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1、KantandtheLimitsofCivilObediencebyErnst-JanC.Wit,Chicago1.IntroductionAllresistanceagainstthesupremelegislativepower...isthegreatestandmostpunishablecrimeinacommonwealth,foritdestroysitsveryfoundations.lKant'sgeneralpositionischaracterizedbyastrongsuspicionofanyformof
2、civildisobedience.Kantdoesnotseemtoallowanychallengeoflegalauthority,e.g.,rejectingtherightofrevolutionorrebellionevenwhentheheadofstatehasvio-latedthecontractwhichoriginallysanctionedhislegitimateclaimtopower.None-theless,itisourcentralclaiminthisarticlethatthereexis
3、tKantianlimitstocivilobedience.AttimesdiscrepancieswillappearbetweenourclaimofwhatKant'spositionshouldbeandwhatitactuallyis.Todealwithsuchdiscrepancies,wemayintro-duceadistinctionbetweenKant'spositionandaKantianposition.WeshallusethewordKantianforeitheranythingthatKan
4、texplicitlymaintainsorforsomethingthatfollowsfromhisgeneralposition—evenifinhiswritingsheholdstheoppo-site.WeshallsaythatacertainclaimisKant'spositiononlywhenitisevidentandindubitablethathedefendsit.ThisdistinctionallowsustoputKant'sthoughtsinacoherentform,eventhoughh
5、ehimselfneverexpressedsuchclaimssoclearly.InthisarticleitisouraimtofindtheKantianlimitstocivilobedience.WeshallfollowKant'swritingsdiligently,andweshallnottrytobrushpossibleinconsistenciesaside.TheargumentthatwewanttoputforwardisthatKant'sabsoluteclaimforcivilobedienc
6、edependsontwoimportantpresuppositions.First,Kanttreatsthesover-eignasidenticaltotheconstitution.ThisenablesKanttoargueagainstthelegalityofdethroningthesovereign;ifweweretodeposethesovereignwewouldbreakthelaw,andbreakingthelawisaninconsistentaction,asthemaximunderlying
7、thatactionisnotuniversalizable.Secondly,Kantpresupposesthatthereexistsonlyasinglesetofharmoniouslawsthatdemandourobedience.Ifthereweretoexistastrictautonomy,anyformofdisobediencewouldnecessarilynotbesanctionedbyanythinginfavorofit.Asinglesetofautonomouslawswouldnotsan
8、ctionanyformofdisobedience.However,byfindingthelimitsoftheapplicationofthese1TheoryandPractice,p.81.Kant-Studien90.Jahrg.,S.