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Jobs in history of political thought?

In our newest "how can we help you?" thread, 'Am I a Philosopher?' writes:

I'm pursuing a PhD program at an European university on the history of political thought (19th-20th centuries). I gather that Anglo-American philosophers don't consider what I do as political philosophy, but as political theory or intellectual history. Is that possible to get a position in political philosophy in the US without producing normative-oriented research?

My sense is that jobs in the history of political thought are really rare in philosophy, and that it is probably difficult (if not impossible) to get a job in political philosophy without doing normatively-oriented research. My guess is that someone in this person's position is probably more likely to be competitive for a job in political science. However, I'm not very clued into that job-market. Anyone out there have any insight?

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4 responses to “Jobs in history of political thought?”

  1. Michel

    FWIW, my sense is that the better bet here is to apply for philosophy jobs in the relevant historical period.
    I wouldn’t rule out political philosophy entirely, but I suspect the poster would fare better by presenting themselves as a historian.
    Then again, depending on the historical period/geographic region, the job pickings are probably pretty slim there, too. Early modern seems to be doing very well these days, but who knows if it’ll last? These things come and go.

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  2. anonymous

    I agree with Michel, I work in a department that would certainly consider hiring someone like this under the description ‘historian of philosophy’, and also would likely consider it under the guise of political philosophy–but (a) my department is unusual and (b) I think that even if there are a lot of people sympathetic to it as political philosophy–a lot of departments that are hiring in social-political need people who can teach courses on contemporary issues where there is more student demand.

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  3. Amanda

    hmmm….that’s what I said 🙂

    Reply
  4. Amanda

    Also, per my original comment, it would be relevant to know more about what specific topic the poster is working on. If it is a historical figur(s), I think they are more likely to be competitive for history jobs than if they are focusing in on some other aspect of the time-period.

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