Canon Controversies in Political Thought

This book explores the meaning of 'influence' which has played a central role in the formation of the canon or tradition of Western political thought. Via a critical overview of the relative fortunes of influence studies in the history of political thought literary theory and – at times – the history of art and poetry it is possible to identify a dominant theory of the term. Nietzschean and ‘emanational’ in nature thanks largely to the work of Harold Bloom this particular theory views influence as mere power and represents a broadly accepted meaning in twentieth century thought. Canons or traditions of thought came to be institutions in themselves reflecting prevalent social and political inequalities. To be sure a theory of influence as power came to be seen as complicit in arbitrary canon formation across a range of disciplines. The book argues ultimately that a second theory of influence imported from Mary Orr’s work on intertextuality affords a rival perspective and amore positive intergenerational meaning of influence. Orr’s ‘braided rope’ theory of influence allows for the development of a plurality of canons each capable of constructing new histories for a variety of epistemic communities. The existence of agonistic rival canons presents pedagogical questions for all teachers of political theory but one that can be potentially navigated by a new understanding of influence in the Orrian tradition.