KANT, Immanuel.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Zum ewigen Frieden. First edition, first issue, of Kant's book of practical pacifism, unique among his works in being aimed at a broader non-specialist audience.Against the background of the French Revolutionary Wars, Kant argues that world peace can be attained with much the same measures as peace between individuals. He further proposes a global federation of states, reorganised as democratic republics - an idea which evidently contains "an outline of a world league of nations" (PMM). Kant's belief that democratic states are inherently less willing to engage in armed conflict influenced the doctrine of democratic peace theory and so the foreign policy of many 20th-century liberal states.Zum ewigen Frieden was an immediate success, quickly prompting a series of translations and counterfeit editions. The first issue, with the uppercase "Welt" catchword on page 3, sold out within a few weeks; the second has a lowercase "welt".

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