Kant

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) was a Prussian German philosopher in the Age of Enlightenment and became the central figure in modern philosophy. Bridging the conflict between early modern rationalism and empiricism and setting the terms for much of nineteenth and twentieth century philosophy, Kant up till today continues to exercise a significant influence in metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, political philosophy, aesthetics, and other fields. Born and raised in Königsberg (today Kaliningrad, Russia), Kant studied among other things philosophy, physics, and mathematics at the University of Königsberg. After working as a tutor, lecturer, and librarian in Königsberg for several years, he was appointed Professor of Logic and Metaphysics at the University of Königsberg in 1770. From then on, he developed – especially in his three Critiques: the Critique of Pure Reason (1781, 1787), the Critique of Practical Reason (1788), and the Critique of Judgment (1790) – his “critical philosophy”, which is still so influential today. Kant’s legal philosophy, however, is mainly presented in his Metaphysics of Morals (1797). Its central claim is to understand right (Recht) as a system of equal freedom which is the mandatory moral requirement for the coexistence of free rational beings. As such Kant’s legal philosophy is part of his moral philosophy, although it is controversial in how far it shares the metaphysical underpinnings of his ethics (Kant uses the term “morals” (Moral resp. Sittenlehre) as a generic term for “right” (Recht resp. Rechtslehre) and “ethics” (Ethik resp. Tugendlehre)). Kant’s concept of right gives rise to the innate right to freedom, from which he deduces the moral possibility of acquired rights as well as the necessity to enter a civil condition of Public Right. With his understanding of right, Kant by and large breaks with the natural law and the social contract traditions of the seventeenth and eighteenth century and exercises a significant influence in today’s legal and political philosophy