The philosopher as legislator

Kant on history

Katerina Deligiorgi

pp. 683-703

in: The Palgrave Kant handbook, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017

Abstract

In several of his essays, Kant appears to be defending a progressive view of history. Both his conception of progress, which consists in the gradual attainment of a just civil society and a cosmopolitan constitution, and the theoretical assumptions that underpin it, such as his use of teleology, have been extensively studied and debated. Deligiorgi's primary aim in this chapter is to examine Kant's notion of history as a unified, or, at least, unifiable, whole, as well as to defend Kant's practical justification of philosophical history.

Cited authors

Kant Immanuel