Immanuel Kant Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Political philosophy=== {{Main|Political philosophy of Immanuel Kant}} {{Liberalism sidebar}} In ''Towards Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Project'', Kant listed several conditions that he thought necessary for ending wars and creating a lasting peace. They included a world of constitutional republics.<ref>Kant, ''PP'' 8:349β353</ref> His [[classical republicanism|classical republican]] theory was extended in the ''Doctrine of Right'', the first part of the ''[[Metaphysics of Morals]]'' (1797).<ref>Manfred Riedel, ''Between Tradition and Revolution: The Hegelian Transformation of Political Philosophy'', Cambridge 1984</ref> Kant believed that [[Universal history (genre)|universal history]] leads to the ultimate world of republican states at peace, but his theory was not pragmatic. The process was described in ''Perpetual Peace'' as natural rather than rational: {{blockquote|What affords this ''guarantee'' (surety) is nothing less than the great artist ''nature'' (''natura daedala rerum'') from whose mechanical course purposiveness shines forth visibly, letting concord arise by means of the discord between human beings even against their will; and for this reason nature, regarded as necessitation by a cause the laws of whose operation are unknown to us, is called ''fate'', but if we consider its purposiveness in the course of the world as the profound wisdom of a higher cause directed to the objective final end of the human race and predetermining this course of the world, it is called ''providence''.<ref>Kant, ''PP'' 8:360β362</ref>}} Kant's political thought can be summarized as republican government and international organization: "In more characteristically Kantian terms, it is doctrine of the state based upon the law (''[[Rechtsstaat]]'') and of eternal peace. Indeed, in each of these formulations, both terms express the same idea: that of legal constitution or of 'peace through law.{{'"}}<ref>Hassner, Pierre. "Immanuel Kant", in ''History of Political Philosophy'', edited by Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey, The University of Chicago Press, 1987, pp. 581β582</ref> "Kant's political philosophy, being essentially a legal doctrine, rejects by definition the opposition between moral education and the play of passions as alternate foundations for social life. The state is defined as the union of men under law. The state rightly so called is constituted by laws which are necessary a priori because they flow from the very concept of law. A regime can be judged by no other criteria nor be assigned any other functions, than those proper to the lawful order as such."<ref>Hassner, Pierre. "Immanuel Kant", in ''History of Political Philosophy'', edited by Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey, The University of Chicago Press, 1987, p. 603</ref> He opposed "democracy", which at his time meant [[direct democracy]], believing that majority rule posed a threat to individual liberty. He stated, "''democracy'' in the strict sense of the word is necessarily a ''despotism'' because it establishes an executive power in which all decide for and, if need be, against one (who thus does not agree), so that all, who are nevertheless not all, decide; and this is a contradiction of the general will with itself and with freedom."<ref>Kant, ''PP'' 8:352</ref> As with most writers at the time, he distinguished three forms of government{{mdash}}namely, democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy{{mdash}}with [[mixed government]] as the most ideal form of it. He believed in [[republic]]an ideals and forms of governance, and [[rule of law]] brought on by them. Although Kant published this as a "popular piece", [[Mary J. Gregor]] points out that two years later, in ''The Metaphysics of Morals'', Kant claims to demonstrate ''systematically'' that "establishing universal and lasting peace constitutes not merely a part of the doctrine of right, but rather the entire final end of the doctrine of right within the limits of mere reason".<ref>Kant, ''MM'' 6:355</ref><ref>Gregor, Mary J. "Introduction", in ''Practical Philosophy''. Cambridge University Press, p. 313</ref> ''The Doctrine of Right'', published in 1797, contains Kant's most mature and systematic contribution to political philosophy. It addresses duties according to law, which are "concerned only with protecting the external freedom of individuals" and indifferent to incentives. (Although we do have a moral duty "to limit ourselves to actions that are right, that duty is not part of [right] itself".){{sfn|Wood|2006|p=68}} Its basic political idea is that "each person's entitlement to be his or her own master is only consistent with the entitlements of others if public legal institutions are in place".<ref>Ripstein, Arthur. (2009) ''Force and Freedom: Kant's Legal and Political Philosophy''. Harvard University Press, p. 9.</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page