Abstract

To reach a deeper understanding of Kant’s theory of legal punishment it’s illuminating to examine the conceptions of early Kantian scholars. We look at writings of various authors from Gottlieb Hufeland to Johann Gottlieb Fichte that appeared after 1785 and before Kant published for the first time his own mature thoughts on criminal justice 1797 in the “Metaphysik der Sitten”. The investigated conceptions of the Early Kantians tend to support a rather conservative reading of Kant’s theory as closely related to the enlightened natural law tradition.