Resumen de Fortschrittskult vs. Sehnsucht nach der ‚guten alten Zeit‘: Zeitbewusstsein und Geschichtsmodelle im 18. Jahrhundert bei Voltaire und de Fontanes
The French Enlightenment is, with some justification, regarded as an epoch of increasing knowledge and progress. With respect to contemporary ideas of the past circulating in the 18th century, however, progressive thinking is only one possible perspective on a more complex and contradictory conception of time and history. In opposition to a continuous rise (of luxury), this conception can also be considered a (moral) decline. This study discusses these two different points of view, referring to Voltaire’s Le mondain and Louis de Fontanes’ Le vieux château in order to reveal the influence of ideology and socio-historical context on both of these interpretations of history.
