POLITICAL

THEORY: ITS
NATURE AND
USES
GEORGE KATEB
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OUTLINE OF THE DISCUSSION

I. THE MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF
POLITICAL THEORY
o The First Essential Characteristic: Moral
o The Second Essential Characteristic: Inclusive
o The Third Essential Characteristic: Philosophical
o The Fourth Essential Characteristic: General
o The Other Characteristics that May Be Present
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OUTLINE OF THE DISCUSSION

II. THE DISCUSSION OF ENDS IN POLITICAL
THEORY
o Five Responses to Disagreement in Political Theory
o A Rejoinder to All Five Responses
o Definitions of the Common Good
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OUTLINE OF THE DISCUSSION

III. THE USES OF POLITICAL THEORY
o What is Asked of a Political Scientist: In Everyday Life
DISCUSSION OF
ENDS IN
POLITICAL
THEORY
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FIVE RESPONSES TO DISAGREEMENT IN
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POLITICAL THEORY
1. Esthetic
2. Relativist
3. Plausibility
4. Dogmatic
5. Eclectic
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• One does not search for truth or moral

guidance, or for relief from confusion, but
1. Esthetic for striking intellectual performances.
- One may assume that there is no such
thing as moral truth, and that therefore
validity of conclusions cannot be an
appropriate standard by which to judge any
political theory.
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● The assumption here is that there is no

moral truth.
2. Relativist
● Political theory is an emanation of
historical conditions:
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This means that:

- If social reality does not automatically
Relativist produce a basic political theory in
consonance with the urgent needs of the
whole society, or the needs of either the
dominant or the “rising” class or group, it
nevertheless circumscribe the range of
possible political theory.
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● And as conditions change, so must

political theory.
Relativist
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• According to this approach, almost all

political theories can succeed, at least
3. Plausibility partially.
- This is by convincing the reader initially of
their rightness, but they turn out to be
unacceptable after closer investigation of
the underlying moral or factual premises, or
both.
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• Only when these premises are granted–

and they rarely can be– will these
Plausibility political theories stand up.

• Their plausibility stems from the common

mastery of presentation found in the
great works of the political theory.
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The great works of political theory are:

Plausibility ● An ability to carry the reader along

● To hide or disguise their premises
● To develop a train of thought fully or
compellingly
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4. Dogmatic
• Starting with the firm assurance that
one’s own system of beliefs is the only
correct system, one may then brand all
other systems erroneous.
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● One may say that a certain tradition which

Dogmatic has perhaps evolved through time while
staying faithful to a few basic principles or a
few articles of religious faith, contains the
truth. Other traditions show error in its
multiplicity.
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• This approach turns on the notion that

every tradition of political theory—
5. Eclectic probably every political theorist—is partly
right and partly wrong.

• Political wisdom consists in acquanting

oneself with the whole range of political
thought, dismissing none of it.
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• All political theories are to be judged with

one standard:
Eclectic - By their closeness to the goal of
formulating the principles and envisaging
the practices needed to realize a way of life,
or nurture a kind of human character, to
which one is committed.
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• Political theories characteristically

Eclectic emphasize some things while slighting or
ignoring others.
- When one chooses a theory, or a tradition
of theory, one must therefore be aware of its
shortcomings.
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• Some eclectics would endeavor to piece

the truth together from heterogenous
Eclectic theories. They refuse to believe that:
- a political theory has to be accepted or
rejected in its entirety
- Or that its truth is inextricably joined to its
error
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- Or that its component elements are so

related as to make each of them meaningful
Eclectic only in the presence of the rest and
incapable of importation into some other
structure of moral thought about politics.
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