The Philosopher's Voice: Philosophy, Politics, and Language in the Nineteenth Century

Chapter 4. Kant’s Political Philosophy: Progress and Philosophical Intervention

C H A P T E R 4
Kant’s Political Philosophy: Progress and Philosophical Intervention It is not to be expected that kings will philosophize or that philosophers will become kings; nor is it to be desired, however, since the possession of power inevitably corrupts the free judgement of reason. Kings or sovereign peoples (i.e., those governing themselves by egalitarian laws) should not, however, force the class of philosophers to disappear or to remain silent, but should allow them to speak publicly. —Kant, Perpetual Peace1 Kant lived and wrote during a turbulent political epoch. Much of his explicit political philosophizing occurs under the shadow of two important political events: the end of “enlightened despotism” in Prussia with the death of Frederick the Great in 1786 and the symbolic birth of a new liberal era with the French Revolution of 1789. With the ascension of Frederick Wilhelm II to the throne, Prussia entered a period of regression and reaction against the enlightenment, seen most clearly in Wöllner’s edicts of 1788 instituting strict censorship and requiring pledges of faith on the part of theological faculty. At the same time the French Revolution held out hope that enlightenment would finally dawn across Europe. Kant’s writings during this period reflect his hopeful view of political life and his concern to defend the autonomy of critical reason, which for Kant was the very mechanism of enlightenment , against state censorship. Although Kant did retreat somewhat in response to Frederick Wilhelm’s rebukes, he continued to defend freedom of thought in his political writings and in his Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone, a political book published in the midst of the Wöllner censorship . Despite continuing to challenge the political authorities to become more enlightened, Kant did not allow himself to become a martyr for the enlightenment and remained profoundly ambivalent about the efficacy of the philosopher’s voice as a catalyst of historical change.2 Kant continually advocated advancement toward enlightenment, even though he recognized that the revolutionary content of the philosopher’s voice 67 68 The Philosopher’s Voice should be constrained by the philosopher’s duty to obey the law. Given this constraint on political activity, Kant limits philosophy to an educational role inspired by hope for moral and political progress. Although the voice of philosophy is the voice of enlightened progress, this voice should not become overtly political. The above epigraph, taken from Kant’s essay, Perpetual Peace (published in 1795 in the midst of this era), shows us how acutely Kant was aware of the conflict between philosophy and politics. Kant’s solution to this conflict is to separate philosophy and politics in order to preserve the autonomy of philosophy. Nonetheless, as we saw in chapter 3, Kant views philosophy and politics as intertwined. His critical methodology points philosophy back toward political life: the republican transformation of political life can be understood as the propaedeutic for the completion of the critical project.3 Moreover, as Kant recognizes in Perpetual Peace, the republican transformation of political life will also serve to make the completion of the practical moral project possible. Although in the Critique of Practical Reason, Kant resolves the antinomy of happiness and morality by appealing to “the postulates of pure practical reason ,” (freedom, immortality, and God), in his political essays, Kant endeavors to resolve this antinomy in practice.4 Nonetheless, since Kant’s critical philosophy is oriented toward seeing the limits of knowledge, he recognizes that there are no final assurances about an enlightened outcome to the political struggle. Instead, Kant relies upon what might be called a “postulate of political philosophy,” hope. Hope, based upon the fact of the French Revolution , allows Kant to continue to advocate enlightenment even as Prussia becomes reactionary. Kant thus seems to have inverted the traditional Platonic notion of the relationship between theory and practice. The traditional interpretation of Plato holds that philosophical enlightenment is prior to political transformation and that, indeed, moral insight is required for a just critique of political life. For this reason, in the Republic, Plato maintains that the just state will be the state that is organized according to the wisdom of the philosopherking . Kant’s notion of the relation between theory and practice is more organic and republican, by which I mean that he recognizes a reciprocal interaction between philosophy and politics. While he does argue that the philosopher plays a significant role as the catalyst for...