Alice Pinheiro Walla - Böcker

This Element argues that property rights and the territorial rights of states in Kant's legal theory provide a strong justification for the expansion of international law. Central to the argument is Kant's theory of legal obligation, according to which a right to external things is only possible if it can genuinely bind all those on whom it must impose an external duty. Given the global scope of this legal obligation in Kant's account, it can only be achieved through the implementation of a shared international legal order regulated by a principle of reciprocity in external relations. Kant's conception of legal obligation thus requires us to leave the state of nature beyond domestic legal systems towards an international legal order. The author also examines how the international legal order differs from a world state, and how it can be consistent with national legal systems.

This Element argues that property rights and the territorial rights of states in Kant's legal theory provide a strong justification for the expansion of international law. Central to the argument is Kant's theory of legal obligation, according to which a right to external things is only possible if it can genuinely bind all those on whom it must impose an external duty. Given the global scope of this legal obligation in Kant's account, it can only be achieved through the implementation of a shared international legal order regulated by a principle of reciprocity in external relations. Kant's conception of legal obligation thus requires us to leave the state of nature beyond domestic legal systems towards an international legal order. The author also examines how the international legal order differs from a world state, and how it can be consistent with national legal systems.

How should we act? How should the world be organised? This new anthology on Kant's practical philosophy guides the reader from the general question of the nature of reasons and rationality in Kant's philosophical system to the Kantian task of promoting justice and peace at the global level. Contributions in this volume show how the Kantian idea of reason as a source of normativity is grounded, and which implications and applications the Kantian approach might bring about. The volume covers three areas: meta-ethics, political thought and theory, and applied politics. Although these are different spheres of thought, they are interconnected in an fundamental way through Kant's account of normativity as derived from reason. The volume provides an overview of recent debates in Kant scholarship and ground-breaking new applications of Kant's theory to current affairs.

Happiness in Kant’s Practical Philosophy: Morality, Indirect Duties, and Welfare Rights examines the role and normative implications of Kant's understanding of happiness for his moral, political, and legal philosophy. Kant’s underlying assumptions about happiness are rarely overtly discussed or given much detail in his works. By bringing these assumptions to the fore, Alice Pinheiro Walla sheds light on some puzzling claims and on the scattered, sometimes contradictory remarks Kant makes about happiness. The book shows that happiness shapes or indirectly influences Kant’s methodology and many of his conclusions, including his views on the nature of practical rationality, meta-ethics, the role of the state, and of political justification. The challenge with happiness is that it is impossible to know for certain what will make us happy, and what we take to be happiness changes over our lifetime. The book argues that Kant offers a distinctive strategy for dealing with this indeterminacy of happiness, one rooted in understanding our duties to ourselves and others. Happiness in Kant’s Practical Philosophy provides a map of the areas in which the concept of happiness or considerations about the happiness of individuals appear in Kant’s practical works and analyses the way they relate to central themes of his practical theory.