History, Interpretation & the Politics of Theory

Interpretation has been an issue in political theory for nearly two decades, but its influence for the most part has been limited to problems in the history of ideas. In this article, William Adams uses the methodological claims of the "new historians" of political thought as a point of departure to argue for an interpretive approach to contemporary theory. He contends that an important part of the task of political theory is to fashion critical interpretations of contemporary political culture. He claims further that many of the great works in the history of political thought pursue a strategy of this sort and might therefore be useful as models of political/cultural criticism. Adams elaborates his thesis with a brief analysis of Plato's critique of poetry in the Republic

Criticism · Epistemology · History of political thought · Interpretation (philosophy · Political methodology · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Systems theory in political science · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Law · Philosophy · Political Theory and Influence