Elisabeth Ellis

Citizenship and Property Rights: A New Look at Social Contract Theory

Social contract thought has always contained multiple and mutually conflicting lines of argument; the minimalist contractarianism so influential today represents the weaker of two main constellations of claims. I make the case for a Kantian contract theory that emphasizes the bedrock principle of consent of the governed instead of the mere heuristic device of the exit from the state of nature. Such a shift in emphasis resolves two classic difficulties: traditional contract theorys ahistorical presumption of a pre-political settlement, and its impossibly high demands on citizens seeking to practice self-rule. Kants solutions to these problems of property rights and citizenship are found in his political works, rather than the ethical works through which Kants political theory is usually interpreted.

Kant, Immanuel (1724–1804)

Immanuel Kant founded modern philosophy, freed morality from religion, laid down principles of human rights recognized everywhere today, and contributed insights that are still important to the fields of physics, astronomy, geoscience, anthropology, and aesthetics. Political theory is considered one of Kants minor areas of interest; though there is important material for political thought in each of the three great Critiques, Kants main political work, the Metaphysics of Morals, is central neither to Kants oeuvre nor to the canon of political thought. Nevertheless, Kant achieves original insights in his political philosophy and in his philosophys political implications; both prove vitally important for present-day students of politics. Keywords: autonomy; Enlightenment; freedom; moral law; public sphere; social contract

Shapiro, Ian (1956–)

Ian Shapiro is Sterling Professor of political science and Henry R. Luce Director of the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale University. Born in South Africa, he received his BSc with honors from Bristol University in the UK. Shapiro holds PhD and JD degrees from Yale University, and served as the chair of the Department of Political Science at Yale from 1999–2004. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Keywords: contingency; democracy; democratic theory; justice; liberal theory; political theory