Immanuel Kant Idea for a Universal History with Cosmopolitan Intent Analysis by David Freer According to Kant, historians

need to search for objecti ve truths in history based on rationality . Above all else, human actions are inseparable from nature; it is up to thehist orian to find the underlying themes as Newton or Kepler did with the physical wo rld.But history involves judgment calls such as how we, as a species, evaluate o ur place inthe world. His purpose was to analyze the possibility of a Universal History apart fromthe whims of political or cultural leaders. Kant divides his a rgument into nine principles,which I will consider in order.The first principle may be summarized that natural occurrences will terminate when theyreach their en d although it is not always clear what that may be. Since human beingsare part of nature we must examine history according to such natural laws.The second princi ple assumes that humans are the only rational creatures. Is not thehorse that ch ooses more food to less not behaving rationally? People, however, seem to be the only creatures to transmit culture and their history. Kant proposes that anindi vidual has a pitiful life but their life is building toward something greater. H umanreason is needed to evaluate history.Thirdly, Kant extends the importance of transcending instinct. Humankind mustovercome the weaknesses Nature provided. P eople work for later generations; the fruits

of their labors are not always reaped in their lifetimes. Perhaps our current st ate of affairsin America contradicts Kants belief: infrastructure is built second -rate and the debt will be passed on for generations. Again he emphasizes despit e humanitys creations peopleare still part of the natural world.Fourthly Kant exa mines the causes of law and order in society in the face of humanqualities such as indolence and aggression. However, Kant believes it was these qualitiesthat c aused people to create societies based on law and order. The putative flaws inmans design necessitate the creation of society, once again according to the laws of nature: Man wants concord but nature knows better what is good of his kind; natur ewants discord. Perhaps a specific example corroborating Kants thesis would be tha ttwentieth century warfare seemingly accelerated technological advancements and the brought about the first steps toward the creation of a world governing body. Humanity progresses through conflict.This progression hinges on the ability to create a society based on just laws. Societymust offer mankind great freedoms unde r a just civic constitution. Each individualmember of society will grow and develo p in harmony with society. This, Kant deduces,must be natures plan for humankind. The sixth principle lays out the reasons for the need for rulers in human societ y. Kantexplains that mankind has great trouble in finding a leader among men: One cannotfashion something absolutely straight from wood that is as crooked as tha

t of which man

is made. In a footnote Kant speculates that alien life forms may be more advanced intheir rule of law and find their purpose within their lifetimes.In the next p oint, Kant decries the wastefulness of wars and promotes the idea of a greatunion of nations. Perhaps the United Nations and international trials for war criminal s isan example of such an ideal being fulfilled in reality.The eighth principle relates the importance of the historian to this progression. Humannature has this aspect that it cannot be indifferent to even the most remote epochKantderides lea ders who lack funds for education but generously fund wars. He predictswarfare w ill become a very dubious enterprise.Lastly, Kant contends that the writing of a p hilosophical history of the world is part of natures plan. Historians are the eye s and ears of the natural process that containshumanity. The last line of Kants a nalysis warns against over-ambitious rulers and their attempts to spread propaga nda. The philosophical approach to history stresses a thematicapproach rather th an a overly detailed examination. Such an approach would improvehumanitys chances of living in harmony with nature and fulfilling our eventual destinythrough rat ional examination.Kant seems to be searching for some underlying importance to t he wars and lawlessnesswhich seemingly plague mankind. Such disturbances create the need for a civil society based on laws. Instead of promoting a cultural, sub jective approach to history, Kant

wants to discover objective truths or a universal history which relates humanity to naturalhistory. Thus seemingly unrelated events lead to the eventual realiza tion of humankindsdestiny. More people do live under a constitution. More people attend universities.However, the idea that war would become obsolete is an idea whose time has not come; perhaps we can hope to learn some lesson from the chaos . Thus to Kant, historians act asthe interpreters of natures still unfinished pla n for humankind, not merely asmouthpieces for the current ruling elite.