Product Description

The first of three volumes of essays by Quentin Skinner, one of the world’s leading intellectual historians. This collection includes some of his most important philosophical and methodological statements written over the past four decades, each carefully revised for publication in this form. In a series of seminal essays Professor Skinner sets forth the intellectual principles that inform his work. Writing as a practising historian, he considers the theoretical difficulties inherent in the pursuit of knowledge and interpretation, and elucidates the methodology which finds its expression in his two successive volumes. All of Professor Skinner’s work is characterised by philosophical power, limpid clarity, and elegance of exposition; these essays, many of which are now recognised classics, provide a fascinating and convenient digest of the development of his thought. Professor Skinner has been awarded the Balzan Prize Life Time Achievement Award for Political Thought, History and Theory. Full details of this award can be found at http://www.balzan.it/News_eng.aspx?ID=2474

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #124914 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 226 pages

Review
‘Quentin Skinner is one of the world’s foremost historians of political thought … As a retrospective showcase of the work of a major scholar, this is impressive. Skinner’s ability to combine political and philosophical insight with minute knowledge of several centuries of political literature is awe inspiring.’ Robert Sugden, Times Higher Education Supplement

' … this is a deeply impressive collection which displays Skinner's exceptional range.' The New York Review

About the Author
QUENTIN SKINNER is Regius Professor of Modern History in the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Christ’s College.

Customer Reviews

Cambridge 'contextualism' School of History
Be careful re: the title. Whilst Vols 2 and 3 deal in great and well-written detail with Republicaism v Authoritarian rule, Vol. 1 is the must-have introduction to the 'Cambridge School' of contextualism - the study of the works of great thinkers in context, asking essentially 'what did the author say and what did they mean by saying it'? Seems obvious? Well, as Skinner shows, many eminent historians have claimed the most bizarre things on behalf of various authors of the past, simply because they spent too little time considering why a text was written. One classic example would be this: why did Machiavelli write The Prince. The answer no doubt includes a desire to teach the lessons he believed he had learned, but the slant he takes seems anti-Republican, a political ideal he was known to favour (and also wrote a great work on: The Discourses). So what was he up to?; well, in part, he was trying to show he could be loyal to the new regime, if they would only give him his old job back. Anyhow, this is a must for anyone serious about doing history, but one which has also to be read critically - Skinner's approach should be but one tool in the historian's kit-bag.