ost notable developments in political philosophy typically occur at periods of history when political discord is highest (Chaissen, 1987). The new developments, such as Marxist thought, are offered as cures for contemporary problems. Analytical philosophy challenges such developments on the grounds that philosophical inquiry is concerned with the conceptual nature of thinking, and, as such, cannot yield any new knowledge of facts, other than those related to the language used to describe known phenomena (Etzioni, 1968). In this context, the analytical philosopher views political philosophy as a second-order activity, that is (1) concerned with the concepts and methods of political science that cause it to be a branch of the philosophy of science, or (2) concerned with the concepts of political dialog and arguments that cause it to be a branch of the philosophy of language (Weber, 1947).
Philosophical criticism in politics explores human commitments in the context of the principals or
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