From State of Nature to Civil Society

Abstract

At what point can we be said to have transitioned from the state of nature to a civil condition? Has this transition already taken place or is the civil condition a regulative idea achievable only in the limit? How exactly do rights in the civil condition attain their conclusive status when rights in the state of nature are merely provisional? What justifies the claim that we are each entitled to coerce others into entering a state? These are just some of the questions that bear on Kant’s discussion of the transition from the state of nature to civil society. The different answers that we give to these questions will have a significant impact on our understanding of both the project of Kant’s political philosophy and to the relevance of Kant’s work to contemporary political theory. Consider: if the civil condition is an idea achievable only in the limit, what is the current status of our rights? If we are merely in a sophisticated state of nature, what resources can the Kantian offer to contemporary theorists of justice? This panel seeks to address some of these important questions.