POLSC 31 (LT1) - Kant

• 1. Kant’s definition of “enlightenment”

  • Man’s emergence from his self-incurred immaturity. 

  1. Immaturity is self incurred is the cause is the lack of self understanding, and the lack of resolution and courage without the guidance of another 

  • Utilizing our freedom to think 
• • Freedom to think is the public use of reason. 
• Private use of reason

  • Individuals employ their reason within the civic roles assigned to them. 
• 1. What is the foundation of right for Kant?

  • Freedom is the foundation of right. 

  1. Freedom is the only original right that human beings have.
• • Sphere of morals (Virtue) v. Sphere of right (right)

  1. Virtue: (internal) Traits cultivated in an individual. Involves acting out of a sense of duty rather than merely following the laws. 
  2.  Right: (external) Refers to the realm of external actions and legal obligations in society.
• • Moral duty, the categorical imperative (CI)

  1. Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it be a universal law 
  2. Always treat a person, whether yourself or another, never merely as a means, but always also as an end-in-themselves 
• • Universal Principle of Right (UPR)

  1. Let your external actions be such that the free application of your will can coexist with the freedom of everyone in accordance with a universal law 
• 1. On the concept of right [from the Metaphysics of Morals, Introduction, §B; for Helga Varden’s explanation, see Varden, p. 218.]

  • Only concerns external and practical relation between persons
  • Only concerns the relation between wills and not between will and desire
  • Only concerns the form of the will; the content of the will is irrelevant
• 1. Civil constitution (TP, II, p. 73)

  • Those who possess the right to vote should unanimously agree to the law of public justice, or else legal contention would arise between those who agree and disagree which would require a higher legal principle to resolve. An entire people, however cannot, be expected to reach unanimity, but only to show a majority vote.  
  • The principle of being content with the majority decisions must be accepted unanimously and embodied in a contract; this itself must be the ultimate basis on which a civil constitution is established. 
• 1. The a priori principles of the civil state (the rights of citizens)

  • the freedom of every member of society as a human being

  1. only original right that belongs to everyone in virtue of one's humanity 
  2. freedom from being constrained by the choices of another, in accordance with the idea that freedom can coexist with the freedom of everyone
• 1. The a priori principles of the civil state (the rights of citizens)

  • the equality of each with all the others as a subject

  1. rises out of necessity from the principle of reciprocal freedom 
  2. equality of subjects before the law 
  3. each member of the commonwealth has rights of coercion in relation to all others 
  4. equal rights of coercion 
• 1. The a priori principles of the civil state (the rights of citizens)

  • the independence of each member of a commonwealth as a citizen

  1. All who are free and equal under existing public laws may be considered equal, but not as regards the right to make these laws. Those who are not entitled to this right, are nonetheless obliged to comply with these laws 
• • The priori principles of the civil state (the rights of citizens)
  • Freedom
  • Equality
  • Independence
• 1. On the question of the responsibility of the state for poverty among its citizens: the republican interpretation against the libertarian interpretation of Kant’s theory of right. (See Varden.)

  • Kant’s (Rousseanian) republican interpretation 

  1. Concerned with the public right to ensure men’s freedom
  2. Right to poverty relief should be understood as a public right. 
  3. Poverty is a systematic problem related to the state’s establishment of a monopoly on coercion. 
• • Liberation (Lockean) interpretation 

  1. Concerned with the private right to virtuous action and the role of men. But men cannot be forced to be virtuous. 
  2. The state is “minimal”. Cannot justify the use of public provisions to ensure that the poor’s legal access to means are not subject to other private persons’ arbitrary choices 
  3. State can only provide a framework to ensure that all basic needs are met. It cannot force an individual to help the poor because it means that the state would go beyond its minimal duty, which goes against Kantian political theory.