Kant (1724–1804)

Abstract

Until recently Kant’s political philosophy was little known and often badly understood. His principal political works — the Metaphysical Elements of Justice (MEJ), which forms the first part of his Metaphysics of Morals (MM), as well as shorter political essays such as On Perpetual Peace — were seriously studied by only a handful of Kant scholars. Most political theorists did not think Kant’s political writings sufficiently distinctive to warrant their inclusion on courses in the history of modern political thought. This assessment changed radically with the publication of John Rawls’ A Theory of Justice (1972). In what has become the most important work in contemporary liberalism, Rawls developed a theory of justice which claimed to be inspired by a specifically Kantian understanding of liberalism. Rawls’s contention raised the question as to what it is about Kant’s political thinking that justifies its characterisation as a distinctive conception of liberalism. The attempt to answer this question in relation to Rawls’s work led to a revival of interest in Kant’s own political writings.