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  • Chapter 13 - Independence and Kant’s Positive Conception of Freedom

  • from Part V - Law and Morality in Kant’s Political Theory
  • 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 262-284
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  • Summary

    The scholarly discussion of Kant’s republicanism focuses heavily on his ‘negative’ conception of freedom: independence or not being subject to another master. What has received much less attention is Kant’s ‘positive’ conception of freedom: being subject to one’s own legislation. This chapter argues that Kant’s positive conception of external freedom plays a crucial role in his Doctrine of Right: external freedom in the negative sense (mutual independence) requires and is realized by freedom in the positive sense (joint self-legislation). After first discussing the ‘innate right to freedom’, it is shown that, on Kant’s account, this fundamental right is realized fully only when external freedom is realized in both senses and in all three spheres of public right. Any satisfactory account of Kant’s republican theory must complement the focus on independence with an emphasis on citizenship and joint self-legislation.