ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the aspects of Immanuel Kant’s work which establish his credentials as a liberal, with particular reference to his discussion of freedom, equality and independence, but first there is a preliminary clarification to be made about what counts as liberalism. Consideration of Kant’s political philosophy has revealed some characteristics that are distinctively liberal, such as belief in autonomy and the freedom of the individual, equality of opportunity, belief in progress, and neutrality towards ideas of the good. It is Kant’s discussion of independence that is the most interesting and the most troubling of the trio of freedom, equality and independence, partly because of the problems in making sense of it, and partly because of its implications for where Kant’s political sympathies lay. The most telling aspect of Kant’s liberalism is the ultimate belief in autonomy and not only the possibility but also the necessity of individual choice, along with which we find individual responsibility.
