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An Interpretation of Kant's Political Philosophy in Light of His Critical-Regulative Method DePaul University Via Sapientiae College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences 11-2011 Politics, history, critique: An interpretation of Kant's political philosophy in light of his critical-regulative method. Dilek Huseyinzadegan DePaul University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/etd Recommended Citation Huseyinzadegan, Dilek, "Politics, history, critique: An interpretation of Kant's political philosophy in light of his critical-regulative method." (2011). College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations. 110. https://via.library.depaul.edu/etd/110 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact [email protected]. POLITICS, HISTORY, CRITIQUE: AN INTERPRETATION OF KANT’S POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY IN LIGHT OF HIS CRITICAL-REGULATIVE METHOD A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy October 2011 By Dilek Huseyinzadegan Department of Philosophy College of Liberal Arts and Sciences DePaul University Chicago, Illinois Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have been possible without the help and support of many people. The Department of Philosophy at DePaul University provided a doctoral scholarship for eight years of graduate study. I thank the faculty for their help and support throughout this process, especially my dissertation director Avery Goldman, whose approach to Kant and his method inspired this project in the first place, my committee members Elizabeth Millàn, Kevin Thompson, and Rick Lee, whose graduate seminars gave rise to numerous fruitful discussions on German Idealism and Romanticism, history and politics, and critical theory. I feel very lucky to have such a caring and involved dissertation committee and I thank them all for being friends as well as mentors. I also thank the Center for Writing Based Learning at DePaul University for their invaluable feedback on various rough drafts. I owe particular thanks to my partner Jeremy Bell and my best friend Heather Rakes, both of whom read through the manuscript in various stages and gave innumerable helpful suggestions for revisions and edits, in addition to putting up with me through anxious and stressful periods of research, writing, and revising. I also could not have done this without my Chicago family members Jana McAuliffe, Sina Kramer, Marie Draz, Jeff Pardikes, Andrew Dilts, and Perry Zurn, who have shown me that one can find a home away from home and that friends are the family we choose. My family back in Istanbul, my mother Hulya Bulutbeyaz and my sister Esra Huseyinzadegan, had to put up with having to see me once a year for eight years, still providing much needed enthusiasm, encouragement, and support for my graduate study. If it was not for their financial and emotional support I would not even be at DePaul, so they deserve the most special thanks. I dedicate this work to my mother, who had to forgo her college education and career to be an at-home mom, so that her daughters could one day obtain higher education degrees and have fulfilling careers. Politics, History, Critique 2 Huseyinzadegan Abbreviations of Immanuel Kant’s Works All abbreviated references to Kant’s works will refer first to original language editions. When two page numbers are given, separated by a comma, the first number refers to the original language edition and the second number refers to the English translation. There will be no reference to the English pagination when the English translators include pagination from the original language edition in their translation. Numbers given after the abbreviation but before the colon refer to volume numbers. Numbers given after the colon refer to page numbers. All references to Kant will be AA (the “Academy Edition”). AA Gesammelte Schriften, Königlich Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1902-. GMS Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten [AA 4: 385 – 463]. Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals. “IaG” Idee zu einer allgemeine Geschichte in weltbürgerlicher Absicht [AA 8: 15 - 32]. “Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Intent.” Translated by H. B. Nisbet Kant’s Political Writings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. KrV Kritik der reinen Vernunft [AA 3 and 4]. Critique of Pure Reason. Translated and edited by Paul Guyer and Allen W. Wood. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. KpV Kritik der praktischen Vernunft [AA 5: 1 - 164]. Critique of Practical Reason. The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Immanuel Kant: Practical Philosophy. Translated and Edited by Mary J. Gregor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. KU Kritik der Urteilskraft [AA 5 and 20]. Critique of Judgment. Translated by Paul Guyer and Eric Matthews, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000. MS Metaphysike der Sitten [AA 6: 203 - 494]. The Metaphysics of Morals. “ZEF” Zum Ewigen Frieden [AA 8: 341 - 86]. “On Perpetual Peace.” Politics, History, Critique 3 Huseyinzadegan Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 5 Implications of the Critical-Regulative Method for Kant’s Political Legacy 8 An Overview of the Chapters 11 An Additional Conception of “Critique” 17 CHAPTER ONE SITUATING THE CONTEMPORARY LEGACY AND RELEVANCE OF KANT’S POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY 19 The Question of the Systematic Status of Kant’s Historico-Political Writing 23 Recent Interpretations that Restore the Systematic Place of Kant’s Historico-Political Essays 48 The Importance of the Historico-Political Essays and the Question of Kant’s Contemporary Political Legacy: The Goals and Methodology of This Project 55 CHAPTER TWO REGULATIVE TELEOLOGY IN THE CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON AND THE HYPOTHETICAL USE OF REASON IN HISTORY 56 Regulative Ideas and Principles in the Critique of Pure Reason: Teleology and Systematicity in the Appendix to the Transcendental Dialectic 59 “Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Intent:” A Case Study in the Hypothetical Use of Reason 88 A Preliminary Critical Philosophy of History 116 CHAPTER THREE TELEOLOGY, HISTORY, AND THE REGULATIVE PRINCIPLES IN THE CRITIQUE OF JUDGMENT 119 Special Status of the Principle of Purposiveness: Reflective Judgment and Its Limited Ontological Claims 122 Internal (Absolute) and External (Relative) Purposiveness: Organisms versus Nature as a Whole 144 A Critical Philosophy of History in the Appendix to the Critique of the Teleological Judgment 164 CHAPTER FOUR TELEOLOGY IN “PERPETUAL PEACE:” MORALITY AND POLITICS 191 “Perpetual Peace” and Its Theoretical Commitments 193 The Articles for Perpetual Peace Among States: What a Theoretical Politician Can and Cannot Accomplish 209 The Highest Good on Earth: What Kind of a Duty is Perpetual Peace? 222 CONCLUSION 233 The Critical-Regulative Basis of Kant’s Political Philosophy 233 Theoretical and Practical Significance of Regulative Principles for Politics 236 Re-interpreting Kant’s Political Philosophy in Light of his Critical-Regulative Method 241 BIBLIOGRAPHY 246 Politics, History, Critique 4 Huseyinzadegan INTRODUCTION Contemporary interpretations of Kant’s socio-political philosophy place him in the tradition of liberal social contract theorists who defend cosmopolitan agendas. They would have us believe that Kant has at best a fragmentary political theory, which is found in bits and pieces in his so-called “minor” and “uncritical” works that either express the ideals of the Enlightenment or are offered as an application and extension of his moral theory. In either cases, Kant’s is claimed to be a theory of cosmopolitanism: thus, according to the standard view, Kant’s political legacy consists of the cosmopolitan ideas that he discusses in his Metaphysics of Morals as well as in his short essays such as “Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Intent” and “Perpetual Peace,” a political legacy that is not directly or indirectly linked to the critical system that he developed in his three Critiques. According to this interpretation, when we think of Kant’s political philosophy and its legacy today, we have a few limited options. We can either try to combine his political thought with his moral theory, directed by the Categorical Imperative and culminating in the ideal of the Kingdom of Ends (taken as the equivalent of a peaceful cosmopolitan world order), or else admit that Kant did not care too much about developing a political theory per se, for he most extensively wrote on history and did not dedicate a Critique to political philosophy. Thus, if he has a political legacy that is relevant for us today, it is usually understood to be a moral theory of cosmopolitanism as put forth in the above-mentioned texts, albeit not with greatest consistency or detail. What else can we expect from the man of the Enlightenment, who subscribed to the common-sense understanding of politics of his time? Politics, History, Critique 5 Huseyinzadegan This picture of Kantian socio-political philosophy is incomplete at best and misleading at worst. First, Kant’s short essays on history and politics are neither merely empirical, and so uncritical treatises on how one can apply either his moral theory or Enlightenment ideals to the historico-political realm in general, nor
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