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    If coercion were constitutive of legitimacy rather than m... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Kant's conception of legitimacy is linked to the justification of coercion.

    If coercion were constitutive of legitimacy rather than merely its enforcement mechanism, Kant's account would collapse into legal positivism, which he explicitly rejects.

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    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Kant grounds legitimacy in rational consent and moral law, not in enforcement power's mere existence or effectiveness.
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    • 2.Legal positivism identifies law's validity with social enforcement facts; Kant explicitly ties it to transcendental principles of right.
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    • 3.If coercion constituted legitimacy, unjust laws backed by superior force would be legitimate—contradicting Kant's categorical imperative.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.Kant's 'right to coerce' doctrine suggests coercion plays a constitutive role in actualizing legitimate political order, not merely enforcing it.
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    • 2.The distinction between coercion as constitutive versus enforcement-only may be less determinate than the claim assumes philosophically.
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    • 3.Both Kant and positivists separate law's validity from its moral justice; their disagreement may not hinge on coercion's constitutive status.
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    Social Contract1 linkedRights & Liberty1 linked

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    Both Kant and positivists separate law's validity from its moral justice; their ...If coercion constituted legitimacy, unjust laws backed by superior force would b...Kant grounds legitimacy in rational consent and moral law, not in enforcement po...Kant's 'right to coerce' doctrine suggests coercion plays a constitutive role in...
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    Kant's conception of legitimacy is linked to the justification of coercion.Legal positivism identifies law's validity with social enforcement facts; Kant e...The distinction between coercion as constitutive versus enforcement-only may be ...

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    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
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