Truth, Power, Theory: Hans Morgenthau's Formulation of Realism

The purpose of this article is to reconstruct the political realism of Hans J. Morgenthau. The article traces the development of his thought from his earliest writings on social science and politics in English in the 1940s through to his formulation of political realism in the classic text Politics Among Nations. The Struggle for Power and Peace and finally to his reconsideration of this theory in a series of texts that have been neglected by historians of political thought, the most significant of which is Science: Servant or Master? which revisits the terrain first explored by Morgenthau in Scientific Man Versus Power Politics. The article demonstrates that one core concept dominated the thinking of Morgenthau, that of ‘truth,’ which conditioned his thought about the nature of politics throughout his career. It is Morgenthau's commitment to discovering the truth of politics that led him to formulate realism as a sceptical theory of power politics in contrast to the optimistic but misleading theories of international relations that he had attacked since his days as a graduate student. Despite changes in the details and even in the fundamentals Morgenthau retained this basic commitment to the discovery of truth.