The Concept of the Republic in Eighteenth-Century German Thought

Bödeker, Hans Erich; Heideking, Jürgen; Henretta, James A.; Becker, Peter

doi:10.1017/cbo9781139052313.003

Cited by 4 publications

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“…By the time Kant was writing, the debate over republican government had already gone on for several decades, and distinction between 'civil freedom' and 'political freedom,' was, according to one commentator, 'commonplace by the 1780s at the latest'. 4 The difference is explained by Johann August Eberhard in 1784 as such: political freedom consists of 'participation in sovereignty', whereas civil freedom signifies the 'right . .…”

Section: Prussian Republicanismmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…27 (The common purpose, therefore, equals the arbitrary will of the sovereign.) By imposing 434 Philosophy & Social Criticism 35 (4) his preferences on the community, this master integrates it through force acting from the outside. This mechanical manipulation of atomic parts is brought about exclusively by an efficient cause; there can be no final cause in the state.…”

Section: Two Procedures Of Political Integrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In fact, his famous idea from Perpetual Peace that citizens in a republic are less prone to go to war is predicated on this idea: it is because the citizens have the final right to decide on war (through their elected representatives) that they are unlikely to do so due to the costs of warfare (ZEF 8: 350). Even if they lack this right to exercise their consent during a transitional period, it is incumbent upon the monarch 436 Philosophy & Social Criticism 35 (4) to facilitate transition toward a fully fledged republic where the citizens can be self-governing (RL 6: 340).…”

Section: Two Fictions Of Sovereigntymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Philosophy & Social Criticism 35 (4) This view found very few supporters in the latter half of the 18th century, and after the excesses of the French Revolution it was only maintained by scattered radicals, including Friedrich Schlegel. The overall concern of the period was to find interpretations of political rights that did not include a demand for a redistribution of power and the end of monarchy.…”

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confidence: 95%

“…Philosophy & Social Criticism 35 (4) The intrinsic connection between freedom and self-government comes only with the third concept of freedom, which is freedom as political self-determination, or, for short, political freedom. It is a variation of freedom as external choice and as such unrelated to moral autonomy.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Prussian polis

Maliks¹

2009

Philosophy & Social Criticism

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This article argues that Kant's republicanism provides a foundation for democratic procedures. The conclusion is reached through an investigation of Critique of the Power of Judgment, which allows us to interpret Kant's notion of the state as a self-determining organic community, and not merely an aggregate of individuals. The article rejects Isaiah Berlin's interpretation of Kant as an authoritarian thinker, and reveals a republican theory centered on liberal freedom expressed within a self-organizing political community.

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Section: Prussian Republicanismmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Two Procedures Of Political Integrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Two Fictions Of Sovereigntymentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 95%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Prussian polis

Maliks¹

2009

Philosophy & Social Criticism

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Liberal Revolution: the Cases of Jakob and Erhard

Maliks¹

2011

Bull. Hegel Soc. G.B.

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This article explores the writings of Ludwig Heinrich Jakob and Johann Benjamin Erhard, two young Kantians who produced original defences of resistance and revolution during the 1790's. Comparing these two neglected philosophers reveals a crucial divergence in the liberal theory of revolution between a perspective that emphasises resistance by the individual and another that emphasises revolution by the nation. The article seeks to contribute to a more nuanced view of the political theory of the German Enlightenment, which has often been presented as excessively obedient to authority.The historian Charles Ingrao repeated a common perception when, in an article on enlightened absolutism, he speculated that, ‘the German's greater acceptance of authority both then and now may be rooted in their own distinctive national culture’ (Ingrao 1986: 165). This idea of the obedient German has been promoted especially by those who seek cultural explanations for the authoritarian bent of German society in the 20th century (such as Mandt 1974 and Lepenies 2006). But the idea has a longer history. Herder described Germany as the land of obedience, and Kant wrote that, ‘in keeping with their penchant for law and order, they [the Germans] will rather submit to despotic treatment than venture on innovations (especially wilful reforms of government)’ (Kant 1974: AA 7: 318). By ‘wilful reforms of government’ Kant meant revolution. Madame de Staël later observed that Germans ‘join the greatest boldness of thought to the most obedient character’ (Staël Holstein 1813: 35). As Frederick Beiser has shown, this view, which was repeated by Heine and Marx, came to dominate the historiography (Beiser 1992: 7).

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Johann Wilhelm von Archenholtz’s England und Italien (1785) and its British Travellee-Rewriters

Tarkka

2023

Studies in Travel Writing

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The Concept of the Republic in Eighteenth-Century German Thought

Cited by 4 publications

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Prussian polis

Prussian polis

Liberal Revolution: the Cases of Jakob and Erhard

Johann Wilhelm von Archenholtz’s England und Italien (1785) and its British Travellee-Rewriters

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