Perpetual Peace: A Philosophic Essay: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Perpetual Peace: A Philosophic Essay, credited to Immanuel Kant, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Perpetual Peace: A Philosophic Essay, by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). Translated by W. Hastie (1842-1903). Read by D.E. Wittkower. This essay, written in 1795, puts forth a plan for a lasting peace between nations and peoples. Kant puts forth necessary means to any peace, and argues that nations can be brought into federation with one another without loss of sovereignty. In one translation, telling of the historical impact of this essay, this federation is called a “league of nations.” The supplements and appendices are of considerable interest on their own. The supplements contain an argument regarding the use which nature makes of war, and the way in which nature, in the end, impels us towards peace. The appendices return to the question of whether his theory is mere theory, or whether it bears translation into practice. In this, he distinguishes between the moral politician and the political moralist, pointing out ways in which practical considerations conceal and excuse behavior that leads us towards discord and war. This essay continues to be relevant, and of great importance today, much to our shame. We hope still to find the perpetual peace which Kant argued as a obligatory goal, and we still have need of fear that we will, as Kant warned, “find Perpetual Peace only in the wide grave which is to cover all the abomination of the deeds of violence and their authors.” (Summary by D.E. Wittkower)

Recording facts

• Recording title: Perpetual Peace: A Philosophic Essay
• Author credits: Immanuel Kant
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 5
• Listed recording duration: 2:11:42

Track guide

1. 01: Introduction, First Section, Which Contains the Preliminary Articles of a Perpetual Peace Between States — 18:29
2. 02: Second Section, Which Contains the Definitive Articles of a Perpetual Peace Between States — 31:48
3. 03: Supplements — 26:24
4. 04: Appendix I: On the Discordance between Morals and Politics in reference to Perpetual Peace — 34:17
5. 05: Appendix II: Of the Accordance of Politics with Morals according to the Transcendental Conception of Public Right — 20:47

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This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.