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Full Idea
A hereditary nobility is a distinction bestowed before it is earned, and since it gives no ground for hoping that it will be earned, it is wholly unreal and fanciful.
Gist of Idea
Hereditary nobility has not been earned, and probably won't be earned
Source
Immanuel Kant (Metaphysics of Morals I: Doctrine of Right [1797], §49 Gen D)
Book Ref
Kant,Immanuel: 'Political Writings', ed/tr. Reiss,Hans [CUP 1996], p.152
A Reaction
As the controller of the region of a country, a hereditary noble is the embodiment of a ruling family, which is a well established way of running things. Daft, perhaps, but there are probably worse ways of doing it. Single combat, for example.
| 21407 | Equality is not being bound in ways you cannot bind others [Kant] |
| 21080 | Actions are right if the maxim respects universal mutual freedoms [Kant] |
| 21081 | We are equipped with the a priori intuitions needed for the concept of right [Kant] |
| 21406 | Because there is only one human reason, there can only be one true philosophy from principles [Kant] |
| 21082 | A power-based state of nature may not be unjust, but there is no justice without competent judges [Kant] |
| 21083 | Women have no role in politics [Kant] |
| 21084 | In the contract people lose their rights, but immediately regain them, in the new commonwealth [Kant] |
| 21085 | The church has a political role, by offering a supreme power over people [Kant] |
| 21086 | Hereditary nobility has not been earned, and probably won't be earned [Kant] |
| 21087 | Human life is pointless without justice [Kant] |
| 21088 | Justice asserts the death penalty for murder, from a priori laws [Kant] |
| 21089 | Monarchs have the highest power; autocrats have complete power [Kant] |
| 21090 | If someone has largely made something, then they own it [Kant] |