In this masterful work, both an illumination of Kant’s thought and an important contribution to contemporary legal and political theory, Arthur Ripstein gives a comprehensive yet accessible account of Kant’s political philosophy. Ripstein shows that Kant’s thought is organized around two central claims: first, that legal institutions are not simply responses to human limitations or circumstances; indeed the requirements of justice can be articulated without recourse to views about human inclinations and vulnerabilities. Second, Kant argues for a distinctive moral principle, which restricts the legitimate use of force to the creation of a system of equal freedom. Ripstein’s description of the unity and philosophical plausibility of this dimension of Kant’s thought will be a revelation to political and legal scholars. In addition to providing a clear and coherent statement of the most misunderstood of Kant’s ideas, Ripstein also shows that Kant’s views remain conceptually powerful and morally appealing today. Ripstein defends the idea of equal freedom by examining several substantive areas of law—private rights, constitutional law, police powers, and punishment—and by demonstrating the compelling advantages of the Kantian framework over competing approaches.

This book examines the significance of Kant’s political philosophy in the context of contemporary philosophical and political debates. In the last few decades, Kantian specialists have increasingly manifested a purely exegetic and philological interest in Kant’s oeuvre, while contemporary philosophers and scientists tend to use Kant with scant hermeneutical care, thus misrepresenting or misunderstanding his positions. This volume countervails these tendencies by focusing more on specific themes of contemporary relevance in Kant’s writings. It looks to Kant’s political thought for insight on tackling issues such as freedom of speech, democracy and populism, intergenerational justice, economic inequality, money, poverty, international justice and gender/feminism. Featuring readings by well-known Kant specialists and emerging scholars with unorthodox approaches to Kant’s philosophy, the volume fills a significant gap in the existing scholarship on the philosopher and his works. It will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of philosophy, politics and ethics.

Past interpreters of Kant’s thought seldom viewed his writings on politics as having much importance, especially in comparison with his writings on ethics, which (along with his major works, such as the Critique of Pure Reason) received the lion’s share of attention. But in recent years a new generation of scholars has revived interest in what Kant had to say about politics. From a position of engagement with today’s most pressing questions, this volume of essays offers a comprehensive introduction to Kant’s often misunderstood political thought. Covering the full range of sources of Kant’s political theory—including not only the Doctrine of Right, the Critiques, and the political essays but also Kant’s lectures and minor writings—the volume’s distinguished contributors demonstrate that Kant’s philosophy offers compelling positions that continue to inspire the best thinking on politics today. Aside from the editor, the contributors are Michaele Ferguson, Louis-Philippe Hodgson, Ian Hunter, John Christian Laursen, Mika LaVaque-Manty, Onora O’Neill, Thomas W. Pogge, Arthur Ripstein, and Robert S. Taylor.

This book offers a systematic examination of the place of religion within Kant's major writings. Kant is often thought to be highly reductionistic with regard to religion - as though religion simply provides the unsophisticated with colourful representations of moral lessons that reason alone could grasp. James DiCenso's rich and innovative discussion shows how Kant's theory of religion in fact emerges directly from his epistemology, ethics and political theory, and how it serves his larger political and ethical projects of restructuring institutions and modifying political attitudes towards greater autonomy. It also illustrates the continuing relevance of Kant's ideas for addressing issues of religion and politics that remain pressing in the contemporary world, such as just laws, transparency in the public sphere and other ethical and political concerns. The book will be valuable for a wide range of readers who are interested in Kant's thought.

This volume critically examines and elucidates the complex relationship between politics and teleology in Kant's philosophical system. Examining this relationship is of key philosophical importance since Kant develops his political philosophy in the context of a teleological conception of the purposiveness of both nature and human history. Kant's approach poses the dual task of reconciling his normative political theory with both his priori moral philosophy and his teleological philosophy of nature and human history. The fourteen essays in this volume, by leading scholars in the field, explore the relationship between teleology and politics from multiple perspectives. Together, the essays explore Kant's normative political theory and legal philosophy, his cosmopolitanism and views on international relations, his theory of history, his theory of natural teleology, and the broader relationship between morality, history, nature and politics in Kant's works. This important new volume will be of interest to a wide audience, including Kant scholars, scholars and students working on topics in moral and political philosophy, the philosophy of history, political theory and political science, legal scholars and international relations theorists, as well as those interested broadly in the history of ideas.

Kant's Politics in Context is the first comprehensive contextual study of Kant's legal and political philosophy. It gives an account of the development of his thought before, during, and after the French revolution. Reidar Maliks argues that Kant provided a philosophical defence of the revolution's republican ideals while aiming to avoid the twin dangers of anarchy and despotism. Central to this was a concept of equal freedom, constituted by legal rights and duties within a state. The close connection between freedom and the rule of law accounts for the centrality of the state in Kants thought. That Kant idealized the public sphere is well known, but that he intentionally developed his own philosophy in polemical essays and pamphlets aimed for a wide audience has not been fully appreciated. Maliks shows how our understanding of Kant's political philosophy can be enriched through paying attention to the discussions he sparked during the 1790swhere radical followers including Fichte, Erhard, and Bergk clashed with conservative critics such as Rehberg, Möser, and Gentz. This book provides fresh knowledge about a foundational moment for modern political thought and offers a new perspective on Kant's central political concepts, including freedom, rights, citizenship, revolution, and war.

This book focuses on Kant’s analysis of three issues crucial for contemporary politics. Starting from a new reading of Kant’s account of our innate right to freedom, it highlights how a Kantian foundation of human rights, properly understood and modified where necessary, appears more promising than the foundational arguments currently offered by philosophers. It then compares Kant’s model for peace with the apparently similar model of democratic peace to show that the two are profoundly different in content and in quality. The book concludes in analysis of Kant’s controversial view of history to rescue it from the idea that his belief in progress is at best over-optimistic and at worst dogmatic. Congratulations to Professor Luigi Caranti and his book 'Kant's Political Legacy' which has been given a 'honorable mention' by the North American Kant Society in the competition for the best 2018 book on Kant!! http://northamericankantsociety.onefireplace.org/Announcements/6660588

"Advancing the Enlightenment draws upon John Rawls, Gilles Deleuze, and Tariq Ramadan to present a vision for progressive politics. Rather than defend Kant's ideas, heirs of the Enlightenment should create concepts such as overlapping consensus, rhizome, and space of testimony to facilitate alliances across religious and philosophical differences"--Provided by publisher.

Judgment, Imagination, and Politics brings together for the first time leading essays on the nature of judgment. Drawing from themes in Kant's Critique of Judgment and Hannah Arendt's discussion of judgment from Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy, these essays deal with: the role of imagination in judgment; judgment as a distinct human faculty; the nature of judgment in law and politics; and the many puzzles that arise from the 'enlarged mentality,' the capacity to consider the perspectives of others that aren't in Kant treated as essential to judgment.

Why does the ghost of Kant continue to haunt contemporary critical theory? Kant, Critique and Politics examines the influence of Kantian critique on the work of such major and diverse theorists as Habermas, Arendt, Foucault and Lyotard. It offers an entirely new reading of Kant, challenging the orthodox distinctions between modernist and postmodernist theorizing, by illuminating how Kant's influence continues to structure critical debate. This is the first book to offer both a systematic reading of Kant and to contextualise his work in the light of the continental tradition. It will be central to political philosophers and students of international relations and feminist theory.