康德的魔鬼民族及其国家

Kant’s Nation of Devils and Their State

根据康德的著名命题,即使是一个魔鬼民族也能解决建立国家的问题,只要这些魔鬼能够明智行事。因此,康德认为,自由的法秩序采取威胁和运用强制,甚至可以促使那些只对自身利益最大化感兴趣的人遵守法律。本篇论文研究了这一思想的一致性。在简短的介绍之后(第一节),文章指出,康德是以强制的方式构想法的(第二节)。尽管如此,这位哲学家对预防性强制的考虑——强制是对自由的阻碍的阻碍,以及他对刑罚的理解——强制是对犯罪的报应——的前提是共同体的大多数成员自愿接受法(第三节和第四节)。事实上,如果没有大多数公民的内在忠诚,自由的法秩序是无法长期存在的。与黑格尔相反,康德没有掌握分析范畴,无法充分考虑到法制度稳定的这一不可或缺但无法强制执行的前提条件。遗憾的是,康德的实践哲学并没有像他的“德行论”对个人道德那样深入研究特定的政治道德。

According to Kant’s famous aphorism,even a nation of devils can solve the problem of establishing a state,if only the devils are able to act prudentially.Therefore,Kant holds that the threat and application of coercion by a liberal legal order can even motivate people who are exclusively interested in maximizing their own profit to obey the law.The present essay examines the consistency of this idea.After a short introduction(Ⅰ.),the essay points out that Kant conceives of law in terms of coercion(Ⅱ.).Nonetheless,the philosopher’s considerations on preventive coercion—coercion as a hindrance of a hindrance of freedom—as well as his understanding of punishment—coercion as retribution for a crime—presuppose that most members of the community accept the law voluntarily(Ⅲ./Ⅳ.).Indeed,a liberal legal order is unable to survive in the long run without intrinsic loyalty of the majority of its citizens.Contrary to Hegel,Kant does not have the analytic categories at his disposal to adequately take into account this indispensable though unenforceable prerequisite of a legal system’s stability.Regrettably,Kant’s practical philosophy does not delve into specific political morality as his Doctrine of Virtue does with personal morality.