Kant on Marriage and Social Contract

Marriage and the Social Contract

  • Consensual relations exist in the state of nature.
  • No one is obliged to honor consensual relations in the state of nature because the agreement is only with the other person.
  • A social contract is needed to make relationships durable and broad scale.

Civil Condition and Social Contract

  • A civil condition is essentially a social contract and the foundation of a civil society.
  • "It is possible to have something external only as one's own in a rightful condition."
  • A rightful condition has an authority that gives laws publicly, which makes it a civil condition.

Decoding Kant's "Rightful Condition"

  • Kant's use of "rightful condition" is significant.
  • The German word for "rightful condition" is Recht.
    • Recht means law.
    • In plural, it means rights and duties.
    • It also implies justice in a cosmic sense.
  • Rightful condition implies law, rights, and justice.
  • Cosmic justice is related to freedom and universality.
  • An authority giving laws publicly resembles a state.
  • Civil condition implies law, rights, justice, and a civil authority giving rights publicly, necessitating something like a state.

Transition from State of Nature to Civil Society

  • In the state of nature, one can provisionally have something as their own.
  • In civil society, one can truly have something as their own.
  • This transition resembles a social contract: state of nature to civil society.

Rightful Condition

  • Transition from state of nature to rightful condition: The rightful condition contains the conditions under which everyone can enjoy their rights.
  • The formal condition is public justice.

Formal Condition

  • The formal condition reminds us of the categorical imperative.
  • The categorical imperative is the form of freedom.
    • Universality
    • Non-contradiction
  • The formal condition is the idea of a will giving laws for everyone.

State of Nature vs. Civil Condition

  • A condition that is not rightful (no laws, rights, justice) is the state of nature.
  • The opposite of the state of nature is the civil condition, which is a society subject to distributive justice.
  • The state of nature can be compatible with certain rights, but without law.
  • A legal apparatus is required.

Obligation to Enter a Rightful Condition

  • "You ought to enter this condition" is a maxim.
  • It is a categorical imperative because it is an absolute command.
  • It holds a priori for societies.
  • Kant suggests that the categorical imperative requires entering into a rightful condition.

Understanding the Categorical Imperative

  • A rightful condition is that relation of human beings among one another that contains the conditions under which alone everyone is able to enjoy his rights.
  • It is in accordance with the idea of a will giving laws for everyone.
  • Goal:
    • Basis for mutual agreement.
    • Guaranteed freedom of all parties to the agreement.
    • Actions specified by the contract are also free.

Cognition and Freedom

  • Cognitive abilities are necessary to understand and act on the categorical imperative.
  • Those who cannot understand cannot be free.
  • Self-reflexive understanding is needed to act against inclinations.

Kant vs Rousseau

  • Kant sounds a lot like Rousseau because the general will is also a basis for forming a society that can create laws.
  • However, Rousseau is missing the categorical imperative.
  • For Rousseau, it was just a good idea, and you enter into this good idea by setting aside your self interest in favor of the common good.
  • For Kant, you set aside your inclinations in favor of freedom, so it's the adagorical imperative.

What happens if you don't understand or act on the