The relevance of the eighteenth century to modern political theory

The eighteenth century is still the bottleneck of history political theory: that separates pre-economic theorists such as Machiavelli, Bodin and Hobbes from post-economic Hegel, Mill Marx. Political thinking became immeasurably much more complicated in century: yet historians, after at least half a extremely judicious scholarship, have difficulty explaining its significance for contemporary theory. Sagar's Adam Smith Reconsidered an important contribution to attempt clarify just how modern should look backward – without hastening back abstractions seventeenth or remaining confined particular involutions nineteenth century. Its specific originality drawing attention two ideas Smith, seldom seen clearly all, ‘the quirk rationality’ conspiracy merchants’. well historians thought will benefit familiarising themselves with these ideas.