Overview

This is the first comprehensive account of Kant's cosmopolitanism, highlighting its moral, political, legal, economic, cultural and psychological aspects. Contrasting Kant's views with those of his German contemporaries and relating them to current debates, Pauline Kleingeld sheds new light on texts that have been hitherto neglected or underestimated. In clear and carefully argued discussions, she shows that Kant's philosophical cosmopolitanism underwent a radical transformation in the mid 1790s and that the resulting theory is philosophically stronger than is usually thought. Using the work of figures such as Fichte, Cloots, Forster, Hegewisch, Wieland and Novalis, Kleingeld analyses Kant's arguments regarding the relationship between cosmopolitanism and patriotism, the importance of states, the ideal of an international federation, cultural pluralism, race, global economic justice and the psychological feasibility of the cosmopolitan ideal. In doing so, she reveals a broad spectrum of positions in cosmopolitan theory that are relevant to current discussions of cosmopolitanism.

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9781107654112

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...In 200 pages, readers get an overview of the importance of German cosmopolitan thought for international relations, which is in itself an impressive accomplishment. Despite the numerous contemporary works on multiculturalism, anyone interested in the question of global governance in a pluralist world will find Kleingeld's book an indispensable starting point... Highly recommended... --R. G. Schoellhammer, University of Kentucky, CHOICE

Author Information

Pauline Kleingeld is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. She is the author of Fortschritt und Vernunft: Zur Geschichtsphilosophie Kants (1995) and the editor of Immanuel Kant, 'Toward Perpetual Peace' and Other Writings on Politics, Peace, and History (2006).

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