Difference and the Concept of the Political in Contemporary Political Philosophy

Bibliographic Data

ID6345965
AuthorsNoël O’sullivan (0000-0002-1882-8303, University of Hull, corresponding author), Noel O''Sullivan, Noël O'Sullivan (University of Hull)
Year1997
Volume45
Issue4
Pages739-754
Publication date1997-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitical Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0032-3217 • E-ISSN: 1467-9248
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/1467-9248.00109
OpenAlexW2109701968
LanguageEN
Citations received9

A striking feature of contemporary political philosophy is the emergence of the nature of the political itself as a central theme of discussion. There are various reasons for this development, but all of them merely reinforce the problem posed in its most stark form by postmodern theory. This is the problem of determining what concept of the political, if any, can accommodate the extreme diversity that is the main feature of contemporary western life. That is the question with which the present paper is concerned. The three currently influential concepts of the political are analysed, after which it is suggested that a fourth concept, which is a revised and reformulated version of the classical idea of civil association, provides the basis for a concept of the political best suited to modern conditions of increasing diversity

Diversity (politics · Epistemology · Political methodology · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Postmodernism · Social science · Sociology · Systems theory in political science · Theme (computing · Anthropology · Computer Science · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought

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