Futures Past – On the Semantics of Historical Time (Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought.) - Softcover

Koselleck, Reinhardt

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0231127715 ISBN 13: 9780231127714

Publisher: Columbia University Press, 2004

Synopsis

Modernity in the late eighteenth century transformed all domains of European life -intellectual, industrial, and social. Not least affected was the experience of time itself: ever-accelerating change left people with briefer intervals of time in which to gather new experiences and adapt. In this provocative and erudite book Reinhart Koselleck, a distinguished philosopher of history, explores the concept of historical time by posing the question: what kind of experience is opened up by the emergence of modernity? Relying on an extraordinary array of witnesses and texts from politicians, philosophers, theologians, and poets to Renaissance paintings and the dreams of German citizens during the Third Reich, Koselleck shows that, with the advent of modernity, the past and the future became 'relocated' in relation to each other.The promises of modernity -freedom, progress, infinite human improvement -produced a world accelerating toward an unknown and unknowable future within which awaited the possibility of achieving utopian fulfillment. History, Koselleck asserts, emerged in this crucial moment as a new temporality providing distinctly new ways of assimilating experience. In the present context of globalization and its resulting crises, the modern world once again faces a crisis in aligning the experience of past and present. To realize that each present was once an imagined future may help us once again place ourselves within a temporality organized by human thought and humane ends as much as by the contingencies of uncontrolled events.

About this title

Review

"Koselleck turns the procedures of 'conceptual historiography' to the study of the concept of history itself, (providing) original, erudite, and illuminating insights into concepts that have informed the modern idea of historical being: event, chance, progress, revolution, modernity... Koselleck's work augurs a new era in the conceptualization not only of what 'history' means to Western culture but also of what Western culture means for 'history.'"--Hayden White "American Historical Review "

Synopsis

Widely considered to be the most important German intellectual historian of the postwar period, Reinhart Koselleck has had a profound influence on contemporary historiography. With a new, interpretive introduction by the translator, this revised and corrected edition of Koselleck's most acclaimed work is once again available in English. With the advent of modernity in the late eighteenth-century every aspect of human life was radically transformed, including the experience of time.As the ever-accelerating pace of the modern world left people with briefer intervals of time in which to gather new experiences and adapt to social and technological changes, the demands that were placed on the future correspondingly increased. The promises of modernity - freedom, progress, opportunity - began to produce expectations and hopes that broke free of the present and projected utopian visions of unbounded possibility onto the future.In this provocative and erudite book, Koselleck explores the shifting perceptions and conceptions of historical time that have emerged over the past two centuries.

Relying on an extraordinary array of witnesses and texts - from politicians, philosophers, theologians, and poets to proverbs, lexica, Renaissance paintings, and the dreams of German citizens during the Third Reich - Koselleck argues that the past and the future have become 'relocated' in relation to each other, and that 'history' has emerged as a new kind of temporality with distinct characteristics and ways of assimilating experience.Chronological time is generally tied to social and political actions, to the concrete experiences of human beings. Yet in reality historical events and epochs intermingle and overlap, transcending strict temporal distinctions that can be derived from physical or astronomical phenomena. In the present context of globalization - where many cultures and perceptions become superimposed upon one another - the modern world faces not only temporal acceleration but also historical disorientation.Koselleck believes that any given present is simultaneously a 'former future' that was once defined by specific terms and ideas.

By analyzing the semantics of historical time, Koselleck brings into focus the far-reaching impact that conceptions of time have on social organization, revealing that human history results as much from structure of temporal experience as from the contingencies of uncontrollable events.

Edition details

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0231127715
• ISBN 13: 9780231127714
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 344