KANT AND THE PRE-JURIDICAL INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Abstract

The paper aims to investigate the Kantian thought concerning the pre-juridical international relations. These relations are founded on the preliminary articles. In Towards Perpetual Peace, these articles constitute the morals minimal conditions through which individuals, States and people are protected against abuses from the state of nature. Kant’s thesis is that even in war, where there is not still a sphere public juridical, the moral elements must subsist. The preliminary articles are the first step towards the establishment of the international law and of the cosmopolitan law. His moral elements constitute the fundamental principles through which the international relations have legitimacy to Kant.