Abstract

My thesis "History and Philosophy in the Study of Political Theory" consists of a critical analysis of the current debate between historians and philosophers of political thought about the historical development of political theories and the appropriate methodologies for interpreting past political theories. ;More specifically, in analyzing the debate, I focus on three perspectives in the study of the history of political thought: the philosophical view of Leo Strauss, the historical approach of Quentin Skinner, and the synthetic perspective of Alasdair MacIntyre. Through a critical reconstruction of these three views, I argue that the first two lead to important dilemmas that hinder the appropriate interpretation of past political theories. Following Strauss's philosophical view it is possible to appraise the moral and epistemic relevance of past political theories, but at the cost of renouncing historical objectivity in the interpretations of those past texts . On the other hand, within Skinner's historical approach it is possible to defend the objectivity of interpretations of past political theories, but not to evaluate the moral and epistemic relevance of those past theories in the present . ;I claim that the only alternative for overcoming this dilemma is by constructing a philosophical-historical approach that integrates central claims of Strauss's and Skinner's perspectives. MacIntyre's approach offers an important contribution to such an integrative perspective and helps to overcome the dilemma anachronism/antiquarianism. Nonetheless, I argue that it needs to be critically revised in the light of contemporary hermeneutical theories . Based on this critical reconstruction of MacIntyre's approach, I conclude by suggesting some guidelines for the development of a philosophical and historical approach for the interpretation of the history of political theories. In particular, I emphasize that in order to confront past political theories historically and philosophically, we need to develop both a synchronic analysis of past theories within their specific social, political and linguistic context, and a diachronic analysis of those theories through their successive reinterpretations and appropriations by interpreters situated in different traditions and contexts