I Introduction: The Problem of Transcendental Freedom In Immanuel Kant's practical philosophy, transcendental freedom and the moral law are established not as independent concepts but as reciprocally determinant principles. This blog examines the central thesis of the Critique of Practical Reason, which posits that the moral law serves as the ratio cognoscendi (the reason for knowing) of freedom, while freedom is the ratio essendi (the reason for being) of the moral law. We become aware of our freedom only because we are first conscious of the moral law as an unconditional command; the "ought" reveals the "can." Conversely, the moral law itself could not exist as a binding principle were freedom not a real property of the will. Through a critical analysis of Kant’s text, this paper traces his argument from the rejection of all empirical moral theories to the establishment of a purely formal law, known as a "fact of reason." This analysis reveals how Ka...
"Whenever the certainties of interactional law begin to dissolve, human beings seem relegated to the situation of the nonhuman primates-denied the experience of an unreflective order, they are yet powerless to create another. But there is a crucial difference between the nonhuman and the human predicament: what other primates encounter as an unspeakable fate, men must confront in the terror of consciousness”.~ Roberto M. Unger I Introduction The "rule of law" is not a universal ideal but a historically specific legal form born from the unique conditions of liberal society. Roberto Unger argues that liberal society creates an unsolvable crisis of legitimacy, which the rule of law attempts to manage through a commitment to formal legality, the impartial application of general and autonomous rules. However, as liberal societies transition into a post-liberal phase, the rise of the welfare state and corporatism prioritizes substantive justice and direct social management, ma...