This document provides an overview and introduction to the history of political thought and political theory. It discusses key concepts such as how history studies past human events through documentation, and how political theory categorizes social thought. The objectives are to orient students to important concepts and personalities in political philosophy and relate the field to actual politics. It examines perspectives on the nature and scope of political philosophy from historians like Cicero and Carr, and theorists like Collingwood and Curtis on how political philosophy reflects on the best political order through empirical analysis and historical context.

1. HISTORY of
POLITICAL THOUGHT
(HPTN07F Lecture 1)
Prepared by Raizza P. Corpuz 2016

2. OBJECTIVES
1. Orient the student on the history of
Political Philosophy by introducing important concepts,
terms, and personalities on Political Philosophy
2. Relate political philosophy to actual practice of
politics.

3. INTRODUCTION: History and Political Theory
History
1. is the study of the past.
2. Most historians tend to focus on past human
events, mainly political, military, or
diplomatic because these areas are most heavily
documented.
3. But in recent decades, historians have
developed methods to study events or peoples
for which documents are rare or non-existent.
4. These new methods have led to a proliferation
of sub-fields within the history discipline.

4. "History is the witness that
testifies to the passing of time;
it illuminates reality, vitalizes
memory, provides guidance in daily
life, and brings us tidings of
antiquity." ----Cicero

5. According to R. G. Collingwood,
history is "a kind of research or
enquiry" into "actions that have
been done in the past", conducted
"by the interpretation of
evidence"—evidence being further
defined as documents….

6. • British historian E. H. Carr (1892-
1982)
has advised that history is not a
single, well-defined narrative or
bundle of facts that can be memorized,
but a terrain of contestation between
competing and evolving interpretations
whose influence is as much shaped by
time and place as by any given set of
facts

7. HISTORICAL IDEAS
• But there are other reasons to review
Collingwood’s ideas –
not least that they represent one of the most
uncompromising attempts to defend the importance
of historical knowledge to the very possibility
of human civilization.

8. Political theory : is the categorization
of social thought by a group or by the
persuasion or beliefs of a geo-
political mass.
• Many political theories are founded as
critiques toward existing political,
economic and social conditions of the
theorist's time.

9. NATURE and SCOPE of
POLITICAL
PHILOSOPHY
AN INTRODUCTION
TO M. CURTIS…

10. POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY/THOUGHT and
THEORY- M. Curtis
1. reflection on political phenomena
2. makes use of and contains analytical, descriptive and
historical material through ethical considerations.
3. reflection on the right or the best kind of political
order.
4. enriches the cumulative store of wisdom and ideas
5. the test of political theory ought to be historical,
rather than metaphysical

11. 6. It has been formulated in periods of crisis-economic, military, cultural or
spiritual.
7. results from the immersion of the writer in the political phenomena of
his times.
8. Political theory enriches the cumulative store of wisdom and ideas
9. Political philosophy is partly a process of communion with the past
involving familiarity with the great writers, a continuing discourse with
history, a process.
10. Political philosophy serves to clarify and make precise political
concepts, to redefine and re analyze the political terminology of age

12. 11. Political philosophy examines customary beliefs and practices
in the possibility that what has been accepted as an imponderable
12. Political philosophy helps to evaluate the present correctly.
13. Political philosophy is a search for understanding
14. Political philosophy is teleological in its nature, it can suggest it
cannot prove

13. 15. The great THEORIST, like the great artist is the person with
sympathy, understanding and imagination gains insight into
the needs of his time.
16. Political philosophy is abstraction, and abstraction is
meaningful only when it is related to concrete example and
actual behavior.
17. Political philosophy is grounded in the acquisition of
empirical data.

14. Reference:
Michael Curtis. 1981. The great political theories Vol. 1
Historians from the Past. N.D (RPC meaning of historical context)