13 - Cosmopolitanism: Kant and Kantian Themes in International Relations

Summary

Introduction

On April 5, 1795, Prussia celebrated the Peace of Basel with France, abandoning the coalition with Austria and England against France, to whom it yielded its territories on the left bank of the Rhine. In August, Kant finished his work Toward Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch, in which he ironically imitates the form of the peace treaties of his time. Two hundred years later, commemorations for the bicentennial of Kant's Perpetual Peace in Germany and elsewhere were not content with the usual philological work: they evaluated the relation of the work to the present, comparing the contemporary world with Kant's rational criteria.

The first part of this work analyzes the conception of peace presented by Kant in his work, addressing the following subjects: political right, international right, and cosmopolitan right. The second part analyzes Kant's reception in the philosophy of international law and international relations, focusing on specific discussions around the so-called Kantian themes. This will allow the evaluation of its positive aspects as well as its limitations.

Kant

For Kant, war and peace have a structural character and are bound to the institutional rightful structure. The concept of structural violence means that in a state of lawlessness, individuals and peoples are not safe either against the violence of another or to do “what seems right and good” to them (Doctrine of Right, 6:312). The state of nature (status naturalis—a hypothesis, not a historical fact) between human beings is not of peace, but rather of war (due to the permanent threat of hostilities even when there is no effective war).