Nature, Providence, and Human Autonomy in Kant’s Critical Philosophy

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, ‎University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran.‎

Abstract

Kant’s political philosophy is a realm of conflict between the traditional order, which is based on nature and its arrangement, and the civic order, which attempts to substitute the general will for the natural order. In fact, Kantian philosophy as a whole still finds itself partially trapped in a form of thought based on a natural-theological order, and consequently, witnesses its penetration into the theory of the state and the political sovereign. Nature, as an impenetrable element and a determinant of the roadmap in politics, manifests itself anew under the concept of the state—a presence that the individual, and even the aggregation of the general will, lacks the power to cast aside. This paper demonstrates the complex and multidimensional character that the term "nature" holds for Kant, analyzes the relationship between the idea of nature and Kant's political idea, and ultimately explains the weakness of Kant's political philosophy as it relates to his theory of nature.

Keywords

References

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