Abstract: Quentin Skinner,the British historian as the representative of the "Cambridge school",is in the mainstream status in the historical research of western political thoughts.In his masterpiece "The Foundations of Modern Political Thought",he considered that the formation and perfection of the concept of "modern state" is the basis of modern western political thoughts.Quentin Skinner's research methods of the conceptual history greatly advance the connotation and denotation of the "historical contextualism".Quentin Skinner combined the historical contextualism and the rhetoric into his research of conceptual history,which not only promoted the study of the history of political thoughts in the "Cambridge school",but also made him a master in the corresponding academic field.