2014
DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.2397459
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Realism in Normative Political Theory

Abstract: This paper provides a critical overview of the realist current in contemporary political philosophy. We define political realism on the basis of its attempt to give varying degrees of autonomy to politics as a sphere of human activity, in large part through its exploration of the sources of normativity appropriate for the political, and so distinguish sharply between political realism and non-ideal theory. We then identify and discuss four key arguments advanced by political realists: from ideology, from the r… Show more

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Cited by 42 publications
(60 citation statements)
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“…Cohen 2003Cohen , 2008Caney 2005) neglect that the socio-political practice to which a principle of justice is supposed to apply fundamentally affects the content and justification of that principle (Sangiovanni 2008(Sangiovanni , 2011Ronzoni 2009Ronzoni , 2011James 2005James , 2012Rossi 2012). A third debate has emerged in democratic theory, where political realists accuse political moralistsincluding all of the above philosophersof putting too much faith in abstract and general moral principles for justifying principles of political legitimacy, arguing instead that we must start out from the reality of 'dirty politics' and regard principles of legitimacy as distinctly political with little or no grounding in moral values (Rossi and Sleat 2014;Geuss 2008;Bellamy 2010;Williams 2005;Newey 2010;Galston 2010;Rossi 2012;Sleat 2010;Horton 2010;Mouffe 2005).…”
Section: Shared Methodological Assumptionsmentioning
confidence: 99%
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“…Cohen 2003Cohen , 2008Caney 2005) neglect that the socio-political practice to which a principle of justice is supposed to apply fundamentally affects the content and justification of that principle (Sangiovanni 2008(Sangiovanni , 2011Ronzoni 2009Ronzoni , 2011James 2005James , 2012Rossi 2012). A third debate has emerged in democratic theory, where political realists accuse political moralistsincluding all of the above philosophersof putting too much faith in abstract and general moral principles for justifying principles of political legitimacy, arguing instead that we must start out from the reality of 'dirty politics' and regard principles of legitimacy as distinctly political with little or no grounding in moral values (Rossi and Sleat 2014;Geuss 2008;Bellamy 2010;Williams 2005;Newey 2010;Galston 2010;Rossi 2012;Sleat 2010;Horton 2010;Mouffe 2005).…”
Section: Shared Methodological Assumptionsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…In a similar fashion, political realists urge us to start in the reality of politics and the context in which practices of political agency take place. Proper principles of political legitimacy should be theorized from within the actual workings of politics rather than from some abstract 'external' moral standpoint (Rossi and Sleat 2014;Bellamy 2010;Geuss 2008;Philp 2010).…”
Section: Shared Methodological Assumptionsmentioning
confidence: 99%
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“…Realism has played a far less pivotal role in political theory. It is only in the last decade or so that a self-conscious realist position has begun to emerge in the field, though it draws on various long-standing lines of thought (for surveys, see Bell, 2008a;Galston, 2010;Rossi & Sleat, 2014;Sleat, 2013;Sleat, 2017a). The recent burst of writing has been inspired above all by the work of B. and Raymond Geuss (2001Geuss ( , 2008, although numerous other thinkers have also been recruited to the cause, sometimes retrospectively.…”
mentioning
confidence: 99%