NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
Immanuel Kant's view of the politics and modernity is usually left unnoticed when scholars of different streams examine the works of this philosopher. However, Kant was the central figure of the Enlightenment period, whose works, upon closer investigation, can shed some light on the aforementioned concepts and their explanations as per the view of the philosopher. Two centuries ago the German philosopher Immanuel Kant in his essay "Perpetual Peace" outlined the conditions of international and domestic politics that he believed would lead to the ever-widening pacification of international life. Kant's analysis is subtle and complex, but, simply stated, his conditions for successful politics of the state are three.
The first and most important relates to the domestic political regimes of states: peaceful nations must be republics, " by which Kant meant states in which citizens have rights and governments that depend on the consent of the governed. In republics, the public would oppose conflicts because they would not want to bear the cost of conflict resolution. Kant's second condition focuses on economics: republics should have market economies aimed at improving citizens' well being. Then, given an international division of labor through free trade, economic interdependence will evolve. Benefiting from these arrangements, citizens will be more reluctant to break the ties of trade. In Kant's view, through commerce "a peaceful traffic among nations was established, and thus understanding, conventions, and peaceable relations were established among the most distant peoples. " Although skeptics point to examples like World War I, which broke out despite unprecedented high levels of international commerce, recent scholarly studies find evidence to support Kant's view.
Third, Kant argued that international peace required the emergence of a "pacific union" among republics. This would occur because republics would respect other republics and rely on principles of peaceful dispute resolution, leading to peace among themselves. Kant foresaw a lengthy process in which the pacific union would expand gradually as other states noted the benefits democracies enjoyed and sought to emulate them. By gradual extension, peace would become global and finally perpetual. Another concept, which Kant often mentions in his work, is a notion of modernity. The whole idea of modernity as a questioning of authority is extremely important especially when it is situated within the debate initiated by the thinkers and scholars of his epoch.
Many supporters and critics of modernity have proceeded with an inadequate understanding of Kant's political philosophy. Several modern scholars offer a powerful apology for the revival of a more authentically Kantian foundation for contemporary social and political philosophy and for the more nuanced understanding of modernity such a revival would bring. They agree on the common understanding that modernity is to be understood, from its origins, as a polyphonic composition, with Kant's voice providing the necessary counterpoint to the legitimate, yet exaggerated strains of modernity's prima donnas, empiricism and pluralism. There is a positive and negative side to this thesis. On the positive side, it shows that there is a rather compelling justification for Kant's categorical imperative and the categorical principles of law that follow from it, such as the human rights widely recognized in the modern world. On the negative side, it alleges, neither contemporary legal theory, given its empirical-pragmatic bias, nor contemporary social theory, given its uncritical obsession with radical pluralism, can justify such categorical principles.
In order to uncover the idea of modernity in terms of the valid claim of truth, there must be a consensus generated through a dialogic form of intersubjective communication. However, the current understanding of this situation cannot give us the clear and one-sided answer to the raised question. The investigation of modernity is still in the process, and, hopefully, soon the humankind will come to the ultimate conclusion regarding this term.
Free research essays on topics related to: political philosophy, kant's, negative side, immanuel kant, modernity
Research essay sample on Immanuel Kant Political Philosophy
