The endless «crisis» of modernity: birth and avatars of a theme in Reinhart Koselleck

Abstract

The question of the «crisis» occupied Reinhart Koselleck throughout his life. From his doctoral thesis ‘Kritik und Krise’ (1954) onwards, this very question determined his perception of the modern world – from the religious civil wars of the 16th century to the long revolutionary cycle of the late 18th century. In the first part, the article delivers a critical analyse of ‘Kritik und Krise’. His intermediate conclusion is twofold. On the one hand, it shows the existence of a triple philosophical overload of the Koselleckian argument (listed here as schmittian, cochinian and löwithian overload). On the other hand, it reveals the main interpretative and empirical thrust that keeps afloat the general argument of the book. In the second part, the article examines the way in which this first analysis of the «crisis» by Koselleck subsequently evolves in his work through the themes of «Sattelzeit», «temporalization» (Verzeitlichung) and «acceleration» (Beschleunigung). The article ultimately defends a double thesis: (a) the idea that ‘Kritik and Krise’ is less the work of an historian than a genealogical criticism of totalitarian modernity, but also (b) the idea that the subsequent over-emphasis of «acceleration” (instead of the modern crisogenic «criticism») allowed Koselleck to anticipate some questions regarding the Anthropocene era, despite the obvious fact that his initial inquiry was part of a neo-Hobbesian political ontology that was unable to provide a satisfying account of the modern democratic turning point.