Kantian virtue and civil society

Many commentators view Immanuel Kant's political writings as an appendix to what they consider his more serious philosophical writings on metaphysics and epistemology, moral philosophy, and aesthetics. Contrary to this view, this dissertation argues that Kant's political writings are a necessary and significant component of his philosophical corpus because his ethical system is incomplete without a corresponding political philosophy.;A primary function of Kant's political philosophy is to outline the conditions necessary for an individual to secure external freedom or liberty. While it is true that his moral philosophy focuses primarily on an individual's ability to secure internal freedom or autonomy, this dissertation argues that, on Kant's view, it would be impossible for us to secure autonomy if we were unable first to secure liberty. In addition, Kantian morality requires the refinement of one's talents and reason, a task impossible without political society. For Kant, the purpose of the state is not to enact laws that make people moral; rather, its project is to implement policies and procedures that weaken the forces of heteronomy, thereby to remove barriers to moral action.;Arguably the most important aspect of this function is constituted by the system of moral education. It is an institution necessary for establishing the framework for autonomous action. Kant argues that an individual's initial interest in morality is based upon the rewards or punishments usually associated with moral or immoral action, not morality itself. Through the process of moral education an individual's interest in morality shifts. As a result of this process, a person's interest in morality will no longer be subordinate to the interest in receiving or avoiding the effects associated with moral and immoral action. Instead, one becomes interested in morality for its own sake---for the sake of one's freedom. Since moral education is for Kant only possible within political society, a Kantian agent cannot learn to be moral outside the context of a commonwealth.