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Form and Matter in K antian Political Philosophy: A Reply
Author(s) -
Ripstein Arthur
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
european journal of philosophy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.42
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1468-0378
pISSN - 0966-8373
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0378.2012.00558.x
Subject(s) - deliberation , politics , formalism (music) , democracy , epistemology , law and economics , political philosophy , political science , sociology , philosophy , law , art , musical , visual arts
This paper responds briefly to four reviews of Force and Freedom . V alentini and S angiovanni criticize what they see as the excessive formalism of the K antian enterprise, contending that the K antian project is circular, because it defines rights and freedom together, and that this circularity renders it unable to say anything determinate about appropriate restrictions and permissions. I show that the appearance of circularity arises from a misconstrual of the Kantian idea of a right. Properly understood, K antian rights are partially indeterminate, but not in a way that causes problems for the account. R onzoni and W illiams seek to broaden the reach of public right, arguing that K ant's abstract approach overlooks pressing questions of social and political life, ( R onzoni) and that public right should allow for democratic deliberation about purposes that go beyond the requirement that a state provide a rightful condition for its members ( W illiams). I argue that the K antian view makes room for these factors, but that each must be understood in relation to the formal constraints of right.