本文簡介國際關係理論中的現實主義傳統,說明這個傳統中存在了迥異的歷史情境,諸多被視為現實主義主要代表的人物如Thucydides、Marchivelli、Hobbes、Carr、Morgenthau和Waltz等人,對於理性'現實、道得其實看法不能歸為同一脈絡、這與今日一般教科書所描述的大不相同。將現實主義視為一脈相承的傳統,是論述上的一種鬥爭策略,有利於某一種形態的國家建制。故應該鼓勵當前學界對國際關係理論的發展本身進行研究,這比對國際關係的研究更為重要。
It is widely shared among students of international politics that realism has a tradition from as far as back as Thucydides, through Marchivelli, Hobbes, Carr, Morgenthau, and then down to Waltz. This paper questions this tradition by historicizing each of the realist authors and providing a reading that reveals the differences among them. The paper touches upon academic politics behind the reproduction of realist tradition and argues that students of international politics should first study realism, instead of realist politics.