„Cunoastem ceea ce vedem sau vedem ceea ce stim?”. Evolutia explicatiei în relatiile internationale. Morgenthau, Waltz, Wendt

Abstract

The present paper intends to identify some perspectives on theoretical validation and application of scientific methods in two major currents: realism (in two of his hypostases: classical realism theorized by Hans Morghentau, neorealism as developed by Kenneth Waltz) and Alexander Wendt’s constructivism. This analysis uses the concept of “cumulative knowledge”, a type of that explanation that relates to the results of another explanation that it re-evaluates. From this point of view, I argue that the three authors, even in the case of the concepts (state, international system and change of international system) that they define in a different ways, transfer meanings from one to another.