政治理论与国际关系

Skeptical and heuristic realism are easily conflated. The difference is this. Skeptical realism denies that moral considerations should have any weight in reasoning about international conduct, either because they have no meaning or because there is no reason to take an interest in them. Heuristic realism, while allowing in principle that moral considerations can have weight (and that we may have reason to take an interest in them), argues as a matter of historical fact that the attempt to apply these considerations in practical reasoning tends to produce undesirable outcomes or even to be self-defeating. To put the difference another way, skeptical realism is a philosophical doctrine, whereas heuristic realism is casuistical—that is, concerned with the application of principles to practice.