Charles Covell
Published: 1998
Total Pages: 237
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In Kant and the Law of Peace, Charles Covell examines the jurisprudential aspects of Kant's international thought, with particular reference to the argument of his treatise Perpetual Peace (1795). The book begins with a general outline of Kant's moral and political philosophy. In the discussion of Perpetual Peace that follows, it is explained how Kant saw law as providing the basis for peace among men and states in the international sphere, and how, in his exposition of the elements of the law of peace, he broke with the secular natural law tradition of Grotius, Hobbes, Wolff and Vattel in the view he took of the foundations of the law that was to make for peace in the international sphere. In the conclusion to the book, Kant and his law of peace are considered in relation to the condition of contemporary international society. Here, it is suggested that while Kant stands in the liberal tradition in international thought and practice, the tradition of liberalism he represents is rather more at odds with current trends in present international society than is sometimes supposed.