Summary: Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose (page 2)

Ambition, the thirst for domination, and greed drive man to carve out a place for himself in society. It is precisely this that leads him from his raw natural state to culture, allowing all his talents to flourish.

Without this unsociability, his talents would remain in their embryonic state, confined to an Arcadian shepherd's existence of perfect harmony. Let us then be grateful to nature for this unwelcoming disposition!¹

Proposition 5: The greatest problem facing the human species is to establish a civil society governed by universal law.

Since man can only achieve the full development of his dispositions within society, yet is inherently unsociable, the solution lies in counterbalancing this with a perfectly just civil constitution.

Proposition 6: This problem is the most difficult of all—and the last that humanity will solve.

Indeed, in order to overcome his unsociability, man requires a master. Yet since this master is himself a man, he cannot be perfectly just and would therefore require a master of his own. This makes the task exceedingly difficult, hence Kant's famous remark: Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made.²

Proposition 7: A perfect civil constitution requires the establishment of a just external relationship between states.

Unsociability also affects states, driving them into conflict with one another. To counter this, a League of Nations is needed, in which each state's rights are respected.

Kant observes: We are cultivated by art and science. We are civilised by politeness. But to regard ourselves as moralised is still a long way off.³

Proposition 8: The history of the human species as a whole can thus be understood as the fulfilment of a hidden plan of nature to bring about a perfect political constitution.

Proposition 9: History, therefore, is not merely an aggregate of human actions but can be presented as a system.

¹ prop.4
² prop.6
³ prop.7