The newspaper Gothanische gelernte Zeitungen was slightly sarcastic when it wrote about Immanuel Kant in 1784, "It is a favourite idea of Herr Professor Kant that the ultimate goal of the human race is the establishment of a perfect constitution." But in fairness, Kant did get rather carried away when he wrote about politics. "It is so sweet to dream up state constitutions that meet the demands of reason," he wrote almost wistfully (Conflict of the Faculties, 1794, p.159).
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was clearly obsessed with politics, especially in the later stage of his life. Yet for most students of philosophy, he is not seen as a political philosopher. Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) was not alone in opining that, "Unlike so many other philosophers - Plato, Aristotle, Thomas [Aquinas], Spinoza, Hegel, and others - he never wrote a political philosophy" (Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy, 1982, p.7). This assessment is not quite fair. In fact, Kant's books The Metaphysics of Morals (1797), Towards Perpetual Peace (1795), and the shorter essay The Idea of Universal History (1784) are all works of political theory. And elsewhere in his Werke there are references that are overtly political and some that certainly fall under the heading of social commentary. For starters, few philosophers have written more famous political lines than "It is the spirit of trade [der Handelsgeist], which cannot coexist with war, which will sooner or later take hold of every people" (Towards Perpetual Peace, p.65).
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The Two Dennises
Hannah Mortimer observes a close encounter of the same kind.
Heraclitus (c.500 BC)
Harry Keith lets flow a stream of ideas about permanence and change.
Does the Cosmos Have a Purpose?
Raymond Tallis argues intently against universal intention.
Is Driving Fossil-Fuelled Cars Immoral?
Rufus Duits asks when we can justify driving our carbon contributors.
Abelard & Carneades Yes & No
Frank Breslin says 'yes and no' to presenting both sides of an argument.
Frankl & Sartre in Search of Meaning
Georgia Arkell compares logotherapy and atheistic existentialism.
Luce Irigaray
Luce Irigaray, now ninety-two years old, was, among many other things, one of the most impactful feminists of the 1970s liberation movements - before she was marginalised, then ostracised, from the francophone intellectual sphere.
Significance
Ruben David Azevedo tells us why, in a limitless universe, we’re not insignificant.
The Present Is Not All There Is To Happiness
Rob Glacier says don’t just live in the now.
Philosophers Exploring The Good Life
Jim Mepham quests with philosophers to discover what makes a life good.