Reinhart Koselleck was a German historian, regarded as a pivotal figure in 20th-century historical thought. He occupied a unique position within the discipline, unaligned with any specific school. His extensive work spanned conceptual history, the epistemology of history, linguistics, and the foundations of historical anthropology, social history, and the history of law and government. Koselleck's original insights profoundly shaped the understanding of historical discourse.
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 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.
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.
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.