Abstract

In this article I offer an outline of my attempt, which still in progress, 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, Seyla Benhabib, and Caroline Reinhardt. There are several points of convergence between these authors and me. However, what distinguishes my work from theirs is my emphasis on the compatibility in Kant between republican states and cosmopolitanism. 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.