Political Philosophy versus History?: Contextualism and Real Politics in Contemporary Political Thought

by Edited by Jonathan Floyd , Marc Stears

• ISBN13: 9780521197151
• ISBN10: 0521197155
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781139119160
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-09-26
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Is the way in which political philosophy is conducted today too ahistorical? Does such ahistoricism render political philosophy too abstract? Is political philosophy thus incapable of dealing with the realities of political life? This volume brings together some of the world's leading political philosophers to address these crucial questions. The contributors focus especially on political philosophy's pretensions to universality and on its strained relationship with the world of real politics. Some chapters argue that political philosophers should not be cowed by the accusations levied against them from outside of their own field. Others insist that these accusations require a dramatic reshaping of normative political thought. The volume will spark controversy across political philosophy and beyond.

Table of Contents

Note on the contributors	p. vii
Acknowledgements	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
The challenge of contextualism	p. 11
Rescuing political theory from the tyranny of history	p. 13
From historical contextualism, to mentalism, to behaviourism	p. 38
Contingency and judgement in history of political philosophy: a phenomenological approach	p. 65
Political philosophy and the dead hand of its history	p. 84
The challenge of realism	p. 103
Politics, political theory and its history	p. 105
Constraint, freedom, and exemplar: history and theory without teleology	p. 128
History and reality: idealist pathologies and 'Harvard School' remedies	p. 151
The new realism: from modus vivendi to justice	p. 177
Relative value and assorted historical lessons: an afterword	p. 206
Index	p. 226
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