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Crisis

ReinhartoselleckTranslationby Michaela W. Richter

Collegeof StatenIsland,City Universityof New York

I. Introduction.II. On the Greek Use of the Word.

III. The Entryof the Term nto National Languages.IV. Uses in Lexica.V. FromPoliticalConcept to Philosophy of History Concept-the Eigh-teenth Centuryandthe FrenchRevolution:1) Political Uses of the Term.

2) ItsExpansioninto the Philosophyof History:a) WesternDevelopmentin the Formation of HistoricalConcepts.b) Variants n GermanPhilosophiesof History.VI. "Crisis"and "Crises"-the Nineteenth Century:

1) "Crisis" n EverydayExperience.2) "Crisis"as Concept in Theories of History.3) EconomicMeaningsof the Term.4) Marx and Engels.VII. Overview and PresentUsage.

ReinhartKoselleck,"Krise"n GeschichtlicheGrundbegriffe: istorischesLexiconzurpolitisch-sozialen Sprache in Deutschland , eds. Otto Brunner,Werner Konze, and Rein-hart Koselleck (8 volumes; Stuttgart:Klett-Cotta, 1972-97), 3: 617-50.

CopyrightC byJournalof theHistoryof Ideas,Volume 7, Number2 (April 006)357


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I. INTRODUCTION

Forthe Greekstheterm"crisis"hadrelativelyclearlydemarcatedmeaningsin the spheresof law, medicine,and theology.Theconcept imposedchoicesbetween starkalternatives-right or wrong, salvation or damnation,life ordeath. Until the earlymodernperiodthe medicalmeaning,whichcontinuedto be used technically,remaineddominant virtuallywithout interruption.Fromthe seventeenthcenturyon, the term, used as a metaphor, expandedinto politics, economics, history,psychology.Towardsthe end of the eigh-teenth century,the term once again took on religiousand theological con-notations; but by its applicationto the events of the French and Americanrevolutions, the apocalyptic vision of the last judgmentnow acquired asecularmeaning. Because of its metaphoricalflexibility,the concept gainsin importance; t enters into everyday language; t becomes a central catch-word (Schlagwort).In our century,there is virtuallyno area of life that hasnot been examined and interpreted hrough this concept with its inherentdemand for decisions and choices.

Appliedto history,"crisis,"since 1780, has becomean expressionof anew sense of time which both indicatedandintensified he end of an epoch.Perceptionsof such epochal change can be measuredby the increaseduseof crisis. But the concept remains as multi-layeredand ambiguous as theemotions attachedto it. Conceptualizedas chronic, "crisis" can also indi-cate a state of greateror lesserpermanence,as in a longeror shorter transi-tion towards something better or worse or towards something altogetherdifferent. "Crisis"can announcea recurringevent, as in economics, or be-come an existential term of analysis, as in psychology and theology. Allthese possible uses can be appliedto historyitself.

II. ON THE GREEK USE OF THE WORD

1. Kaitr;has its roots in the Greekverb;xivw (krin6): o "separate" part,divorce),to "choose," to "judge,"to "decide";as a means of "measuringoneself," to "quarrel,"or to "fight."This created a relativelybroad spec-trum of meanings. In classical Greek, the term was central to politics. Itmeant not only "divorce" and "quarrel,"but also "decision" in the senseof reachinga crucialpoint that would tip the scales.It was in this sense thatThucydidesused the word when he linked the rapidconclusion of the Per-

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sian Wars to four battles.' But "crisis" also meant "decision"in the senseof reaching a verdict or judgment, what today is meant by criticism(Kritik).2Thus in classical Greek the subsequent separationinto two do-mains of meaning-that of a "subjectivecritique"and an "objectivecri-sis"-were still covered by the same term. Both sphereswere conceptuallyfused. Above all, it was in the sense of "judgment,""trial," "legal deci-sion," and ultimately "court" that crisis achieved a high constitutionalstatus,throughwhich the individualcitizen and the communitywere boundtogether.The "forand against"was thereforepresent n the originalmean-ing of the word and this in a mannerthat alreadyconceptuallyanticipatedthe appropriate udgment.Aristotlefrequentlyused the word in this way.As legal title and legal code xpiortgkrisis)defines the orderingof the civiccommunity.3From this specific legal meaning, the term begins to acquirepoliticalsignificance. t is extendedto electoraldecisions,governmentreso-lutions, decisions of war and peace, death sentences and exile, the accep-tance of official reports, and, above all, to governmentdecisions as such.Consequently,xeiort;(krisis)is most necessaryfor the community, repre-senting what is at once just and salutary.4For this reason, only one whoparticipatedas judge could be a citizen (acXirxQerlx/Iarchbkritike).Forthe Greeks, therefore,"crisis"was a centralconcept by which justiceandthe politicalorder (Herrschaftsordnung) ould be harmonizedthrough ap-propriate egaldecisions.2. The juridicalmeaning of x~lot; (krisis) is fully taken over in theSeptuaginta(ancient Greek translation of the Old and New Testament).5But a new dimensionis addedto the concept. The court in this world is, inthe Jewish tradition,linked to God, who is simultaneouslyboth the rulerand judge of his people. Hence the act of judgingalso contains a promiseof salvation.Beyondthat, the concept gainscentralsignificancen the wakeof apocalyptic expectations:the xport; (krisis)at the end of the world willfor the first time reveal true justice. Christians ived in the expectationofthe LastJudgment(xpigtl-/krisis= judicium),whose hour, time, and placeremained unknown but whose inevitability s certain.6It will cover every-one, the pious and the unbelievers, he livingandthe dead.7The LastJudg-1ThucydidesHistory1,23.2 AristotlePolitics,1289b,12.3 Ibid.1253a,354 Ibid.1275b,1ff.;1326b, 1ff.Acts 23:3.6 Matthew 10:15; 12:36; 25:31f.7Romans, 14:10.

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ment itself, however,will proceedlike an ongoing trial.8St.John even goesbeyond this certainty by announcing to the faithful that they, by obeyingthe word of God, have alreadyachieved salvation.9While the coming crisisremains a cosmic event, its outcome is alreadyanticipatedby the certaintyof that redemptionwhich grants eternal life. The tension resulting fromthe knowledge that because of Christ'sAnnunciationthe LastJudgmentisalreadyhere eventhoughit is yet to come, createsa new horizonof expecta-tions that, theologically,qualifiesfuture historicaltime.The Apocalypse,soto speak, has been anticipated in one's faith and hence is experienced asalready present.Even while crisis remainsopen as a cosmic event, it is al-ready takingplacewithin one's conscience.1'3. Whilehistoricallythe domain of the judicial meaningof crisisin itsnarrow sense proceeds only through the theological teachings of the LastJudgment(judicium),another Greek use of the termhas no less expandedthe horizon of meaningsfor the modernconcept of crisis.This is the medi-cal theory of crisis, which originated in the Corpus Hippocraticum andwhich Galen (129-99) firmlyentrenched or about fifteen hundredyears."In the case of illness, crisis refers both to the observablecondition and tothe judgment(judicium)about the course of the illness. At such a time, itwill be determinedwhether the patient will live or die. This requiredprop-erly identifyingthe beginningof an illness in order to predicthow regularits developmentwill be. Dependingon whether or not the crisis led to a fullrestorationof health, the distinction was made between a perfectcrisisandan imperfectcrisis.The latter left open the possibilityof a relapse.A furtherdistinction,between acute and chronic crises, has led-since Galen-to atemporaldifferentiationn the progressionof illnesses.12

With its adoption into Latin, the concept subsequentlyunderwent a8 Matthew 25:31f.9John 3:18f.; 5:24; 9:39.'0 FriedrichBachsel, Volkmar Hentrich, Article on "Krino," "Krisis," in Kittel, Gerhard,Theologisches Wdrterbuchzum Neuen Testament, 9 volumes, vol. 8 and 9 only in thefirst edition; new edition (Stuttgart, 1933 ff.), new edition, 1965-1969ff. (henceforthcited as Kittel);this citation, vol, 3 (1938), 920ff.; Rudolf Bultmann, Theologie des NeuenTestaments, 7th ed. Otto Merk (Ttibingen, 1997), 77 ff.-as to St. John, compare ibid.385 ff; and, more critically,Josef Blank, Crisis:Untersuchungenzurjohannisichen Christ-ologie und Eschatologie (Freiburgi.B., 1984).' See Nelly Tsouyopoulos's article "Krise" II, in Historisches Wdrterbuch der Philoso-phie, eds. Joachim Ritter, Karlfried Grander, Gottfried Gabriel (Basel, Stuttgart:Schwabe, 1971-), 4: 1240.12Th1ophile de Bordeau, article on "crise," Encyclopddie, ou Dictionnaire raisonni dessciences, des arts et des mitiers, par une Societde'es gens des letters. Mis en ordre et publie

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metaphorical expansion into the domain of social and political language.There it is used as a transitional or temporal concept (Verlaufsbegriff),which, as in a legal trial, leadstowards a decision. It indicates that point intime in which a decision is due but has not yet been rendered.Since then the concept of crisis assumed a double meaning that hasbeen preserved n social and political language.On the one hand,the objec-tive condition, about the originsof which there may be scientificdisagree-ments, dependson the judgmentalcriteriaused to diagnosethat condition.On the other hand, the concept of illness itself presupposes a state ofhealth-however conceived-that is either to be restored again or whichwill, at a specified ime, resultin death.13The legal, theological, and medicalusage of "crisis"thus contains dis-cipline-bound, specificmeanings.Takentogether,however, they could-indifferentways-be incorporated nto modern social and political language.At all times the concept is applied to life-decidingalternatives meant toanswerquestionsaboutwhat is justor unjust,what contributes o salvationor damnation,what furthershealth or bringsdeath.

III. THE ADOPTION INTO NATIONAL LANGUAGESGiven the use of Latinin the threepreviouslynameddisciplines(law,theol-ogy, medicine),the Latinized form of "crisis"(next to judicium)continuesto be partof theirrespectivesemanticfieldsso that in the seventeenthcen-tury the term occasionally appears in titles.14The rarity of documentaryevidence for such usage, however, seems to indicate that the term had notyet become a centralconcept. This could take place only after its transferinto national languages.In French,"crisis"-still in the accusative"crisin"-first appearedas aparM. Diderot,et, quanta la partiemathbmatiquearM. d'AlembertParis,1751-80),vol. 4 (1754),471ff.3For the medicalconceptof crisis see Tsouyopoulos'sarticle"Krise" I, HistorischesWaerterbucherPhilosophie, ol. 4, 1240ff.;for thetransmission f theconceptof crisisinto the psychological ndanthropologicalpheresince the beginningof the nineteenthcentury ee U. Sch6npflug,rticleon "Krise"II,HistorischesWbrterbuch,ol. 4, 1242ff.14 The historyof the impactof the theologicalusageof "krinon" emains o be investi-gated.It may conceivablyhavebegunwith the Greekedition of the New Testament yErasmus nd in allprobability as since thenexertedsomeinfluencen thedevelopmentof modernphilosophy f history.

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medical term in the fourteenthcentury,15n Englishin 1543,16and in Ger-man in the sixteenthcentury.17Althoughthe metaphorof the body or organismhas beenappliedto thecommunitysinceantiquity, t was not until the seventeenthcenturythat themedicalconceptof crisis was appliedto the "body politic"or to its constit-uent parts.Thus in 1627, Rudyerdused this termduringthe battlebetween

parliamentand the absolutistcrown: "This is the Chrysisof Parliaments;weshall know by this if Parliamentsife or die.""8A little later,at the time ofthe civilwar, the word becameanglicized, ost its exclusivelymedical mean-ing, and perhapsbegan to refermore to its theologicalroots. In 1643, forexample,Bailliewrote:"thisseems to be a new periodandcrise of the mostgreataffairs."'9Thisexpressionbecamegenerallyestablished,while increas-inglyacquiringreligiousconnotations.In 1714 RichardSteelepublishedhisWhiggish pamphlet "The Crisis,"which cost him his parliamentary eat.The title of the pamphlet, oadedwith religiousemphasis,pointedtoward adecision betweenlibertyand slavery.Steele saw in England he first line ofdefenseagainstthe "barbaric" verrunningof Europe by Catholics.20In Franceas well-with Furetiere n 1690-the concept entered intothe politicalsphereafterit had previouslybeentransferrednto that of psy-chology.21At the end of the seventeenthcentury,this concept was appliedas well to France'seconomic difficultiesat the time of LouisXIV.D'Argen-son in 1743 used this term to describe the Frenchinternal situation as awhole.22

Just before that, Leibniz-still writing in French-uses the concept at1 Franz6siches Etymologisches Worterbuch. Eine Darstellung des galloromanischenSprachschatzes,ed. Oscar Bloch and Walter v. Wartburg,20 vols. (Bonn, Leipzig, Berlin,1928 ff.) vol.2/2 (1946), 1345, s.v. "crisis."16 Murray, James August Henry, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, ed.J.A. H. Murray, W. A. Craigie, C.T. Onions, 10 volumes and 1 supplement (Oxford,1884-1928, 1933), = basis of the OED in 13 volumes from 1933; vol. 2 (1888), 1178,s.v. "crisis;"ibid. 1180, s.v. "crisis."17 Duden, Etymologie. Herkunftsw6rterbuch der deutschen Sprache, ed. Giinther Dros-dowsky, Paul Grebe, et al. (Mannheim, Wien, and Ziirich, 1963) ,271, s.v. "Krise."18 Sir B. Rudyerd, History, coll., vol. 1 (1659), cited in Murray, vol. 2, 1178, s.v. "crisis."19R. Baillie, Letters, vol.2 (1841) cited ibid., s.v. "Crisis"20 Richard Steele, The Crisis or, a Discourse Representing..., the Just Cause of the LateHappy Revolution. . . . With Some Reasonable Remarks on the Danger of a PopishSuccession (London, 1714).21 Furetiare, Antoine, Dictionnaire universel, contenant gindralement tous les mots fran-gois tant vieux que modernes, 3 vols. (The Hague, Rotterdam, 1690), vol. 1 (1690);reprinted 1978), s.v. "crise."22 Compare Beunot, vol. 6/1 (1966), 44ff.

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a central point in order to diagnose the opportunitiesand dangersof theemerging Russian empire during the Nordic War: "Momenta temporumpretiosissimasunt in transiturerum. Et I'Europeest maintenant dans unetat de changementet dans une crise,oihelle n'a jamaisete' epuis l'Empirede Charlemagne."23"AndEurope s now in a state of changeand in a crisissuch as has not been known since Charlemagne's mpire.")Leibniz saw inRussia'sdevelopmenta changeof fundamentalworld-historicalsignificancecomparableonly to the formation of Charlemagne'sempire. The concepthas now enteredinto a dimension of the philosophy of history that wasto become ever more significantin the course of the eighteenth century.ThroughEnglishand Frenchusageand its entryinto the German anguage,the concept hadexpandedinto the spheresof internaland externalpoliticsas well as economics.In the process, it acquireda historicaldimension thatcontinued to drawupon its originalmedical and theological meanings.

IV. LEXICA AND DICTIONARIES:

Dictionaries and lexica show that in Germanythe term "crisis"is regis-tered-with a few exceptions-only after the FrenchRevolution and eventhen only haphazardlyas a political, social, and ultimatelyeconomic con-cept.

1) A few lexica registerthe expressiononly in its Greekusage:"judg-ment," "reason,""reflection,"as e.g., critica,Wort-Deuteley,n the1695 editionof Stieler.Htibner,who in 1739 referredonly to illness,in 1742 recordedmerelythe meaning that otherwise was alreadytreated under "critique":Man has no crisin, i.e. he cannot renderjudgmenton a thing.Thishe copied fromSperander r Zedler.24

23 Leibniz,"Konzepte ines Briefesan Schleiniz"23 Sept.1712), in Leibniz'Russlandbetreffender riefwechsel nd Denkschrift d.. Wladimir wanowitschGuerrier,Part2(Petersburg, eipzig, 873),227 ff.;seealsoDieterGroh,Russland nddasSelbstverstiind-nisEuropas Neuwied,1961),39.24 Stieler,Caspar, eitungsLust und Nutz (Hamburg,1695), 560, s.v. "crise."JohanHiubner,RealesStaats-undZeitungslexicon Leipzig,1704), 570 s.v. "Crisis"; 1739edition); ibid., (1742 edition), 312, s.v. "Crisis";JohannesHeinrichZedler,Grossesvollstdindiges niversal-LexiconllerWissenschaftenndKiinste,64 volumesand 4 sup-plementaryvolumes(Halle, Leipzig,1732-1754, reprintedGraz. 1961-1964) vol. 6(1733), 1653, articleon "Crisis;" peranderi.e. Gladow,Friedrich],A la Mode-Sprachder Teutschen dercompendieusesHand-lexicon n whelchemdie meistenaus fremdenSprachen ntlehnterWarter ndgewahnlicheRedensarten . . klarund deutlicherkliirtwerden Nirnberg,1727), 171, s.v. "Crisisnaturae."

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2) Numerous lexica register only the spectrumof medical meanings,as do Htibner,1731, andJablonski, 1748, and 1767. De Bordeu,inthe greatFrenchEncyclope'die f 1754, providesa scholarlytreatiseon the historyof the medicalconcept in orderto confront the teach-ings of the Ancients with their modern critics. The same applies tothe Encyclopedie mithodique of 1792. In a considerably shorterentry, the 1820 Brockhausalso gives only the medicalmeaning ofthe term.25Even the 1866 Brockhaus refers only to the medicalmeaning, droppingall references o differentmeaningsthat had ap-peared in earlier editions: "Now one applies 'crisis' to the rapiddeclineof high temperature omparedto the norm, and this goes tothe heart of the issue since, on the basis of the change intemperature, .. we can explainall other symptoms."26

3) Many lexica brieflypoint to the originalGreekmeaningof judging,while at the same time giving a centralplace to the medical crisisdoctrine, as did Pomey (1715) and Sperander(1727). In 1733,Zedler posits: "Today one calls 'crisin' that healingact of nature,throughwhich the matter of the illness,which previouslyhad con-tributed to its appearance, s driven out of the body by properandclear emunctories,and which, as a result, is freed from its declineand illness"-although the alternativeof death is obviously omit-ted.27Equal priorityto the medicalusageis given by Heinse (1793)and in the various editions of Brockhaus.28

4) The juridicaland, above all, the theological meanings of "crisis"clearlydid not make theirway into either the generallexica for the

25Hubner, ohannCurieuses nd RealesNatur-,Kunsts-, erg-,Gewerck- ndHandlung-slexikon(Leipzig, 712);citedfrom he 1731 edition,,560, .v."Crisis;"ohannTheodorJablonski,AllgemeinesLexicon derKiinsteund Wissenschaften,nd d, vol.1 (K6nigs-berg,Leipzig,1748), 252, s.v.'Crisis;' bid.,3rd ed. (1767),345 s.v."Crisis;"De Bordeu,art. "Crise" seenote 12),471; Encyclopediemethodique, arordredesmatieres,begunby L.J.Pancoucke,aterAgasse,133 vols:A-Z, vol. 5 (Paris,1792), 02ff., art."Crise;"Brockhaus,Conversations-Lexiconder kurzgefasstesHandworterbuchAmsterdam,1809), 5th ed. Vol. 2 (1820), 870, art. "Crisis;"AllgemeinesdeutschesConversationsLexikon,vol. 6 (Reprinted 840),262, art. "Krisis."26 Brockhaus, 1thed., vol. 9 (1866), 83ff.,art. "Krisis."27Zedler,vol. 6 (1652), art."Crisis";Franqois-Antoineomey,Le GrandDictionnaireRoyal,(Frankfurt,709),5th d. Vol.1(1715),240, s.v."Crises;" perander1727), 171,s.v. "Crisisnaturae."28Heinse,GottlobH., EncyklopddischesWAirterbuchderalphabetische rkldrungllerWdrter usfremdenSprachen ie im Deutschenangenommenind . . . (11 vols.; Zeitz,Naumburg,1793-1805), vol. 1 (1793), 63, s.v."Crisis";Brockhaus, 0th d., 9 (1853),227ff., art."Krisis."

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learned in the eighteenthcenturyor into those for the educatedinthe nineteenth century. Although we can presuppose that manyscholarswere familiarwith those meanings,it appearsthat the pri-mary point of departure or the expansionof the term into the polit-ical and economic spherewas the medicalusage. Adelungdoes notregisterthe term at all, and neither Rotteck/Welckernor Bluntschliprovidea separateentryfor the term,despitethe fact that it is liber-ally used in their texts.29

5) Evenreferences o the metaphoricalextension of the term to politicsand economicsor to its broader use in ordinary anguagearecom-parativelyrare.

In 1715, Pomey alreadyprovides, n addition to "judgment" nd "a changein the courseof an illness,"a thirdmeaning:"L'affaire st dans sa crise-resad triarios rediit.-Die Sach ist aufhochste kommen." ("Matters havereached their criticalpoint.")30The relianceon Frenchpoints to the belatedGermanizationof the term in the course of the eighteenthcentury.Pomey'suse, however,was followed only hesitantly,whileJohnson still registers hemedical meaning: "The point of time at which any affair comes to theheight.""31n 1770, Alletz, who specialized n neologisms, for the first timecites the politicaland militarymeaning,but does so exclusivelyin French.32The 1792 Kuppermannwas the first to bring together-somewhat laconi-cally-all the threemeanings hat hadlong beencurrent n German:"changein the course of an illness,""decisivepoint in time," and "alarmingsitua-tion";to this,Heinse added"germination."33Much the sameis found in the1808 Beyschlag:"change in the course of an illness," "alarmingstate of29 See Adelung,JohannChristoph,Versuch ines vollstdndigen rammatisch-kritischenWbrterbucheserhochdeutschenMundart,5 vol. (Leipzig,1774-1786) vol. 1 (1774);ibid. 2nd d., vol 1 (1793);Rotteck,Carland CarlWelcker, ds. Staatslexicon der En-cyklopidie der Staatswissenschaften,5 vol.s., 4 supplementaryols. (Altona,1834-1847), vol. 1 (1834); Bluntschli,Johan Casparand Karl Ludwig Theodor Brater,DeutschesStaatswarterbuch,1 vols (Stuttgart,Leipzig,1857-1870), vol. 2 (1857)-noneof thesecontainarticleson "Krise/Crisis."30Pomey,GrandDictionnaireRoyal,5th d.Part.l,240, s.v."crise."Theproverbial atinuse comes fromLivy,8,8,11.31Johnson,Samuel,A Dictionaryof the EnglishLanguage 2 vols.; London, 1755), 1(1755), s.v. "crisis."32Alletz,Pons-Augustin,Dictionnairedesrichessede la langue rangoise t duneologi-sme qui s'yest introduit(Paris,1770), 93, s.v. "crise."3 Kuppermann, A.H. Juristisches Wirterbuch zur Verbesserungdes Actenstils . . . mitBeispielen rleutert Leipzig, 792), 131, s.v."Crisis;"Heinse,EncyklopddischesWdrter-buch),vol. 1, 63, s.v. "Crisis."

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affairs."34n the sameyear, Oertel writes:"Crisis,die Krise"-the first evi-dence for thegermanizationof the term'sspelling-"1) the decisivepoint (asin an illness),2) signal for decision(Entscheidungszeichen) . . , 3) state orconditionrequiringdecision ... alarmingcircumstances"35;he 1813 Campefollows in the samevein.36Theseexamplesdemonstrate hat, at least as faras lexica areconcerned, he medicalmeaninghasenteredeveryday anguage.Heyse'sdictionariesof foreignwords largelyconfirmthis usageof KrisisorKrise,albeit with a few additionaldefinitions;especiallythe 1873 edition,which points to "crises" n the "lifeof peoplesor states,"or to the "crucialpoint of apoliticaldisease,requiringat once a decisionandjudgment."37 he1845 Brockhaus or the first time registers he adoptionof crisisin everydaylanguage:"Inordinary ife 'crisis'refersto that point in an event or a seriesof events which determines t/theiroutcome(s) and which signalsthe direc-tion it / they will finallytake." In the same year, Piererpoints to "a rapidchange from one condition to another,as e.g. a revolutionin a state or insomeone'scircumstances; encecriticalmomentor criticalcase."38On the basis of these exampleswe can conclude that the metaphoricalextension of crisis into the German vernacularentered firstthrough politi-cal ratherthan economiclanguage.ThusPierer n 1845 points to the politi-cal but not yet economic application of the term. At the same time,however,French exicographyalreadyprovidesa comprehensivearticleon"crisecommerciale"and gives it paritywith "crise (medicine)"and "crisepolitique."39In Germany,however, such an economic applicationwas not made34 Beyschlag, Daniel Eberhard,Sammlungausldndischer Wirter, die im alltdglichen Leben6fters vorkommen (Nordlingen, 1794), 2nded. (1806), s.v. "Crisis."1"Oertel, EuchariusFerdinandChristian, Gemeinniitziges Wbrterbuchzur ErkldrungundVerdeutschungder im gemeinen Leben vorkommenden fremden Ausdriicke. (2 vols.; 2nded., Ansbach ,1806), 1, 461, s.v. "Crisis"36 Campe, Joachim Heinrich, Wbrterbuchzur Erkldrungund Verdeutschungder unsererSpracheaufgedrungenenfremden Ausdracke (Fremdw6rterbuch),2nded. (Braunschweig,1813; new print, Hildesheim, New York, 1970), 2nded., 239, s.v. "Crise, Crisis."37Heyse, Johan Christian August, Verdeutschungs-Wirterbuch (Oldenburg, 1804); laterunder the title of Allgemeines verdeutschendes und erkldrendes Fremdw6rterbuch, 15thed., vol.1 (Hannover, 1873), 513, s.v. "Krisis" or "Krise."38 Brockhaus, 9th ed., vol. 8 (1845), 399, s.v. "Krisis"; Pierer, A.H., EncyklopddischesWorterbuchder Wissenschaften,Kiinste, und Gewerbe, 26 vols., ed. A. Binzer (Altenburg1822-36) ; 2nded under the title of Universal Lexikon der Gegenwart und Vergangenheitoder neuestes encyklopidisches Warterbuch... ,2nd ed., vol. 16 (1845), 467, article on"Krise".39 Encyclopddie des gens du monde, 22 vols. (Paris, 1836), vol. 7, 257ff., s.v. article on"crise commercial," "crise (medicine)."

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until 1850 with Roscher's articlein the Brockhaus'sGegenwart(The Pres-ent), in which he writes of "productioncrisesconsideredwith specialrefer-ence to the most recent decades."40The economic use of the term, whichhad long become current in the professional language of economists, didnot lead to separateentries in German lexica until the second half of thenineteenth century.Bluntschli mentions "crisis"in his analysis under thekeyword "credit." In 1862 Wagener was the first lexicographer to givethe most complete spectrumof meanings:economic, political, social, andhistorical.In 1859, Piererprovidesa verybriefarticle, n 1891, a verythor-ough one on "commercial crises." Brockhaus follows suit in 1894 and1898, but it was not until the 1931 edition that "crisis" s given a predomi-nantly economic meaning.41Clearly, only the 1848 Revolution and theglobal economic crisis of 1857 finally prompted German lexicographers,who had been largelytrainedin the humanities,to registera use that hadalreadybecome common in the professional anguageof economists as wellas in everyday ife.42Thus the term nevercrystallized nto a concept sufficientlyclear to beused as a basic concept in social, economic, or political language, de-spite-or perhaps because of-its manifold meanings. Evidence to thiseffect is also the extremelycursoryreference n Grimm'sDictionary (Wbr-terbuch)of 1872, which seems satisfiedwith two citations-one of them byGoethe: "all transitionsare crises" and "is a crisis not an illness?"43Theselexicalfindings ead to the conclusion thatother than in professionaltermi-nologies, the term was used essentiallyas a catchword. This is not to saythat the term could not express emotional states or moods, but only thatthese had not yet been clearlyidentifiedas integralto the concept. Butpre-cisely what appearedto be so peripheralin lexicography until that time,could indeedbecomean indicatorof and contributorto a widespreadsenseof radicalchangefrom the second partof the eighteenthcenturyon.40 WilhelmRoscher,articleon "Produktionskrise,"n BrockhausDie Gegenwart,Eineencyklopddischearstellung erneuestenZeitgeschichteiiralleStdnde,12 vols (Leipzig,1848-1856), vol. 3 (1849),721ff.41 Bluntschli/Brater,ol. 6 (1861) 51ff.;Pierer, th.ed., ol. 7 (1859),946, articleon "Han-delskrisen";bid.7th d. vol. 7, Articleon "Handelskrisis";rockhaus,14thed., vol. 8(1898), 743; articleon "Handelskrisen";bid. 15th d., vol. 10 (1931), 632, articleon"Krise."42 SeePierer, nded.,vol. 16, 467, article n "Krise,"whichregistersexclusivelyhepoliti-cal butnotyetthe economicmeaning.43 Grimm,JakobundWilhelm,DeutschesWorterbuch, 6 vols. (Leipzig,1854-1965),vol. 5 (1873), 2332, s.v. "Krise."

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V. FROM POLITICAL CONCEPT TO THE PHILOSOPHY OFHISTORY: THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY AND THE

FRENCH REVOLUTION1. Political Usage

Frederick he Greatprovides earlyevidence for applyingthis term to foreignpolicy andmilitaryaffairs.Whenthe Europeanstates werealreadycommit-ted to but not yet ready for the Austrian War of Successionin 1740, theKingseized the opportunityof "cette crisepour exdcuter esgrands projets"("thiscrisisto execute his grand projects")by marching nto Silesia.44Onceagain he saw himself "dans une grande crise" ("in a great crisis") when,justbeforethe battleof Hohenfriedberg,he unsuccessfully oughtto under-take steps toward peace.45 n a similar vein he defined-in a conversationwith Catt-the situation after Kolin.46Henceforth a situation presentingdecisive alternatives o differentactors comes to be registeredalso in Ger-man as "crisis."As early as Prussia's rise following the Austrian War ofSuccession,Johan Jacob Schmaus wrote of "a presentcrisis created by adeclining balance among Europeanpowers."47The consequences of thisprocess too are registeredconceptuallyin a document crucial to the law ofthe Holy Roman Empire.As stated in the 1785 Preamble,the League ofGerman Princeswas reacting to "a crisis in the imperial order."48As sooften since, this diagnosisof a crisis became a formulalegitimatingaction.

Gradually he term, initially applied solely to external and militarysit-uations, entered into the realm of domestic constitutional life in general.In the "Staatsanzeigen" f 1782, Schlozer,reportingabout the anarchyin44 Friederich d. Grosse (Frederickthe Great) Histoire de mon temps (1775), Oeuvres, ed.Johann David ErdmannPreuss, vol. 2 (Berlin, 1846), 66.45 The same, letter to Heinrich Graf Podewils, 29.3.1745, in Friedrich d. Grosse, Poli-tische Correspondenz, eds. Johann Gustav Droysen, Max Duncker, Heinrich v. Sybel(Berlin, 1880), vol. 4, 96.46 The same, "Gesprdichmit Heinrich de Catt," 20.6.1758, in Unterhaltungenmit Fried-rich d. Grossen. Memoiren und Tagebiicher von Heinrich v. Catt, ed. Reinhold Koser(Leipzig, 1864), 107: "Mon frere partit pour Dresden et quitta l'armee;sans doute, dansle moment de crise ou je me trouvais." ("My brother has left for Dresden and left thearmy, undoubtedly in the midst of the crisis in which I find myself").47Johan Jacob Schmauss, Die Historie der Balance von Europa (Leipzig, 1741), page. 2;also, Schmaus, Gleichgewicht; vol. 2, 960.48 Deutscher Forstenbund. "Vertrag zwischen den Churforsten von Sachsen, Branden-burg, und Braunschweig-Luneburg(23.7.1785)"; printed in Ellinor v. Puttkamer,Fddera-tive Elemente im deutschen Staatsrecht seit 1648 (Gottingen, Berlin, Frankfurt, 1955),53.

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Geneva,described he internalupheavalof the city stateas a "Crise"("Cri-sis").49With the introductionof the Frenchconstitution of 1791, Wielandsees "themomentof the decisive crisis. It is a matter of life anddeath;neverbefore was the internal and external danger greaterthan now."50He al-readyusestheterm to characterizeas civil war the intermeshingof domesticand externalpolitics. Later,Scharnweber,n the same comprehensive ash-ion-but usingdifferent alternatives-could speak of a "crisis of the state"confrontingHardenberg n Prussia as he fought for the reformsneeded to"save the state" from revolution.51

"Crisis" was used appropriately o describe concrete civil war situa-tions that divided the loyalty of citizens. Pleading along this line, CountReinhard, n a petition to the Kingof Westphalia,used the term to preventhim from carryingout summaryexecutions. On the other hand, he couldapplythe sametermin 1819-"political crisis"-to a merechange of cabi-net in Paris.52

The spectrumof political applications thus ranged broadly. "Crisis"markedexternal or militarysituations that were reachinga decisivepoint;it pointedto fundamentalchangesin constitutionsin which the alternativeswere the survivalor demise of a political entityand its constitutionalorder;but it could also describe a simple changeof government.The common useof the word had neither been validated nor sufficientlyenrichedto be ele-vated into a basicconcept. It servedboth as a descriptivecategoryand as adiagnosticcriterionfor political or militaryaction. Thus at the time of theKarlsbadResolutions, Clausewitz described the revolutionary tendencieswhich, "combined with other circumstances,could bringabout crises. Weknow from historythat some peoples [V6ilker] ave experiencedsuch par-oxysms."53 n the same vein, in 1813 Baron von Steinappealedto Harden-bergto strivefor a strongGerman ederalconstitution:"Ifthe ... statesmendo not use the crisis of the moment to securepermanentlythe welfare oftheir fatherland, . . . our contemporaries and posterity will justly accuse49AugustLudwigSchlzer, "Anarchie on Genf," nStaatsanzeigen, (1792),462.50 Wieland,ChristophMartin,"Sendschreibenn HerrnProfessorEggers n Kiel (Jan.1782),"SdmtlicheWerke,45 vols. 1794-181, vol. 31 (Berlin,1857), 162.51ChristianFriedrich charnwebero Hardenberg,0.11.1820, citedin the editor's"In-troduction,"PreussischeReformen1807-1820, ed., BarbaraVogel (K6nigstein/Ts.1980), 20, footnote30.52KarlFriedrichGraf v. Reinhardan den Konigvon Westfalen,Oct. 1813, printed nGoetheund Reinhard.Briefwechseln denJahren1807-1832. ed.Otto Heuschele Wies-baden1957), 443; Reinhard o Goethe,16th an. 1819, ibid.227.53Carl von Clausewitz, "Umtriebe" (1819/23), Politische Schriften und Briefe, ed. HansRothfels Mmnchen, 922), 192.

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and condemn them for having sacrificed he happinessof their fatherlandthroughcarelessnessand indifference."54With respectto both the momentof judgment and diagnosis, as well as the prescriptionfor a therapy, themedical originsof the termclearlycontinue to be preserved n the usage ofpolitical language.That remainsthe case to this day, althoughthe determi-nation of the optimal time for a decision is now thought to be determinedby inescapablepressures or action. At that moment, use of the concept ofcrisis is meant to reduce the room for maneuver, forcing the actors tochoose betweendiametricallyopposed alternatives.

2. The Extension of "Crisis" to the Philosophy of HistoryFrom the second half of the eighteenthcenturyon, a religiousconnotationentersinto the way the term is used. It does so, however,in a post-theologi-cal mode, namely as a philosophy of history. At the same time, the meta-phor of illness as well as the associationalpower of the "LastJudgment"andthe "Apocalypse"remainpervasive n the way the termis used, leavingno doubt as to the theological originsof the new way in which the conceptis constructed.Forthat reason too, the formation of a concept of crisis inthe philosophy of history still leads to harsh dualisticalternatives. But asyet the concept is not associated with any one camp. As a party-politicalterm, "crisis"remains ambivalent. The sense of experiencinga crisis be-comes generalizedbutthe diagnosesand prognoses varywith the user.For this reason it is not appropriateto follow the pragmatic linguistichabitof using the politicaldivisionsof that time as the principleof classifi-cation. That would mean accepting alternativesderived from personal in-terpretationsas indicators of historical reality.This mode of classificationmisses the semantic quality of the concept of crisis, which always admitsalternativespointingnot justto diametricallyopposedpossibilities,butalsoto those cuttingacross such opposites. It is preciselythroughthe multiplic-ity of mutuallyexclusive alternatives hat the varioususes of the termmaypoint to existenceof a real "crisis,"even though it is not yet fully capturedin any of the interpretationsofferedat that moment.

That is why the emphasishere is as much on substantive ideas aboutfuture goals as it is on the modes of interpreting hem. The medical andtheological originsof the termfacilitate this task. From theirrespectiveper-54 Frh. Von Stein, "Denkschrift aus Prag" (End of August 1813), Ausgabe PolitischerBriefe und Denkschrift, ed. Erich Botzenhart and Gunther Ipsen (Stuttgart, 1955), 333.

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spectives, a crisis either reveals a situation that may be unique but couldalso-as in the process of an illness-continue to recur.Or, analogous tothe Last Judgment, a crisis is interpretedas involving a decision which,while unique, is above all final. Thereafter,everything will be different.Betweenthese two extremes theremay be a cornucopia of variantswhich,although logically exclusive, can influence the characterization of crisisboth as entailinga possiblestructuralrecurrenceand as absolutelyunique.In this way, the concept of crisiscan generalize he modernexperienceto such an extent that "crisis" becomesa permanentconcept of "history."This appearsfor the first time with Schiller'sdictum:"Die Weltgeschichteist das Weltgericht""WorldHistory is the LastJudgment"),ss he impactof which cannot be overestimated.Without actually taking over the term"LastJudgment,"Schillernonetheless interpretsall of human history as asinglecrisis that is constantlyandpermanently akingplace. Thefinaljudg-ment will not be pronouncedfromwithout, eitherby God or by historiansin ex post facto pronouncementsabout history.Rather,it will be executedthrough all the actions and omissions of mankind.What was left undonein one minute, eternitywill not retrieve.The concept of crisis has becomethe fundamentalmode of interpretinghistorical time.Anothervariantlies in the repeatedapplicationof a crisisconcept thatrepresentsat the same time-like the ascendingline of progress-a histori-cally uniquetransitionphase. It then coagulates into an epochal concept inthat it indicates a criticaltransitionperiod after which-if not everything,then much-will be different.The use of "crisis"as an epochal conceptpointing to an exceptionally rare, if not unique, transitionperiod, has ex-panded most dramatically since the last third of the eighteenth century,irrespectiveof the partisancampusingit.As it pertains o historicaltime, then, thesemanticsof the crisisconceptcontains fourinterpretativepossibilities.1) Followingthe medical-political-militaryuse, "crisis"can mean that chain of events leadingto a culminat-ing, decisivepoint at which actionis required.2) In line with the theologicalpromiseof a futureLastDay, "crisis"may be definedas a uniqueand finalpoint, after which the qualityof historywill be changed forever.3) Some-

-" Friedrich chiller, Resignation.EinePhantasie"178/84),SimtlicheWerke Stuttgartand Berlin,1904), vol.1, 199; also Schiller,Geschichte,SdmtlicheWerke, ol. 2, 667ff.For an earlyevidenceof "crisis" s a permanentategoryof history,albeitwithprogres-siveovertones, eeJustusMoser,"Patriotische hantasien"1778),SimtlicheWerke, ol.6 (1943), 81;to makea peoplegreat, t mustbekeptactiveand"kept n suchpermanentcrisis . . as will make t necessaryo drawon all its powersandthrough he use of thesameto increase hesumof thegoodof theworld."

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what more removed from the earlier medical or theological semanticspheres,are two new historical (or temporal)coinages. The firstuses "cri-sis" as a permanentor conditional categorypointingto a criticalsituationwhich may constantly recur or else to situations in which decisions havemomentousconsequences.4) The secondnew coinage uses "crisis"to indi-cate a historicallyimmanenttransitional phase. When this transition willoccur and whether it leads to a worse or bettercondition depends on thespecific diagnosis offered. All of these possibilities reveal attempts to de-velop a single concept limitedto the presentwith which to capturea newera that may have varioustemporalbeginningsandwhose unknown futureseemsto give freescope to all sorts of wishes and anxieties,fearsandhope."Crisis"becomes a structuralsignatureof modernity.a) WesternPrecursors n the Formationof a HistoricalConceptof CrisisRousseau (1762) offers the firstusage of "crisis" in the modernsense, i.e.,one that emanates from a philosophy of historyand also offers a prognosisof the future. The use of the term was directedagainst both an optimisticfaith in progress and an unchanged cyclical theory. Because of this dualthrust, "crisis" became, as it were, a new concept. Having reduced-inEmile-master and serf to the same humanstatusbased on the satisfactionof natural need, Rousseau suggestively proclaims that the existing socialorder cannot last. It will succumb to an inevitable revolution that can beneitherpredictednor prevented.The greatmonarchieshave already passedtheir heyday.Rousseau here applies the familiarcyclical theory of succes-sive changes in the forms of government. Behind the overthrow of mon-archs, however, emergesa vision of radical transformationencompassingall of society:"Nous approchonsde l'tat de crises et du sikcledes revolu-tions" ("We are approaching a state of crises and a century of revolu-tions").s6 There will be many revolutions, leading to the subsequentconclusion that the condition of crisis which opens the nineteenthcenturywill become permanent.The future of historyis being anticipated,half asprophecy,half as prognosis. Rousseau conjuresup a vision of a long-termfuture, in which only those who work count; in which wealth and povertyaresupplantedby productionthat benefitssociety;in which the idle will becalled wastrels. The critique of his own society, which anticipatesfutureupheavals, contains the same temporal tension associated in earliertimeswith chiliasticor apocalyptic invocations of the LastJudgment."7 his vi-56 Rousseau, Emile ou de l'aducation (1762), Oeuvres complates (Paris, 1969), 4:468.7 A preliminary attempt to de-theologize the concept of crisis is offered by Montesquieu,"Lettres persanes, Nr. 39," Oeuvres complbtes (Paris, 1964), 1:187, in which he para-phrases ironically the report about Mohammed's birth (comparing it to Christ's): "Ii mesemble, . . . qu'il y a toujours des signes dclatantes, qui preparent a la naissance des

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sion of post-revolutionarysociety suggests the nullificationof all humanhistory to date. Rousseau, in effect, turns an eschatologicalconcept into aphilosophy of history.This adds a meaningto the concept which goes be-yond previoususes of the term in politicallanguage(known to Rousseau).58

Though applied primarilyto his own situation, Diderot uses the termin the same way. In 1771, afterthe dissolution of the Parisparlement,hewrote that the previouslyhiddenfire of libertyis now breakingout openly.Once divine majestyhas been threatened,the attack on earthlysovereignscan no longer be averted. This is the present situation and who can saywhere it will lead us? "Nous touchonsa une crisequi aboutiraa"'-sclavageou a la liberte" ("We are reaching a crisis that will culminate in eitherslaveryor liberty").59Diderot is providingan inescapabledualisticprogno-sis that involves more than just a political constitution. The alternative istotal, encompassing he entiresociety.Sevenyearslater,Diderotusedthe medicalmetaphorto describea sim-ilarly apocalypticsituation in the Rome of Claudius and Nero (by which,of course, he meant the Paris of 1778). Popularunrestprecedesgreatrevo-lutions. To escapetheirmisery,the people believeeverythingthat promisesan end. Friendshipsdissolve,enemies arereconciled,visionsandpropheciesthat anticipatethe coming catastrophesproliferate."C'est l'effetd'un mal-aise semblable a celui qui precede la crise dans la maladie: il s'e'lve unmovementde fermentationsecreteau dedansde la cite;la terreurrealizecequ'elle craint"("Thisis the effect of an illness like that which precedesthecrisis of a sickness:A secret fermentationbegins in the state;terrormakesreal what was feared").60

Dependingon the circumstances, he termcould serve eitheras indica-hommesextraordinaires;ommesi la nature ouffraituneespecede crise,et quela Puis-sance celesteneproduisitqu'aveceffort .. Lestr6nesdes roisfurentrenverses;Luciferfutjetsaufondde la mer.'""Itseems o me ... thatthebirthof anextraordinaryman salwayspreceded yremarkableignsannouncing iscoming. t is as thoughnature tselfhas falleninto a sort of crisisand eventhe powerof heavenrequiresunusualeffort torealize tswill.Kingsweredethroned;Luciferhrown o the bottomof thesea.")-8See Rousseau,Contrat ocial 2, 10 (1762), Oeuvrescompletes Paris,1966), 3:390,wherehe talksaboutthetime of crisis("tempsde crise")during hetimewhensociety sbeingformed; lsoibid., 4, 6 (p.458), wherehe speaksof a crisis("crise")hat will leadto dictatorship,nthecourseof which herewillbe a decisionbetween alvationordoom.Thoughstill separated,Rousseauuses both concepts, bid., 2, 8 (p. 385) when he ex-presslycompares evolutions nd civilwars nstatesto the crisisof anillnessexperiencedby individual human beings; both may lead to regeneration." Denis Diderot to the Princess Daschkoff, April 3, 1771; Oeuvres completes, eds. JeanAssezat and Maurice Tourneaux, vol. 20 (Paris, 1877), p. 28.60 Diderot, Essai sur les rkgne de Claude et de Ndro (1778), ibid. vol. 3 (Paris, 1875),168ff.

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tor or causeof a situationdemandingdecision. Inthesetwo instances,crisiscan be conceptualized as both structurallyrecurringand utterly unique.The very ambiguity of crisis turns the word into a basic concept, eventhough neitherDiderotnor Rousseau offeredan explicit theoryof crisis. Asused by them, the concept incorporates(indifferentdegrees)all the variousfunctionsthe term had come to perform:as historicalassessmentand judg-ment, as medical diagnosis, and as theological entreaty.It is preciselytheexcitingpossibilityof combiningso manyfunctions that definesthe termasconcept: it takes hold of old experiencesand transformsthem metaphori-cally in ways that create altogether new expectations. Hence, from the1770s on, "crisis"becomes a structuralsignatureof modernity.With the AmericanWarof Independence,ourconceptof crisisassumesan additional dimension. It now comes to signify an epochal thresholdwhich at the same time anticipatesa final reckoning of universal signifi-cance. For this reason, Thomas Paine aptly named his journal,The Crisis,a term which, by that time, had become common in English journalism.61His commentariesin that journal seek to give historical meaning to theAmerican developments between 1776 and 1783 by depicting them asa fundamental and inescapable moral challenge that will decide finallywhether virtueor vice, naturaldemocracyor corrupt despotismwould pre-vail. "These are the times that try men's souls."62As one of Rousseau'sdisciples,he saw in the victoryof the new world and the defeat of the old,the finalrealizationof Rousseau's vision of the future. ToPaine,the War ofIndependencewas no mere political or military event-rather it was thecompletion of a universal world historicalprocess, the final Day of Judg-ment that would entail the end of all tyrannyand the ultimatevictoryoverhell: "the greatestrevolution the world ever knew, gloriously and happilyaccomplished."63Here we find a semanticexpansion of the concept of cri-61 At the time when democratic ideas were beginning to percolate, Junius, in 1769, con-cluded a letter with a passage that demonstrates the shift from a theological to a historicaldimension: "If, by the immediate interposition of Providence, it were possible for us toescape a crisis so full of terror and despair,posterity will not believe the history of presenttimes," in Junius, "Including letters by the same writer ... ," January21, 1769, ed. JohnWade, vol. 1 (London, 1850), 111. On the increase in the pamphlets containing the word"crisis" since 1775/76, see Thomas Paine, The Writings, ed. Moncure Daniel Conway,vol. 1 (New York, 1902; reprinted New York, 1969), 168f., "Introduction." In 1779,when the entry of France into the War of Independencethreatened an invasion, the LordChancellor wrote of "a crisis more alarming than this country had ever known before."Cited in Herbert Butterfield,George III, Lord North and the People 1779-1780 (London,1949), 47.62 Paine, The Crisis, Nr. 1 (December 23, 1776); Writings,vol. 1, 170.63 Paine, The Crisis, Nr. 13 (April 19, 1783), ibid. 370.

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sis, analogousto a changein the meaningof "revolution."ForPaine, crisisis no longer a phase preliminaryto revolution but continues to unfoldthroughthe AmericanRevolution, which thus realizes its unique character.Interms of the historyof concepts, this was possibleonly becausethe politi-cal conceptof crisis,by incorporating he theological idea of the LastJudg-ment, had been elevated into a concept marking a new epoch in thephilosophy of history.This developmentdid not precludesubsequentusesof "crisis"that were more specificallybound to a giventime and situation.It is in this latter sense that in 1791 Paine defendsthe French Revolu-tion againstBurke'svehementcriticism:It had resulted from a corruptionwhich, having festered for centuries,could be overcome only "by a com-plete and universalRevolution. . . ." "When it becomes necessaryto do athing, the whole heart and soul should go into the measure or not attemptit. That crisis was then arrived,and there remainedno choice but to actwith determinedvigor, or not to act at all."64On the one hand, crisis is theresult of a historicalmovement;on the other, it can be overcome only bythe historicallylegitimatedacceptanceof an absolute moral responsibilityfor action,on which dependssuccess-and salvation.

Burkehimself used the same term to describeanalyticallythe phenom-ena which Painehad conjuredup. In doing so, "crisis"by no meanslost itshistorical function of depictingan altogetherunique situation:"It appearsto me as if I were in a greatcrisis,not of the affairsof Francealone, but ofall Europe, perhapsmore than Europe. All circumstances aken together,the FrenchRevolution is the most astonishingthat had hitherto happenedin the world."65Somewhat later, Burke explained the uniqueness of thiscrisis: it lay in the introductionof new political principles,doctrines,theo-ries, and dogma. Out of this has been created a new, hitherto unknown,type of constitution:"This declarationof a new speciesof governments,onnew principles suchit professesitself to be), is a real crisisin the politicsofEurope."It is comparableonly to the Reformation.Once again, the bound-aries between domestic and foreign politics are being eaten away as theinternal orderof all Europeanstates is corrodedby the emergenceof newdefinitionsof friends and foes. Inshort, Burkeconveysthe imageof a Euro-pean civil war, which, in a quasi religiousmanner,will explode all tradi-tional social ties and political principles.66Burke'sdiagnosis of that crisis64 Paine, The Rights of Man (1791), ibid., vol. 2 (1906; reprinted 1969), 283.5Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), ed. A.J. Grieve (Lon-don, 1950), 8.

66 Edmund Burke, Thoughts on FrenchAffairs (1781), ibid. 287.

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utilizes historicalanalogies to deny the claim of uniquenessmade by therevolution's defenders.At the sametime, he is forced to sharetheirconcep-tion in orderto graspthe noveltyof the actual "crisis."In Burke'sperspec-tive, crisis as a revolutionaryconcept of redemptionbecomesan analyticalcategory for understandingconcrete historical situations-though it tooaims to inspire political action. Although the diagnostic and prognosticfunctions of the term arethe same for Paine andBurke, he contents of theirdiagnoses as well as their expectations are diametricallyopposed. WhileBurke's use of crisis reflects its medical antecedents,that of Paineis closerto its theological origins.Nonetheless, both make use of the new semanticquality of "crisis" to suggest, or, rather,to set out new, universallyvalidhistorical alternatives.They thereby transform crisis into a concept de-signed for combat (Kampfbegriff) hat could be used by both sides againsteach other.

Chateaubriand imilarlyuses the term as a key concept essential to allpolitical parties:"Nul cependantdans ce moment de crisene peut se dire:'Jeferai telle chose demain', s'il n'a pri3vuequel sera ce demain" ("Inthismoment of crisis no one can say 'I will do something tomorrow' withouthaving foreseen what tomorrow will bring"). Everyoneis equally in thedark.All thereforemust seek to discover the originsof this crisis,one's ownsituationin it and the path to the future.This was to be his task. He com-paredall earlierrevolutions with the ongoing FrenchRevolution. For him,"crisis" s the point at which the presentsituation intersectswith universalhistorical conditions that must first be understood before a prognosiscouldbe offered.67

For Saint-Simonand his disciplesas well, "crisis"servesa central func-tion in the philosophyof history.The antecedentsof the FrenchRevolution,dating back centuries,continue to exert pressurefor a fundamentaltrans-formationof society.The Revolutionwas only one partof a globalhistoricalcrisis. "Crisis"is now frequentlyused interchangeablywith "revolution."Elastic in time, it becomes the supreme concept of modernity. Thoughlargelydriven by societal forces, crisis now encompassesas well religion,science, morality,and politics. "La crise dans laquelle le corps politiquesetrouve engage depuistrenteans, a pour cause fondamentale e changementtotal du systime social" ("Whathas caused the thirty-yearong crisis in the67 Frangois Ren6 Vicomte de Chateaubriand (1797), Oeuvres complites, vol. 1 (Paris,1843),248.[Essai ur les revolutions.Translator's ote.]

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body politic is the total changein the social system").68All indicatorspointto a classless society but, to hasten this process, a "science of crisis" isneeded to explain society and the laws of its history. Only such a sciencecan provide the means by which to resolve the crisis. In Comte's words:"Lareorganization otale, qui peut seule terminer a grandecrisemoderne,consiste, en effect ... a constituerune theiorie ociologique proprea expli-quer convenablementl'ensembledu passe humain" ("The great moderncrisis can be resolvedonly by a total reorganization.This requiresa socio-logical theory capableof explaining everything n humanity'spast"). Oncecrisis has been identifiedas an inevitableand necessaryphase of history,itcan be overcomethrough properprognosisandplanning. Although"crisis"has become an epochal concept for comprehending he "entireperiod," itstill retains ts eschatological significance.But now humans are left to termi-nate "la Grande Crise finale."69While still reflecting ts theological roots,"crisis"nonethelesshas emergedas a trulyautonomousconcept of history.A central cognitive category-according to the positivist belief-it nowprovidesthe possibilityof envisioning,and hence planningfor the foresee-able future.b. VariantPhilosophies of Historyin GermanIn German-speakingEurope,it was probablyHerder who firstappliedourterm to the philosophy of history. In 1774, he confronts the oft-debatedalternative as to whether the human race will improve itself morally andbecome happier, or whether everythingwill become worse. He seeks toanalyze this either-or alternativeby referring o historical forces and tend-encies, institutionsand developments.Conditions and changes in them areplayed off against a linear theory of progress. It is in line with this far-reaching change of perspective,that Herderemploys the decisive conceptof crisis: "sincefor a varietyof reasons we are livingin the midst of such astrange crisis of the human spirit (indeed why not also of the humanheart?), it is up to us to discoverand assess all the inner forces of historyrather than continuepayinghomageto a naive idea of progress."70In 1786, Iselin, whose theory of history as accelerated, cumulative68Claude-Henri Saint-Simon, "Du systeme industriel" (1824), Oeuvres, ed. E. Dentu, vol.3 (Paris ,1869; reprinted Paris, 1966), 3; see also Nicolaus Sombart, "Vom Ursprung derGeschichtsphilosophie," Archiv fifr Rechts-und Sozialphilosophie 41 (1955): 487.69 Auguste Comte, Cours de philosophie positive, vol. 2, Discourse sur l'esprit positif(1844); bilingual edition, ed. Iring Fetscher (Hamburg, 1956), 124f., 106.70Johann Gottfried Herder, "Auch eine Philosophie der Geschichte zur Bildung der Men-schheit" (1774), Siimtliche Werke(Berlin, 1877-1913), vol. 5 (1891), 589.

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progress Herder had attacked, inserted a discussion of crisis into the fifthedition of his history of humanity.Thus Iselin depicts the division of Po-land, the AmericanWarof Independence, he populist fermentation n En-gland as "moralthunderstorms hat will finallyclear the air and createjoyand tranquility .... They [these events] seem to justify the supposition thatEuropeis in the midst of a crisis far more serious and dangerousthan anysince it began to be civilized. While we fearfulobservers should view thiscrisis,thoughdistant,as a danger, t offers us rathercomfortingandhopefulvisions of the future.71"Drawn into the currentof such hope in progress,the concept of crisis is shorn of its meaningas presenting nescapablealter-natives. This is replacedby a more optimisticmeaning,that of a transitiontowards a betterfuture.Inthe nineteenthcenturythis scaled-downmeaningof "crisis"becomes dominantin theories of economicliberalism.But beforebecomingan iterativeconcept of progressivehistory duringthe revolution-aryperiod, its meaning n Germanwas that of a singular,epochalchallenge.Thus in 1793, Herderspeaksof an "epochalcrisis"that imposedthe choicebetween the alternativesof revolution or evolution.72

Herder uses "crisis" as a centralconcept of history. Offeringalterna-tives which could no longer be simplyreduced to death or rebirth,the con-cept now necessitated thinking about long-term transformations. Themedical metaphor pales, while the historical concept of crisis increasinglystandson its own.

Much the sameprocesscan be tracedin the writingsof the young G6r-res, who, as a republican,was in the opposite camp. At firsthe used theshort-termmedicalconceptof crisis to describe solatedsituations of politi-cal upheaval.But then he broadened he horizonin orderto derive universalglobal alternativesfrom the crisis. In the "Fragmentof our newly discov-ered political pathology," published in 1798 in his "Rothes Blatt" (RedJournal),Gbrres, n his diagnosisof two days of the (Frenchrevolutionary)crisis,the 9thThermidor 1794) andthe 18thFructidor 1797), drew a medi-cal-politicalparallel between the four stages of smallpox and the revolu-tionary fever. Shortly thereafter, on the eve of the War of the SecondCoalition, he formulatedin his Riibezahl (Gnome of the Sudeten Moun-tains), "some ideas about the newest crisis in the state systemof Europe."71 IsaacIselin,PhilosophischeMutmassungenberdie Geschichte erMenschheit1764/70), 5th d., vol. 2 (Basel1786), 380.72 Johann Gottfried Herder, "Briefe zur Beforderungder Humanitit" in Anhang: zurlick-behaltene und abgeschnittene Briefe (1792/97), Sdmtliche Werke (Berlin, 1877-1913)vol. 18 (1883), 331. Also "Entwicklung," vol. 2: 206.

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He confessed that he did not know when a "tranquilfuture" will return:"Forsix years, Monarchismand Republicanismhave been locked in a lifeand death struggleunique in the annals of world history." Forty-two mil-lion Europeansare committedto the Republican system, forty million are"neutral,"and another fifty-sevenmillion follow "the opposite monarchi-cal principle."But whether there will be peace or war, those favoring Re-publicanismcan look towardsthe futurewith confidence. For them there isno turningback, while monarchieswill see themselves threatenedby thetransitionto a Republic.In this way, the concept of crisis has acquiredthefunction not only of describingbut also of evoking a transitionthat is atonce historically unique and progressive.Thus it takes up the variant firstadvancedby Paineand Iselin.73Two yearslater,Gentz used the concept of crisis in the opposite direc-tion to conveya long-termstructural ransformation he end of which couldnot yet be determined.His revised use of the term clearlydemonstrates heinfluenceof his spiritualmentor Burke,whom he translated into German,while Rousseau became his intellectual antagonist: "We believe we arenearingthe end of the greatest,most awesome crisiswhich the social orderof Europehas experiencedin severalcenturies." "Crisis" was thus broad-ened into an epochal concept in Germanas well, but without any prognosisof the ultimateoutcome. Gentzgoes on to ask: "What is the likely result?What are our expectations for the future?" He confesses to himself that"thecrisis which introducedthe nineteenthcenturyis unpredictable."Onlyits negative sides are clearly discernible. The peace-loving Enlightenmenthad entered into a fateful pact with the Revolution, thereby raising enor-mously the potential for "the cruelest and most divisive war ever visitedupon a society."If at all, only astute countermeasures ould end the revolu-tionarywars.74The extent to which "crisis"had become an epochalconcept of history73 Gorres,"Rhotes Blatt" (1798), GesammelteSchriftenvol.1 (Cologne,1928), 169,164ff.;bythe sameauthor,"Riibezahl"1798), ibid. 318ff. In1819, longafterhispoliti-cal conversionn 1799, G6rresused theconceptof crisisto warn about revolution. ustas nature hrew he sickperson nto a deliriumn order o husbandall healing orces,"apeopletoo mayhaveto undergoa paroxysmof insanity f the disease s really o reachthe ultimate risispoint."See his Teutschland nd die Revolution,bid.,vol. 13 (1929),100. As shownbyallprevious xamples, nceit occurs, he revolutionwill, like a medicalcrisis,runthrough ll its stages.Topreventtsoccurrence, econtends, t is better o offera freeconstitution f estates-a position hat led to hisexpulsion romthe Rhineland.74Friedrich v. Gentz, "Ober den ewigen Frieden" (1800); printed in Kurt v. Raumer,EwigerFriede.FriedensaufrufendFriedenspline eit der Renaissance(Freiburg,Miin-chen, 1953),492-494.

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in Germanafter 1800 can be seen by the failureto apply it in a Christianor religious sense to a critical turning point (Zeitwende). Schleiermacherunderstandsthe "mightycrisis" only in a secular sense: "as crossing theboundarybetween two differentstates of affairs."'"Novalis rejects he termaltogetherbecause to him "Christianity"will be "theintermediarybetweenthe old and the new world" on the path toward"eternalpeace."'' FriedrichSchlegel already uses the concept of crisis as a historicalcategory for ex-plaining evolutionary transformations in the past. Thus, he argues, "thenational character of the Europeanstate system has already experiencedthree great evolutions in the course of threedecisivecrises-in the time ofthe crusades, in the period of the Reformationand discoveryof America,and in our own [theeighteenth]century.""77utwheneverhe is speakingasa Catholictheologian of history, he speaks of the preceding period, as the"worst and most dangeroustime"which will be followed by the period ofthe "LastJudgment."78nthe samevein, he interpreted he fall of theJewishnation as a "smaller,partialversion of the LastJudgment."7" t the sametime, he uses "crisis"in a narrower,more political and historical sense.Hence he saw the beginningof the 1820s as the dawn of "a new epoch thatthreatens everyone with a new and terriblecrisis and general upheaval."This was because the Revolutionnow came no longerfromabove or belowbut "fromthe middle.""8 imilarly,n 1807 ErnstMoritzArndt,who nevertiredof depictingthe "spiritof the time" in apocalypticterms,continuedtomake use of German biblical language:"Two centuriesago, this horribleperiod would have been likened to the Last Judgment!And are we notexperiencingthose last days of judgmentourselves? .. There is only onesalvation and that is to walk together throughthe death of fire in ordertoregain life for oneself and others.""'The concepts of the "LastJudgment"7" Schleiermacher,"Ober die Religion. Reden an die Gebildeten unter ihren Verichtern"(1799), Gesammelte Werke1, ABT. Vol.1 (1843), 437.76Novalis, "Die Christenheit oder Europa" (1799), Gesammelte Werke, 2nded., vol. 3(1968), 524.77Friedrich von Schlegel, "Ober das Studium der griechischen Poesie" (1810/11), Sim-tliche Werke,vol.1 (Paderborn, 1979), 356; see also his application to the English seven-teenth century in "Uber Fox und dessen Nachlass" (1810), ibid., vol. 7, 116.78Schlegel, Friedrich, Vorlesungen iiber Universalgeschichte (1805/06), ibid., vol. 14(1960), 252.9 Schlegel, Friedrich,Philosophie der Geschichte (1828), ibid., vol. 9 (Paderborn, 1971),227.

80 Schlegel, Friedrich,Signaturdes Zeitalters (1820/23), ibid., vol.7, 534.81 Ernst Moritz Arndt, Geist der Zeit (1807), Werke, eds. August Leffson und WilhelmSteffens, vol. 6 (Berlin, Leipzig, Wien, Stuttgart,no date), 47.

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and "crisis"are both being historicized. But the German biblical versioncame closer to carryingthe sense of those religiousimpulsesArndt wishedto turnin a democraticdirection.

VI. "CRISIS" AND CRISES:THE NINETEENTH CENTURY (GERMANY)

"God, when will this world crisis pass and the spiritof justiceand orderbecome common once again!" So ends a petition written in 1814 to thegovernor (Oberprdsident) f a Prussianprovinceby a journalist.The exag-gerated choice of words is symptomatic.82The era of the Revolution hadapparentlyended; but not the effects of having experiencedits prolongedupheavals,the transition to a new order,or the hopes it had raised. For thisaftermath,the concept of "crisis,"preciselybecause of its various mean-ings, seemedespecially appropriate.It could express long-term changes aswell as occasional outbursts, apocalyptic expectations as well as skepticalfears.

1. "Crisis"in Everyday ExperienceIf we take the frequencyof its use as indicatingthe actualityof a crisis,thenthe modernperiodsince the turn of the nineteenthcenturycan be called theage of crisis. The "global crisis"encompassedall spheres. Alreadyin 1820Schlegel spoke of a "greatcrisis of Germanphilosophy"demandingactionby the youngergeneration.83The 1839 BrockhausConversations-Lexikonder Gegenwart(ConversationalLexicon of the PresentTime)spoke of the"literarycrisis"of "Young Germany,"84 hile in 1837 Bruno Bauerspokeof a "universal heological crisis."8'The extensive correspondenceof Per-thes, which providesa privilegedview of contemporarypublic opinion, re-82Arnold Mallinckbrodt to Ludvig v. Wincke, Westphalia, Hefte fair Geschichte, Kunst,und V85lkerkunde4 (1966): 268.83 Schlegel,ignaturesZeitalters,17.84Brockhaus,,rticle n "Junges eutschland"n Conversations-LexikonerGegen-wart, ol.2 (1839),1181.5Bruno Bauer,review of Strauss' "LebenJesu" inJahrbuchfiirwissentschaftliche Kritik,1 (1837),325;citednHorstStuke, hilosophieerTat: tudienur VerwirklichungerPhilosophie'ei denJunghegelianernndden wahren ozialistenStuttgart,963),p.131

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lies especially on the political-historicalvariant of the crisis concept. In1819, afterthe CarlsbadDecrees, it was expected that "all of the Germanstates will have to go through an internal crisis" that should lead to achange in ministers.86n 1822 he predicts "Therewill be more than onecrisis before a sense of security will be finallyrestoredwhich allows bothindividuals and states to enjoy theirpossessions."87

ShortlythereafterPerthesreportsthe view that Liberalism"is the onlyremedy against this sickness from which Europeis suffering."Truerecov-ery, however, will begin only "when the crisis, brought on by the hastyadministration of medicine, will come to a fortuitous end."88The end ofthe July Revolution leads Perthes to predicta crisis for the Germanstatesso serious that "he recoils before it, even though it is only a premonition.Today there is no longer time to do what might have been done ten yearsearlier.""89russia,he adds a little bit later, is "especiallychallengedby theongoing time of crisis, which might intensify and even culminatein openwarfare.""9n 1843, Pertheshimself writes: "We are on the eve of greatand mightyevents:politicaldevelopmentsarepushingtowardsa Europeancrisis." Transformationsn material and spiritualconditions arereachingaculminationpoint. "As long as there is history,"the peace of the last quar-ter of the centurywill be seen "as one of the most significantand decisiveepochs."91Here the crisis concept covers equally well the uniqueness ofboth the perceived structural transformation and that of each acute mo-ment of decision.

It was a logical consequenceof the Revolutionthat, from 1847 on, thesituational use of the termcrisisproliferated.Beckerath,a liberalrepresen-tative in the United Landtag (the combined provincial diets of Prussia)wrote: "We have lived through a great crisis. The choice now is either todeny the King obedience . . . or else to come into conflict with our ownconvictions."92 n May 1848 Kapp, who belonged to the radical camp,writes that the coming republicwill have to give up on the presentgenera-tion of parliamentarians: It demands new kinds of people and as such we86ClemensTheodorPerthes,Friedrich erthes'Lebennachdessen chriftlichenndmiin-dlichenMitteilungen. th d., vol. 2 (Gotha,1872), 176.87 Ibid.,vol. 3 (1872),241.88Ibid.,2599 Ibid.,31590 Ibid,34391 bid.,455.92 Hermanvon Beckerath o his family,6.26. 1847; printed n RheinischeBriefeundAktenzur GeschichtederpolitischenBewegung1830-1850. ed. JosephHansen,vol. 2(Bonn,1942),288.

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have to presentourselves.Until that crisisensues, I must live."93And Mol-tke, to cite someone loyal to the state, used the term "crisis"again andagain to diagnose internal and externalturning points in the course of the(1848) Revolution.94To explain the coup d'&tatof Napoleon III historically, ConstantinFrantz uses a concept of crisis that encompassedall previous temporal di-mensions. He depicts the thirty-five years prior to the coup "as a never-ending cycle of ministerialcrisisupon ministerialcrisis."95Avoiding super-natural or demonizingversionsof the concept, he describes he 1848 Revo-lution insteadin "physiological" erms as "havingbeenmerelya crisisof anillness in the nation's life, the source of which can be clearly recognized."96Moreover the coup itself was the inevitableconsequenceof an acute "cri-sis."97As forthe questionable igureof the newNapoleon, Frantzpredicted:"France will remain in a state of crisis until there is no longer a divorcebetween what turns truth into reality and what reveals the falsity of lies.That is the solution, or else none exists."98To Frantz, the origins of thispermanentcrisislay in the discrepancybetween a changingsocial structureand forms of government(Herrschaftsformen).Unable to adapt to the newstructure of society, all these governmentshad lost their legitimacy.Theonly possible way out of this dilemma was a dictatorship-provided that itcould succeedin representing tself as the productof the popularwill.99Once "crisis" had become a commonly employed expression, its usebecame an indicatorof both the intensityof a crisis and the perceptionof itas such. The frequent changes of chancellorsafterBismarck's all, rapidlyled to an inflationaryuse of the term "Chancellorcrisis," the sources of93 FriedrichKapp o hisfather, July,1848,printedn his VomradikalenFrhbsozialismusdes Vormirzzum liberalenParteipolitikeres Bismarckreiches.riefe1843-1884. ed.Hans-UlrichWehler Frankfurt .M., 1969),55.94Helmut von Moltke to his mother,8.3. 1848 ; also letter to his brotherAdolf,11.17.1848;letter o his brotherLudwig,3.21.1850;in Gesammelte chriften nd Den-kwiirdigkeiten,ol. 4 (Berlin,1891), 122, 129, 142.95ConstantinFrantz,Louis Napoleon(1852), reprintof the 1933 edition(Darmstadt,1960), 34.96 Ibid., 497 bid.,1698Ibid.,76" Already n 1850 Romieu used a similarlypolysemicconceptof "crise" o demandadictatorship.His premisewas "that he nineteenth enturywill not see the foundation fanythingpermanent."AugusteRomieu,Der Cdisarismusder die NotwendingkeitderSdbelherrschaft,argetandurchgeschichtlicheBeispielevon den ZeitenderCasarenbisaufdie Gegenwart 1850),German ranslation f the2ndFrench dition(Weimar, 851),7, 47, 59, 79.

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which were sought in eitherthe personalqualitiesor the policiesof a givenofficeholder. But it was this very indiscriminateuse of the term thatpromptedMaximilianHarderto diagnose an institutionalcrisis behind it:"Rumorsof a hiddencamarilla ncreasingly eed expectationsof a politicalcrisis. Suchusagelabelseverydisturbance n the balance of the body politicas a crisis." Yet as every lay person knows, the medical concept of crisismeans "a rapid decision. . ... In this sense we cannot speak of a politicalcrisis.The sicknessin the life of our state is felt by everyone,and most fearthat one day it will come to a bad end. ... We can be happyif a prolongedcrisis (Lysis)will finallyliberate us from this creepingmalaise."100

The return to the medical metaphor made it possible to differentiatethe ongoing crisis-described in medical terms as Lysis-from those crisescreatedby specificcircumstances. nourcentury,however,suchdistinctionshave been supersededby a single term with many meanings. Because ofthese emotionalovertones,crisis loses its theoreticalrigor.At the sametime,attempts continued to use "crisis"more unambiguouslywithin a contextdeterminedby theories of history.

2. The Concept of "Crisis"in [German] Theories of History"Crisis"plays only a peripheralrole in the GermanIdealistphilosophy ofhistoryin which the spirit(Geist)that drivesrealitynaturally riumphsoverany acute crisis. Butthe concept of crisis assumeda centralplace among itsheirs, the Young Hegelians (Junghegelianer).This praxis- and action-oriented philosophy seeks to achieve that freedom, the absence of whichis the object of its critique.At odds with reality, that critiqueis pushingfor a decision, which, historicallyunderstood as "crisis,"is already pre-programmedand prepared.p10s formulatedby Ruge:"Our time has nowbecome especially critical . . . and the crisis is ... nothing more than ...the attempt ... to breakthroughand to discard the shell of the past, a signthat somethingnew has already replaced t."102Because t is able to see the100MaximilianHarden,Kamarilla,Die Zukunft,cited inJurgenW.Schafer,Kanzlerbildund Kanzlermythenn der Zeit des "Neuen Curses" Paderborn, 973), 46; this alsoincludesa semanticanalysisof the use of the term.See also Letterof Bismarcko KaiserFranzJoseph,26. 3. 1890;Friedrichsruheusgabe, ol. 14/2 (1933),999:"Inview of thedomesticcrisesthat seem to be brewing,"he (Bismarck) id not stepdownvoluntarily.10' See Horst Stuke, Philosophie der Tat (Stuttgart, 1963), passim; Kurt Rottgers, Kritikund Praxis(Berlin,New York,1975), 165ff.102 ArnoldRuge,Die Zeit und dieZeitschrift1842),cited n Rrttgers,KritikundPraxis,238.

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direction of history, this critiqueis propelling the crisis. In Bruno Bauer'swords: "History . . . will elevate to power the freedom which theory hasgiven us and therebycreate the world in a new form .... Historywill takecare of the crisis and its outcome."'03 udginghistory correctlywill deter-mine whether the problemsof state, church,and society demandinga deci-sion can be solved in practice.The concept of crisis thus remains within aphilosophy of history calling for the execution of tendencies revealedthroughcritique.In the words of Mevissen,an entrepreneur lose to the Young Hegeli-ans and protectorof Marx, "The recognitionof the presenceof an organicaffliction, the sources of which are not yet or insufficientlyunderstood,presagesa historical crisis.Today,as in similarepochs in the past, the solereason for the crisis is the incongruencebetween the culture [Bildung]ofthe centuryand its actualcustoms, forms of existence and conditions. Thesole alternativesare whether the crisis will be resolvedthroughrevolution-ary upheavalsor whether the human spirithas become strong enough totransformvoluntarily and from within those conditions revealed by thepower of knowledge." In line with his theory,Mevissen actually sought toabrogatethe privilegesof propertyand, throughthe creationof a "GeneralAssistance and EducationalAssociation" to integrate-unsuccessfully-the"excludedmajority"of workers into society, thereby linking freedom andequality.104That same diagnosis was offeredby Lorenz von Steinwhen, in 1850,he was the last to attempta system-immanent nterpretationof historyde-rived from the premisesof GermanIdealism. "Seenfrom the perspectiveofsociety's development,"Europeanhistoryreveals "two greatepochs":Thefirst,antiquity,was marked"bythe coexistenceof freepropertyandunfreelabor";the second, the period of the Germanickingdoms, "witnessed anever-changingbattle between free labor and free property. Our presentepoch is nothing but the last stageof that battle.ThroughoutEuropethereis a sense that the presentconditioncannot last much longer.Powerfulandterriblemovements are coming to the fore;no one dares to predictwherethey will lead. Hence no one has the rightto offer a magic formulafor thefuture." For this reason, von Steinwithdraws to a third position and ad-103 Bruno Bauer,Die gute Sache der Freiheitund meine eigene Angelegenheit (1842), citedin Stuke, Philosophie der Tat, 174.104Gustav von Mevissen, "Ober den allgemeinen Hilfs-und Bildungsverein" (1845),printed n J. Hansen,Gustavv. Mevissenvol. 2: Abhandlungen,Denkschriften,Redenund Briefe (Berlin, 1906), 129ff.

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vances a challengingprognosiswith two starkalternatives.Either t is possi-ble to convince capital and labor to sacrificetheir special interests and toinstitutionalize instead a relationship of mutual dependency so that thestate is no longersimplythe handmaidenof property nterests-or else "Eu-rope descends again into barbarismand is lost." The 1848 Revolution,which announces"the sovereigntyof industrialsociety,"is merelyone "actof that mighty crisis."'05As with Saint-Simon,von Stein'sconcept of crisisis drawn from an all-encompassingview of historywhich sees the revolu-tions of the nineteenthcenturyas steps in the transitiontoward industrialsociety. At the same time, Steinprognosticatesonly two alternatives:a justsocial order or collapse. Thus his theory of the three epochs contains adecidedlyeschatologicalcomponent.This component is considerablyweakened in Droysen in 1854 when,during the CrimeanWar, he places the "characteristicsof this Europeancrisis"within a world historical context. At issue is not simplywar or con-stitutional questions during which the combatants involved test theirstrength against each other. Rather, "we are in the midst of one of thosemonumentalcrises-like the Crusades,the Reformation,or the discoveryof America-that leadsmankind fromone worldepochto another."106 hiscrisis affects all spheres. Power is becoming an end in itself. In the com-petitiveeconomy everythinghas becomefungible;science is pursuingmate-rialist principles against which a religion threatenedby "nihilism" is nomatch.'07 nternational aw is being revolutionized and in the current con-stellation of power, only Russia has a position "that will last beyond themoment (of the present crisis)."'08A new "system of global powers" isappearing on the horizon, in which Russia, the British Empire, NorthAmerica, later also China, and another Europeanpower as yet unknown,will compete againsteach other.Unlike von Stein,Droysendoes not predictany alternatives for the future. Rather,the future outcome of the crisis isleft open, thoughhe providesa spectrumof variousunforeseeableeventual-ities.o09

Even more removed from any eschatological explanation is JacobBurckhardt's1870 synopsis of the world historical crisis.110Rather than10oLorenz von Stein, Geschichte der sozialen Bewegung in Frankreichvon 1789 bis aufunsere Tage (1850); newly printed edition (Darmstadt, 1959), 208ff.106 Johann Gustav Droysen, "Zur Charakteristika der europiischen Krise," in PolitischeSchriften, ed. Felix Gilbert (Munich, Berlin, 1933), 328.107Ibid., 341; see also ibid., 323ff.lo0 Ibid., 332109 bid., 330"oJacob Burckhardt, "Weltgeschichtliche Betrachtungen. Uber geschichtliches Studium"(1870), Gesammelte Werke,vol. 4 (Basel, Stuttgart, 1970).

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offering a diachronicoverview demonstratingthe singularityof the nine-teenth century,Burckhardtprovidesa typology of pastworldcrisesin orderto emphasizecommonalities and similarities.Inspired by Thucydidesandrelying heavilyon medicalmetaphors,his goal is to provide a historicallyand anthropologicallygrounded pathology of the processesof crises."'

Although he recognizes"war as internationalcrisis" he draws most ofhis examples from the accelerateddynamicsof revolutionaryprocesses.112Influenced by the cyclical theory of constitutional change (Verfassungs-kreislauflehre), e analyzesrevolutions n terms of regularphasesat the endof which therewill be either restorationor despotism. Yet these relativelytraditional, psychologicallyenhanced elements are clothed in a theory ofcrisis that does not view the unfolding of crises as mere diachroniceventsin a linearrevolutionaryprocess.Rather,"theyare to be regardedas 'devel-opmentalknots.'" Crisesaremorecomplex and multi-layered,even if theyemerge erraticallyand suddenly."Indeed,real crises arerare.""3To Burck-hardt, not even the EnglishRevolution was a real crisis because it did notleadto a fundamentalchangein social relations.Similarly, he GermanRef-ormationwas an incompletecrisis cut off by the Peasant Wars. So too wasthe FrenchRevolution, the course of which was moderated. Neither thefirstRomancenturynor the PeloponnesianWarproducedgreat, fundamen-tal crises. On the other hand, the Atheniandemocracylived in a constantcrisiswith the persistent hreat of terrorism.As demonstratedby the multi-plicity of historicalexamples, most crises are terminatedbefore they reachtheir final endpoint. This was true also of the Seven Weeks War of 1866(betweenPrussiaand Austria),a crisisinto which Austria was pushed."4Crisismay be a permanentpossibilityin history, but realitycreates somany moments of unexpected surpriseas to make any typology of crisisrelative. Religious, spiritual,economic, and political forces become inter-twined. "When two crisescross each other"-national or religious-"thestrongerconsumes the weaker." There are "failed crises" as well as "artifi-cially createdillusory crises.""5Certainly only the age of mass migrationof various peoples in early ChristianEurope was a true and great crisis,"and this crisis,unlikeany other familiarto us, remainsuniqueof its kind.It led to fundamental ransformations, o a mixing of races,and, above all,to the emergenceof a historicallypowerful ChristianChurch.""'611'Theodor Schieder,"Die historischen Krisen im GeschichtsdenkenJacob Burckhardts"(1950) in Theodor Schieder,Begegnungen mit der Geschichte (G6ttingen, 1962), 129ff.112Burckhardt, WeltgeschichtlicheBetrachtungen, 117113bid, 138, 122.114Ibid, 120, 139, 147." Ibid., 129, 122, 146.116 bid., 122.

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Only this long, drawn-outcrisis can be compared o that of nineteenth-century Europe.This is less because of any overtsimilarity han because ofits uniqueness,shaped by the many facets of an unchanginghumannaturewhich, true to itself, foreverseekschange. The wars of the nineteenthcen-tury were only a part of this largercrisis, into which the forces of democ-racy and material ambitions, lust for power, and intellectualutopias allmerged.But the "principalcrisis" will come only with the convergenceoftechnology,wars, and social revolutions. "At that point, the main decisionmust come from the nature of humanityitself""'117thustransformingonceand for all the metaphorof the LastJudgment nto an anthropologicalandhistoricalcategory).Burckhardt'ssemantic fields were especiallyvaried in order to rede-scribe the multi-layeredand complex characterof structuraltransforma-tions and theirexplosive aggregate mpact."Crisis"becamea transpersonalmode of interpretationat the highest level. Cuttingacross short- and long-term processes, this concept of crisis promisesmisery and crime, but alsosalvation and cleansing. Despite his amazingprognoses of futurecatastro-phes, Burckhardtremained cautious in his judgmentof the final outcome:"Of course, in the case of a truly great crisis, only after a lapse of timeproportionalto the scale of the crisisitself, can we discernthe sum total ofits true (i.e. relatively rue)consequences(its so-calledgood and evil resultsor, rather,what the contemporaryobserverregardsas desirableor undesir-able).""118hus the most significantanalystof crisisremainedconsiderablymore cautious than all of his predecessors.In 1888 Nietzsche,whose readiness o prophesywas the exact oppositeof Burckhardt's,asked himself: "Why am I a destiny?"("Warum ch einSchicksalbin"). Nietzsche's answer, by fusing together all the diagnosticand prognostic strands of his philosophy, had in effect, reduced the Euro-pean crisis to his own person: "One day my name will be connected withthe recollection of somethingenormous-with a crisis such as never beforeexisted on earth,with the deepestclash of conscience,with a decisionsolelyinvoked againstall that had until then been believed,demanded,hallowed.I am not human,I am dynamite.... Butmy truth is frightful: or untilnowlies have been called the truth.-Revaluation of all Values: hat is my for-mula for an act of the highestexaminationby mankind,which has becomeflesh and genius in me." Once centuries of lies in moral, metaphysical,orChristianguises have been unmasked,"politicswill then be taken up with117bid.,150.118bid.,132f.

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spiritualwarfare, all the power structuresof the old order will be blownsky high" andtherewill be "warslike neverbefore on earth.""'19

3. Extensions of the Concept

Naomi Klein_Disaster Capitalism

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