Kant's Political Philosophy (review)

Abstract

BOOK REVIEWS 265 an absolute guarantee of truth. The theory of possibility fails as a replacement for the axiom because it does not fit well into Hume's epistemology: it is not empirical. Kreimendahl turns his attention to Hume's "fork" (relations of ideas and matters of fact), and finds its sources in Leibniz and the theological debates of Tillotson, who was particularly concerned with the question of the certainty of theological judgments . Kreimendahl asks how mathematical ideas, which are not based on previous impressions, can be reconciled with Hume's empiricism, and how it is possible for Hume to distinguish a priori between relations of ideas and matters of fact without violating his empiricism. He concludes that Hume's inconsistency reflects the different and disparate sources he drew upon. To show once again that Hume was inconsistent is to batter down an already open door. Kreimendahl's contribution is to show that this inconsistency has its roots in Hume's rationalism. The most interesting part of the book, to my mind, is Kreimendahrs historical detective work. Kreimendahl overstates, however, the influence some writers had on Hume. To show that Abb~ Pluche and Tillotson held views parallel to those held by Hume is not to show that they influenced him. It is by no means unheard of for two philosophers to come to similar conclusions quite independently. HAMILTON BECK Oklahoma State University Howard L. Williams. Kant's Political Philosophy. New York: St Martin's Press, 1983. Pp. xii + 29u. $3o.oo. In the past fifteen years, a number of books have been published on Kant's politica! philosophy: Murphy (197o), Saage (1973) , Saner 0973), Shell 098o), Riley (a983), and the text of some lectures by Arendt (1981). Howard Williams correctly notes, however, that none of them has succeeded either in showing "how Kant's views on politics square with the major tenets of his critical philosophy" or in establishing Kant as "a political philosopher of the first rank" (vii). In my judgment, Williams's book also leaves those tasks unaccomplished. Nevertheless, it makes a significant contribution to the literature on the topic and compares well with any of the books listed above. It is inappropriate of Williams to advertise his book as showing how Kant's political thought relates to the critical philosophy as a whole, for almost any of the books mentioned above does a better job of that. Williams's book is deliberately written in a "simple" and "modest" fashion, assuming little knowledge of Kant or of political philosophy (vii). This may account in part for the impression of philosophical naivet6 the book often gives. But the objective of showing how Kant's political thought arises out of his critical philosophy is hindered by the author's apparent lack of much knowledge of Kantian metaphysics and by his superficial treatment of Kantian moral philosophy. The book's strengths lie elsewhere, in Williams's thorough knowledge of the Kantian texts on political philosophy, and in his good judgment about the strengths and weaknesses of the ideas expressed there. Williams also refers regularly 266 JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY and helpfully to other major political philosophers (such as Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau , Hegel, occasionally also Plato and Aristotle, Burke, and T. H. Green) and illuminates Kant's views by comparison with theirs. Williams begins with a comprehensive, well-written chapter on Kant's philosophy of history which provides the perspective from which he views Kant's political thought. The second chapter on Kant's moral philosophy and the relation of morals to politics is less strong. The next three chapters expound some of the main themes in the First Part of the Rechtslehre: Kant's conception of justice (Chapter 3); his theory of property (Chapter 4); and three other themes in the theory of Privatrecht--punishment , contract, and marriage (Chapter 5)Williams claims that his discussion of Kant's distinction between noumenal and empirical concepts of property "deals neatly with a seemingly intractable difficulty in liberal property theory" (viii). He also claims that "Kant expresses some surprising views on the role of women" (ix). These advertisements, however, appear only to set the reader up for disappointment. The difficulty in liberal...