The lecture will challenge the widespread, even dominant, view of politics as nothing but a vehicle for raw power and domination. Such false realism obfuscates both the very real quest for justice but also those admirable exemplars of greatness of soul, tempered by moderation, that are very much part of political reality, too. Against the culture of repudiation, Mahoney aims to recover the understanding of statesmanship as honorable ambition and one of the highest expressions of human excellence