國立臺灣大學政治科學論叢

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In this research paper, the author discusses the relationship between inner freedom and external rights in the modern state using Hegel’s critic on Kant’s concept of Rechtsstaat. With the concept of moral freedom, Kant emphasizes that the arbitrary freedom of individual should be oppressed in order to gain real inner freedom. But in his political theory, he gives up the quest for inner moral freedom and treats the state as a political institution that secures peaceful coexistence between individuals. Hegel indicates that the different purposes of Kant’s moral and political theory derive from the antinomy between inner morality and external legitimacy in his political thinking. According to Hegel, the reason for the antinomy is not Kant’s intentional separation of the political from the moral, but the unsolvable contradiction between respublica noumenon and respublica phaenomenon in Kant’s philosophy. The author discusses how Hegel philosophically overcomes the antinomy in Kant’s philosophy and his consequent reconstruction of modern state theory. The author argues that Hegel’s criticism is not a refutation of Kant’s concept of Rechtsstaat, but rather an attempt to put it on a surer footing.