Published June 11, 2017 | Version v1
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Kant's Nomads: Encountering Strangers

Authors/Creators

  • 1. London School of Economics

Description

There is a tendency within the literature to decry Kant as either a proto-imperialist or as a proto-democrat in relation to his views on distant strangers. I here take an alternative view, arguing that Kant’s cosmopolitan morality is considerably more context-sensitive than is often assumed. More specifically, I argue that Kant’s encounter with American nomads on the final pages of his Doctrine of Right reflects a nuanced reading of European settlers’ requisite comportment towards them: Kant neither endorses a universal duty of state entrance nor does he place nomads beyond all possible moral engagement with European settlers.  

Notes

Early versions of this article were presented at Kant conferences at the University of Keele (2014), the University of Leuven (2015), the University of Sussex (2015) and Memorial University (2016). I would like to thanks participants at all of these events for their questions and suggestions for improvement. Particular thanks on both counts go to Lucy Allais, Sorin Baiasu, Karin de Boer, and Joel Madore - Katrin Flikschuh, Professor of Philosophy at the London School of Economics

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References

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