Beyond Moralism: Realism and the Social Conditions of Political Judgement

Yıl 2026, Sayı: 18, 529 - 550, 31.01.2026

Gülşen Seven

https://doi.org/10.53791/imgelem.1849660

Öz

This article re-examines the contemporary debate between moralistic and realist approaches in political theory through a sociological lens. Rather than treating the controversy as a purely methodological disagreement about whether practical judgement should begin from moral principles or from political reality, it argues that the central issue concerns the social organisation of practical reason. Political judgement is formed under specific social conditions. It is construed within institutional roles and incentives, informational infrastructures, professional vocabularies, and relations of authority that privilege some descriptions of reality while marginalising others. On this basis, the article develops a classificatory scheme that orders contemporary realisms by how they understand “the real” to bear on the practical question “What is to be done?” It distinguishes paralyzing realism, in which the real chiefly disables agency and leaves theory largely non-directive; neutral realism, which treats the real primarily as feasibility constraint and tends to underestimate the socially mediated character of political facts; and activist realism, which treats the real as a contested field of interpretation and a resource for improving judgement from within practice. The article then illustrates what this activist orientation looks like in practice through John Dunn’s account of democracy and the conditions of realistic political judgement. The article concludes that a non-metaphysical, non-foundational account of the theory–practice relation is most compatible with this activist orientation and provides the most plausible basis for reconnecting political theory and political practice without relying on an Archimedean standpoint.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Political Realism , Moralism , Political Judgement.

Moralizmin Ötesinde: Realizm ve Siyasal Yargının Toplumsal Koşulları

Öz

Bu makale, siyaset teorisindeki moralist ve realist yaklaşımlar arasındaki güncel tartışmayı sosyolojik bir mercekten yeniden ele almakta. Tartışmayı yalnızca “siyasal yargı ahlaki ilkelerden mi yoksa ‘siyasal gerçeklik’ten mi başlamalı?” şeklindeki yöntemsel bir ihtilafa indirgemek yerine, asıl meselenin pratik aklın toplumsal örgütlenmesi olduğunu savunuyor. Siyasal yargı, belirli toplumsal koşullar altında, kurumsal roller ve teşvikler, enformasyon altyapıları, mesleki diller ve otorite ilişkileri içinde oluşur. Bu koşullar bazı gerçeklik tasvirlerini ayrıcalıklı kılarken diğerlerini marjinalleştirir. Bu çerçevede makale, “gerçek”(liğ)in” “Ne yapılmalı?” sorusuna nasıl etki ettiğini temel alarak çağdaş realizmler için bir sınıflandırma önermektedir. Buna göre felç edici realizm gerçekliği ağırlıklı olarak eylemliliği devre dışı bırakan bir sınır olarak kavrar. Nötr realizm gerçekliği çoğunlukla yapılabilirlik kısıtı olarak ele alır ve siyasal olguların toplumsal olarak aracılanmış karakterini yeterince hesaba katmaz. Aktivist realizm ise gerçekliği yorumların çatıştığı bir alan ve yargıyı pratik içinde geliştirmek için bir imkân olarak görür. Makale bu aktivist yönelimin pratikte nasıl işlediğini John Dunn’ın demokrasi tartışması ve realist siyasal yargının koşullarına ilişkin analizi üzerinden örneklendirmektedir. Makale, sonuç olarak metafizik olmayan ve temelci olmayan bir teori–pratik ilişkisi anlayışının aktivist realizmle daha uyumlu olduğunu ve Arşimetçi bir dayanak noktasına yaslanmadan teori ile pratiği yeniden ilişkilendirmek için daha ikna edici bir zemin sunduğunu ileri sürmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Siyasal Realizm , Moralizm , Siyasal Yargı.

Kaynakça

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