Embracing ontological doubt: The role of ‘reality’ in political realism:
Summary (1 min read)
2. The science of classical realism
- Political realism at one point dominated IR because of its scientific advancement.
- He does so by exploring the works of realist thinkers through the prism of what he calls 'the tragic vision', which should 'widen [the] intellectual and emotional horizons in a manner conducive to political tolerance and reconciliation' (24).
3. Embracing ontological doubt
- Classical realist Weberian IR enables understanding of singular phenomena.
- They helpfully point out that the ideal-type upon which Morgenthau developed his theory 'was linked to a specific historical situation and role, that of the politician and diplomat concerned with national interest ' (495) .
- A political theorist sceptical about philosophical foundationalism, Shklar turns to socially produced knowledge to provide crucial orientation for her normatively oriented political theory.
- Runciman continuously invites the figure of a hypothetical 'rival observer' to question whether a report is not 'inaccurate' or does not 'involve a misunderstanding'.
- At the same time, Shklar is instructive on how knowledge rooted in ontological doubt can have normative validity, as this is precisely what she examines.
Conclusion
- Applying Jackson's characteristics to critical IR and classical realism , the authors may conclude that what differentiates the two is disagreement about the possibility to 'transcend experience', a belief that there is a 'possibility of going beyond the facts to grasp the deeper processes and factors that generate those facts' (Jackson, 2011: 36-7) .
- While never fully objective, the faculty of judgment employed at all stages of scientific inquiry is the best tool to be had.
- While sharing a great deal, classical realism differs from critical IR precisely on the issue of ontological doubt and the role scientific engagement with empirical reality has in addressing this doubt.
- Levine (2013) is right; Morgenthau was not a critical theorist.
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Citations
14 citations
Cites background from "Embracing ontological doubt: The ro..."
...Statists, for example, reject the framework of rights and obligations that is centred on the individual rather than the nations (Miller, 2007; Nagel, 2005; Walzer, 1983) and/or the peoples (Eckert, 2015; Rawls, 1999; Tong, 2017)....
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...The implicit acceptance of the violence committed by the status quo under laissez faire can also be seen in the statist argument centred on the Rawlsian ‘peoples’ (Eckert, 2015; Rawls, 1999; Tong, 2017)....
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11 citations
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...It also identifies which values would need to be activated to lead to the most preferred or ideal action (Stullerova, 2016)....
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References
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"Embracing ontological doubt: The ro..." refers background in this paper
...Weber is not nowadays ordinarily understood as a key figure in IR, although some early IR constructivists refer to him as a ‘precursor’ to constructivism’s position on power (Hopf, 1998: 177)....
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969 citations
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Frequently Asked Questions (12)
Q2. What have the authors stated for future works in "Embracing ontological doubt: the role of ‘reality’ in political realism" ?
Applying Jackson ’ s characteristics to critical IR ( reflexivity ) and classical realism ( analyticism ), the authors may conclude that what differentiates the two is disagreement about the possibility to ‘ transcend experience ’, a belief that there is a ‘ possibility of going beyond the facts to grasp the deeper processes and factors that generate those facts ’ As a result, classical realists do not worry about potential reification of meaning by the virtue of their inescapably limited, reductionist and what might be termed ‘ populist ’ idealtypes. But this does not mean he miscarried his own scientific and ethical aspirations, as Levine suggests.
Q3. What does the study say about critical IR?
Critical IR responds to scientific critique of un-reflexive, rationalist positivism and validates the ethical need by accounting for the power that knowledge brings about.
Q4. What is the rewarding intellectual home?
If one’s central intellectual concern is about the relationship of the self to knowledge, philosophy is the most rewarding intellectual home.
Q5. What is the central idea of the ideal-type?
The central notion of the ideal-type allows them to produce knowledge of the empirical world which has greater scientific validity than a simple aggregate of practitioners’ self-reporting utterances.
Q6. Why is classical realism not easily translatable to present context?
Due to its purposeful ontological weakness, classical realism is not as easily translatable to present context as are some ontologically robust theories.
Q7. What was the main reason for the critical turn in IR?
IR’s critical turn in the 1980s and especially 90s was instigated from two directions: scientific dissatisfaction with positivist IR that came to dominate the discipline and a longing for an ethical dimension in scholarship.
Q8. Why is Shklar more attentive to normative knowledge than factual?
Because she is more attentive to normative knowledge than factual, Shklar locates ontological doubt as only a property of the realm of values (and fails to recognise its role also in the realm of facts).
Q9. What is the role of the self-correcting mechanism in the quest to make sense of empirical?
It is represented in the never-ending quest to make sense of empirical reality, which constantly escapes it, while also slowly appropriating the corrective meanings and normative interventions produced by realist scholarship in its intertwined but also separable scientific and normative modes.
Q10. What is Shklar’s purpose in advocating human rights?
For instance, she champions human rights, the purpose of which is to judge and act in situations where there are signs of human suffering,without instantly necessitating a reliable reportage, description and evaluation of the situation.
Q11. What was to be done to make IR ethical?
IR was to be made ethical in the sense that analysis, its outcomes and the impact it is making on the social world was to be put under ethical scrutiny.
Q12. What is the reason why Shklar is instructive on how knowledge rooted in ontological?
At the same time, Shklar is instructive on how knowledge rooted in ontological doubt can have normative validity, as this is precisely what she examines.