Book Description

Excerpt from Kant's Principles of Politics: Including His Essay on Perpetual Peace, a Contribution to Political Science In 1795, during Washington's administration, just as our great American experiment in self-government had been inaugurated, Immanuel Kant published in Konigsberg his memorable tractate on "Eternal Peace." It was in many respects the most remarkable prophecy and program ever made of the day when the war drum shall throb no longer, and the battle flags shall be furled in "the parliament of man, the federation of the world." The prophecy is never forgotten by those who are in earnest about having it fulfilled. The name of Immanuel Kant, greatest of modern philosophers, is honored in Europe and America alike as that of the preeminent philosopher of the peace movement. But few perhaps remember the words in his immortal essay which seem a special prophecy of the part which our republic seems destined to take in the promotion of the cause in which the great philosopher was a pioneer. "If happy circumstances bring it about," wrote Kant, "that a powerful and enlightened people form themselves into a republic, - which by its very nature must be disposed in favor of perpetual peace, - this will furnish a center of federative union for other States to attach themselves to, and thus to secure the conditions of liberty among all States, according to the idea of the right of nations; and such a union would extend wider and wider, in the course of time, by the addition of further connections of this kind." It was a remarkable insight of Kant's that universal peace could come only with the universal republic. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.