ABSTRACT
Contemporary realists reject the quest for a set of universal political principles upon which political legitimacy could be established for the quite sound reason that, in Gray’s words, “the right can never be prior to the good.” In elucidating the legitimacy of the life-world, it is helpful to recall that Husserl used multiple characterizations in order to express its meaning; for example, in speaking of it as a “horizon.” It is evident, then, that designating the life-world as the source of legitimacy entails an approach to political philosophy opposed to the typical liberal starting point of the generically conceived individual. The “crisis of the European sciences” concerns not only natural science, but the human sciences as well. What is needed is a political philosophy in which the individual and the life-world are treated together. Although the source of legitimacy is found in the life-world, its mere existence is not sufficient for the establishment of a legitimate regime.
