Description

The question What would have happen if ...? is still considered by many historians to be an unproductive gimmick. Alexander Demandt reminds us, however, of Friedrich Schiller's assertion that culture can unfold only in this game. If this is true, then it also holds true in some ways for science. The playful use of possibilities is just as important as research in accordance with proven methods. Not only possibility, but thoughtful further analysis of historical alternatives are the focus of this little book: What would have happened if Hitler had died in 1938, or the German peasant war of 1525 had succeeded? What if Jesus had been pardoned by Pontius Pilate, or Hannibal had marched on Rome after the victory at Cannae? In original and sometimes brilliant diction (Frank Schirrmacher, FAZ) Demandt also shows that, and how, we can justify the thinking of unrealized alternatives in the history of science. German text.