ABSTRACT
In his work Zum ewigen Frieden Immanuel Kant distinguishes two types of state constitution according to the “form of government”. This “relates to the way in which the state makes use of its plenary powers, based on the constitution: And in this respect is either republican or despotic”. In the light of the differentiation introduced by Kant it becomes clear that the concepts of freedom and power can exist to a greater or lesser degree. The indications from Ulrich Klug suggest that Kant did not mention the structures other than those in the Anthropologie, because they are of little practical importance. It seems, however, that to a certain extent Kant experimented with the possible combinations of the parameters law, freedom, and power. The genuine civil constitution is very artificial, and consists of man’s having as much freedom as is possible and tolerates the restriction of the freedom of all according to the law.
