Problems and Perspectives of Historical Temporality: Some Remarks for a "History of Political Theory"

Abstract

Renewed interest in political thought since the second half of the twentieth century has favoured the development of new perspectives. However, theoretical developments in the social sciences have not been carried out through fluid interaction among the disciplines that compose this field of study. In this article I argue that methodological developments regarding the historical possibility of constructing any broad political theory should be interconnected with developments in the field of historiography. To validate this perspective, I propose an approach that addresses the problems arising from the challenge of building a historical–scientific knowledge of ‘political theory’, focusing on the following topics: (1) historical temporality; (2) the link between temporality and thought; and (3) the “politicisation” of thought.