Ethics and International Relations: Theoretical and Meta-Theoretical Disputes

Since long time ago، the questions such as ethics occupy a place in politics or should we consider politics from an ethical point of view، have been controversial. Specifically، this dispute along with the claim made by modern science regarding the necessity for science to be value-free، have reinforced this general belief that politics and international relations should be free from value judgments. Our question in this article is that does theorizing in social science and especially in international relations theory involve considering ethical considerations? This article explores this belief at the theoretical and meta-theoretical levels in the framework of international relations theories. Having reviewed the principles of IR theories and their approaches towards ethical values، the authors show that first at the meta-theoretical level and especially in terms of methodology، science-value dualism cannot be essentially possible and second، at the theoretical level، we can recognize deep and extensive ethical elements in international relations theories.