From the categorical imperative to peace as a political duty. On the current standing of Kantian ethics

Abstract

300 years after the birth of Immanuel Kant, his thought is regaining validity with the publication of a significant number of studies that update his postulates and relate his concepts to current issues. This article focuses on the field of Kantian ethics along three axes. The first is the relationship between autonomy and the categorical imperative, the moral maxim that, according to Kantian trascendental analytics, is infallible and timeless in its universality. In a second section, we will briefly discuss the difference between the actions that result from following the civil law and from obeying the moral law, on the understanding that the latter is a product of autonomy, that is, freedom of the will, because it has its origin in reason and has universal validity, whereas the civil law is transitory and mistakable. Finally, some ideas on peace as a consequence of moral duty applied to politics will be presented, in the conviction that the study of Kantian ethics has a particular relevance in this field today.