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Nomads, Territory, and the Kantian State

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 December 2024

Anna Milioni Open the ORCID record for Anna Milioni [Opens in a new window]
Anna Milioni*
Affiliation:
Centre de recherche en éthique/Centre for Research in Ethics, University of Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada
*
Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

This paper explores the ‘puzzle of the nomads’ in the Metaphysics of Morals: the apparent tension between Kant’s argument about the duty to leave the state of nature and his insistence that European colonizers cannot permissibly force nomads to enter a civil union. Arguing that the puzzle is twofold, I suggest that the answer lies in the relationship between the state and territory in Kant’s work. After showing the shortcomings of an approach which suggests that nomadic peoples cannot enter the civil state without settling, I defend an alternative interpretation, which conceives the territoriality of the state as contingent.

Keywords

territorynomadsstate of naturecivil statecolonialism
Type
Article
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Kantian Review , First View , pp. 1 - 15
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© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Kantian Review

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