Levels of normative political theory

Abstract

Much of contemporary analytical political philosophy has been dedicated to methodological questions, especially those concerning realism in normative political theory. Bernard Williams’s criticism of what he calls ‘political moralism’ and his defense of political realism have been a major source of these discussions (Williams 2005). In a similar vein, Jonathan Wolff criticizes the idea of applied philosophy by contrasting it with more practically oriented engaged philosophy (Wolff 2020). However, David Estlund has put forward several arguments to the effect that political realists, including Williams, have not demonstrated that anything is wrong with a kind of political theory that is abstract, unrealistic, and morality-based (Estlund 2020). Building on insights from Williams, Wolff, and Estlund, I shall argue that their views on normative political philosophy are not mutually exclusive and that the best way to further advance their points is to take into account different levels of normative political theory.