Kant's Politics in Context

Extract

Reidar Maliks’ Kant's Politics in Context is a much needed addition to the literature on Kant's legal and political philosophy. Its central aim is to show how Kant's mature legal and political philosophy was shaped by the political debates during the French revolution, and continued to evolve as a response to his critics in the postrevolutionary period. In so doing, Maliks throws considerable light onto the development of Kant's legal and political thought and provides an invaluable picture of the German public sphere during that time.

It is well-known that Kant was enthusiastic about the events of 1789. For Kant and other intellectuals of his time, the French Revolution was a living experiment: the unique opportunity to see philosophical ideals, for instance, the assumption of equal status between the members of the nation, shape a political society, its government and constitution. It brought about hopes that European politics would finally go beyond mere balance of powers and political realism. However, subsequent events such as the violent Jacobin takeover of 1793 forced thinkers, Kant included, to revise or temper their initial endorsement of revolutionary ideals. These further reflections can be found in Kant's works, for instance, in the way Kant rejects a right to revolution (p. 134) and allows for postponing political reforms, when their hasty implementation would undermine their political aim (p. 61).