An Overview of the Constitutional Design Project

Abstract

It is time to step back and consider how the various pieces discussed thus far fit together. We must consider first how they form a coherent project and then how the various principles are related and the ways they contribute. As a coherent project, constitutional design takes its form from political philosophy in general, because the constitutional project is historically the result of, and an offshoot from, Western political philosophy. This is not to say that constitutionalism is the central concern of political philosophy or that all political philosophers have contributed to constitutional thinking. Instead, constitutionalism is so deeply embedded in Western political philosophy that the content of constitutionalism and the method for pursuing it cannot be separated from Western philosophy. In large part, this resulted from the project being defined by early political philosophers as they engaged in defining the broader philosophical tradition. In Chapter 6 we considered some of Plato's contributions to defining and advancing constitutionalism, but it is to Aristotle we must turn for laying out the coherent project in which we are now engaged. Political Philosophy as an Integrated Project Aristotle notes in the Politics that political theory proceeds simultaneously at three levels: discourse about the ideal, about the best possible in the real world, and about existing political systems (1288b21). Put another way, comprehensive political theory must ask several different kinds of questions that are linked, yet distinguishable.