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Classical and Empirical Theories of Democracy: The Missing Historical Dimension?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2009

Iain Hampsher-Monk
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Extract

This article is a contribution to the debate between ‘empirical’ and ‘classical’ theories of democracy. It draws attention to a hitherto neglected aspect of that debate, namely the historical process by which a word like ‘democracy’ gains its commendatory overtones. To call a state a democracy was not always to praise it; the argument here is that an understanding of how this came about can clarify some of the issues involved in considering whether or not states are properly to be called democracies. Although the methods used derive from linguistic philosophy, the purpose is to direct attention towards the values and aspirations of historical agents using the term, rather than to a purely conceptual analysis of it.

Type
Articles
Information
British Journal of Political Science , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , April 1980 , pp. 241 - 251
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

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References

1 A short bibliography of the protagonists can be found at the end of Skinner, Quentin's article ‘Empirical Theorists of Democracy and their Critics’, Political Theory, 1 (1973), 287–306, pp. 304–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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5 I have in mind the more extreme versions of Skinner's own methodological claims as to the importance of intentionality as a criterion of interpretation, although he has considerably revised his position. See ‘Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas’, History and Theory, VIII (1969), 3–53Google Scholar, which represents a position from which much has been conceded.

6 In classical and renaissance political thought election was considered an aristocratic device. In true democracies public positions were to be filled by lot. (Aristotle, , The Politics, 11, xi, 7Google Scholar and Pocock, J. G. A., The Machiavellian Movement (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1975), Chaps. V and VII).Google Scholar

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24 Such a demonstration is of course beyond the scope of this paper but it is important to recognize the scope of Godwin's influence at the time. ‘Tom Paine was considered for the time as a Tom Fool to him, Paley an old woman, Edmund Burke a flashy sophist.’ (Hazlitt, William, The Spirit of the Age (London: Dent, 1969), p. 36.)Google Scholar The high price of Political Justice, did not, as Pitt had confidently predicted, render its influence on the lower classes negligible (he had denied it was possible for a book costing as much as three guineas to be seditious!) Working men's clubs subscribed to buy the expensive volumes and organized readings were held.

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29 As urged by C. B. Macpherson. I am grateful to an anonymous reviewer of the Journal for pointing out this aspect of my argument.