Being Realistic and Demanding the Impossible

Rossi, Enzo

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2555335

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…It is not particularly surprising that one can call for a radical transformation of politics by invoking moral commitments that sit outside of politics (even when those commitments have to be implemented via a series of feasibility-conscious steps). Indeed, realists argue that moralist radicalism is just too easy, or a category mistake (Rossi 2010(Rossi , 2015(Rossi , 2016.…”

Section: Realism and The Status Quomentioning

confidence: 99%

Political realism as ideology critique

Prinz

Rossi

2017

Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosoph

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a School of Politics, Philosophy, language and Communication Studies, University of east anglia, norwich, UK; b faculteit der Maatschappij-en Gedragswetenschappen, Universiteit van amsterdam, amsterdam, the netherlands ABSTRACT This paper outlines an account of political realism as a form of ideology critique. We defend the normative edge of this critical-theoretic project against the common charge that there is a problematic trade-off between a theory's groundedness in facts about the political status quo and its ability to envisage radical departures from the status quo. To overcome that problem, we combine insights from theories of legitimacy by Bernard Williams and other realists, Critical Theory, and analytic epistemological and metaphysical theories of cognitive bias, ideology and social construction. The upshot is an account of realism as empirically informed critique of social and political phenomena. We reject a sharp divide between descriptive and normative theory, and so provide an alternative to the anti-empiricism of some approaches to Critical Theory as well as to the complacency towards existing power structures found within liberal realism, let alone mainstream normative political philosophy, liberal or otherwise.

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Section: Realism and The Status Quomentioning

confidence: 99%

Political realism as ideology critique

Prinz

Rossi

2017

Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosoph

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Facts, Principles, and (Real) Politics

Rossi

2015

Ethic Theory Moral Prac

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Should our factual understanding of the world influence our normative theorising about it? G.A. Cohen has argued that our ultimate normative principles should not be constrained by facts (e.g. about feasibility, human nature, and so on). Many others have defended or are committed to various versions or subsets of that claim. In this paper I dispute those positions by arguing that, in order to resist the conclusion that ultimate normative principles rest on facts about possibility or conceivability, one has to embrace an unsatisfactory account of how principles generate normative political judgments. So political theorists have to choose between principles ostensibly unbiased by our current understanding of human motivation and political reality, or principles capable of reliably generating political judgments. I conclude with wider methodological observations in defence of the latter option, and so of a return to political philosophy's traditional blend of normative and descriptive elements. Keywords Facts and principles . Moral intuitions . Ideology . Method in political philosophy . G.A. Cohen . Political realism and moralism Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it-all idealism is mendaciousness in the face of what is necessary-but love it. (Nietzsche) IntroductoryWhat should be the relationship between our factual understanding of the world and our normative theorising about it? G. A. Cohen (2003A. Cohen ( , 2008 has argued that if a normative principle is fact-sensitive, i.e. it relies on a factual claim for its justification, then that factual

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The radical realist critique of Rawls: a reconstruction and response

Raekstad

2021

Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosoph

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Being Realistic and Demanding the Impossible

Abstract: The greatest artist does not have any concept Which a single piece of marble does not itself contain Within its excess, though only A hand that obeys the intellect can discover it.

Cited by 5 publications

References 55 publications

Political realism as ideology critique

Political realism as ideology critique

Facts, Principles, and (Real) Politics

The radical realist critique of Rawls: a reconstruction and response

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