Some very recent “states of the field” of the history of political thought are rich in valuable information and raise many considerations. As often happens, though, rather than dwelling on what is shared, perhaps it could be more fruitful to reason in dialogue with the authors on how their reflection surprises or perplexes. In order to avoid unconscious ideological trends, the main issues to debate seem to be the idea of a role for the history of political thinking, the global (...) perspective, the meaning of context, the relationship between the history of political thought and political theory and, mainly, the concept of scholar’s interest. (shrink)

Whenever the problem of the relationship between culture and politics is addressed, Julien Benda undoubtedly remains the most frequently mentioned author at the international level. His indictment of the intellectuals’ betrayal is as famous as his speeches to the European nation, published in 1933, about five years later than his widely diffused La Trahison des clercs. Throughout the Discours à la nation européenne, the author explicitly addresses the intellectuals already mentioned in his previous essay and asks them to assume responsibility (...) – becoming protagonists of a new moral revolution. His intention was to reply to Fichte’s well-known Reden an die deutsche Nation. The idea of Europe could be built to transcend nations, manifesting itself as the individual’s renunciation of himself. In this way, the idea of Europe might appear as a ‘moral act’: renouncing the distinct and the finite and turning to unity and infinity. Benda was aware of the possible rise of a type of ‘Europhile nationalism’. To prevent this, he saw it necessary to avoid the closure of the nation and prolong this movement of association so that it might increase its tendency to be inclusive. The political vision of Europe that Julien Benda hoped for should not generate European sovereignty. But, by prompting intellectuals to follow practical and political methods, he consciously exploits their role – stated in La Trahison des clercs – with the hope of building the moral and political framework of a united Europe. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In 1992, John Dunn published an essay in Italian (which came out in English only years later) in which he summarized and clarified certain aspects of his historiographical vision concerning the history of political theory. A careful analysis of the text – corroborated by a consideration of later comments as well as general historical-theoretical references – gives us an insight into the lights and shadows of his thought. This reinterpretation reveals the originality of a perspective that examined the meaning (...) of ‘canon’ within the history of political theory, and indicated certain cultural and political aims to be consciously pursued through it. This original thought has recently been consolidated by other considerations on the need for a global history of political thought capable of offering interesting food for thought. Nevertheless, these seem to have emerged from a change of opinion on Dunn’s part, focusing to a greater extent on certain (more or less well-defined) moral duties that should be pursued by scholars of the history of political thought. (shrink)