Συμπτώσεις, καλή τύχη και ξεροκεφαλιά

Abstract

Autobiographical essay narrating Giovanni Sartori’s scientific trajectory amidst wartime vicissitudes and the particularities of the Italian academia. The author recounts his movement from philosophy to political science, the main areas of his scholarly contribution (democratic theory, parties and party systems, and social science methodology) and the key significance of the comparative method. Post-war behaviourism has failed to adequately deal with the goal of bringing about a science of Logos. It has sidestepped the research-practice dimension and sought a premature quantification lacking sufficient logical and methodological grounding. These developments were particularly pronounced in the case of the American political science (despite exceptions), where Sartori moved during his years of scientific maturity. As he puts it, ‘American political science... entered a path... of excessive specialization (and thus narrowness), excessive quantification and, by the same token, a path leading —in my opinion— to irrelevance and sterility’. The article concludes with a plea to return to methodological discipline, a prerequisite for a fruitful comparative politics.