The Guarantee of Perpetual Peace: Three Concerns

Nature guarantees that humans will reach perpetual peace one day. This is one of the most controversial tenets of Kant’s entire philosophy. Many have read in this optimistic prediction nothing but a piece of simpleminded faith in the progress of mankind, typical of an Enlightenment style of thinking. Sympathetic commentators of Kant (Guyer, Ludwig) have attempted various strategies for watering down Kant’s claim and for separating his peace project from such prediction, judged as incompatible not only with contemporary epistemology, but also with Kant’s own theoretical commitments. One reason for being suspicious of this watered down interpretation is that Kant’s writings on history – where various versions of the guarantee thesis appear – all belong to the critical period. Another one is that Kant never abandoned his progressive view of history, which is – if anything – stated more sharply in the last significant writing Kant devoted to history, The Contest of the Faculties. This paper tries to show that – properly understood – the idea that there is a guarantee of perpetual peace is both compatible with Kant’s critical philosophy and more plausible than usually assumed.