Suchergebnisse

A series of panels focusing on the concept of civilization were organized in each one of the annual meetings held by the History of Political and Social Concepts Group (HPSCG) in New York (2005), Uppsala (2006) and Istanbul (2007). The guiding idea of such an effort was to stimulate research on what became one of the most successful eighteenth-century neologisms in modern socio-political vocabulary. There has been extensive historical and conceptual research on civilization in German, French and English, but little has been produced on its introduction, translation and usage in other European and non-European languages.

Building upon an introductory discussion on linguistic exchange - the problem of missing words - and the emergence of transnational concepts, this article consists of a comparative study of the history of the concept of civilisation in some major European languages and the concept of beschaving in Dutch, the closest translation to civilisation in that language. According to the author, the particular and independent conceptual evolution of beschaving should be in part explained by the early development of a modern socio-economic structure in Holland.

The comparative history of concepts does not search for a universal system that interrelates all languages of the world. The comparative history of concepts seeks to determine how, when, & why certain basic concepts have been translated into different languages. Especially interesting are those concepts that are new for contemporaries or old words that acquire new meanings, which are difficult to translate, or have different connotations & functions in other languages. The Dutch concept "beschaving" (from "beschaven" which means to polish) may serve as an interesting example of conceptual refuse. The transnational concept of civilization (with a clear political dimension) still not accepted in Dutch language. References. Adapted from the source document.

An ideal text-book for students of European Studies, this collection of essays puts the idea of Europe in its historical context to provide a context for the understanding of contemporary developments.