Studies pertaining to the militaristic use of Kant's theory of peace and its issues in modern Germany and Japan

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

In the third preliminary article of Toward Perpetual Peace (1795), Kant insists on the abolition of standing armies (miles perpetuus). However, before and during World War II, universal conscription was affirmed in the mainstream interpretation of Kant’s theory of peace. Not a few scholars argued that the people’s military exercises are ethically permissible because it does not regard the people as mere machines or tools. As a result, Kant's theory of peace was used to justify military conscription. In this study, how the militaristic interpretation of Kant’s theory was formed is investigated and the validity of the interpretation is examined based on the writings of Kant and his successors.