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247Kant and cosmopolitanism: the philosophical ideal of world citizenshipCambridge University Press. 2011.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 179…Read more
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253What Do the Virtuous Hope For?: Re-reading Kant's Doctrine of the Highest GoodIn Hoke Robinson (ed.), Proceedings of the Eighth International Kant Congress, Memphis 1995, Marquette University Press. pp. 91-112. 1995.
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2295Contradiction and Kant’s Formula of Universal LawKant Studien 108 (1): 89-115. 2017.Kant’s most prominent formulation of the Categorical Imperative, known as the Formula of Universal Law (FUL), is generally thought to demand that one act only on maxims that one can will as universal laws without this generating a contradiction. Kant's view is standardly summarized as requiring the 'universalizability' of one's maxims and described in terms of the distinction between 'contradictions in conception' and 'contradictions in the will'. Focusing on the underappreciated significance of…Read more
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1565Kant's second thoughts on racePhilosophical Quarterly 57 (229). 2007.During the 1780s, as Kant was developing his universalistic moral theory, he published texts in which he defended the superiority of whites over non-whites. Whether commentators see this as evidence of inconsistent universalism or of consistent inegalitarianism, they generally assume that Kant's position on race remained stable during the 1780s and 1790s. Against this standard view, I argue on the basis of his texts that Kant radically changed his mind. I examine his 1780s race theory and his hi…Read more
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332Kant, History, and the Idea of Moral DevelopmentHistory of Philosophy Quarterly 16 (1): 59-80. 1999.I examine the consistency of Kant's notion of moral progress as found in his philosophy of history. To many commentators, Kant's very idea of moral development has seemed inconsistent with basic tenets of his critical philosophy. This idea has seemed incompatible with his claims that the moral law is unconditionally and universally valid, that moral agency is noumenal and atemporal, and that all humans are equally free. Against these charges, I argue not only that Kant's notion of moral devel…Read more
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57Fortschritt und Vernunft: Zur Geschichtsphilosophie KantsKönigshausen und Neumann. 1995.The goal of this study is to reconstruct and evaluate the systematic role of Kant's views on history within his ‛critical' philosophy. Kant's philosophy of history has been neglected in the literature, largely due to the widespread though mistaken perception that it is at odds with central assumptions of Kant’s ‘critical’ thought. I discuss Kant's most important texts on history and examine the relationship between Kant's view of history and the central tenets of his Critiques (in particular, K…Read more
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The Development of Kant's CosmopolitanismIn Paul Formosa, Avery Goldman & Tatiana Patrone (eds.), Politics and Teleology in Kant, University of Wales Press. pp. 59-75. 2014.
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32A Peculiar Fate (review)Review of Metaphysics 47 (4): 808-810. 1994.Kant's writings on history have been enjoying increased recognition by Kant scholars, and Peter Fenves's A Peculiar Fate fits this trend. But here the similarity with mainstream Kant studies abruptly ends. This is no ordinary monograph on Kant's philosophy of history: neither in terms of the selection of Kant's writings discussed by its author, nor in terms of its style, nor in terms of its philosophical approach.
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294Nature or Providence? On the Theoretical and Moral Importance of Kant’s Philosophy of HistoryAmerican Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 75 (2): 201-219. 2001.Kant’s use of the terms ‘Nature’ and ‘Providence’ in his essays on history has long puzzled commentators. Kant personifies Nature and Providence in a curious way, by speaking of them as “deciding” to give humankind certain predispositions, “wanting” these to be developed, and “knowing” what is best for humans Moreover, he leaves the relationship between the two terms unclear. In this essay, I argue that Kant’s use of ‘Nature’ and ‘Providence’ can be clarified and explained. Moreover, I show …Read more
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710Kant on the Unity of Theoretical and Practical ReasonReview of Metaphysics 52 (2): 500-528. 1998.In his critical works of the 1780's, Kant claims, seemingly inconsistently, that (1) theoretical and practical reason are one and the same reason, applied differently, (2) that he still needs to show that they are, and (3) that theoretical and practical reason are united. I first argue that current interpretations of Kant's doctrine of the unity of reason are insufficient. But rather than concluding that Kant’s doctrine becomes coherent only in the Critique of Judgment, I show that the three st…Read more
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2Kant's changing cosmopolitanismIn Amélie Rorty & James Schmidt (eds.), Kant's Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Aim: A Critical Guide, Cambridge University Press. pp. 171--186. 2009.
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400Consistent egoists and situation managers: two problems for situationismPhilosophical Explorations 18 (3): 344-361. 2015.According to philosophical “situationism”, psychological evidence shows that human action is typically best explained by the influence of situational factors and not by “global” and robust character traits of the agent. As a practical implication of their view, situationists recommend that efforts in moral education be shifted from character development to situation management. Much of the discussion has focused on whether global conceptions of virtue and character, and in particular Aristotelia…Read more
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2053Romantic Cosmopolitanism: Novalis’s “Christianity or Europe”Journal of the History of Philosophy 46 (2). 2008.German Romanticism is commonly associated with nationalism rather than cosmopolitanism. Against this standard picture, I argue that the early German romantic author, Novalis (Georg Philipp Friedrich von Hardenberg, 1772–1801) holds a decidedly cosmopolitan view. Novalis’s essay “Christianity or Europe” has been the subject of much dispute and puzzlement ever since he presented it to the Jena romantic circle in the fall of 1799. On the basis of an account of the philosophical background of Novali…Read more
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177Kant’s Theory of PeaceIn Paul Guyer (ed.), Cambridge Companion to Kant and Modern Philosophy, Cambridge University Press. 2006.
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74Kant's Moral and Political CosmopolitanismPhilosophy Compass 11 (1): 14-23. 2016.In this essay, I first outline the contexts in which the idea of cosmopolitanism appears in Kant's moral and political philosophy. I then survey the three main debates regarding his political cosmopolitanism, namely, on the nature of the international federation he advocated, his theory of cosmopolitan right, and his views on colonialism and ‘race’, and I consider the relation between patriotism and cosmopolitanism in Kant's work. I subsequently discuss Kant's moral cosmopolitanism. Kant is wide…Read more
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127Immanuel Kant, ‘Toward Perpetual Peace’ and Other Writings on Politics, Peace, and History (edited book)Yale University Press. 2006.Immanuel Kant’s views on politics, peace, and history have lost none of their relevance since their publication more than two centuries ago. This volume contains a comprehensive collection of Kant’s writings on international relations theory and political philosophy, superbly translated and accompanied by stimulating essays. Pauline Kleingeld provides a lucid introduction to the main themes of the volume, and three essays by distinguished contributors follow: Jeremy Waldron on Kant’s theory of t…Read more
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869The Problematic Status of Gender-Neutral Language in the History of Philosophy: The Case of KantPhilosophical Forum 25 134-150. 1993.The increasingly common use of inclusive language (e.g., "he or she") in representing past philosophers' views is often inappropriate. Using Immanuel Kant's work as an example, I compare his use of terms such as "human race" and "human being" with his views on women to show that his use of generic terms does not prove that he includes women. I then discuss three different approaches to this issue, found in recent Kant-literature, and show why each of them is insufficient. I conclude that the ten…Read more
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2017Approaching Perpetual Peace: Kant’s Defence of a League of States and his Ideal of a World FederationEuropean Journal of Philosophy 12 (3): 304-325. 2004.There exists a standard view of Kant’s position on global order and this view informs much of current Kantian political theory. This standard view is that Kant advocates a voluntary league of states and rejects the ideal of a federative state of states as dangerous, unrealistic, and conceptually incoherent. This standard interpretation is usually thought to fall victim to three equally standard objections. In this essay, I argue that the standard interpretation is mistaken and that the three sta…Read more
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19Patriotismus bei KantIn Ralph Schumacher, Rolf-Peter Horstmann & Volker Gerhardt (eds.), Kant Und Die Berliner Aufklärung: Akten des Ix. Internationalen Kant-Kongresses. Bd. I: Hauptvorträge. Bd. Ii: Sektionen I-V. Bd. Iii: Sektionen Vi-X: Bd. Iv: Sektionen Xi-Xiv. Bd. V: Sektionen Xv-Xviii, De Gruyter. pp. 171-179. 2001.
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706Kantian PatriotismPhilosophy and Public Affairs 29 (4): 313-341. 2000.In this essay, I examine the compatibility of Kantian cosmopolitanism and patriotism. In response to recent literature, I first argue that in order to discuss this issue fruitfully, one should distinguish between three different forms of patriotism and be careful to make clear when patriotism is obligatory, permissible, or prohibited. I then show that Kantians can defend the view that civic patriotism is a duty, but that attempts to also establish nationalist patriotism and trait-based patriot…Read more
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432Kant's Cosmopolitan Law: World Citizenship for a Global OrderKantian Review 2 72-90. 1998.Kant's unduly neglected concept of cosmopolitan law suggests a third sphere of public law -- in addition to constitutional law and international law -- in which both states and individuals have rights, and where individuals have these rights as ‛citizens of the earth' rather than as citizens of particular states. I critically examine Kant's view of cosmopolitan law, discussing its addressees, content, justification, and institutionalization. I argue that Kant's conception of ‛world citizenship'…Read more
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135Defending the Plurality of States: Cloots, Kant, and RawlsSocial Theory and Practice 32 (4): 559-578. 2006.
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595Debunking Confabulation: Emotions and the Significance of Empirical Psychology for Kantian EthicsIn Alix Cohen (ed.), Kant on Emotion and Value, Palgrave. pp. 145-165. 2014.It is frequently argued that research findings in empirical moral psychology spell trouble for Kantian ethics. Sometimes the charge is merely that Kantianism is mistaken about the role of emotions in human action, but it has also been argued that empirical moral psychology ‘debunks’ Kantian ethics as the product of precisely the emotion-driven processes it fails to acknowledge. In this essay I argue for a negative and a positive thesis. The negative thesis is that the ‘debunking’ argument agains…Read more
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310Six Varieties of Cosmopolitanism in Late Eighteenth-Century GermanyJournal of the History of Ideas 60 (3): 505-524. 1999.Cosmopolitanism is not a single encompassing idea but rather comes in at least six different varieties, which have often been conflated in previous literature. This is shown on the basis of the discussion in late eighteenth-century Germany (roughly, 1780-1800). The six varieties are: (1) moral cosmopolitanism, the view that all humans belong to a single moral community; political cosmopolitanism, which advocates (2) reform of the international political and legal order or (3) a strong notion o…Read more
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651Moral consciousness and the 'fact of reason'In Andrews Reath & Jens Timmermann (eds.), Kant's Critique of Practical Reason: A Critical Guide, Cambridge University Press. 2010.At the heart of the argument of the Critique of Practical Reason, one finds Kant’s puzzling and much-criticized claim that the consciousness of the moral law can be called a ‘fact of reason’. In this essay, I clarify the meaning and the importance of this claim. I correct misunderstandings of the term ‘Factum’, situate the relevant passages within their argumentative context, and argue that Kant’s argument can be given a consistent reading on the basis of which the main questions and criticisms …Read more
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2330Kant on ‘Good’, the Good, and the Duty to Promote the Highest GoodIn Thomas Höwing (ed.), The Highest Good in Kant’s Philosophy, De Gruyter. pp. 33-50. 2016.Many regard Kant’s account of the highest good as a failure. His inclusion of happiness in the highest good, in combination with his claim that it is a duty to promote the highest good, is widely seen as inconsistent. In this essay, I argue that there is a valid argument, based on premises Kant clearly endorses, in defense of his thesis that it is a duty to promote the highest good. I first examine why Kant includes happiness in the highest good at all. On the basis of a discussion of Kant's dis…Read more