On the importance of history for political philosophy. A reply to Jonathan Floyd

摘要

In an interesting essay published in this journal Jonathan Floyd has recently argued (20094. Floyd, J. 2009. Is political philosophy too ahistorical?. Critical review of international social and political philosophy , 12(4): 513-533. [Taylor & Francis Online]View all references) that, contrary to widespread opinion, political philosophy is not too a‐historical, for historical facts cannot ground timeless political principles. In the following I would like to reply to his theses showing that the authors he criticises aim in fact to show that our historical situation gives us a decisive clue as to the tasks that philosophical theory has to address; that philosophical argumentation rests on normative beliefs that we expect our audience to take for granted, and that these beliefs are historically embedded. Finally, although the historicity of normative beliefs has been often used to reject universalism, current scholarship includes important attempts to combine historicity and universalism.View full textDownload full textKeywordsPhilosophical argumentation, political history, historical knowledge, universalismRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2010.517971