If the first part of modernity is characterized by the project of bringing peace to political communities torn by religious and political strife in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the second part may be characterized as the project to extend that domestic peace to the whole world through international law. But if the first project has been relatively uncontroversial and largely successful, the second has proved philosophically contentious and historically utopian. In this seminar we will examine the philosophical controversies surrounding the promise of eternal peace in German and English language texts. We will seek to answer the following questions: what is the modern project of achieving world peace through law? How does it reconcile with the equally modern conception of individual freedom? Does world peace require a world government? Do already existing frameworks of international cooperation such as the United Nations (UN) or the European Union (EU) provide viable templates for future progress? Is it possible to be simultaneously in favor of justice and opposed to a world government?
- Dozent/in: Eno Trimcev