Kant and the general freedom of action

Resumo

The legal philosophy of Immanuel Kant is complex and often confusing. Nevertheless Kant developed one of the most important liberal theories in the history of legal philosophy. The basic idea is simple: The necessity to protect the general freedom of action is the starting point of his Doctrine of Law. The only condition for this protection is that this freedom has to be compatible with the freedom of everybody else. Accordingly, for Kant even allegedly trivial actions belong to the realm of the judicial protection of the universal law of right. The question, which is to be answered in this essay, is: Why? - For what reason, Kant thinks, that there is the necessity to protect the general freedom of action.