PROGRESS AND HISTORY IN IMMANUEL KANT

Kant's IaG is a reference for history studies because it gives us a speculative conception of this discipline. 'This work also points us to the moral background that this speculative conception of history intends to demonstrate. Therefore, we can analyze Kant's philosophy of history as a complement to his moral philosophy. The question that must be asked before such a position is exactly this: how can the philosopher demonstrate these results? The answer to this leads us to the thesis of progress in Kant's philosophy of history, but which is somewhat common in the eighteenth century: the History would only make sense if it could be understood from the notion of continuous progress. Kant seeks to defend the possibility, in the field of history, that Nature or Providence is executing a long-term plan that will bring benefits to humanity as a species, even though it requires the sacrifice of its welfare as an individual. Kant demonstrates that we can understand with reason, and its inventive capacity, that humanity is in full development throughout the course of history, even though we cannot see development in the individual but only in the species.