Christopher Robinson

Ludwig Wittgenstein was a force in two of the most important trends in twentieth century philosophy: logical positivism and ordinary language philosophy. Yet, his work has had little influence on the discourse of contemporary political theory. This study opens with an examination of the reasons for Wittgenstein's minimal impact on theorizing. Academic political theory is founded upon, and identified with, the "Great Tradition" of Western, epic political thought. Plato exemplifies its panoramic vision. The activity of theorizing in Wittgenstein's writings, however, is non-epic, unheroic, and ordinary. Theorizing, in Wittgenstein's call to return words to their ordinary contexts and uses, requires no special training, vocation, or technical vocabulary. Rather, it is a mundane activity carried out by humans confronted by ambiguous, complex rules of language and society in their everyday existence. In Wittgenstein's philosophy, theorizing is what all humans engage in when they feel lost or unsure of their next step. Theorizing is how we organize what we have learned about, and through, ordinary language: it is a narrative about how we see ourselves as members of a language community. ;This description of theorizing emerges in Wittgenstein's explorations into the pragmatics of language acquisition. We learn language through life-long encounters with the language-games that compose ordinary language. Politics is one, contingent, aspect of this public language system. Wittgenstein did not explore politics in his writings, but his conception of language as a constellation of forms of life and language-games provide broad hints of how theorists perceive politics from a position of immanence. Further, the description of ordinary language gives way to what a Wittgensteinian theory of politics would look like. To flesh this vision out, I present a comparison and partial synthesis of Wittgenstein's latter philosophy and the political theory of anarchism. Finally, I consider what structural effects this political vision--a variation on pluralism--may have on academic political theory

John Gunnell has compelled political theorists to rethink their relation to political science, the history of political thought, the philosophy of social science and political reality. His thinking has been shaped by encounters with Heidegger and Plato, Wittgenstein and Austin, the Berkeley School and emigres such as Strauss and Arendt. His writings have challenged the idealist assumptions behind the idea of a Great Tradition of Political Thought and the philosophical claims about mind and language. Gunnell has engaged and challenged colleagues in political theory, political science and the philosophy of social science on a range of issues from political action, time, pluralism, ideology, concepts, conventions, "the political" and democracy to the roles of philosophy, science, literary theory, cognitive science, mind, and history on the enterprise of theorizing today. The book focuses on his work in three key areas: Political Theory and Political Science Gunnell s work has often focused on the historical emergence of the study of political theory as a subdiscipline of political science, and its critical relation to and alienation from political science from the postwar era. His argument has been consistent: political theory self-identified as an interpretative social science and mode of historical reflection is an invention of political science. Political theory divorced from political science weakens both activities in their ties to, concerns with and relevance to political society and the contemporary university. Interpretation and Action Gunnell has been particularly interested in the nature of concepts and how they change. These investigations begin with analysis of theory and theorizing as they are constituted and practiced in historiography, the philosophy of social sciences, the philosophy of science, political science and metatheory. He engages with thinkers whose positions inform and oppose his own and explores concepts such as: democracy, justice, time, pluralism, science, liberalism, and action. Theorists, Philosophers, and Political Life Gunnell s work has developed through a series of encounters with theorists and philosophers. He has rejected attempts to present politics as a stable and essential set of phenomena. There are common themes that guide conversations with the German emigres, ordinary language philosophers, and theorists from the history of political thought. This book includes works that focus on Max Weber, Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin, Gilbert Ryle, J.L. Austin and Ludwig Wittgenstein. "

Provides an orientation and an array of conceptual & critical tools for scholars theorising political life today. Christopher Robinson connects Wittgenstein's philosophy to strategies for achieving political vision in this age where politics has been replaced by bureaucracy as the predominant form of public order, and now takes the form of dissent.In particular, Wittgenstein's remarks on perception are brought to bear on theory's historical and etymological roots in clear seeing. This frees the theorist to explore the city of language and sheds fresh light on political concepts such as liberty, dignity, dissent, and ideology.