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In this study I examine the theory of essentially contested concepts by W.B. Gallie. Since the publication of Gallie’s seminal article “Essentially Contested Concepts” (1956), the theory of essentially contested concepts has received a wide attention from the theorists of surprising dissimilar positions. Disputes over the actual scope and intent of Gallie’s original theory have sprung forth while other commentators have attempted to revise and reinvent the theory so that the original insight of Gallie could be salvaged; some researchers have rejected the project outright as misguided. The evaluation of these contributions, considerations and criticisms compose the main bulk of the treatise. The central question specifically addressed is, does Gallie’s notion lead to radical and undesirable relativism not originally intended by him? If...