Politics and Vision: Continuity and Innovation in Western Political Thought

786 Pages·2006·4.64 MB·English

by  Sheldon S. Wolin

POLITICS AND VISION

politics
and vision
Continuity and Innovation
in Western Political Thought
Expanded Edition
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princeton university press
princeton and oxford
Copyright © 1960, 2004 Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 3 Market Place,
Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1SY
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wolin, Sheldon S.
Politics and vision : continuity and innovation in Western political thought / Sheldon S.
Wolin—Expanded ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-691-11977-5 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Political science—History. 2. Political science—Philosophy—History. I. Title.
JA81.W6 2004
320'.09—dc22 2003064107
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Adobe Garamond
with Helvetica Neue display.
Printed on acid free paper.
pup.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Dedicated to
EMILY PURVIS WOLIN

CONTENTS
•••
Preface to the Expanded Edition xv
Preface xxiii
PART ONE
Chapter One
Political Philosophy and Philosophy 3
I Political Philosophy as a Form of Inquiry 3
II Form and Substance 4
III Political Thought and Political Institutions 7
IV Political Philosophy and the Political 9
V The Vocabulary of Political Philosophy 12
VI Vision and Political Imagination 17
VII Political Concepts and Political Phenomena 20
VIII A Tradition of Discourse 21
IX Tradition and Innovation 23
Chapter Two
Plato: Political Philosophy versus Politics 27
I The Invention of Political Philosophy 27
II Philosophy and Society 32
III Politics and Architectonics 37
IV The Search for a Selfless Instrument 47
V The Question of Power 51
VI Political Knowledge and Political Participation 54
VII The Limits of Unity 58
VIII The Ambiguities of Plato 61
Chapter Three
The Age of Empire: Space and Community 63
I The Crisis in the Political 63
II The New Dimensions of Space 65
III Citizenship and Disengagement 70
IV Politics and the Roman Republic 75
V The Politics of Interest 79
VI From Political Association to Power Organization 82
VII The Decline of Political Philosophy 85
viii CONTENTS
Chapter Four
The Early Christian Era: Time and Community 86
I The Political Element in Early Christianity: The New Notion of
Community 86
II The Church as a Polity: The Challenge to the Political Order 95
III Politics and Power in a Church-Society 103
IV The Embarrassments of a Politicized Religion and the Task of
Augustine 108
V The Identity of the Church-Society Reasserted: Time and Destiny 111
VI Political Society and Church-Society 115
VII The Language of Religion and the Language of Politics: Footnote on
Mediaeval Christian Thought 118
Chapter Five
Luther: The Theological and the Political 127
I Political Theology 127
II The Political Element in Luther’s Thought 128
III The Bias against Institutions 136
IV The Status of the Political Order 139
V The Political Order without Counterweight 143
VI The Fruits of Simplicity 145
Chapter Six
Calvin: The Political Education of Protestantism 148
I The Crisis in Order and Civility 148
II The Political Quality of Calvin’s Thought 151
III The Political Theory of Church Government 158
IV The Restoration of the Political Order 160
V Political Knowledge 164
VI Political Office 166
VII Power and Community 170
Chapter Seven
Machiavelli: Politics and the Economy of Violence 175
I The Autonomy of Political Theory 175
II The Commitments of the Political Theorist 182
III The Nature of Politics and the Categories of the New Science 187
IV Political Space and Political Action 195
V The Economy of Violence 197
VI Ethics: Political and Private 200
VII The Discovery of the Mass 205
VIII Politics and Souls 211
CONTENTS ix
Chapter Eight
Hobbes: Political Society as a System of Rules 214
I The Revival of Political Creativity 214
II Political Philosophy and the Revolution in Science 218
III The Promise of Political Philosophy 222
IV The Language of Politics: The Problem of Constituency 230
V Political Entropy: The State of Nature 235
VI The Sovereign Definer 238
VII Power without Community 243
VIII Interests and Representation 248
IX Politics as a Field of Forces 252
Chapter Nine
Liberalism and the Decline of Political Philosophy 257
I The Political and the Social 257
II Liberalism and the Sobrieties of Philosophy 263
III The Political Claims of Economic Theory 268
IV The Eclipse of Political Authority: The Discovery of Society 273
V Society and Government: Spontaneity versus Coercion 277
VI Liberalism and Anxiety 282
VII Beyond the Pleasure Principle: The Problem of Pain 292
VIII Liberalism and Moral Judgments: The Substitution of
Interest for Conscience 297
IX Liberalism and Conformity: The Socialized Conscience 307
Chapter Ten
The Age of Organization and the Sublimation of Politics 315
I The Age of Organization 315
II Identifying a Tradition of Discourse 319
III Organization and Community 325
IV Rousseau: The Idea of Community 330
V Freedom and Impersonal Dependence 334
VI Saint-Simon: The Idea of Organization 336
VII Organization Theory and Methodology: Some Parallels 342
VIII Organization, Method, and Constitutional Theory 348
IX Communal Values in Organization 352
X The Attack on Economic Rationalism 360
XI Organization Theory: Rationalism versus Organicism 364
XII The Attack on the Political 371
XIII Elite and Mass: Action in the Age of Organization 376
XIV Concluding Remarks 384