An enquiry concerning Kant's philosophy of history

Abstract

Kant's philosophy of history has only recently been given serious consideration by Kantian scholars. This thesis defends an interpretation of Kant's essays on history not only with a close textual commentary upon the relevant works, but also by establishing a theoretical framework which explains how Kant's idea of history can be incorporated into, and reconciled with, his major critical works. I defend a teleological strand in Kant's ethics, associated with the concept of the highest good, and detail the relationship between natural and moral teleology in his philosophy of history. As a consequence of my analysis a number of apparent anomalies in Kant's essays on history can be more satisfactor ally explained, and some of his paradoxical political views given a new justification. On the whole Kant is viewed as very much a man of the Enlightenment.