The Kingdom of Ends: On the Applicability and Necessity of Kant’s Philosophy for Con-temporary Society

Abstract

In the condition and context of contemporary postmodernity, anti-normative, decentering social movements and shifts in thought have intensified; moral relativism has proliferated, and the rise of “cancel culture,” among other trends, has produced the privatization of meaning and the breakdown of metanarratives—phenomena our era can hardly avoid confronting. In this environment, two extremes have taken shape: an atomized individualism that abdicates social responsibility, and a collectivism that seeks to justify “sacrificing the few for the many.” This study endorses neither pole. Instead, it advocates a post-metaphysical reinterpretation of Kant, translating the categorical imperative and the Kingdom of Ends into an operational minimal public ethic, articulated through three institutionalized criteria: (1) universalizability/co-legislatability—whether a proposed general rule could be adopted by all without contradiction or the destruction of its own preconditions; (2) non-objectification and non-substitutability of human dignity—no individual may be treated merely as a means, and any restriction must pass a least-restrictive alternative test; and (3) mutual legislation and public justifiability—affected parties must hold procedural powers of information, contestation, remedy, and audit.