{"id":12196,"date":"2026-09-29T09:33:36","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T00:33:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fpse\/winpec\/?p=12196"},"modified":"2026-10-01T10:03:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T01:03:53","slug":"%ef%bc%91%ef%bc%92%e6%9c%88%ef%bc%92%ef%bc%90%e6%97%a5%e7%8f%be%e6%94%bf%e7%a0%94%e3%82%bb%e3%83%9f%e3%83%8a%e3%83%bc%ef%bc%88%e5%a0%80%e4%ba%95%e4%ba%ae%e5%85%88%e7%94%9f%ef%bc%89%e3%81%ae-12-2-2-135","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fpse\/winpec\/other-en\/2026\/09\/29\/12196\/","title":{"rendered":"IPSA RC31 Public Lecture:\u00a0\u201cDo Political Philosophers Really Have Methods?\u201d\u00a0by Jonathan Floyd, University of Bristol, October 30, 16:00-"},"content":{"rendered":"

Date\u00a0and time:<\/strong>\u00a0 30 October 2026, 4pm\u20135.30pm<\/p>\n

Venue:\u00a0<\/strong>Conference Room 1, 3rd Floor, International Conference Center, Waseda University. Google Maps<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaker<\/strong>: Jonathan Floyd<\/a>, Professor of Political Theory, University of Bristol<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Title<\/strong>: \u201cDo Political Philosophers Really Have Methods?\u201d<\/p>\n

Abstract<\/strong>:
\n\u201cThe point of this lecture is to explain how we might talk about \u2018methods\u2019 and \u2018methodology\u2019 in political philosophy as well as why you might want to. Starting with the puzzle of the \u2018Pure Thinker\u2019 \u2013 an individual who believes they neither have nor need any \u2018methods\u2019 \u2013 I go on to explain not only why we do have such methods, but also how they can be understood in terms of the \u2018tasks\u2019 they serve, and in turn the wider \u2018question\u2019 of political philosophy those tasks address. Following that explanation, I then set out the benefits of reflecting on such things, which is to say the benefits of doing \u2018methodology\u2019. These include better self-understanding and in turn collaboration, but also, more distinctively, the need to find a \u2018balance\u2019 between the different methods we end up using, given the different \u2018risks\u2019 each of them carries. Most of us, these days, are what I will call \u2018mixed methods theorists\u2019, and it is important that none of us ends up relying on any one of those methods too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bio:
\n<\/strong>Jonathan Floyd is Professor of Political Theory at the University of Bristol. He has worked extensively on the nature, methods, and purposes of political philosophy, and he is currently finishing a monograph on methods and methodology for Oxford University Press. His previous publications include What\u2019s the point of political philosophy?\u00a0<\/em>(Polity, 2019), Is Political Philosophy Impossible?<\/em> Thoughts and Behaviour in Normative Political Theory<\/em>\u00a0(Cambridge University Press, 2017), and Political Philosophy versus History? Contextualism and Real Politics in Contemporary Political Thought<\/em> (Cambridge University Press, 2011, co-edited with Marc Stears). Together with Humeira Iqtidar (King\u2019s College London), Jonathan serves as Co-chair of IPSA Research Committee 31 Political Philosophy.<\/p>\n

Language:<\/strong>\u00a0English<\/p>\n

Format: <\/strong>In person. No recording or online participation.<\/p>\n

Audience:<\/strong>\u00a0Public. No registration\u00a0required.<\/p>\n

Organizers:<\/strong>\u00a0IPSA RC 31 Political Philosophy<\/a> and WINPEC, Waseda University<\/a><\/p>\n

Contact:<\/strong>\u00a0Kei Hiruta<\/a>\u00a0(kei.hiruta@waseda.jp)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Date\u00a0and time:\u00a0 30 October 2026, 4pm\u20135.30pm Venue:\u00a0Conference Room 1, 3rd Floor, International Conference Cent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12211,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[104,105],"tags":[99,102,18,101],"class_list":["post-12196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-en","category-other","tag-events-en","tag-general-en","tag-events","tag-general"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fpse\/winpec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fpse\/winpec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fpse\/winpec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fpse\/winpec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fpse\/winpec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12196"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fpse\/winpec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12213,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fpse\/winpec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12196\/revisions\/12213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fpse\/winpec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fpse\/winpec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fpse\/winpec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/fpse\/winpec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}