Ian Hunter is well known as an exponent and defender of contextualist intellectual history. He has intervened decisively in debates over the history of natural law (Rival Enlightenments, 2001), secularization ('Secularization: The birth of a modern combat concept', Modern Intellectual History, 12, 1, 2015), historiography ('The contest over context in intellectual history', History and Theory, 2019) and the role of 'theory' in the modern humanities ('The history of theory', Critical Inquiry, 33, 1, 2006).
