Perpetual Peace: A Philosophic Essay (Hastie Translation) by Immanuel Kant (1724 - 1804)
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This essay, written in 1795, puts forth a plan for a lasting peace
between nations and peoples. Kant puts forth necessary means to any
peace, and argues that nations can be brought into federation with
one another without loss of sovereignty. In one translation,
telling of the historical impact of this essay, this federation is
called a “league of nations.” The supplements and appendices are of
considerable interest on their own. The supplements contain an
argument regarding the use which nature makes of war, and the way
in which nature, in the end, impels us towards peace. The
appendices return to the question of whether his theory is mere
theory, or whether it bears translation into practice. In this, he
distinguishes between the moral politician and the political
moralist, pointing out ways in which practical considerations
conceal and excuse behavior that leads us towards discord and war.
This essay continues to be relevant, and of great importance today,
much to our shame. We hope still to find the perpetual peace which
Kant argued as a obligatory goal, and we still have need of fear
that we will, as Kant warned, “find Perpetual Peace only in the
wide grave which is to cover all the abomination of the deeds of
violence and their authors.” (Summary by D.E. Wittkower)
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