Historical Approaches to Political Theory

Abstract

Many are critical of approaches to political theorizing that are ahistorical. Do we have to understand the history of terms or traditions in order to understand the role that concepts and ideas play in current philosophical thought? Is historical research valuable in itself or as a means to normative theory? Are genealogical methods successfully contributing to contemporary normative arguments? Does the history of political thought suggest that analytical political philosophers are doing their work in the wrong way?

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