Abstract
Aiming at presenting an exemplary case of the historical approach to political theory, this article examines key moments of Quentin Skinner’s intellectual career, from his earliest publications to the most recent ones. It shows that through the years Skinner has evolved from an adverse position to a favorable position regarding the exchange between the history of political thought and contemporary political theory. In his effort to prove the relevance of the past to the intellection of the present, that author departs from his more extreme contextualist prescriptions and begins to conceive his historical method in terms of archeology and, more recently, genealogy. It is argued that, despite their differences, the several phases of Skinner’s methodology have in common the fact that they derive from a philosophy that places ideological conflict at the center of political life.
Keywords:
Historical political theory; Quentin Skinner; Contextualism; Arqueology; Genealogy; Conflict