Political Philosophy versus History?

Jonathan Floyd is a British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford, and Research Fellow in Political Theory at St Hilda's College. He was previously a Fellow of the Centre for Political Ideologies and a Research Scholar at University College, University of Oxford. He has written widely on both the nature of political philosophy and on its relationship with history. Marc Stears is Fellow in Politics at University College, Oxford, having previously been Fellow in Social and Political Sciences at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He is the author of Demanding Democracy: American Radicals in Search of a New Politics (2010) and Progressives, Pluralists and the Problems of the State (2002), as well as joint editor of Political Theory: Methods and Approaches (2008). He is well-known for his research on methodology in the history of political thought and for innovative approaches to the study of political ideologies.

'This volume is a welcome addition to the literature on the methodologies of the history of political thought and political philosophy. All the essays are of top quality and are written by contributors with an international reputation in the field. Variety in content and argument gives a sense of genuine debate and suggests new perspectives on the central issues under discussion.' Jeremy Jennings, Professor of Political Theory, Queen Mary, University of London

• Introduction Jonathan Floyd and Marc Stears; 1. Rescuing political theory from the tyranny of history Paul Kelly; 2. From contextualism, to mentalism, to behaviourism Jonathan Floyd; 3. Contingency and judgement in history of political philosophy Bruce Haddock; 4. Political philosophy and the dead hand of its history Gordon Graham; 5. Politics, political theory, and its history Iain Hampsher-Monk; 6. Constraint, freedom, and exemplar Melissa Lane; 7. History and reality Andrew Sabl; 8. The new realism Bonnie Honig and Marc Stears; Afterword Jonathan Floyd.