Reception Theory and the Interpretation of Historical Meaning

War, States, and International Order

“…108 Second, reception theory provides a particularly useful set of tools for analyzing the construction of intellectual canons. 109 The importance of "canons" and "traditions" has not escaped IR scholars, 110 and indeed, Bell points out that while Skinner is right to be suspicious of "claims about easily delineated transhistorical ideational bodies," we must also "recognize the vital role of perceived traditions," that is, "the relationship theorists sustain with those they consider to be their intellectual progenitors." 111 As Freeden explains, "[i]nasmuch as people come to attach importance to reified traditions, however erroneously conceived the latter are, they become factors in the formation of human thought and in the explanation of human behavior."…”

Overthrowing the Floresta–Wollstonecraft Myth for Latin American Feminism

“…By looking at the latter phenomenon, we come to understand how 'creative misreadings' of past authors and texts can be crucial for the historical development of political ideas such as feminism. 4 Following the historical work of Karen Offen, we use the terms 'feminism' and 'feminist' to describe arguments or activism against patriarchy and male privilege on behalf of the well-being of women as a group, in any culture or epoch. 5 By merging the methods of reception theorists such as Thompson and historians of international thought such as David Armitage, we are able to situate Floresta within broader trends concerning the symbolic reception of Wollstonecraft in discourse on women's rights in Latin America during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.…”

Historical Knowledge and Historical Reality: A Plea for "Internal Realism"

“…87 This concept helps to clarify how different normative conceptions relate to different descriptions of historical reality because it can function as a bridge between the "domain assumptions" 88 of the historians and their audiences. These domain assumptions, that have their origins in social ontologies, 89 are shared with political ideologies; therefore it makes sense to talk about "liberal," "conservative," and "Marxist" traditions in historiography and to link historiographical controversies to the politico-ideological competition of "world views.…”