Reinhart Koselleck Books

This book established Reinhart Kosellek's reputation as the most important German intellectual historian of the postwar period. The first English translation of Kosellek's tour de force demonstrates a chronological breadth, a philosophical depth, and an originality, which are hardly equalled in any scholarly domain. It is a history of the Enlightenment in miniature, fundamental to our understanding of that period and its consequences. Like de Tocqueville, Kosellek views Enlightenment intellectuals as an uprooted, unrealistic group of onlookers who sowed the seeds of the modern political tensions that first flowered in the French Revolution. He argues that it was the split that developed between state and society during the Enlightenment that fostered the emergence of this intellectual elite divorced from the realities of politics.

This new collection of previously untranslated essays by renowned German conceptual historian and theorist Reinhart Koselleck provides new insight into his theory of history, an ambitious attempt to unearth the conditions of all possible histories.

Explores the shifting perceptions and conceptions of historical time that have emerged over the past two centuries. This book argues that the past and the future have become 'relocated' in relation to each other, and that 'history' has emerged as a kind of temporality with distinct characteristics and ways of assimilating experience.

Reinhart Koselleck's work explores the Enlightenment's impact on modern political tensions, particularly through the lens of an intellectual elite disconnected from political realities. He argues that the growing divide between state and society during this period led to private spheres that became moral authorities, ultimately undermining political stability. By examining examples across Europe, Koselleck illustrates how the progressive ideas of the bourgeoisie, which promised unity, instead contributed to conflict. This translation enriches our understanding of Enlightenment consequences.

Reinhart Koselleck is regarded as one of the most important theorists of history and historiography of the late 20th century, and is an exponent and practitioner of Begriffsgeschichte. The 18 essays in this volume illustrate the four theses of Koselleck's concept of history.

»Gestorben wird alleine, zum Töten des Anderen gehören zwei. Die Fähigkeit des Menschen, seinesgleichen umzubringen, konstituiert vielleicht mehr noch menschliche Geschichte als seine Grundbestimmung, sterben zu müssen.« Der »gewaltsam Umgebrachten« zu gedenken, gehört zum Kern der politischen Kultur. Reinhart Koselleck hat mit seinen wegweisenden Arbeiten zum »Totenkult« ein neues Forschungsfeld erschlossen: die europäischen Denkmalslandschaften in ihrer ganzen historischen, ästhetischen und politischen Komplexität. Ob es sich um Opfer für das Vaterland oder um solche von Kriegen und Gewaltherrschaft handelt, ob Menschen in Bürgerkriegen und Revolutionen oder durch Staatsverbrechen, politischen oder religiösen Terror umgebracht wurden – alle sind »getötete Tote«. Ohne ihrer zu gedenken, so der Humanist Koselleck, ist ein Weiterleben nicht möglich. Der Band versammelt Kosellecks Aufsätze zum politischen Totenkult, publizistische Beiträge zu den Debatten über die »Neue Wache« und das Holocaustmahnmal in Berlin, theoretische Überlegungen zum Erinnerungsbegriff und unveröffentlichte autobiografische Notizen über seine Erfahrungen in Krieg und russischer Gefangenschaft. In Distanz zur populären »Erinnerungskultur« betonen sie die Unhintergehbarkeit der Differenz zwischen individueller Erfahrung und kollektiven Erinnerungskonstruktionen. Die Historie soll solche kollektiven Identitäten nicht stiften, sondern kritisch analysieren. Darin liegt für Koselleck die Aufgabe der Geschichtswissenschaft.

Este livro apresenta a tradução do verbete “Geschichte, Historie”, retirado de um clássico contemporâneo da História e da Historiografia: os Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe, obra de referência sobre a história dos conceitos no espaço cultural alemão, editada por Otto Brunner, Werner Conze e Reinhart Koselleck. Apresentado aqui pela primeira vez ao leitor brasileiro em sua extensão original, O Conceito de História foi escrito por Christian Meier, Odilo Engels, Horst Günther e Reinhart Koselleck. Seu fio condutor são as transformações desse termo até a modernidade. A palavra “história”, cujo primeiro registro conhecido remonta a Heródoto, no século V a.C., é um patrimônio de diferentes culturas ocidentais que há quase 2.500 anos é cultivado, expandido e ressignificado. O estudo acompanha de perto essa longa trajetória, analisando os usos do termo e as concepções de história vigentes na Antiguidade Clássica, os rearranjos semânticos decorrentes de sua absorção no horizonte cultural cristão, os diferentes gêneros historiográficos medievais, bem como as reconfigurações do pensamento histórico sob os influxos do Renascimento, da Reforma e das transformações que deram origem ao mundo contemporâneo.