Histories of Political Thought In the Post Methodological Age

Author(s): David Boucher

Source: History of Political Thought, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Summer 1993), pp.
301-316
Published by: Imprint Academic Ltd.
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26214360
Accessed: 14-12-2019 07:55 UTC
Reviewed by Muktar Edris

Objectives of Review
To identify the strength and weakness of history of political thinking in post
Methodological age

Histories of Political Thought In the Post Methodological Age

Introduction
The activity of the study of the history of political thought gradually
emerged as an academic discipline throughout the19th century which was
identified as a branch of philosophical literature. Robert Blakey's in his The
Temporal Benefits of Christianity, fully exposed in the first history of
political thought in English and its concern was intensely practical. It was
not in a position to impose any particular character upon the study of
political thought. The early histories of political thought were on the whole
written in response to growing student numbers and increased demand for
course-books. Criticisms from the historical point of view often failed to
make the distinction and disregarded the different purposes for which books
in the history of political thought were being written.

Political Theory in Retrospect

Different philosophers (G. Williams, Machiavelli, R.G. Collingwood)
argued that the need for historical sensitivity and believes that the past has
its uses which prepared us for practical life both in the present and future. It
is obvious that political philosophers and theorists did not write their books
with the intention of being understood historically. They not only criticized
and exploited the texts of their predecessors, but offered their own texts to
the world on similar terms. Marx, it is claimed, is the last of the great
original thinkers which synthesis original or imaginative in expression, of
past ideas and provides devoted Liberalism, Conservatism and Socialism in
the next other chapter.

For Williams an ideology is not an aggregate of elements (not

chronological), but a constellation whose constituents are in tension and
conflict and he views the main ideologies in terms of inherent tensions
between Collectivism and Individualism. According to Williams'
Conservatism, like its Liberal counterpart, has too narrow a conception of
society in which the moral, the economic and rhetorically conjoined, are

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barely reconciled and he points out the inevitable association between
libertarianism and the market, and small government

A History of Modern Political Thought

Lain Hampsher-Monk has produced a weighty and scholarly volume book
presents us with eleven chapters, ten of which are devoted to the modern
greats. The only departure from the conventional canon is the chapter on
'Publius', The Federalis and is justified as an excursion into the important
tradition of civic humanism, or republicanism. Filmer would have provided
further links between Hobbes, Locke and Wollstonecraft, making the book
more of a seamless web, and less of a series of discrete studies. Carole
Pateman has in recent years raised about natural equality in the state of
nature and She argues that the distinction between paternal and political
power is the basis for the liberal distinction between the public and the
private spheres. Hampsher-Monk, I think, makes too much out of Hobbes's
distinction between science and experience. Science,

Man and Society

The editors of the revised version of Man and Society, Robert Wokler and
M.E. Plamenatz, are to be commended for their labour of love in
painstakingly selecting and restoring parts of the original manuscript, which
serve at once to broaden the scope of the period covered. The purpose of the
revisions is to restore many of the discussions of lesser thinkers which
Plamenatz had jettisoned because of the constraints of space.In his view,
there are perennial problems the urgency of which will always demand our
attention. They are not, however, like Lovejoy's unit ideas which change
hands but not their meaning or value over vast tracts of time.
Finally, the idea of the supremacy of law had nothing to do with
constitutionalism, or the rule of law as we know it. The conception of
making law was still confused and entangled with the idea of
discovering it through the exercise of reason.

Strength of the Review

It used to summarize the History of Different Political Philosopher idea to
identify their ideological deference and the way how the political theory is
grow from time to time
Weakness of the Article Review
The article reviewed by ‘’David Boucher’’ was difficult to understand
because the terminology that he has been used to elaborate the idea of
history of political thought was not simple and the presentation of the
content not attractive, it need long time to get main idea.
Conclusion
Even if the article reviewed is has a challenge to understand any one can use
as reference to get enough information about the History of Political theory
for the seek of different research and article review.

2
THE NATURE OF POLITICAL THEORY
Author(s): L. S. RATHORE
Source: The Indian Journal of Political Science,Vol.37, No.2(Apr.-June
'76), pp. 40-58
Published by: Indian Political Science Association
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41854729
Accessed: 11-12-2019 07:03 UTC
Reviewed by Muktar Edris

Objectives Article review

 To understand and revises the nature of political theory in order to
identify the strength and weakens of article review.

Nature of Political Theory

Introduction
The scope of any field of scholarly enquiry is delimited by the nature of
its content. Apart from a great deal of "increasing ambiguity,
muddles and inconsistencies, political theory has been marked by a
greater fragmentation in recent years and not only encompasses an
extremely broad spectrum of information, political concepts and
doctrines, political terminologies of every age, but also includes histories
of political thought, methodology, perception of institutions and the
formulation of new categories In political theory there is no systematic
evolution, no logical continuum; there is not even an observable
sequence of developments; some theory is consecutive, some concurrent,
and some apparently fortuitous.

The Value of Political Theory

One is that political theory has no value, that i t is arid, abstract a n d
dull, and it has little relation to reality, that it cannot be applied in
practice, deals with legal fictions and absolute concepts, is inexact, that it
is incapable of giving answers to disputed questions, and that it is
sometimes disastrous to actual politics, Another is that the political
theory is damnably dangerous, dealing darkness and devoted like the
devil to disaster. But ,the author (L. S. RATHORET) opposed the view of
different opponents of political theory that philosophical political t h e o ry
is the core of political s c i e n c e and It helps towards the creation of
best life among citizens and The development of philosophical political
theory is, therefore, an urgent task confronting political science today
and it is useful in understanding the empirical and applied
processes in politics.

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Some Characteristics of Political Theory
The reasons why many political theories are philosophical?
 First, a substantial part of political theory has been the work of
political philosophers. The philosophers wrote with a practical
purpose in mind.
 The second reason political theory had been dominated by the
political philosophy i n three ways. 1.No clear cut distinction between
the burning philosophical, theological and political issues, 2
political theory had acquired a greater dimension than what it is
today and 3, the political theorists had been guided by the rules of
formal logic and developments in the theories of knowledge.
 The third reason why political theories are philosophical is that many
of the political questions, such as political obligation, justice, the
source of authority, the nature a n d justification of social change, are
analytical and normative.

The different difficulties constructing scientific political theory,

 First, the long historical legacy and p e r v a s i v e and deep
philosophical background of political t h e o r y .
 Second, some are almost like ‘ a n a l y t i c theories they are 'near
tautologies' which cannot be tested empirically.
 Third, many political theories are not testable b e c a u s e they are
really n e i t h e r g e n u i n e universal statements nor statements of
fact.
 Fourth, many political theories are difficult to test because they
'predicate something too vague to allow for any rigour in testing’.
 And lastly, it is hardly possible to apply rigorous scientific methods
of investigation in many areas of political theory.

The Nature of Political Reality:

The nature of political theory is influenced by the nature of political reality
and the political reality is shaped by social and political phenomena.
In general, the nature of political reality is such, that we cannot produce a
blue-print for action or make statements with the same degree of
accuracy as the natural sciences

Political traditional Theories

The two broad varieties of political theory are the traditional and the
contemporary (behavior-theories).The parameters of traditional
political theory include the history of political ideas and political
philosophy and It consists of critical analysis of basic assumptions
about political society, institutions and behavior, and of the elaboration
of systems of political belief and organization consistent with specified
priorities among human ends attainable through government.

4
Political Behavior-Theories
The basic principle of Political behavior school of empirical research is to
seek to understand political action in terms of attitudes and interests.
The new unit of inquiry is the 'observed and observable' behavior of
persons as individuals and officers of the state or groups. "The main
features of behavioralism in political theory are nominalism the myth of
total detachment of the knowing subject, the notion of absolute
heterogeneity of facts and values, a belief in the fundamental homogeneity
of knowledge and of the world, and an essentially static ontology. What is
important in behavioralism is a sceptical attitude towards metaphysical
assumptions and the insistence that all inductions must rest on observation
of facts

Political Micro –Macro Theories

The term 'micro politics' has been used by political scientists very
recently. It is an approach to political analysis using individual a n d group
level concepts to study political phenomena. It may even be characterized
as 'atomistic because i t stresses the importance of understanding the
nature of individual units which make the political wholes. The micro level
studies focus on relationships between individual background
characteristics, roles, cognitions, and motivations on the one hand, and
political dispositions and decisions on the other. Both a r e compliment
are approaches. Since the two concentrate on different an al yt i c a l
levels, micro concepts macro concepts, or both may be used to study the
same subject matter. Political 'micro-theories' and Macro-theories have
several limitations.

Political Economy -Theories

William C. Mitchell define 'The Political Economy is means that the
economists are now defining the basic issues of the new political
analysis and trying to construct new concepts, findings, and theories,
more akin to economics than to sociology. Political 'economy-theories'
are attempting, the task of producing explicit normative propositions in
consonance with the economic systems which produce solutions to the
basic economic

The Central Problems:

In view of what has been said above, it should be easy to locate the
central problem in political theory. Political theory broadly classified into
two distinct traditions, classical and the contemporary.
The classical political theory upholds reason as the critical measure of
political institutions and its suitability for man's nature. Man, it
believes, is essentially rational and his rationality can lead him to
freedom.

5
Contemporary political theory is that, consists in building theoretical
models of political reality. These do not have the precision and elegance of
those of the physical sciences or even of economics.

The central problem in political theory, thus, is the disjunction between

the classical and the contemporary traditions, the former pleading for
values and rationality, and the later in search for rigorous research
techniques for the explanation of human behavior-one founded on moral
grounds and the other on scientific curiosity.

Strength of Article review

 It is more Conducive and clear to understand the main idea of the
different Philosophers that argued about the Value, nature of political
theory, Characteristics of political theory, political Reality and different
Political theory to identify the difference between them.
 So the article summery can be used as reference to student of Post
graduate, undergraduate and other researcher.
Weakness of The review
 The models of political theory permit only long-
range(accuracy), general predictions, and not enough time to
permit validation or invalidation
 One of basic problems of political t h e o r y lies in the difficulty of
determining the validity of co n c ept s .
 Political theory has not yet been able to devise accurate
methods of measurement to test the reliability of concepts both
old and new, and not scientific
Conclusion
The conclusion the study is very well done and it can be an input for further
research to enhance the politics theory to conformer with the other
sociological and economic theories.

Reference
History of Political Thought, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Summer 1993), pp. 301-316.
URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26214360
The Indian Journal of Political Science,Vol.37, No.2(Apr.-June '76), pp.
40-58
URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41854729