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Reinhart Koselleck

ラインハルト・コゼレック

Rainharuto Kozerrekku

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1923-04-23 （Görlitz, Upper Lusatia, Germany）
Died
2006-02-03 （Bad Oeynhausen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany） age 82
Nationality
German
Languages
German

Career

Occupations
historian, author, academic
Active Years
1950-2006
Influenced By
Carl Schmitt, Karl Löwith
Influenced
Niklas Olsen, Jan-Werner Müller

Education

Heidelberg University
Faculty of Philosophy (History) / History
Degree: Habilitation / PhD (歴史)
Country: Germany
Studied under Karl Löwith among others; completed doctoral and habilitation theses.

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Critique and Crisis

1959 History / Intellectual history

A study of Enlightenment thought and the pathogenesis of modern society; argues that Enlightenment utopianism contributed to recurring political 'crises' and reconsiders the relation between critique and political practice.

Enlightenmentcrisispolitical concepts
Translations
  • Translation: Critique and Crisis (MIT Press, 1988)

The Practice of Conceptual History: Timing History, Spacing Concepts

2002 Conceptual history / Methodology

A methodological reflection on conceptual history (Begriffsgeschichte), presenting a framework for analyzing semantic changes of concepts in their temporal and spatial contexts.

conceptual historytemporalitylanguage and politics
Translations
  • Translation: The Practice of Conceptual History (Stanford University Press, 2002)

Futures Past: On the Semantics of Historical Time

2004 Philosophy of history / Temporality

Essays on the semantics of historical time, exploring theoretical approaches to how past and future are understood in historical thought.

temporalizationmemoryhistorical consciousness
Translations
  • Translation: Futures Past (Columbia University Press, 2004)

Sediments of Time: On Possible Histories

2018 Essays / History of ideas

A collection of essays on possible histories, focusing on the stratified nature of historical experience and multiplicity of temporal layers.

possible historiesstratification of timememory and history
Translations
  • Translation: Sediments of Time (Stanford University Press, 2018)

Bibliography

  • Critique and Crisis (Kritik und Krise)
  • Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe (co-ed., Basic Concepts in History)
  • Various articles and essays on time, conceptual history, and memory

Translations of Works

  • Critique and Crisis (MIT Press, 1988)
  • The Practice of Conceptual History (Stanford University Press, 2002)
  • Futures Past (Columbia University Press, 2004)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
analytical and conceptualinterdisciplinary (bridging linguistics, social history, legal history)
Recurring Motifs
time and temporalizationcrisis and conflictsemantic change of concepts

Legacy

Koselleck is regarded as one of the leading historians of the 20th century, significantly contributing to the establishment of conceptual history (Begriffsgeschichte). His work on temporality and the linguistic approach to history influenced historiography, sociology, and political theory.

Quotes

  • Germany has a "special responsibility" to continue acknowledging and remembering the Holocaust, but the memorial should remember all of the Holocaust's victims and not focus exclusively on a narrowly Jewish narrative.
    Source: Public debates in the 1990s regarding the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin

Trivia

  • Joined the Hitler Youth in youth and later served as a German soldier during World War II.
  • Captured by the Soviet Army in 1945 and held in Kazakhstan as a prisoner of war for about 15 months.
  • Co-edited the multi-volume Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe, foundational for conceptual history.