Fichte and Kant on Freedom, Rights, and Law

Gunnar Beck

ISBN 10: 0739122940 / ISBN 13: 9780739122945

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, US, 2008

About this Item

Beck provides the first comparative book-length introduction to Kant's and Fichte's theories of freedom, law, and politics, together with an overview of the metaphysical and epistemological edifice underpinning their thinking. He provides a critical analysis of the underlying normative foundations of Kant's and Fichte's theories of rights as the central theme around which the broader discussion is structured.Going against received interpretation and common scholarly opinion, Beck's study demonstrates that Kant's and Fichte's respective theories of law and of natural rights call into question the analytical link between autonomy and a rights-based political liberalism in crucial respects. Contrary to received scholarship, Beck concludes that Kant's theory of rights, like Fichte's, contains an unsettling message for many incompletely reasoned contemporary liberal theories of rights, which rarely discuss those additional ontological, epistemological and psychological foundations on which the defense of liberal individualistic rights ultimately rests.

Seller Inventory # LU-9780739122945

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Fichte and Kant on Freedom, Rights, and Law
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, US
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0739122940
• ISBN 13: 9780739122945
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 562 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Beck provides the first comparative book-length introduction to Kant's and Fichte's theories of freedom, law, and politics, together with an overview of the metaphysical and epistemological edifice underpinning their thinking. He provides a critical analysis of the underlying normative foundations of Kant's and Fichte's theories of rights as the central theme around which the broader discussion is structured.

Going against received interpretation and common scholarly opinion, Beck's study demonstrates that Kant's and Fichte's respective theories of law and of natural rights call into question the analytical link between autonomy and a rights-based political liberalism in crucial respects. Contrary to received scholarship, Beck concludes that Kant's theory of rights, like Fichte's, contains an unsettling message for many incompletely reasoned contemporary liberal theories of rights, which rarely discuss those additional ontological, epistemological and psychological foundations on which the defense of liberal individualistic rights ultimately rests.

About the Author

Gunnar Beck is a lecturer in the Law Department at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.