Topic:“ Prudence is not only the first in rank of the virtues, political and moral, but she is the director, the regulator, the standard of them all.” – Edmund Burke.
question: Is this so, and if so, why does this virtue seem to receive so little attention in modern thought?
“Perpetual peace” by Immanuel Kant is one of the most thought provoking piece, he does have some valid points but I don’t think that we can reach Kant’s ideas of perpetual peace due to our harsh reality, he argues that states are either living between wars or in an actual peace. Furthermore, He seems to adopt the utopian thinking, which is the possibility for humanities desire for peace over the desire of war, one of the ideas that struck a chord, as stated by (Kant and Smith 1903) “Standing Armies shall be entirely abolished in the course of time”. Which this idea is the furthest from reality, where states these days are more invested in defense than ever, according to (Fordham 2003, 2) “… In America …The inflation rate for military goods and services has risen at an especially rapid rate”. Looking at the global political arena, while reading the “Perpetual Peace” by Kant, is like reading a fantasy novel, where every idea is captivating, but in reality, it’s totally a different story.
Kant defines war as the conflict or violence between two states, he stated that (Kant and Smith 1903) “it has to be considered that for men to be hired for pay to kill or to be killed”. Which this statement is one of the most troubled statements, in which the implication of using men as weapon or a machine, also, it is clearly a human right violation. Moreover, Kant argues that states are on their way to reach an agreement on a matter where a lawful agreement does not exist. Furthermore, Kant argues that if peace is to be achieved, certain rules must be applied during war and total extinction must be prohibited. In addition, he want to evolve the idea of peace by adding global rules and regulation between states.
Three definitive Ideas from Kant. First, “the civil constitution” a republican constitution where all men are free, equal, and dependent on a mutual regulation which also require the citizens to fight in wars and pay for it.
• “The law of nations” states should be bounded by a shared constitution, without losing their identity.
• “The law of world citizenship” every person have the right to move around the globe and visit any state.
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