What right does a state have to sovereignty? How must the actions of its representatives be curtailed to ensure they do not engage in arbitrary rule but democratic self-legislation? What should a concept of the public sphere, which provides contemporary answers, look like? Canadian philosopher Arthur Ripstein will address these questions and more as part of the Frankfurt Lectures “The Idea of the Public: Two Kantian Themes” held on Monday and Tuesday, July 8 and 9, 2024, both at 6:15 pm in room EG.01 of the “Normative Orders” building.
Ripstein develops his answers based on the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, whose 300th birthday is marked this year but whose thinking still holds solutions to the challenges of the present day.
The first lecture on “The Idea of the Public” will take place on July 8 and is dedicated to the fundamental question of the justification for state sovereign rights, like levying taxes or punishing crimes. Ripstein distinguishes his Kantian approach of a genuinely public use of reason from established scientific positions, thereby providing a new foundation for the democratic constitutional state.
The second lecture, held on July 9 and entitled “Giving Laws to Ourselves,” addresses the problem that any exercise of public power ultimately depends on decision-makers, who allow individual factors to influence their actions. The question then becomes how this possible arbitrariness can and should be limited so those affected by these decisions accept them as an expression of self-legislation.
Arthur Ripstein is Professor of Law and Philosophy at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law and Department of Philosophy. He studied at the University of Manitoba and Yale University and received his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh. In 2021, the Canada Council for the Arts awarded his research the Killam Prize. Ripstein is one of the world’s leading experts on the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. His work ranges from the history of philosophy and theories of justice to the law of tort and the law of war, and his contributions have added to some of the most pressing debates of our time, including debates on the relationship between individual responsibility and social equality, the legitimate use of public power, and the morality and legality of war.
