Political science is the science of a self-contradicting universe since the politics of human societies (that is, “politics”per se) brings together units—individual or collective—that do not conform to a hierarchy of rational preferences immutable across cultures, nor do they rigidly behave according to a sociobiological program. Hence the “two faces” of political science looking both at divisive conflict and at unifying government. Political science as a social science solves the problem by splitting into two radically opposed outlooks: a majoritarian and reasonable institutionalism on the one hand, a minoritarian and sulphurous decisionism on the other. A “grand narrative” reconciles the two views and bridges the gap between our “tacit” and our “systematic” knowledge, as well as between our cognition and our values. Yet, is this narrative still valid?
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