Essay from the year 2008 in the subject History - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,0, University of Cape Town (Department of Historical Studies), course: History & Politics in Africa, language: English, abstract: On the following pages I would like to outline the main points that Reinhart Koselleck makes in his book “Futures Past” about the semantics of historical time as well as some of the basic assumptions that underlie them. To begin with however, I will take a look at the motifs that have driven Koselleck’s thinking about historical theory and indeed his career as one of Germany’s most renowned historians.