Immanuel Kant was born on April 22, 1724 at Königsberg in East Prussia and lived his whole life there.

His parents were pious and emphasized inward morality. In 1740 he entered the University of Königsberg in theology, but he also studied physics.

After his father died in 1746 he worked for nine years as a family tutor.

He lectured at the university on physics, mathematics, logic, meta-physics, moral philosophy, geography, and natural sciences.

In 1770 he was appointed to the chair of logic and metaphysics.

After working on it for a decade, in 178I he published his magnum opus, the Critique of Pure Reason. Here he analyzed how the mind itself structures our understanding of reality by conceptual categories.

More books followed, and Kant is considered by many to be the greatest philosopher of the age of enlightenment.

For Kant, God, freedom, and immortality are transcendental ideas essential to the moral life.

In his ethical works he formulated the categorical imperative as a guide for conduct: "Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law."

Kant never ceased to marvel at "the starry heavens above and the moral law within."

His lectures were popular, and he followed a regular routine.

His daily walks were so punctual that the people of Königsberg could set their watches by his regular appearance.

The only time he was known to have missed his daily walk was when he became absorbed in reading Rousseau's Emile.

He died on February 12, 1804, and his last words were: "It is good."

Kant's philosophy had a critical perspective, and he shows how by using higher human reason and justice we can transcend the brutal strife and arguments of war.

Without the control of criticism, reason is, as it were, in a state of nature, and can only establish its claims and assertions by war.

Criticism, on the contrary, deciding all questions according to the fundamental laws of its own institution, secures to us the peace of law and order, and enables us to discuss all differences in the more tranquil manner of a legal process.

In the former case, disputes are ended by victory, which both sides may claim and which is followed by a hollow armistice; in the latter, by a sentence, which, as it strikes at the root of all speculative differences, ensures to all concerned a lasting peace.

In The Science of Right Kant discusses the right of nations and international law and also the universal right of mankind. Ethically, people ought to be treated as ends in themselves and not mechanically as a means to some end.

Therefore the ruler has no right to treat his people as objects for some warlike purpose. "As such they must give their free consent, through their representatives, not only to the carrying on of war generally, but to every separate declaration of war." Kant defines three rights of peace: neutrality, guarantee, and alliance.

Neutrality is the right to remain at peace when a war is nearby.

Guarantee is "the right to have peace secured so that it may continue when it has been concluded."

Alliance is the right of federation, that states may defend themselves in common against attack.

However, there is no right of alliance for external aggression or internal aggrandizement.

Kant applies the categorical imperative to the relations of states and rejects any action or policy which "would make a state of peace among the nations impossible."

Kant points out that nations, like individuals, must enter into a legal state, in this case, a union of states, which is the only way to establish peace and the public right of nations.

Thus a permanent congress of nations must eventually become practical so that differences may be settled by means of a civil process instead of by barbarous war.

Kant bases the right to a universal peaceful union of all nations on the juridical principle of legal justice rather than on the moral ideal of the philanthropic or ethical principles.

Because all people originally share the soil of the earth, they have a right to associate with each other.

Even though perpetual peace may not be real yet, Kant emphasizes that we must work to realize it, as it is our duty.

He concludes, "The universal and lasting establishment of peace constitutes not merely a part, but the whole final purpose and end of the science of right as viewed within the limits of reason."

In his "Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View" Kant states that Nature forces people to a cosmopolitan solution making a league of nations the inevitable result of social evolution.

Until then man must suffer the cruelty of conflicts. The answer lies in a moral order which can only be brought about through education.

This enlightenment requires a commitment of heart to the good that is clearly understood. He laments that rulers spend little money on public education, because they spend it paying for past and future wars.

Kant predicted that the ever-growing war debt (which was new in his time) will eventually make war impractical economically.

He foresaw that this and the value of inter-state commerce "will prepare the way for a distant international government," even though there had never been one in world history. Looking toward the goal of world citizenship he suggested that the philosophical historian ought to note how various nations and governments have contributed to this goal.

Kant felt that war is the greatest obstacle to morality and that the preparation for war is the greatest evil; therefore we must renounce war.

"The morally practical reason utters within us its irrevocable veto: There shall be no war." Yet without a cosmopolitan constitution and the wisdom to voluntarily submit ourselves to its constraint, war is inevitable.

The obstacles of ambition, love of power, and avarice, particularly of those in authority, stand in the way. Again education must foster the building of character in accordance with moral principles.

The full realization of our destiny, the kingdom of God on earth, ultimately depends on "justice and equity, the authority, not of governments, but of conscience within us."

Kant's major work on peace entitled Perpetual Peace was published in 1795.

He states six preliminary propositions for a perpetual peace among states:

• No treaty of peace shall be held valid in which there is tacitly reserved matter for a future war.

• No independent states, large or small, shall come under the dominion of another state by inheritance, exchange, purchase, or donation.

• Standing armies shall in time be totally abolished.

• National debts shall not be contracted with a view to the external friction of states.

• No state shall by force interfere with the constitution o government of another state.

• No state shall, during war, permit such acts of hostility which would make mutual confidence in the subsequent peace impossible: such are the employment of assassins, poisoners, breach of capitulation, and incitement to treason in the opposing state.

The reasons for these are fairly obvious. He adds that a state has no right to wage a punitive war, because just punishment must come from a superior authority and not an equal.

In introducing the three definitive articles, Kant observes that the state of nature tends toward conflict and war; therefore peace must be actively established and maintained by a civil state.

Civil constitutions are of three levels: the law of men, the law of nations, and the law of world citizenship.

The first definitive article states, "The civil constitution of every state should be republican." By this Kant means that the laws must be applied to everyone universally and fairly---in other words, government by law, not by favored men. Thus the principles of freedom, common legislation, and equality must pertain. He hopes that requiring the citizens' consent to declare war will prevent its devastation, because it is usually the people, not the ruler, who sacrifices and suffers. By "republican" Kant means representative of the people, but not necessarily democracy, which he considers more likely to be despotic than representative government by one (autocracy) or a few (aristocracy). In a pure democracy it is not possible to separate the execute power from the legislative function.

The second definitive article states, "The law of nations shall be founded on a federation of free states."

This constitution establishes the rights of states through a league of nations.

Victory in war goes to the stronger, but it does not settle what is right. At its conclusion a peace treaty ends that war, but to end all wars forever there must be a league of peace.

The more republics associate with each other, the more practical a federation becomes.

In the federation a supreme legislative, executive, and judiciary power may be established to reconcile the differences between nations peaceably.

But if nations do not acknowledge these supreme powers, then how can they safeguard their rights?

Using unilateral maxims through force leads to "perpetual peace in the vast grave that swallows both the atrocities and their perpetrators."

Therefore states must give up their savage (lawless) freedom in order to find a greater freedom and security within the constraints of public law.

The third definitive article states, "The law of world citizenship shall be limited to conditions of universal hospitality."

Everyone has the right not to be treated as an enemy when arriving in another land.

Kant does not consider a law of world citizenship "high-flown" or "exaggerated" but rather "indispensable for the maintenance of the public human rights and hence also of perpetual peace."

How prophetic he was when he wrote, "The narrower or wider community of the peoples of the earth has developed so far that a violation of rights in one place is felt throughout the world."

The guarantee for perpetual peace, for Kant, is the design and process of world history which we call "providence."

People have spread throughout the earth and have been forced to develop lawful relations with each other.

States were formed for defense against violations, and man has been forced to be good for the sake of others by laws to keep the peace.

Although differences of language and religion have kept states separate, competition nevertheless maintains an equilibrium, and commerce has made peace far preferable to war.

Kant argues that politics must eventually be moral, because the moral laws are eternal and transcendent of political stratagems.

Like Bentham, Kant emphasizes that justice must be public and open to scrutiny.

He reasons that political maxims must be able to be public in order to be legitimate; and those which are in need of publicity in order to succeed are both right and politically advantageous, because they must be in accord with the public's universal good.

Therefore it is our duty to publicly promote those policies which lead to the universal good of lasting peace.