POTENTIAL OF THE KANTIAN NOTION OF SOCIAL JUSTICE

Purpose. This paper aims to show how the views of Kant persist in the modern debate on social justice and to outline the practical and political potential contained in his understanding of a just state system and international justice. To that end, I will present what Kant meant by a just state syst...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Z. Kieliszek
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Ukrainian State University of Science and Technologies 2020-12-01
Series:Antropologìčnì Vimìri Fìlosofsʹkih Doslìdžen'
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ampr.diit.edu.ua/article/view/221296
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832557830927810560
author Z. Kieliszek
author_facet Z. Kieliszek
author_sort Z. Kieliszek
collection DOAJ
description Purpose. This paper aims to show how the views of Kant persist in the modern debate on social justice and to outline the practical and political potential contained in his understanding of a just state system and international justice. To that end, I will present what Kant meant by a just state system and just relationships between states. Then, I will reference his understanding of social justice against three fundamental models of social justice thus far established in the philosophical tradition: the legal, distributive, and contractual justice. Finally, I will explain how the Kantian understanding of social justice is reflected in select modern interpretations of a just state system and justice in international relationships, and how we can grasp the current practice and the expected development of sociopolitical life in the framework of social justice as understood by Kant. Originality. The article presents the theoretical-conceptual and practical-political relevance of the concept of social justice, developed by I. Kant. It was shown that Kant considered justice to be the basis of all correct social relations, both at the level of individual states and in the sphere of international relations. According to Kant, the only just state system is a republic. In his opinion, justice in the field of international relations requires that they be based on the principles of federal unification of individual states. The concept of social justice developed by Kant can be identified as a form of classically understood contractual justice. In addition, Kan’s notion of justice was correlated with the works of modern authors: John Rawls, Robert Nozick and Otfried Höffe, showing identical and different elements in them. Conclusions. The reflections above suffice to assert that the Kantian understanding of social justice primarily involves the following observations: 1. under a relevant contract, interested parties institute a public authority, i.e. a republican state (at the level of citizen-to-citizen relations) or a federal institution endowed with judicial or executive powers (in the international arena); 2. the institution of public authority (a republican state, a federal court or government) remains fair (impartial) in dealings with the governed; 3. the public authority has the right to intervene only in the circumstances of threat to the external freedom, equality and independence of the governed individuals; 4. the public authority is responsible only for guaranteeing just relations between individuals and the enforcement of their contracts. Furthermore, Kantian understanding of justice falls within the scope of the classical notion of contractual justice and remains present in the modern debates on justice, as exemplified by the thought of Rawls, Nozick and Höffe. Finally, the Kantian understanding of social justice remains topical and worthy of consideration during the design and the development of current and future solutions for a just public order, both at the national and international level.
format Article
id doaj-art-5fc71a4caf0d4099920f739a708bd345
institution Kabale University
issn 2227-7242
language English
publishDate 2020-12-01
publisher Ukrainian State University of Science and Technologies
record_format Article
series Antropologìčnì Vimìri Fìlosofsʹkih Doslìdžen'
spelling doaj-art-5fc71a4caf0d4099920f739a708bd3452025-02-03T02:00:54ZengUkrainian State University of Science and TechnologiesAntropologìčnì Vimìri Fìlosofsʹkih Doslìdžen'2227-72422020-12-0118344810.15802/ampr.v0i18.221296208743POTENTIAL OF THE KANTIAN NOTION OF SOCIAL JUSTICEZ. Kieliszek0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0723-5422University of Warmia and Mazury in OlsztynPurpose. This paper aims to show how the views of Kant persist in the modern debate on social justice and to outline the practical and political potential contained in his understanding of a just state system and international justice. To that end, I will present what Kant meant by a just state system and just relationships between states. Then, I will reference his understanding of social justice against three fundamental models of social justice thus far established in the philosophical tradition: the legal, distributive, and contractual justice. Finally, I will explain how the Kantian understanding of social justice is reflected in select modern interpretations of a just state system and justice in international relationships, and how we can grasp the current practice and the expected development of sociopolitical life in the framework of social justice as understood by Kant. Originality. The article presents the theoretical-conceptual and practical-political relevance of the concept of social justice, developed by I. Kant. It was shown that Kant considered justice to be the basis of all correct social relations, both at the level of individual states and in the sphere of international relations. According to Kant, the only just state system is a republic. In his opinion, justice in the field of international relations requires that they be based on the principles of federal unification of individual states. The concept of social justice developed by Kant can be identified as a form of classically understood contractual justice. In addition, Kan’s notion of justice was correlated with the works of modern authors: John Rawls, Robert Nozick and Otfried Höffe, showing identical and different elements in them. Conclusions. The reflections above suffice to assert that the Kantian understanding of social justice primarily involves the following observations: 1. under a relevant contract, interested parties institute a public authority, i.e. a republican state (at the level of citizen-to-citizen relations) or a federal institution endowed with judicial or executive powers (in the international arena); 2. the institution of public authority (a republican state, a federal court or government) remains fair (impartial) in dealings with the governed; 3. the public authority has the right to intervene only in the circumstances of threat to the external freedom, equality and independence of the governed individuals; 4. the public authority is responsible only for guaranteeing just relations between individuals and the enforcement of their contracts. Furthermore, Kantian understanding of justice falls within the scope of the classical notion of contractual justice and remains present in the modern debates on justice, as exemplified by the thought of Rawls, Nozick and Höffe. Finally, the Kantian understanding of social justice remains topical and worthy of consideration during the design and the development of current and future solutions for a just public order, both at the national and international level.http://ampr.diit.edu.ua/article/view/221296immanuel kantjusticepolitical systemrepublicinternational relationsfederationjust ordering of international relations in the future
spellingShingle Z. Kieliszek
POTENTIAL OF THE KANTIAN NOTION OF SOCIAL JUSTICE
Antropologìčnì Vimìri Fìlosofsʹkih Doslìdžen'
immanuel kant
justice
political system
republic
international relations
federation
just ordering of international relations in the future
title POTENTIAL OF THE KANTIAN NOTION OF SOCIAL JUSTICE
title_full POTENTIAL OF THE KANTIAN NOTION OF SOCIAL JUSTICE
title_fullStr POTENTIAL OF THE KANTIAN NOTION OF SOCIAL JUSTICE
title_full_unstemmed POTENTIAL OF THE KANTIAN NOTION OF SOCIAL JUSTICE
title_short POTENTIAL OF THE KANTIAN NOTION OF SOCIAL JUSTICE
title_sort potential of the kantian notion of social justice
topic immanuel kant
justice
political system
republic
international relations
federation
just ordering of international relations in the future
url http://ampr.diit.edu.ua/article/view/221296
work_keys_str_mv AT zkieliszek potentialofthekantiannotionofsocialjustice