1. Module One, Lecture Eight: The Civil Constitution Professor Kerry E. Howell

2.  First = Natural capacities of all creatures develop to their natural end  Second = Development of humanity’s natural capacities or abilities  Reason = developed by the species not the individual. Trial practice instruction and a generational approach to knowledge accumulation

3.  Third Proposition = Humanity produces everything necessary. Which through own endeavours becomes inner perfection for which humanity takes full credit.  Humanity works for the good of future generations.  Improvement through generations that we may develop our natural capacities completely.

4.  Fourth proposition = Unsocial sociability = Humans want to live in a community but at the same time be an individual  Resistance = overcomes laziness driving the individual to attain social worth and status among peers.

5.  Fifth Proposition = “The greatest problem nature assigns humanity = “perfectly just civil constitution” (Kant, 1995b; p 46).  Sixth Proposition = Humans need a master. Through necessity humans are forced to enter a state of restriction. Social Contract.

6.  Paradox beyond the human but ultimately must be human  Approximate the ideal  However, as a species, through our own endeavours, humanity will realise the ultimate problem set by nature.

7.  Seventh Proposition = Unsocial Sociability of States. Through antagonisms humanity will eventually reach a level of calm and peace.  Historical failures create a civil constitution and federation at the regional level.  Nature purposive or purposeless?

8.  The purposeless state of savagery stunted the development of human beings natural capacities. As with humans compels humanity to seek out perpetual peace and provide a “... a cosmopolitan system of general political security” (p 49). In this context nature is purposive.

9.  Eighth proposition = “... (t)he history of the human race as a whole can be regarded as the realisation of a hidden plan of nature to bring about an internally – and for this purpose also externally – perfect political constitution as the only state within which all natural capacities of mankind can be developed completely” (Kant 1995b; p 50).

10.  Ninth proposition = Humanity may further the purpose of nature. It is assumed that nature is purposeful and that history has a purposeful end and that humans have freedom within this even though this freedom unintentionally works toward nature’s end.

11.  History provides us with the means of improving the civil constitution. A constitution is elevated then overthrown, however, the seed of enlightenment always survives and this prepares the way for further improvement. A plan of nature for humanity opens up a comforting prospect in that through the realisation of natural capacities in the form of reason and learning from our mistakes human destiny can be fulfilled.

12.  Are the UN and EU attempts at ensuring perpetual peace through international ‘just civil constitutions’?  Further explain the European Coal and Steel community.  What would a ‘just civil constitution incorporate?

13.  Kant, I. (1952) Critique of Judgement. Trans Meredith J. C. UK: Oxford University Press.  Kant, I. (1993) Critique of Pure Reason. Trans Smith, N. K. Houndmills Basingstoke Hampshire: MacMillan Press.  Kant, I. (1995) Political Writings (Ed) Reiss, H. (Trans) Nisbet, H. B. Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought. Cambridge University Press.  Singer, P. (1993) A Companion to Ethics. Blackwell  Singer, P. (1994) Ethics. Oxford Reader. Oxford University Press.

14. This resource was created by the University of Plymouth, Learning from WOeRk project. This project is funded by HEFCE as part of the HEA/JISC OER release programme.Learning from WOeRk This resource is licensed under the terms of the Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/).http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ The resource, where specified below, contains other 3 rd party materials under their own licenses. The licenses and attributions are outlined below: 1.The name of the University of Plymouth and its logos are unregistered trade marks of the University. The University reserves all rights to these items beyond their inclusion in these CC resources. 2.The JISC logo, the and the logo of the Higher Education Academy are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution -non-commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK England & Wales license. All reproductions must comply with the terms of that license. Author Kerry Howell Research Assistant InstituteUniversity of Plymouth Title The Civil Constitution Description Strategic Leadership and Governance Date Created August 2011 Educational Level 7 Keywords UKOER, LFWOER, UOPCPDLM, Kerry Howell, CPD, Continuing Professional Development, Leadership Creative Commons License Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales Back page originally developed by the OER phase 1 C-Change project ©University of Plymouth, 2010, some rights reserved