Abstract

The Author first critically appreciates the results of conceptual history as exemplified in the German "Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe" edited by Brunner, Conze and Koselleck, who focus their investigation on the transformations in the processes of political conceptualization in the transition between the XVIII and XIX century ("Sattelzeit"), having in the background the social history of the age. In the second part Richter argues for an integration of the conceptual history with the research programmes started by Skinner and Pocock.