31 | Raymond Geuss: Realism in Political Theory

Episode Overview

• The podcast critiques the dominant "applied ethics" model of political philosophy, which first establishes abstract moral principles and then applies them to politics.
• It introduces Raymond Geuss's "realist" alternative, which posits that politics is fundamentally a struggle for power, best understood by asking Lenin's question: "Who, whom?"
• The discussion re-frames the purpose of political philosophy not as a quest for moral truth, but as a diagnostic tool for orientation and ideology critique, aimed at unmasking how concepts maintain power structures.
• It analyzes what makes a political concept effective, using historical examples like Martin Luther King Jr.'s "white moderate" to show how powerful ideas can re-orient a political field and mobilize action in a way abstract theories cannot.

Key Concepts

• Politics as Applied Ethics: The mainstream view, criticized by Geuss, that political philosophy should determine abstract principles of justice and rightness before applying them to the world.
• Realist Political Philosophy: An approach that begins with the concrete realities of power, conflict, and historical context, rather than abstract moral ideals.
• "Who, Whom?": The central question of realist politics, derived from Lenin, which focuses on who holds power, who benefits from it, and who is subjected to it.
• Concepts as Political Tools: A Nietzschean-influenced idea that political concepts like "justice" or "legitimacy" are not neutral descriptors but are instruments forged and used in power struggles.
• Legitimacy as Social Acceptance: The realist view that a state's legitimacy is a sociological fact based on whether it is widely accepted by its population, not whether it meets a moral standard.
• Order as the First Political Good: The idea that providing security and order is the most fundamental political task, while also acknowledging that any established order is an imposed one that serves particular interests.
• Philosophy as Orientation and Diagnosis: The realist re-conception of philosophy's role as a means to help agents understand their situation and the power dynamics at play, rather than providing correct moral answers.
• Ideology Critique: A method of analysis focused on unmasking how certain beliefs, values, and concepts function to maintain existing power structures, with the goal of empowering agents.
• Effective Political Concepts: Historically-grounded ideas (e.g., "the white moderate," "the pig") that successfully re-orient the political field, name a previously obscure problem, and mobilize action.
• Politics as Selective Focus: The principle that politics is always a strategic process of prioritizing certain issues and struggles while backgrounding others.

Quotes

• At 1:53 - "[A dominant strain in political philosophy] basically takes the form of politics as applied ethics. So you figure out what your principles are and then you think... what is the difference between right and wrong, how ought the world to be... and then we're going to pursue social criticism or analysis based on that framework." - Lillian explains the "applied ethics" model of political philosophy that Raymond Geuss criticizes.
• At 4:21 - "The first question of politics is always: Who, whom? ... It's not, you know, what's right, but who has power over whom, who benefits, who gets hurt." - Owen summarizes the core realist question, derived from Lenin, which Geuss places at the center of political analysis.
• At 8:36 - "There's a kind of Nietzschean suspicion throughout all of Geuss's work, which is about the use to which concepts are put, as opposed to what their real meaning is... Concepts are tools, and tools have a use." - Gil highlights the influence of Nietzsche on Geuss's genealogical approach, which treats political concepts as instruments in power struggles.
• At 15:47 - "To say a state is legitimate is to say that it is widely accepted as legitimate. That's what it is... the realist just wants to look at what's actually happening, which is about acceptance, and not this further question of whether that acceptance is morally justified." - Will clarifies the realist definition of legitimacy, shifting the focus from abstract moral justification to concrete social acceptance.
• At 19:35 - "There is something to this idea that order is the most fundamental political good... The realist says order is the first and most important political good, but we should also not forget that any order is an imposed order." - Lillian explains the realist view that while security and order are primary, they are never neutral and always serve the interests of a particular group.
• At 24:34 - "There's always this question with Geuss and with realism in general, which is like, does it just lead to a cynical kind of quietism... Where's the normative purchase for any kind of critical theory if all we can do is describe power relations?" - Will raises the central concern associated with political realism: its potential to undermine the basis for critical judgment and political action.
• At 25:17 - "The Black Panther Party and the naming of like the figure of the pig, the concept of the pig. And the concept of the pig orients the practical field, it names a problem." - Using the Black Panther Party's terminology as an example of a concept that arises from and directs political practice by identifying a specific antagonist.
• At 27:25 - "MLK shifts the field. You know, he shifts your orientation to, you know, the battle we're fighting isn't against this explicit racist. It makes apparent a field of power..." - Elaborating on the power of MLK's conceptual intervention, showing how it revealed a different and more complex structure of power that needed to be confronted.
• At 29:34 - "The point of ideology critique is not to replace a false ideology with a true one... The point of ideology critique is to help agents understand their situation in a way that dissolves the power that the situation has over them." - Lillian explains that for Geuss, ideology critique serves a practical, emancipatory function by revealing how power operates through accepted ideas.
• At 30:08 - "Instead of being a concept, New Labour was just a slogan." - Citing Raymond Geuss's example of a political idea ("The Third Way" or "New Labour") that failed to become a meaningful concept because it lacked substance and didn't resonate with or orient political reality.

Takeaways

• Analyze political situations by asking who has power, who benefits, and who is being controlled, rather than starting from abstract questions about what is morally right or just.
• Evaluate political language and concepts based on the strategic work they perform—how they shape understanding, for whose benefit, and what actions they make possible.
• Recognize that while stability is a primary political goal, any established order is inherently an imposition that favors certain groups and should be critically examined.
• Use philosophy as a tool for orientation; the goal is not to find a perfect moral system but to better understand the power dynamics of your specific context to act more effectively within it.
• To create political change, focus on naming and defining the problem in a way that shifts public focus, as seen in how MLK targeted the "white moderate" to reframe the struggle for civil rights.
• Be skeptical of political theories that claim to provide a complete, universally applicable blueprint for society, as they often ignore the messy, contextual, and power-laden reality of politics.