The Immanent Paradigm of the Political: Politics within Reason alone

The article is devoted to the analysis of the process of formation of the modern paradigm of the political in the metaphysics of German classical idealism. The main thesis of the work is to affirm the determinative role of metaphysics in relation to political theory and practice based on it: the most general ideas about reality ultimately determine the very specific actions of political actors in a particular political reality. In the case of modernity, we are talking about the constitution of an immanent political reality. At the beginning of the article, a comparative analysis of two methodological approaches to the study of political concepts of representatives of German classical philosophy is carried out. According to the first approach, when studying the political works of Kant, Fichte or Hegel, one should ignore their metaphysics and the provisions of the general system as a whole. Representatives of the second approach insist on the need to take into account the structure and content of the overall system, since only in this case it is possible to adequately understand their political concepts. It is shown that the consistency of a particular author’s political philosophy always depends on the specifics of his metaphysical views, which justifies the heuristic and preference of the second approach. Applying this methodology, the author shows an apodictic connection between the metaphysical core of the philosophical systems of Kant, Fichte and Hegel and their political concepts. Within the framework of these systems, reality is understood as fundamentally immanent, and accordingly, there is no horizon of the transcendent in political reality, while the political sphere itself becomes a subordinate means of approaching the end of History — the establishment of the kingdom of Reason. Actually, these seemingly abstract philosophical propositions have become the axioms of the modern political paradigm. Modern political reality is fundamentally immanent, and this nature of it receives the ultimate justification in German classical idealism.