It would be remiss of us to deny the increasing interest that has been placed in the last few decades on
the so-called Begriffsgeschichte. The dissemination of its many theoretical possibilities has been
expanding ever since the publication of Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe: historisches Lexikon zur politischsozialen
Sprache in Deutschland, 1972- 1999 (by R. Koselleck, W. Conze and O. Bruner), whose main
purpose was to lay bare the existence of a conceptual depth preceding social and political language. Its
method has quickly become a point of departure not only for historians but for those seeking to
render an account of the transformations and permanence of other concepts in the history of thought
(Pernau 2019, 13).
In this vein, a series of research clusters going further the original motivations of the Lexikon
and Koselleck’s own work (2004, 2012) have been established. For instance, in Finland, Kari Palonen
and colleagues at the Excellence Cluster in Jyväskylä have decisively contributed to expanding the
horizons of Begriffsgeschichte drawing from the pathways of Cambridge Intellectual History (Marjanen
2015, as quoted by Pernau 2019, 17) by means of articulating realist political theory with elements
coming from conceptual history (Palonen 2013). Moreover, in the Ibero-American context, a
dictionary of conceptual history has been published since 2009 with contributions from Argentina,
Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Spain, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, and Venezuela (Sebastián & Aljovín 2009, as
quoted by Pernau 2019, 17). This is in addition to research clusters in Asia (Heang-Hoon 2012, Park
2012, Kyung-Ku 2012, as quoted by Pernau 2019, 18) and Africa (Fleisch & Stephens 2016, as quoted
by Pernau 2019, 18), among many others.
The aforementioned theoretical proliferation is not solely confined to the investigation of
social and political concepts. In recents years, there has also been openness to other kinds of
investigations, which include the analysis of the conceptual overlap via a global conceptual history
enabling—in Pernau’s terms (2019, 19)—not only the amplification of the familiar, but moreover
putting it into question. All this requires to incorporate the processes of translation as objects of
research, inasmuch as the passageway from one language to another implies conceptual, linguistic,
gramatical, and pragmatic changes (Pernau 2019, 23). In addition, Begriffsgeschichte has been put into
practice in order to explore the concepts at use in the history of the sciences, in the theory of
emotions, and many other areas. Finally, new methods have made their appearance, whose existence
is now possible due to the massive digitalization of data, enabling the exploration of unconquered
thematic terrains with great potencial (Pernau 2019, 35-38).
This is why the Revista de Filosofía de la Universidad de Costa Rica is calling for submissions for a
dossier dedicated to a wide variety of perspectives based on the possibilities offered by
Begriffsgeschichte. The dossier intends to publish contributions engaging in dialogue with conceptual
history at its margins and limits, be it to build new interdisciplinary bridges or to mark its limitations
over against the backdrop of certain phenomena. Preference will be given to contributions
emphasizing the profound transformations that the contemporary political vocabulary has
undergone in conjunction with the typical movements of the 20th century: the scientification,
popularization, and liquefaction of language (Geulen 2010, as quoted by Pernau 2019, 27-28).
On this occasion, complete manuscripts will be received for consideration. They must follow the
guidelines of the journal.
Deadline: October 28, 2022.
References
Fernández Sebastián, Javier y Cristóbal Aljovín de Losada (eds). 2009. Diccionario político y social
del mundo iberoamericano. La era de las revoluciones, 1750-1850. Madrid: Fundación
Carolina/Sociedad Estatal de Conmemoraciones Culturales/Centro de Estudios
Políticos y Constitucionales.
Fleisch, Axel y Rhiannon Stephens (eds.). 2016. Doing Conceptual History in Africa. New York,
Berghahn.
Heang-Hoon, Lee. 2012. “Korean Conceptual History: Its Present Condition and Future
Prospects”, Journal of the History of Ideas in East Asia, 2, 405-428.
Geulen, Christian. 2010. “Plädoyer für eine Geschichte der Grundbegriffe des 20. Jahrhunderts”,
Zeithistorische Forschungen, 7, 79-97.
Koselleck, Reinhart. 2004. Futures Past. On the Semantics of Historical Time. USA: Columbia
University Press.
Koselleck, Reinhart. 2012. Historias de conceptos. Estudios sobre semántica y pragmática del lenguaje
político y social. Madrid: Editorial Trotta.
Kyung-Ku, Lee. 2012. “Korean Conceptual History and Modern Paradigm”, Journal of the History
of Ideas in East Asia, 2, 429-448.
Marjanen, Jani. 2015. “Reinhart Koselleck and Begriffsgeschichte in Scandinavia”, Forum
Interdisziplin ä re Begriffsgeschichte, 4, 27-30.
Palonen, Kari. 2013. “Conceptual History as Political Theory”. Redescriptions: Political Thought,
Conceptual History and Feminist Theory. 4 (4), 5-11.
Park, Myoung-Kyu. 2012. “Conceptual History in Korea: Its Development and Prospects”,
Contributions to the History of Concepts, 7, (2), 36-50.
Pernau, Margrit. 2019. “Nuevos caminos de la historia conceptual”. Conceptos históricos 8 (5),
12-47.