I can expand although I'm not really sure if this is an issue for this list.
Undoubtely, realists in International relations (IR) claim that their
theories represent the 'real'. Still, insofar as they remain empiricists
they are actually philosophical 'idealists'; what is is dependent upon a
prior epistemological specification of what can be experienced. Hence, in
IR, realists confuse the actual with the 'real'. What is is what is! Or, as
Hegel put it 'what is real is rational.' You are also absolutely right that:
In particular, it seems to me
>that the "meta-discussion" about realism versus whatever it is opposed
>to is so strikingly similar in the context of international politics,
>literary criticsm, and, say, philosophy of math.
But only insofar as these oppositions can be seen to arise out of a
commitment to a superficial surface 'reality'. But of course, the empirical
does not exhaust the 'real'. So in a sense when realists in IR talk of
'reality' they are actually talking about the empirical/actual. Things could
always have been otherwise. Besides, I take it that literary criticism is
also 'real'; well, I think it is. Also in IR realists and poststructuralists
alike tend to confuse philosophical 'realism' with materialism: but the two
concepts are distinct.
In fact, I think that a lot of poststructuralist scholars have lost the plot
somewhat, and it really does come to something when Derrida has to declare:
"I never cease to be surprised by critics who see my work as a declaration
that there is nothing beyond language, that we are imprisoned in language:
it is, in fact, saying the exact opposite. The critique of logocentrism is
above all else the search for the "other" and the "other of langauge".
(Dialogues with Continental Thinkers, Joe Kearney, 1990. p.123 (I think))
What we are suffering from as this century comes to a close is not too much
philosophical 'realism' but a lack of it.
Thanks,
Colin
--------------------------------------------------------
Colin Wight
Department of International Politics
University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth
SY23 3DA
--------------------------------------------------------
Undoubtely, realists in International relations (IR) claim that their
theories represent the 'real'. Still, insofar as they remain empiricists
they are actually philosophical 'idealists'; what is is dependent upon a
prior epistemological specification of what can be experienced. Hence, in
IR, realists confuse the actual with the 'real'. What is is what is! Or, as
Hegel put it 'what is real is rational.' You are also absolutely right that:
In particular, it seems to me
>that the "meta-discussion" about realism versus whatever it is opposed
>to is so strikingly similar in the context of international politics,
>literary criticsm, and, say, philosophy of math.
But only insofar as these oppositions can be seen to arise out of a
commitment to a superficial surface 'reality'. But of course, the empirical
does not exhaust the 'real'. So in a sense when realists in IR talk of
'reality' they are actually talking about the empirical/actual. Things could
always have been otherwise. Besides, I take it that literary criticism is
also 'real'; well, I think it is. Also in IR realists and poststructuralists
alike tend to confuse philosophical 'realism' with materialism: but the two
concepts are distinct.
In fact, I think that a lot of poststructuralist scholars have lost the plot
somewhat, and it really does come to something when Derrida has to declare:
"I never cease to be surprised by critics who see my work as a declaration
that there is nothing beyond language, that we are imprisoned in language:
it is, in fact, saying the exact opposite. The critique of logocentrism is
above all else the search for the "other" and the "other of langauge".
(Dialogues with Continental Thinkers, Joe Kearney, 1990. p.123 (I think))
What we are suffering from as this century comes to a close is not too much
philosophical 'realism' but a lack of it.
Thanks,
Colin
--------------------------------------------------------
Colin Wight
Department of International Politics
University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth
SY23 3DA
--------------------------------------------------------