Rusakova Olga
The article isdevoted to critical analysis of the results of research of the status of contemporary American political theory/philosophy, conducted by Matthew J. Moore. The results of the research were presented at the APSA Symposium in 2009.The importance of the research carried out by M. J. Moore, as well as the importance of its goal - defining the place of political theory in political sciences, obtaining information about the level of influence of particular political philosophers on the minds of American political theorists and on the participation of respondents in the activities of public and scientific associations – is underlined.Moore’s commitment to quantitative approach in analyzing scientific outlook of political theorists, as well as subjective method used in rankings contemporary and future political theorists of our time and the near future, is criticized. The authors express their appreciation of a number of critical comments made by Moore’s reviewers during the discussion. At the same time, the research done by Moore, to authors’ opinion, may encourage similar studies in other national communities of political sciences, including Russian political philosophers.
Keywords: political theory, political philosophy, political theorists, American political science, American Political Science Association, positivism, qualitative methods, qualitative methods.