Harvey Mansfield, A Student’s Guide to Political Philosophy (2001), p. 6
“
Today political science is often said to be ‘descriptive’ or ‘empirical,’ concerned with facts; political philosophy is called ‘normative’ because it expresses values. But these terms merely repeat in more abstract form the difference between political science, which seeks agreement, and political philosophy, which seeks the best.
— Harvey Mansfield on Political philosophy
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Today political science is often said to be ‘descriptive’ or ‘empirical,’ concerned with facts; political philosophy is called ‘normative’ because it expresses values. But these terms merely repeat in more abstract form the difference between political science, which seeks agreement, and political philosophy, which seeks the best." in the context of "Harvey Mansfield, A Student’s Guide to Political Philosophy (2001), p. 6" to mean that wisdom is timeless.
Source: Wikiquote: "Political philosophy" (Quotes)
The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Tags
About Harvey Mansfield
Harvey Claflin Mansfield, Jr. (born March 21, 1932) is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Government at Harvard University, where he has taught since 1962.
About Harvey Mansfield
Harvey Claflin Mansfield, Jr. (born March 21, 1932) is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Government at Harvard University, where he has taught since 1962.
View all quotes →