El espacio de lo público en la filosofía política de Kant

Abstract

Kant rehabilitates, in his so-called “political writings” and in his philosophy of law, the notion of public reason as a control instance of legislation and of the political measures which affect a community. The “public use” of reason fulfills, in the first place, a basic task of enlightment. But it also has other ramifications. By means of the formulation of the publicity principle, the predicate “public” (in the sense of something being visible) can be brought to bear on the practicing of power. And finally, presupposing a public use of reason may allow us to reach public coincidence, i.e., a consensus in the elaboration of the rational will. The first goal of the paper is to examine the political scope of such rehabilitation of public reason. The second goal is to formulate a number of problems which emerge, since Kant, whenever the issue of public space is approached. Finally, a few questions are posed bearing on Kant’s conception of politics: although politics appears to fall under the larger categories of morals and law in Kant’s writings, the author seems in some places to hint at a recognition of a prudential sphere for politics alone which, however, must be made compatible with morals and law.
[Traducción: Héctor Islas]