Ambiguous Sovereignty: Political Judgment and the Limits of Law in Kant’s Doctrine of Right

Abstract Kantian legalism is now the dominant scholarly interpretation of Kant and an important approach to legal political philosophy in its own right. One notable feature construal relationship between law politics decisively law’s favour: Law subordinates politics. Political judgment constrained by only permissibly exercised through law. This paper opposes this subordination a close analysis ambiguity Kant’s conception sovereignty. Understanding requires seeing that, for Kant, cannot subordinate sovereign’s because it condition which makes system possible. was not exacting legalist, but practical reasoner struggling with pressures imposes on finite beings. Through discussion leading contemporary approach, engagement historical source, raises new considerations about relevance