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Document Details :

Title: The Never Ending Story of Political Moralism and Realism
Author(s): BALAZS, Zoltan
Journal: Ethical Perspectives
Volume: 25    Issue: 4   Date: 2018   
Pages: 589-616
DOI: 10.2143/EP.25.4.3285708

Abstract :
This article argues that political moralism and political realism are truly antipodes that cannot be reconciled or made compatible with one another. This being the case, however, belongs to the nature of politics, and political theory would do better to accommodate itself to it instead of trying to decide time after time whether moralism or realism is right. Moralism needs realism as a challenger that forces it to define itself as a collective way of thinking. Realism must face the power of moralism that arises from the need for a moral justification of collective and political actions, and from the deep demand to enforce what is morally right and good.

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