Politics

In this system of government, the executive and legislative branches are separate. For Kant is was not important so much who has the power, but rather that the person with executive power is doing so for the general will. In Kant's theory, the executive is subordinate to the legislative. He was not so much concerned about what the law should be but rather how it is administered. He believed that the laws should be administered equally to all people, similar to his categorical imperative. This system also required representatives who would agree to represent in the spirit of the general will. They would govern society with rules which the people could impose on themselves. It was not a form of direct democracy, but rather a representative democracy where the representatives were acting according to the general will. There was a danger that the general will can become obscured. Kant was fearful of democracy in this sense. He felt that it had the most potential to become despotic. He argued that for a society like this to work laws must be representative of everyone. He also claimed that there must be avocation of free dialogue to push people towards a higher morality. Free dialogue pushes people towards maturity and pushes people to contemplate their own