Description
Book SynopsisA collection of essays examining Immanuel Kant's lectures and minor writings as well as his political essays. Offers a comprehensive introduction to Kant's political thought from a position of engagement with modern political and philosophical questions.
Trade Review“Kant’s Political Theory is an impressive contemporary collection featuring some very distinguished contributors. Especially when brought together in one volume, these essays make important contributions to the literature on Kant's political philosophy.”
—Larry D. Krasnoff,College of Charleston
“One of the really remarkable aspects of political philosophy over the last three or four decades—spanning Arendtian, Habermasian, and Rawlsian theory—has been the stunning revival of interest in Kantian political thought. Elisabeth Ellis has put together a collection of essays featuring many of the most prominent and influential contributors to recent scholarship on Kant, thereby helping us appreciate why themes from Kantian political reflection (focusing on liberal justice and autonomy) are back on the radar screen of contemporary theorists and why they are very likely to remain there.”
—Ronald Beiner,University of Toronto
“The distinguished Kant scholar Elisabeth Ellis, who has become an expert in Kant’s political philosophy, has edited an impressive collection of essays. Her knowledgeable and comprehensive introduction marks only the beginning of what is a thoroughgoing examination of Kant’s multifaceted political theory, which has often been underestimated by scholars. All of the essays in this volume are, without exception, of outstanding scholarly quality and persuasive in their argumentation as well as in their interpretive skill.”
—Prof. Dr. Dr. hc mult. Otfried Höffe,University of Tübingen
“Kant's Political Theory consists of nine articles as well as one of the currently richest bibliographies on Kant's legal-political thought. . . . [T]he anthology provides a very good sense of the current variety of approaches to Kant's theory of justice.”
—Helga Varden Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
“Kant’s Political Theory: Interpretations and Applications is a useful and thought-provoking read, no less for the proposed interpretations than for the applications of Kant’s theory. It is a welcome addition to the growing secondary literature on Kant’s legal philosophy.”
—Alice Pinheiro Walla International Dialogue
“This is a wonderful collection. . . . We owe the fine Kant scholar Elisabeth Ellis a debt of gratitude for bringing this collection together. . . . Together [the contributors] provide a fresh new look at Kant’s political philosophy that no scholar of the subject should be without.”
—Samuel Fleischacker Social Theory and Practice
“Kant’s Political Theory . . . ably demonstrates that Kant’s politics deserves close attention. The volume’s nine essays take up a variety of Kantian themes (e.g., the nature and basis of justice, freedom and international community, and education) and helpfully illuminate them from different perspectives (e.g., philosophical, interpretive/textual, and historical). . . . All the essays are excellent, and many contain fresh, insightful readings of even the most familiar texts.”
—J. Church Choice
Table of ContentsContents
Abbreviations
Introduction
Elisabeth Ellis
1 Kant and the Social Contract Tradition
Onora O’Neill
2 Kant and the Circumstances of Justice
Arthur Ripstein
3 Is Kant’s Rechtslehre a “Comprehensive Liberalism”?
Thomas W. Pogge
4 Realizing External Freedom: The Kantian Argument for a World State
Louis-Philippe Hodgson
5 The Progress of Absolutism in Kant’s Essay “What Is Enlightenment?”
Robert S. Taylor
6 Unsocial Sociability: Perpetual Antagonism in Kant’s Political Thought
Michaele Ferguson
7 Kant’s Political Thought in the Prussian Enlightenment
Ian Hunter
8 Kant on Education
Mika LaVaque-Manty
9 Kant, Freedom of the Press, and Book Piracy
John Christian Laursen
Selected Bibliography
Index
