Abstract

In a recent criticism of Quentin Skinner's historical method Peter Steinberger has drawn upon linguistic analytic philosophy to argue that intellectual history should focus on the reconstruction of logical propositions rather than the contextualization of author's statements. This essay will argue that Steinberger reproduces many of the same types of methodological problems that prompted Skinner's initial critique of intellectual history in the 1960s. I will draw upon the linguistic philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein to demonstrate that Steinberger's conception of intellectual history as the reconstruction of the logical content of statements fundamentally misunderstands what political philosophy is – and by extension the methods of historical interpretation