Kant's Critique of Hobbes: Sovereignty and Cosmopolitanism

Abstract

Kant's Critique of Hobbes is a unique systematic study of the relationship between the two thinkers. In it, Howard Williams demonstrates the viable alternative to Hobbes' orthodoxy that can be found in Kant's political writings. Looking closely at the main concepts that are in contention in Kant's relationship with Hobbes - freedom, equality and independence - the book sheds new light on ideas that lie at the foundations of contemporary political order. Williams shows also how Kant helps anticipate the development of a world-wide political system and suggests that through Kant's political philosophy, the sovereignty of the individual state and cosmopolitanism (world-citizenship) can be brought into agreement.