Publicly Committed to the Good: The State of Nature and the Civil Condition in Right and in Ethics

• Authors: Lo Re Stefano

Abstracts

EN

In Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason Kant speaks of an ethical state of nature and of an ethico-civil condition, with explicit reference to the juridical state of nature and the juridico-civil condition he discusses at length in his legal-political writings. Given that the Religion is the only work where Kant introduces a parallel between these concepts, one might think that this is only a loose analogy, serving a merely illustrative function. The paper provides a first outline of the similarities and the differences between the state of nature and the civil condition in Right and in ethics. The comparison points to a deeper, structural relation between the two pairs of concepts. By doing so, it makes room for developing a unitary conception of the state of nature and of the civil condition, which would underlie both the ethical and the juridical version.

Keywords

EN

Kant; Right, religion; state of nature; civil condition; ethical community; publicity

• Publisher: Instytut Filozofii - Uniwersytet Jagielloński
• Journal: Diametros
• Year: 2020
• Volume: 17
• Issue: 65
• Pages: 56-76

Dates

published

2020-08

Contributors

author

Lo Re Stefano

• University of St Andrews

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Identifiers

DOI

10.33392/diam.1569

ISSN

1733-5566