Evil, yet righteous
Kant’s devils and the moral concept of right
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5380/dp.v22i3.100681Palavras-chave:
Coercion, Devils, Kant, Perpetual Peace, Reason, RightResumo
This paper focuses on Kant’s Towards Perpetual Peace famous statement according to which the problem of the State can be solved even for a race of devils. Its first aim is to show that coercion exerted via positive laws is pivotal to the understanding of Kant’s main thesis regarding this nation of devils and the correspondent accomplishment of reason’s ends through the “mechanical course of nature” (ZeF, AA 08, p. 367). According to this reviewed version of Kant’s hypothesis, however, by refraining from violating the laws of a republican State out of self-interest, a devil would have to be taken as genuinely righteous according to rational principles and, more particularly, the moral concept of right. To make sense of this statement, Kant’s hypothesis shall be developed and interpreted as coherently enclosing a general thesis regarding the normativity of right and its source on the external use of free choice independently of each agent’s moral virtue.
Referências
ALMEIDA, G. A. 2006. Sobre o princípio e a lei universal do direito em Kant. Kriterion, Belo Horizonte, n. 114, p. 209-222, Dec 2006.
ALLISON, H. E. 1990. Kant’s theory of freedom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
BRANDT, R. 2012. Kant as rebel against the social order. In: SHELL, S. (Ed.) M.; VELKLET, R. (Ed.). Kant’s observations and remarks: a critical guide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
CLOHESY, W. 1995. A constitution for a race of devils. In: ROBINSON, H. (Ed.). 8th International Kant Congress. v. 2. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press.
ERHARD, J. B. 2019. ‘Devil’s apology’. Translators: James Clarke and Conny Rhode. British Journal for the History of Philosophy, London, v. 27, n. 1, p. 194-215.
FLIKSCHUH, K. 2000. Kant and modern political philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
HÖFFE, O. 1992. ‘Even a nation of devils needs the State’: the dilemma of natural justice. In: WILLIAM, H. (Ed.). Essays on Kant’s political philosophy. Cardiff: University of Walle Press.
HÖFFE, O. 1989. Kant’s principle of justice as categorical imperative of law. In: YOVEL, Y. (Ed.). Kant’s practical philosophy reconsidered: papers presented at the seventh Jerusalem philosophical encounter. Berlim: Springer Science + Business Media.
KANT, I. 2017. A metafísica dos costumes. 3. ed. Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.
KANT, I. 1917. Anthropologie in pragmatischer Hinsicht. In: REIMER, G. (Ed.). Kant’s gesammelte Schriften. v. 7. Berlin: Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. (Anth, AA 07).
KANT, I. 2006. Antropologia de um ponto de vista pragmático. São Paulo: Iluminuras.
KANT, I. 2020. À paz perpétua: um projeto filosófico. Petrópolis: Vozes.
KANT, I. 1923. Das mag in der Theorie richtig sein, taugt aber nichts für die Praxis. In: REIMER, G. (Ed.). Kant’s gesammelte Schriften. v. 8. Berlin: Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. (TP, AA 08).
KANT, I. 1914. Die Metaphysik der Sitten. In: REIMER, G. (Ed.). Kant’s gesammelte Schriften. v. 6. Berlin: Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. (MS, AA 06).
KANT, I. 2009. Fundamentação da metafísica dos costumes. São Paulo: Barcarolla; Discurso Editorial.
KANT, I. 1911. Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten. In: REIMER, G. (Ed.). Kant’s gesammelte Schriften. v. 4. Berlin: Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. (GMS, AA 04).
KANT, I. 1974. Kants Vorlesungen. In: REIMER, G. (Ed.). Kant’s gesammelte Schriften. v. 27. Berlin: Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. (V-Mo/Collins, AA 27).
KANT, I. 2018. Lições de ética. São Paulo: Editora Unesp.
KANT, I. 2006. On the common saying: this may be true in theory, but it does not hold in practice. In: KLEINGELD, P. (Ed.). Towards perpetual peace and other writings on politics, peace, and history. London: Yale University Press.
KANT, I. 2014. Princípios metafísicos da doutrina do direito. São Paulo: Martins Fontes.
KANT, I. 1914. Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der bloßen Vernunft. In: REIMER, G. (Ed.). Kant’s gesammelte Schriften. v. 6. Berlin: Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. (RGV, AA 06).
KANT, I. 1998. Religion within the boundaries of mere reason: and other writings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
KANT, I. 1996. The metaphysics of morals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
KANT, I. 2006. Towards perpetual peace: a philosophical sketch. In: KLEINGELD, P. (Ed.). Towards perpetual peace and other writings on politics, peace, and history. London: Yale University Press.
KANT, I. 1923. Zum ewigen Frieden: ein philosophischer Entwurf. In: REIMER, G. (Ed.). Kant’s gesammelte Schriften. v. 8. Berlin: Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. (ZeF, AA 08).
KERSTING, W. 1992. Politics, freedom and order: Kant’s political philosophy. In: GUYER, P. (Ed.). The Cambridge companion to Kant. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
KLEIN, J. T. 2009. O conceito kantiano de metafísica dos costumes. Peri, Florianópolis, v. 1, n. 1, p. 57-72.
KLEINGELD, P. 2004. Approaching perpetual peace: Kant’s defence of a league of states and his ideal of a world federation. European Journal of Philosophy, v. 12, n. 3, p. 304-325.
KORSGAARD, C. M. 1996. The sources of normativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
LUDWIG, B. 2002. Whence public right?: the role of theoretical and practical reasoning in Kant’s doctrine of right. In: TIMMONS, M. (Ed.). Kant’s metaphysics of morals: interpretative essays. New York: Oxford University Press.
MOHR, G. 2019. Autonomy and moral empiricism: Kant’s criticism of sentimentalist moral principles. In: BACIN, S. (Ed.); SENSEN, O. (Ed.). The emergency of autonomy in Kant’s moral philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
O’NEILL, O. 2018. From principles to practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
PERES, D. T. 1998. Imperativo categórico e doutrina do direito. Cadernos de Filosofia Alemã, São Paulo, n. 4, p. 43-64.
RILEY, P. 1982. Will and political legitimacy: a critical exposition of social contract theory in Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Kant and Hegel. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
RIPSTEIN, A. 2009. Force and freedom: Kant’s legal and political philosophy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
WOOD, A. 1999. Kant’s ethical thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
WOOD, A. 2002. The final form of Kant’s practical philosophy. In: TIMMONS, M. (Ed.). Kant’s metaphysics of morals: interpretative essays. New York: Oxford University Press.
Downloads
Publicado
Como Citar
Edição
Seção
Licença
Copyright (c) 2025 Gehad Marcon Bark
Este trabalho está licenciado sob uma licença Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Autores mantêm os direitos autorais e concedem a Doispontos o direito de primeira publicação, com o trabalho simultaneamente licenciado sob a Licença Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0), que permite o compartilhamento do trabalho com reconhecimento da autoria e publicação inicial nesta revista.
Autores têm autorização para assumir contratos adicionais separadamente, para distribuição não exclusiva da versão do trabalho publicada nesta revista (ex.: publicar em repositório institucional ou como capítulo de livro), com reconhecimento de autoria e publicação inicial nesta revista.
Autores têm permissão e são estimulados a publicar e distribuir seu trabalho online (ex.: em repositórios institucionais ou em sua página pessoal) antes da publicação ou repositório institucional/temático após a publicação, já que isso pode gerar alterações produtivas, bem como aumentar o impacto e a citação do trabalho publicado (Veja O Efeito do Acesso Livre).
