Looking at self-image and iunderstanding of time, he always sees the 19th century in terms of its characteristic differences from the earlier centuries and the changes that brought about the structures of the 20th century. The sentence "Before the 20th century, not a single year can be seen as epochal for all mankind" (p.96) can be considered exemplary. The 19th century is placed in the continuity of the previous centuries and on the other hand clearly differentiated from the degree of globalization of the 20th.