New Histories of Political Thought for Old?

In: Political studies: the journal of the Political Studies Association of the United Kingdom, Band 31, Heft 1, S. 112-121

Abstract

Over the last few years a number of books have appeared professing to have been inspired in their methodological considerations by the writings of Quentin Skinner.1 The purpose of this essay is to offer some deliberations upon two important and connected questions. First, in what way are the new histories related to the history of histories of political thought? And, secondly, how far are we on the road to achieving a consensus on the appropriate methods for studying the history of political thought?2 Before these questions can be considered I am obliged to offer a characterization, which in the form given here is little more than a caricature, of the whole of the history of histories of political thought without entering into the detail. What I offer is an attempt to capture its unity without ignoring its diversity.