Kant on the world state. A brief overview - What if anything in Kant's account of the state leads to the view that there should be a world state?

Essay from the year 2021 in the subject Philosophy - Philosophy of the 17th and 18th Centuries, grade: First Class Honours, London School of Economics, language: English, abstract: This essay argues that nothing in Kant's account speaks for the actual creation of a world state. This is because realizability seems to be necessary for Kant when arguing for the best account of state. While he is convinced that a coercive world state would be the ideal form of state to secure perpetual peace, he argues that a world state is unrealizable, which is the reason why he instead advocates an expanding voluntary league of nations. He argues that the voluntary league of nations is the best realizable alternative to a world state. This paper examines the internal consistency of Kant's argument to judge whether he is right in advocating a voluntary league while holding the world state as the ideal in theory.