Abstract
Raymond Geuss has been viewed as one of the figureheads of the recent debates about realism in
political theory. This interpretation, however, depends on a truncated understanding of his work of
the past 30 years. I will offer the first sustained engagement with this work (in English and German)
which allows understanding his realism as a project for reorienting political theory, particularly the
relationship between political theory and politics. I interpret this reorientation as a radicalization of
realismin political theory through the combination of the emphasis on the critical purpose of political
theory and the provision of practical, contextual orientation. Their compatibility depends on Geuss’
understanding of criticism as negative, of power as ‘detoxified’ and of the critical purchase of political
theory as based on the diagnostic engagement with its context. This radicalization particularly
challenges the understanding of how political theory relates to its political context.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 777-796 |
Number of pages | 20 |
Journal | Philosophy and Social Criticism |
Volume | 42 |
Issue number | 8 |
Early online date | 08 May 2015 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2016 |
Keywords
- Raymond Geuss, realism in political theory, critique, theory and practice, diagnostic political theory