Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
38
HowardWilliams
thinksthepeopleinFrancewhohaveoverthrowntheirmonarcharewrong,
justasthepeopleinBritainwhodidsointhepreviouscenturywerewrong.
HefearsthattheactsoftheFrenchrevolutionarieswillhaveverydamaging
consequences.Hebelievesthattheywillnotsucceedinestablishingasgood
aconstitutionastheonetheyhavealreadydestroyed.Whathasfollowedthe
revolutionisnotthelegalruleoftheunitedwillofthepeoplebuttheruleof
faction.
26Franceis,hethinks,beingtornapartbyaristocratsandclericsin-
steadofdevelopinggreaterequalityinpoliticalobligations,asmayhaveoc-
curredunderaheadofstatewhoenjoyedallthewidepowersHobbesenvis-
agedforthesovereign.ButalthoughKant’sdoctrineimpliesthatmonarchs
shouldnotbeoverthrownbythepeople,itdoesnotimplythattheyareinfalli-
bleorthattheirpowersshouldnotbealtered.
“WhileItrustthatno-onewillaccusemeofflatteringmonarchstoomuchby
declaringtheminviolable,IlikewisehopethatIshallbesparedthereproachof
claimingtoomuchforthepeopleifImaintainthatthepeopletoohaveinalien-
ablerightsagainsttheheadofstate,evenifthesecannotberightsofcoercion.”
27
Themoderndoctrineofhumanrights,accordingtowhichweenjoycertain
rightsinvirtueofbeinghuman,isarecognisablepartofKant’spoliticaltheory.
IndeedKant’saccountofpracticalreasonprovidesvaluablephilosophicalsup-
portforthedoctrine.
CONCLUSION
WehaveseenherehowKantpresentshisconceptofindependenceasachal-
lengetothemainpremisesofHobbes’spoliticalphilosophy(andsotoastill
highlyinfluentialviewofpolitics).Hobbes’spoliticalphilosophycentresonthe
onepoliticalactorwhohasthesolerighttoactinafullyindependentway.Hob-
besevenportraysthissovereignactorasindependentofthelawsofthesociety
andthearbiterofwhatcanbeeffectiveininternationallaw.Kantincontrasthas
arolefortheindependentindividualunderthelaw.Thisisachievedbyregard-
ingtheindependentindividualasitsco-author.Admittedly,Kantseverelyre-
strictsthenumberofindependentindividualsheispreparedtoacceptwithin
acivilsociety,anddisappointinglyoffersnoroleforwomenasactivecitizens,
nonethelessheconsiderablydemocraticizesHobbes’svisionofpolitics.Healso
persuasivelyextendstheboundariesofcitizenship,seeingindependentindividu-
alsasconnectedtoeachotherinaworldwidecivilsociety.Theyareconnected
throughtheroleoflaw-making.Thisisataskthatallgenuinelymodernpolities
haveincommon.AmodernpolityisforKantrepresentativeandrepublican,and
asmodernpolitiesextendtoallcornersoftheglobesodoesthesharedresponsi-
26Kant,WerkeVIII,p.302;Kant’sPoliticalWritings,p.83.
27Kant,WerkeVIII,p.303;Kant’sPoliticalWritings,p.84.
