PSC 5323 Political Inquiry Approaches and Methods Professor David D. Corey Old Main 307 Phone: 710-5680 Email: david_d_corey@baylor.edu Office hours: T/Th 12:30-2:30 or by appointment The subordination of theoretical relevance to method perverts the meaning of science on principle. Perversion will result whatever method should happen to be chosen as the model method. Hence, the principle must be carefully distinguished from its special manifestation. Eric Voegelin, New Science of Politics Course Description When we think of any particular work of political science, we tend to think first of the argument the author makes, second of the question to which the argument is an answer. Rarely do we go on to reflect on the methodological question: how does this author arrive at his or her answers, and is the method sound? Yet, this question is arguably the one that matters most for aspiring political scientists, not only because it exposes the craft of political inquiry, but also because it facilitates reflection on the extent to which political inquiry can, or ought, to be approached as a science. What is science, and what distinguishes it from non-science or pseudo-science? What methods are available and/or suitable for various kinds of political questions we might have? And what constitutes soundness or rigor in each method? The main purpose of this class is to pursue these questions across the field of political science. To this end, the first part of the course is devoted to taking stock of the field reflecting on a number of contemporary accounts of political science as a discipline. Because much of political science today has been shaped by the debate that began in the late nineteenth century over the precise role of values in science, we shall devote considerable energy to understanding this debate. As the first part of the course draws to a close, we shall have developed two useful tools: first, a suitably expansive definition of political science and, second, a map of the various types of questions political scientists might wish to pursue. This map will be especially useful in helping us to locate the place of various approaches within the discipline as a whole and also to gauge the completeness or incompleteness of any particular approach. In the second part of the course, we proceed to a careful investigation of several approaches. Here we cannot be exhaustive, but we shall analyze eight major approaches relevant to our interests and our current environment. These include quantitative political science, the history of political thought, three kinds of political theory, and three kinds of political philosophy. Of every approach and every author, we shall ask: what are the main questions under consideration? What types of questions are these? What kinds of answers are offered? What is the method, and what makes the method more or less rigorous? Finally, what motives, goals and assumptions (examined and unexamined) animate each author s work? 1
The final part of the course is devoted to the unique problems we lovers of texts face when attempting to integrate ourselves and our scholarship into the discipline of political science. Assuming that we begin not with a puzzle about the political world, but with a text we want to explore, what ways recommend themselves for turning our interests in the direction of political science? Goals: To gain an overview of the discipline and to better understand how various approaches relate to each other and to political science as a whole. To become methodologically conscious that is, to learn to appreciate methodological rigor and genius, and to expect these not only of others but also of ourselves. To learn which methods are suitable for different questions in political science and to learn what constitutes rigor according to each method. To better socialize ourselves into the discipline by understanding what political scientists are doing and why. This is not incompatible with criticism of certain approaches indeed it is a precondition of intelligent criticism. To reflect on the type of political theory and/or philosophy we want, personally, to practice. To improve our scholarship (our writing) not only by paying greater attention to method, but also by learning to distinguish between method of inquiry on the one hand and method of presentation on the other, or in other words, between science and rhetoric. To prepare for our comprehensive exams by discussing major works of contemporary political thought. Required Texts: 1. Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations (Perseus, 2006) 2. John Rawls, Justice as Fairness: A Restatement (Harvard, 2001) 3. Ian Shapiro, The State of Democratic Theory (Princeton, 2003) 4. Eric Voegelin, The New Science of Politics (Chicago, [1952] 1987) 5. Leo Strauss, What is Political Philosophy? (Chicago, 1988) 6. Leo Strauss, Natural Right and History (Chicago, [1950], 1965) 7. All other required reading is on JSTOR or will be made available in PDF Recommended Texts: 1. R.G. Collingwood, An Autobiography (Oxford, [1939], 1983) 2. John Rawls, Political Liberalism (Columbia, 2005) 3. Michael Oakeshott, Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays (Liberty Fund, 1991) 4. Peter Emberley and Barry Cooper, eds., Faith and Political Philosophy: The Correspondence between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin, 1934-1964 (Missouri, 2004) Course requirements: Eight abstracts 30% Two papers 30% Class presentation 10% Final paper 20% Class participation 10% 2
Grade Scale: 100-92% = A; 91-87% = B+; 86-82% = B; 81-77% = C+; 76-70% = C; 69-60% = D; 59%-0 = F PART I: SURVEYING THE FIELD I. (January 12): Course Overview, Description of Course Requirements R. G. Collingwood, An Autobiography (Oxford, [1939], 1983), pp. 29-43. II. (January19): no class III. (January 26): What is Politics? What is Political Science? Robert Goodin and Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Political Science: The Discipline, in A New Handbook of Political Science (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), ch. 1. Gabriel Almond, Political Science: The History of the Discipline, in Ibid., ch. 2. Iris Marion Young, Political Theory: An Overview, in Ibid., ch. 20. Bhikhu Parekh, Political Theory: Traditions in Political Philosophy, in Ibid., ch. 21. Brian Barry, Political Theory, Old and New, in Ibid., ch. 23. William Galston, Political Theory in the 1980s: Perplexity Amidst Diversity, in Ada W. Finifter, ed., Political Science: The State of the Discipline II (APSA, 1993), ch. 2. IV. (February 2): The Fact/Value Dichotomy Max Weber, The Meaning of Ethical Neutrality in Sociology and Economics, in Edward Schils and Henry Finch, eds. Max Weber on the Methodology of the Social Sciences (Glencoe: The Free Press, 1949), pp. 1-47. Karl Hempel, Science and Human Values, in E.D. Klemke, et al., ed., Introductory Readings in the Philosophy of Science (New York: Prometheus Books, 1980), pp. 254-268. Michael Scriven, The Exact Role of Value Judgments in Science, in Ibid., pp. 269-291. PART II: EIGHT APPROACHES TO POLITICAL INQUIRY V. (February 9): Causal, Quantitative Political Analysis Putnam, Robert, Bowling Alone Journal of Democracy 6 (1995): 65-78. Gregory M. Luebbert, Social Foundations of Political Order in Interwar Europe, World Politics 39 (1987): 449-478. Karen O'Connor and Lee Epstein, The Rise of Conservative Interest Group Litigation, Journal of Politics 45 (1983): 479-489. William Easterly and Ross Levine, Africa s Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions, Quarterly Journal of Economics 112 (1997): 1203-1250. VI. (February 16): History of Political Thought Quentin Skinner, The Ideological Context of Hobbes s Political Thought, Historical Journal 9 (1966): 286-317. J. G. A. Pocock, Burke and the Ancient Constitution-A Problem in the History of Ideas, Historical Journal 3 (1960):125-143. 3
Quentin Skinner, The Limits of Historical Explanations, Philosophy 41 (1966): 199-215 Quentin Skinner, Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas, History and Theory 8 (1969): 3-53. Quentin Skinner, Motives, Intentions and the Interpretation of Texts, New Literary History 3, On Interpretation: I (1972): 393-408. Leo Strauss, Natural Right and the Historical Approach, in Hilail Gildin, ed., An Introduction to Political Philosophy: Ten Essays (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1989). VII. (February 23): Political Theory Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations (New York: Perseus, 2006). Read the original preface, as well as chapters 1, 4-6, 11, 16 and 18. VIII. (March 2): Rawlsian Political Theory John Rawls, Justice as Fairness: A Restatement (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001). Allan Bloom, Justice: John Rawls versus the Tradition of Political Philosophy, American Political Science Review 69 (1975): 648-662; reprinted in Giants and Dwarfs. IX. (March 9): No Class but please read on! Rawlsian Political Theory (cont d) John Rawls, The Idea of an Overlapping Consensus, Lecture VI in Political Liberalism (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993), pp. 133-72. Frank Snare, John Rawls and the Methods of Ethics, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 36 (1975): 100-112. Martha Nussbaum, Conversing with the Tradition: John Rawls and the History of Ethics, Ethics 109 (1999): 424-430. X. (March 16): Democratic Theory Ian Shapiro, The State of Democratic Theory (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003). XI. (March 23): Oakeshottean Political Philosophy Michael Oakeshott, The Concept of a Philosophy of Politics, in Religion, Politics and the Moral Life (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993). Michael Oakeshott, Political Philosophy, in Ibid. Michael Oakeshott, On Being Conservative, in Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1991). Michael Oakeshott, Rationalism in Politics, in Ibid. Michael Oakeshott, The Study of Politics in a University, in Ibid. Michael Oakeshott, Political Education, in Ibid. 4
XII. (March 30): Voegelinian Political Philosophy Eric Voegelin, The New Science of Politics (Chicago, [1952] 1987). Eric Voegelin, The Gospel and Culture in Faith and Political Philosophy: The Correspondence between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin, 1934-1964 (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2004), pp. 139-176. Eric Voegelin, Reason: The Classic Experience, Southern Review X (1974): 237-64; reprinted in Gerhart Niemeyer, ed., Anamnesis (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1978), pp. 89-115. Eric Voegelin, On the Theory of Consciousness, in Collected Words of Eric Voegelin, vol. 6: Anamnesis (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2002), pp. 62-83. Eric Voegelin, What is Political Reality? in Ibid., pp. 341-412. Eugene Webb, Eric Voegelin: Philosopher of History (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1981). XIII. (April 6): Straussian Political Philosophy Leo Strauss, On a Forgotten Kind of Writing, in What is Political Philosophy and Other Studies (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1988), pp. 221-232. Leo Strauss, What is Political Philosophy, in Ibid., pp. 9-55. Political Philosophy and History, in Ibid., pp. 56-77. Leo Strauss, The City and Man (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978), pp. 50-? XIV. (April 13): No Class XV. (April 20): Straussian Political Philosophy (cont d) Leo Strauss, Natural Right and History (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971). J. G. A. Pocock, Prophet and Inquisitor: Or, a Church Built upon Bayonets Cannot Stand: A Comment on Mansfield's Strauss's Machiavelli, Political Theory 3 (1975): 385-401. PART III: FROM PHILOGRAMMATIA TO PHILOSOPHIA XVI. (April 27): On the Benefits and Hazards of Starting with Great Texts Arlene Saxonhouse, Texts and Canons: The Status of the Great Books in Political Theory, in Ada W. Finifter, ed., Political Science: The State of the Discipline II (APSA, 1993), ch. 1. Frederick Wilhelmsen, The Great Books: Enemies of Wisdom, Modern Age (1987): 321-31. 5