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The Theory of the Nature of the Suffrage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 October 2013

Walter James Shepard*
Affiliation:
University of Missouri
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Extract

The essential necessity and inherent importance of a broad constructive political theory is coming once again to be recognized. Over-emphasized and misapplied in the eighteenth century, a natural reaction against political philosophy characterized the nineteenth century. The swing of the pendulum is carrying us back in this present time once more to the appreciation of the value and importance of rational, synthetic generalizations regarding the state. The analytical, dispersive and monographic method of historical and political studies achieved great and lasting results, but today the general view, the broader vision, the deeper meaning, the larger unity are receiving increasing attention. We shall not abandon the positive results in scientific accuracy and wealth of data which detailed studies of institutions have afforded, but we shall insist more and more in the future upon interpretations which shall link together the results of scholarly research and provide us with a more profound and comprehensive knowledge of the truth. Not a revival of the a priori speculations of the eighteenth century, but a thoroughly inductive and scientific theory of the state is the highest aim and purpose of twentieth century political science.

Type
Papers and Discussions
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1913

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References

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