Ethical Republicanism. The Political Deep Structure of Kant’s Moral Philosophy

Ethical Republicanism. The Political Deep Structure of Kant’s Moral Philosophy

The contribution argues for the profoundly political shaping of the basic concepts of Kant’s moral philosophy in general and those of his ethics in particular. It is the thesis of the contribution that the fundamental concepts of Kant’s main writings in moral philosophy (Foundation for the Metaphysics of Morals, 1785; Critique of Practical Reason, 1788; The Metaphysics of Morals, 1797) are originally juridico-political concepts, transposed by Kant, mutatis mutandis, into the sphere of ethics. In the process, the fundamental juridico-political concepts conceived for intersubjective relationships of sociality—chiefly among them the concepts of freedom, law, legislation, rule and coercion—become fundamental ethical concepts conceived for intrasubjective relationships of selfhood.