The Concept of Peace within the Cosmopolitanism of the Olympics : With Reference to Kant’s Philosophy

Abstract

Although the Olympic Games have been holding as the sports festival with a view to promoting a peaceful society, they have ever been boycotted for political reasons and being used of as a means to an act of terrorism. The Olympic Games have opportunities to activate a sense of nationalism hidden in the background of their principle in the age of globalization. The difference between the principle to embody peace and the reality far removed from it is an issue which cannot be ignored. In this paper, we payed attention to cosmopolitanism, which is located comparatively in nationalism, and investigated the peace initiative in the Olympic Games while relating it to the issue of cosmopolitanism based on the idea of universal peace by Kant. The first half of this paper considered the theory of cosmopolitanism and peace by Kant and the second half did the peace initiative of cosmopolitanism in Olympics. The following three points were suggested according to this procedure.

1．Any participant in the Olympic Games should take part in them as a cosmopolitan who has a sense of belonging to his/her own race or nation.

2．Any participant as a cosmopolitan, who has the right of hospitality that enables to exchange one other, tries to establish friendly relations with other participants.

3．Any participant, who has the right of hospitality that imposes restrictions on hostility one other, can drive out participants who did an act of hostility or violence.