The State Duty to Support the Poor in Kant's Doctrine of Right

Recent works of Weinrib and Ripstein argue in favour of the state duty to support the poor found in Kant's 'Doctrine of Right'. The argument is not Kant's own, but is said to flow from the most basic precepts of that work. It is, roughly, the following: because the institution of property rights can lead to the situation whereby, there being nothing left to appropriate, persons could become dependent upon others for their very existence, the validity of property rights (and private rights in general) in the civil condition depends upon the state's supporting the poor so as to ensure that such relations of dependence do not arise. This article argues that this welfarist state duty is incompatible with the structure of the Doctrine of Right, and independently implausible.