Order Dilek Huseyinzadegan’s KANT’S NONIDEAL THEORY OF POLITICS here!

Huseyinzadegan’s 2019 book Kant’s Nonideal Theory of Politics provides a novel argument that Kant’s political thought must be understood by reference to his philosophy of history, cultural anthropology, and geography. The central thesis of the book is that Kant’s assessment of the politically salient features of history, culture, and geography generates a nonideal theory of politics, which supplements his well-known ideal theory of cosmopolitanism.

Author Interview in New Books in Philosophy Podcast Series with Sarah Tyson

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Author Interview in Political Theory Review Podcast Series with Jeffrey Church

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REVIEWS OF KANT’S NONIDEAL THEORY OF POLITICS

“an extremely valuable corrective to standard views of Kant’s legacy.”   

– Journal of the History of Philosophy.

“[Huseyinzadegan] uncovers resources in Kant’s political writings that could serve to reorient contemporary political theory away from the stale debates between ethics-first idealism and pragmatic realism by illustrating how political philosophy can employ ‘pictures of the whole of history, human nature, culture, or the world,’ even while recognizing that such totalizing pictures are hypothetical postulations.” – The Review of Metaphysics

“[A]s Huseyinzadegan instructively brings out, Kant’s own attraction to misleading narratives was balanced by rational principles with universal application to all human beings. And it is by the adequacy of those principles that Kant’s practical philosophy must ultimately be judged. Huseyinzadegan’s original and provocative application of the concept of purposiveness to that larger project is thus especially welcome.” – Kantian Review

“In Dilek Huseyinzadegan’s analysis of Kant’s “impure” politics, what we have is a startling, innovative, and ultimately convincing portrait of Kant’s systematic attention to the material conditions underlying the everyday world of political subjects…. Overall, this is a rich and engaging account of Kant’s political views, and it is to Huseyinzadegan’s great credit that even scholars long familiar with the contours of Kant’s works—both ideal and impure—will find much to learn from this book.” – Society for German Idealism and Romanticism Review

“. . . this excellent book is sure to be cited often by critics of Kant’s Eurocentrism, who can now point to many passages showing not only that his cosmopolitanism is seriously compromised, but also that the issues reach into the critical core of his work by way of the third Critique.”               

 – Contemporary Political Theory