This study will provide a critical analysis of Fernando R. Teson's article "The Kantian Theory of International Law." The study will deal with both Kant's ideas on international relations, and with Teson's evaluation of Kant's ideas. Teson essentially defends Kant's ideas on the importance of normative (value-based) standards for of international relations, as expressed in Kant's essay "Perpetual Peace." Teson writes that
Kant's accomplishment in the field of international theory and ethics is magnificent. Few other thinkers have successfully combined so many disparate elements of morality, politics, epistemology, and history in a theory of international law. The community of free nations envisioned by Kant will hopefully expand gradually and maintain itself, as it has done for the past two hundred years. . . . (102).
This high praise of Kant is a sign that the reader should be cautious in accepting Teson's views on Kant. However, his personal appreciation of Kant does not mean that he is wrong in his views. Teson may go a little overboard in praising Kant's ideas and mind (words like "genius" and "magnificent" abound) at times. In the passage above, Teson seems to be almost suggesting that Kant's ideas are responsible for the "community of free nations" and its expansion over two centuries. However, Teson is usually careful to keep his adoration for Kant separate from his analysis of Kant's ideas. Teson also provides reasoned support for his analysis of Kant's ideas, and even, here and there, offers a criticism of those ideas. Teson and Kant both believe that international relations must be grounded in normative values, values which put the individual human being and his liberties at the center of political concerns.
Peace, to Kant, is vital not simply because it means the absence of war. Peace is vital because it means that individual rights are more likely to be protected than they would be in a state of war in which state...