On 22 January, the IILJ’s History and Theory of International Law Workshops presented The Role of Concepts in Intellectual History. Alberico Gentili Senior Fellow Benjamin Straumann discussed his paper The Energy of Concepts: For a Fregean History of Conceptual and Historical Change, which defends ‘analytic contextualism’. How can we explain conceptual innovation and change in intellectual history? And how is it possible for concepts sometimes to travel over the historical long-term and to have a causal impact on the history of events? Commentary by Jeremy Waldron, Tamsin Shaw, and Steven Lukes. Moderated by Karin Loevy.

The IILJ History and Theory of International Law Workshops are presented with the support of the NYU Global Institute for Advanced Study, Project on International Legal Orders and their Histories.