'The battle is all there is': philosophy and history in International Relations theory. (September 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Devetak, Richard
• Is Part Of: International relations. Volume 31:Number 3(2017)
• Page Start: 261
• Page End: 281
• Publication Date: 2017-09
• Subjects: Cambridge School -- contextualism -- historiography -- humanism -- international intellectual history -- International Relations theory -- Niccolò Machiavelli -- philosophy -- Quentin Skinner -- the Renaissance; International relations -- Periodicals; World politics -- Periodicals; 303.482
• DOI: 10.1177/0047117817723063
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0047-1178

Abstract

There is an expectation today that International Relations (IR) theory ought to engage with philosophy as a meta-knowledge capable of grounding and legitimizing knowledge claims in the discipline. Two assumptions seem to lie behind this expectation: first, that only philosophy can supply the necessary meta-theoretical grounding needed; second, that theory is inherently a philosophical register of knowledge. This article treats these assumptions with scepticism. While not denying philosophy's contribution to IR theory, the article makes the case for contextual intellectual history as an alternative mode of political and international theory. It seeks to shed light on the 'philosophization of IR' by depicting the broad contours of the historical and continuing rivalry between philosophy and history in the humanities and social sciences and, by reference to Machiavelli and Renaissance humanism, reminding the discipline of IR of the value of studying politics and international relations in a historical mode.