Challenged Universality – Kant and a Citoyenne between Stage and Scaffold

Abstract

The universality of human rights faces the fundamental problem of the nationalized basis of their constitutionalization. Much can be said about the historical struggles to integrate females in the “all men” formulas, but what are the crucial lines of conflict? Historical answers may be found in the Kantian rightful republicanism (rechtlicher Republikanismus), denoting the legitimacy of state political structures by consistency with everyone’s freedom in accordance with universal law. “Rightful” is more precise than “legal”. Kant’s fundamental concept of right – derived from the categorical imperative among equal and free human beings – was “the possibility of [directly] connecting universal reciprocal coercion with the freedom of everyone” (Metaphysik der Sitten, Introduction, § E, 339). Of course, this paper is not so naive to transform Kant into a feminist voice; it draws the attention to the fundamental aspect of constitutional history, how to explain the relationship between the freedom of the individual and the formation of states.