Kant, Cosmopolitanism, and International Law

This chapter explores the way in which Kantian ideas have been adopted and transformed in contemporary international law and international theory, with the twofold aim of introducing some core topics on Kantian philosophy, cosmopolitanism, and international law, as well as demonstrating the importance of acknowledging different forms of cosmopolitanism at work in international law, thereby shedding new light on the ‘forgotten’ tradition of innate cosmopolitanism. The work of Kant not only occupies an important place in the history of ideas in international legal theory; his work also constitutes an enduring source of inspiration for widely diverging contemporary approaches to international law. On that note, the chapter references four core Kantian ideas incorporated in contemporary cosmopolitan thinking: the categorical imperative, the roughly contractual notion of a federation of free republics, the conception of a cosmopolitan right of hospitality, and the idea of an innate cosmopolitanism.

Cosmopolitanism · Epistemology · Hospitality · International law · Political science · Sociology · Tourism · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · International Law and Human Rights · Law · Philosophy