POLI SCI 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Ostracism, Barter, Tyrant
16 Nov 2016
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Document Summary
At the core of gandhi"s realist theory of politics was a contextual, consequentialist, and moral- psychological analysis of a political world understood to be marked by inherent tendencies toward conflict, domination, and violence. Animated by a powerful negative horizon of violence, Gandhi was attuned to the unintended consequences of political action, especially the ways in which idealism and moralism, despite the best of intentions, could enable ideological escalation and violence. Thus, gandhi"s open opposition to machiavellian and utilitarian ethics, rather than signaling moral absolutism or idealism, in fact drew him closer to another kind of realism. (mantena 2012, 457) What makes gandhi"s politics more realist is that he is aware of the political state and considers it in his discussion of politics. There"s a sense that once you believe you are in the right, then you possess of arrogance about your beliefs. Men have before now done many things which were subsequently found to have been wrong.
