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Comment on David Estlund. What Good Is it?—Unrealistic Political Theory and the Value of Intellectual Work

Comment on David Estlund. What Good Is it?—Unrealistic Political Theory and the Value of... Analyse & Kritik 02/2011 ( c Lucius & Lucius, Stuttgart) S. 417421 1. Introduction David Estlund's article invites debate about an important question: what is the value of political philosophy if it does not have any impact on real world politics? Are impractical theories of, say, justice necessarily valueless (this is the position Estlund calls practicalism ), or could they have value independently of their practical applicability (this is what non-practicalism claims)? Perhaps our intuitions are undecided at rst, wavering back and forth between the two positions. But what if the impractical theory turned out to be true? In that case, our intuitions would probably settle for non-practicalism. There seems to be some value to a true theory of justice, even if it is impractical. The challenge for non-practicalism is to state what this value might be. As Estlund convincingly argues, if it does not rise to the challenge, it is not thereby refuted; but without any substantial account of the value of true impractical theories, it becomes easier for the practicalist to bite the bullet and accept the counter-intuitive consequence of his position. Estlund's paper thus ends with a proposal for what value true theories of justice http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Analyse & Kritik de Gruyter

Comment on David Estlund. What Good Is it?—Unrealistic Political Theory and the Value of Intellectual Work

Analyse & Kritik , Volume 33 (2) – Nov 1, 2011

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Publisher
de Gruyter
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 by the
ISSN
0171-5860
eISSN
2365-9858
DOI
10.1515/auk-2011-0205
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Analyse & Kritik 02/2011 ( c Lucius & Lucius, Stuttgart) S. 417421 1. Introduction David Estlund's article invites debate about an important question: what is the value of political philosophy if it does not have any impact on real world politics? Are impractical theories of, say, justice necessarily valueless (this is the position Estlund calls practicalism ), or could they have value independently of their practical applicability (this is what non-practicalism claims)? Perhaps our intuitions are undecided at rst, wavering back and forth between the two positions. But what if the impractical theory turned out to be true? In that case, our intuitions would probably settle for non-practicalism. There seems to be some value to a true theory of justice, even if it is impractical. The challenge for non-practicalism is to state what this value might be. As Estlund convincingly argues, if it does not rise to the challenge, it is not thereby refuted; but without any substantial account of the value of true impractical theories, it becomes easier for the practicalist to bite the bullet and accept the counter-intuitive consequence of his position. Estlund's paper thus ends with a proposal for what value true theories of justice

Journal

Analyse & Kritikde Gruyter

Published: Nov 1, 2011

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