Re-Telling the History of Political Thought

2002 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-49
Author(s):  
Katherine H. Bullock
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Philosophical Thinking ◽  
History Of Political Thought ◽  
Proper Role ◽  
History Of

This paper explores the construction of the canon of political theory. I argue that the interpretation of the canon that defines ancient pagan Greeks as the founders of western political thought, includes medieval Christian thinkers, and yet defines out Muslim and Jewish philosophers is based upon western eth­nocentric secular assumptions about the proper role of reason, experience and revelation in philosophical thinking.

Postmodern Approaches to the History of Political Thought

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Foa Dienstag
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Leo Strauss ◽  
History Of Political Thought ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1950S

This article describes the postmodern approach to the history of political thought that has evolved through the practices of a variety of theorists in both Europe and the United States since the 1950s. It maintains that Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy is the originating point of this movement, although neither he nor any of the other theorists it mentions left any canonical statements of methods to compare with the works of Quentin Skinner or Leo Strauss. Terms such as “deconstruction,” “genealogy,” and “radical hermeneutics” are often used to describe these methods. At the broadest level, the postmodern approach displays an acute sensitivity to the role of language in politics, and in political theory itself, that originates in the work of Nietzsche. While postmodernism is nothing if not a congeries of method, this article argues that these diverse approaches have, if not a unity, than at least common sources and overlapping themes.

A Virtue for Courageous Minds

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurelian Craiutu
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Moral Virtue ◽  
Individual Liberty ◽  
History Of Political Thought ◽  
Common Notion ◽  
History Of ◽  
Benjamin Constant ◽  
Intellectual Foundations

Political moderation is the touchstone of democracy, which could not function without compromise and bargaining, yet it is one of the most understudied concepts in political theory. How can we explain this striking paradox? Why do we often underestimate the virtue of moderation? Seeking to answer these questions, this book examines moderation in modern French political thought and sheds light on the French Revolution and its legacy. The book begins with classical thinkers who extolled the virtues of a moderate approach to politics, such as Aristotle and Cicero. It then shows how Montesquieu inaugurated the modern rebirth of this tradition by laying the intellectual foundations for moderate government. The book looks at important figures such as Jacques Necker, Germaine de Staël, and Benjamin Constant, not only in the context of revolutionary France but throughout Europe. It traces how moderation evolves from an individual moral virtue into a set of institutional arrangements calculated to protect individual liberty, and explores the deep affinity between political moderation and constitutional complexity. The book demonstrates how moderation navigates between political extremes, and it challenges the common notion that moderation is an essentially conservative virtue, stressing instead its eclectic nature. Drawing on a broad range of writings in political theory, the history of political thought, philosophy, and law, the book reveals how the virtue of political moderation can address the profound complexities of the world today.

scholarly journals How Should We Categorize Approaches to the History of Political Thought?

2020 ◽  
Vol 83 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-114
Author(s):  
Adrian Blau
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Analysis ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
History Of Political Thought ◽  
One Dimensional ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Framework

AbstractThis paper proposes a new framework for categorizing approaches to the history of political thought. Previous categorizations exclude much research; political theory, if included, is often caricatured. And previous categorizations are one-dimensional, presenting different approaches as alternatives. My framework is two-dimensional, distinguishing six kinds of end (two empirical, four theoretical) and six kinds of means. Importantly, these choices are not alternatives: studies may have more than one end and typically use several means. Studies with different ends often use some of the same means. And all studies straddle the supposed empirical/theoretical “divide.” Quentin Skinner himself expertly combines empirical and theoretical analysis—yet the latter is often overlooked, not least because of Skinner's own methodological pronouncements. This highlights a curious disjuncture in methodological writings, between what they say we do, and what we should do. What we should do is much broader than existing categorizations imply.

Roger Boesche: The Strange Liberalism of Alexis de Tocqueville

1988 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 419-422
Author(s):  
James Schleifer
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
History Of Ideas ◽  
Alexis De Tocqueville ◽  
History Of Political Thought ◽  
History Of

Roger Boesche, Chair of the Department of Political Science at Occidental College in Los Angeles, lias already written several thoughtful articles about Tocqueville, each marked by clarity of thought and expression: ’The Prison: Tocqueville’s Model for Despotism,” Western Political Quarterly 33 (December 1980):550-63; “The Strange Liberalism of Alexis de Tocqueville,” History of Political Thought 2 (Winter 1981): 495-524; “Why Could Tocqueville Predict So Well?” Political Theory 11 (February 1983): 79-104; “Tocqueville and Le Commerce’. A Newspaper Expressing His Unusual Liberalism,” Journal of the History of Ideas 44 (April-June 1983): 277-92; and “Hedonism and Nihilism: The Predictions of Tocqueville and Nietzsche,” The Tocqueville Review 8 (1986/87): 165-84.

Review: Jeremy Waldron’s Political Political Theory

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 437-446
Author(s):  
David Runciman
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
History Of Political Thought ◽  
Contemporary Politics ◽  
History Of

This collection seeks to ground political theory in the study of institutions, particularly the constitutional relationship between different branches of government. It makes the case that ‘constitutionalism’ has become a thin doctrine of political restraint. Waldron wants to identify a fuller conceptual understanding of how the functions of government can be empowered and articulated. In doing so, he sets out a position that is distinct from both moralism and realism in contemporary political theory. I explore how well the later distinction holds up: how successfully does Waldron’s approach marry realist concerns with the rigour of analytical political theory? I also discuss the role it leaves for the history of political thought and whether it can deal with the populist strain in contemporary politics.

The Opinion of Mankind

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Sagar
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
David Hume ◽  
State Theory ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Scottish Enlightenment ◽  
History Of Political Thought ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
History Of

What is the modern state? Conspicuously undertheorized in recent political theory, this question persistently animated the best minds of the Enlightenment. Recovering David Hume and Adam Smith's underappreciated contributions to the history of political thought, this book considers how, following Thomas Hobbes's epochal intervention in the mid-seventeenth century, subsequent thinkers grappled with explaining how the state came into being, what it fundamentally might be, and how it could claim rightful authority over those subject to its power. Hobbes has cast a long shadow over Western political thought, particularly regarding the theory of the state. This book shows how Hume and Smith, the two leading lights of the Scottish Enlightenment, forged an alternative way of thinking about the organization of modern politics. They did this in part by going back to the foundations: rejecting Hobbes's vision of human nature and his arguments about our capacity to form stable societies over time. In turn, this was harnessed to a deep reconceptualization of how to think philosophically about politics in a secular world. The result was an emphasis on the “opinion of mankind,” the necessary psychological basis of all political organization. Demonstrating how Hume and Smith broke away from Hobbesian state theory, the book suggests ways in which these thinkers might shape how we think about politics today, and in turn how we might construct better political theory.

Współczesne implikacje mesjanizmu politycznego w Polsce

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (247) ◽  
Author(s):  
Krzystof Małysa
Keyword(s):  
Common Sense ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
The Political ◽  
History Of Political Thought ◽  
History Of ◽  
Narrow Definition ◽  
General Plane ◽  
Spontaneous Expression

Messianism is generally a belief in Messiah, who will come and change the relations inthe world. Messianism has taken many different forms, depending on the political andenvironmental conditions. Polish researcher, Andrzej Walicki, claimes that literature onthe issue has a tendency to use this term in a broad sense, including a conviction about thespecific role of the nation. From this viewpoint, the idea of Poland as “bulwark of Christianity”and then the nineteenth century beliefs in the mission of our nation should be considered asa kind of Messianism. Yet Walicki is a follower of a narrow definition, but many researchers,such as Jacob Talmon, use the term as a general descriptive concept. The term of Messianismis a simplification which makes the extension of the research possible and it enables to finda general plane of understanding this term. Polish romantic Messianism wasn’t a school, but rather a spontaneous expression after the treaty of third partition and then the collapse ofthe November Uprising. A growing popularity of messianism marked of the 20th century.Messianism claimed that the Polish nation should initiate the new organising of internationalrelations, propagating moral values in politics. Polish messianism was composed ofcatholicism, specifically polish myths, exacerbated nationalism. Now, messianic ideologymerges description and prescription according to a common sense of entrenched myths andspecific social demands.Key words: History of political thought, messianism, utopia

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