Kant and the Architectonics of Reason (original) (raw)

The architectonic was Kant's favourite expression and indicated the concern to grasp the idea of the whole correctly and thereby view all parts in their mutual relations. This paper develops Kant's architectonics of reason in terms of the normative conception of the good political order. Kant is shown to be scathing of the familiar sophistry in politics that might rules over right. Kant's normative position entails the repudiation of dehumanising, alienating, and oppressive social forms. His notion of human beings as ends in themselves comes with a notion of essential humanity or dignity as its logical corollary. Kant’s idea that all individuals as rational agents are equally worthy of respect generates a politics of equal dignity. Kant picks out here a universal human potential, a capacity shared by all human beings, which means that each individual deserves respect. The progress made to the free and rational society is based upon a conception of human growth and development. Kant is therefore shown to affirm the capacity for human potentialities to flourish. Ultimately, once reason is in control, the need for an institutional and legal framework constraining individuals to the good will be diminished, replaced by a conscious and immediate identification of the individual with the good. The question is whether Kant can make good his moral cl aims in terms of practical politics.