SOAS Research Online

Abstract

I shall argue that it is Kant’s philosophical and political ambition to outline a theory of perpetual peace, which can on the one hand refute the presupposition that there is a human inclination towards war; and on the other hand, to provide the necessary and sufficient conditions for achieving perpetual peace. However, we should bear in mind that Kant is not prescribing any kind of recipe or guidance on the basis of which we can achieve peace. Rather, what Kant is concerned about in the essay is to outline the arguments why we, as political and moral agents, are not committed to bring about peace, since we ought to follow the moral maxims that should not contradict our political principles. Thus, he is not concerned about the question of how we should bring about peace. The argument advanced here will be mainly based not only on Kant’s basic premise that nature guarantees perpetual peace, but also on the most problematic and perplexing issue, though less debated in the literature, of the disagreement between morals and politics and the establishment of their harmonious coexistence.