Provisional Justice

Abstract

Central to Kant's Doctrine of Right is the idea that the possession of external objects cannot be conclusive unless and until it is sanctioned by a lawful condition - not only by domestic public coercive laws, but also by a universal association of states. As he puts it, any possession of external objects will always remain provisional unless and until the original contract extends to the entire human race. Surprisingly however, little attention has been paid to how this provisionality should exactly been understood. The main purpose of this panel is to compensate for this shortcoming by addressing the following kinds of questions: How can Kant's distinction between a 'provisional' and a 'conclusive' rightful possession be best captured? Can the provisional possession of an external object be seen as a provisional property right? And does the idea of a 'provisional right' make sense - that is, can a provisional right be seen as a genuine right? Is the idea of provisional justice restricted to the possession of external objects or can it also apply to other spheres of human action? Can the possession of external objects ever come to hold conclusively?

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