Realism, Utopianism, and Radical Values

Bibliographic Data

ID23133602
AuthorsPaul Raekstad (0000-0001-8756-3428, University of Amsterdam and Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature Netherlands, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume26
Issue1
Pages145-168
Publication date2018-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Philosophy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0966-8373 • E-ISSN: 1468-0378
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/ejop.12193
OpenAlexW2557285975
LanguageEN
Citations received55
References cited34

One of the more debated topics in the recent realist literature concerns the compatibility of realism and utopianism. Perhaps the greatest challenge to utopian political thought comes from Bernard Williams' realism, which argues, among other things, that political values should be subject to what he calls the ‘realism constraint’, which rules out utopian arguments based on values which cannot be offered by the state as unrealistic and therefore inadmissible. This article challenges that conclusion in two ways. First, it argues that the rationale for accepting Williams' original argument for the ‘realism constraint’ fails. Secondly, it argues that there is at least one genuinely political value of liberty available which is both compatible with realism and something that cannot be offered by the state, namely that of the political anarchist. This opens the way for far more ambitious and utopian forms of realist political thought and implies that the arguments of what we call political anarchists must be met by (realist) political argumentation, not simply ruled out by methodological stipulation.

Argument (complex analysis) · Argumentation theory · Epistemology · Philosophical realism · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Realism · Sociology · Subject (documents) · Computer Science · Law · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought