Kant’s essay ‘Perpetual Peace’ aims to provide the ideal conditions and institutions required to achieve long-term peace. Whilst Kant offers reasonable preliminary articles, they are inapplicable to the modern era of increasing military technology, economic interdependence, and human rights discourse. Kant further proposes concrete institutions, however, they are limited by: his universalistic notion that all Republics will avoid war regardless of national histories, his proposal of a federation without coercive powers and his undeveloped cosmopolitan institution in which he overlooks how national interests and his own liberal disposition affect the cosmopolitan goal for peace. Finally, whilst Kant projects history as progressing, he does not
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Kant argues that nature has forced humans to confront their “unsocial sociability” (Kant,1991a,pp.44-45) as seen in the states and societies humans have formed. However, Kant overestimates human cooperation as “providence” (Kant,1991b,pp.108) does not account for political, cultural, religious and racial conflicts in the 20th and 21st centuries as seen by the World Wars, the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, the Holocaust, the Charlie Hebdo attacks, and American police brutality against Black youth which all reflect human unsociability. Kant also suggests that nature ensures the “spirit of commerce” will prevent war on a selfish basis (Kant,1991b,pp.114) as seen through China and US economic relations. Nevertheless, commercial relations have not prevented states like Russia from engaging in war prone actions as seen in Ukraine. Kant’s vision for perpetual peace is largely implausible because his teleological argument fails to explain the recurrence of war, the fragmentation between communities, and why conflict persists despite economic interconnectedness.
Kant’s vision for ‘perpetual peace’ as presented in his conditions and institutions contradicts modern notions of how perpetual peace should be achieved and hence his proposals are unlikely to be fully realised. Kant misjudged how his conditions, republican constitution, unarmed federation, cosmopolitan processes and the influence of nature would lead to eternal peace. His arguments are disproved by historical as well as recent political examples and thus his vision for achieving lasting peace can be regarded as immensely
Kant argues that nature has forced humans to confront their “unsocial sociability” (Kant,1991a,pp.44-45) as seen in the states and societies humans have formed. However, Kant overestimates human cooperation as “providence” (Kant,1991b,pp.108) does not account for political, cultural, religious and racial conflicts in the 20th and 21st centuries as seen by the World Wars, the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, the Holocaust, the Charlie Hebdo attacks, and American police brutality against Black youth which all reflect human unsociability. Kant also suggests that nature ensures the “spirit of commerce” will prevent war on a selfish basis (Kant,1991b,pp.114) as seen through China and US economic relations. Nevertheless, commercial relations have not prevented states like Russia from engaging in war prone actions as seen in Ukraine. Kant’s vision for perpetual peace is largely implausible because his teleological argument fails to explain the recurrence of war, the fragmentation between communities, and why conflict persists despite economic interconnectedness.
Kant’s vision for ‘perpetual peace’ as presented in his conditions and institutions contradicts modern notions of how perpetual peace should be achieved and hence his proposals are unlikely to be fully realised. Kant misjudged how his conditions, republican constitution, unarmed federation, cosmopolitan processes and the influence of nature would lead to eternal peace. His arguments are disproved by historical as well as recent political examples and thus his vision for achieving lasting peace can be regarded as immensely