Political Theory and Modernity

by William E. Connolly

Modernity is marked by acrimonious debate over the form of the good society and the proper shape of politics. But these struggles are set within a frame that supports some arguments and rules other possibilities out of contention. If late-modernity is a time of danger as well as significant achievement, it is necessary to ask: how can we become more reflective about the economies of thought that have governed modern political discourse? William Connolly clarifies the affinities binding together disparate theorists who have sought to comprehend the shape and prospects of modernity. He reveals how thinkers adamantly opposed to one another at one level implicitly share assumptions and demands at a more basic level; and invites Nietzsche - the thinker who disturbs modern theories by assessing them from the hypothetical perspective of a non-modern future - to expose patterns of insistence inside the theories of his predecessors.

Genres: Politics

Paperback

First published March 1, 1988

About the author

William E. Connolly is a political theorist known for his work on democracy and pluralism. He is the Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University. His 1974 work The Terms of Political Discourse won the 1999 Benjamin Lippincott Award
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Reviews

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book, Connolly provides a reading of the central political theorists of the modern period. He reads them in conversation with one another and the conversation culminates in Nietzsche's response to the earlier moderns. Connolly finishes by making the argument for a Nietzschean ethic.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Connolly is not only a great thinker, but a great writer. His writing was clear and a pleasure to read. My only criticism is that I would have preferred more thorough citations throughout the text. He offers extended discussions of each of the theorists works--but sometimes there aren't citations to which you can refer to see exactly where it is in the text that he's talking about.