Future Conflicts Are Inevitable: Causes of Interpersonal Conflicts According to Immanuel Kant and Thomas R. Malthus

Article
Open Access
by Zdzislaw Kieliszek1
1 University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn (Olsztyn, Poland)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29202/phil-cosm/22/14
Received: May 25, 2018 / Accepted: August 20, 2018 / Published: January 25, 2019

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Abstract

The paper entitled “Future Conflicts Are Inevitable: Causes of Interpersonal Conflicts According to Immanuel Kant and Thomas R. Malthus” is composed of four parts. The first part outlines the validity and importance of the issue of interpersonal conflicts, as well as the need to unveil their deepest causes. The second fragment is devoted to the vision of discord between people, developed by Immanuel Kant. The author emphasizes that, in the opinion of the German philosopher, due to the “unsociable sociability” of people, one has to take into account the impossibility of eliminating conflicts from interpersonal relations. The next part presents the concept proposed by Thomas R. Malthus concerning the causes of conflicts. The author observes that the Anglican cleric, supplementing Kant’s reflections, identifies non-human conflict-generating factors, among which the key factor is an indelible shortage in the environment of goods and values desired by people. To summarize the reflections made, in the last part of the paper, the author emphasizes that in the light of Kant’s and Malthus’ observations, it seems easier to understand why the dream of building a world entirely free of interpersonal conflicts is a utopian idea.

Keywords: Immanuel Kant; Thomas R. Malthus; “perpetual peace”; “unsocial sociability” of man; shortage of desirable goods and values; conflicts; future of humanity

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Kieliszek, Zdzislaw (2019) Future Conflicts Are Inevitable: Causes of Interpersonal Conflicts According to Immanuel Kant and Thomas R. Malthus. Philosophy and Cosmology, Volume 22, 152-161. https://doi.org/10.29202/phil-cosm/22/14
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