Resumo:
This article seeks to show how the political theory has observed its role in society. The intention is to bring the political theory to think about itself, following the etymological meaning of the word “reflect” (cf. Robinet, 2004). If we understand reflection as the thought that returns to itself, we might say thatthe discussion in which we incur here is essentially philosophical. Around the 15 th century some questions had to be answered to make possible the development of political theory: What is the role of political theory? What is its object? What is its aim? This discussion pointed out the answer to another one,broader and we may say, fundamental: What is political theory? We shall present answers given in different historical moments.