Kant and Cosmopolitanism

The Philosophical Ideal of World Citizenship

Pauline Kleingeld

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781139200165
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Modern Philosophy

This is the first comprehensive account of Kant's cosmopolitanism, highlighting its moral, political, legal, economic, cultural and psychological aspects. Contrasting Kant's views with those of his German contemporaries and relating them to current debates, Pauline Kleingeld sheds new light on texts that have been hitherto neglected or underestimated. In clear and carefully argued discussions, she shows that Kant's philosophical cosmopolitanism underwent a radical transformation in the mid 1790s and that the resulting theory is philosophically stronger than is usually thought. Using the work of figures such as Fichte, Cloots, Forster, Hegewisch, Wieland and Novalis, Kleingeld analyses Kant's arguments regarding the relationship between cosmopolitanism and patriotism, the importance of states, the ideal of an international federation, cultural pluralism, race, global economic justice and the psychological feasibility of the cosmopolitan ideal. In doing so, she reveals a broad spectrum of positions in cosmopolitan theory that are relevant to current discussions of cosmopolitanism.

Table of contents

• Cover
• KANT AND COSMOPOLITANISM
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations and main primary texts
• Introduction
• CHAPTER 1 Kant and Wieland on moral cosmopolitanism and patriotism
• CHAPTER 2 Kant and Cloots on global peace
• CHAPTER 3 Kant’s concept of cosmopolitan right
• CHAPTER 4 Kant and Forster on race, culture, and cosmopolitanism
• CHAPTER 5 Kant and Hegewisch on the freedom of international trade
• CHAPTER 6 Kant and Novalis on the development of a cosmopolitan community
• CHAPTER 7 Kant’s cosmopolitanism and current philosophical debates
• Bibliography
• Index