Abstract

The article sheds light on the epistemological roots of republican political science as we can find it in Kant's work. Kant's assumption of republicanism derives from a continuous and coherent juxtaposition of historical evidences and philosophical reasons. On the one hand, Kant sketches the phenomenic history of the republican spirit as it emerges and develops within the state and through inter-state dynamics; on the other hand, he envisages the noumenic representation of a cosmopolitan republic, a political form for the future, which will coincide with the natural end of humankind. The republican doctrine is therefore one of those elements which allow us to place Kantian thought within political modernity: although he does not advocate utopian models, Kant considers an ideal dimension of politics; at the same time, while refuting the mandates of realism, he contemplates those elements of reality needed to develop any experience of republicanism.