Hans Morgenthau moraalisena opettajana

Authors

• Juha Räikkä

Abstract

This article contains a reconstruction of Morgenthau’s realist political theory. Contrary to the widely held view, realism is a normative moral theory, for it aims to answer the question of what is the right way to act in foreign policy — all things considered. Two contestable justifications for realistic moral norms are examined: the well-known Hobbesian argument seems to be unsuitable to justify Morgenthau’s theory; while the “collectivistic” argument of Michael Walzer serves the purpose better, the reason being is that there are many anti-individualistic and anti-liberalistic elements in Morgenthaus’s realism. However, both attempts at justifying realism contain many philosophical problems.