Quentin Skinner: History, Politics, RhetoricISBN: 978-0-7456-2857-8
Paperback
216 pages
June 2003, Polity
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Quentin Skinner's treatment of political theory as a dimension
of political life marks a revolutionary move in the historical as
well as the philosophical study of political thought. Skinner
brings the study of political theory closer to the language of
agents and treats theorists as politicians of a special kind. This
is as true of his accounts of his contemporaries, such as Rawls,
Rorty, Geertz and Habermas, as it is of his interpretations of
classical thinkers such as Machiavelli and Hobbes. Skinner has
become internationally renowned for this approach, which ties
together historical and contemporary analysis in order to integrate
the study of the past and the present, and which tries fully to
uncover the historical context and development of key concepts in
political theory such as freedom and the state.
This volume charts Skinner's work from the early 1960s right up
to the present, including his most recent studies in the theory of
persuasive speech, and is organized around five major themes:
history, linguistic action, political thought, liberty and
rhetoric. It pays particular attention to Skinner's work in
relation to that of continental thinkers, especially Max Weber and
Reinhart Koselleck.
The book will be essential reading for students and scholars of political and social theory, history, philosophy and cultural studies.