The Perpetual Peace Puzzle: Kant on persons and states
Kant described the state as a ‘moral person’, and did so when dealing with international relations. For all the interest in his contribution to the theory of global politics, the locution according to which Kant characterized the state has received very little attention. When notice has been taken o...
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| Format: | Article |
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Sage
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37970/ |
| _version_ | 1848795571694862336 |
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| author | Holland, Ben |
| author_facet | Holland, Ben |
| author_sort | Holland, Ben |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Kant described the state as a ‘moral person’, and did so when dealing with international relations. For all the interest in his contribution to the theory of global politics, the locution according to which Kant characterized the state has received very little attention. When notice has been taken of it, the moral personality of the state has moved arguments in opposing directions. On one recent reading, when Kant called the state a moral person he intended to indicate that it possessed certain duties to itself and to others, for the sake of which it could be coerced to leave the international state of nature. On another, the juridical compulsion of states to join a state of nations or world republic is categorically ruled out because this would impair their moral personality. Both cannot be right. In this paper, I analyze Kant’s notion of moral personhood, contextualizing it within his wider philosophical concerns. On the basis of this groundwork I put forward an argument about Kant’s theory of the moral person of the state which allows me to show how he in fact was able coherently to incorporate two seemingly contradictory arguments about the state as an international actor in a single argument, and present this as my solution to what I call the Perpetual Peace Puzzle. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:34:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-37970 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:34:12Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Sage |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-379702020-05-04T18:57:43Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37970/ The Perpetual Peace Puzzle: Kant on persons and states Holland, Ben Kant described the state as a ‘moral person’, and did so when dealing with international relations. For all the interest in his contribution to the theory of global politics, the locution according to which Kant characterized the state has received very little attention. When notice has been taken of it, the moral personality of the state has moved arguments in opposing directions. On one recent reading, when Kant called the state a moral person he intended to indicate that it possessed certain duties to itself and to others, for the sake of which it could be coerced to leave the international state of nature. On another, the juridical compulsion of states to join a state of nations or world republic is categorically ruled out because this would impair their moral personality. Both cannot be right. In this paper, I analyze Kant’s notion of moral personhood, contextualizing it within his wider philosophical concerns. On the basis of this groundwork I put forward an argument about Kant’s theory of the moral person of the state which allows me to show how he in fact was able coherently to incorporate two seemingly contradictory arguments about the state as an international actor in a single argument, and present this as my solution to what I call the Perpetual Peace Puzzle. Sage 2017-07-31 Article PeerReviewed Holland, Ben (2017) The Perpetual Peace Puzzle: Kant on persons and states. Philosophy and Social Criticism, 43 (6). pp. 599-620. ISSN 1461-734X Kant The state World state Federation Moral law Moral person International relations theory Right Duty Virtue http://psc.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/11/24/0191453716680128 doi:10.1177/0191453716680128 doi:10.1177/0191453716680128 |
| spellingShingle | Kant The state World state Federation Moral law Moral person International relations theory Right Duty Virtue Holland, Ben The Perpetual Peace Puzzle: Kant on persons and states |
| title | The Perpetual Peace Puzzle: Kant on persons and states |
| title_full | The Perpetual Peace Puzzle: Kant on persons and states |
| title_fullStr | The Perpetual Peace Puzzle: Kant on persons and states |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Perpetual Peace Puzzle: Kant on persons and states |
| title_short | The Perpetual Peace Puzzle: Kant on persons and states |
| title_sort | perpetual peace puzzle: kant on persons and states |
| topic | Kant The state World state Federation Moral law Moral person International relations theory Right Duty Virtue |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37970/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37970/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37970/ |