The History of Political Thought: A Very Short Introduction

In this episode of New Work in Intellectual History, Professor Richard Whatmore talks through some of the themes about the discipline arising out of his recent The History of Political Thought. A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2021). This is a wide-ranging discussion in which Richard comments on his own changing attitudes to the discipline and its changing focus and character more generally. We cover Whatmore’s motivation for writing the introduction, the current health of the discipline, its relationship with contemporary political theory, and what the future holds under pressures to diversify and decolonise.

Professor Richard Whatmore is Chair of Modern History at the University of St Andrews and the Co-Director of the Institute of Intellectual History. He is the author and co-editor of many publications relating to eighteenth-century European intellectual history, with a particular focus on the history of republicanism and political economy. He is also the editor of the journal History of European Ideas.