A compressed 500-word summary of 'Perpetual Peace' by Immanuel Kant (1795)

Section 1

1. A truce ends a particular conflict for a short time, whereas a long-term treaty removes the grounds for future conflicts and thus produces lasting peace. Supposed treaties that are mere truces are beneath the dignity of kings.
2. States aren't property and can't be bought or sold. A state is more like a person than a thing, "a trunk with its own roots." If it could be bought, it would have no authority over people. [see this Medium story]
3. If a country is attacked by a foreign power, its citizens should volunteer to fight without pay. There should be no standing armies during peacetime, as their existence encourages war, nor mercenaries (contracted soldiers), as that employment is immoral.
4. A national credit system that borrows from other states, with a greater likelihood of bankrupting them than repaying them, encourages war and must be forbidden. States should ally themselves against any state that uses such a credit system (e.g. England).
5. No state has the right or authority to interfere with any other state's constitution or government.
6. War is, by definition, the violent striving of two states to reach agreement on a matter about which there has been no lawful ruling. During war, states should forbid the employment of tactics such as spying and assassinations, because "some confidence in the character of the enemy must remain even in the midst of war" if peace is to become possible. War of total extermination must be forbidden.

Section 2

Threat of war, if not open hostility, is the natural state of human society. Only in a civil state can neighbors agree to treat each other peacefully.

Three Definitive Articles for Perpetual Peace

1. "The Civil Constitution of Every State Should Be Republican"

All men are free, equal, and dependent on common legislation. A republican constitution requires the citizens' consent to fight in a war and pay for a war. "Republican" means that the executive branch is separated from the legislative; the constitution is more likely to be republican if the number of rulers is small, ideally monarchical. In a democracy, violent revolution is inevitable because everyone wants to be king.

2. "The Law of Nations Shall be Founded on a Federation of Free States"

Without losing their distinct identities, states should be bound by a joint constitution similar to their own.

Even warring nations pay lip service to the idea of law, because each human retains the hope of lawful behavior. A league of nations would require states to resolve disputes before a tribunal.

A treaty of peace ends one war; a league of peace ends all war. The idea that there ought to be no war can only make sense if there is a league of nations to generate and enforce the idea.

3. "The Law of World Citizenship Shall Be Limited to Conditions of Universal Hospitality"

Everyone must have the right to temporarily visit any place on earth. Hostility to visitors is contrary to natural law. Universal hospitality is the only way to peace.

Immanuel Kant. Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch. (1795)

This summary was written in 2005, along with a series of other 500-word summaries of philosophy books, as an exercise in brevity.

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If you'd like to learn more about my work, I've published books. Also, I write for Medium, for example, about the Jena collective during the end of Immanuel Kant's life.

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Skull by 849356 from Pixabay

Andrea Long Chu, in her essay "Authority" published for the first time in her 2025 book of the same name, explains something this way. Kant addressed a certain problem like this: When someone observes an indisputable fact about a piece of art, they’re just making a practical observation like whether it can be hung on a wall, whereas judgments about whether it’s beautiful are always disputable. Art critics’ belief that there is some standard by which to judge art is what gives them their air of authority, yet the standard (if there is any) will be forever indefinable. It makes sense to see someone as an authority if you believe their claims can be shown to be true; but if they believe something and no one can prove it, in what sense are they an authority? Kant’s debate interests, as Chu explains, prioritized aesthetics over politics, and he thought people should just obey the current political order and reserve their energy for intellectual discussions about the beautiful and good. In this way, Kant’s understanding of politics was perhaps primarily aesthetic.

A compressed 500-word summary of 'The Prince' by Niccolo Machiavelli (1516)

     The Prince discusses principalities (ruled by a single man), not republics (democracies), and provides policy recommendation. It is addressed to Lorenzo de Medici, a duke from a ruling family, and closes by advising him to organize Italian troops against hostile barbarians.
     Hereditary rulers benefit from stability and can more easily retain control of their state and enjoy public favor.
     Colonies are "economical, reliable, and do not give excessive grounds for resistance." Subjects of monarchies are used to obedience, but subjects of republics will never forget their former liberty and will try to oust their occupier. Territories submit more easily when they share the same language and customs as their ruling state and are geographically close to it. The colonizing king must eliminate previous rulers and shouldn't impose new taxes or laws on the territory if he wishes to have their favor. It is best if the ruler goes to live in the new territory, where he can supervise more effectively and win his subjects' love and fear. No one will criticize the ruler's attempt to win new territory unless the necessary military capacity is lacking.
     The private citizen can rise to power in four ways: by fortune, virtue, nefarious action, or popular support. Of those who ruled by virtue or skill, the best were "Moses, Cyrus, Romulus, Theseus, and others like them."
     If a ruler subdues his subjects with violence, the violence should decrease, not increase, over time. Public opinion responds well to harm done quickly and good done slowly.
     A ruler should aim to set policies that need never be changed. His foundation is his subjects and he should seek their favor rather than that of the power-seeking elite. He should take care that citizens do not avoid business or property improvements for fear of taxes.
     Ecclesiastical states should not be debated because they were built up by God.
     A ruler should give all his attention to matters of war. Mercenary soldiers are to be avoided, as their commanders seek their own power and the soldiers will desert. Auxiliary armies are a burden. A ruler should know when to fight lawlessly like an animal.
     A ruler should have a reputation as a great man. Some vices are essential to a ruler's "welfare and peace of mind." For example, it is better for a ruler to be thought miserly than generous, and it is not bad to be perceived as cruel if the perception results in keeping the public in order.
     Rulers should be suspicious of their subjects and of other rulers.
     It is always better to be an ally or an enemy than to be neutral. The neutral party faces the wrath of both winner and loser.
     Every decision requires risk assessment.
     A ruler cannot rely on the advice of others; he must be wise enough to know when to take advice.

Niccolo Machiavelli. The Prince. (1516) Translated by David Wootton. Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Co., Inc. 1994.

This summary was written in 2005, along with a series of other 500-word summaries of philosophy books, as an exercise in brevity.

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If you'd like to learn more about my work, I've published books. Also, I write for Medium. There, readers with a paid membership don't have to worry about the paywall.

A compressed 500-word summary of Tolstoy's (b. 1828 - d. 1910) writings on civil disobedience and nonviolence

     A collection of letters and essays published by Bergman in 1967, summarized below, focuses on Tolstoy's opinions on nonviolence. It includes many anecdotes and lengthy quotations.
     Military service is a type of slavery. Men are trained to kill by torture and deception, and they are trained to train their trusting brothers to kill. Soldiers are taught that the Judeo-Christian commandment "Thou shalt not kill" does not apply to national defense. They are told that the responsibility for the killing lies with the commander, not the soldier who fires the bullet. Taking orders from someone else is a dreadfully arbitrary reason to kill.
     The Russian army is particularly offensive because the soldiers mainly harass the peasants. The government sends soldiers to distant regiments to avoid making them shoot their own relatives.
     Conscientious objectors have Christian motives even if they don't claim to be Christian. Men may not realize they follow Christ because Christ's example is now ingrained in human conscience. "True Christians" aren't permitted to kill. Christ enters the world through men who refuse to participate in war.
     The Dukhobors of the Caucasus are waging, in Tolstoy's opinion, a metaphorical Christian holy war against the Russian government because they refuse to serve in the army despite harsh consequences. They obey God before country. It is just as well to refuse to serve, because the punishment of imprisonment or exile is no worse than military service itself.
     Patriotism, the preference for one's own country, can't be a modern virtue because it contradicts the principle of "equality and fraternity of all men." The prevalence of immigration complicates patriotism. Patriotism and peace are incompatible. Men should resist the hypnotism of patriotism and follow their consciences. Spread Christianity, not patriotism.
     He supports troop reduction and disarmament on all sides of a conflict. The government will never approve of this strategy, so troop reduction must be achieved by the public attaching stigma to military service and dissuading men from enlisting. The people who prop up bellicose emperors and join the army are more to blame for war than the emperors themselves.
     Men who think military service is morally acceptable do not think for themselves.
     But not all will accept the law of non-resistance, and it would contradict the spirit of the law to force them to accept it. Christ only wants each man to "fulfill his allotted task."
     Under Nicholas I, soldiers were routinely forced to beat their fellow soldiers to death for deserting or complaining. Soldiers should listen to God's rule on this question, not the government's. The government conceals Christianity's anti-government doctrines because, without soldiers, the poor could usurp the property of the rich.
     The government-mandated Orthodox doctrine and ritual is "stupid and senseless" and "pseudo-Christian" because religion is a relationship with God.
     In one of his letters, Tolstoy noted that Thoreau had written Civil Disobedience fifty years previously. He claims to have been influenced by the Quakers and the anti-slavery movement in the United States.

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910). Tolstoy's Writings on Civil Disobedience and Non-violence. New York: Bergman Publishers, 1967.

This summary was written in 2005, along with a series of other 500-word summaries of philosophy books, as an exercise in brevity.

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If you'd like to learn more about my work, I've published books. Also, I write for Medium. There, readers with a paid membership don't have to worry about the paywall.