Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

1 results

  • Chapter 11 - What Is External Freedom?

  • from Part IV - External Freedom and Kantian Legal Philosophy
  • Edited by Martin Brecher, Universität Mannheim, Germany, Philipp-Alexander Hirsch, Max Planck Institute, Freiburg
  • Book:
    Law and Morality in Kant
    Published online:
    16 December 2025
    Print publication:
    22 January 2026, pp 220-238
    • Chapter
      • You have access
      • Open access
    • PDF
    • HTML
    • Export citation

  • Summary

    The foundational claim of Kant’s political philosophy is that we each have an innate right to external freedom. But what is external freedom? This chapter contrasts normative and descriptive characterizations of this concept. Arthur Ripstein uses a normative characterization of external freedom in his reconstruction of Kant’s argument for the state, while Kyla Ebels-Duggan uses a descriptive characterization of external freedom in her reconstruction of the same argument. The chapter sets aside the interpretative question of which of these readings is more faithful to Kant and instead focuses on showing how Kant’s argument for the state faces significant problems on either interpretation. But rather than taking these problems to show that Kantian political philosophy is doomed, it is argued that a normative characterization of external freedom can be the basis of a compelling argument for the state, one that draws on some of the key insights in Kant’s political philosophy while departing from his own argument in important respects.