Our Philosophy

‘Ipsa scientia potestas est’ didn’t mean the usual idea that knowledge and education are good in themselves. It meant something much more radical. Knowledge empowers us to change the world. By studying the world empirically and rigorously, we discover its principles and patterns. Then, we influence and shape them according to our own goals.

Despite the melioristic qualities of our realism, there is no inherent tendency to progress. There is no Geist underpinning the dynamics of history towards its own self-expression. There is no telos, except that which we manufacture ourselves.

Instead, the new realism of the New Realist grounds our actions on ethical norms. There is no inherent morality or purpose to the world around us. The world does not tell us how to act or why we should act a particular way. This is why ethical norms must ground our realistic praxis, otherwise realism descends into expediency for those most capable of projecting power. Our analysis needn't conform to ethical norms, but how we act upon that analysis does.

Our Mission

The New Realist is an independent, non-partisan left-wing publication. Our core objective is embodying the spirit of the new realism. We pursue a politics grounded in empirical clarity, philosophical rigour, and moral seriousness. Only through practising our philosophy can we show a better way for the left. But for what purpose?

Our next core objective revolutionising the left itself. Anthropogenic climate change is destroying the Earth's ecosystem and undermining the foundations that make civilisation possible. Unless the left revolutionises itself so itself is capable of revolutionising our economies and societies, then a deadly civilisational collapse is on the horizon. unless the left revolutionises itself, it will contribute to the collapse of public reason and the rise of authoritarianism.

Our ultimate objective is showcasing how we should revolutionise our economies and societies peacefully so we can all equally experience liberty and prosperity, while being ecologically sustainable.

Today, much of the left is steering blindly between Scylla and Charybdis—caught between technocratic compromise and populist spectacle, between stale orthodoxy and reckless novelty, between moralism and expediency. The New Realist seeks to chart a different course through the Strait of Messina; towards a left that can think clearly, act strategically, and speak credibly to the world.

We signed the Pro-Truth Pledge: please hold us accountable.