Political Thought and History Essays on Theory and Method [Hardcover]

Selected essays of arguably the greatest and most influential historian of ideas of modern times.John Pocock is arguably the most influential historian of ideas of modern times. These essays are selected from a lifetime of thinking about political thought, and how we should study it in history. Together they constitute a collection that any serious student of politics and intellectual history needs to possess.John Pocock is arguably the most influential historian of ideas of modern times. These essays are selected from a lifetime of thinking about political thought, and how we should study it in history. Together they constitute a collection that any serious student of politics and intellectual history needs to possess.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 thouglƒ*