A New Science Of Politics: Hans Kelsen's Reply To Erik Voegelin's "New Science Of Politics"

by Hans Kelsen, Eckhart Arnold (Editor)

Eric Voegelin is famous as a philosopher of history and as one of the most eminent political scientists of the twentieth century. His fundamental work on political theory, the New Science of Politics, is considered a classic in its field. While the New Science has always been a controversial book, its critics have hardly ever taken the pains to pinpoint its weaknesses. There is one exception. Shortly after the appearance of Voegelin's New Science in 1954, Hans Kelsen, a distinguished philosopher with an erudition and breadth of knowledge that matches Veogelin's own, wrote a detailed response to this book by his former student. Kelsen's reply, which was known to Voegelin and is mentioned in this autobiography, is recorded in this work. Kelsen supports his critical stance toward Voegelin's New Science in a clear and well-founded argument. This critical reply to Voegelin is not only an important contribution to the dispute about the foundations of political order in modern society, but will also prove valuable to readers generally interested in Voegelin's life and work.

137 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Hans Kelsen was an Austrian jurist, legal philosopher and political philosopher. He was the author of the 1920 Austrian Constitution, which to a very large degree is still valid today. Due to the rise of totalitarianism in Austria (and a 1929 constitutional change), Kelsen left for Germany in 1930 but was forced to leave this university post after Hitler's seizure of power in 1933 because of his Jewish ancestry. That year he left for Geneva and later moved to the United States in 1940. In 1934, Roscoe Pound lauded Kelsen as "undoubtedly the leading jurist of the time." While in Vienna, Kelsen met Sigmund Freud and his circle, and wrote on the subject of social psychology and sociology.

By the 1940s, Kelsen's reputation was already well established in the United States for his defense of democracy and for his Pure Theory of Law. Kelsen's academic stature exceeded legal theory alone and extended to political philosophy and social theory as well. His influence encompassed the fields of philosophy, legal science, sociology, the theory of democracy, and international relations.