I would like to discuss Jacob Burckhardt as a commentator on the rapid modernization in Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century. To start with the essential point: I think we should regard Burckhardt's comments on the making of modern societies as post-modernist, so that interpreting Burckhardt's contribution to political thought means also discussing the problem of post-modernism in an historical perspective.
It has always been very tempting to accompany Burckhardt as he escapes from the noise and dust of the growing mass democracy and industrialization to the treasures of art and culture of pre-modern Western civilization. Yet his thought should not be considered as a gleam of the declining old Europe shining into the darkness of our suffering caused by the crisis of modern culture, and it should not be used as a means of managing this crisis by a highly sophisticated nostalgic way of historical thinking. On the contrary, Burckhardt's thought should be used as an historical mirror in which we can see what is wrong with our time.
My argument is divided into three parts: First I would like to characterize Burckhardt's political standpoint as a conservative critique of his time. Next, I would like to illuminate the historical perspective which Burckhardt developed from his critical distance to his time. And, finally, I would like to reflect on some consequences this historical perspective has for political thought.