Political Writings by Immanuel Kant

Political Writings Reviews

• 
  Amy

  The introduction of my edition makes two striking points:
  1. You should just learn German if you want to understand Kant.
  2. Kant is a dry writer with occasionally brilliant sentences.
  
  So, that was good to know. And actually, not a bad mentality for going in. I went in intimidated by Kant and I still feel intimidated by him, but also impressed. This is really fascinating stuff. I'm not sure I agree with any of it. But I find his logic fascinating.
  Though an Enlightenment philosopher, he was more a contemporary of the American Revolution than an influence on it, and I think that is one reason I didn't necessarily resonate with his thought the way I do with Locke. But there are some really fascinating comparisons to be made with his work and Hobbes's. Looking forward to digging deeper in this stuff.
• 
  Erik Graff

  Not all of the selections in this volume are the complete texts. The edited texts are "On the Common Saying", "Metaphysics of Morals" & "Contest of Faculties." A later edition of this book includes three more short items and a postscript concerning scholarly issues since its first publication in 1970.
• 
  Janice Feng

  Really not a political theorist. Please stop claiming Kant as a liberal.
• 
  Siren

  I would rate it no stars if that was an option. Argue all you want that Kant was a product of his time, but the fact that we as a society still hold him to high regards as a genius is telling of how deeply rooted colonization runs in our systems. Kant was a racist. This is an important fact to note because his political writings and philosophical work had these underlying implications that all non-white people are inferior. You can’t separate the philosopher from his philosophy.
• 
  E.

  I had not previously read Kant's political works and there is good material here that I'm glad to be better acquainted with. I particularly recommend his essay on Perpetual Peace as a worthy read during this war in Ukraine.
• 
  Campbell Rider

  Great selection of texts, and handy introduction/postscript too. Particularly fascinating to see Kant's complex attitude towards the French Revolution in 'Contest of the Faculties'.
• 
  Amelia

  Confusing to read at first but I learned sooo much from reading this. Kant’s ideas translate everywhere in IR.
• 
  Greta Tautavičiūtė

  Švietimas yra žmogaus išsivadavimas iš nesavarankiškumo, dėl kurio žmogus pats kaltas. Nesavarankiškumas yra nesugebėjimas naudotis savo protų kitų nevadovaujamam.
• 
  Nathan

  I always find Kant a bit disingenuous, intentionally avoiding digging to the level where his conceptions of the world are actually challenged. His a priori knowledge acts as a warm blanket over any ideas he wants to protect without having a great deal of substance behind them. In the end, Kant tries to balance his ethics between a rejection of an all powerful deity and the preservation of morals established by a higher power. It was inevitable that we would, in time, reach a point in society where this conflict at the root of Kantian thought would form the battleground between complete nihilism. Unfortunately, we live in those times, where absolutes in morality have been rejected.
  
  I wish Kant could have dug deeper, perhaps discovering the one rock on which permanent morality can be built. Alas, he neglected to do so. As a result, many of his ideas on political philosophy read as hopeful musings rather than true assertions. Of course, Kant himself recognized this to a certain extent. Kant indulged in prophesy in order to make human history turn toward it, in a self aware attempt at authorship of the future. In his own words, he describes prophesy as having power merely due to the propensity of humanity to ensure prophets speak truth. We prophesy the future, then make that prophecy happen through our intentional actions toward that direction.
  
  In the end, Kant set a goal for humanity where he saw one lacking, and it is certainly a goal worth persuing: perpetual peace. At the same time, he established barriers in accomplishing this goal: the ends never justify the means. This imperative speaks against the facism that arose in the last century, as well as giving directives to society in general. In other words, there is wisdom contained in his philosophy, although fueled more on hope than on pure reason.
• 
  Greg

  This is a very useful collection of Kant's political writings because they are the philosophical underpinnings of the trend toward transnational governance since 1815, beginning with the Congress of Vienna that established the international system after the Napoleonic wars in Europe, to the League of Nations and the United Nations.
  
  Unfortunately the philosophy as philosophy is really bad. The entire teleological argument is founded unfortunately on the naturalistic fallacy.
• 
  xDEAD ENDx

  I only read a handful of these pieces, the ones that focused on history. I was surprised at my ability to understand what Kant was saying, despite never having read his other philosophy. Of course, his views on history are completely bogus and only serve the purpose of strengthening the theoretical existence of the state. Now to read Hegel, to see how these ideas are elaborated.
• 
  Leonardo

  Kant aporta la clásica caracterización modernista del Iluminismo: Sapere aude (atreverse a conocer), emergiendo del actual estado de “inmadurez”, y festejando el uso público de la razón en el centro del reino social.
  
  
  Imperio Pág.139
• 
  Craig Bolton

  Kant: Political Writings (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought) by Immanuel Kant (1991)
• 
  Marts (Thinker)

  this text focuses on "Kant's political thought in terms of his fundamental principles of politics"
• 
  Vittorio Veltroni

  Good translation, a pity that the footnotes are a bit obstruse
• 
  Blair

  I personally find that Kant's political writings pale in comparison to his work in metaphysics, identity, and/or epistemology. I only read it - and kept reading it - because I had to for school.
• 
  Azeem Malik

  Possibly the best primer to Kant's political thought. The translations are very accessible and the introduction is invaluable!
  
  Credits: 4th year, undergrad in philosophy and psychology
• 
  Abram

  Game changerrr
• 
  Luke Echo

  Good Anthology of Kant's most overtly political writings.
• 
  Tweeting

  It's a love the sinner, hate the sin thing. Love the philosophy, but oh, dear Cthulhu, the prose!