The Noumenal Republic

Rainer Forst

ISBN 10: 1509562265 / ISBN 13: 9781509562268

Published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd, GB, 2024

About this Item

All human beings are born with equal dignity and possess equal rights. This statement appears normatively just as irrefutable as it is empirically refuted every day. But what are the grounds of this principle, and how should we think about its realization? Its philosophical truth can best be explained by going back to (and beyond) Kant's notion of a 'noumenal republic' in which every person is an equal co-author of the laws that bind all. At the same time, a critical analysis of society and politics must show the extent to which the reality of power and ideology makes a mockery of this constructivist conception of dignity. To bridge the gap between unworldly idealism and practical hopelessness, we need a critical theory after Kant. Rainer Forst, one of the world's most influential political philosophers, works to develop just such a theory in this powerful and illuminating volume. It contains no less than a new systematic account of concepts such as alienation, progress and regression, solidarity, human rights, justice, power and non-domination.

Seller Inventory # LU-9781509562268

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Noumenal Republic
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd, GB
• Publication Date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1509562265
• ISBN 13: 9781509562268
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 482 grams

About this title

Synopsis

All human beings are born with equal dignity and possess equal rights. This statement appears normatively just as irrefutable as it is empirically refuted every day. But what are the grounds of this principle, and how should we think about its realization? Its philosophical truth can best be explained by going back to (and beyond) Kant’s notion of a ‘noumenal republic’ in which every person is an equal co-author of the laws that bind all. At the same time, a critical analysis of society and politics must show the extent to which the reality of power and ideology makes a mockery of this constructivist conception of dignity. To bridge the gap between unworldly idealism and practical hopelessness, we need a critical theory after Kant. Rainer Forst, one of the world’s most influential political philosophers, works to develop just such a theory in this powerful and illuminating volume. It contains no less than a new systematic account of concepts such as alienation, progress and regression, solidarity, human rights, justice, power and non-domination.

About the Author

Rainer Forst is Professor of Political Theory and Philosophy and Director of the Research Center Normative Orders at Goethe University in Frankfurt. His books include Contexts of Justice, The Right to Justification, Toleration in Conflict, Justification and Critique and Normativity and Power. In 2012, he received the Leibniz Prize, the highest honor awarded to researchers in Germany.