Abstract
The article addresses the issue of classical realism as important tradition of thinkig in IR. The aim is to survey philosophical and ethical background of this tradition.
Political and ethical thinking of Hans Morgenthau, one of the fathers of classical realism, was compared to philosophy of Immanuel Kant – crucial source of idealism in IR. These authors suprisingly share common beliefs in ethics, non-utopianism, and common challenge: good/just politics.
The aim was to locate the point of disgreement between Kant (idealism) and Morgenthau (classical realism) on the level of ethics/anthropology. The main assumption is intepretation of realism as theory of politics based on knowledge of tragical being in the world, where good and evil are inseparable mixed.