This volume offers an interdisciplinary approach to some pivotal topics of (de-) colonization. It examines the early modern debate on just war, transatlantic conquest and slavery, followed by the shift of the debate in the 18th and 19th centuries towards assertions of racial hierarchies based on supposed matters of fact, and finally the philosophical discussion regarding decolonization. Two central themes emerge: first, the political circumstances and the exploitation of the available terminology resulted in the production of new meanings or "translations" during the 17th and 18th centuries, and second, the adoptions of established justifications of colonial activities and enslavement brought about models of natural science that increasingly developed a momentum of their own.

Christoph Haar received his BA in history and politics from Durham University and his MPhil and PhD in intellectual history from the University of Cambridge. He is Lecturer in Early Modern History at Goethe University Frankfurt. His research interests include early modern political thought, cultural history and intellectual history. Matthias Kaufmann studied mathematics, philosophy and political science. He was Professor of Philosophy (Ethics) at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. His main fields of work are political philosophy, philosophy of law, applied ethics and early modern philosophy. Christian Müller received his MA in philosophy and history from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. His research interests include history of science and philosophy.