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In his monumental work „Utopia,” Thomas More imagines a world which functions entirely without money. If you think that this utopia is presented as an ideal world-to-wish-for and want to protest loudly, don’t worry. “Utopia,” is not meant to represent to an ideal world – rather, it is meant to make us think critically about the world we live in now.

When Ubbo Emmo wrote his now little-known work on Greek constitutions in 1600, it was pure dynamite. It was all about freedom – East Frisia’s authorities groaned, the freedom-loving classes rejoiced.

Beheaded, broken on the wheel, pinched with burning irons – these punishments seem to us inhumane. And yet, they had a purpose at their time. A book from 1720 published on the orders of the Prussian King gives us some hints as to why he believed these brutal punishments were necessary: Two officials had stolen from the royal coin cabinet.

Joseph Scaliger was considered one of the greatest scholars of the 16th century. The committed Protestant was a fierce opponent of the Jesuits. While fighting dissidents on paper and on the field, he became the founder of modern textual criticism.

You end up on a lonely island all by yourself. What do you do? An endlessly fascinating question, which Daniel Defoe’s world famous novel puts to its readers and which has also sparked the interest of economists over time. Learn why in this article.