Merkur2013-07-15Summary Merkur 7/2013In the July issue (Number 770) philosopher Christoph Menke subjects Hannah Arendt's Eichmann book to a precise and patient re-reading and, in doing so, draws far-reaching conclusions on the boundaries of law in the face of terror: "Our thinking here becomes reflection, a kind of thinking that does not dissolve the speechless terror but rather requires it, one that presupposes the speechless terror about Eichmann, that gives voice to the terror and explains it and returns to it again and again. A kind of thinking that in the end transforms back into speechless terror."With historical reference to the organization of American research labs, Caspar Hirschi plausibly explains that innovation is owed to fundamental research more than to an orientation toward application. Wolfgang Matz explains the extent to which the current crisis has changed the relationship between France and Germany. Literary scholar Jürgen Fohrmann considers the role of national -- in particular, German -- philology in the age of global society.In his economics column Werner Plumpe explains how consumption has bound and binds the lower classes to capitalism. In his politics column Philip Manow takes up theories (or legends) of the origins of democracy and Egon Flaig's new book on majority decision. Historian Richard J. Evans takes a closer look at new publications on Benito Mussolini and writes about the legacy of the Duce up through present-day Italy. Alexandra Kemmerer reads a study by Anna Katharina Mangold on the Europeanization of law, while law professor and lawyer Klaus Volk thinks specifically about the transformation of penal law.Julika Griem argues for dryness as a feminine virtue -- and to this purpose undertakes a small review of the history of the idea and term of dryness. Author of the uchronian novel Der Komet, Hannes Stein tells a short history of alternative history. Stephan Herczeg continues his journal.The full table of contents of Merkur 7/2013