Essentially contested concept

In a paper delivered to the Aristotelian Society on 12 March 1956,^[1] Walter Bryce Gallie (1912–1998) introduced the term essentially contested concept to facilitate an understanding of the different applications or interpretations of the sorts of abstract, qualitative, and evaluative notions^[2]—such as "art", "philanthropy",^[3] "power"^[4] and "social justice"—used in the domains of aesthetics, sustainable development, political philosophy, philosophy of history, and philosophy of religion.

Garver (1978) describes their use as follows:

The term essentially contested concepts gives a name to a problematic situation that many people recognize: that in certain kinds of talk there is a variety of meanings employed for key terms in an argument, and there is a feeling that dogmatism ("My answer is right and all others are wrong"), skepticism ("All answers are equally true (or false); everyone has a right to his own truth"), and eclecticism ("Each meaning gives a partial view so the more meanings the better") are none of them the appropriate attitude towards that variety of meanings.^[5]

Essentially contested concepts involve widespread agreement on a concept (e.g., "fairness"), but not on the best realization thereof.^[6] They are "concepts the 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]

^ Published immediately as Gallie (1956a); a later, slightly altered version appears in Gallie (1964).
^ 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.
^ Garver (1978), p. 168.
^ 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.

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

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

[3] Daly (2012)

[4] 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.

[5] Garver (1978), p. 168.

[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.

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