Pattern One, Phase One: Reining in State Sovereignty

Abstract

It is the primary purpose of this chapter to advance the argument that close analysis of individual interpretations written during this historical period reveals the first phase of an interpretive pattern of Kant’s Perpetual Peace. Study into each textual interpretation is critical to a full and fair explication of the book’s thesis. This approach seems best suited for exposing general similarities between interpretations to effectively advance the argument of pattern formation. It is important to remember that not all interpretations that reveal a particular phase of a pattern exactly mirror each other. If they did, then this whole exercise would be too immaculate. The idea behind the argument for patterns is simply that a majority of interpretations over a specific historical stretch tend toward similar analysis of the text in question. I argue that it is possible to tease from these similar particulars a pattern of interpretation.