KANTOVO OPRAVDANJE DRŽAVE I PRAVO NA POBUNU
KANT’S JUSTIFICATION OF THE STATE AND THE RIGHT TO REBELLION

Summary/Abstract: In this text, I shall deal with Immanuel Kant’s conception of the state, above all with his justification of the state and rejection of the people’s right to rebellion. First I will expose the basics of Kant’s political philosophy. We will see in what way Kant founds the state on freedom, as the only innate right. Furthermore, I shall show what role equality and independence, besides freedom, have in the foundation of the state. I will also present Kant’s view of the social contract, as well as explain which form of government Kant believes comes closest to the ideal contained in the idea of the social contract. Then I shall display Kant’s conception of private property and its role in deriving the duty to establish a state. I shall claim that this attempt of derivation is problematic because Kant, although he demonstrates that the existence of private property is compatible with his politico-legal foundations, does not demonstrate that it necessarily follows from them, which is necessary for the success of this derivation. After that, I shall consider Kant’s arguments for rejecting the people’s right to rebellion. I shall show that these arguments have a basis in Kant’s initial philosophico-political position. Finally, I shall claim that a satisfactory justification of the people’s right to rebellion cannot be offered inside the framework provided by Kant’s conception of the state. Kant’s rejection of the people’s right to rebellion shows limitations of his conception of the state, given that this thesis goes against some of our deeply ingrained moral-political intuitions.

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