Hospitality as lens of studies: Immanuel Kant in social theory

This paper presentation unfolds the notion of hospitality, not against, but with Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). It offers insight to Kant’s three seminal essays on cosmopolitanism: Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View, written in 1784, the 1795 essay, “To Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch”, and finally with Metaphysical Elements of Justice: Part I of the Metaphysics of Morals, generally known as the Doctrine of Right, published separately in 1797. It draws attention to the intellectual milieu of the late 18th century, and in particular to the pioneers of the Scottish Enlightenment, Adam Ferguson (1723-1816) and Adam Smith (1723-1790). Finally, the paper addresses the question of what hospitality in a Kantian sense of right can offer future social theory. Can the stranger's right to universal hospitality serve as a Pandora's Box for 'acts of citizenship'?