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Revisits the long-standing intradisciplinary tension between political science (which ostensibly traffics in the empirical) & political theory (with its focus on the normative). Because political scientists often charge political theorists with engaging in humanistic rather than scientific research, the questions explored here revolve around clarifying the relation of political theory to the humanities & responding to "hard" scientists' specific criticisms of "soft" humanistic scholarship. That humanistic research is interested in interpretation & judgment rather than in explanation & quantifiability does not make it of lesser importance to the study of politics. K. Coddon

El propósito del autor es mostrar que al menos un liberal clásico, John Locke, reconoció totalmente el punto hasta donde los seres humanos son seres sociales, pero que no creía que ese hecho dictara ninguna conclusión política particular. El desacuerdo de Locke con los críticos contemporáneos - comunitaristas - no sería tanto acerca de los hechos como acerca de su importancia. Reconoció el carácter social de la vida humana y el punto hasta donde los individuos desarrollan creencias, ideas e intereses en un contexto social. El interrogante es que debe significar ese reconocimiento para la política. La premisa del argumento político de Locke -que los hombres nacen libres- no es un precepto sociológico sino moral. Y para comprender eso es básico apreciar lo que podría entenderse propiamente como individualismo lockeano.

The claims of communitarian critics concerning the atomistic nature of John Locke's individualism are discounted via an examination of his historical & anthropological works. It is shown that Locke does not depict isolated individuals whose behavior is governed by rational calculations of their own interests, but fully acknowledges the extent to which humans are social beings. Nonetheless, Locke's political theory is individualistic as a normative theory of individual natural rights, & seeks to combat authoritarianism by altering the relation between admittedly powerful social forces & political rights. The combination of this individualistic political theory & the recognition of traditional authority gives rise to difficulties in Locke's theory on consent, the rule of law, & party politics. 50 References. Modified HA

Is it more dangerous to call something evil or not to? This fundamental question deeply divides those who fear that the term oversimplifies grave problems and those who worry that, to effectively address such issues as terrorism and genocide, we must first acknowledge them as evil. Recognizing that the way we approach this dilemma can significantly affect both the harm we suffer and the suffering we inflict, a distinguished group of contributors engages in the debate with this series of timely and original essays. Drawing on Western conceptions of evil from the Middle Ages to the present, th