Being concerned with representation, this book is about an idea, a
concept, a word. It is primarily a conceptual analysis, not a
historical study of the way in which representative government has
evolved, nor yet an empirical investigation of the behavior of
contemporary representatives or the expectations voters have about
them. Yet, although the book is about a word, it is not about mere
words, not merely about words. For the social philosopher, for the
social scientist, words are not "mere"; they are the tools of his
trade and a vital part of his subject matter. Since human beings
are not merely political animals but also language-using animals,
their behavior is shaped by their ideas. What they do and how they
do it depends upon how they see themselves and their world, and
this in turn depends upon the concepts through which they see.
Learning what "representation" means and learning how to represent
are intimately connected. But even beyond this, the social theorist
sees the world through a network of concepts. Our words define and
delimit our world in important ways, and this is particularly true
of the world of human and social things. For a zoologist may
capture a rare specimen and simply observe it; but who can capture
an instance of representation (or of power, or of interest)? Such
things, too, can be observed, but the observation always
presupposes at least a rudimentary conception of what
representation (or power, or interest) is, what counts as
representation, where it leaves off and some other phenomenon
begins. Questions about what representation is, or is like, are not
fully separable from the question of what "representation" means.
This book approaches the former questions by way of the latter.
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