What Immanuel Kant thinks about war
German philosopher (1724 to 1804), born in Königsberg, where he taught at the university; author of the three Critiques and the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals.
Immanuel Kant did not write this page.
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9 dated positions, c. 1795, in their own words. Our reading of what Immanuel Kant has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Their wordsNow, since owing to the sums devoted to this purpose, peace at last becomes even more oppressive than a short war, these standing armies are themselves the cause of wars of aggression, undertaken in order to get rid of this burden.
↗Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Essay (1795; M. Campbell Smith translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Our readingThe ease of financing war, combined with rulers' inclination to it, is a great obstacle to peace
Their wordsThe ease, then, with which war may be waged, coupled with the inclination of rulers towards it—an inclination which seems to be implanted in human nature—is a great obstacle in the way of perpetual peace.
↗Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Essay (1795; M. Campbell Smith translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Our readingA war of extermination would bring perpetual peace only in the graveyard of the human race
Their wordsWhence it follows that a war of extermination, where the process of annihilation would strike both parties at once and all right as well, would bring about perpetual peace only in the great graveyard of the human race.
↗Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Essay (1795; M. Campbell Smith translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Their wordsIf, as must be so under this constitution, the consent of the subjects is required to determine whether there shall be war or not, nothing is more natural than that they should weigh the matter well, before undertaking such a bad business.
↗Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Essay (1795; M. Campbell Smith translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Their wordsFor the ruler is not a citizen, but the owner of the state, and does not lose a whit by the war, while he goes on enjoying the delights of his table or sport, or of his pleasure palaces and gala days. He can therefore decide on war for the most trifling reasons, as if it were a kind of pleasure party.
↗Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Essay (1795; M. Campbell Smith translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Their wordsHence there must be an alliance of a particular kind which we may call a covenant of peace (foedus pacificum), which would differ from a treaty of peace (pactum pacis) in this respect, that the latter merely puts an end to one war, while the former would seek to put an end to war for ever.
↗Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Essay (1795; M. Campbell Smith translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Their wordsThere is no intelligible meaning in the idea of the law of nations as giving a right to make war; for that must be a right to decide what is just, not in accordance with universal, external laws limiting the freedom of each individual, but by means of one-sided maxims applied by force.
↗Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Essay (1795; M. Campbell Smith translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Their wordsHence, instead of the positive idea of a world-republic, if all is not to be lost, only the negative substitute for it, a federation averting war, maintaining its ground and ever extending over the world may stop the current of this tendency to war and shrinking from the control of law.
↗Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Essay (1795; M. Campbell Smith translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Their wordsThe commercial spirit cannot co-exist with war, and sooner or later it takes possession of every nation.
↗Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Essay (1795; M. Campbell Smith translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book