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Crisis Reinhart Koselleck Translation by Michaela W. Richter College of Staten Island, City University of New York I. Introduction. II. On the Greek Use of the Word. III. The Entry of the Term into National Languages. IV. Uses in Lexica. V. From Political Concept to Philosophy of History Concept-the Eigh- teenth Century and the French Revolution: 1) Political Uses of the Term. 2) Its Expansion into the Philosophy of History: a) Western Development in the Formation of Historical Concepts. b) Variants in German Philosophies of History. VI. "Crisis" and "Crises"-the Nineteenth Century: 1) "Crisis" in Everyday Experience. 2) "Crisis" as Concept in Theories of History. 3) Economic Meanings of the Term. 4) Marx and Engels. VII. Overview and Present Usage. Reinhart Koselleck, "Krise" in Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe: Historisches Lexicon zur politisch-sozialen Sprache in Deutschland , eds. Otto Brunner, Werner Konze, and Reinhart Koselleck (8 volumes; Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1972-97), 3: 617-50. Copyright C by Journal of the History of Ideas, Volume 67, Number 2 (April 2006) 357
JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF IDEAS + APRIL 2006 I. INTRODUCTION For the Greeks the term "crisis" had relatively clearly demarcated meanings in the spheres of law, medicine, and theology. The concept imposed choices between stark alternatives-right or wrong, salvation or damnation, life or death. Until the early modern period the medical meaning, which continued to be used technically, remained dominant virtually without interruption. From the seventeenth century on, the term, used as a metaphor, expanded into politics, economics, history, psychology. Towards the end of the eigh- teenth century, the term once again took on religious and theological con- notations; but by its application to the events of the French and American revolutions, the apocalyptic vision of the last judgment now acquired a secular meaning. Because of its metaphorical flexibility, the concept gains in importance; it enters into every day language; it becomes a central catch- word (Schlagwort). In our century, there is virtually no area of life that has not been examined and interpreted through this concept with its inherent demand for decisions and choices. Applied to history, "crisis," since 1780, has become an expression of a new sense of time which both indicated and intensified the end of an epoch. Perceptions of such epochal change can be measured by the increased use of crisis. But the concept remains as multi-layered and ambiguous as the emotions attached to it. Conceptualized as chronic, "crisis" can also indi- cate a state of greater or lesser permanence, as in a longer or shorter transi- tion towards something better or worse or towards something altogether different. "Crisis" can announce a recurring event, as in economics, or become an existential term of analysis, as in psychology and theology. All these possible uses can be applied to history itself. II. ON THE GREEK USE OF THE WORD 1. Kaitr;has its roots in the Greek verb ;xivw (krin6): to "separate" (part, divorce), to "choose," to "judge," to "decide"; as a means of "measuring oneself," to "quarrel," or to "fight." This created a relatively broad spec- trum of meanings. In classical Greek, the term was central to politics. It meant not only "divorce" and "quarrel," but also "decision" in the sense of reaching a crucial point that would tip the scales. It was in this sense that Thucydides used the word when he linked the rapid conclusion of the Per- 358
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CUisis AuthoU(s): ReinhaUt Koselleck and Michaela W ... - iSites

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