Edward Bryan Portis is Professor of Political Science at Texas A&M University and the author of Reconstructing the Classics: Political Theory from Plato to Marx, Max Weber and Political Commitment: Science, Politics and Personality, and the coeditor of Handbook of Political Theory and Policy Science. Adolf G. Gundersen is the author of The Environmental Promise of Democratic Deliberation. Ruth Lessl Shively is the author of Compromised Goods: A Realist Critique of Constructionist Politics.

"This topic is important not only for the relationship between political science and political theory, but also for the relationship between intellectuals and politics. This collection breaks new ground. Those essays that discuss traditional thinkers place them in new contexts; others give new life to continuing issues of constitutionalism and argumentation. This book contributes important insights." — Nancy S. Love, author of Understanding Dogmas and Dreams: A Text

• Acknowledgments Introduction PART I. Political Theory and the Constitutional Foundations of Partisan Politics 1. Political Theorists on the Legitimacy of Partisan PoliticsArlene W. Saxonhouse 2. Political Theory and Constitutional ConstructionDonald S. Lutz 3. Constitutional Doctrine and Political TheoryEdward Bryan Portis PART II. Theoretical Deliberation and Partisan Politics 4. Rationality in Liberal PoliticsThomas A. Spragens, Jr. 5. Deliberative Democracy and the Limits of Partisan Politics: Between Athens and PhiladelphiaAdolf G. Gundersen 6. Working in Half-Truth: Some Premodern Reflections on Discourse Ethics in PoliticsMary G. Dietz PART III. Political Theory as Politics 7. Secularism, Partisanship and the Ambiguity of JusticeWilliam E. Connolly 8. Political Theory and the Postmodern Politics of AmbiguityRuth Lessl Shively 9. Political Theory as MetapracticeJohn G. Gunnell Epilogue Contributors Index

Edward Bryan Portis is Professor of Political Science at Texas A&M University and the author of Reconstructing the Classics: Political Theory from Plato to Marx, Max Weber and Political Commitment: Science, Politics and Personality, and the coeditor of Handbook of Political Theory and Policy Science. Adolf G. Gundersen is the author of The Environmental Promise of Democratic Deliberation. Ruth Lessl Shively is the author of Compromised Goods: A Realist Critique of Constructionist Politics.

"This topic is important not only for the relationship between political science and political theory, but also for the relationship between intellectuals and politics. This collection breaks new ground. Those essays that discuss traditional thinkers place them in new contexts; others give new life to continuing issues of constitutionalism and argumentation. This book contributes important insights." — Nancy S. Love, author of Understanding Dogmas and Dreams: A Text

• Acknowledgments Introduction PART I. Political Theory and the Constitutional Foundations of Partisan Politics 1. Political Theorists on the Legitimacy of Partisan PoliticsArlene W. Saxonhouse 2. Political Theory and Constitutional ConstructionDonald S. Lutz 3. Constitutional Doctrine and Political TheoryEdward Bryan Portis PART II. Theoretical Deliberation and Partisan Politics 4. Rationality in Liberal PoliticsThomas A. Spragens, Jr. 5. Deliberative Democracy and the Limits of Partisan Politics: Between Athens and PhiladelphiaAdolf G. Gundersen 6. Working in Half-Truth: Some Premodern Reflections on Discourse Ethics in PoliticsMary G. Dietz PART III. Political Theory as Politics 7. Secularism, Partisanship and the Ambiguity of JusticeWilliam E. Connolly 8. Political Theory and the Postmodern Politics of AmbiguityRuth Lessl Shively 9. Political Theory as MetapracticeJohn G. Gunnell Epilogue Contributors Index