About the book

Kant gives his essay the form of a proposed agreement, beginning with conditions intended to remove practices that perpetuate war and then specifying a more durable political foundation for peace. Republican government, a federation of free states, and a limited right of hospitality connect domestic arrangements with relations between peoples. The argument also considers whether political expediency can be reconciled with moral principle and how publicity can test claims made in the name of policy. Its structure distinguishes a temporary cessation of violence from a condition that would make peace more secure. This edition includes an introduction and notes alongside the translated essay. Readers can follow a compact attempt to turn an apparently remote ideal into questions about sovereignty, consent, obligation, and the institutions through which states encounter one another.

Peace and institutions
Political morality
International order

Why read it

For a concentrated argument that makes enduring peace depend on identifiable political and moral conditions.

Philosophical essay · translated with introduction and notes by Mary Campbell Smith

Contents and reading sections

About the book

Why read it

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