Essentially contested concept

Essentially contested concept refers to abstract terms or phrases that provide value judgements which can be contested. The term essentially contested concept was proposed to facilitate an understanding of the different interpretations of abstractions that have qualitative and evaluative notions^[1]—such as "art", "philanthropy",^[2] "power",^[3] and "social justice". The notion of essentially contested concept was proposed in 1956 by Walter Bryce Gallie.^[4]^[5]

Essentially contested concepts involve agreed on abstract concepts or phrases, but whose usage and interpretation is disputable by others (e.g. "social justice", "This picture is a work of art").^[4]^[6] They are abstract concepts whose “proper use of which inevitably involves endless disputes about their proper uses on the part of their users",^[7] and these disputes "cannot be settled by appeal to empirical evidence, linguistic usage, or the canons of logic alone".^[8] Usually, essentially contested concepts are found in the social sciences where confusion arises due to experts using terminology inconsistently and often failing to specify the relationship between an abstract term and the meaning of that term.^[9]

For example, in historical studies, it has been observed that there are no particular standards for historical topics such as religion, art, science, democracy, and social justice, as these are by their nature "essentially contested" fields that require diverse tools particular to each field beforehand in order to interpret topics from those subjects. When scholars talk about "religion," "art," "science," "democracy," etc., there is no one definition of such terms that is generally accepted, and thus they are essentially contested by default among scholars..^[10]

^ They are "evaluative" in the sense that they deliver some sort of "value-judgement".
^ Daly (2012)
^ Dowding, Keith (February 2011). "Essentially Contested Concept". In Dowding, Keith (ed.). Encyclopedia of Power. Sage Reference. Los Angeles: SAGE (published 2011). pp. 221–222. ISBN 9781412927482. Retrieved 12 November 2021. Power is often described as an essentially contested concept. That term was first introduced into political theory in 1958 by [...] Gallie, who applies it to various subject-terms including power.
^ ^a ^b Gallie, W.B. (March 1956). "Essentially Contested Concepts" (PDF). Meeting of the Aristotelian Society.
^ Published immediately as Gallie (1956a); a later, slightly altered version appears in Gallie (1964).
^ Hart (1961, p. 156) speaks of "a uniform or constant feature", and "a shifting or varying criterion used in determining when, for any given purposes, cases are alike or different".
^ Gallie (1956a), p. 169. The dispute is about the proper use of the concept; and all argue that the concept is being "used inappropriately" by others (Smith, 2002, p. 332).
^ Gray (1977), p. 344.
^ Collier, David; Daniel Hidalgo, Fernando; Olivia Maciuceanu, Andra (October 2006). "Essentially contested concepts: Debates and applications". Journal of Political Ideologies. 11 (3): 211–246. doi:10.1080/13569310600923782.
^ McCullagh, C. Behan (2000). "Bias in Historical Description, Interpretation, and Explanation". History and Theory. 39 (1): 47. doi:10.1111/0018-2656.00112. ISSN 0018-2656. JSTOR 2677997. W. B. Gallie argued that some concepts in history are "essentially contested," namely "religion," "art," "science," "democracy," and "social justice." These are concepts for which "there is no one use of any of them which can be set up as its generally accepted and therefore correct or standard use. When historians write the history of these subjects, they must choose an interpretation of the subject to guide them. For instance, in deciding what Art is, historians can choose between "configurationist theories, theories of aesthetic contemplation and response .. ., theories of art as expression, theories emphasizing traditional artistic aims and standards, and communication theories.

[1] They are "evaluative" in the sense that they deliver some sort of "value-judgement".

[2] Daly (2012)

[3] Dowding, Keith (February 2011). "Essentially Contested Concept". In Dowding, Keith (ed.). Encyclopedia of Power. Sage Reference. Los Angeles: SAGE (published 2011). pp. 221–222. ISBN 9781412927482. Retrieved 12 November 2021. Power is often described as an essentially contested concept. That term was first introduced into political theory in 1958 by [...] Gallie, who applies it to various subject-terms including power.

[Gallie-4] Gallie, W.B. (March 1956). "Essentially Contested Concepts" (PDF). Meeting of the Aristotelian Society.

[5] Published immediately as Gallie (1956a); a later, slightly altered version appears in Gallie (1964).

[6] Hart (1961, p. 156) speaks of "a uniform or constant feature", and "a shifting or varying criterion used in determining when, for any given purposes, cases are alike or different".

[7] Gallie (1956a), p. 169. The dispute is about the proper use of the concept; and all argue that the concept is being "used inappropriately" by others (Smith, 2002, p. 332).

[8] Gray (1977), p. 344.

[9] Collier, David; Daniel Hidalgo, Fernando; Olivia Maciuceanu, Andra (October 2006). "Essentially contested concepts: Debates and applications". Journal of Political Ideologies. 11 (3): 211–246. doi:10.1080/13569310600923782.

[10] McCullagh, C. Behan (2000). "Bias in Historical Description, Interpretation, and Explanation". History and Theory. 39 (1): 47. doi:10.1111/0018-2656.00112. ISSN 0018-2656. JSTOR 2677997. W. B. Gallie argued that some concepts in history are "essentially contested," namely "religion," "art," "science," "democracy," and "social justice." These are concepts for which "there is no one use of any of them which can be set up as its generally accepted and therefore correct or standard use. When historians write the history of these subjects, they must choose an interpretation of the subject to guide them. For instance, in deciding what Art is, historians can choose between "configurationist theories, theories of aesthetic contemplation and response .. ., theories of art as expression, theories emphasizing traditional artistic aims and standards, and communication theories.

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