The Return of Grand Theory in the Human Sciences

Quintin Skinner

This is a volume of new essays introducing the most influential developments in social and political thought over the past quarter of a century. During this period empiricist assumptions and the positivist ideal of the unification of the sciences have been undermined by the impact of several different traditions of thought on English-speaking social science. The Introduction traces these transformations, after which each of the contributors provides a brief and lucid account of the thought of one major figure or school. Those discussed include Althusser, Derrida, Foucault, Gadamer, Habermas, Kuhn, Lévi-Strauss, Rawls and the Annales historians. Each essay is followed by suggestions for further reading and a useful general bibliography is provided at the end of the volume.

Cover design by Peter Bate