Freedom and order in Kant's political philosophy. On the limits on the public use of reason in The conflict of the faculties

This paper addresses a double demand formulated by Kant in The conflict of the Faculties - to wit: the demand for freedom and the demand for order-with the aim of pointing out the basic premise implicit in such demand: the idea that the public order constitutes the fundamental condition for the preservation of the civil state, as the only state within which human beings can fully exercise their innate right to freedom. We will examine the way that Kant characterizes the contest between the Faculties, stressing its essentially political meaning, and will also consider the specific function that he assigns to each of them, paying special attention to the limits he sets on the free exercise of philosophical reason.