Abstract

This paper was read at the Amsterdam Conference of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas on ‘Turning Points in History’. I have left it in the original form, only adding a few notes on bibliographical items without any attempt to complete documentation of the discussion. I have to thank my friend, Dr Elisabeth Bertol-Raffin, for translating this paper into English. Perhaps no one will ever bother so much with the question of what I might have meant as she did. That is why I should like to dedicate this paper to her instead of a Festschrift and should be glad if she liked it