Open AccessIn Defense of Cosmopolitanism: Kant’s Conceptions in a Neocolonial World
Author(s) -
Jennifer McCurdy
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
political science undergraduate review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2562-1289
pISSN - 2562-1270
DOI - 10.29173/psur38
Subject(s) - cosmopolitanism , colonialism , presupposition , epistemology , assertion , philosophy , key (lock) , sociology , politics , political science , law , ecology , biology , computer science , programming language
This article engages with Immanuel Kant´s timeless essay Perpetual Peace in order to explore the colonial aspect of cosmopolitanism. Mainly, it explores the question can Kant´s cosmopolitanism exist outside of colonialism? It will investigate three key aspects of Kant´s essay. Firstly, his calls for a loose federation of nation states, secondly, his insistence that the citizenry must be in charge of all decisions of warfare, and lastly, his assertion of existing universal moral codes. By investigating these three key, yet often misunderstood, aspects and using recent case studies as evidence, this essay concludes that colonialism is not a presupposition of Kant´s conception of cosmopolitanism. Kant´s cosmopolitanism is a separate and legitimate entity that exists outside of and can transcend colonial relations.