Political Theory, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences: Five Chichele Professors

Book section

This chapter explores the development of political theory in Oxford through the work of Cole, Berlin, Plamenatz, Taylor and Cohen, the five previous holders of the Chichele Chair. It focuses particularly on the apparent threat to political theory posed by the rise of empirically based social science. Five possible responses are distinguished: capitulation, retreat, command, attack, and collaboration. Retreat involves reinterpreting political theory as a purely philosophical enterprise: it was pursued to some extent by Berlin and wholeheartedly by Cohen. Command involves interpreting social and political theory as the master science that incorporates more specific bodies of social research: it was pursued by Cole. Attack involves emphasizing the limits of social science, especially its claims to be value-neutral and genuinely explanatory: it was pursued to a degree by Plamenatz and more forcefully by Taylor. The chapter concludes by reflecting on why the final strategy, collaboration, was not pursued by these scholars.

Authors: Miller, D

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Reviewed (other)
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Host title: Forging a Discipline: A Critical Assessment of Oxford’s Development of the Study of Politics and International Relations in Comparative Perspective
• Publication date: 2014-02-27
• DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199682218.001.0001
• ISBN: 9780199682218
• Keywords: political theory; Berlin; Plamenatz; Cohen; social science; Cole; SBTMR; philosophy; Taylor