European Journal of Political Theory 14 (3):259-276 (2015)
Abstract |
Many political theorists of multiculturalism describe their theories as “contextualist.” But it is unclear what “contextualism” means and what difference it makes for political theory. I use a specific prominent example of a multiculturalist discussion, namely Tariq Modood’s argument about “moderate secularism,” as a test case and distinguish between different senses of contextualism. I discuss whether the claim that political theory is contextual in each sense is novel and interesting, and whether contextualism is a distinct feature of political theory of multiculturalism. I argue that the forms of contextualism which concern the scope and methodology of political theory are sensible, but not novel or distinctive of multiculturalism. I then discuss the more controversial forms of contextualism, which I call political and theoretical contextualism. Finally, I apply the distinctions to Modood’s argument. I argue that it is not a form of theoretical contextualism and that theoretical contextualism would in fact undermine arguments for multiculturalist policies of accommodation
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DOI | 10.1177/1474885114562975 |
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References found in this work BETA
Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language.Paul Horwich - 1984 - Philosophy of Science 51 (1):163-171.
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Citations of this work BETA
Contextualism in Normative Political Theory and the Problem of Critical Distance.Sune Lægaard - 2019 - Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 22 (4):953-970.
Revisiting Contextualism in Political Theory: Putting Principles Into Context.Tariq Modood & Simon Thompson - 2018 - Res Publica 24 (3):339-357.
Normative Theorizing and Political Data: Toward a Data-Sensitive Understanding of the Separation Between Religion and State in Political Theory.Nahshon Perez & Jonathan Fox - 2021 - Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 24 (4):485-509.
Normative Theorizing and Political Data: Toward a Data-Sensitive Understanding of the Separation Between Religion and State in Political Theory.Nahshon Perez & Jonathan Fox - 2018 - Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy:1-25.
The Role of Interpretation of Existing Practice in Normative Political Argument.Sune Lægaard - 2019 - Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 22 (1):87-102.
View all 9 citations / Add more citations
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