Politics And Morality: The Study Of Kant's Permanent Peace Theory

The founders of modern political philosophy and legal philosophy,such as Machiavelli,Grotius,Bodin and Hobbes,without exception,impressively presupposed the antisocial nature of the people as a theoretical premise.In their views,the state of war was universal and inevitable.Peace could be achieved through sophisticated plans,but it was just impermanent.It was not until the priests of Saint Pierre and Rousseau that perpetual peace was regarded as a subject that was deserved to be discussed.Kant's thought of perpetual peace also benefited from them.In the "Toward Perpetual Peace" which is highly creative,Kant not only portrayed the grand blueprint of humankind's ending of the war and the eventual realization of the Perpetual Peace,but also discussed in depth the metaphysical question,concerning the relation between politics and morality,about the realization of the Perpetual Peace.I hold the view that the issue of the relationship between politics and morality is the central subject of Kant's "Toward Perpetual Peace".In Kant's own words,it deals with true wisdom,while those designs or plans for specific practice belongs to "intellectual considerations".Kant discussed this issue in the appendix of "Toward Perpetual Peace".Because of its limited length and obscure words,people may be biased in understanding it.This thesis aims to make a reductive interpretation of this part,including the following questions: What are the differences between the "the practitioners","the moralist in politics" and "the politician in morality" mentioned here by Kant? What is the divergence between politics and morality? Why did Kant set out this topic in "Toward Perpetual Peace" ? As to the Perpetual Peace,is there any kinds of negative aspects that could be brought by the divergence? The first chapter of the thesis is the introduction part,which includes research situation,research issues,literature review and research significance.The second chapter briefly represents the Kantian philosophical background related to this study,tries to clarify the implications of politics and morality in Kantian general philosophy.The third chapter examines the text part of "Toward Perpetual Peace" as well as the concept of the Perpetual Peace from the perspective of Kant's right theory.The fourth chapter presents the disagreements between politics and morality through the conflict among the practitioner,the moralist in politics and the politician in morality,and discusses how it adversely influences the conceive of the Perpetual Peace,examines the relationship between politics and morality from the Perpetual Peace.The fifth chapter is the concluding part,which mainly discusses the contemporary value and significance of Kant's thoughts of the Perpetual Peace.From the point of view of Kant's right theory,the Perpetual Peace is the realization of the state of right in three levels,which is a political problem.From the issue of the relationship between politics and morality,the Perpetual Peace is a universal follow to the principle of form,which is essentially a matter of morality.