The present article briefly discusses some of the main issues around which there has been debate on the making of the history of social and political thinking for the last three decades. It is important to clarify, by comparison, both the limits and theoretical and methodological possibilities of the two most productive branches in the field today: the linguistic contextualism of Quentin Skinner and the concepts (Begriffsgeschichte) developed by Reinhart Koselleck. We intend, in doing so, to minimally organize the guidelines of matters in discussion and establish interesting points on the relations of social and political theory with its history.
Quentin Skinner; Reinhart Koselleck; History of concepts; Social and political theory