Political Thought and History
Essays on Theory and Method

Selected essays of arguably the greatest and most influential historian of ideas of modern times.

J. G .A. Pocock (Author)

9780521714068, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 5 February 2009

298 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.47 kg

'Although his writing demands a great deal of concentration … nowhere is it other than fresh, cogent and provocative. … is usefully illustrative, and offers insights that all who aspire to the study of intellectual history (in its broadest sense) can heed.' English Historical Review

John Pocock is arguably the most original and imaginative historian of ideas of modern times. Over the past half century he has created an audience for his work which is truly global, and he has marked the way in which the history of political thought is studied as deeply and personally as any historian of the period. The essays in this major new collection are selected from a lifetime of thinking about political thought, and how we should study it in history. What in fact does it mean to write the history of a political society, and what kind of political thought is this? Professor Pocock emphasises both the theory and practice of political thought considered as action in history, and the political theory of historiography considered as a form of political thought. Together these essays constitute a collection that any serious student of politics and intellectual history needs to possess.

Foreword
Part I. Political Thought as History: 1. The history of political thought: a methodological enquiry
2. Working on ideas in time
3. Verbalizing a political act: towards a politics of speech
4. Political ideas as historical events
political philosophers as historical actors
5. The reconstruction of discourse: towards the historiography of political thought
6. The concept of a language and the metier d'historien: some considerations on practice
7. Texts as events: reflections on the history of political thought
8. Quentin Skinner: the history of politics and the politics of history
Part II. History as Political Thought: 9. The origins of study of the past: a comparative approach
10. Time, institutions and action: an essay on traditions and their understanding
11. The historian as political actor in polity, society and academy
12. The politics of history: the subaltern and the subversive
13. The politics of historiography.

Subject Areas: Political science & theory [JPA], History of ideas [JFCX], General & world history [HBG]