The history of ideas in physics is taking new paths by not presenting the extensive historical material additively, but rather reflecting on it from a scientific-theoretical perspective and structuring it according to thematic guidelines (concepts of matter, space and time, conservation principles, extremal principles, theory and experiment). This presentation thus conveys a deeper understanding of physical thinking from antiquity to the present in its historical context, while also exploring the dimensions of the genesis of physical concepts that are often not addressed in modern textbooks. Kuhn's credo states: Anyone who wants to go beyond the practical handling of physics must necessarily engage with the question of what constitutes physical thinking and how it has developed. This second edition has been supplemented with a foreword by Prof. Dr. Oliver Schwarz, who conducts research at the Wilfried Kuhn Institute.