Jason Kuznicki Quotes

In our own time, academic history has grown unbelievably diverse,
even to the point of ridicule by conservatives, who may not appreciate that
it is a sign of a culture's strength, and not its weakness, that it can devote
resources to the study of early American midwives, or transgender people
in the nineteenth century, or the emergence of new forms of urban slang.
In part, these new types of history are just good, if sophisticated, fun. It
can be fascinating and deeply rewarding to read about other human beings
who have had lives radically different from (or similar to) one's own. But
these new histories also tell stories that have long gone untold, and perhaps
not for any good reason. Perhaps these histories may rouse political
theory from its slumbers, and show it that there are more things in heaven
and earth than are dreamt of in its philosophy.

Admittedly, I advance some ambitious theories of my own in this book.
But I must stress that I consider them provisional, and I would urge you
to consider whether I might be mistaken. Please, I would ask, consider
that I might be mistaken particularly if my book makes you feel really,
really good inside. Feelings of exactly this type, shared between author
and reader, seem likely to have led the entire discipline of political philosophy
systematically astray for much of its history. Do not trust them.