The morality of peace: Kant and Hegel on the grounds for ethical ideals

Review of Metaphysics

Volumn 54, Issue 2, 2000, Pages 379-408

  Shelton, Mark ^a  

^a OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY   (United States)

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EID: 0039621374     PISSN: 00346632     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (55)

1. G. W. F. Hegel, Philosophy of Right, trans. T. M. Knox (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1967), 11. In all further references to the Philosophy of Right, I will use the following conventions: section numbers are given except for the Preface; "r" refers to Hegel's own remarks that follow some sections; "a" refers to the additions incorporated from lecture notes. All direct quotes from the Philosophy of Right are taken from the Knox translation unless otherwise indicated.
2. Philosophy of Right, 10.
3. I owe Terry Pinkard for calling my attention to the passages in which Hegel defines "Wirklichkeit" in terms of "wirken"; for example, "denn Wirklichkeit ist das, was wirkt"; Philosophy of Right, 244; §82a.
4. Allen W. Wood, Hegel's Ethical Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 12.
5. Michael O. Hardimon, Hegel's Social Philosophy: The Project of Reconciliation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 20.
6. Philosophy of Right, 10.
7. Philosophy of Right, 6.
8. Philosophy of Right, 6.
9. Philosophy of Right, 209-10; §324r.
10. Philosophy of Right, 210; §324r.
11. Henning Ottmann, "Die Weltgeschichte," in G. W. F. Hegel, Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts, ed. Ludwig Siep (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1997), 273.
12. Immanuel Kant, Critique of Judgment, trans. Werner S. Plunar (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1987), 122. For the German see volume 5 of Kants Gesammelte Schriften (hereafter "AK," given with volume and page number) (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1900-), 263. All direct quotes are from the cited translations unless otherwise indicated.
13. Immanuel Kant, Critique of Judgment, trans. Werner S. Plunar (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1987), 122. For the German see volume 5 of Kants Gesammelte Schriften (hereafter "AK," given with volume and page number) (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1900-), 263. All direct quotes are from the cited translations unless otherwise indicated.
14. Philosophy of Right, 209; §324r.
15. Obviously, the present terms of international relations in the twentieth century include institutions that did not exist in Hegel's day. However, as will be made clear later in the paper, I believe that the conduct of international affairs even in the late twentieth century remains largely in accordance with Hegel's conception of the relations among states.
16. Philosophy of Right, 209-10; §§323-4.
17. Philosophy of Right, 209; §324r.
18. Immanuel Kant, Metaphysics of Morals, trans. Maty Gregor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 115; AK 6:344; and "Perpetual Peace," in Perpetual Peace and Other Essays, trans. Ted Humphrey (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1983), 113; AK 8:351.
19. Immanuel Kant, Metaphysics of Morals, trans. Maty Gregor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 115; AK 6:344; and "Perpetual Peace," in Perpetual Peace and Other Essays, trans. Ted Humphrey (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1983), 113; AK 8:351.
20. Ottmann, "Die Weltgeschichte," 273.
21. Philosophy of Right, 214; §333r.
22. Philosophy of Right, 213-14; §333r.
23. Metaphysics of Morals, 119; AK 6: 350.
24. Philosophy of Right, 12.
25. Philosophy of Right, 214; §334.
26. Philosophy of Right, 214; §334.
27. Philosophy of Right, 214; §334.
28. Philosophy of Right, 214; §336.
29. I will take a closer look at the meaning and role of "welfare" in Hegel's ethical theory in section three of the paper.
30. Philosophy of Right, 214; §337.
31. Philosophy of Right, 214; §337, my translation.
32. Kant, "Perpetual Peace," 132; AK 8:376-7.
33. Philosophy of Right, 215; §337r.
34. Kant, "Perpetual Peace," 127-30; AK 8:370-86.
35. Philosophy of Right, 86-7; §§129-30.
36. Hegel recognizes that to be free, the individual needs not only the formal right to pursue certain things but some genuine prospect of attaining those things. For example, when freed from slavery, American blacks were given the right to run for political office. But during those times when blacks had no chance of winning an election, how free could they take themselves to be?
37. Philosophy of Right, 87; §130.
38. Philosophy of Right, 156; §258.
39. Philosophy of Right, 160-1; §260.
40. Wood, Hegel's Ethical Thought, 259.
41. Philosophy of Right, 161; §260.
42. Philosophy of Right, 7.
43. Philosophy of Right, 192-3, 202-5; §§295-7, 311-17.
44. Philosophy of Right, 163-4; §268.
45. Philosophy of Right, 208; §321.
46. Hardimon makes a similar point in his discussion of the ethical moment of war. See Reconciliation, 261-6.
47. I stress that Hegel does not regard everything a state might do in pursuit of its interest as permissible. States can act wrongly by engaging in unjustified aggression or by breaking a treaty obligation. But nothing in Hegel's view can render it impermissible for a state to pursue a legitimate interest that it fully expects to lead to war or to refuse to make an international agreement on the grounds that it is incompatible with the national interest. This is one of the ways I think our current practice of international relations accords with Hegel's view.
48. Metaphysics of Morals, 89-90; AK 6:312.
49. "Perpetual Peace," 115-16; AK 8:354-5.
50. "Perpetual Peace," 116; AK 8:355-6.
51. "Perpetual Peace," 116; AK 8:356.
52. Kant, "Theory and Practice," in Perpetual Peace and Other Essays, trans. Ted Humphrey (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1983), 78;AK 8:299.
53. Philosophy of Right, 213; §333.
54. Robert Pippin, "Hegel, Ethical Reasons, Kantian Rejoinders," Philosophical Topics 19 (1991): 122.
55. I propose one way of developing this kind of view in my "Traditional Virtues and Universal Interests: Pluralism in a Kantian Framework," Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 1996.