Politics and Vision: Continuity and Innovation in Western Political Thought is a work of political theory by Princeton Emeritus Professor Sheldon S. Wolin. Part One, consisting of ten chapters and first published in 1960, distinguishes political philosophy from philosophy in general and traces political philosophy from its Platonic origins to modern day. Part Two, consisting of seven chapters and published (along with Part One) in a 2004 expanded edition, traces the development of political thought from Marx, Nietzsche, and others up to the late 20th century. Wolin left Part One unaltered in the expanded edition, confining the expressions of his changes in thought about political theory to those sections of Part Two that overlap with Part One.
One sign of the significance of the work is the large number of graduate students and professors who for three decades used it as a primary source of guidance in the field of political theory.
In revising the work, Wolin cites three major changes in political theory and politics between 1960 and 2004: (1) the aftermath of Fascism's fall in Europe and Communism's fall generally, with an intervening constant "semi-mobilization" by liberal democracies, (2) an increase in the rights of citizens against the tendencies of regimentation by the state (e.g. anti-discrimination laws), and (3) an increase in the ability of nations to "control, punish, survey, direct, and influence citizens." Wolin states that the first change necessitated the latter two changes, leading to an "inverted totalitarianism" where increased rights exist alongside a less participatory citizenry under more pervasive governmental control.
Wolin states that an inquiry is a process, a tool to find truths. Philosophy is distinguished from other forms of inquiry in that "philosophy claims to deal with truths publicly arrived at and publicly demonstrable." Contrasted with this are revealed truths dealing with sacred rites, religion, and private findings of conscience or feelings. Political philosophy hews close to this characteristic of philosophy as a whole, with the public ("demos") at times in history demanding that laws be publicly demonstrated and accessible, even if their origin was supposedly revealed truth. For Wolin, it is the nature of politics that common concerns are brought before the political process, because the political is best equipped both to confront those concerns and to do so in a public, demonstrable, and thus philosophical manner.
The discernment of what within philosophy exactly is political and what is not is confused by two factors: (1) the line can be blurred due to the interaction of political factors with other influences and (2) the language used to describe political ideas is often used in other contexts, and vocabulary from other areas is often applied to the political.
Famous quotes containing the words politics, continuity, innovation, western, political and/or thought:
“While you’re playing cards with a regular guy or having a bite to eat with him, he seems a peaceable, good-humoured and not entirely dense person. But just begin a conversation with him about something inedible, politics or science, for instance, and he ends up in a deadend or starts in on such an obtuse and base philosophy that you can only wave your hand and leave.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“Continuous eloquence wearies.... Grandeur must be abandoned to be appreciated. Continuity in everything is unpleasant. Cold is agreeable, that we may get warm.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
“Both cultures encourage innovation and experimentation, but are likely to reject the innovator if his innovation is not accepted by audiences. High culture experiments that are rejected by audiences in the creator’s lifetime may, however, become classics in another era, whereas popular culture experiments are forgotten if not immediately successful. Even so, in both cultures innovation is rare, although in high culture it is celebrated and in popular culture it is taken for granted.”
—Herbert J. Gans (b. 1927)
“Ex oriente lux may still be the motto of scholars, for the Western world has not yet derived from the East all the light which it is destined to receive thence.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“There is a potential 4-6 percentage point net gain for the President [George Bush] by replacing Dan Quayle on the ticket with someone of neutral stature.”
—Mary Matalin, U.S. Republican political advisor, author, and James Carville b. 1946, U.S. Democratic political advisor, author. All’s Fair: Love, War, and Running for President, p. 205, Random House (1994)
“But he thought of his sisters, proud and cold,
And his mother, vain of her rank and gold.”
—John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)