what is political theory philosophy by mark e warren
TRANSCRIPT
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8/19/2019 What is Political Theory Philosophy by Mark E Warren
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What Is Political Theory/Philosophy?
Author(s): Mark E. WarrenSource: PS: Political Science and Politics, Vol. 22, No. 3 (Sep., 1989), pp. 606-612Published by: American Political Science AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/419629
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8/19/2019 What is Political Theory Philosophy by Mark E Warren
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Features
What Is Political
Theory/Philosophy?
MarkE.
Warren
Georgetown University
The
subdiscipline
f
political
heory
and
political
philosophy
continues
to
suffer
some
misunderstanding
within
political
science as a whole.
Notwithstanding
ts
renaissance
in
the last
decade,
political
theory/philosophys still oo often charac-
terized
in
terms that obscure its
roles and
functions within the
discipline.
Political
theory/philosophy
s often
referred
to
as
normative
theory
as
a
way
of
distin-
guishing
ts
concerns with values from
the
empirical
heory
and
research
of
politi-
cal
science
proper.
Where the concerns
of
political theory/philosophy
are
not
just
normative,
political
cientistsoften
charac-
terize
it
as
speculative
heory
to
distin-
guish
it
from
empirical
heory
that can
be confirmedor refuted
by
reference to
observable data.
The
terms of such
a
dis-
tinction
suggest,
of
course,
that
theories
grounded
in
certainties
can and
ought
to
replace
the
speculative
approaches
of
tra-
MARK . WARREN
ditional
political
thought.
And
because
political
heory/philosophy
elies
heavily
n
the historyof politicalhought,manysee it
as
part
of
history
and
the
humanities
rather
than
political
science--interesting
and
necessary
for
any
culturally
iterate
person,
but
fundamentally
distinct from
contemporary
political
esearch.
Terminological
istinctions
uch as
these
solidified n an
era in
which
behavioralist
agendas
shaped
subdisciplinary
ounda-
ries,
and
they
reflect
the influence
hat
neo-positivist
views of
explanation
once
had
within
the
discipline.
Since that
time,
however, we have developed more
sophisticated
understandings
of
how
theory
and
philosophy
relate to
empirical
research.
These
developments
have
in
turn affected
the
way
we
understand
he
explanatory
concerns of
political
cience,
while
also
expanding political
heory/phi-
losophy beyond
its
traditional
boundaries.
New
assessments
of
the
relation
be-
tween
theory/philosophy
nd
explanation
have
in
part
been
stimulated
by
close at-
tention to
philosophy
of science
over the
last
couple
of decades. The behavioralist
agenda
deserves
some
credit
for
this at-
tention,
since it
sought
criteria
of
scientific
authority
in
positivist
eplstemology-that
is,
the
view
that
explanatory
meaning
depends
entirely
on
reference
to
observ-
ables.
Positivism,
however,
has
long
been
superseded
by
other
accounts
of
explana-
tion.
Whatever
their
many
differences,
all
schools
of
philosophy
f
science
agree
that
explanatory meanings
are underdeter-
mined by observables. Explanation
depends
to a
much
greater
extent
than
the
positivists
appreciated
on
conceptual
relations
and
assumptions
internal
to
theory,
and thus on
the
kind
of
systematic
conceptual
analysis
raditionally racticed
by
political
theory/philosophy.
For
this
reason
political
heories
and
philosophies
have
what
I
shallcall
a
meoning-constitutive
function
within
all
explanations.
This
func-
tion is
increasingly
ecognized
within
politi-
cal
science,
and this is no
doubt
one reason
why the post-behavioralra has coincided
with
a
resurgence
of
interest
in
political
theory/philosophy.
At
the
same
time,
political
heory/phi-
losophy
has
changed
dramatically
n
the
last
couple
of
decades.
Whereas
t
used
to
PS:
Political Science
&
Politics06
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8/19/2019 What is Political Theory Philosophy by Mark E Warren
3/8
What Is Political
Theory/Philosophy?
be
mostly
the
history
of
political
hought,
today
it
includes
a mixture of
conceptual,
linguistic,
nd normative
analysis, grandtheories of
society
and
politics
(which
are
w 40
44
0 *
4
44t
4 kz
Ak?4.
comingbackto lifeinnew forms),andphi-
losophy
of
social
science. As a subdisci-
pline,
it is
broader,
more
eclectic,
more
sophisticated,
and more
sensitive to ex-
planatory
concerns
than
it was
just
two
decades
ago.
But we have been less
suc-
cessful
in
developing
alternatives to the
neo-positivist
erms we
use to character-
ize the
relationsbetween
political heory/
philosophy
and
explanation,
and thus the
role
of
political
theory/philosophy
within
political
cience.
Our
failure
eaves us sub-
ject
to the
tacit blinders
of
terminological
distinctions.The distinctions offer here
as
alternatives o
those with
a
neo-positivist
genesis
suggest
one
way
of
more accurate-
ly
depicting
the
functions of
political
theory/philosophy.They
also
suggest
why
explanations
of the
political
world neces-
sarily
involve the
diversity
of
theoretical
and
philosophical
concerns
that we
are
now
seeing
withinthe
discipline.
Political Theory
atory,
all
explanatory
heories
involve,
and
are
partly
determined
by,
the
philosophi-
cal
presuppositions
that are
essential to
their
explanatory power-an
issue to
which
I
shall return.
Accordingly,
I
suggest
that we reserve
the
term
politicaltheory
(in
contrast
to
political
hilosophy)
or those
dimensions
of
conceptual
schemes that
select
and
orga-
nize
informationabout the
political
world
for
explanatory purposes-for example,
neo-marxist
theories of
the
state
or
rationalchoice models of
decisionmaking.
Political cientists
have
always
appreciated
that theories such as these suggestsignifi-
cant
problems
and
hypotheses,
as
well as
provide
common
languages
nd
conceptu-
al tools. What has
changed
in
the
post-
behavioral
era is our
appreciation
of the
meaning-constitutive
unctionsof
theories.
It is
now
an
accepted
tenet of the
philos-
ophy
of social science that
explanatory
meanings
of terms are
interdependent
within
a
body
of
theory.
There
are,
of
course,
many
different versions
of
how
this occurs and
what
its
implications
re.
e4,^
t
VC4?4
4o4t
I4i
AU
W4dve.
44
4,
To
begin
with,
it is
useful o recalla
pre-
positivist
distinction between theoretical
and
philosophical
problems:
although
closely
interrelated,
we
need
to
recognize
their
differences o
as
not
to confuse
philo-
sophical
issues with those
of
explanatory
theory.
In
the
way
I
shall use the terms
here,
theoriesare
about
things
hat
empiri-
cally
exist,
even
if
these
things
are them-
selves
ideas, values,
and
theories that
are
part
of the
political
world.
Philosophical
concerns
have to do with
conceptual
pre-
suppositions
and
judgments
that are em-
bedded
in
explanatory
heories.
Although
philosophical nalysis
s not
directlyexplan-
wokUL.
At the
very
least,
however,
the
point
im-
plies
that
in addition to care
in
specify-
ing empirical
referents
(a legacy
of behav-
ioralism),
political
scientists
need to
develop
a
greater
awareness
of
how their
theories
constitute
their
problems
and
even their
findings.Explanation,
s
always,
requires
hat we
distinguish
mpirical
rom
theoretical
questions-something
positiv-
ists
rightly
insisted
upon.
But
it
also re-
quires
us to
interrelateboth
dimensionsof
September
1989
607
AvAM,*.
AA
41
0(
f
AUt
it
Aa
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8/19/2019 What is Political Theory Philosophy by Mark E Warren
4/8
Features
meaning-a
task
positivists
ailedto
recog-
nize
as
a
problem
because
they
held that
the
meanings
of theoretical
terms are re-
ducibleto theirempiricalreferents.
p4
40f e40
S
-Cc-t-ft^J ^WAfCt?b*1
u4o.
vle
A first
step
in
recognizing
he
relative
autonomy
of
theory
is to notice that we
rarely
use theories
as
representational
maps
of the
political
world
at
all,
even
though
this
metaphor
dominates
common
understandings.
More
often,
the
explana-
tory powers
of theories are indirect
in
a
way
that
provides
them with a
meaning-
constitutive
dimension: we use
them as
limiting
cases and counterfactuals
to
reduce the
complexity
of
the
political
world so it
might
become a discrete
object
of
study.
We
decide
to
reduce
complexity
in one
way
rather han another
for
reasons
that
are,
more
often than
not,
normative.
This
is the
way
it should
be,
since this is
how we
characterize
ertaindimensions
f
the world
as
problematic-say,
its effi-
ciency, justice, distributionof power, or
violence-and thus
worthy
of further
in-
vestigation.
Models
of
democracy
work
in
this
way,
as do rational choice
models,
models of
organizational
structure,
theories of
development,
conflict,
world
systems,
and so
on. The
normative com-
ponent
of
limiting
cases and counterfac-
tuals
is
a
problem only
if one
uses
them as
if
theories were
representational
maps
rather
than
meaning-constitutive
ecisions
of
a
community
of
political
cientists.
One
can avoid these mistakesonly by making
the theories themselves
into
objects
of
study. Only
then
can
one
defend the con-
stitutive
meanings
and normative
implica-
tions that
inevitably
ollow from them.
A
second role of
political heory
in
ex-
608
planation
whose
importance
s
increasingly
recognized
s
that
it
deals
with the
concep-
tual
coherence
of
interpretative
schemes
that (empirically) nter into politicalac-
tions
through
actors'
understandings
nd
uses
of
the
terms of
political
discourse.
Ex-
amples
would be
analyses
of
political
deol-
ogies,
cultures,
rhetoric,
diplomatic
docu-
ments,
as
well
as
everyday
discourses
as
they
come to bear
on
the
political
world.
To take
a
simple
example,
the
act
of vot-
ing
is
caused
in
part
by
the
way
actors
understand
he normative
significance
nd
political
unction
of
voting
within a demo-
craticsystem. Forthis reason,the intelligi-
bility
of
voting
requires
something
more
than observation: it
requires
(conceptual)
interpretation
of an
empirically-existing
universeof
discourse
n
which are embed-
ded
understandings
bout
democratic
rep-
resentation-or
indeed,
whatever other
discourse
happens
to
impact
on
voting.
These
textual
elements of
politics
are
an intrinsic
part
of
the
political
world
because
they
conceptually
orient
individ-
uals
toward
collective
decisionmaking.
Wj%ie,4es
^eto
14$%At4
l
tuw
f^^l
^
-
8/19/2019 What is Political Theory Philosophy by Mark E Warren
5/8
What
Is
Political
Theory/Philosophy?
nology,
hermeneutics,
and
interpretive
sociology.
A
less
obvious
example
of
an
in-
terpretive approach is rational choice
theory:
it views the
political
world as
made
up
of
conceptually
coherent
inten-
tions that
formulate
nstrumentally
ational
action orientations.What
distinguishes
a-
tional
choice
theory
from
other
interpreta-
tive
approaches
is
a
confusion
about
the
status of its methods:
it
constitutes he do-
main of intentions
by
means of axioms
rather
than
treating
ntentionality
s an
in-
terpretive
problem.
This confusion
has
allowed
rational
choice
theory
to inherit
positivist expectations for a definitive
empirical
theory
that would
displace
traditional
political heory.
Political
Philosophy
the nature and fundamental
properties
of
reality.
We
no
longer
believe
we can
carry
out such investigationsbecause we no
longer
presume
intellectual ccess to real-
ity
as such.
For
good
reason
ontology
as a
science has fallen out of favor. None-
theless,
the term has been resurrected
in
political philosophy
for
slightly
different
purposes:
whether
reality
is
knowable or
not,
we
unavoidably
make
general
as-
sumptions
about the nature of
the
reality
we are
investigating.
hese
mightproperly
be
called
ontological
ssumptions
because
they
are
logically
prior
to
any
explanation
and serve as its conditions of possibility.
Covvso
e^ftl.
4of
44,4
%Ces
44
We
might
reserve the term
political hi-
losophy
as
opposed
to
political
heory)
or
concernsthat are
not
immediately
xplan-
atory.
Political
philosophy
typically
in-
volves
questions
having
to
do with the
conceptual presuppositionsof theoretical
orientations,
as well
as
questions
of
judg-
ment about
truth and
value. A common
misconception
in
political
science is
that
most
questions
of
politicalphilosophy
are
about normative
issues;
hence its
overly
narrow identification
with normative
theory.
In
fact,
the
problems
of
political
philosophy
all
into three
distinct,
although
interrelated,
categories
of
analysis
and
judgment,only
one of
which
is
normative.
Wt4
---
c ?
00 44e4
44e.41L40-444~4440
~&? t?~~
O4441f.
-
4ic
^^^M
H4c4ot,q,
1
4,K*t
. . .
Although
necessary,
they
cannot be em-
pirically
nvestigated
because
they
charac-
terize
general properties
of the world
we seek to
investigate.
Most
ontological
assumptions
are
so
fundamental
hat we
take them for
granted,
not
understanding
how
they
frame,
select,
and
limit
possibili-
ties
for
explanation
and
judgment.
All
em-
pirical
esearch
presupposes
hat some set
of features of the humancondition-such
as
consciousness,
language,
carcity,
tem-
porality,
causal
determination,
lawlike
regularity-defines
a
political
world as
a
knowable
object
of
study.
Decisions o
in-
clude some features
of the human
condi-
tion
and
exclude others are not
trivial:
they
constitute
disciplinary
domains
by
defining
objects
of
explanation.
For
exam-
ple,
the behavioralist
claim that
only
observablesthat
can be ordered
into
logi-
cal
associations
ount as a
(knowable)
part
of political ealityproducesone kindof dis-
ciplinary
domain. The rationalchoice
pre-
supposition
that
politics
is
an effect of
in-
strumentally
rational actions
produces
a
second kind
of domain. The Weberian
focus on
intentional
ctions molded
by
dis-
September
1989
Ontologicat
questions:
Some
of
these
problems
are
ontological.
The term
ontol-
ogy
refers to the science
that
investigates
609
3kct
*
4
*tlo1 od
d^o
v
awlcW
qw
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8/19/2019 What is Political Theory Philosophy by Mark E Warren
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Features
tinctive cultural
possibilities
produces
a
third.
Those
who see
social and
organiza-
tional
structuresas irreducible o behavior
or
intentional
action
produce
still
another
definitionof
what
features of
the human
condition
makes the
political
world
possi-
ble.
4
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What
Is
Political
Theory/Philosophy?
verified
by
referring
to
theory-indepen-
dent
observations.
This
is
why positivists
deny a (knowable)causalstatus to inter-
pretive
phenomena
in
the
political
world,
and
seek to reduce
them to
lawlike
regu-
larities. In
contrast,
much
political
philosophy
oday
has
to
do
with articulat-
ing postpositivist
accounts
of the
authority
of
social scientific
nterpretations
of inter-
pretative
phenomena.
Recent
critical
theory,
for
example,
focuses on
criteriaof
authority implicit
in the
intersubjective
dimensions
of action.
Normative
questions:
It is
well
recognized
that
political
philosophy
deals with a
third
category
of
questions,
those
having
o
do
with
normative
judgment.
The
classical
form
of
questioning
n
political
philosophy
occurs
when
problems
of
explanatory
judgment
can be
distinguished
rom those
of normative
judgment.
Thus,
assuming
that
the
relevant
aspects
of
a
political
do-
main
are
known,
how are
they
to be
judged?
What
are
the
criteria
of
judgment,
and how are they relatedto fundamental
human
values?
What
modes
of
political
organization
would
maximize
hese
values?
Although
normative
judgments
are
logi-
cally
distinct
from
explanatory
concerns,
they
are also
closely
related
by
the
pecu-
liar
way
that
political
cience
is
defined
as a
discipline.
Whatever
other
disagreements
there
might
be
about
domain,
we
usually
call
something
political
f it concerns
col-
lective
decisionmaking,
where the
ques-
tion whatoughtwe to do? isalways
m-
plicit.
Political
cience
is
unique
among
the
social
sciences
in
that
its
domain s
precon-
stituted
by
normative
questions.
Stated
otherwise,
such
questions
are
intrinsic o
the
possibility
of a
political
cience.
This
logical
ormulation
has
an
empirical
orre-
late:
individuals ct
politically
when
they
are
normatively
oriented toward
collec-
tive
problems.
Political
philosophers
artic-
ulate
this
dimension
of
politics
when
they
reconstruct
and
analyze
the
normative
dimensionof politicaldiscourse.
Normative
and
explanatory
goals
are
closely
related
in other
ways
as
well.
As
suggested,
we often
assign significance
o
political
research
according
o
normative
judgments.
For
example, studying
voting
presupposes
that
voting
is
problematic,
which
in
turn
presupposes
a normative
theory of liberal-democracywithin which
voting
is
a central
and definitiveelement.
In
contrast,
Marxist
theories
downplay
voting
because of the normative
udgment
that
political
democracy
is
diminished n
value without
economic
democracy;
his
is
partly why
Marxistsare interested
in
the
effects
of economic
structures
on
politics.
o4
4/W^
a
d4It
44A144W''W
4fd40C..
0'
44e4ccltv
-4.~e~o~c~J?.
Somewhat
less obvious
is the
way
that
different
normative tendencies
and
possi-
bilities follow
from
ontological
decisions
that select
for some
kinds of
applications
and exclude
others. For
example,
if one
constitutes
the
political
universe as
made
up
of
behaviors,
the
form of
knowledgeone
produces
will lack connections to in-
tentional and
linguisticphenomena.
Lack-
ing
these
connections,
it will be
relatively
useless-or at best
insufficient-for
in-
creasing
ndividual
apacities
or choice and
self-direction.
What behavioral
research
can be
used
for
is behavior
modification
as,
for
example,
in
campaign
use
of
opin-
ion
survey
research
o tailor media
images
for
desired
responses.
But such
applica-
tions
are
technocratic rather than
demo-
cratic. Becausebehavioral ormsof knowl-
edge
can be more
easily put
to
such uses
(rather
than,
say,
locating
conditions
of
public discourse)
they produce
a
bias
toward
technocracy
and
away
from
democracy
September
1989
611
-
8/19/2019 What is Political Theory Philosophy by Mark E Warren
8/8
Features
The aim of
politicalphilosophy
here,
of
course,
is to make such
normative
judg-
ments into problems that one can treat
systematically.
At
the same
time,
aware-
ness about the
interrelations etween nor-
mative orientations
and research can
guard
against
scientistic
political
cience
-that
is,
research that
tacitly
confuses
political
or
value
problems
with
scientific
findings,
History
of Political
Thought
Finally,
comment
may
be
useful
about
why
political theory/philosophydoes so
much
of its work
by
means
of
the
history
of
political
thought.
Classical
systems
of
political hought-from
Plato
and Aristotle
to
Marx and
Weber-exemplify
different
kinds
of
answers
to
many
of the
above
questions,
answers
that
express
central
strains
in
our
political
culture. Political
scientists
nevitably ely
on
the
conceptual
and
linguistic
ools
provided
by
their
politi-
cal
culture-indeed,
if
only
so that
they
can
take the communicationndsignificancef
their
research or
granted.
Cultural
ware-
ness
is
no doubt valuable or
its own sake:
how else could we
know
who the
we is
that is defined
by
a
tradition of
political
discourse?
But,
in
addition,
studying
rela-
tively comprehensive
and
discrete
systems
of
thought
is
an invaluablemeans
of
devel-
oping
an awareness about
our
own
pre-
suppositions
and values.
The canon of
political
hought
is
close
enough
so we can
recognize
our
own
assumptions
within
it,
but distant enough so we can recognize
discrete sets
of
values,
problems,
presup-
positions,
and mistakes.It is never
simply
a
question
of
learning
and
borrowing
from
past
masters,
but also
one
of
seeing
them
as
exemplars
of the
interdependence
of
philosophy, heory,
and
explanation,
such
that
we
might
understand
he
powers
and
limits
of
different
possibilities,
and
gain
a
criticalawareness
of our own
Conclusion
The
resurgence
of
political heory
and
philosophy
s,
in
my
view,
part
of
the disci-
pline's
recovery
from
self-imposed
mis-
understandings
about the nature
of the
political
world,
and about
how it
is
possi-
ble to
know and
judge
it. The
discipline
s
healthier
today
because these
questions
are no
longermarginalized
y
an exclusive-
lybehavioralagenda.Butit is now time to
do
away
with the
terminological
distinc-
tions inherited
rom the
behavioralera as
well. These terms
suggest
indefensible
roles for
political
theory/philosophy,
and
they
continue to confuse us about what
roles,
exactly,
political heory/philosophy
does
play
within
he
discipline.
The distinc-
tions and
interrelations
I
offer
here-be-
tween
theory
and
philosophy,
and
be-
tween
ontological, epistemological,
and
normative
questions-provide
one
way
of
replacing
hese terms and
explaining
hese
roles.
They
also advocate
my
own view
that
the
current renaissance of
political
theory/philosophy
eflects
a
growing rigor
and
depth
in our
understanding
f
political
life
About the
Author
MarkE. Warren s AssistantProfessor f
Government
t
Georgetown
University.
e is
authorof
Nietzsche
nd
Political
houghtMIT
Press,
1988),
nd
currently
orking
n
a book
entitled
Democracy
nd
the
Self
which
will
examine
relations
etween
language,
olitical
interaction,
and
subjectivity
n democratic
theory.
PS: Political
Science
&
Politics
12