Wednesday, October 06, 2004
Dose of Kant
Since in their endeavors men proceed neither merely instinctually, like animals, nor yet according to a fixed plan, like rational citizens of the world, it appears that no systematic [planmassig] history of man is possible (as perhaps it might be with bees or beavers). One cannot resist a certain [feeling of] indignation when one sees men's actions placed on the great stage of the world and finds that, despite some individuals' seeming wisdom, in the large everything is finally woven together from folly and childish vanity and often even childish malice and destructiveness. In the end, one does not know what concept one should have of a species so taken with its own superiority.From Immanuel Kant's, "Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Intent" (1784), in Perpetual Peace and Other Essays
Improvised @ 3:09 PM 
Collective Improvisation:
I've been doing some reading on Kant's theories about cosmopolitan law, and I'm under the impression that he backed away from his strongest claims about a "world state." According to the editors of this book, "he later came to fear it as a potentially 'soulless despotism.'"
He still dallied with the idea of a world republic, but most of his mature writings on the subject seem to have in mind a peaceful federation of states, rather than the specter of central planner you seem to raise.
On the question of a universal, teleological history ... well, you've got him there.
He still dallied with the idea of a world republic, but most of his mature writings on the subject seem to have in mind a peaceful federation of states, rather than the specter of central planner you seem to raise.
On the question of a universal, teleological history ... well, you've got him there.
Posted by 
Caleb McDaniel on 10/09/2004 06:08:00 PM : Permalink
