750-1800 210 SECTION III Thematic Vocabularies in Specific Contexts 224 9 A Kind of Sovereignty? Legitimising Freedom of Contract in the 18th Century 226 10 From Economic Reform to Political Revolution: The Language of Dutch Patriotism 246 11 Mending the Boat While Sailing: Languages of Linguistic Reform in the German Territories, c. 1750-1815 266 12 From a Reform Language of Speculation to a Speculative Language of Reform: Liberalising Trade in Mid-18th-Century France 289 13 From the Civic Improvement of the Jews to the Separation of State and Church: Languages of Political Reform in Brandenburg-Prussia, 1781-1799 309 SECTION IV Adaption and Translation of Reform Languages 334 14 The Difficult Reform of Military Discipline in the Latter Half of Eighteenth-Century France 336 15 Writing on "The New Order": Ottoman Approaches to Late Eighteenth-Century Reforms 357 SECTION V Reflecting on Reform 374 16 Reform, Revolution, and the Republican Tradition: The Case of the Batavian Republic 376 17 Words and Things: Languages of Reform in Wilhelm Traugott Krug and Karl Ludwig von Haller 397 Conclusion: Bringing a Despotic Agenda Into the Public Sphere - Concluding Remarks on Languages of Reform 418 List of Contributors 438 Index 442 "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, and offer new reasons to address an anonymous public. This book aims to compile these changes under the heuristic term of "languages of reform." It analyzes the structures of communication regarding reforms in the 18th century through a wide variety of topics"-- Provided by publisher