Why did Hans J. Morgenthau Emphasize “Tragedy” and “Evil”?: An Interpretation

Abstract

According to a recent study, the subject matter of Morgenthau's Scientific Man vs. Power Politics is to criticize the modern man as “scientific man” who, Morgenthau thought, has blasphemous confidence in his ability to solve all the problems of society “once and for all” by applying laws of causality discovered through empirical science and to attain perfection in this world without God's help. This paper argues that here is the key to understand why Morgenthau emphasized “tragedy” and “evil” in his works written after his emigration. In order to prove my interpretation, this paper proceeds as follows:
First, it is claimed that Morgenthau's “objective standard”, “transcendent standard”, and so forth were proposed as functional substitutes for morality of traditional religion and natural law which can no longer normatively restrain man's aspiration for power. But Morgenthau actually appealed to “objective standard” only exceptionally, because he thought not only that its normative content is inscrutable, but also that modern man, who has “irreligious self-glorification”, is indifferent to the existence of “objective standard”.
Second, Morgenthau emphasized “tragedy” and “evil” in order to destroy modern man's confidence completely and to ultimately restore objective moral order. Morgenthau's tragedy must be understood not “as the framework for understanding contemporary international relations” (Richard Ned Lebow), but as a condition of human life in contrast with the Almighty. Similarly, Morgenthau's evil is directed not to political action distinct from other human action, but to political action as a “prototype” and “paradigm” of human action in general. This understanding of evil is based upon “Weltablehnung” (Max Weber) of Christianity.
Third, however, Morgenthau did not pursue this strategy of “re-enchantment” consistently, because this strategy logically means that we must give up to solve any social problems and leave them to God. In order to reconcile re-enchantment and solution of social problems, Morgenthau proposed to solve the concrete problems “temporarily” by not “scientists” and “engineer” but the “statesman” as “the prototype of social man” in Scientific Man vs. Power Politics. Morgenthau's statement that “Politics is not science but art” and his concept of “political intelligence” with special emphasis on moral judgment must be understood from this angle. This reconcilement was best achieved in Reinhold Niebuhr then, this is why Morgenthau was tremendously influenced by Niebuhr.
In conclusion, it is argued that recent literatures fundamentally misunderstand Morgenthau's intention in that they suppose that holocaust, genocide, and massacre are tragedy in Morgenthau's sense, and the current usage of evil is directly opposite to Morgenthau's evil in that the latter is not applied to others and their action but to one's own action.