“Political realism refuses to identify the moral aspirations of a particular nation with the moral laws that govern the universe. As it distinguishes between truth and opinion, so it distinguishes between truth and idolatry. All nations are tempted — and… — Hans J. Morgenthau Copy Share Image
“We must distinguish between military and political power. Political power is a psychological relation between those who exercise it and those over whom it is exercised. It gives the former control over certain actions of the latter through the influence which the former exert over the latter's minds. That influence may be exerted through orders, threats, persuasion, or a combination… — Hans J. Morgenthau Copy Share
“However much the theory of political realism may have been misunderstood and misinterpreted, there is no gainsaying its distinctive intellectual and moral attitude to matters political. Intellectually, the political realist maintains the autonomy of the political sphere, as the economist, the lawyer, the moralist maintain theirs. He thinks in terms of interest defined as power, as the economist thinks in… — Hans J. Morgenthau Copy Share
“The struggle for power is universal in time and space and is an undeniable fact of experience. It cannot be denied that throughout historic… — Hans J. Morgenthau Copy Share Image
“The philosophy of rationalism has misunderstood the nature of man, the nature of the social world, and the nature of reason itself. It does… — Hans J. Morgenthau Copy Share Image
“Political realism believes that politics, like society in general, is governed by objective laws that have their roots in human nature. In order to… — Hans J. Morgenthau Copy Share Image
“Political realism refuses to identify the moral aspirations of a particular nation with the moral laws that govern the universe. As it distinguishes between… — Hans J. Morgenthau Copy Share Image
“Politics is an art and not a science, and what is required for its mastery is not the rationality of the engineer but the… — Hans J. Morgenthau Copy Share Image
“Realism maintains that universal moral principles cannot be applied to the actions of states in their abstract universal formulation, but that they must be… — Hans J. Morgenthau Copy Share Image
