Kant’ın Hukuk Felsefesinin Temel Taşları
2024 yılında doğumunun 300. Yılı kutlanan Kant, felsefede olduğu kadar hukuk felsefesi ve devlet kuramında da bir dönüm noktasıdır. Bu çalışmada Kant’ın modern hukuka yaptığı önemli katkılardan normatif temel norm, hukuk ve ahlak ayrımının perde arkasındaki tarihsel koşullar, Kant’ta hukuk devleti kavramı gibi Türk literatüründe tartışılmamış konular ele alınmaktadır. Kant’a göre akli hukuka göre temellendirilmiş pozitif hukuk, akli hukuktan kesin önceliğe sahiptir. Hukuka itaati ahlaki bir görev olarak da anlayan Kant açısından pozitif hukuk kesin önceliğe sahipse, devletin koyduğu yasaya, devlet başkanına karşı direnme de reddedilmelidir. Özgürlüğe yapılan atıfla, hukukun merkezi görevi bireyin dışsal özgürlüğünün korunması olarak ortaya çıkar. Ama hukuk bununla aynı zamanda temel meşruiyetini ve sınırlamasını da bulur. Kant açısından hukuka uygun bir durum, sadece hukuk devletinde etkili bir biçimde güvence altındadır ve adil olarak sürdürülebilir. Kamu gücünün, hukukun belirlenmesi, icrası ve denetiminde devlet öncesi doğal durumun yerine geçmesi hukuk devletini ortaya çıkartmaktadır. “Ebedi Barış Üzerine” isimli çalışmasının ilk maddesinde Kant “her ülkenin sivil anayasası cumhuriyetçi olmalıdır” diye yazar. Böylece cumhuriyet her gerçek yasa koyuculuğun zorunlu temeli olmaktadır. Kant bugün için de hukuk kuramında normlar hiyerarşisi bağlamında temel norm idesi, yine hukuk kuramında hukuk ve ahlak ayırımı, bunun Anayasa hukukunda, temel haklar ve özgürlükler kuramında özgürlüklerin korunması açısından önemi, kişilerin hiçbir zaman sırf araç olarak görülemeyeceği, bizatihi amaç olması anlamında araçsallaştırma yasağı, hukuk devletinde devletin özgürlük ve eşitlik ilkeleriyle bağlılığı, güçler ayrılığı, hukuk felsefesinde ve anayasa hukukunda cumhuriyetçilik idesi, devletler hukukunda barış içinde birlikte yaşamanın koşulları bağlamında günümüzde hala hararetle tartışılan bir düşünür olmaya devam etmektedir.
Cornerstones Kants Philosopy of Law
This study outlines some of Kant’s key contributions to modern law. According to Kant, which is based on rational law (Vernunftrecht) has absolute priority over rational law. From this, Kant cocludes that obedience to the law is also understood as a moral duty. From Kant’s point of view, if positive law has absoluye priority then resistance tot he law laid down by the state, by the head of state, must also be rejected. The reference to freedom is the central task of law. It is the protection and preservation of the individuals external freedom. This is fundamental legitimation of law. The Substitution of public power for the prestate in the determination, enforcement and control of law gives rise to the rule of law. In the first article of his work ‘Perputual Peace’ Kant writes: ‘the civil constitution of every country must be republican’. For Kant, the republic is the necessary foundation of every true legislature. Kant’s ideas are important in the philosophy of law and legal theory today: the idea of the fundamental norm in the context of the hierarchy of norms, the separation of law and morality in legal theory, the importance of this separation for the protection of freedoms in constitutional law, the prohibition of instrumentalisation in the sense that individuals can never be seen as mere means but as ends in themselves, the commitment of the state to the principles of freedom and equality in the rule of law.
Kant marks a turning point in philosophy. His groundbreaking work in philosophy is why he remains important today. While Kant is known for his contribution to the limits of knowledge and moral philosophy, it is his philosophy of law and theory of the state that attraccted great attention even his life time. Kant, in the tradition of his predecessors, starts from reason and its fundemental concepts. But Kant goes beyond this line and finds it erroneous to mix very different arguments. For example, he believes that biblical arguments, should not be mixed with the rational arguments, empirical arguments with historical arguments, and so on.
In this study, the main issues in Kant's philosophy of law and theory of the state will be outlined. First, the concept of basic norm will be discussed. The basic norm is based on the understanding that law has no other foundation than itself. The basic norm does not derive its validity from another norm; if it did, this norm would have to derive its validity from another higher norm. In order to stop this infinite circularity, the basic norm theory was put forward. Out of a large number of basic norm concepts, three types of basic norms are noteworthy: Analytic, normative and empirical basic norm. We can find the most important analytic variant of the fundamental norm in Kelsen, the most important normative variant in Kant and the most important empirical variant in Hart. Kant does not speak of a “basic norm”. Nevertheless, the main idea of a basic norm is clearly formulated in Kant’s Metaphysik of Morals. Kant states: ”Thus, it is possible to conceive of an external legislation comprising positive law alone, but this legislation would have to be protected by a natural law that established the legislator’s authority (that is, the power to bind others simply by his arbitrary action)”.¹
For Kant, natural law is "a law whose binding force can be recognized a priori by reason even without an external legislature”.²
According to Kant, positive law which is grounded in rational law, has absolute priority over rational law. From this Kant concludes that obedience to law is also understood as a moral duty. For Kant, if positive law has absolute priority, then resistance against the law set by the state must also be rejected.
In his Metaphysics of Morals, Kant matures the separation between legal and moral duities, which has survived to the present day and has meant the construction of modern law. For Kant, morality is only concerned with internal obligations, whereas law is the reconciliation and coming together of wills under the conditions of the general law of freedom; law is concerned with external behavior and external freedoms. For Kant, it is impossible to base law on conscience. Legal certanity cannot be based on conscience, conscience is about inner freedom. Kant understands the doctrine of law as the formal condition of external freedom, whereas he sees morality as a necessary goal of pure reason at the same time. Unlike law, morality does not prescribe laws for actions. Morality sets maxims for actions. Moral obligations cover a wide area. The binding force of moral obligations covers a much wider area than the binding force of legal obligations.
With the reference to freedom, the central task of law emerges as the protection and preservation of the individual's external freedom, but in this law also finds its fundamental legitimacy and limitation.
For Kant, a lawful state of affairs is only effectively secured and justly sustainable in a state of law. The substitution of public power for the pre-state private natural state in the determination, enforcement and control of law gives rise to the rule of law. Kant lists three principles on which the republic is to be built, and Kant characterizes the republic as the only constitutional conformity to the first contract. The republic is thus the necessary foundation of every true legislature. Kant lists these principles as follows: 1. the freedom of all members of society as human beings 2. the subordination of all as subjects to a common legislator 3. their equality as citizens
Kant is still important in the philosophy of law and other disciplines of jurisprudence. The commitment of the state to the principles of freedom and equality in the rule of law, the separation of powers, the conditions for peaceful coexistence in the law of states are just a few of the issues that are still hotly debated today.
