Introduction

Immanuel Kant's political philosophy has, in recent years, attracted unprecedented scholarly interest. Yet, with some exceptions, scholars have paid little attention to the fact that he was at the center of a large and productive group known at the time as “the Kantian school.” These mostly younger philosophers included Johann Adam Bergk (1769–1834), Johann Heinrich Tieftrunk (1760–1837), Saul Ascher (1767–1822), Johann Benjamin Erhard (1766–1827), Johann Ludwig Ewald (1748–1822), Friedrich Schlegel (1772–1829), and the early Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814). Writing during the French Revolution, some like Bergk, Erhard, and Fichte, sought to combine their commitment to Kant with their dedication to the ideals of freedom, equality, and fraternity emerging from France. Others, like Rehberg and Ewald, sought to align legal and political principles with the practices of the old regime.