The reception to Towards Perpetual Peace of Kant: Friedrich Wilhelm von Schütz

Abstract

This study aims to reconstruct the main criticisms of Friedrich Wilhelm v. Schütz in his review Kommentar über Kants ewigen Frieden [Commentary on Kant's Perpetual Peace] (1797) and examine its plausibility in light of the historical development of Kant's ideal of a peaceful world order, considering, for example, the hypothesis of Jürgen Habermas, in works such as The Divided West and The Inclusion of the Other, that with the foundation of the United Nations, Kant's project ceased to be merely an idea and gained substance in reality. In his review, Schütz evaluates Kant's project in Perpetual Peace (1795) from a kind of pragmatic skepticism, pointing out that the project in the opuscule was not new when it was published and that, like all such projects, it should be forgotten in a very short time. Furthermore, Schütz analyzes each article of the opuscule, showing either the lack of novelty or the counterproductive nature of the proposal, implying that such a proposal could never gain ground in the realm of reality. In this way, the reviewer seems to revisit the issue of another of Kant's opuscule, the relationship between theory and practice. Finally, the aim is to situate Schütz’s review, reconstruct his arguments, and outline some responses to the criticisms against Kant’s pamphlet.