Kant on Civil Society and Welfare (Elements in the Philosophy of Immanuel Kant)

What justifies state-sponsored supports for individual welfare within a Kantian political system, as well as the purpose and extent of such supports and the form they may take, are vexed questions. This Element characterizes and assesses main contenders (including minimalist and middle-ground accounts) by examining the competing interpretations of Kant's larger political theory that found their social welfare claims. It then develops and defends an alternative based in civic respect. This emphasizes the perspective and institutional commitments that Kant's model of citizenship entails and what is required to respect each as both a person and a participant in joint governance. Cover Title page Copyright page Kant on Civil Society and Welfare Contents 1 Introduction 1.1 Competing Interpretations of Kant 1.2 Kantian Starting Points 1.2.1 State-Sponsored Social Welfare: Overview of Issues 1.2.2 Some Central Points of Kantian Agreement 1.2.2.1 Justice, Happiness and State Purpose 1.2.2.2 Divisions in Kant’s Practical Philosophy 1.2.3 Basic Elements of Kant’s Theory of Justice 1.2.3.1 The Nature of Justice 1.2.3.2 Innate Right, Citizenship and the General Will 1.2.3.3 Private Right 1.2.3.4 Justice in International Contexts 1.2.3.5 Summing Up 2 The Minimalist Approach 2.1 The Evidence for Minimalism 2.2 Mary Gregor: Kantian Minimalism in Outline 2.3 Other Minimalist Views 2.3.1 Byrd and Hruschka on the Juridical State 2.3.2 Hayek on the Free Market and Social Justice 2.4 Minimalism in Brief Review 3 Middle Grounds 3.1 Rosen: State-Sponsored Benevolence 3.2 Ripstein: Purposive Citizens 3.3 O’Neill: Coercive Conditions and Obligations of Virtue 3.4 Reflections on the Middle Ground 4 Beyond Force and Fraud 4.1 Recent Alternatives 4.1.1 Wood 4.1.2 Guyer 4.1.3 Williams 4.2 The Civic Respect Account 4.2.1 Kantian Citizenship 4.2.1.1 Kant’s Characterization of Citizens 4.2.1.2 Passive Citizens Implications for Equality of Opportunity 4.2.1.3 The General Will 4.2.1.4 Summing Up 4.2.2 Private Right 4.2.3 Justice and Poverty Relief 4.2.3.1 The Rechtslehre Passage in Review 4.2.3.2 Regarding Mendicancy and Reach 4.2.4 Domestic Support 4.2.4.1 Special Treatment 4.2.4.2 Dependency 4.2.4.3 Social Virtue 4.2.5 State-Sponsored Social Welfare in Cosmopolitan Contexts 4.2.5.1 Competing Contemporary Views 4.3 A Brief Overview Concluding Remarks Sources Acknowledgments What justifies state-sponsored supports for individual welfare within a Kantian political system, as well as the purpose and extent of such supports and the form they may take, are vexed questions. This Element characterized and assesses main contenders (including minimalist and middle-ground accounts) by examining the competing interpretations of Kant's larger political theory that found their social welfare claims. It then develops and defends an alternative based in civic respect. This emphasizes the perspective and institutional commitments Kant's model of citizenship entails and what is required to respect each as both a person and a participant in joint governance--back cover This Element examines the competing interpretations of Kant's larger political theory founding social welfare claims. It emphasizes the perspective and institutional commitments that Kant's model of citizenship entails and what is required to respect each as both a person and a participant in joint governance.