The philosophical tradition
The origins of political analysis date back to Ancient Greece and a tradition usually referred to as 'political philosophy'. This involved a preoccupation with essentially ethical, prescriptive or normative questions, reflecting a concern with what 'should', 'ought' or 'must' be brought about, rather than what 'is'. Plato and Aristotle are usually identified as the founding fathers of this tradition. Their ideas resurfaced in
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the writings of medieval theorists such as Augustine (354-430) and Aquinas (1225-74). The central theme of Plato's work, for instance, was an attempt to describe the nature of the ideal society, which in his view took the form of a benign dictatorship dominated by a class of philosopher kings.
Such writings have formed the basis of what is called the 'traditional' approach to politics. This involves the analytical study of ideas and doctrines that have been central to political thought. Most commonly, it has taken the form of a history of political thought that focuses on a collection of 'major' thinkers (that spans, for instance, Plato to Marx) and a canon of 'classic' texts. This approach has the character of literary analysis: it is primarily interested in examining what major thinkers said, how they developed or justified their views, and the intellectual context within which they worked. Although such analysis may be carried out critically and scrupulously, it cannot be objective in any scientific sense, as it deals with normative questions such as 'why should I obey the state?' 'how should rewards be distributed?' and 'what should the limits of individual freedom be?'.
The empirical tradition
Although it was less prominent than normative theorizing, a descriptive or empirical tradition can be traced back to the earliest days of political thought. It can be seen in Aristotle's attempt to classify constitutions in Machiavelli's realistic account of statecraft, and in Montesquieu's sociological theory of government and law. In many ways, such writings constitute the basis of what is now called comparative government, and they gave rise to an essentially institutional approach to the discipline. In the USA and the UK in particular, this developed into the dominant tradition of analysis. The empirical approach to political analysis is characterized by the attempt to offer a dispassionate and impartial account of political reality. The approach is 'descriptive' in that seeks to analyze and explain,
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ский язык для философов
Учебное пособие для философов и политологов
whereas the normative approach is 'prescriptive' in the sense that it makes judgments and offers recommendations.
Descriptive political analysis acquired its philosophical underpinning from the doctrine of empiricism, which spread from the seventeenth century onwards through the work of theorists such as John Locke and David Hume (1711-76). The doctrine of empiricism advanced the belief that experience is the only basis of knowledge, and that therefore all hypotheses and theories should be tested by a process of observation. By the nineteenth century, such ideas had developed into what became known as positivism, an intellectual movement particularly associated with the writings of Auguste Comte (1798-1857). This doctrine proclaimed that the social sciences, and, for that matter, all forms of philosophical enquiry, should strictly adhere to the methods of the natural sciences. Once science was perceived to be the only reliable means of disclosing truth, the pressure to develop a science of politics became irresistible.
Notes:
Augustine - Августин
Thomas Aquinas — Фома Аквинский
II. ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
1. How was politics originally seen?
2. What was the main purpose of studying it?
3. What attempt was made in studying it?
4. What is disagreement about the nature of political
activity based on?
5. Where do the origins of political analysis date back to?
6. What did the traditional approach to politics involve?
7. Who were the founding fathers of the traditional
approach?
8. What was the central theme of Plato's work?
9. How is Plato's approach called?
10. What forms did the empirical approach take?
11. What is a disadvantage of the empirical approach?
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III. LOOK THROUGH PARAGRAPHS 4 AND 5 AND
COMPOSE QUESTIONS CONCERNING:
1. the history of the empirical tradition;
2. its founding fathers;
3. its contents;
4. the difference between 'descriptive' and 'prescrip
tive';
5. its philosophical foundation;
6. the founders of the doctrine of empiricism;
7. its essence;
8. the development of the doctrine in the 19th century;
9. its main postulate;
10. the main conclusion of the text.
IV. CONTRADICT THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS:
1. Politics was originally seen as an arm of religion.
2. The origins of political analysis date back to Ancient
Rome.
3. The central theme of Aristotle's work was an attempt
to describe the nature of the ideal society.
4. The traditional approach to politics involves too sub
jective study of different ideas.
5. The empirical tradition can be traced to political
thought of the Middle Ages.
6. The approach is descriptive as it makes judgments
and offers recommendations.
7. The doctrine of empiricism advanced the belief that
speculation is the only basis of knowledge.
V. DIVIDE THE TEXT INTO LOGICAL PARTS AND
MAKE UP AN OUTLINE OF THE TEXT.
VI. TRANSLATE PARAGRAPHS 2 AND 3 IN WRITING
PAYING ATTENTION TO MODAL VERBS, PARTICIPLES
AND SENTENCES BEGINNING WITH 'WHAT'
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WORD STUDY
I. GIVE RUSSIAN EQUIVALENTS FOR THE FOLLOW
ING ENGLISH WORDS:
Approach; to match; controversy; preoccupation; to bring about; to resurface; benign; to span; account; impartial; to adhere; underpinning; irresistible.
II. GIVE ENGLISH EQUIVALENTS FOR THE FOLLOW
ING RUSSIAN WORDS AND WORD-COMBINATIONS.
С конца 19 века и далее; попытка превратить политику в научную дисциплину; прослеживать; всплывать; беспристрастное объяснение; строго придерживаться; надежный способ раскрытия истины.
III. ARRANGE THE FOLLOWING WORDS INTO THE
PAIRS OF SYNONYMS.
to bring about mild
controversy viewpoint
enquiry to keep to
to span dispassionate
impartial investigation
to adhere to cover
approach argument
benign to carry out
IV. EXPLAIN THE FOLLOWING
a) Experience keeps no school, it teaches pupils singly.
b) Experience is fine when it is combined with the right
personality. With the wrong personality it is hardly worth
anything.
V. DISCUSSION
Look through the following definitions and answer the question:
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Isn't the prescription of values and standards of conduct based on observations and experience?
Objective:External to the observer, demonstrable; untainted by feelings, values or bias.
Normative:The prescription of values and standards of conduct; what 'should be' rather than what 'is'.
VI. READ THE TEXT AND SPEAK ON PLATO'S CONTRIBUTION TO POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY AND HIS INFLUENCE ON THE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION. Plato (27-347BC)
Greek philosopher. Plato was from an aristocratic family. He became a follower of Socrates, who is the principal figure in his ethical and philosophical dialogues. After Socrates' death in 399 ВС, Plato founded his own academy in order to train the new Athenian ruling class. Plato taught that the material world consists of imperfect copies of abstract and eternal 'ideas'. His political philosophy, expounded in The Republic and The Laws, is an attempt to describe the ideal state in terms of a theory of justice. Plato's work has exerted wide influence on Christianity and on European culture in general.
VII. EXPLAIN IN YOUR OWN WAY THE FOLLOW
ING NOTIONS:
'empiricism' and 'positivism'.
VIII. SUM UP THE CONTENTS OF THE TEXTS UNDER
DISCUSSION.
IX. SPEAK ON THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVAN
TAGES OF THESE TRADITIONS.
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UNIT VII ____
I. READ AND TRANSLATE THE TEXT. The scientific tradition
The first theorist to attempt to describe politics in scientific terms was Karl Marx. Using his so-called materialist conception of history Marx strove to uncover the driving force of historical development. This enabled him to make predictions as laws in the natural sciences. The vogue for scientific analysis was also taken up in the nineteenth century by mainstream analysis. In the 1870s, 'political science' courses were introduced in the universities of Oxford, Paris and Columbia, and by 1906 the American Political Science Reviewwas published. However, enthusiasm for a science of politics peaked in the 1950s and 1960s with the emergence, most strongly in the USA, of a form of political analysis that drew heavily upon behaviouralism. For the first time, this gave politics reliably scientific credentials, because it provided what had previously been lacking: objective and quantifiable data against which hypotheses could be tested. Political analysts such as David Easton proclaimed that politics could adopt the methodology of the natural sciences, and this gave rise to a proliferation of studies in areas best suited to the use of quantitative research methods, such as voting behaviour, the behaviour of legislators, and the behaviour of municipal politicians and lobbyists.
Behaviouralism, however, came under growing pressure from the 1960sonwards. In the first place, it was claimed that behaviouralism had significantly constrained the scope of political analysis, preventing it from going beyond what was directly observable. Although behavioural analysis undoubtedly produced, and continues to produce, invaluable insights in fields such as voting studies, a narrow obsession with quantifiable data threatens to reduce the discipline of politics to little else. More worryingly, it inclined a
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generation of political scientists to turn their backs upon the entire tradition of normative political thought. Concepts such as 'liberty', 'equality', 'justice' and 'rights' were sometimes discarded as being meaningless because they were not empiricallyverifiable entities. Dissatisfaction with behaviouralism grew as interest in normative questions revived in the 1970s, as reflected in the writings of theorists such as John Rawls and Robert Nozick.
Moreover, the scientific credentials of behaviouralism started to be called into question. The basis of the assertion that behaviouralism is objective and reliable is the claim that it is 'value-free', that is, that it is not contaminated by ethical or normative beliefs. However, if the focus of analysis is observable behaviour, it is difficult to do much more than describe the existing political arrangements, which implicitly means that the status quo is legitimized. This conservative value bias was demonstrated by the fact that 'democracy' was, in effect, redefined in terms of observable behaviour. Thus, instead of meaning 'popular self government' (literally, government by the people), democracy came to stand for a struggle between competing elites to win power through the mechanism of popular election. In other words, democracy came to mean what goes on in the so-called democratic political systems of the developed West.
II. ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS: l.Who was the first to describe politics in scientific terms?
2. What enabled Marx to make predictions about the
future?
3. What was the result of the vogue for scientific analy
sis?
4. What form of political analysis emerged in the 1960s
in the USA?
5. What areas was it mainly used in?
6. Was behaviouralism widely accepted?
_____ Учебное пособие для философов и политологов_________
7. Were the scientific credentials of behaviouralism re
ally objective and reliable?
8. When did dissatisfaction with behaviouralism begin
to grow?
9. What philosophical doctrine does behaviouralism be
long to?
III. COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES:
1. Karl Marx was the first theorist who attempted to ... .
2. For this purpose he used the so-called ... .
3. Political science courses were introduced in ....
4. Enthusiasm for a science of politics increased in ... .
5. The form of political analysis was based on ... .
6. Behaviouralism, for the first time, provided ....
7. David Eraston proclaimed that ....
8. This gave rise to a proliferation of studies in ... .
9. Behaviouralism had some weak points such as___
10. In accordance with it, democracy was redefined in
terms of ... .
11. In other words, democracy came to mean ....
IV. AGREE OR DISAGREE WITH THE FOLLOWING:
1. David Easton was the first theorist to describe poli
tics in scientific terms.
2. But Marx was able to make predictions as laws in the
natural sciences.
3. In the 1880s, political science courses were intro
duced in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
4. Political analysis drew heavily on behaviouralism.
5. It gave politics reliably scientific credentials.
6. But behaviouralism came under growing pressure from
the 1960 s.
7. Behaviouralism was an ideal conception for political
analysis.
8. Dissatisfaction with behaviouralism was reflected in
the writings of J.Rawls and R.Nozivck.
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9. Behaviouralism did not contain any subjective con
cepts.
10. Democracy was redefined in terms of observable
behaviour.
V. READ PARAGRAPHS 2 AND 3 AGAIN. FIND FOUR
DISADVANTAGES OF BEHAVIOURALISM AND EXPRESS
THE SAME IDEAS AS SHORT AS POSSIBLE.
VI. DEDUCE THE DEFINITION OF BEHAVIOURAL
ISM FROM THE TEXT.
VII. TRANSLATE FROM RUSSIAN INTO ENGLISH
Бихейвиаризм — убеждение, что социальные теории
следует строить только на основании наблюдаемого поведения, обеспечивающего количественные данные для исследования.
VIII. DIVIDE THE TEXT INTO LOGICAL PARTS AND
MAKE UP AN OUTLINE OF THE TEXT.
IX. SPEAK ON THE MAJOR POINTS OF THE TEXT
IN ACCORDANCE WITH YOUR OUTLINE.
WORD STUDY
I. GIVE RUSSIAN EQUIVALENTS FOR THE FOLLOW
ING ENGLISH WORDS:
To strive; vogue; to take up; mainstream; to draw upon; credential; to lack; proliferation; to suit; to constrain; scope; entity; obsession; to incline; to discard; to contaminate; to compete; to stand for; to revive.
II. GIVE ENGLISH EQUIVALENTS FOR:
Движущая сила исторического развития; с точки
зрения доказательства; поведение избирателей; отвернуться от традиции нормативной политической мыс-
_____ Учебное пособие для философов и политологов
ли; неподдающиеся эмпирической проверке сущности; вызывать сомнение; через механизм всенародных выборов.
III. ARRANGE THE FOLLOWING WORDS IN THE
PAIRS OF SYNONYMS.
scope notion
to attempt to diminish
to uncover sphere
to predict to disclose
to test to try
to reduce important
concept to forecast
significant to verify
IV. TRANSLATE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES INTO RUSSIAN PAYING ATTENTION TO THE ADJECTIVES WITH THE SUFFIX «-ABLE» MEANING «THAT CAN OR MAY BE DONE».
1. It was a dirty road and was usable only six months a
year.
2. All this was understandable.
3. A person with a sense of humour is a lovable and
loving person.
4. It may be advisable to go there.
5. They used only quantifiable data.
V. FIND SENTENCES WITH THE SAME ADJECTIVES
IN THE TEXT AND TRANSLATE THEM IN WRITING.
VI. DISCUSSION
Science, scientism
Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning 'knowledge') is a field of study that aims to develop reliable explanations of phenomena through repeatable experiments, observation and deduction. The 'scientific method', by which
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hypotheses are verified (proved true) by testing them against the available evidence , is therefore seen as a means of disclosing value-free and objective truth. Karl Popper (1902-1994), however, suggested that science can only falsify hypotheses, since 'facts' may always be disproved by later experiments. Scientism is the belief that the scientific method is the only source of reliable knowledge, and so should be applied to fields such as philosophy, history and politics, as well as the natural sciences. Doctrines such as Marxism, utilitarianism and racialism are scientistic in this sense.
VII. LOOK THROUGH THE TEXT «RECENT DEVELOP
MENTS» AND MAKE UP AN OUTLINE.
VIII. GIVE A SUMMARY OF THE TEXT
IX. LOOK THROUGH THE TEXT AND ANSWER THE
QUESTIONS. WORDS GIVEN BELOW AND NOTES MAY
BE HELPFUL.
Recent Developments
Amongst recent theoretical approaches to politics is what is called formal political theory, variously known as 'political economy', 'public-choice theory' and 'rational-choice theory'. This approach to analysis draws heavily upon the example of economic theory in building up models based upon procedural rules, usually about the rationally self-interested behaviour of the individuals involved. Most firmly established in the USA, and associated in particular with the so-called Virginia School, formal political theory provides at least a useful analytical device which may provide insights into the actions of voters, lobbyists, bureaucrats and politicians, as well as into the behaviour of states with-in the international system. This approach has had broadest impact on political analysis in the form of what is called institutional public-choice theory.
Учебное пособие для философов и политологов
By no means, however, has the rational-choice approach to political analysis been universally accepted. While its supporters claim that it introduces greater rigour into the discussion of political phenomena, critics have questioned its basic assumptions. It may, for instance, overestimate human rationality in that it ignores the fact that people seldom possess a clear set of preferred goals and rarely make decisions in the light of full and accurate knowledge. Furthermore, in proceeding from an abstract model of the individual, rational-choice theory pays insufficient attention to social and historical factors, failing to recognize, amongst other things, that human self-interested-ness may be socially conditioned, and not merely innate. As a result, a variety of approaches have come to be adopted for the study of politics as an academic discipline. This has made modern political analysis both richer and more diverse. To established normative, institutional and behavioural approaches have been added not only rational-choice theory, but also, more recently, feminism and discourse theory. In particular, political philosophy and political science are now less likely to be seen as distinct modes of enquiry, and still less as rivals. Instead, they have come to be accepted simply as contrasting ways of disclosing political knowledge. Notes:
Discourse:Human interaction, especially communication; discourse may disclose or illustrate power relationships.
impact - influence rigour - точность innate - врожденный rival - соперник
1. What new theoretical approaches emerged?
2. Where was rational — choice theory developed?
3. What does it provide?
4. How do the supporters estimate it?
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5. 
Why do critics question its basic assumptions?
6. What other new theories emerged?
7. What conclusion does the author come to?
X. IN CONCLUSION SUM UP THE MAIN APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF POLITICS.
_______________________ UNIT VIII_______________
I. READ AND TRANSLATE