Morality and politics
The book, published in 1997 morality and politics of Vittorio Hösle is a "project of a Political Ethics for the 21st Century". It represents one of the most comprehensive and systematic approaches in this field in recent years. To justify his approach, Hösle processes both the philosophical tradition and many findings from recent research on more than 1200 pages . Findings from empirical sciences such as the social sciences are also taken into account.
Hösle's methodological approach is varied. He makes use of discussions of the history of ideas, conceptual analysis, phenomenological considerations and the results of empirical and formal sciences.
The approach of the book
Hösle's motivation for this mammoth work is his insight that modern politics is in a profound crisis which, in his opinion, "will soon attract larger circles, at least not leave the West unharmed". In his opinion, the following are problematic:
- the “ unique explosion of violence ” as a connection between the modern state's monopoly of force and the possibilities of current technology
- the principle of growth , which basically also made the people of rich countries “downright poorer”
- the transformation of the ideal of " brotherhood " into a " general indifference " and "the inability to perceive differences in value other than those that can be calculated in terms of money"
- the inequality, unique in world history, between the societies of the so-called First World and those "who have not mastered the modernization process"
- the expansion of individual human freedom, culminating in a situation in which "because of the extraordinary complexity and interweaving of social systems, the state becomes more and more reactive and no longer has the freedom to do what is necessary for survival"
- the increasing " disorientation with regard to the actual goals " and simultaneous "methodical perfection in the use of the means"
- the type of intellectual produced by the Enlightenment as the last result , "who believes that he has seen through everything and has finally understood that knowledge of reality is just as impossible as the normative distinction of one alternative action over another"
Hösle's claim is now to ask again the question of the relationship between morality and politics. He undertakes the “attempt to synthesize the classical old European conviction that political philosophy should be based on ethics, and the modern view that ethical arguments themselves fulfill a political function”. Furthermore, he wants to present “a concrete political ethic for the situation in which mankind finds itself today”.
Brief description of the content
In the first part of the book, the author explains what useful principles of ethical evaluation can actually be. It begins with a historical overview of the various positions that have been taken on the question of the relationship between morality and politics in the history of philosophy (Chapter 1). Since the view has prevailed in our century that a moralization of politics is not possible, he wants to redefine the concepts of the political and the moral and reject some popular objections to a moral evaluation of the political (Chapter 2). In Chapter 3, he develops the principles of ethics on which his approach is based, as part of a metaethical discussion of the most important ethical theories.
The second part of the book presents the “basic lines of a theory of the social”. First, the human being is examined with regard to his properties which are relevant for political philosophy (Chapter 4). Approaches from the theory of evolution and the social sciences are processed. Hösle identifies the human striving for power as an elementary quality . In chapter 5 this comes to the fore. He developed a "phenomenology of power" and a "cratology" in which the essential principles of power engineering are presented. A theory of the state and its historical development concludes his theory of the social (Chapter 6).
In the third part of the book, Hösle developed a “concrete political ethics” as the conclusion of the first two parts. He asks about the legitimacy of the state in general and tries to outline an ideal state (Chapter 7). He then examines the question of what is just politics. Here the problem of political ethics in the real sense arises; "Because if the social institutions are as they should be, politics is essentially reduced to administration". Hösle advocates a universal state in the long term; but as long as there is a plurality of states, their foreign policy must also be standardized.
Hösle sees our time as an era of crisis. The central question is therefore: "How is political leadership possible in a situation of a moral paradigm shift ?" In discussing foreign policy, he touches on the question of which normative criteria are to be used for shaping political relationships between cultures with different value systems (Chapter 8). For Hösle, the solution of such questions is a "necessity for survival in a situation like ours, in which the desideratum of an earth-encompassing policy is emerging, although the differences between the individual cultures have probably never been greater than they are today and although the identity crisis, not just the former." Second, but also the third and the first world is shaken, of a violence that can hardly be surpassed ”.
The ninth and final chapter draws the conclusions from everything that has been developed up to that point and discusses the basic lines of political ethics for the 21st century. Hösle is concerned with politics in the individual historical situation of the present. The essential political subjects necessary for overcoming the crisis of the present are for him the states, the economy and religion . The states would have the task of giving the United Nations, as the currently most comprehensive supranational organization, more powers, and so on to be able to better coordinate the necessary measures. The economy is needed because, without its organizational know-how, “a change in the social structures that cause rapid environmental destruction is unthinkable”. Finally, religions would be needed because “the necessary coordination services” could only be provided “if the majority of people, or at least the elites who lead them , agree on a certain normative course”.
output
- Vittorio Hösle : Morals and Politics. Foundations of Political Ethics for the 21st Century. Beck, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-406-42797-9