'The contributors to Floyd and Stears' Political Philosophy versus History? engage in a series of spirited inquiries into the relationship between political philosophy and history. In so doing they mount challenges to 'contextualism' and assess the possibilities and prospects for a distinctly 'realist' mode of theorizing that is at once historically situated and normatively grounded. The essays collected here challenge, and will likely change, the terms of contemporary debates about the character and condition of political theory in our time.' Terence Ball, Professor, School of Politics and Global Studies, Arizona State University
Introduction Jonathan Floyd and Marc Stears; 1. Rescuing political theory from the tyranny of history Paul Kelly; 2. From contextualism, to mentalism, to behaviourism Jonathan Floyd; 3. Contingency and judgement in history of political philosophy Bruce Haddock; 4. Political philosophy and the dead hand of its history Gordon Graham; 5. Politics, political theory, and its history Iain Hampsher-Monk; 6. Constraint, freedom, and exemplar Melissa Lane; 7. History and reality Andrew Sabl; 8. The new realism Bonnie Honig and Marc Stears; Afterword Jonathan Floyd.