ABSTRACT
The six thinkers discussed in the previous chapters were powerful and original minds, who in most cases had not only influential ideas but also a larger-than-life personality. They cannot be said to have shared a single vision of modernity. However, whether they started their work by directly drawing inspiration from Weber or not, many of their most important ideas and central aspects of their vision, are remarkably similar. The main thrust of their historical work can be arranged in four main dimensions. Three of them are substantive. They concern the historicity of forms of subjectivity, knowledge, and closed institutions. The fourth is methodological and is concerned with the history of forms of thought including discourse, concepts and words.
