Publicly Committed to the Good: The State of Nature and the Civil Condition in Right and in Ethics

• Main Author: Stefano Lo Re
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of Philosophy of the Jagiellonian University 2020-08-01
• Series: Diametros
• Subjects: Kant; Right; religion; state of nature; civil condition; ethical community
• Online Access: https://diametros.uj.edu.pl/diametros/article/view/1569

In Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason Kant speaks of an ethical state of nature and of an ethico-civil condition, with explicit reference to the juridical state of nature and the juridico-civil condition he discusses at length in his legal-political writings. Given that the Religion is the only work where Kant introduces a parallel between these concepts, one might think that this is only a loose analogy, serving a merely illustrative function. The paper provides a first outline of the similarities and the differences between the state of nature and the civil condition in Right and in ethics. The comparison points to a deeper, structural relation between the two pairs of concepts. By doing so, it makes room for developing a unitary conception of the state of nature and of the civil condition, which would underlie both the ethical and the juridical version.