PART II

Questions of Theory

Introduction to Part II
Writings of Macpherson, especially from Democratic Theory, include exposi-
tions of an imposing list of much-debated theoretical issues: human nature,
positive and negative liberty, conceptions of democracy, equality, needs, the
individual and the community, and other core matters to which political theo-
rists address themselves. Secondary literature about Macpherson, additionally
to those about his interpretations of seventeenth-­century British thinkers,
concerns itself with his stances on these topics. Chapter five of this part of the
book reviews Macpherson’s general theoretical approaches in preparation for
applying his theories to the contemporary challenges addressed in Part III.
Macpherson is first and foremost a political theorist. The accessible style
that makes him, in the words of Isaiah Berlin, ‘one of the very few rational and
lucid and altogether admirable writers’ (1971) is on a par with that of political
essayists such as Gore Vidal, Christopher Hitchens, Joan Didion, and Angela
Davis, to name a few. However, his work goes beyond that of the traditional
essay by bringing to bear on the topics he addresses extended, sophisticated,
and sometimes speculative theory in support of his conclusions.
At the same time, Macpherson does not advance his views as fundamen-
tal, philosophical justifications of the political theses he wishes to defend.
He is best viewed as a political theorist rather than as either an essayist or
a political philosopher. The efforts of some scholars of Macpherson to
interpret his theories philosophically are seen in this book not just as inac-
curate depictions, but as unnecessary and even disadvantageous for the
practical purposes that he had in mind. Chapter four explains and defends
situating Macpherson as a non-philosophical political theorist.
58  Questions of Theory

Reference
Berlin, Isaiah. 1971. University of Toronto Archives B1987-0069, Box 5 (‘Isaiah
Berlin’). Letter to Macpherson, May 25.