Fichte and Kant on Freedom, Rights, and Law

by Gunnar Beck

Overview

Beck provides the first comparative book-length introduction to Kant's and Fichte's theories of freedom, law, and politics, together with an overview of the metaphysical and epistemological edifice underpinning their thinking. He provides a critical analysis of the underlying normative foundations of Kant's and Fichte's theories of rights as the central theme around which the broader discussion is structured.

Going against received interpretation and common scholarly opinion, Beck's study demonstrates that Kant's and Fichte's respective theories of law and of natural rights call into question the analytical link between autonomy and a rights-based political liberalism in crucial respects. Contrary to received scholarship, Beck concludes that Kant's theory of rights, like Fichte's, contains an unsettling message for many incompletely reasoned contemporary liberal theories of rights, which rarely discuss those additional ontological, epistemological and psychological foundations on which the defense of liberal individualistic rights ultimately rests.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739122945
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	02/21/2008
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Gunnar Beck is a lecturer in the Law Department at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Chapter 1: The Relation Between Freedom and Morality in Kant's and Fichte's Practical Philosophy
Chapter 3 Chapter 2: Fichte's Early Theory of Rights
Chapter 4 Chapter 3: Fichte's Later Theory of Self-Consciousness and Freedom
Chapter 5 Chapter 4: Fichte's Perfectionist Theory of Politics
Chapter 6 Chapter 5: Immanuel Kant's Theory of Rights
Chapter 7 Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

This is no ordinary digestion of the work of a minor philosopher standing between giants. Rather, by stressing the dynamic element of Fichte's theory, Beck is able to extract deeper insights that will serve as a critical element to our understanding of the political philosophy of the age. More importantly, Beck is able to provide a foundation for understanding the movement from liberalism to totalitarianism in European political philosophy. That movement-from the left to the hard right, from individual freedom to its inversion in the name of freedom, is one of the most tenacious elements of modern political philosophy. Beck's contribution to the understanding of this dynamism, and the connections between liberalism and totalitarianism makes the study alone an important contribution to the field. Beck deftly draws Fichte into the mainstream of a critical stream of Western political philosophy. That alone makes this an important work. But most importantly, perhaps, Beck is able to show the way in which manyof the variations in the most subtle of political philosophies, all have a common parent. Reason, it appears, serves any master willing to deploy it to some particular purpose-any purpose, it seems. And so, Beck rightly draws the reader back to foundatio

Larry Catá Backer

This is no ordinary digestion of the work of a minor philosopher standing between giants. Rather, by stressing the dynamic element of Fichte's theory, Beck is able to extract deeper insights that will serve as a critical element to our understanding of the political philosophy of the age. More importantly, Beck is able to provide a foundation for understanding the movement from liberalism to totalitarianism in European political philosophy. That movement-from the left to the hard right, from individual freedom to its inversion in the name of freedom, is one of the most tenacious elements of modern political philosophy. Beck's contribution to the understanding of this dynamism, and the connections between liberalism and totalitarianism makes the study alone an important contribution to the field. Beck deftly draws Fichte into the mainstream of a critical stream of Western political philosophy. That alone makes this an important work. But most importantly, perhaps, Beck is able to show the way in which manyof the variations in the most subtle of political philosophies, all have a common parent. Reason, it appears, serves any master willing to deploy it to some particular purpose-any purpose, it seems. And so, Beck rightly draws the reader back to foundatio

Larry Catá Backer