Immanuel Kant — Justice as Freedom

After a short explanation of Kant’s distinction between right (justice) and virtue (ethics), I sketch his theory of “private right,” which are the rights individuals have in relation to each other. Subsequently, I address the question of why we have states and public legal-political systems, followed by the issue of states’ rights (public right), specifically, the question of whether the state has (public) rights that extend beyond the (private) rights individuals have in relation to each other. The final two parts of this introduction focus on the distinction between “active” and “passive citizens,” the relation between right (justice) and politics, the issue of global justice, and, briefly, the historical influence of Kant’s ideas about justice.