Is Political Philosophy Dead?

• DOI: 10.1177/106591296101400373
• Published date: 01 September 1961
• Date: 01 September 1961
• Subject Matter: Articles

75
ments in check. Economic dependence reinforces military dependence upon the
Soviet Union.
4. Moscow will bend every effort to preserve the alliance because the
Peking regime is preferable, from Moscow’s point of view, to any kind of non-
Communist regime in China. Similarly, Peking requires Soviet diplomacy and/
or military support in any effort to capture Taiwan and make its presence felt
on the world stage.
Any alliance will evoke some disagreement and strain and that of Moscow
and Peking is no exception. However, it is doubtful whether the disruptive
factors outlined here will outweigh the cohesive forces promoting mutual de-
pendence and confining the expression of differences between the two parties
to a semi-esoteric level. At the same time it will require a high order of skill
and dexterity on the part of Communist diplomacy to resolve the differences
which are likely to continue to manifest themselves.
Political Theory*
IS POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY DEAD?
JAMES HOLTON
Washington State College
It is not without significance that our topic concerns political philosophy
and not, for example, political theory or political thought. It behooves us,
therefore, to give some thought to what is meant by political philosophy before
we turn to a consideration of the state of political philosophy.
Political philosophy is, or certainly was in its classical sense, an attempt to
arrive at an understanding of, first, the nature of political phenomena and,
second, the nature of the most desirable political order. With the present
tendency to distinguish between political philosophy and political science, how-
ever, the latter has fallen heir to the first portion of the inquiry. Political
philosophy has been left to toy with the abstract problems of political rightness
and wrongness.
Political philosophy exists today as little more than a shadow of its former
self. It survives on the academic scene primarily in the form of courses devoted,
appropriately enough, to the history...