Blackwell Reference Online

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Moralpolitik means politics based on moral-ethical concerns. That politics and morals are closely related is a familiar idea. As Rousseau once stated, “those who want to treat politics and morals separately will never understand anything of either of them” ( Rousseau 1980 : 235). In this regard, realpolitik , which means politics excluding moral-ethical concerns, signifies a rather exceptional mode of politics, mainly applicable to a certain aspect of international politics, and is a residual concept of moralpolitik , not vice versa. In moralpolitik , the relationship between morals and politics is double-faceted: morals and politics are collaboratively intertwined on the one hand, and in antagonistic tension on the other. This double-faceted relationship originates from the worldview of ethical religions. From the viewpoint of ethical religions, the world has a double meaning: one sinful (morally wrong), the other blessed (God-made). Moral discontent with the world marks the ethical character of “ethical religions” in the Weberian sense. This moral discontent causes the sharp tension between religious morals and worldly politics. The sharp tension between morals and politics leads to moral interventions in politics. These interventions constitute moralpolitik . In the premodern era, moralpolitik took the form of religious politics, in which religious moral commands and politics ... log in or subscribe to read full text