Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Political Philosophy of Immanuel Kant
Political Philosophy of Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant
Major works
Critique of Judgment
Kantianism
Kantian ethics
Transcendental idealism
Critical philosophy
Sapere aude
Schema
A priori and a posteriori
Analyticsynthetic distinction
Noumenon
Categories
Categorical imperative
Hypothetical imperative
"Kingdom of Ends"
Political philosophy
People
George Berkeley
Ren Descartes
J. G. Fichte
F. H. Jacobi
G. W. F. Hegel
David Hume
Arthur Schopenhauer
Baruch Spinoza
African Spir
Johannes Tetens
Related topics
Schopenhauer's criticism
German idealism
Neo-Kantianism
Critics of the European Union assert that the Union's relative inability to establish itself
as an influential external policy entity in the international level stems from the fact that
the EU's institutions function on Kantian premises and are therefore ill-equipped to face
the more primitive non-Kantian world outside.[citation needed]
Kant opposed "democracy" which, in that era, meant direct democracy believing
that majority rule posed a threat to individual liberty. He stated, "democracy is,
properly speaking, necessarily a despotism, because it establishes an executive power in
which "all" decide for or even against one who does not agree; that is, "all", who are not
quite all, decide, and this is a contradiction of the general will with itself and with
freedom."[9] As most writers at the time he distinguished three forms of government:
democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy with mixed government as the most ideal form of
government.
A distinctive feature of Kant's political philosophy is his conviction that the university
should be a model of creative conflict: the philosopher's role within the university
should be to "police" the higher faculties (which in his day were theology, law and
medicine), making sure their teaching conforms to the principles of reason; likewise, the
goal of perpetual peace in society can be achieved only when the rulers consult with
philosophers on a regular basis.[10]