The Political Science Predicament: between Ideology and Knowledge

Authors

  • Author

  • Khalil al-Anani

Keywords:

Political Science, Ideology, Epistemology

Abstract

This study explores a major predicament afflicting political science, focusing on the impact of ideology on knowledge. The study examines the influence of the "teleological" or ideological dimension, whether associated with the emergence of political science as a field of knowledge in the late eighteenth century, or one which continued during the Cold War era, on the knowledge and methodological structure of political science. The study argues that there is a cognitive predicament facing political science because it has become a "teleological" science in which the relationship between power and knowledge is clearly manifest. Therefore, it seems clear that ideology has an impact on the cognitive and methodological structure of political science. The study is divided into five parts: the first discusses epistemological and conceptual problems, the second describes the controversy and manifestations of the concept of ideology, the third studies the movement of political science between the ideological and knowledge, the fourth presents critical theses on the relationship between the ideological and cognitive in political science, and the fifth forecasts "post-ideology" political science.

Author Biography

  • Khalil al-Anani

    Professor of political science, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Qatar.

References

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Published

2019-11-01

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Issue

Vol. 7 No. 041 (2019): Issue 041

Section

Studies

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Copyright (c) 2019 Khalil al-Anani (Author)

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