A PHILOSOPHICAL INVESTIGATION OF KANT’S CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL THOUGHT
The textual analysis of the problem of individual autonomy and the normative justification of the state is fundamental in Kant’s contemporary political thought. The themes of non-violent resistance, social order, happiness, freedom, justice, property right, the ‘highest political good’, and perpetual peace in Kant’s political philosophy suggests the need for the normative foundation of the state and the normative possibility of social order. Kant’s political philosophy presupposes the normative theory of the social contract. Kant’s social contract theory reflects on the universalization of justice, reason and moral principles. His philosophy of right is influenced by Rousseau’s conceptualization of the general will as the canon of the ‘highest political good’ of any democratic state. Kant’s metaphysics of right originates from the universal formal law of reason, mutual compatibility and the freedom of human action. This paper therefore, adopts the analytic method in navigating through the murky waters of human democratic society. The normative question of right, action and freedom is the question of mutual compatibility and rational consensus. The freedom of the individual is limited and it connotes the logical consistency of the freedom of others and of the democratic state. Kant’s political philosophy connotes outright rejection of violent revolution. This paper concludes that Kant’s themes of property right, the highest political good, individual rights, freedom, justice and happiness suggests the need for a normative structure of the democratic state. Kant’s moral principle connotes the voice of conscience, moral answerability and the voice of reason. His political philosophy showcases the principle of logical consistency and mutual compatibility. Kant’s argument for the absolute prohibition of violent revolution is based on his moral foundation or normative justification of the state, property right and civil society. Revolution could lead us backward and could return us to the state of nature.
Keywords: contemporary, investigation, kant’s, philosophical, political, thought