External coertion as a guarantee of civil rights according to Kant

Abstract

In this article we will deal with external coercion in Kantian thought, according to the political-legal duty that governs civil society. The question to be answered is: according to Kant, does the republican state, through external coercion resulting from legal laws, guarantee the rights of individuals within the scope of civil society? We intend to undertake an analysis of the relationship between the law and the individual through the coercion employed by the republican state. The methodological procedures adopted to carry out this research have a hermeneutic character, since it consists, especially, in the privileged reading, analysis and interpretation of Kant's main works on the doctrine of customs where the legal discussion is inserted, in a special way, Metaphysics of Customs, Perpetual Peace, Idea of a universal history from a cosmopolitan point of view, Lessons in Ethics, among others. Our text is structured in three parts, the first being the theoretical contextualization of the problem in Kantian theory and the last two as an answer to our question. Our research is justified by its timeliness because in contemporary societies governed by a republican constitution, both duties and rights are the subject of political struggle and legal regulation. Kant at the height of the German Enlightenment in the 18th century allows us to understand that the freedom of the citizen, which is limited by the legal law in civil society, is also ensured through them.