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Part of a symposium on Melvin Richter's The History of Political & Social Concepts: A Critical Introduction (1995) attempts to open a dialogue between the history of political "languages" & "discourses" exposed in the Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe (Foundational Historical Concepts) the "historical lexicon" of German political-social discourse. Richter's rejection of John Pocock's (1996) & Quentin Skinner's (1988) conceptions of Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe as a history of ideas is examined, along with his claim that Reinhart Koselleck's (1972) practice of Begriffsgeschichte identifies changes in language with human agents. The three types of conceptual changes that Richter discusses in his explication of Begriffsgeschichte are explored, suggesting that two of these changes are consistent with what Pocock & Skinner would describe as historical. It is argued that the third type of conceptual change is the one most commonly encountered in the Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe. Further, although Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe offers valuable insights into the interplay between agents, contexts, & languages complicit in the history of political concepts, it should not be seen as an example of such a history. 10 References. J. Lindroth

Critics of what is called the "Enlightenment project" have argued that it has been responsible for a number of current social pathologies. At the same time, the term "civil society" has been used to designate those patterns of solidarity that the Enlightenment project allegedly disrupts. This article (1) argues that characterizations of the Enlightenment project tend to be elusive and historically questionable, (2) suggests that the concept of civil society is ambiguous in both its object and its intent, (3) explores how Kant provided a more rigorous account of the relationship between enlightenment and civil society, an account which rests on a contrast between civil and cosmopolitan society, and (4) considers some of the difficulties that plague attempts to define "civility" as a virtue.

Originally published in American Political Science Review, http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=PSR. Copyright American Political Science Association.