Recht und Gerechtigkeit

Michael Köhler taps into European legal philosophy and develops the idea of justice in light of Kantian right to freedom principles. Currently, rights are grounded in the continent's tradition of self-determination with the basic concepts of human rights and duties, civil law, original acquisition and the contract forming the basis of justice and its substantiation. This concept entails a critical stance against utilitarianism and welfare economics, but also against inconsistencies in Rawl's theory of justice. It thus becomes apparent that a new form of participative justice is imperative - one in which the individual right to acquire possession counteracts the division of the world into affluence and destitution.