The period around 1700 is called the pre-Enlightenment, and its societal and ideological breakthroughs are then seen as the prelude for the greater openness of the Enlightenment through reason and critique. Opposing this view, the book examines the moments of openness around 1700 that were soon followed by renewed closure. While the turn-of-the-century’s relative openness made it a fertile experimental field, it also provoked the renewed closure.