Von leeren und gefüllten Zeiten Zum Wandel historischer Zeitkonzepte seit dem 18. Jahrhundert

Historical time is a concept of modern historiography deeply structured in two dimensions: the empty, mathematical time of the calendar on the one hand, and the embodied time of historical subjects such as nations, classes, ages and ideas on the other. Starting from the dispute between Leibniz and Clarke, Newton's defender in 1715/1716, this article discusses key concepts of historical time and strategies of modern Western historiography to conceptualize history. Divided into three sections, it analyzes the making of »time gardens« in the eighteenth century, the elaboration of historical »panoramas« in the nineteenth century, and the fragmentation of universal time in the twentieth century, closing with a commitment to the endangered idea of a universal time throughout history.