31 | Raymond Geuss: Realism in Political Theory

In this episode we work through some of the ideas laid out in Part 1 of Raymond Geuss’ 2008 Philosophy and Real Politics. It’s a refreshingly clear-eyed argument for what he calls the realist approach in political philosophy, which tries to attend to the messiness of actually existing societies, the opaque and invested people who make them up, and the shifting, contradictory values they hold. We’re talking Hobbes meets Lenin meets Nietzsche here, folks. Leave your rational decision theory and normative idealism at the door. 

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References: 

Raymond Geuss, Philosophy and Real Politics (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008). 

Music: Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com