On the Old Saw. Immanuel Kant

them. He also agrees that the idea of an original contract is the fundament “on which alone a civil and thus consistently legal constitution among men can be based and a community established.” ³⁰ One expects Kant to agree that men have a right to rebel against government if it fails to protect or transgresses these rights. But Kant does not take this step. To understand why we must get clear his interpretation of the relationship between the rights of the individual and the government, which is best understood in terms of his criticisms of the Lockian theory.