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Applying: The Contexts of Ideological Meaning

Michael Freeden

in Ideologies and Political Theory: A Conceptual Approach

Explores further the consequences of conceptual contestability and determinacy in conjunction with questions of ideological meaning. The eight sections of the chapter are: (a) The inevitability of ... More

Explores further the consequences of conceptual contestability and determinacy in conjunction with questions of ideological meaning. The eight sections of the chapter are: (a) The inevitability of [the contribution of] history [to the meaning of ideology]; (b) Contextual history and intentionality; (c) Ideology and hermeneutics; (d) The contribution of Begriffsgeschichte [the school of conceptual history]; (e) Competing viewpoints and the path to integration; (f) Structure and morphology; (g) Meeting some objections; and (h) Ideologies as vehicles of political theory.Less

The Concept ‘Community’

Elizabeth Frazer

in The Problems of Communitarian Politics: Unity and Conflict

Contrasting approaches to the political philosophical technique of ‘conceptual analysis’ are discussed. The concept community as it is constructed and deployed in recent social and political theory ... More

Contrasting approaches to the political philosophical technique of ‘conceptual analysis’ are discussed. The concept community as it is constructed and deployed in recent social and political theory is analysed by way of examination of the examples of ‘community’ therein, by the contrasts explicitly or implicitly drawn, and by using an interpretive method and representing in diagrammatic form the elements of and the structure of the concept. The intention here is not to provide a definition but rather to illustrate the concept's indefinition; not to legislate for the concept, but to show why it is contested.Less

Staking Out: The Distinctiveness of Analysing Ideologies

Michael Freeden

in Ideologies and Political Theory: A Conceptual Approach

This is the first of three chapters on theorizing about ideological morphology. It looks at the challenges awaiting the student of ideology, what can be gleaned from the most salient theories and ... More

This is the first of three chapters on theorizing about ideological morphology. It looks at the challenges awaiting the student of ideology, what can be gleaned from the most salient theories and views in circulation, and where the state of the art raises questions and leaves gaps to be filled. The material presented demonstrates that there are manifold ways of answering the question ‘what is an ideology?’ There are eight sections: (a) The Conceptual histories of ideology; (b) In search of a single concept; (c) Analytical misconceptions; (d) Rival epistemologies; (e) Philosophy [political philosophy] and ideology: the unholy alliance; (f) Unconscious and rhetorical components of ideology; (g) Ideology and the limits on logic; and (h) The ubiquity and specificity of ideology.Less

The Ideological Response to State Expansion

Max. M Edling

in A Revolution in Favor of Government: Origins of the U.S. Constitution and the Making of the American State

It would be a fundamental mistake to assume a priori a complete correspondence between the historical sociology of state formation and the conceptual history of the “state,” or, in more general ... More

It would be a fundamental mistake to assume a priori a complete correspondence between the historical sociology of state formation and the conceptual history of the “state,” or, in more general terms, between institutional and intellectual development, and between political reality and political rhetoric. Equally, it would be a mistake to assume that there is no relation whatsoever, and it would have been remarkable if the great expansion of the fiscal and military capacity of central government in Britain in the early modern period had gone unnoticed by contemporaries, so as to leave no mark on historical, political, and social reflection. Shows that the European process of state formation had indeed influenced political commentary in giving rise to arguments analyzing and criticizing the growth of the state, and that these arguments found their way across the Atlantic from Britain to the American colonies in the form of “Country” thought, which gave rise to a complete vocabulary with which to respond to the growth of the British fiscal‐military state in the Anglo‐American world of political discourse. In fact, Antifederalism can be described as an expression of Country thought, although it cannot at the same time be claimed that Federalism was a repetition of the contrasting central Court defense of state expansion.Less

The Enlightenment and the French Revolutionary Birth Pangs of Modernity

Robert Wokler and Christopher Brooke

Bryan Garsten (ed.)

in Rousseau, the Age of Enlightenment, and Their Legacies

This chapter's overriding objective is to explain how both the invention of our modern understanding of the social sciences, on the one hand, and the post-Enlightenment establishment of the modern ... More

This chapter's overriding objective is to explain how both the invention of our modern understanding of the social sciences, on the one hand, and the post-Enlightenment establishment of the modern nation-state, on the other, encapsulated doctrines which severed modernity from the Enlightenment philosophy which is presumed to have inspired it. It offers illustrations not so much of the unity of political theory and practice in the modern world as of their disengagement. In providing here some brief remarks on how post-Enlightenment justifications of modernity came to part company from their Enlightenment prefigurations, it hopes to sketch an account of certain links between principles and institutions which bears some relation to both Enlightenment and Hegelian conceptual history.Less

On Conceptual History

Jan-Werner Müller

in Rethinking Modern European Intellectual History

The chapter briefly tells the story of how conceptual history emerged in postwar Germany as well as recent attempts to “export” conceptual history to Europe more broadly and even globally. The ... More

The chapter briefly tells the story of how conceptual history emerged in postwar Germany as well as recent attempts to “export” conceptual history to Europe more broadly and even globally. The chapter subsequently addresses the political concerns that have shadowed conceptual history, in particular the worries that it constitutes a form of antimodernism and that it is bound up with the thought of Carl Schmitt. It is then argued that conceptual history’s main promise has been to mediate “social history and the history of consciousness”—without it ever becoming fully clear how that mediation can be carried out coherently, or whether assuming a split between the two is plausible. Conceptual history’s most stimulating contribution remains the imperative to study conceptual transformations in conjunction with changing experiences of time. The chapter concludes with three suggestions for further work: constructing a critical conceptual history of the present; a history of translations and appropriations; and conceptual history as a means to theorize processes of historical change—in particular the changing nature of experience itself.Less

The Semantics of Conceptual Change: The Emergence of the Concept of Emancipation

María Pía Lara

in The Disclosure of Politics: Struggles Over the Semantics of Secularization

This chapter focuses on conceptual history and on innovation in political theory. The first section analyzes how, in their genealogical accounts, Hannah Arendt and Reinhart Koselleck connected ... More

This chapter focuses on conceptual history and on innovation in political theory. The first section analyzes how, in their genealogical accounts, Hannah Arendt and Reinhart Koselleck connected concepts such as democracy, the state, emancipation, and the notion of critique to the web of a disclosive process of semantic transformations. From the author's particular vantage point as a philosopher (not a historian), her aim is not to engage in the production of a conceptual history, but, rather, to show how conceptual history as a method was used by Arendt and Koselleck to explain the way specific notions of political agency have undergone a change or a transformation. The second part of the chapter shows how Koselleck formulated his theory of conceptual history as a way of explaining his two main categories: the “space of experience” and the “horizon of expectations.” These two realms allow us to situate actors over and against their goals and actions.Less

Introduction: The Emergent Critical History of Intellectual Disability

Patrick McDonagh, C. F. Goodey, and Tim Stainton

in Intellectual disability: A conceptual history, 1200-1900

Intellectual disability is an unstable concept, and its fundamental instability is magnified when we track its history and relation to other concepts. This introductory chapter explores some of the ... More

Intellectual disability is an unstable concept, and its fundamental instability is magnified when we track its history and relation to other concepts. This introductory chapter explores some of the challenges of investigating the forces shaping the concept of intellectual disability in Europe and Britain across the centuries: not only those generated by shifting language and terminology, but also the demands imposed by the interdisciplinary nature of this project, which takes us through histories of literature, religion, law, education, philosophy, psychology and medicine, in addition to engaging with cultural and social history. Further, the fundamental slipperiness of the idea of intellectual disability raises the question of whether it could even be said to exist in forms similar to that which it assumes today. This introduction also includes a review of literature exploring the history of intellectual disability, and an overview of the chapters to follow.Less

What Was an Environment?

Etienne S. Benson

in Surroundings: A History of Environments and Environmentalisms

This introductory chapter describes the importance of the concept of environment both within and beyond the modern environmental movement, as well as some of the concerns about the concept that have ... More

This introductory chapter describes the importance of the concept of environment both within and beyond the modern environmental movement, as well as some of the concerns about the concept that have recently been raised by scientists, scholars, and activists. It argues that the history of the word environment in English and related terms in other languages (such as milieu in French and Umwelt in German) shows that the concept emerged in something like its contemporary form in the nineteenth century—that is, long before the emergence of the modern environmental movement in the 1960s and 1970s, but much more recently than concepts such as nature or wilderness with which it is sometimes associated. The chapter describes this book’s approach to the history of the concept of environment, which goes beyond the history of the word to include the technologies and practices that made the concept useful and tangible in a variety of material, social, political, economic, and cultural contexts.Less

Introduction

María Pía Lara

in The Disclosure of Politics: Struggles Over the Semantics of Secularization

This introductory chapter considers recent debates concerning the meaning of secularization. It cites the need to first trace the genealogy of the term and identify the relevant political actors ... More

This introductory chapter considers recent debates concerning the meaning of secularization. It cites the need to first trace the genealogy of the term and identify the relevant political actors involved in the development of secularism, when they began to use the term as they did, and why their expectations were related to their experiences through new and different ways of understanding the concept. It then examines the meaning of disclosure as well as the dialectics between immanence and transcendence in relation to politics. It concludes that it was through conceptual history and in discovering how politics belonged to the realm of immanence that it truly gained its autonomy from theology. Modern politics established its grounds by relating societies to their experiences and hopes of its own institutionalization.Less

Introduction

Stuart Elden

in The Birth of Territory

This introductory chapter first discusses why territory matters today, and then provides some conceptual clarity. It suggests that work on a related but distinct term of territoriality, in either the ... More

This introductory chapter first discusses why territory matters today, and then provides some conceptual clarity. It suggests that work on a related but distinct term of territoriality, in either the biological or the social uses of this term, are not particularly profitable ways to approach the historically more specific category of ‘territory’. Instead, ideas of ‘land’ and ‘terrain’ are examined, suggesting that these political-economic and political-strategic relations are essential to understanding ‘territory’, yet ultimately insufficient. Territory needs to be understood in terms of its relation to space, a calculative category that is dependent on the existence of a range of techniques and legal practices. Territory can be thought as a political technology. The chapter also discusses the relation between the word, concept and practice of territory, and outlines the methodological concerns of the inquiry in relation to genealogy, conceptual history and the history of political thought.Less

The Liberal Dilemma: The Economic and the Social, and the Need for a European Contextualization of a Concept with Universal Pretensions

Bo Stråth

in Liberalism as Ideology: Essays in Honour of Michael Freeden

There is not one liberalism but several, each of which has contributed to the modernity of Europe. The collection of arguments that we call liberalism reflects the deep historical diversity of ... More

There is not one liberalism but several, each of which has contributed to the modernity of Europe. The collection of arguments that we call liberalism reflects the deep historical diversity of Europe, a diversity that since the nineteenth century has had the demarcation between nation states as a point of departure. To argue that each specific national culture has had its own understanding and experience of liberalism is to underestimate the complexity, however, because in each national setting there have been various more or less contested versions. This chapter argues that there is a need to historicize and contextualize liberalism through the methodology of conceptual history, to particularize (‘provincialize’) what is claimed to be universal. The chapter focuses on the liberal conceptualization of the economic, and on the connection between market language and the social issue.Less

Thucydidean Themes: Democracy in International Relations

Christopher Hobson

in The Rise of Democracy: Revolution, War and Transformations in International Politics Since 1776

This chapter explores existing scholarship on democracy in international relations, focusing primarily on the democratic peace research programme. The remainder of the chapter provides the ... More

This chapter explores existing scholarship on democracy in international relations, focusing primarily on the democratic peace research programme. The remainder of the chapter provides the theoretical and conceptual framework for the book. It identifies how conceptions of democracy have developed in relation to principles of sovereignty and legitimacy in international society. A conceptual history methodology is proposed, which is outlined by drawing on the work of Quentin Skinner and Reinhart Koselleck. The final part of the chapter uses Thucydides to draw out some key themes of the book.Less

Introduction: Beginnings

Timothy M. Harrison

in Coming To: Consciousness and Natality in Early Modern England

The Introduction situates the protagonists of Coming To (René Descartes, John Milton, Thomas Traherne, and John Locke) in relation to a shared but distinct commitment to the experience of absolute ... More

The Introduction situates the protagonists of Coming To (René Descartes, John Milton, Thomas Traherne, and John Locke) in relation to a shared but distinct commitment to the experience of absolute novelty. Providing a new history of the concept of consciousness as it emerged in the latter half of the seventeenth century, the Introduction shows how early modern poetry was uniquely equipped to unravel some of its mysteries. Consciousness is a concept that is fully grounded in particulars: it indexes the appearance of all of the somethings that might show up for someone. This means that it is perfectly suited for mimesis, the discursive practice of representation situated on the horizon of the particular. Drawing the history of consciousness together with a theorization of how fiction relates to poetry, the Introduction argues that Milton and Traherne weld concept to mimesis by representing the scene of originary experience, the experience of the earliest glimmerings of consciousness. The Introduction also outlines the methodological commitments of Coming To, discussing a scholarly practice that involves the union of close critical analysis, historical phenomenology, a theory of concepts, and intellectual history.Less

Introduction: social policy concepts and language

Daniel Béland and Klaus Petersen

in Analysing social policy concepts and language: Comparative and Transnational Perspectives

This introduction chapter develops the overall framework for the following chapters. First, it demonstrates that there is a need to take a closer look at the development of key concepts in social ... More

This introduction chapter develops the overall framework for the following chapters. First, it demonstrates that there is a need to take a closer look at the development of key concepts in social policy language such as ‘welfare state’, ‘social security’, ‘welfare society’. The terms, metaphors, and concepts we use when studying social policy are far from innocent and are closely tied to political struggles and transnational processes. Therefore, from a comparative and international perspective, studying terminology and concept formation is an important part of both political and policy analysis. Second, the chapter discusses different approaches to the study of social policy concepts and language, including conceptual history, discourse analysis, and the role of ideas literature. Third, this introductory chapter outlines the structure and the content of the volume as a whole.Less

Hannah Arendt’s Model of the Autonomy of Politics: Semantic Innovation Through Religious Disclosure

María Pía Lara

in The Disclosure of Politics: Struggles Over the Semantics of Secularization

This chapter examines Hannah Arendt's vision of the task of politics and her views on concept building. It begins by showing that her analysis of the loss of the Western concept of authority in ... More

This chapter examines Hannah Arendt's vision of the task of politics and her views on concept building. It begins by showing that her analysis of the loss of the Western concept of authority in modernity and her ideas about creating an autonomous space for politics provide the internal connection for all her essays on secularization. Second, it focuses on how, in On Revolution, she rescues the Roman concept of authority as foundational and connects it to her model of the American revolution. Third, it shows how she uses the method of political disclosure by taking religious images and mythic figures to open up the space for new kinds of political interactions among political agents. The chapter also contrasts her theory of myths and mythmaking with Blumenberg's. In so doing it presents her views on religion's role in conceptual history by describing her method of thematizing the emergence, transformation, and innovation of concepts. It discusses her ideas about action, power, and freedom as seen through the immanent practices between political actors. It is argued that representation of Jesus' actions take on new semantic meanings because of the sense of political agency that has been ascribed to them. Arendt's model is the first step toward a full disclosure of new categories, which can provide a different perspective on what is at stake when we engage with ideas “thinking without a banister”.Less