SOURCE:

Faculty: Arts
Department: Department Of Philosophy

CONTRIBUTORS:

EMEJULU-OKEKE, J;
UMEOGU, B;

ABSTRACT:

Immanuel Kant in his political essays titled Idea of History with a Cosmopolitan aim and Towards Perpetual peace presents a political philosophy which is teleological in nature. Nature had designs for the human race within which the gems of the race could be realized. The establishment of a perfect civil constitution and the enthronement of liberty was the aim for which man was designed and nature was to bring this into reality through the natural tendencies in man.This he called antagonism or asocial sociability. This asocial sociability was the means through which men living in the state of nature, the state of all against all were able to create civilized society. The creation of the state created a peace within which the tendencies of man continued to move him towards nature’s desired end. This same antagonism existed between nations in the international scene. The realist and liberalist outlook on international relations best describes this relationship. Convinced of the inevitable nature of the formation of this federation, Kant based his argument on reason, moral progress, freedom and protection of rights and providence. The federation was to curb the problem of antagonism, the abolition of war and its many evils and the establishment of world peace. Despite the creation of such a federation like the United Nations and taking into consideration current happenings on the international scene today such as wars between and within nations, terrorism and continued hostility even under a supposed Peace; it is still in question if the federation of Free states can ensure world peace. This work uses the hermeneutic method to interpret Kant’s reason for the inevitability of the creation of the federation and the possibility of the attainment of international peace.It interprets his definitive and preliminary articles for attaining this peace both in theory and in practical international relations. It seeks establish that without coercive authority, the United Nations which was built on the Kantian model has not been able to completely ensure world peace. The Kantian model cannot ensure world peace because it does not provide solutions to the new challenges which our world faces today like terrorism, global warming and environmental change, threats of nuclear war, and others.