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"MODERN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY"
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After Postpositivism? The Promises of Critical Realism
This article argues that the current self-understanding of IR theory is misconceived and that it is time to move beyond the stagnant positivism/postpositivism debate. We argue that the attempt to occupy a middle ground compromise position between positivism and postpositivism is untenable because these two positions share much in common. In this sense a middle ground position between two problematic positions does not produce a less problematic position. What is needed is a metatheoretical analysis of the two extreme positions. We attempt to show how both positivism and postpositivism are embedded in a discourse of philosophical anti-realism. This anti-realism occurs as a result of what we call the post-Kantian-Humean \"problem-field\" of international relations from which most contemporary positivist, constructivist, and post-structuralist IR approaches stem. We then try to overcome this \"problemfield\" by means of radically reclaiming reality through a critical realist philosophy. Once outlined we try to show how this critical realist philosophy can help transcend some of the antinomies currently faced by IR scholars.
Journal Article
The aesthetic turn in political thought
\"The growing exploration of political life from an aesthetic perspective has become so prominent that we can now speak of an \"aesthetic turn\" in political theory. But what does it mean and why an aesthetic turn? This collection of essays aims to answer such questions from a variety of perspectives, to think in a new way about the possibilities and weaknesses of democratic politics.The book first outlines the theoretical motivations and historical conditions that led to the turn to aesthetics. Essays then call attention to the presence of aesthetic themes and arguments in political theory as well as to parallels between theories of aesthetics and politics, revealing how much political theory can gain from making use of aesthetic modes of thought. They demonstrate that much of what is essential to democratic politics can in fact only be disclosed through aesthetic theorizing.A significant contribution to the contemporary debate in political theory, The Aesthetic Turn in Political Thought will appeal to all students interested in the interdisciplinary crossroads of aesthetic and politics\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Territoriality and beyond: problematizing modernity in international relations
The concept of territoriality has been studied surprisingly little by students of international politics. Yet, territoriality most distinctively defines modernity in international politics, and changes in few other factors can so powerfully transform the modern world polity. This article seeks to frame the study of the possible transformation of modern territoriality by examining how that system of relations was instituted in the first place. The historical analysis suggests that “unbundled” territoriality is a useful terrain for exploring the condition of postmodernity in international politics and suggests some ways in which that exploration might proceed. The emergence of multiperspectival institutional forms is identified as a key dimension of the condition of postmodernity in international politics.
Journal Article
Social imaginaries : critical interventions
Offering a field-defining survey of the topic, this is the first book to engage all the key figures in the social imaginaries field. It offers new perspectives on the productive tension between social imaginaries and the creative imagination, providing the first programmatic approach to the field as a whole.
Book
Arendt and Adorno : political and philosophical investigations
The first comparative study of two of the most influential political philosophers and theorists of the twentieth century, Hannah Arendt and Theodor W. Adorno, this book reconstructs affinities and tensions between the two thinkers and shows their relevance for political theory and philosophy in our time.
eBook
The infidel and the professor : David Hume, Adam Smith, and the friendship that shaped modern thought
\"David Hume is widely regarded as the most important philosopher ever to write in English, but during his lifetime he was attacked as \"the Great Infidel\" for his skeptical religious views and deemed unfit to teach the young. In contrast, Adam Smith was a revered professor of moral philosophy, and is now often hailed as the founding father of capitalism. Remarkably, the two were best friends for most of their adult lives, sharing what Dennis Rasmussen calls the greatest of all philosophical friendships. The Infidel and the Professor is the first book to tell the fascinating story of the friendship of these towering Enlightenment thinkers--and how it influenced their world-changing ideas. The book follows Hume and Smith's relationship from their first meeting in 1749 until Hume's death in 1776. It describes how they commented on each other's writings, supported each other's careers and literary ambitions, and advised each other on personal matters, most notably after Hume's quarrel with Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Members of a vibrant intellectual scene in Enlightenment Scotland, Hume and Smith made many of the same friends (and enemies), joined the same clubs, and were interested in many of the same subjects well beyond philosophy and economics--from psychology and history to politics and Britain's conflict with the American colonies. The book reveals that Smith's private religious views were considerably closer to Hume's public ones than is usually believed. It also shows that Hume contributed more to economics--and Smith contributed more to philosophy--than is generally recognized. Vividly written, The Infidel and the Professor is a compelling account of a great friendship that had great consequences for modern thought.\"--Jacket.
Book
Leo Strauss's \On Classical Political Philosophy\
Leo Strauss's \"On Classical Political Philosophy\" contrasts classical political philosophy with modern political philosophy and present-day political science. Strauss stresses two seemingly contrary features of classical political philosophy: its direct relation to political life and its transcendence of political life. Its direct relation to political life prevented it from taking for granted the necessity and possibility of political philosophy. The classical political philosopher appears as good citizen, umpire among the parties, or ultimately teacher of lawgivers. He was compelled to transcend political life when he realized its ultimate aim can be reached only by the philosophic life. Philosophy must concern itself with political life, yet political philosophy's highest subject must be the philosophic life.
Journal Article
Modernity, postmodernity or capitalism?
This article challenges the currently fashionable periodization of history since the eighteenth century into two major phases, 'modernity' and 'postmodernity'. Questioning the conception of 'modernity' itself, Wood emphasizes the specificity of capitalism in opposition to other aspects of modernity with which it is conventionally associated, and argues that if we are now witnessing an epochal shift, it is not a transition from 'modernity' to 'postmodernity' but the maturation and universalization of capitalism. The 'universalization' of capitalism is then distinguished from 'globalization', a concept which, she argues, obscures more than it reveals.
Journal Article