Political Theory: Truth and Consequences

1958 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Dahl
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Small Group ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Textual Criticism ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
The West ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
English Speaking World ◽  
Communist Countries

Bertrand de Jouvenel is one of a very small group of writers in our own time who make a serious effort to develop political theory in the grand style. In the English-speaking world, where so many of the interesting political problems have been solved (at least superficially), political theory is dead. In the Communist countries it is imprisoned. Elsewhere it is moribund. In the West, this is the age of textual criticism and historical analysis, when the student of political theory makes his way by rediscovering some deservedly obscure text or reinterpreting a familiar one. Political theory (like literary criticism) is reduced to living off capital—other people's capital at that.

‘Inevitable and Unacceptable?’ Methodological Rawlsianism in Anglo-American Political Philosophy

1998 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 276-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wayne Norman
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Parallel Tasks ◽  
Profound Influence ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
English Speaking World

This article attempts two parallel tasks. First, it gives a sympathetic explication of the implicit working methodology (‘Methodological Rawlsianism’) of mainstream contemporary political theory in the English-speaking world. And second, principally in footnotes, it surveys the recent literature on justification to see what light these debates cast on the tenets of this methodology. It is worth examining methodological presuppositions because these can have a profound influence on substantive theories: many of the differences between philosophical traditions can be traced to their methodologies. My aim is to expose the central features of methodological Rawlsianism in order to challenge critics of this tradition to explain exactly where and why they depart from the method. While I do not defend it at length, I do suggest that methodological Rawlsianism is inevitable insofar as it is basically a form of common sense. This fact should probably lower expectations about the amount of progress consistent methodological Rawlsians are likely to make in grounding comprehensive normative political theories.

Administrative Law and the Constitution

1929 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-46
Author(s):  
Marvin B. Rosenberry
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
Administrative Law ◽  
Great Work ◽  
The People ◽  
Explicit Statement ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Government ◽  
English Speaking World

In the constitution of Massachusetts is found the following: “In the government of this commonwealth the legislative department shall never exercise the executive and judicial powers or either of them; the executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers or either of them; the judicial shall never exercise the legislative and executive powers or either of them; to the end it may be a government of laws and not of men.” This is probably the most explicit statement of the doctrine of separation of powers to be found in the constitution of any of the states of this Union. While the doctrine has been set forth in other constitutions in other language, the constitutions of all the states as construed and interpreted have come to have substantially the same meaning. For more than a century, lawyers, courts, political scientists, publicists, and the people generally regarded the separation of the government into coördinate departments as one of the corner-stones of our liberties.Montesquieu, who had no doubt derived his ideas upon the subject from the writings of Locke and a study of English law, in 1748 published his great work, The Spirit of Laws. In this treatise he gave a new exposition of the doctrine of separation of powers and the reasons for it, in a form which gave it wide currency in the English-speaking world; but this exposition was intended by Montesquieu to be a statement of political theory, and was so accepted by political writers of the time.

scholarly journals Interview with David McLellan July 2018

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-104
Author(s):  
Larry Ray ◽  
Iain Wilkinson
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
Contract Law ◽  
The Political ◽  
World Peace ◽  
Emeritus Professor ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
English Speaking World

David McLellan, interviewed here, is a Fellow of Goldsmiths College, University of London and Emeritus Professor of Political Theory, University of Kent. Since the 1970s he has been one of the leading biographers, translators and commentators on Marx in the English-speaking world. He is the author of several books on Marx and Marxism, including The Young Hegelians and Karl Marx; Karl Marx: His Life and Thought; Karl Marx: Selected Writings; Marx before Marxism; and Marxism and Religion. He has also published a biography of Simone Weil, books on the political implications of Christianity, and a lengthy article on contract law and marriage. He lectures widely around the world on these topics, frequently in China, and in 2018 addressed a conference in Nairobi on religion and world peace. In this interview, or conversation, with Larry Ray and Iain Wilkinson, in July 2018, David discusses the origins of his interest in Marx, the development Marx’s thought and his critique of the Hegelians, Marx’s critical method, Marx and religion, Marx on Russia, the role of violence in social change, the relevance of Marx’s work today, and offers comments on some recent biographies. David has spent much of his intellectual career engaging with the meaning and legacy of Marxism and these reflections should generate reflection and debate on the significance of Marx and the possibilities of radical political change today.

Reflections on Rawls

2008 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 260-271
Author(s):  
Shaun P. Young
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
John Rawls ◽  
Substantial Part ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Political Philosopher ◽  
English Speaking World ◽  
Number Of Individuals

Arguably, there have been few contemporary political theorists who have had as great an impact as John Rawls. During his lifetime his work was referred to as “epoch-making” and “cataclysmic in its effect” on the field of political theory. On numerous occasions he was proclaimed “the most important political philosopher of the twentieth century,” and other titles equally celebratory. A number of individuals have gone so far as to credit Rawls with reviving political philosophy, breathing new life into what was (according to Peter Laslett's now famous 1956 declaration) a dead discipline, once again making it a valid and valuable enterprise. While the accuracy of such a claim has been questioned, one fact seems indisputable: Rawls redefined late twentieth-century political theory, altering its “premises and principles.” Indeed, “political philosophy since the early 1970s has been—at least in the English-speaking world—in very substantial part a commentary on Rawls's work.”

scholarly journals Stromab - Gedanken zur Hermeneutik biblischer Texte im Kontext der neueren angelsächsischen Diskussion

2000 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-300
Author(s):  
J. A. Loader
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Biblical Hermeneutics ◽  
Rudolf Bultmann ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Systematic Reflection ◽  
English Speaking World

Downstream - On Biblical hermeneutics in the context of the recent Anglo-Saxon debateThis paper, delivered at the 2000 meeting of the Rudolf Bultmann Society at Hofgeismar in Germany, offers a survey of recent developments in literary criticism in the English-speaking world. Contributions to the systematic reflection on issues relevant for theology are also considered and the author’s own proposal is outlined. It is argued that the hermeneutic character of theology remains necessary in the Christian tradition. This is, however, not founded on the proposition of the linguistic nature of revelation, but on the fact that theology is the reflective human speaking about God.

scholarly journals Bédier’s Contribution to the Accomplishment of Stemmatic Method, An Italian Perspective

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 160-176
Author(s):  
Paolo Trovato
Keyword(s):  
Textual Criticism ◽  
Single Copy ◽  
Textual Scholarship ◽  
Critical Editions ◽  
Editorial Practice ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
English Speaking World ◽  
Important Progress

This paper is concerned with an aspects of Bédier’s legacy, possibly the least known in the English-speaking world. Bédier›s works of 1913 and 1928–29 did not just create a schism in the apparently peaceful context of textual scholarship: through his statements, critical editions produced with a single copy-text regained the academic prestige that Gaston Paris› adaptations of stemmatic method had taken away from them. Since then, Bédier›s objections have also forced meticulous textual critics to rethink their editorial practice: though retaining the method of shared errors, such scholars (often scarcely known outside Italy) have brought important progress in the methods of textual criticism.

scholarly journals Interfaith Dialogue and the Golden Age of Christian-Jewish Relations

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaakov Ariel
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Golden Age ◽  
Interfaith Dialogue ◽  
World War ◽  
The West ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
English Speaking World ◽  
The Relationship

Since the 1960s, remarkable changes have taken place in the relationship between the Christian and Jewish communities in the West. A movement of interfaith dialogue stood at the center of the developments, serving as a catalyst that helped to bring about reconciliation and improvement in the attitudes of Christians towards Jews. Beginning in the English-speaking world at the turn of the twentieth century, the dialogue between Jews and non-Jews gained more ground in the decades between the two world wars. The movement of interfaith reconciliation advanced considerably in the years after World War II and reached a "golden age" in the late 1960s and 1970s, when an unprecedented momentum for reconciliation and dialogue between the faiths flourished in Europe, America, Israel, and other countries. Despite occasional set-backs and while involving mostly members of liberal or mainstream groups, this movement helped to improve the relationship between Christians and Jews in an unprecedented manner and on a worldwide scale.

Dworkin on the Foundations of Liberal Equality

Legal Theory ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-226
Author(s):  
Patrick Neal
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
John Rawls ◽  
Joseph Raz ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
English Speaking World ◽  
Liberal Political Theory

Ronald Dworkin's Tanner Lectures, “Foundations of Liberal Equality,” have hardly elicited comment within the academic political theory community. This is surprising for a number of reasons. First, Dworkin is widely taken to be one of the leading liberal theorists in the English-speaking world, and “Foundations” is a major statement (120 pages in length) involving reflection upon issues of principle that are at the center of contemporary scholarly debate among liberals. Secondly, “Foundations” introduces a number of ideas and concepts that are new in Dworkin's corpus and that serve to illuminate and clarify some of his wdely discussed earlier works, especially the famous article “Liberalism,” which sparked so much argument over the idea of neutrality and its place within liberal political theory. Finally, the lectures are interesting because of the approach they take to the matter of “defending liberalism,” an approach that departs in interesting and significant ways from those presently pursued by other leading liberal thinkers, notably John Rawls and Joseph Raz.

Introduction

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence A. Scaff
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World History ◽  
The United States ◽  
Pivotal Role ◽  
Talcott Parsons ◽  
The West ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
English Speaking World ◽  
Cultural World

This book is about Max Weber's 1904 journey to the United States—what he and his wife Marianne did, who they met, and what they saw and thought during their stay there. It shows that Weber's American journey played a pivotal role in the larger scheme of his life and work, for it occurred just as he was beginning to emerge from the debilitating psychological collapse of 1898. It also examines the use, interpretation, and dissemination of Weber's thought in the United States following his death in 1920, initially by American scholars such as Frank Knight and Talcott Parsons and later by German émigrés and others from the English-speaking world. The book suggests that Weber's problematics emerged from an immersion in social and cultural world history, the civilizations of the West and the East, and through engagement with complex debates in the sciences over the origins, nature and meaning for the contemporary world of “capitalism.”

scholarly journals Contemporary trends in names of wines and wineries in the English-speaking world

Onomastica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-315
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Ahren ◽  
Sheila Embleton
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Africa ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
West Coast ◽  
The United States ◽  
Washington State ◽  
The West ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
English Speaking World

Over the last fifty years, the number of wineries in the English-speaking world has rapidly grown and with it the number of wines available has also increased. We are referring particularly to Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. With the increase in the number of wineries and wines has come an attempt by wineries to differentiate themselves by their names and the names of their wines. We discover that the names chosen mainly rely on regional history and culture as well as on humour. We take the Niagara region in Ontario, Canada, as our main example for systematic analysis, and then make reference to other English-speaking wine-producing regions in Canada (British Columbia), Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the west coast of the United States (California, Washington State and Oregon).

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document