The study is designed as a contribution a) to the theory underlying the history of ideas and concepts, b) to the analysis of the term Bildung , and c) to research on Goethe. Taking its bearings from the ideas of Luhmann and Koselleck, it proposes a new concept, that of historico-semantic componential analysis, allowing the reconstruction of the connections between the term in question and other contemporary concepts, and a historical definition of the place occupied by Bildung in the triad formed by meaning, function and problem-reference. Central to the examination of the term Bildung exemplifying the procedure proposed is a discussion of Goethe's autobiographical "Dichtung und Wahrheit", a text that in the 19th and 20th centuries has enjoyed the status of an exemplary portrayal of an individual's progress towards and attainment of Bildung .