Verfassungen, die nicht rechtlich, aber wirklich sind A. H. L. Heeren und das Ende der Aufklärungshistorie

Career and oeuvre of the Göttingen historian Heeren (1760‐1842) mark the end of Enlightenment's historiography in a twofold respect: Owing success at the early stage of his exemplary career mainly to the fact that he worked on a particular field of research (which had not yet been treated intensively) on the lines of traditional questions, issues and strategies of argumentation, Heeren principally went beyond the limitations of these traditional patterns very soon by developing the rudiments of an idea of history centred on historical ideal types and demanding a genuinely historical approach. (But as he himself did not consistently pursue this concept of history, it fell into oblivion in the sequel.) With the rise of new scholarly standards, i. e. the methods of historical criticism in particular, Heeren (who did not apply them) was increasingly severely criticized. By calling his reputation as a scholar to question, his critics attacked Enlightenment's historiography in general, thus contributing essentially to its becoming obsolete.