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12-1984 Political Education and the History of Political Thought Daniel R. Sabia University of South Carolina - Columbia, [email protected]

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Publication Info Published in American Political Science Review, Volume 78, Issue 4, 1984, pages 985-999. http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=PSR © 1984 by Cambridge University Press

This Article is brought to you by the Political Science, Department of at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 1984 Political Education and Political Thought 985 Political Education and the History of Political Thought

DANIEL R. SABIA, JR. University of South Carolina

Texts designed to introduce political science students to the history of political thought or to past political theories have been commonplace in the discipline, as have disputes about their pedagogical utility or justifiability, and methodological debates concerning their adequacy or legitimacy. In an effort to address these disputes and some of these debates, I construct three models of historio- graphical inquiry. Each model represents a particular approach, and each is defined in terms of three common features. The methodological debates are joined both indirectly and directly: indirectly by identifying clearly the majorfeatures and purposes of these approaches, and directly by consideration of such issues as the nature of a historical tradition, the legitimacy of certain interpretive strategies and presuppositions, and the viability of certain conceptions of past political theory. I conclude that each approach can make significant contributions to the education of political science students.

Texts that examine the history of political One advantage of this somewhat indirect strategy thought "from ancient to modern times" or focus is that it will allow me to contribute to some of the on political theories "from Plato to Marx" have recent methodological debates about this litera- been widely used in courses dealing with these ture,' even though my primary aim is to defend topics since at least the turn of the century. the study of past political thought and theory Typically designed only to provide an introduc- against a series of longstanding criticisms. There tion to the subject matter, these studies combine have always been, and there are today, at least original research with secondary scholarship in a some political scientists who question the utility, variety of formats emphasizing sometimes diver- necessity, or desirability of the study of political gent perspectives and pedagogical concerns. thought and its history. One objection concerns Despite this diversity, the authors of these texts all the relationship between political philosophy and agree on one point: the study of Western political political science. According to this view, political thought provides one of the foundations of a science is (or should be) a purely scientific disci- sound education in political science. pline, and neither political philosophy nor that The central purpose of this article is to recon- part of it concerned with past political theories firm that a familiarity with the history of political has much to offer the student or scholar. Espe- thought can contribute to political education in cially prevalent during the rise of behavioralism, two main ways: it can develop in students the his- this argument reflects the position that political torical knowledge, and especially the historical philosophy is a normative (and hence irrelevant) sense, necessary to an adequate understanding of enterprise and that past theories are, as well, both political study and political life, and it can help to ideological and outdated. The conclusion is that cultivate in students the ability to think sys- interest in the history of theory is not merely a tematically, analytically, creatively, and critically waste of intellectual energy but a veritable obsta- about political ideas, practices, and problems. cle to political education and to the development These essentially instrumental arguments will of modern scientific political theory.2 be developed by analyzing and defending precisely those texts that have presupposed their cogency. 'I refer to the methodological discussion and debates launched in the 1960s by Pocock (1962), Dunn (1968), and Skinner (1969). Representative discussions include Sanderson (1968), Leslie (1970), Pocock (1971, 1980), Received. November 14, 1983 Skinner (1972, 1974), Tarlton (1973), Schochet (1974), Accepted for publication: March 5, 1984 Wiener (1974), Ashcraft (1975, 1980), Gunnell (1978, Several times revised, the present version of this arti- 1979), and Tarcov (1982). cle owes much to the thoughtful comments and criti- 'Advocates of both the new science movement in the cisms of Terence Ball, Peter Sederberg, Mulford Sibley, 1920s, and of behavioralism in the 1950s and 1960s, and anonymous reviewers. Substantially this version adopted these and related positions. Examples of the was presented at the 1983 Annual Meeting of the South- former include Charles Merriam, George Catlin, and ern Political Science Association. William Bennett Munro; of the latter, Harold Lasswell, 986 The AmericanPolitical ScienceReview Vol. 78

A second common objection is that those politi- "histories." The defense can be restricted in this cal scientists specializing in political philosophy or fashion because these histories have been specific- theory are (or are in constant danger of becoming) ally designed to acquaint students with past politi- antiquarians, that the study of past thought ought cal thought or theory, have been traditionally jus- to be a secondary or tertiary activity rather than a tified on precisely the sort of instrumental full-time occupation or obsession. According to grounds I am seeking, and because they pre- this argument, in other words, students and schol- suppose and embody the collective research of ars of political philosophy do little except study, scholars in the field. reinterpret, and debate past ideas and theories, An overview of these histories demonstrates whereas they should be concerned with the con- considerable variety; different authors have ap- struction and criticism of current political ideas proached and presented the subject matter in dif- and theories.3 ferent ways for different reasons. This circum- Albeit for different reasons, these two objec- stance requires the construction of models or ideal tions are opposed to the attention paid to past types, each representing a fairly common ap- theories. Both would like to see those political proach to the writing of this sort of history. The scientists specializing in political philosophy models are defined in terms of three features: the redirect their energies to certain present-day subject matter included, called the "focus" of a endeavors: in one case, to the work needed for the history; the central questions posed in a history, development of empirical theories; in the other, to called "primary objectives"; and underlying the development of normative theories. By con- assumptions, called "presuppositions," which trast, a third objection opposes, not the study of typically accompany given foci and objectives. past thought per se, but a particular type of study Based on these criteria, I depict and defend three often termed the historicist or historical kind. models. Of course, no actual history will be fully This kind of study is characterized by its focus on characterized by any one of the models, and any distinctively historical questions, and it is for this actual history will almost surely share some reason condemned as irrelevant to the student of features present in more than one model. But politics. According to the argument, historicist because my primary interest is justificatory studies are indefensible because they miss the (rather than descriptive), the simplicity of the main point, which is to utilize the study of past models presents no problem. thought for present-day purposes.4 A compelling response to these objections The Historical Model would demonstrate that exposure to the history of political thought is virtually indispensable to the The first model I define and defend is the his- education of political science students and that torical model. Real-life approximations to it in- continued scholarship in this area must in conse- clude the histories of Dunning (1902), Sabine quence be encouraged and applauded. I intend to (1961), and Sibley (1970). The focus of this model provide such a response by defending the texts is broad, including all levels of political and social mentioned above and hereafter referred to as thought from the popular to the philosophical. Although interested in the exposition of political ideas and theories, the primary objective of the scholar adopting this model is to explain why Robert Dahl, and, depending on how one interprets political ideas and theories appear when and him, David Easton. Lasswell's comments are typical: In where they do, why they change over time, and the recent past, said he, historians of political theory why (or whether) they have any influence on con- "were so weighed down with the burden of genteel erudition that they had little intellectual energy left with temporaneous and subsequent thought and which to evolve original theory. Hence empirical behavior. These three objectives may be abbre- work in political science received a minimum of con- viated as an inquiry into the historical genesis, structive aid from scholars formally responsible for development, and influence of political thought in political theory" (Lasswell, 1954, p. 201). the West. 3This position has been especially popular since the The presuppositions that the historian brings to 1950s and has been articulated by, for example, J. this sort of history are as follows. First he assumes Roland Pennock, Alfred Cobban, Robert Dahl, David that all forms of thought are embedded in his- Easton, and to some extent Richard Ashcraft. torically specific "contexts" and, in particular, 4Prototypes of historicist studies were said to be the works of Dunning, McIlwain, and Sabine, and were that political ideas and theories "are produced as condemned in the terms described by David Easton a normal part of the social milieu in which politics (1953), Andrew Hacker (1954, 1961) and William itself has its being" (Sabine, 1961, p. v). This pre- Bluhm (1962). Similar views were expressed earlier by supposition is made for two reasons: first, it is W. W. Willoughby; Leo Strauss also raised similar believed that the interpretation of past ideas and complaints. theories requires knowledge of their associated 1984 Political Education and Political Thought 987

contexts, because such contexts are assumed to transformations" (Dunning, 1902, p. xviii), and condition, determine, or otherwise provide clues why the "reinterpretation and readaptation" of to: 1) the meanings (sense, reference, connota- received beliefs and theories have been one of the tions) of specific terms and expressions and of the characteristic chores of political thinkers (Sabine, conventions governing the application or use of 1961, p. 145). The idea of accounting for con- concepts, arguments, and methods of political ceptual change and development by focusing on thinkers; 2) the identity and characteristics of tacit changing contexts is also emphasized in mono- assumptions and arguments made by thinkers; graphs that resemble the historical model-as and 3) the intentions or goals motivating thinkers. when, for instance, an author seeks to tell "the In addition, it is supposed that knowledge of the story" or how "the modern concept of the State contexts of ideas and theories can help explain came to be formed" by "considering the his- their geneses. Particularly popular here have been torical development which prompted this con- the contentions that ideas and theories constitute ceptual change" (Skinner, 1978, pp. ix, x). responses both to perceived political problems or The interrelated focus, objectives, and pre- crises and to the influences of partisan and intel- suppositions of this model constitute a coherent lectual contemporaries or predecessors. historiographical approach to the writing of a his- These beliefs demonstrate a second presupposi- tory. My primary defense of histories resembling tion of the model: the idea that the composition the model will be that they are particularly well of contexts is complex. In histories resembling the suited to developing in students the historical model, it has been traditionally maintained that knowledge, and especially the historical sensibil- the context of ideas and theories contains existen- ity, necessary to an adequate understanding of tial and ideational features. Political crises and both political study and political life. Although conflicts, major political events and trends, and this is my main contention, I also argue briefly political institutions have been among the most that these histories can encourage in students emphasized features of the existential component, creative and critical thinking. These arguments although general socioeconomic conditions and are developed as I outline three specific themes or trends, religious institutions and movements, and hypotheses which one would expect to emerge, many other variables have been included as well. and which in fact typically do emerge, from this With respect to the ideational component, pop- kind of history. The first of these is the theme of ular beliefs and norms, and the intellectual cli- diversity; the second a hypothesis asserting the in- mate (including scientific, philosophical, and terdependence of politics and political thought; religious theories, fashions, and beliefs) have been the third, the emphasis placed on the historical most emphasized. character of the objects and methods of political The complexity of contexts is underscored by study. the additional assumption that they always con- An obvious and certainly common defense of tain a significant historical component. Specific- the "historical" history concerns the benefits pro- ally, it is assumed that many of the features con- vided by its emphasis on the diversity of political stitutive of contexts are rooted in the pasts to thought and life. Once the historian commits him- which, in turn, thinkers are linked. Persistent or self to the suppositions that all forms of political recurring controversies and conflicts, intellectual thought are to some extent context dependent and and political traditions, and inherited prejudices that contexts change over time, his account of the and practices are examples. It is partly because history of political thought will stress diversity. contexts are assumed to include a historical This emphasis should awaken students to the dimension that the question of influence arises. plurality of political ideas and ideals, perspectives Given the assumption, the historian tries to ex- and theories, and of forms of political life. How- plain how political ideas and theories exert an in- ever we might judge Sabine's history, for exam- fluence on subsequent thought or practice and ple, a student cannot read it and then claim that thereby become agents of change, stabilizing ele- all persons and communities seek the same goods ments within successive contexts, or both. or ends; that concepts such as democracy, free- A final presupposition of the model is that con- dom, and justice have either only one meaning or texts change over time and space. This assumption always have the same meaning over time; that guides, indeed underpins, the historian's account there is but one way of studying politics, organiz- of conceptual change and development. In those ing political and social life, or justifying political histories that resemble the model, the identifica- practices and principles. tion and description of changing contexts are An exposure to the diversity of political typically used to help explain, in narrative thought and life can thus shake up preconceptions fashion, why and how "the political conscious- and prejudices, liberating students from the tyran- ness of men has passed from early antiquity to ny of conventional modes of thinking. It can en- modern times" through a series of "successive courage creativity and critical thought by enlarg- 988 The American Political Science Review Vol. 78

ing the sense of the possible and undermining the as sich, ought to be a part of political education, supposed certainty or "naturalness" of current but, in addition, the awareness that political shibboleths and reifications. In other words, a thought so often reflects and is limited by political healthy sense of diversity can provide a counter- experience can alert students to the difficulty balance to intellectual smugness or ossification, a political scientists confront whenever they seek to sensitivity to the fact that virtually all political and develop transhistorical or transcultural knowledge social concepts and ideals are problematic and of political phenomena. In this way, it teaches not contested and can be exploited for different pur- merely humility and modesty; it underscores the poses by political ideologues, theorists, and scien- absolute necessity of historical knowledge for tists. Moreover, although this emphasis can help those who would seek to generalize about politics. students discern the provincial and modern in A second and related claim associated with the contemporary institutional arrangements, ideol- hypothesis is that political thought is often biased ogies, and theories, an exposure to the history of by partisanship or socioeconomic position. By Western political thought can demonstrate to locating thinkers within the political and social students that "truly novel ideas in the domains of context of which they were a part, the historian is morals and politics are extremely rare" (Sibley, able to illustrate how political creeds and ideals 1970, p. 7). often reflect, promote, mask, or mystify political, Although a healthy sense of the diversity of religious, or socioeconomic interests and arrange- political thought and of forms of political life is ments such as prevailing distributions of power, encouraged by these histories, even more signifi- wealth, and privilege. Although presented in the cant is the illumination provided by the hypothesis context of the history of political thought, this that political thought and political life are inter- sort of knowledge is obviously not limited to its dependent, reflecting and constrained by one historical setting. The recognition that political another. The hypothesis is commonplace in such thought is typically connected to political interests histories: According to Dunning (1902, pp. 1-2), can help students understand and better assess for example, "the only path of approach to an contemporary political rhetoric, partisan and accurate apprehension of political [thought and] ideological conflict, and the attachment to par- philosophy is through political history"; and ticular positions, creeds, and symbols by political Sabine (1961, p. v) similarly professed that his groups and leaders. Further, the demonstration study was written "in light of the hypothesis that that "many bodies of ideas can plausibly be inter- theories of politics are themselves a part of poli- preted, at least in part, as rationalizations of a tics." The elaboration and defense of this given status quo" can place the student "on guard hypothesis produces a variety of claims which, I about one's own thinking and the degree to which want to argue, contribute in important ways to it can transcend the pressures of class, cultural, political education. and national interest" (Sibley, 1970, p. 6). One claim associated with the hypothesis is that It is sometimes alleged that the historical his- political thought is always to some extent con- tories do a disservice to students by making it ap- ditioned and constrained by political and social pear as if political philosophy, like more popular life. The existential problems addressed by think- and partisan forms of thought, is historically con- ers, the ideas and ideals that they articulate and ditioned, limited, and ideological. This allegation defend or criticize, the institutions and behaviors is mistaken because exaggerated. In these histories assumed or condemned, the alternatives pro- political philosophers are indeed said to produce pounded and possibilities foreseen-all these and arguments and recommendations related to iden- more are limited, to some extent even determined, tifiable interests, groups, struggles, and crises by the prevailing political arrangements, institu- within specific societies, but there is at the same tions, and conflicts within which thought takes time great reluctance to conclude that political shape. Similarly, developments in political philosophy is reducible to ideology or partisan thought seem often to follow developments in pleading. Consider, as a relevant illustration, political and social life as, for example, relatively Sabine's Hobbes. Examining Hobbes's work in new ideas and ideals, and relatively novel perspec- the political context of the English civil wars, tives on collective problems and possibilities, were Sabine argues (what is now controversial) that one ushered in by the emergence and spread of the of Hobbes's purposes was to defend not just royal Christian church and by the experience of modern absolutism, but "the royalist party and . . . the industrialization. pretensions of the Stuarts" (1961, p. 456). At the Historical knowledge of this sort, presented in same time, however, Sabine demonstrates that some detail in the historical history, is surely of Hobbes's political persuasion and alleged political value to the student of politics. It has in the first interests hardly exhaust what he was about and instance obvious intrinsic value because this his- what he produced. He does this by relating torical knowledge is also political knowledge and, Hobbes's intentions and products to a much 1984 Political Education and Political Thought 989 widersocial milieuand to an intellectualenviron- through with relentless logic is the true measure ment neither exclusively English nor contem- of his philosophical insight and of his greatness porary. as a political thinker. (1961, p. 475) By examiningHobbes's thought in this much wider context, Sabine shows how little a partisan The hypothesis of interdependence asserts that Hobbes really was and demonstrates that political thought arises out of, reflects, and is con- Hobbes's thoughtwas to some extentconditioned strained and changed by political and social life; it and limited not by his immediate political en- also asserts the reverse. Consequently, histories vironment and alleged goals, but by the much that resemble the historical model provide the im- widerrange of his experienceand knowledgeand portant-even if in some quarters controversial- by the richstock of ideas, beliefs, and perspectives service of reminding students not to discount the availableto him. Hobbes's theory is thus shown impact of political thought on behaviors and pro- to transcendits immediateenvironment by virtue cesses. "This assumes, of course, that men's of its breadth, depth, and ambitions;it is com- images of the world . . . affect the way they parable neither to the thought of the ideologue behave (Sibley, 1970, p. 6), that political ideas and nor to the typical thinker of the time. Sabine is theories need to be taken into account when ex- drawn to this judgment precisely by examining plaining political conduct not because these ideas Hobbes's thoughtcontextually; for it is veryhard and theories "are true but because they are to confuse Hobbes, who set out to "make his sys- believed" (Sabine, 1939, p. 10). tem broad enough to account, on scientificprin- Exploration of this aspect of the hypothesis ciples, for all the facts of nature,including human takes a variety of related forms. For example, the behavior in its individual and social aspects," historian is likely to describe how ideas and ideol- with contemporarieswhose purposeswere exclu- ogies have in the past motivated actors by iden- sively partisanor whose writingswere less ambi- tifying for them political problems and possible tious, less abstract and systematic, and less in- solutions, ends, and means. He will provide ac- formed by a variety of intellectual traditions counts of how ideas have generated or fueled con- (1961, p. 457). flict by legitimating or condemning particular The reportingof an ideological dimension in leaders or groups, movements, or institutions, what are shown to be penetratingand lasting and by articulating and defending interests and theoriesof politicscan serveto warn studentsnot ideals. He will try to explain how popular beliefs to confuse disciplinarydemands for methodologi- or systems of thought have provided criteria for cal sophisticationand scientific objectivitywith defining political phenomena and frameworks the absence of partisanship.Systematic, reflec- within which political reality was perceived, tive, sustainedpolitical inquiryand the develop- meaningfully ordered, and acted upon. And he ment of genuine political understandingand in- will describe how ideals characteristically func- sight are as muchthe productsof politicalinterest tioned as standards against which behaviors and and concerns as of scientific method. Secondly, institutions were judged and how, sometimes, political philosophiesare indeed shown to have they functioned also as goals toward which politi- lastingrelevance not (simply)by abstractingthem cal decisions and actions were directed and so from their historical contexts but, rather, by became embodied in institutions, laws, or demonstratinghow a proper understandingof policies. those contexts helps account for their relative Although a familiarity with these arguments scarcity, lasting value, and persistentinfluence.5 and accounts can be defended as contributing to Revertingto the exampleat hand, Hobbes can be political education on an individual basis, it is shown to have produced their collective purpose or impact which must be stressed. All of them help the student to under- a theorynatural to anage which [given the rise of stand and explore the thesis that the character, individualism]saw the wreckof so manyof the quality, and direction of political life is a function traditionalassociations and institutionsof of the interplay between nature, habit, fortune, economicand religious life and which saw above and autonomous social all theemergence of powerfulstates in whichthe processes, and human makingof lawbecame the typical activity. These thought, purpose, and struggle. Given that this tendencies-theincrease of legalpower and the thesis is central to the study of politics-it is either recognitionof self-interestas the dominant presupposed or examined by political scientists all motivein life-have beenamong the mostper- the time-we should conclude that the historical vasivein moderntimes. That Hobbes made them history provides an important service by intro- the premisesof his systemand followedthem ducing students to it. Finally, this history emphasizes the historical nature of the objects and methods of political in- 'For relevant comments see Sabine (1953). quiry; that is, political life and thought and the 990 The American Political Science Review Vol. 78 methods and theories used to study them are conception of science dating at least to the seven- shaped by the past. I conclude my defense of this teenth century. model by arguing that an exposure to this kind of The kind of understanding made familiar to historical understanding makes an especially im- readers of the historical histories also demon- portant contribution to political education strates why their authors use a narrative style. because, although at one time it was widely taught Because every present is shaped by its past, the in the discipline, it is largely neglected today.6 history of political thought must to some extent Sabine (1906, p. 17) expressed this historical be an unfolding story. It does not follow that understanding particularly well when he observed these histories reify a unitary tradition of Western that all things political (and indeed all things thought as some critics (e.g., Gunnell, 1979; human) do not merely have a history; they are his- Pocock, 1962) have alleged; this criticism is best torical. We did not, for example, invent our directed elsewhere. Although these histories tell a political vocabularies ourselves; nor did we invent story, the critics forget that its structure is com- our political practices, institutions, beliefs, and plex, that it embodies discontinuities as well as theories; they are historical products, and under- continuities, and that it identifies the rise and fall standing them even in rudimentary ways requires of multiple traditions operating at many levels of knowing something about their histories, about experience. Consequently, the real weakness of how they got here, and why they take the form these studies is that they tax the very limits of they do. Thus present-day meanings of liberalism historical scholarship and for that reason need and Marxism, of freedom and justice, and of constant revision. The point here has been to citizenship and law, contain connotations and argue that revisions ought to be welcomed, for associations that are historical in origin yet pre- they also will demonstrate that political under- served in contemporary thought and dialogue. standing must be informed by a sense of history Similarly, institutions and practices embody in- and by a historical sensibility. tentions, purposes, meanings, and ideals whose development influences our current understand- ing and therefore our reactions to, participation The Traditional Model in, and evaluation of those institutions and prac- tices. So, too, for instance, the absence or pres- The last two models reflect historiographies ence of beliefs and practices in given societies can devised by scholars who, writing during the hey- usually be explained only as the products of par- day of behavioralism, feared that the study of ticular historical experiences and traditions, ex- past political thought and theory was in danger of planations that assume precisely the kind of his- extinction, and who therefore sought to demon- torical understanding emphasized in the historical strate that the study of past political theory was history. not an antiquarian exercise and tha(tthese theories Political theories and methods are likewise his- were not uninteresting or irrelevant by virtue of torical creatures, inventions of men and women their old age or alleged ethical, ideological, or familiar with certain historical experiences and unscientific character. heirs of particular intellectual traditions. For in- The result was the construction of historiogra- stance, consider current theories that postulate, phies and histories that contended that, in the his- after the fashion of modern economics, rational tory of the West, certain political theories are self-interested behavior. This postulate is popular classics and that studying them is both relevant partly because it appears reasonable, even and significant to the education of political scien- "natural," to thinkers who live in a culture that tists. The primary focus of these histories is there- has legitimized and reinforced calculating self- fore on the so-called classic political theories interested behavior and also because, for the same rather than on the many levels of political thought reason, it often facilitates explanation and predic- characteristic of the historical model. In addition, tion. Similarly, both the current interest in and a presupposition common to these histories is that prevailing conceptions of explanation and predic- there are indeed identifiable classic or great tion are historical products, in this case expres- theories deserving of close attention and scrutiny. sions of a rationalistic culture and of an evolving These similarities notwithstanding, the histories to which I allude are of two relatively distinct sorts, the first of which is the traditional model. of 6The importance for political science of the kind What is especially distinctive about this model is historical understanding I am describing here was often stressed by earlier generations of political scientists, no the claim that the classics constitute a great tradi- doubt because of the institutional and intellectual con- tion of Western political theory or philosophy, nections between political science and history charac- and the contention that this tradition is as impor- teristic of the discipline in its formative years. See as tant an object of inquiry and understanding as the examples Smith (1886) and Burgess (1897). individual theories that purportedly constitute it. 1984 Political Education and Political Thought 991

The foci of histories resembling this model, then, political philosophy (or the rise of relativism and are the classic theories and the great tradition, and positive social science) that Strauss identified as their objective is the critical analysis of both the the crux of our modern predicaments, practical as classics and the tradition, i.e., its historical well as intellectual. His critical analysis of the development. classics and of the tradition was thus explicitly Examples of works adopting these foci and ob- designed to illuminate the origins and nature of jectives are the histories of Strauss (1953), Wolin these predicaments and the superior arguments of (1960), and Nelson (1982); in each the great tradi- the pre-modern political theorists. tion is understood not simply as a chronological Wolin presents a somewhat parallel case. In his sequence of works and authors who share certain view, traditional theorists sought "to identify and similarities or affinities but as a relatively close- define [the] truly political" and to defend the dig- knit intellectual tradition whose participants were nity, distinctiveness, and importance of the conscious of and deeply concerned about their political as that "order created to deal with those predecessors, and each of whom sought to con- concerns [common to all]" (1960, pp. 289, 9). tribute to the development of political theory over Since the seventeenth century, however, the time. In other words, each contributed to an "vision of political theory has been a disintegrat- evolving activity and, in the words of Wolin ing one, constantly working to destroy the idea (1960, p. 1) and Nelson (1982, p. 2) to "a tradition that society ought to be considered as a whole and of discourse." that its general life was best expressed through Although not part of the model, these three his- political forms" (1960, p. 430). This disintegra- tories also adopt certain substantive claims about tion corresponds to, and is partly responsible for, the tradition. These claims need to be identified the disintegration and denigration of political life because they serve in these works as instrumental in contemporary societies which Wolin refers to as justifications for the focus on the historical the "decline" and "sublimation" of "the politi- development of the tradition. The central conten- cal." Accordingly, he too characterizes the tradi- tion is that the tradition has in some important tion in terms of a decline: the decline of tradi- senses declined over time. The basis of this judg- tional theory and of "the political." His history is ment is essentially twofold: first, it is asserted that intended to explain the origins and characteristics political theory as traditionally conceived and of these modern problems and, at the same time, practiced has been lost or denigrated; in addition, to disclose the "urgent task" of restoring the it is claimed that the more recent phases of the traditional understanding of political theory "as tradition have had a negative impact on contem- that form of knowledge which deals with what is porary thought and practice by giving rise to cer- general and integrative" (1960, p. 434). tain practices and beliefs that are judged deficient Although his history presents less of a narra- or harmful. The central justification for focusing tive, Nelson also organizes his work around a par- on the classics is therefore that the student will ticular theme, in this case around "the shifting come to understand (and perhaps be encouraged relationship of ethics and politics from the begin- to emulate) a now lost or denigrated, but valu- ning of Western political thought to the present able, way of doing systematic political thinking, time" (1982, p. 1). The historical development and the central justification for examining the his- portrayed is again one of decline, for the ancient torical development of the tradition is that the and medieval theorists rightly conceived of student will come to understand why this sorry politics as a moral activity, whereas modern theo- state of affairs has come to pass. rists, beginning with Machiavelli, tended to sever Brief examples can help illuminate these ethics from politics. Ideologies, asserted to be a remarks. In the case of Strauss (1953, pp. 35-36), ''response to the dilemmas arising out of the a central position is that "political philosophers modern divorce of ethics and politics," complete from Plato to Hegel" all wrestled with the prob- the decline of the tradition, help to explain the lem of "natural right"-i.e., with the proposition loss of traditional theory, and underscore the that the discovery and justification of transhis- "need" we have today "to devise political phil- torical standards of right or justice are possible. osophies that unify ethics and politics" (1982, pp. Premodern, especially Greek, political philoso- 1-2, 332). phers defended this proposition; modern theorists It is important to reiterate that the instrumental (after Aquinas) rejected it. On both philosophi- justifications underlying these histories are ex- cal and political grounds, Strauss favored the plicitly tied to substantive concerns about present- Greek position and therefore characterized the day politics and political thought. A central goal tradition of political theory as degenerative; it cul- of these works is to indict or to question contem- minates in the rise of ethical relativism and the porary affairs, practices, or beliefs, and to iden- death of political theory as traditionally practiced. tify a presumably valuable mode or activity of It is the demise of natural right and traditional political thinking that has been denigrated and 992 The American Political Science Review Vol. 78

lost. By disclosing in a critical fashion the dif- tive analytical construction which constitutes a ferent visions of the great theorists, for instance, rationalized version of the past" (Gunnell, 1979, Wolin believes he is introducing students to ways p. 70). of conceiving political phenomena and of con- To label the tradition a myth is not, however, to structing political theories that are genuinely undermine altogether the traditional model. As unique and integrative while, at the same time, Gunnell makes clear, historians and other exposure to these theories throws into sharp relief scholars can legitimately identify "certain simi- the less worthy conceptions and modes of political larities and differences in a range of chronologi- thinking and inquiry that characterize the present cally ordered works and speak of this as a tradi- day. tion with continuity and change" (1979, p. 85). The central presuppositions underlying the Of course this presupposes that the similarities traditional model and these histories are therefore identified are not themselves invented or mythic, quite obvious, and they have come in for a great and here Gunnell appears to part company with deal of methodological criticism in recent years. the other critics mentioned, and especially with First and foremost is the presupposition that there Pocock. Gunnell seems to believe that the classic exists an identifiable set of classic works, of works actually share certain important similari- master political theorists, who engaged in sub- ties, so that a critical focus on them can be justi- stantially the same kind of activity or endeavor fied on pedagogical grounds. He appears in fact despite their separation in time and space. Also to accept the very Wolin-like position that the important are the presuppositions that these classics creatively engage "the problem of politi- authors are members of a tightly knit historical cal order and that, in terms of their content and tradition, and that this tradition has had and con- the circumstances of their production, they bear tinues to have a substantial impact on thought certain family resemblances, and possess certain and practice. common motifs, which make it reasonable to con- Each of these presuppositions has been criti- struct a paradigm of political theory and the cized by a number of writers, but most promi- political theorist to which specific works conform nently by Pocock (1962, 1971, 1980), Dunn in varying degrees" (1979, p. 136). (1968), and Skinner (1969), and by Gunnell (1978, According to Pocock (1980, pp. 566-567), how- 1979), who deplores more fully their supposition ever, Gunnell's position merely replicates the that the classical theorists were members of a errors of the traditional model, except of course unitary tradition is a myth. These authors also that in Gunnell's version the classical theorists charge that the idea that the tradition has been as "do not constitute a [historical] tradition any causally efficacious as asserted is an article of more." For Pocock, rejecting the myth of the faith for which there is little evidence. Finally, the tradition is not enough; one must also reject the presuppositions that the masters were engaged in myth of the masters, i.e., the supposition that a common activity, or that they commonly ad- they can, without historical distortion, be treated dressed some particular issue or problem, is also as species of the same genus. In what follows I de- rejeced by most or all of these critics. fend Gunnell, and so the traditional model as cor- A defense of the model would therefore seem to rected or modified, against Pocock. require a defense of the presuppositions under- The somewhat complicated position I adopt is lying it. Yet many of the criticisms levelled at that the traditional model is in some ways defi- those histories that resemble the model seem to cient, but that certain central features of it deserve me quite legitimate. The basic problem is that the our support. With respect to deficiencies, the classic or great works do not in fact form a model errs in two fundamental ways: it ascribes to unitary tradition in the manner presupposed by the great tradition a historical specificity and the model. This is not to say that the masters were coherence that the tradition does not possess, and not engaged in a common activity, a point to it ascribes to this tradition a causal impact on past which I return; rather the masters were not self- and contemporary events and thought it never consciously participating in a great dialogue or had. The first error can be easily rectified by fol- tradition whose contours can be presented in lowing Gunnell's suggestion that the tradition be terms of a coherent narrative and whose meaning understood, and be explicitly presented to stu- and import prove causally relevant to contem- dents as, an analytical construct. The second error porary events and intellectual fashions. To discuss needs simply to be admitted and no longer the putative tradition in this way is to endow it repeated. Although we can not and should not with the sorts of properties that we legitimately ignore the influence particular masters had on ascribe to, say, the nineteenth-century utilitarian subsequent members of the tradition, it should be tradition in Britain. And this, as Gunnell and the obvious that if we want to provide a historical others argue, is a mistake: "What is presented as a account of past and contemporaneous practices historical tradition is in fact basically a retrospec- and beliefs, we simply cannot "concentrate on the 1984 PoliticalEducation and PoliticalThought 993

received canon of classic texts" (Skinner, 1974, p. sense described, the assumption is justified. 280). We must instead adopt something like the But if we ask why these works and authors are historiography embodied in the historical model. classics-if, that is to say, we seek an explanation At the same time, however, we need to recog- for their persistence and honorific status-dis- nize the legitimacy and pedagogical utility of the putes are possible, and the assignment of in- traditional history. In the first place, there is dividual works and authors to the category can nothing wrong or untoward with using the tradi- become uncertain and controversial (see, e.g., tion, conceived as an analytical construct, as a Sanderson, 1968). In the histories of the 1950s and device through which scholars present and exam- 1960s, however, there was considerable agree- ine significant political or theoretical issues such ment. Two qualities are most often ascribed to the as the problem of ethical relativism, the meaning, classics in order to explain their lasting value and boundaries, and importance of "the political," or attractiveness, first that the classics raise the fun- the relationship between politics and ethics. We damental or the perennial questions and problems can use the tradition in this way because the of politics, and second that they embody insight- masters did, as a matter of historical fact, speak ful, comprehensive theories or visions of politics. to these issues. They often addressed the question Complete agreement on what precisely "com- of moral standards, they certainly examined the prehensiveness" means is absent from these his- nature and importance of politics, and they tories, but there is some consensus. In general, typically considered the relationship between comprehensiveness refers to three characteristics politics and ethics. It is true that they did not do of the classics which they all meet to some extent. only these things, and it is true that they did not First, these theories embrace normative and prac- all think that these or any other specific issues tical as well as descriptive and explanatory con- were of equal importance or were even of central cerns. Second, they often include or reflect concern. But the traditional model need not deny philosophical positions and theories, such as an these truths, and a fair reading of traditional his- epistemology and metaphysic, worked out by tories indicates that they do not deny them either. their authors. Third, these theories consider in A second justification of the traditional history thoughtful and typically systematic ways a wide is that treating the classics as exemplars of a valu- variety of phenomena and issues that can enhance able activity and submitting them to a process of political understanding and yet are not narrowly critical analysis serves to engage the student in political-human nature and its bearing on collec- political thinking. To repeat, the behavioral tive existence, the place of ethics and education in movement within political science led to a re- political life, and the relationships between poli- newed emphasis on the importance of establishing tics and culture, religion, and economics, are the direct relevance of the study of the history of some standard examples. political thought. In many cases this meant shift- Explaining the historical persistence and ing attention or emphasis from the history of honorific status of the masters in this way sup- political thought to the study of political theory. ports the further claim that they, at some not-too- Essentially what was claimed was that the great abstract a level, were involved in the same activity. theories must be directly relevant to political edu- They all constructed-more or less successfully, cation because they were and are, after all, recog- depending on cases and judges-comprehensive nized classics. All of the justificatory arguments theories, and they all addressed the perennial that followed from this premise necessarily issues of politics; indeed, these theories can be assumed that the so-called classics deserved their legitimately read as if they constitute responses to, title. Did they? Do they? or engagements with, the fundamental or timeless In a general but important sense they surely do. (and not merely timely) political problems. If this A classic is anything of recognized worth or excel- is so, histories that identify, elucidate, and discuss lence. As such, the term is honorific, and it is con- critically these perennial issues are eminently jus- ventionally applied only to historical artifacts that tifiable, eminently relevant; and this is precisely have through time been influential or revered or the position taken by the perennial-issues model, both. The contention, then, was and is that in the a model I discuss and defend below. history of the West certain works and authors The traditional model also discusses the peren- Plato and Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas, nial issues; in fact, histories resembling this model Machiavelli and Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, typically organize their critical analyses of the Hegel and Marx, and a few others-have been classic theories around one of these perennial remarkably influential (as compared to lesser issues (e.g., around the relationship between writers) and often revered. The historical evidence ethics and politics) as we have seen. But the tradi- for this claim, including the fact that educated tional history also emphasizes the comprehensive- people in this century continue to read these ness of the classics. The claim is that it is especial- authors, is so overwhelming that, in the general ly this feature and not just the confrontation with 994 The American Political Science Review Vol. 78 particular perennial issues which makes the produce an understanding of the theories exam- classics so valuable. To recover these comprehen- ined for both historian and student. But more im- sive theories or visions, to understand how they portant, it involves the reader, as it involves the were put together or fashioned whole, and to historian, in political thinking. For example, in assess critically the claims and perspectives they the effort to achieve understanding, the historian advanced are, in the traditional model, rightfully may be required to describe how a particular seen as contributions to political education, as in- theorist defines and defends a particular concep- vitations to modes of political thinking or theoriz- tion of liberty or of human nature; then to explain ing in which students can participate. how this conception relates to a particular argu- Before amplifying this additional argument for ment about the desirability of or need for con- the traditional model, let me make clear my oppo- stitutional or absolute government; and finally to sition to Pocock's position. Pocock denies, while show how this argument fits and functions in the I wish to affirm, that the classics are exemplars of broader theory. Understanding and therefore a certain broadly conceived kind of intellectual political thinking are further enhanced by com- activity that issues in comprehensive theories of paring the theories examined to one another, politics. This is not simply or largely a retrospec- comparisons invited by conceiving each theory as tive analytical construction; it is rather a reason- instances of a common activity. ably accurate factual claim, an eminently plausi- Creativity is involved in this process because the ble interpretation of the historical evidence, pri- historian must illuminate, classify, and connect marily of the texts in question. It helps explain arguments and themes he feels are important and why the classics have persisted as objects of in- need attention. Perhaps the historian will invent terest and often of respect, and explains as well abstract categories in order to highlight and why the emphatically contextual research under- analyze themes in theories which he feels might taken by historians such as Pocock has not under- otherwise be missed or not fully appreciated. mined this position. Of course I cannot prove this (Consider, for instance, Wolin's (1960) use of the contention here, but if we grant at least some categories "political space" and "time.") Or per- validity to it, a good case can be made for an addi- haps the historian will use suggestive labels in tional justificatory argument for the traditional order to illuminate allegedly central arguments or histories. Very briefly I make this case by explain- themes in the works of particular theorists, as ing what a critical analysis of the classics-con- Strauss (1953, pp. 168, 193) does when he identi- ceived as comprehensive theories of politics fies Hobbes as "the creator of political hedon- involves. ism" and Hobbes's theory as "the first philoso- This instrumental defense focuses on the pro- phy of power." In these ways the historian intro- cess of critical analysis through which the his- duces students to a new vocabulary and to dif- torian or scholar seeks to "understand," and to ferent ways of thinking about political ideas, "evaluate" or "assess," the classics. Exactly what phenomena, and problems. this process substantively demonstrates will of Understanding a theory also involves, and is course vary from historian to historian because enhanced by, critical reflection; this typically in- different historians will entertain somewhat dif- cludes describing the supposed implications of ferent conceptions of what the classics are or what concepts, propositions, or arguments found in a the masters did; they will emphasize or select dif- theory, and sometimes of the entire theory, for ferent aspects or features of the theories exam- practice or for thought, and assessing these im- ined, sometimes examine different writings of the plications, and the theory and its parts, in terms same theorist, will use different standards of criti- of (for example) their supposed cogency, plausi- cism, and will sometimes use different techniques bility, novelty, justifiability, desirability, validity, or rules of interpretation. truth, or falsity. Wolin's (1960, ch. 2) critique of Despite these differences in preconceptions, Plato's political outlook as essentially anti- emphases, selection, standards, and techniques, political and Nelson's (1982, p. 43) cautious ap- I want to argue that the process of critical analyl- preciation of Plato's "disturbing picture of sis in all cases offers students the opportunity to democratic man," are examples. In these ways the participate in political thinking. This can be brief- historian as critic adds critical commentary as well ly explained by pointing out that critical analysis as content to the theories examined, enlarging and demands of the historian analytic, synthetic, and enhancing the reader's comprehension of them critical skills. Analysis and synthesis require that and, at the same time, offering readers the oppor- the historian disassemble into constitutive parts tunity to think critically about political concepts the theories examined and that he explain how the and arguments, relationships and possibilities. parts, such as premises, definitions, preferences, This (second) defense of the traditional history and criticisms, are interconnected to form com- can be summarized by saying that the critical prehensive wholes. It is this process that helps to analysis of the classics is itself an exercise in 1984 Political Education and Political Thought 995

political thinking or theorizing, an exercise con- For one thing, the perennial-issues historian is less trolled by the textual and other historical evidence interested in elucidating the nature of political available to the historian but not reducible to that theory conceived as a complex or comprehensive evidence. Although it is true that this benefit is activity and more interested in using the classics to accorded the historian especially, the point here is identify the "perennial problems," the timeless that readers will be led to share in this activity. Ex- "ideas and assumptions," or "the universal posure to the classics is in this sort of history a ideas" contained or embodied in them (Bluhm, way of teaching students how to think analytical- 1965, p. 13; Hacker, 1961, p. 23; Plamenatz, ly, systematically, and critically about political 1963, p. x). Additionally, he is not interested in ideas, perspectives, and problems. discussing the tradition of political theory and its This defense is not mine; some version of it is supposed development; on the contrary, he ex- explicitly made, typically in introductory com- plicitly eschews such an interest (Bluhm, especial- ments, in most of these histories in order to ly pp. 14-15; Hacker, ch. 1; Plamenatz, especially strengthen the justificatory claim of relevance. pp. vi, ix-x). Finally, he is not interested in using Although some will fault this approach to past the tradition to bring into focus some fairly political theory on the ground that it inevitably specific contemporary problem or predicament leads to historical inaccuracies and distortions, I such as the demise of natural right or the decline have tried to argue that such a charge is not only of the political. Rather, he wants to demonstrate suspect (because the classics can bear these sorts how the many perennial problems, issues, ideas, of analyses), but also misses (or dismisses) the and approaches to political inquiry explicit or im- pedagogical utility of this approach for students plicit in the classics may be brought up to date and of politics and political theory. used to elucidate better contemporary political life and inquiry. The Perennial-Issues Model The pursuit of these objectives in the perennial- issues histories is of course intended to guarantee When he turns to the writing of a history, the their relevance, to justify instrumentally the study perennial-issues historian focuses on the "time- of past political theory. More specifically, Hacker less" political problems and issues in the classic (1961, especially pp. vii-viii) argues that his ap- texts. He thus presupposes both that there exist proach will illuminate for students important certain "enduring questions of politics," and that (because perennial) political problems and ideas the study of the masters is particularly well suited and in that way help to build a bridge between the to the task of ferreting out those questions- study of past theories and the contemporary study because, it is said, these theorists, unlike lesser of politics. Plamenatz (1963, especially p. xi) political thinkers, "concentrated their attention argues that his history will help students "look on general principles." This is the position of carefully at the assumptions they make and the Andrew Hacker, whose history (1961, pp. 17, ix) ideas they use" because it is just such assumptions is prototypic of the perennial-issues model. Ap- and ideas that the masters articulated and exam- proximations to the model include Plamenatz ined. In addition, Bluhm (1965, ch. 1) contends (1963) and Bluhm (1965). that his work will help students better understand This historian's first objective, then, is to iden- approaches to the study of, and perspectives on, tify for students the eternal or persistent political contemporary politics, because contemporary ap- problems, questions, issues, or even approaches proaches and perspectives resemble in significant to political inquiry found in the classics. He has, ways the approaches and perspectives found in however, a second objective. Recognizing that the classics. discussions of these issues by the masters is often Because these instrumental defenses are quite submerged in historically specific concerns, the straightforward and these histories (rather like the historian tries to demonstrate that these discus- traditional histories) have been the object of sions can be made applicable to contemporary numerous methodological critiques, I shall political study or political life. This second objec- assume that the defense of this model requires tive requires another presupposition: that the his- primarily a defense of the two main presupposi- torian can legitimately update or even reinterpret tions underlying it. The important queries here the ideas or arguments of the masters in order to are: Do there exist timeless political problems? make their language more familiar to students and Can the task of bringing meaning up to date be their arguments more relevant for dealing with defended? today's world. The claim that there exist timeless political Because the perennial-issues historian includes problems presupposes that there are inherent in all in his history only the masters, his work may be forms of political life problems that transcend confused with that of the traditional history. time. As soon as we identify such a problem, we There are, however, differences between the two. commit ourselves to the view that there are certain 996 The American Political Science Review Vol. 78 ideas or concepts that are (to some degree) time- The former option, however, produces the less. For example, if we say that "What is same result: if the idea of politics is individuated politics?" is a perennial question, we commit our- by its meaning, whenever the meaning changes the selves to the view that politics is a timeless con- idea changes and, therefore, "there is no history cept. Only if we accept this premise can we say, of the idea to be written" (Skinner, 1969, p. 38). for instance, that when Aristotle raised this ques- We could, on this radical historicist account, pro- tion, he meant by it something akin to what we duce "a history of the various statements made mean by it. This does not, of course, commit us to with the given expression"; but this would not be the view that the term "politics" never changes its a history of the idea, because ideas, unlike expres- meaning; on the contrary, we expect thinkers sions or words, are individuated by their meaning. separated by time and space to define politics Writing a "history" (?) of the expression somewhat differently. Nevertheless, it does com- "politics" would, of course, be an "absurdly mit us to the view that the term in some respects ambitious enterprise"; but, says the radical his- never changes its meaning. toricist, "it would at least be conceptually When radical historicists reject the contention proper" (1969, p. 39). that there exist timeless political problems or Second, the position of the radical historicist- questions, they are committed to another view.7 if taken literally-makes historical interpretation They suppose that a concept is individuated by its impossible. If historically distant or alien meaning, so that whenever a concept undergoes a languages share nothing in common with our change in meaning, it becomes a new concept (see own, it is hard to see, as Dilthey (1962, p. 77) once Fain, 1970, ch. 2). They might argue, for instance, suggested, how interpretation could take place: that since the Greek term for politics meant some- "Interpretation," he remarked, "would be im- thing peculiarly Greek, it cannot be supposed that possible if expressions of life were completely the term has anything in common with ours, or strange. It would be unnecessary if nothing that when Aristotle raised the question, "What is strange were in them. It lies, therefore, between politics?" he was doing what we do when we raise these two extremes" (see also Wiener, 1961). If the question. there is no similarity between Aristotle's concep- Although I do not propose to resolve philo- tion of politics and our own, how could we say sophical riddles concerning the nature of con- anything about his conception; indeed, how could cepts, I wish to argue that the radical historicist we discover that he had any conceptions at all? view is self-defeating when applied to historical Unless the historian is prepared to assume that research. In particular, I want to suggest that the there are some similarities, some resemblances, position of the radical historicist is, in two ways, between his language and that of his subjects, radically ahistorical. First there can be, on the historical interpretation must be given up and his- radical historicist account, no such thing as the torical understanding must be considered impos- history of "an idea"-such as the history of the sible. It is doubtful that the radical historicist idea of politics or, for that matter, a history of means to commit himself to such a position; and Western political theory-because the radical his- this helps to explain why Skinner had ultimately toricist would have us choose between two op- to retreat from the position just described (see tions: either ideas are individuated by their mean- Skinner, 1974). ing, or ideas never change their meaning. The lat- There is, however, a related position that is ter option is, of course, historically absurd; it both more common and reasonable, that of the would make history impossible. If, for example, historicist who fears that, in making the necessary the idea of politics never changed its meaning, assumption that the thought of the past shares there could be no history of this idea to tell. something in common with the thought of the present, the historian will exaggerate these simi- larities and so fall into the trap of anachronism. "I have in mind Collingwood, Passmorc, and Skinner. Failure to take seriously the historicity of human Collingwood rejected the view that there were timeless thought and life may very well produce anach- philosophical ideas in his Autobiography, as discussed ronistic interpretations and erroneous descrip- by Passmore (1965, pp. 5-13). As Passmore points out, tions of past action or purpose. This danger is however, Collingwood also claimed that an exception to surely always present; it in no way follows, how- the radical historicity of thought might be political ever, that this is necessarily a "bad" thing. His- philosophy, a point on which Passmore also agrees. torians who turn to the past because of present- Skinner on (1969), focusing specifically political concerns or thought, transposes Collingwood's view on philosophy day interests may actually produce to political philosophy, although in the final analysis "good" history, by which I mean bring to our even Skinner is somewhat ambiguous on this point (in attention themes or dimensions in historical sub- the 1969 article). A radical historicist position was also jects or texts previously neglected or overlooked adopted by Lamprecht (1939). -and this because of their present-minded con- 1984 Political Educationand PoliticalThought 997

cerns or orientation. Leslie (1970), supporting her is justifiable on pedagogical grounds it is, there- case with some insightful examples, has argued fore, legitimate. precisely this point. Consequently, the only remaining way to cri- It is also important to recognize that the alleged tique the perennial-issues model is to attack not danger of anachronism is easily exaggerated, since the objectives animating it but the justification exactly what constitutes an anachronistic inter- underlying it. Two such objections, related yet pretation is at least sometimes difficult to say. It distinguishable, can be identified, and both have may, for instance, be anachronistic to call Plato been raised by Wolin, who once argued against and Rousseau "totalitarians," but is it anach- this sort of history that: ronistic to call attention to those features of their thought that remind us of totalitarianism? The What seems to have been forgotten is that one same difficulty affects the issue of "timeless" readspast theories,not becausethey are familiar problems or questions. Although the current ... but becausethey are strangeand therefore problems of conservation and resource manage- provocative.If [for instance]Aristotle is read as the first behavioralist,what he has to say is only' ment are indeed contemporary, the problematic of antiquarianinterest and it would be far more relationship between man and nature has been a profitableto read our contemporaries.(1969, p. persistent concern throughout human history. 1077) Similarly, although the question of the appropri- ate role of technocrats in decision making may be The first objection raised here is that bringing contemporary, the question concerning who the ideas of past theorists up to date misses their should rule seems to be timeless; the point, of real significance, which is their "strangeness." course, is that answers to the contemporary query This objection cannot, on reflection, be sus- can be approached on the basis of answers given tained. If achieving supposedly accurate inter- to the timeless query (or, if one prefers, the con- pretations of the thought of political theorists is temporary query is a version of the timeless one). worthwhile for contemporary students of politics, It needs also to be pointed out that perennial- it must be because their thought is in some sense issues historians cannot usually be accused of un- relevant. Now by "relevance" Wolin means their wittingly making anachronistic interpretations, ability to provoke thought-a worthy, yet none- because they often admit to doing so. When the theless present-minded, justification. If Aristotle perennial-issues historian tries to bring the could not provoke thought today, he would be language up to date and make applicable the ideas found, presumably, irrelevant. But if one type of and arguments of the classics, he is often fully relevance can justify the sort of historical ap- aware that he is doing so and that he may, in the proach apparently favored by Wolin, surely process, be distorting to some extent historical another type of relevance can justify the approach truth (e.g., Hacker, 1961, p. 16). Only intellectual favored by the perennial-issues historian. If historians outside the discipline' seem (or in the Aristotle can be unfamiliar yet provocative, he past seemed) to miss this obvious point; those can also be made familiar because provocative. within recognize that when a perennial-issues his- Wolin's second objection seems more telling. tory is written by a political scientist, the author is This objection is that the effort to make applic- out to save the study of past theory from feared able or directly relevant the discussions and argu- extinction (as evidenced in Hacker, 1954, and ments of the masters puts the perennial-issues Bluhm, 1962). historian in the odd position of saying what could But one question does remain: Is the (typically be said more economically or at least more direct- explicit) objective of bringing meaning up to date ly. If, for example, the point of studying Aristotle legitimate? The answer seems obvious. As Hirsch is to launch into a discussion of modern behavior- (1972) has pointed out, all interpretive objectives alism, why bother with Aristotle? Or if the point are "ontologically equal" in the straightforward of studying Machiavelli is to launch into a discus- sense that there simply is no one interpretive goal sion of modern theories of elitism, why not dis- or strategy sanctioned by divinity, logic, necessity, pense with Machiavelli and deal with Pareto and or any other authoritative ground. If the inter- Mosca?' The answer is actually quite simple: the pretive objective of the perennial-issues historian perennial-issues historian does not focus on Machiavelli only to talk about theories of elitism. "In particular by Skinner (1969) who presupposes Machiavelli's ideas and arguments are relevant in what is false: that the objective of the historical study of numerous other ways; for instance, one might past thinkers is always the same-namely, the attempt also find such directly relevant or applicable ideas to achieve historically "accurate" interpretations. He thus attacks Hacker on methodological grounds several times in the course of this essay, completely ignoring 9Hacker (1961) uses Aristotle and Machiavelli in these Hacker's objectives. ways; but see note 10. 998 The American Political Science Review Vol. 78

as the meaning of political realism and means- References end-analyses; the iron law of oligarchy; the ten- sion between ethics and politics; the significance Ashcraft, R. On the problem of methodology and the of religious belief for political order; the doctrine nature of political theory. Political Theory, 1975, 3, of raison d'etat; various democratic ideas and 5-25. problems; a cyclical theory of political change; Ashcraft, R. Political theory and the problem of ideol- ogy. Journal of Politics, 1980, 42, 687-705. perspectives on the limits of power; and political Bluhm, W. T. Causal theory in Thucydides' "Pelo- psychology.'0 For the perennial-issues historian, ponnesian war." Political Studies, 1962, 10, 15-35. the thought of the "great" theorists opens an Bluhm, W. T. Theories of the political system. Engle- apparently unlimited storehouse of "relevant" wood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1965. ideas "which stimulate the mind and inspire the Burgess, J. W. 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