A Political-Temporal Perspective

My paper highlights the potentiality of concentrating on temporal aspects within the field of political theory. I will present what I refer to as a historical-political approach, which is constituted of three different perspectives. Two of these perspectives regard ways of contextualising an object of inquiry and are fairly well-known. I will highlight a third perspective that I refer to as a politico-temporal perspective and showcase its pertinence for studies in political theory by conducting a case study in which I compare it with the two more common perspectives. The two more familiar perspectives are two different forms of historicising, or contextualising, an object of inquiry, whether it be the study of political ideas, individual thinkers, political/social movements, or something else. One way is to contextualize the object of inquiry synchronically. Here, the focus is on how the object could be interpreted in light of its context at a given moment in history. Another way is the diachronic form of contextualization where an object of inquiry is analysed with regard to how it fits in between precedent and subsequent traditions of thought. While Quentin Skinner is a representative of the former tradition, Michel Foucault’s genealogical and Reinhart Koselleck’s Begriffsgeschichte are examples of the latter. These are the two more well-known perspectives. In the paper, I wish to highlight how we can gain new political-theoretical insights by analysing how an object of inquiry can be related to various ways of orienting temporally. Independently of the status of the object (an idea, a political movement etcetera), this perspective concentrates on how it, either explicitly or implicitly, relates towards the past, present and future, and if applicable, the a-temporal dimension of eternity. I will refer to this as a politico-temporal perspective. Together with the two previously mentioned perspectives, it forms the basis of what I refer to as a historical-political approach. To exemplify the relevance of the perspective, I will conduct a case study and analyse a debate concerning human rights that took place in Paris around 1980 between Claude Lefort, Pierre Manent and Marcel Gauchet. The debate prefigures some of the key positions taken in the more recent historical turn in human rights. I will concentrate on how the three thinkers maintained that human rights as a political form were assumed to affect how we orient towards the past, present, future and the a-temporal dimension of eternity. Their exchange is an illustrative example of the perspective both (i) because the members address how they assume that human rights affect our temporal orientation, and (ii) in virtue of serving as a pedagogical contrast to the historicizing approach in the historical turn. It is particularly well suited to revitalize analyses of the current crisis of liberal democracies. To exemplify, it could be activated to assess contemporary populist movements, comparing them both internally and with traditional political movements and ideologies. It is also a promising tool in analyses of concepts, ideologies (and their functioning in society), and values.