Revisiting Contextualism in Political Theory: Putting Principles into Context

Modood, Tariq; Thompson, Simon

Abstract

© 2017, Springer Nature B.V. In this article, we articulate and defend a contextual approach to political theory. According to what we shall call ‘iterative contextualism’, context has two important roles to play in determining what is required by justice. First, it is through the exploration and evaluation of multiple contexts that general principles are devised, revised and refined. Second, significant weight should be given to the norms to be found in specific contexts because the people affected by those norms strongly identify with them. Having said this, the application of general principles to particular contexts may still result in recommendations which deviate to some degree from the prevailing norms. In this case, we shall argue thatalthough justice requires something other than what local norms say, what is required is likely to be intimated by the relevant context. Thus, whilst considerations of identification act as significant constraints on iterative contextualists’ thinking, the idea of intimations provides them with an important resource.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 21, 2017
• Publication Date: Aug 15, 2018
• Deposit Date: Mar 10, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: May 5, 2017
• Journal: Res Publica
• Print ISSN: 1356-4765
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 339-357
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-017-9358-1
• Keywords: context, hate speech, norms, Oakeshott, principles
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/889289
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11158-017-9358-1
• Contract Date: Mar 10, 2017