Single Idea 22847

[catalogued under 24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 6. Liberalism / b. Liberal individualism]

Full Idea

For Kant what is of absolute worth is the universal rational will which become an individual's actual will. Insofar as the individual fails to will the universal, they have no absolute worth, so whether or not they exist is unimportant.

Gist of Idea

Kant places a higher value on the universal rational will than on the people asserting it

Source

John Charvet (Liberalism: the basics [2019], 14)

Book Reference

Charvet,John: 'Liberalism: the basics' [Routledge 2019], p.174


A Reaction

A lovely demolition of the claims of Kant to be the patriarch of liberalism! Liberalism must place supreme value on each individual, not on some abstracted realm of pure reason and moral good. Liberals are motivated by love, not reason.