One of the most important problems the philosophy of right has to solve is that of original acquisition: How can an item not belonging to anybody become the rightful property of a certain person from whose use he may exclude everyone else? Kant answers this through his theory of the ground which is at the basis of his whole philosophy of right: Everyone has an original right to a piece of the earth. This theory is insufficient but still has merit.

Quote: 0:08

The problem of original acquisition: 0:44

Every person has an innate outer right to the ground: 16:46

All human beings share an original common ownership of the whole ground: 26:47

All other property is to be derived from the ownership of that piece of ground on which it is originally apprehended: 40:59

Everyone can rightfully own as much of the ground as he could defend in the state of nature: 48:58

The ownership of the ground and the original acquisition require a state of rights: 1:01:31

Kant as an anti-Malthus: 1:20:23

Kant's theory makes huge inequalities in wealth impossible: 1:44:15

Why Kant's solution to the problem of original acquisition is insufficient: 1:50:51

The theory of original acquisition leads from private right to public right: 2:09:15

Thanks: 2:10:17

Original acquisition and the theory of the ground Kant deals with in the doctrine of rights in the Metaphysics of Morals: https://ld.circuitdebater.org/w/archive_files/%5BImmanuel_Kant%5D_Kant_The_Metaphysics_of_Morals.pdf/507955836/%5BImmanuel_Kant%5D_Kant_The_Metaphysics_of_Morals.pdf. To fully understand them however it's helpful to also read the preliminary works to the Metaphysics of Morals: https://www.korpora.org/Kant/aa23/207.html (I am not aware of any English translation).

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Right is about the mine and yours, its principle is neminem leade, i. e. don't harm anyone, harmed however I get by anyone who doesn't respect what's mine. Now there are innate and acquired rights, depending on whether something is mine by birth like my body or becomes mine like some outer property. That what's mine from birth must be respected, lies analytically in the principle of right, whoever touches it necessarily harms me. He who touches something outside of me however does not necessarily harm me but rather only if it is thought of as connected with my choice, that is as being my intellectual property. Connections however we can think of in twelve manners according to Kant, which he describes in his table of categories. He therefore deduces from it a table of categories which claims to describe all possible manners of rightful ownership.

Quote: 0:08

The categories of right: 0:31

The table of categories of rightful property explained: 36:50

I) Mathematical categories: 37:35

1) Quantity: 37:522) Quality: 44:40

II) Dynamical categories: 48:45

3) Relation: 49:33- Item right: 50:30

- Personal right: 1:07:15

- Personal right in the manner of an item: 1:18:11

4) Modality: 1:47:08

The relationship between the categories of right: 1:50:01

The schematism of acquisition: 2:00:31

Kant's juridical idealism: 2:21:57

Thanks: 2:25:54

Categories of rightful property according to Kant: https://jonathanivoloewer.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/categories-of-rightful-property-according-to-Kant.jpg

The three fields of private right - item right, personal right and personal right in the manner of an item - Kant deals with in his Metaphysics of Morals: https://ld.circuitdebater.org/w/archive_files/%5BImmanuel_Kant%5D_Kant_The_Metaphysics_of_Morals.pdf/507955836/%5BImmanuel_Kant%5D_Kant_The_Metaphysics_of_Morals.pdf. Whoever wants to fully grasp the categories of right and the schematism of acquisition as such however should definitely study the preliminary work to the Metaphysics of Morals: https://www.korpora.org/Kant/aa23/ (I am not aware of any English translation).

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Private right according to Kant demands restriction of everyone's choice as much as is necessary for the choice of everyone else to coexist with it. All right therefore is concerned with the preservation of freedom. And for that reason it is about what Kant calls the mine and yours: about property. Here Kant distinguishes innate and acquired rights, that is rights to that which is mine by birth and to that which is mine through acquisition. The innate human right is the right to one's own freedom. The proper task of the philosophy of right however is solving the question how a right can be acquired, that is how property is possible.

Quote: 0:08

Private right: 0:30

Innate righhts: 14:44

Acquired rights: 22:52

Temporary acquistion through physical possession: 29:05

Why there must be property: 36:59

The unjustified critique of Kant's formalism: 51:38

The parallelism between the philosophy of right and theoretical philosophy: 1:09:38

The dialectic of right and its solution through juridical idealism: 1:14:22

Property obliges: 1:46:21

Conclusion: 2:04:11

Thanks: 2:07:09

Private right and juridical idealism Kant discusses in his Metaphysics of Morals: https://ld.circuitdebater.org/w/archive_files/%5BImmanuel_Kant%5D_Kant_The_Metaphysics_of_Morals.pdf/507955836/%5BImmanuel_Kant%5D_Kant_The_Metaphysics_of_Morals.pdf. To add to this and to better understand this one should also read his preparatory work to the Metaphysics of Morals: https://www.korpora.org/Kant/aa23/207.html (I am not aware of any English translation).

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Moral philosophy is made up of two sciences according to Kant: Ethics and Right (or Law or Justice). Metaphysics of morals in general is the doctrine of duties, ethics and right therefore both deal with the duties of men. Right however is concerned only with those duties which come with a right for others to compell someone to fulfill them. However compulsion can only concern outer actions, not attitudes. While ethics demands the good will as the source of good deeds, right therefore cares only for the actions as such and doesn't ask whether a person is inwardly good or evil.

Quote: 0:08

The place of right in the architectonic of Kant's system: 1:01

"Recht" could be translated as "right", "law" or "justice": 11:14

The difference between right and ethics: 25:15

Right is only concerned with narrow duties towards others: 37:48

Ethics is concerned with the will, right only with choice: 57:33

The different kinds of right/laws: 1:20:42

Kant's insufficient separation of right and ethics and the problems arising from it: 1:45:20

Thanks: 2:08:50

Overiew over philosophy according to Kant: https://jonathanivoloewer.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Philosophy-according-to-Kant.jpg

Overiew over metaphysics according to Kant: https://jonathanivoloewer.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Metaphysics-according-to-Kant-scaled.jpg

The difference between Ethics and Right Kant explains in his Metaphysics of Morals: https://ld.circuitdebater.org/w/archive_files/%5BImmanuel_Kant%5D_Kant_The_Metaphysics_of_Morals.pdf/507955836/%5BImmanuel_Kant%5D_Kant_The_Metaphysics_of_Morals.pdf

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All of morality hinges on conscientiousness. Whoever has no conscience can even seemingly accept the moral law, but break it at any time without admitting it to himself. Conscientiousness however for Kant is nothing else but true religiosity: Acting is if one had to answer in front of an all-seeing, holy God. And therefore only he acts conscientiously who is so certain of not doing an injustice that he would be willing to bet his eternal felicity on it.

Quote: 0:08

There is a duty to constantly examine one's morality: 1:33

What conscience is: 9:42

Rational man judges the sensual man who is capable of reason: 13:53

Conscientiousness: 26:12

Moral probabilism is without conscience: 34:57

The experiment of the bet: 47:49

Most people are completely without conscience: 55:04

The consciencious person must reject consequentialism: 1:49:06

Conscientiousness is religion: 1:53:11

Conscientiousness requires truthfulness: 2:01:10

The experiment of the bet can also serve to find out the degree of our theoretical conviction: 2:04:22

The philosopher must be conscientious and ruled by love for truth: 2:37:25

Thanks: 2:41:39

A short explanation of conscience can be found in the Metaphysics of Morals: https://ld.circuitdebater.org/w/archive_files/%5BImmanuel_Kant%5D_Kant_The_Metaphysics_of_Morals.pdf/507955836/%5BImmanuel_Kant%5D_Kant_The_Metaphysics_of_Morals.pdf On top of that I recommend reading Kant's remarks in his handwritten estate on moral philosophy: https://korpora.org/kant/aa19/ as well as his lectures on moral philosophhy: https://www.archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes271imma | https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes272imma | https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0027kant_s1s1/mode/2up (I am not aware of any free English translations online.)

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Kant is famous for completely rejecting lying. Often he is criticized for not even allowing emergency lies to save a human life. But the criticism tells more about the critics - about their superficial understanding of Kant and about their own lack of morality - than about him. A morality which doesn't have the ommandment of truthfulness as its fundament is no morality.

Quote: 0:08

There is a commandment to be truthful in Kant's philosophy: 1:10

Kant demands neither openess nor truth nor is he pedantic: 10:05

The prohibition of lying is a prohibition of consequentialism: 28:57

What kind of duty the duty of truthfulness is: 44:34

- It is a duty of right: 45:52

- It is a duty towards oneself: 1:07:51

The prohibition of lying is rejected because people don't care about morality at all and they don't ask whether an action is good or evil but only what its use is: 1:25:14

Without lies people could hardly be evil: 1:50:18

The lie is the radical evil in the human being: 2:10:13

Sincerity is the only humanly possible moral perfection: 2:30:50

The truthfulness is also a condition of conscientiousness and the social contract: 2:34:21

Thanks: 2:39:50

Why one shouldn't lie under any circumstances, Kant discusses in his essay On a Supposed Right to Lie from Love of Humanity: https://korpora.org/kant/aa08/423.html. For a deeper understanding it is recommended however to also study the scattered remarks in his handwritten estate on moral philosophy: https://korpora.org/kant/aa19/ as well as in his lectures on moral philosophy: https://www.archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes271imma | https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes272imma | https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0027kant_s1s1/mode/2up zu studieren (I could not find any free English translations online).

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In morality other people should not be taken as a model, rather one should orient oneself directly on the moral law itself. Still the good example is important. From a good person we might not learn how we should act, but we learn that it is possible to act the way we ought to.

Quote: 0:08

The yardstick of morality should be the law itself, not other people: 1:30

The good person serves as an example of the possibility of fulfilling the moral law: 17:15

The role of Jesus in Kant's thought: 27:46

One should avoid association with bad people: 44:36

One should be an example of morality to others: 55:25

One should put the veil of the love for humanity over the failings and shortcomings of people: 1:01:38

One shouldn't try to find bad things even in the good person: 1:24:32

Arrogance and hopelessness as the two cliffs of morality and rigorism and religion as their remedies: 1:35:30

The emotional plague: 1:40:52

Thanks: 1:59:53

On the role of yardstick and example in morality Kant talks again and again in his lectures on moral philosophy: https://www.archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes271imma | https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes272imma | https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0027kant_s1s1/mode/2up (I could not find any free English translations online.)

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Kant distinguishes four kinds of moral duties: The duties to have reverence for the rights of other humans and for humanity in oneself, and the duties to further the purposes of other humans and those of humanity in oneself. To him morality is not about preventing suffering and creating happiness, as it is for others, but about freedom: The moral duty is about preserving and increasing freedom.

Quote: 0:08

The four kinds of duties and the golden role: 1:17

The duties of right towards oneself: 19:04

The duties of virtue towards oneself: 51:41

The duties of right towards others: 1:27:41

The duties of virtue towards others: 1:32:46

Conclusion: 1:52:24

The moral relation between God and men: 1:54:16

Thanks: 2:01:31

Specific duties Kant writes about mainly in his Metaphysics of Morals: https://ld.circuitdebater.org/w/archive_files/%5BImmanuel_Kant%5D_Kant_The_Metaphysics_of_Morals.pdf/507955836/%5BImmanuel_Kant%5D_Kant_The_Metaphysics_of_Morals.pdf. I very much recommend also reading his often more extensive and more enlightening lectures on moral philosophy: https://www.archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes271imma | https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes272imma | https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0027kant_s1s1/mode/2up (I am not aware of any free English translations online).

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All moral duties, be they duties towards other people or towards onself, can be divided into duties in the narrow and in the wider sense according to Kant. The former are duties of reverence for rights, the others are duties of active love for one's neighbour and are about the promotion of purposes.

Quote: 0:08

Narrow and wide duties: 0:53

In case of conflict the narrow duties always have to be fulfilled first: 13:15

The distinction of narrow and wide duties according to the categorical imperative: 28:30

Duties of right and duties of love: 48:58

Reverence, love and humanity: 54:47

The love of one's neighbour that we are morally obliged to can only be love of benevolence, not love of complacence: 1:07:23

Obligation and generosity: 1:37:06

Generosity should be taken, if possible, as if one was only doing one's obligation: 2:13:33

Thanks: 2:33:11

Specific duties Kant writes about mainly in his Metaphysics of Morals: https://ld.circuitdebater.org/w/archive_files/%5BImmanuel_Kant%5D_Kant_The_Metaphysics_of_Morals.pdf/507955836/%5BImmanuel_Kant%5D_Kant_The_Metaphysics_of_Morals.pdf. I very much recommend also reading his often more extensive and more enlightening lectures on moral philosophy: https://www.archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes271imma | https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes272imma | https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0027kant_s1s1/mode/2up (I am not aware of any free English translations online).

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The moral law doesn't just oblige us in regards to our fellow human beings but also in regards to ourselves, specifically in regards to the humanity in us, of which we ought to act worthy. And these duties make up the most important part of morality for Kant. He who doesn't revere and honour himself cannot revere and honour humanity in others either.

Quote: 0:08

The duties towards oneself: 0:11

The duties towards oneself according to the table of categories: 24:40

Duties towards oneself are a very untimely thought nowadays: 50:49

Why our age doesn't accept duties towards oneself: 56:06

Duties towards oneself are duties towards one's humanity: 1:17:22

Duties towards oneself are duties of reverence for one's own human dignity: 1:28:51

Duties towards oneself are duties of preserving and increasing one's own freedom: 1:42:31

Lots of things that many don't regard as moral questions or only as questions of duties towards others, actually belongs to the duties towards oneself: 1:54:45

Most have some, but not enough sense for their own dignity: 2:09:40

Reverence for oneself and reverence for others are necessarily connected: 2:32:16

A life of dignity is also a life of felicity: 2:49:11

Thanks: 3:14:08

Specific duties Kant writes about mainly in his Metaphysics of Morals: https://ld.circuitdebater.org/w/archive_files/%5BImmanuel_Kant%5D_Kant_The_Metaphysics_of_Morals.pdf/507955836/%5BImmanuel_Kant%5D_Kant_The_Metaphysics_of_Morals.pdf. I very much recommend also reading his often more extensive and more enlightening lectures on moral philosophy: https://www.archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes271imma | https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes272imma | https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0027kant_s1s1/mode/2up (I am not aware of any free English translations online).

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