Search

The issue of the nature of concepts and the problem of understanding conceptual change have become increasingly important in methodological discussions of the study of the history of political thought as well as in substantive research. The treatment of these matters, however, remains inadequate. This is in part a consequence of metatheoretical agendas that have diverted attention away from a theoretical analysis of concepts and apposite issues such as the relationship between mental predicates, words and concepts. But the failure to confront these matters has also been the result of the pervasive emphasis on contextual analysis in historical interpretation. One of the methodological implications of a more thorough theoretical account of concepts is a greater concern with internal history and conceptual genealogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contemporary estrangement of political theory from political science is in large measure the product of a quarrel that originated in the challenge to the values of U.S. political science initiated by émigré scholars during the 1940s. The behavioral revolution was in an important respect a conservative rebellion in defense of the values of liberalism and related notions of science, relativism, and historical progress that had traditionally informed the discipline. This controversy in the context of political science fundamentally structured the discourse of academic political theory and the contemporary constitution of the field both as a division of political science and as a wider interdisciplinary enterprise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the idea of a universal theory of politics, focusing on the discursive practices of political science and political theory. What are the concepts of politics as it relates to theory; What is the distinction between social and natural science; Statements made by Tracy Strong, editor of the journal `Political Theory.'

Argues that the pervasive concern with relativism in academic political theory is a displacement of the problem of theory and practice. Problem of the relationship between academic and public discourse; Kinds of arguments associated with relativism; Representation as a danger to the business of practical judgment; Philosophy as actual locus; Defense of rationality against relativism; More.

Charles Merriam has been characteristically treated, in historical accounts of American political science, as effecting a radical break with the nineteenth-century tradition and with the historicism that characterized the Columbia school from which he emerged. Although it would be a mistake to depreciate his contribution to subsequent political science, we misunderstand both Merriam and the contemporary discipline if we project images of the present on his work and fail to see the degree to which he embraced both the form and content of the study of politics initiated by his teachers William Dunning and John Burgess. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article argues that the work of philosopher Leo Strauss can be best understood as rhetorical, and suggests that it should be approached as an example of political theory as evocation. It examines Strauss's use of the concept liberal democracy, which plays a crucial role in his evocative prose. A discussion on Strauss's essay on the crisis of time is presented, bringing his argument into full view where it is examined in terms of structure, content and type. It is pointed out that the essay is not only a theoretical critique of the idea of liberal democracy, but a response to some of the concrete political issues of the 1960s.

The article offers information on the theory of action and political science. Since the behavioral image of science had been planned after debates in the philosophy of science, it was unavoidable that methodological issues in political science would reflect controversies in the philosophy of science. The behavioral image of science has been filtered but the critique of behavioralism has stayed stalled at the metascientific level of arguments in the philosophy of science. The main suppositions about science that were assumed by behavioralism were based on particular debates in formal philosophy.

Discusses the alienation of theory in United States political science. Political theory in political science; Normative theory; Philosophical conceptions of theory; Political science's obsession with the theory of theory.

Information about several papers presented at a discussion on formal and normative political theory organized by the American Political Science Association (APSA) in 1989 is presented. An article by Gabriel Almond argues that there is a methodological separateness that limits political science as a discipline. Other panelists reflected on the disparate parts of political science. The panelists expressed different views about whether there is a core to contemporary political science.

Focuses on the philosophical assumptions of inquiry in comparative public administration. Relationship between explanation and comparison; Theoretical literature of political science; Operationalistic conception of science.