En su obra Si el género humano se encuentra en progreso constante hacia lo mejor (1798), Kant analizaba la cuestión de si vamos a mejor. Para ello, consideraba que había tres maneras posibles de anticipar el futuro:
- La pesimista, también llamada terrorismo social, según la cual estamos en continuo retroceso
- La optimista, llamada eudemonismo o quiliasmo, según la cual tendemos hacia el progreso
- La neutra o abderitismo, que defiende que estamos en un eterno estancamiento, de manera que, aunque haya avances o retrocesos, al final acabamos en el mismo punto sin que exista en realidad un avance
Tras valorar las distintas posibilidades, Kant se decanta por la perspectiva eudemonista. Considera que es posible que la experiencia de unos individuos y otros difiera (es decir, a unos los puede parecer que vamos a mejor, mientras que a otros que vamos a peor). Sin embargo, lo que importa es que el género humano, en su totalidad, es decir, “tal como se encuentra repartido en pueblos y Estados por toda la tierra” mejore.
Para Kant, es un derecho de todos los pueblos dotarse de una constitución. Solamente “la constitución que los pueblos se den a sí mismos será justa y moralmente buena”. Estas constituciones evitarán las guerras y esto hará que la humanidad en su conjunto progrese hacia mejor.
Optimista, pero consciente de las limitaciones
Kant reconoce que la manera de gobierno de los pueblos que él propone, basada en la forma de Estado y en un monarca rigiendo el Estado por medio de leyes análogas a las que un pueblo se daría a sí mismo, no siempre será exitosa.
Es posible que a veces fracase, pero esto no hará que esta posición filosófica sea incorrecta, porque este acontecimiento es “demasiado grande, demasiado ligado al interés de la humanidad, demasiado esparcido […] para que los pueblos no lo recuerden en alguna ocasión propicia” y no lo terminen volviendo a aplicar cuando tengan la siguiente ocasión.
¿Qué hacer para conseguir el desarrollo del género humano?
Es necesaria, por tanto, la ilustración del pueblo, que debe ser de arriba abajo, es decir, que deben los más preparados, los hombres de Estado, los que deben llevar la iniciativa legislativa y proponer las leyes que garanticen la libertad de toda la población.
De hecho, en la página 113 del capítulo de libro que estamos comentando, Kant afirma que estas leyes se deben aprobar “aunque no se pida […] un refrendo del pueblo”.
Conclusiones
En mi opinión, en este texto se ven las bases del despotismo ilustrado que estaba presente en la época de Kant.
Aquí el autor no aporta nada diferente a lo que se estaba defendiendo en su época, porque este despotismo ya lo habían propuesto también, aunque con matices, Rousseau o Hobbes.
Lo que caracteriza el pensamiento de Kant es una fe ciega en la capacidad del Estado para llevar a la humanidad a un mundo mejor. No es necesario un régimen asambleario, como proponía Rousseau, para poder aprobar las leyes.
Para Kant, el monarca como representante máximo del Estado ya puede cumplir perfectamente esta función. Tampoco es función del monarca protegernos del caos o de la anarquía, como proponía Hobbes, sino que debe ponerse al servicio del progreso, promulgar leyes como el pueblo lo haría y de esta manera, conseguir la libertad de sus ciudadanos.
Desde mi punto de esta, esta manera de pensar podría ser aceptable en la época de Kant, porque todavía no se habían visto los peligros que podía acarrear una concentración excesiva del poder en manos del Estado.
A día de hoy resulta ingenua, dado que el Estado por sí mismo no es suficiente para solucionar los problemas que la sociedad actual presenta y son necesarias otras instancias, como la sociedad civil, las familias o la implicación activa de cada individuo para hacer frente a los desafíos que tenemos en la actualidad. En otra entrada de Blog hablamos de la importancia de la Sociedad Civil para ayudar a solucionar parte de los problemas de la sociedad actual.
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