Kant's Non-Absolutist Conception of Political Legitimacy – How Public Right ‘Concludes’ Private Right in the “Doctrine of Right”
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Helga Varden
Abstract
Contrary to the received view, I argue that Kant, in the “Doctrine of Right”, outlines a third, republican alternative to absolutist and voluntarist conceptions of political legitimacy. According to this republican alternative, a state must meet certain institutional requirements before political obligations arise. An important result of this interpretation is not only that there are institutional restraints on a legitimate state's use of coercion, but also that the rights of the state (‘public right’) are not in principle reducible to the rights of individuals (‘private right’). Thus, for Kant, political obligations are intimately linked to the existence of a certain kind of republican institutional framework.
© Walter de Gruyter 2010
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Umfangslogik und analytisches Urteil bei Kant
- Kant on Sex and Marriage: The Implications for the Same-Sex Marriage Debate
- Kant's Non-Absolutist Conception of Political Legitimacy – How Public Right ‘Concludes’ Private Right in the “Doctrine of Right”
- Logische und grammatische Form in der Prädikatenlogik – Anmerkungen zu einem „Gedanken“ Axel Bühlers
- Zwei Konjekturvorschläge zur Tugendlehre, § 9
- Noch einmal zu Kants Rechtsbegründung
- Buchbesprechungen
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Umfangslogik und analytisches Urteil bei Kant
- Kant on Sex and Marriage: The Implications for the Same-Sex Marriage Debate
- Kant's Non-Absolutist Conception of Political Legitimacy – How Public Right ‘Concludes’ Private Right in the “Doctrine of Right”
- Logische und grammatische Form in der Prädikatenlogik – Anmerkungen zu einem „Gedanken“ Axel Bühlers
- Zwei Konjekturvorschläge zur Tugendlehre, § 9
- Noch einmal zu Kants Rechtsbegründung
- Buchbesprechungen