Kant and migration: state and demos borders

Angela Taraborrelli

2025-01-01

---

Abstract

In this article, I offer an outline of my on-going attempt to reconstruct a possible Kantian theory of migration both in the treatise Zum ewigen Frieden (1795) and in the Rechtslehre (1797). Such an attempt has already been made (with important results) by Pauline Kleingeld (2012, 72–91), Seyla Benhabib (2012), and Karoline Reinhardt (2019). There are several points of convergence between these authors and me. However, what distinguishes my work from theirs is my emphasis on the compatibility between republican states and cosmopolitanism in Kant. This compatibility is reflected both in the non-reducibility of his theory of migration to the open/closed borders dichotomy and in his still under-recognized openness regarding the question of integration and acquisition of citizenship by migrants and foreigners. © 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston, Genthiner Straße 13, 10785 Berlin.