The Example of History and the History of Examples in Political Theory

Modern political theory was created with the idea that the ordered consumption of historical examples was the best kind of political education. But over the course of its history, the example receded as the idea of natural laws of politics rose to prominence in the Enlightenment. In the post-Enlightenment period, political theory has struggled to balance the roles of example and generalization as it has wavered in defining itself as either practical education for the practitioner of politics or, to the contrary, as scientific knowledge for the detached observer. A recent turn to film in political theory may indicate that the example is finding a new sort of purchase in the field, on the basis of a novel ontology of politics.