On the Old Saw. Immanuel Kant

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СКАЧАТЬ punishment. Civil society is created to deal with these problems.

      The social contract is the instrument by means of which civil society is created. Via the contract, each individual gives up or transfers some of his natural rights (e.g., the right to punish) in exchange for the collective action and protection of a group. On this model, there are two agreements, one by which society is formed, and a second establishing an agency authorized to make and enforce laws.

      The proper explanation of the origin of government is not the needs of men but their freely given consent. A man is obliged to obey the government because he has freely assumed that obligation. Whatever authority government has is that which the people give it. While there is an agreement between governed and government, it is more like that between the owner of a business and one who manages it than between equal parties. Since the function of government is to protect the rights of men, government may use its power only to this end. When it protects rights, it is justified in using force, and the obligation to obey is direct and complete. But when government uses its power in ways which do not serve the ends for which it was created or when it threatens the rights of men, it loses its authority. When government exceeds its authority, it harms the people, and the trust is broken. The people then have the right to disobey, to resist, and, if necessary, to overthrow the government. These rights derive from the natural right to protect oneself and to punish those who harm us.

      Kant agrees that each individual ‘‘has inalienable rights which he cannot give up,” ²⁸ that each person “is himself entitled to judge” ²⁹ these rights, and that it is the function of government to protect them. He also agrees that the idea of an original contract is the fundament “on which alone a civil and thus consistently legal constitution among men can be based and a community established.” ³⁰ One expects Kant to agree that men have a right to rebel against government if it fails to protect or transgresses these rights. But Kant does not take this step. To understand why we must get clear his interpretation of the relationship between the rights of the individual and the government, which is best understood in terms of his criticisms of the Lockian theory.

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