Quotes · Quote card
Quotation from The Science of Right by Immanuel Kant
“And this is the meaning of the maxim, 'All Authority is from God;' which proposition does not express the historical foundation of the Civil Constitution, but an ideal Principle of the Practical Reason”
The Science of Right, Part II, § 49, General Remark A, trans. W. Hastie (1887)
Kant's reading of Romans 13: the maxim means that the existing legislative power must be obeyed whatever its origin, not that rulers were historically appointed by God.
Citation: "And this is the meaning of the maxim, 'All Authority is from God;' which proposition does not express the historical foundation of the Civil Constitution, but an ideal Principle of the Practical Reason" — Immanuel Kant, The Science of Right, Part II, § 49, General Remark A, trans. W. Hastie (1887). (id kant-science-of-right-q7)
