Kant’s Rhetoric of Hope and the Philosopher’s Speech in Toward Perpetual Peace

Abstract

The fact that Toward Perpetual Peace is presented as a satirical peace treaty is a detail that has been largely overlooked in the literature. This article argues that when one reads Toward Perpetual Peace with its formal presentation in mind, what emerges is a work of philosophical literature that acts politically through its rhetorical form. The article shows how Kant—through what is here called his rhetoric of hope—offers a political education to two kinds of readers: the many, who are susceptible to a “despotic” moralism, and the elite, who embrace the principles of a selfish despotism. The main elements of this education are Kant’s teaching on republicanism, as the only regime both prudent and morally legitimate, and his account of “Nature’s Guarantee” of human progress, which seeks to reorient how readers experience the apparent disagreement between morality and politics. The article then examines a third audience: philosophers who “dream that sweet dream” of perpetual peace. Kant teaches philosophers how to intervene in political life through philosophical uses of rhetorical modes of speech—such as irony, satire, and regulative narratives—designed to reorient the moral judgment of these different audiences.