Critique of Practical Reason
The essay was published as Kant was gaining repute as a philosopher following the publication of his revolutionary treatise on epistemology, "The Critique of Pure Reason" (1781) and preceding his critique of ethical theory, "Critique of Practical Reason" (1788). "Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose" embroiled Kant in controversy due to the political implications of its critique of his contemporary Johann Gottfried Herder.