Modeling Interpretation and the Practice of Political Theory

Description

Political theory offers a great variety of interpretive traditions and models. Today, pluralism is the paradigm. But are all approaches equally useful? What are their limits and possibilities? Can we practice them in isolation, or can we combine them? Modeling Interpretation and the Practice of Political Theory addresses these questions in a refreshing and hands- on manner. It not only models in the abstract, but also tests in practice eight basic schemes of interpretation with which any ambitious reader of political texts should already be familiar. Comprehensive and engaging, the book includes: A straightforward typology of interpretation in political theory. Chapters on the analytical Oxford model, biographical and oeuvre- based interpretation, Skinner’s Cambridge School, the esoteric model, reflexive hermeneutics, reception analysis and conceptual history. Original readings of Federalist Paper No. 10 , Plato’s Statesman, de Gouges’s The Three Urns, Rivera’s wall painting The History of Mexico and Strauss’s Persecution and the Art of Writing; with further chapters on Machiavelli, Huang Zongxi and a Hittite loyalty oath. An Epilogue proposing pragmatist eclecticism as the way forward in interpretation. An inspiring, hands- on textbook suitable for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as experienced scholars of political theory, intellectual history and philosophy interested in learning more about types and models of interpretation, and the challenge of combining them in interpretive practice. Cover Endorsement Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: A Typology of Interpretation in Political Theory I.1 What Is a Text? Four Basic Understandings I.1.1 Interpretation Centered on the Content I.1.2 Interpretation Centered on the Author I.1.3 Interpretation Centered on the Addressee I.1.4 Interpretation Centered on the Reader I.2 Approaches Focusing on Groups of Texts I.3 About the Selection of Interpretive Models and Texts References 1 From Text to Argument: An Analytical Interpretation of Federalist Paper No. 10 1.1 The Oxford Model of Interpretation 1.2 Arguments of Federalist Paper No. 10 1.2.1 Determining the Propositional Content 1.2.2 Clarifying Technical Terms and Key Concepts 1.2.3 Reconstructing Arguments 1.3 Limits and Possibilities of an Oxford Approach Notes References 2 The Person Behind the Author: What Plato’s Life Tells Us About the Statesman 2.1 The Biographical Model of Interpretation 2.2 Plato’s Life and Works 2.3 Plato in Sicily and Laws in the Statesman 2.3.1 Dating the Statesman 2.3.2 Summary of the Dialogue 2.3.3 The Puzzle 2.3.4 Plato’s New Realism 2.3.4.1 The Seventh Letter 2.3.4.2 Other Sources on Plato and Sicily 2.4 Limits and Possibilities of Biographical Interpretation Notes References 3 What the Author Also Authored: Understanding Olympe de Gouges’s The Three Urns Through Her Oeuvre 3.1 The Oeuvre-Based Model of Interpretation 3.2 De Gouges and Her Three Urns 3.3 From the Reference to the Meaning of the Text 3.3.1 Text Appropriation and the Need of Interpretation 3.3.2 Identification of the Author and Appropriation of the Oeuvre 3.3.3 Drawing Connections 3.3.3.1 Toxicodindron and the God 3.3.3.2 Dethroning a Tyrant 3.3.3.3 De Gouges’s Preferred Form of Government 3.3.3.4 The First Contract 3.4 Limits and Possibilities of Oeuvre-Based Interpretation Notes References 4 Speaking Into the Context: Specifying the Illocutionary Potential of Diego Rivera’s The History of Mexico 4.1 Skinner’s Cambridge Model of Interpretation 4.1.1 Doing Things With Words 4.1.2 Timeless Wisdom Or Contingent Interventions? 4.1.3 The Text in Its Context 4.2 Diego Rivera’s Intervention With The History of Mexico 4.2.1 The Text: Diego Rivera’s The History of Mexico 4.2.2 The Context: Political Discourse in Post-Revolutionary Mexico 4.2.3 A Closer Look at the Mural’s Locutionary Content The Flag National Disunity 4.2.4 Specifying the Illocutionary Potential The Revolution Socialism and Nationalism? Towards a Europeanization of Mexico? 4.3 Limits and Possibilities of a Skinnerite Cambridge Approach Notes References 5 Subtexting: An Esoteric Interpretation of Leo Strauss’s Persecution and the Art of Writing 5.1 The Esoteric Model of Interpretation 5.2 Persecution and the Art of Writing 5.2.1 Is Persecution and the Art of Writing an Esoteric Text? 5.2.2 Why Would Strauss Write an Esoteric Text? 5.3 From the Text to Its Subtext 5.3.1 The Self-Protection Hypothesis 5.3.2 The Paternalism Hypothesis 5.3.3 The Quest for a Third Way 5.4 Limits and Possibilities of an Esoteric Interpretation Notes References 6 The Reader in Front of the Text: De-/Recontextualizing Huang Zongxi’s Mingyi Daifang Lu 6.1 Philosophical Hermeneutics 6.1.1 Gadamer 6.1.2 Ricoeur 6.1.3 Applied Hermeneutics? 6.2 Huang Zongxi and the Mingyi Daifang Lu 6.2.1 on Huang’s Position in Political Theory 6.2.2 Pre-Understanding the Mingyi Daifang Lu 6.3 Hermeneutic Readings: 1 – on the Prince 6.3.1 Structural Explanation 6.3.2 Interpretation 6.3.3 Hermeneutic Distance: Alienating and Mediating Language 6.4 Limits and Possibilities of a Hermeneutic Approach Notes References 7 Reading the Readers: How the Meaning of Machiavelli’s The Prince Changed Before Its Publication 7.1 The Reception Model of Interpretation 7.2 Early Readings of Machiavelli’s The Prince 7.2.1 Machiavelli, Author and First Reader of The Prince 7.2.2 Second Thoughts 7.2.3 Public (Dis-)Approval 7.2.4 Four Print Editions of The Prince 7.2.5 Changes of Meaning and Function 7.3 Limits and Possibilities of a Reception Analysis Notes References 8 Tracing the Concept of Contract: Interpreting a Hittite Loyalty Oath for Conceptual History 8.1 Conceptual History as History of Ideas? 8.2 on Practicing Conceptual History 8.2.1 Research Interests 8.2.2 The Concept as a Point of Access 8.2.3 What Constitutes a Text in Conceptual History? 8.3 A Hittite History of the Concept of the Contract 8.3.1 The Ancient Near Eastern Pre-History 8.3.2 Early Hittite Thinking About Contracts 8.3.3 The Golden Age of the Middle Kingdom: Instructions and Oaths 8.4 The Loyalty Oath of Town Commanders to Arnuwanda I Notes References Epilogue: Eclecticism in Political Theory E.1 Farewell to Dogmatism E.2 What About Methodological Holism? E.3 Eclecticism – Solution Or Name of the Problem? E.4 A Pragmatist Addendum E.5 Towards Pragmatist Eclecticism in Political Theory Notes References Index