The era of the Enlightenment would not have been thinkable without its reflection on questions and problems arising out of globalization processes. In addition, the basic assumptions of 18th-Century thinking still constitute the paradigms for contemporary discussions. The Enlightenment – as an ongoing process of modernization – plays a crucial role for perspectives on Europe from the outside. This volume presents different approaches to these questions from various disciplinary and regional backgrounds. Its main objective consists in furthering the dialogue between European and Latin American research, following Eric Hobsbawm's suggestion that Latin America might be the most productive laboratory for Enlightenment ideas today. Daniel Brauer: The Return of Weltgeist? – Omar Acha: Latin American Perspectives – Adrián Ratto: Globalization and the Return of Meta-Narratives – Francisco Naishtat: The Problematic Reception of Latin American Emancipation in Marx’s Historiography – Rosa E. Belvedresi: Global History and the Idea of Universal History – Günther Lottes: Globality before Globalization Economic Relationships in the Pre-modern World – Concha Roldán: European Roots of Universalism – Vincent Geoghegan: A New World – Thomas Gil: Explaining Historical Phenomena – Iwan-Michelangelo D’Aprile: Critical Global Studies and Planetary History – Darina Martykánová: Expert Knowledge and the State in Spain and in the Ottoman Empire – Lutz Fricke: Norms and Normalisation. Knowing Others by Default – Irene Gómez Franco: The Dimensions of Global Justice – Ricardo Gutiérrez: Auilar Recognition: An Argument on Representation, Memory and History – Steven G. Ellis: Building the English State: From Barbarism to Civilization – Dariusz Dolański: Barbarousness and Barbarians in the Polish 18th Century Geographical Writing – Nana Hengelhaupt: Ancient Liberties and Modern Consent – Alix Winter: Josef-Marie Degérando’s Concept of Savages – Larisa Strese-Gassiev: Siberian Barbarians and Savages in the Concept of Russian Civilizing Mission – Emilie Al Saleh: The Voyages of Discovery of James Cook in the XVIIIth Century – Roberto R. Aramayo and Concha Roldán: Values and Education: From the Enlightenment to the Present Day.