Research

The Heisenberg Professorship "Europe and Modernity" at Universität Hamburg is dedicated to researching and communicating the social, discourse and idea-historical foundations as well as the appearance and course of political institutions and forms of thought as they have developed in Europe since the modern era. The epistemic interest is based on the relevance of these developments for understanding and shaping current transformation processes of state, politics and democracy at national, European and global level.

The profile of the Heisenberg Professorship "Europe and Modernity" is thus characterized by an integral program that encompasses both conceptual and real history as well as historical, systematic and contemporary questions and problems as well as approaches. This results from the conviction that the parallel consideration of these different dimensions is indispensable in order to understand and process the historicity and contingency of the conditions and problems of the present and future. Research and teaching conducted by the staff of the Heisenberg Professorship are therefore committed to an interdisciplinary approach that integrates theoretical, historical, and contemporary approaches to the extent required for adequate knowledge of their subjects.

Focal points in research and teaching

Focus I: The emergence of modern Europe and European thinking

Focus II: Foundations of state and politics in the modern age

Focus III: State, democracy and law in the globalized world

Focus IV: The political thinking of the Enlightenment