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Kant’s Provisionality Thesis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2019

J. P. MESSINA
J. P. MESSINA*
Affiliation:
The University of New Orleans
*
Email: jp.messina@gmail.com
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Abstract

I argue that Kant’s mature political philosophy entails the provisionality thesis. The provisionality thesis asserts that in a world like ours, populated with beings sufficiently like us, acquired rights (rights to external objects of choice, including property, sovereignty and territory) are necessarily provisional. I motivate the standard view, which restricts the notion of provisional right to the state of nature and the transition from the state of nature to the civil condition. I then provide two textual arguments against it. I conclude by reflecting on the normative implications of the provisionality thesis, arguing that they are more modest than has been formerly appreciated.

Keywords

provisional rightlegitimacyglobal justiceKant
Type
Articles
Information
Kantian Review , Volume 24 , Issue 3 , September 2019 , pp. 439 - 463
Copyright
© Kantian Review, 2019 

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