Cosmopolitan right
The third definitive article of “Perpetual Peace”: “Cosmopolitan right shall be limited to conditions of universal hospitality.”
Hospitality means that every human being may offer to enter into commerce anywhere on earth without being treated as an enemy — for originally no one has a privileged claim to any particular place on the finite surface of the globe. Kant means a right to visit, not a right to be a guest: inhabitants keep control over their land.
Two things follow: a sharp critique of colonialism, which perverts the right to visit into conquest — and an early idea of global legal solidarity: the community of peoples has developed so far that a violation of right in one place on earth “is felt in all”.
Where it appears
- Peace & Politics — The three definitive articles
- Timeline
- The Metaphysics of Morals — Structure & core theses
- Perpetual Peace — The argument: prohibitions and conditions
- FAQ
- Kant against Kant — A late objection: against colonialism
- Teaching — 5 · Perpetual Peace and the United Nations
Source: Wikipedia: Cosmopolitan right