Political Philosophy in Political Science: Sixty Years on
In: International political science review: the journal of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) = Revue internationale de science politique, Band 31, Heft 5, S. 525-538
ISSN: 1460-373X
Political philosophy is that area of philosophy dealing with politics and government, that unstable mix of war and foedus, conflictual division and authoritative union. As 'philosophy' it is part of the vita contemplativa, which is pure thinking; as 'political' it has always something to do with vita activa, that is action and praxis in a world that exists with its own rules and language games before any philosophical attempt to make that world the embodiment of a theory as Plato did (Arendt, 1953, 1959). Philosophy, like science, is about truth whereas politics is about power or, more accu¬rately, 'the constrained use of social power' (Goodin and Klingemann, 1996). This formulation reintroduces truth into the possible constraints alongside rhetoric, persuasion, compromise and negotiation.