Nature and Civilization in Immanuel Kant's Global Politics

Kellner, Alan Joseph

doi:https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-4qkp-cq23

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Nature and Civilization in Immanuel Kant's Global Politics

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Nature and Civilization is a focused interpretation of Kant’s politics insofar as it bears on the distinction between nature and civilization. It seeks to answer the question, How is Kant’s distinction between nature and civilization informing his global political thought? Kant thinks that in moving from the state of nature to the civil condition humanity damaged itself. In light of this, two of his claims should strike us as rather odd: That it is only within the civil condition that humanity can best perfect itself and that one has a duty to exit the state of nature. I call this difficulty in interpreting his thought the problem of civilization. In order to unpack the problem of civilization, my interpretation of Kant’s politics begins with his interpretation of Rousseau, as well as his views on the use of travelogues as evidence (Chapter 2). It turns then to his theory of race, where his actual use of travelogues is on display (Chapter 3). The dissertation moves then to his philosophy of history, addressing the problem of civilization directly (Chapter 4 and an excursus). The dissertation then dissects the distinction between nature and civilization – with a particular focus on the duty to exit the state of nature – within Kant’s last political text, the Doctrine of Right (Chapter 5). I find that Kant’s political philosophy contains an antinomy: it is both colonial and anti-colonial. The dissertation concludes (Chapter 6) with a brief examination of the prospects and perils of the Kantian political project today with respect to the rights of indigenous peoples in its most prominent exponent: Jürgen Habermas.

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