Issue 9 Kant unanimous consent of the governed

           Kant held that several issues could be decided by unanimous agreement from a cards-down perspective. The moral rules, he held, are decided by unanimous consent from the fair-minded perspective. He referred to a rule chosen in this way as a “reasonable-person standard.” He also referred to the measure of unanimous consent of the governed as the “categorical imperative” or generalizable command.

        STRENGTHS: Kant gives a plausible account of the origin of moral rules and individual rights. Morality, he contended, comes from a sense of fair-mindedness that lies within each person.

        WEAKNESSES: Kant faces the classic problem for consent of the governed theories—namely, the problem of a conflict of rights. While his account of the origin of rights is quite compelling, he does not provide a way to resolve conflicts between rights.