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The article is a survey of the impact of US political philosophy over its Italian counterpart. Such impact has not been deep, judging from the presence of Italian authors in the American debate, even though the most important American authors have been translated in Italian, and their work has been the object of essays and reviews by several Italian authors belonging to different schools of thought. There are two explanations, according to the author of the survey, of such relative inhospitality of Italian political philosophy to its American homologue. The first is a general difference over the way to understand philosophy itself. Whereas American philosophers subscribe to what might be described roughly as an analytical understanding of their discipline, the majority of Italian philosophers are still under the spell of several brands of historicist or relativistic thought. The second is the sensible difference in the understanding of liberalism, the predominant attitude among political philosophers in the USA. Whereas in the USA liberalism is understood as a political theory that deals with normative models of just institutions, in Italy, where it is far from the prevalent orientation among the political philosophers, it is conceived ‘meta-politically’.     

中国传统政治哲学的社会历史环境分析

中国古代社会特定的社会历史条件 ,限定了古代思想家的思想视野和思想方式。由于中国古代的地理环境所决定 ,中国古代思想家所感受到的世界不同于希腊哲学家所感受的世界 ;中国早期国家产生的道路不同于雅典人的国家 ,商品经济的相对不发达 ,家长制家庭与村社土地制度的长期存留 ,也在很大程度上影响了中国古代思想家对于国家、权力、平等与公正等问题的理解     

A Crocean critique of Gramsci on historicism,hegemony and intellectuals

Although Gramsci's debt to Croce is well known, most commentators simply accept his criticisms of Croce and his claim to have overcome certain lacunae in the Neapolitan's thought. This article argues that many of these criticisms misfire, and mounts a Crocean critique of Gramsci. Through a comparison of their respective views of historicism, hegemony and intellectuals, it is argued that the radical democratic and libertarian theory many post-Marxists claim to find in the Sardinian is more appropriately associated with Croce. Sebbene il debito di Gramsci verso Croce sia risaputo, molti commentatori tendono semplicemente ad accettare le critiche di Gramsci verso Croce, in particolare il primato da parte di Gramsci stesso nell'aver colmato certe lacune nel pensiero del filosofo napoletano. Questo articolo pone in rilievo che molti di queste critiche risultano essere prive di significato, ed inoltre, tende a far emergere una critica crociana di Gramsci. Dal tentativo di porre in relazione le idee di entrambi su concetti quali lo storicismo, l'egemonia, ed infine l'identitÀ degli intellettuali, si evince che la teoria libertaria e democratico-radicale che molti post-marxisti tendono ad attribuire all'intellettuale sardo, tende ad essere in buona parte il prodotto del pensiero di Croce.     

萧公权与中国政治思想史研究——基于萧著《中国政治思想史》的分析

本文本"详人之所略,略人之所详"之旨,基于萧公权撰著<中国政治思想史>的背景与史实,结合文本分析,对萧公权与中国政治思想史研究这一主题再作探讨,在三个问题上展开论述:一、萧著的背景与动机;二、萧著的方法及其渊源;三、萧著在学界之反响.     

J.G.A. Pocock and the idea of the ‘Cambridge School’ in the history of political thought

This article offers a reinterpretation of the origins and character of the so-called ‘Cambridge School’ in the history of political thought by reconstructing the intellectual background to J.G.A. Pocock's 1962 essay ‘The History of Political Thought: A Methodological Enquiry’, typically regarded as the first statement of a ‘Cambridge’ approach. I argue that neither linguistic philosophy nor the celebrated work of Peter Laslett exerted a major influence on Pocock's work between 1948 and 1962. Instead, I emphasise the importance of Pocock's interest in the history of historiography and of his doctoral supervisor, Herbert Butterfield. By placing Pocock's intellectual development in these contexts, I suggest, the autonomy of diverse versions of the ‘Cambridge’ approach can more readily be perceived.     

Perpetual peace and shareholder sovereignty: the political thought of José de Carvajal y Lancaster

This article contributes to the recent historiography on Enlightenment plans for European peace by shedding light on the political and intellectual work of the neglected Spanish minister and intellectual José Carvajal y Lancaster. The article begins by outlining the intellectual context surrounding the War of Spanish Succession, and proceeds to analyse the ways that Carvajal deployed, both in his texts and in power, Enlightenment ideals to reform the Spanish Empire and achieve perpetual peace in Europe. The ideas of his first work, his Testamento Político, revealed the ways that the logic of joint-stock companies could catalyse the reform of the Spanish Empire. His measures in government, in turn, illustrated how international cooperation could be mutually beneficial, but turned on his fraught relationship with the future Marquis of Pombal. Finally, his text Mis Pensamientos, written in 1753, envisaged a formal commercial and political coalition between the Spanish and the British Empires. Carvajal’s vision for European peace was at once utopian and clear-eyed, and the ideas behind his plan persist as demanding questions for our age.     

Technical Standards and the Integration of the U.S. and Canadian Economies

One of the most challenging aspects of the study of Canadian political thought is its apparent lack of a clear consensus (perhaps in the form of a “grand theory”) that provides it with more structured analytical organization and parameters. This absence can be remedied through an explicit recognition of the competing traditions that have contributed to the mosaic of Canadian philosophical and political beliefs and values. The interplay between liberal and communitarian traditions of Canadian political thought could provide the basis for this sort of model, though other contributions also need to be acknowledged and considered.     

From Cold War battleground to a footnote to history? Labour history in divided and unified Germany

History of labor and industrial relations was a well-established and mutually contested subdiscipline in both parts of Germany during the Cold War. Though it did not stand in the center of the overall settling of accounts with the communist past in unified Germany the swift opening of all relevant archival sources made sure that these themes established themselves as relevant topics on the research agenda about the history of the GDR. Profiting both from an advanced state of art in West Germany and a handful of original innovators in East Germany the GDR was explored and increasingly understood as an essentially ‘work-centered society’ governed by a panoptic ‘welfare dictatorship’. When it came to interpreting the multifold and heterogeneous findings one line of reasoning gained peculiar attractiveness, namely to read the East German ‘case’ as a variant of Fordist modernization in the middle of the twentieth century which unable to face the challenges of globalization.     

ASSESSING (AND NOT ASSESSING) THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION TO HISTORIOGRAPHY AND POLITICAL THOUGHT

Edited by Giuseppe Galasso, one of Italy's most distinguished historians, this large volume seeks to convey the Italian contribution to historiography and political thought from the dawn of the Middle Ages into the present century, though it is overwhelmingly concentrated on the centuries since 1400. It includes six overview essays, but over 70 percent of its bulk consists of short articles, 108 in all, the vast majority on individual figures, and most of them five to seven pages in length. Whereas the approach, through individual figures, makes the volume especially valuable as a reference work, the approach also entails limitations making it hard to delineate and assess a distinctively Italian contribution. Readers must often connect the dots on their own if they are to discern the strands of a distinctive tradition. In his introductory overview, Galasso suggests a special Italian sensitivity to history, or capacity for the philosophy of history, but the suggestion is left vague and is followed up only in the most ad hoc way in the subsequent essays. The book offers little on how Italian idiosyncrasy might have either compromised or enhanced wider impact. Although the extent of Italian international interaction is well documented, there is little attention to reciprocity and the scope for synergy. Nor is there much assessment of the implications of changes in the valences of that interaction over the centuries, especially in breeding self‐criticism and sometimes compensatory myth‐making that might have further complicated the resonance of Italian offerings. But the volume demonstrates the richness of the Italian contribution and implicitly invites us to better encompass it, perhaps through comparative work and further research on multinational interplay.     

‘How to do things with books’: Quentin Skinner and the dissemination of ideas

This is one of a number of talks given on 23 May 2008 in the Faculty of History, University of Cambridge, on the occasion of Quentin Skinner's retirement from the Regius Professorship of Modern History. No attempt has been made to disguise the origins of this piece, or its festal tone, and any statistics quoted reflect the position as of 1 May 2008.     

柳诒徵的民族主义史学思想

作为民族主义史学的重镇之一 ,柳诒徵一向主张史学要为培育民族精神服务 ,三十年代他明确批评古史辨派的疑古为破坏古史 ,大力发掘优秀的历史文化传统 ,特别注重探寻汉唐盛世中国所以强大的因由 ,从而培养国民的自尊心和自信心。柳诒徵在抗战时期的著述以及为光大民族精神的一系列文化活动 ,既是其经世致用学术思想发展的逻辑结果 ,更是在民族危机下中国知识分子作出的自然反应。他有关民族精神的论断 ,可为我们新世纪文化重建工作提供宝贵的借鉴。     

THE MISSING NARRATIVIST TURN IN THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF SCIENCE

The narrativist turn of the 1970s and 1980s transformed the discussion of general history. With the rejection of Rankean historical realism, the focus shifted to the historian as a narrator and on narratives as literary products. Oddly, the historiography of science took a turn in the opposite direction at the same time. The social turn in the historiography of science emphasized studying science as a material and practical activity with traceable and documentable traits. This empirization of the field has led to an understanding that history of science could be directly describable from scientific practice alone without acknowledging the role of the historian as a constructor of narratives about these practices. Contemporary historians of science tend to be critical of science's ability to describe its object—nature, as it is—but they often are not similarly skeptical of their own abilities to describe their object: past science, as it is. I will argue that historiography of science can only gain from a belated narrativist turn.     

From industrial change to historical inevitability: Annie Besant’s socialism and the philosophies of history

ABSTRACT

A leading figure of the British and Indian intellectual stage from the 1880s, Annie Besant (1847–1933) is chiefly remembered for her numerous and somewhat diverging commitments. This article seeks to account for her shift from socialism to theosophy by focusing on the latter as a system of thought and on the philosophical basis of her critique of capitalism. It is argued that the case for the common ownership of means of production that she makes throughout her socialist writings both results from her secularism and explains her eventual drift away from it. In an attempt to promote equality through democratic and pragmatic methods, Besant claimed to predicate her enterprise on the laws of evolution rather than on utopian schemes or revolutionary action. It is shown how this approach drew on philosophies of history: collectivism was deemed the necessary outcome of economic changes and the next stage of industrialization. It is also shown how Besant’s brand of socialism rested on a faith in progress, rather than on scientific reasoning. A secularized theology – her plea for socialism, it appears – was at odds with the philosophical foundations of democracy that she advocated throughout her life.     

A pragmatic conservatism. Montesquieu and the framing of the Belgian constitution (1830–1831)

In 1830, members of the Belgian National Congress asserted that they would not attempt to create an ideal constitution. Rather, they wanted to frame a constitution which would take the existing order into account, which would be adapted to Belgian manners and customs. Their ‘pragmatic conservatism’, as it can be described in distinction to Burke's juridical conservatism, was to an important degree inspired by the writings of Montesquieu. Both the discussion on the monarchy and the debate on the senate were influenced by the Esprit des lois. Indirectly, the debates in the National Congress give evidence of the enormous influence of the Esprit des lois on political thought in the Restoration period.