Kant’s Perpetual Peace as a Manual for the Twenty-First Century?—Cosmopolitanism, Ethics, and the Role of the Individual in a Globalizing Society

Abstract

At the beginning of the 21st century, new variables, such as globalization and homogenization, international terrorism, and mass-migration have started to change the socio-political fabric of the world. The implications of these new circumstances have been discussed in several publications—most notably Seyla Benhabib’s study Dignity in Adversity, Žižek’s recent Against the Double Blackmail and Andreas Cassee’s philosophical essay “Globale Bewegungsfreiheit”. However, although they touch on the matters of cosmopolitanism, migration, and the issue of human rights, I want to go back to Kant’s programmatic essay “Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch” and what defines it as a viable concept for the future. The migration crisis of 2015 has put categories, such as hospitality, human rights, ethics, and cosmopolitanism in a new perspective. Picking up Kant’s category of hospitality, the German government decided to admit a large number of refugees into Germany. The reactions within the country and internationally were mixed. Nevertheless, this sudden influx of human individuals has led to a discussion of the applicability of Kant’s concept of unlimited global mobility and its basis in reality. It furthermore raised the question whether Kant’s essay is merely a product of a naive idealism. A deeper analysis of Kant’s socio-political objective and its connection to his critical writings will be necessary to understand the significance of his essay in the 21st century. Thus, the question I want to ask is whether Kant’s Perpetual Peace could indeed be a viable model for the new age. Hence, I will analyze his sketch by using an alternative approach focusing on the (usually neglected) rationality of his seemingly idealist vision—namely, as blueprint for a flexible system that can counterbalance socio-cultural/socio-political change and (only through that/a transformative/transforming quality) stabilize the/a global(ized/izing) society and, therefore, achieve a state of perpetual peace based on the prerequisite of rational thinking which accounts for all possible (new) circumstances and variables that might destabilize the balance of powers and require a new ethical and political framework for a new Lebenswelt. The role of the individual in this scenario will be examined and, moreover, what consequences a transformed ethical reference system could have for the validity and applicability of human rights on a global scale.