1 - Introduction: The state of the art

Summary

Of the ten essays that compose the remainder of this volume, nine were originally published between 1976 and 1982, though one or two were written for spoken delivery substantially earlier than their appearance in print. The last, which constitutes the whole of Part III, receives separate introduction. As a constellation they represent work on the history of political discourse in England, Scotland, and America, chiefly between the English Revolution of 1688 and the French Revolution of 1789, though Part III pursues the intimations of this history into the half-century following the latter event. This work has been done at a time when perceptions of “British history” are continuing to change, perhaps more drastically than for some time past, and when perceptions of what constitutes “the history of political thought” have been undergoing intensive scrutiny and restatement. Though the present volume is intended as a contribution to the practice, not the theory, of its branch of historiography, it is necessary to introduce it with a statement of where it stands in the process of change regarding the history of political thought. To describe a practice and its entailments, however, especially when these are understood to be in process of change, cannot be done without employing, and to some degree exploring, the language of theory.

I have already used two terms, the history of political thought and the history of political discourse, which are discernibly not identical. The former term is retained here, and in the nomenclature of learned institutions and journals, because it is familiar and conventional and serves to mobilize our energies in the right directions, and also because it is by no means inappropriate.