Politiikan ilmiöt vai politiikan ilmiö? Käsitehistoriallista tarkastelua

Authors

• Kari Palonen

Abstract

In ordinary language ’politics’ refers either to a field of action or to quality of action. Common to both is that the Aristotelian Politics discipline is replaced by an action concept of politics. When this ’horizon shift’ occurred in the early 19th century, the first meaning attached to politics gave it a minimal interpretation; the field of politics corresponds roughly to the object of the 18th century politics discipline. The second meaning qualifies politics as activity, and thus initiates the differentiation and autonomization of ’the political’. But, as a ’concept’ in a strong sense of being subject to different thematizations and interpretations, ’politics/the political’ occurs for the first time only in early 20th century Germany.