Ethics and International Politics: A Response
| Date | 01 October 2011 |
| Published date | 01 October 2011 |
| Author | Fred Dallmayr |
| DOI | 10.3366/jipt.2011.0020 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
ETHICS AND INTERNATIONAL POLITICS: A RESPONSE
FRED DALLMAYR
It is a privilege and a pleasure to respond to my colleagues and friends. It
is a privilege because my colleagues are distinguished practitioners in their
respective disciplines. It is a pleasure because reading their papers has broadened
my horizons and responding to them enhances my critical self-understanding.
My colleagues pose to me different questions and approach my work from
different angles. However, if I am not mistaken, I perceive in their papers a
common theme or thematic fabric which links them together: the theme of
‘ethics and international politics’ (broadly construed). What leads me to this
assumption or perception is my understanding of both ‘ethics’ and ‘international
politics’ (which I trust is not entirely idiosyncratic). By ethics I mean a
certain endeavor of self-opening or self-transcendence: a transgression of selfish
egotism which happens best in dialogue – dialogue with oneself, with others
(and, if you will, with the ‘Other’). By international politics or relations I mean
a transgression of the bounds of national self-identity, that is, a transnational or
cross-cultural engagement with other societies, political agendas, and traditions.
Thus, in a rudimentary and purely intuitive sense, one might say that ethics and
the international domain are not alien to each other but rather linked by a bridge
which is already there.
Looked at it from this angle, the various paths pursued in my writings
are not randomly disjointed but exhibit a certain elective affinity– I mean the
paths of dialogue, hermeneutical understanding, comparative political theory,
and cosmopolitanism. Of course, the more precise contours have to be fleshed
out. Richard Shapcott’s essay clearly sees and articulates the connectedness
of my endeavors. His main focus is on my engagement with Gadamer’s
philosophical hermeneutics and on the resulting trajectories of comparative
theorizing, bridge-building, and cosmopolitanism. As he notes, my central aim
has been ‘to practice philosophical hermeneutics’, which means, to put the latter
to work in various contexts. In terms of intellectual bridge-building, this aim has
Journal of International Political Theory, 7(2) 2011, 252–263
DOI: 10.3366/jipt.2011.0020
© Edinburgh University Press 2011
www.eupjournals.com/jipt
252
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