Abstract
Conceptual history is a mode of historical inquiry concerned with the problem of the change in the semantics of particular concepts. The article outlines its historical formation in both the disciplines of history (R. Koebner, O. Brunner, C. Schmitt, R. Koselleck) and of philosophy (R. Eucken, R. Eisler, E. Rothacker), its further institutional and intellectual development, as well as an overview of the major methodological issues. This article also puts conceptual history in the context of other fields with similar methodological concerns such as the history of ideas and mentalities, intellectual history, historical epistemology as well as Luhmann's sociology.