Structure of political thought: a study in the history of political ideas

A glance at the Table of Contents of this book will give the reader a rapid and cursory idea of what is meant by "the structure of political thought." It will reveal a relation of order be tween logic and reality, between theoretic science and practical science, between art and prudence. Concealed in the bare out line is a story-indeed, a mystery story, whose solution will make up the construction of this book.
In The Evolution of Physics, Albert Einstein has compared the reader of a good mystery story to the scientist who seeks answers to the mysteries written in the book of nature. In drawing out the comparison, he observes that in all good mystery stories it is not the wealth of facts that contributes materially to the solution; rather a time arrives when the investigator has gathered all the facts necessary for at least some part of his problem. The facts frequently appear incoherent, contradictory, and unrelated.