ABSTRACT
The chapter opens by offering an example of how the main themes studied in the collection, improvement and reform, are visible in the political culture of today. It then argues that it is important to pay historical attention to the culture of improvement in early modern Europe, as well as to observe that the meaning of the word reform has significantly altered since the eighteenth century. The second part of the chapter explores how Samuel Pufendorf’s theory of natural law contributed to early modern improvement culture, and how the idea of improvement was articulated in French, German and English translations of Pufendorf’s works.
