Kant and the teleology of nature: on the aim of nature in Idea for a universal history with a cosmopolitan aim and the guarantee of nature in Toward perpetual peace

Abstract

In Idea for a universal history in cosmopolitan intention (1784), Kant presents the concept of an intention of nature that gives meaning and purpose to the history of humanity. The concept of this intention is a regulative idea of theoretical reason, and is then grounded by the doctrine of these ideas presented by Kant in his Critique of Pure Reason. The purpose of nature for the human being is the complete development of human dispositions, especially the rational one. As these dispositions are developed maximally within the framework of a just civil constitution, and as the establishment of this constitution would be useless if there were a situation of war between the different States, it becomes necessary to institute a confederation of them, possessing a coercive power, to legally settle conflicts. In Toward perpetual peace (1795), on the other hand, Kant presents the concept of a guarantee of nature for the asymptotic approach of the human being toward a condition of perpetual peace. The political form of this condition is that of a voluntary confederation of States without constitution or coercive power. The aforementioned guarantee of nature is not of a theoretical character, but of a practical character, because its function is not to provide knowledge, but to support the moral purpose of realizing the idea of perpetual peace asymptotically. This guarantee of nature is based on the teleological doctrine of nature set forth in the Critique of the power of judgment. The objective of this article is to present in detail the differences and similarities between the two teleological conceptions of nature that we have just outlined.

Keywords

• kant
• teleología
• naturaleza