The Ethics of Anti-Hubris in the Political Philosophy of International Relations – Hans J. Morgenthau

Beyond mainstream International Relations scholarship, which often conceives of politics as a rationalist and social-engineering enterprise, we find philosophical engagements in the discipline that are critical of such understandings as they were typical for and would epitomize human hubris. Respective engagements develop an ethics of anti-hubris based upon the recognition of epistemic and practical limitations as the human condition of politics, referring to interpretations of hubris as an intellectual disposition and action in the tradition of classical Greek, Christian, and modern literature. The oeuvre of Hans J. Morgenthau, particularly his notion of the spatial and temporal contingency of knowledge, order, and political practice, is representative of this understanding and as such shares fundamental concerns with critical theory, leading to skeptical assessments of modern, twentieth century international and domestic politics which are, as argued in this paper, of lasting value for our contemporary understanding and analyses of global crises.