The Return of Grand Theory in the Human Sciences

Quentin Skinner has done an admirable job bringing together the nine authorities whose essays comprise this little collection. Giddens, Barnes, Hoy et al. all work hard to condense the difficult material they are discussing into 15-20 pages chunks digestable by the modern college student. Not to be overlooked is Skinner's introduction. Wide ranging and thoughtful, it corrals the great panorama of twentieth century philosophical thought into 20 pages. He reviews the life and death of "Grand Theory," its momentary eclipse by the "Empirical Theorists" of the early to mid-twentieth century and then the rebirth catalogued in the present volume. Skinner defines "grand theory" as "abstract and normative theories of human nature and conduct" on page 1 of his introduction. It could be argued that some of the theorists included in the volume do not really conform to this definition and, indeed, the essay on Foucault does little to link him to grand theory. This is a minor criticism, however, and detracts little from the value of the overarching unity Skinner imposes on the collected theorists. Lastly, though published more than twenty years ago now, the copious reference to (then) less well-established scholars such as Rorty, Kristeva and others keep the volume quite up to date. Overall, a valuable contribution.

If you are looking for the one best single source that will supply you (or your students) with a sound understanding of the salient "Grand" social and critical thinkers of the last 50 years, this is it! Not only are "all the usual suspects" covered (Derrida, Foucault, Kuhn Habermas, etc.), but they are covered by the leading commentators in the philosophical world (Barnes on Kuhn, Giddens on Habermas, Philp on Foucault). Most remarkably, however, the essays are well written, clear, and comprehensive. The book has become a staple on my syllabi.