Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Key to abbreviations and translators
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The context for Kant's moral philosophy
- Part I The nature of morality
- Part II The moral norm for persons
- Part III The norm for moral judgment
- Part IV Kant on history, politics, and religion
- 16 Autonomy and the state
- 17 Civil justice and republicanism
- 18 Kant's philosophy of religion
- Appendixes
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index of names
- Index of subjects
18 - Kant's philosophy of religion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Key to abbreviations and translators
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The context for Kant's moral philosophy
- Part I The nature of morality
- Part II The moral norm for persons
- Part III The norm for moral judgment
- Part IV Kant on history, politics, and religion
- 16 Autonomy and the state
- 17 Civil justice and republicanism
- 18 Kant's philosophy of religion
- Appendixes
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index of names
- Index of subjects
Summary
It is fitting that the study of Kant's practical philosophy should conclude with his philosophy of religion, since it was his conviction that morality leads inevitably to religion. (See Pr.R. 129; Rel. 6/5.) This claim proved so disappointing to antireligious Enlightenment thinkers that, according to an often repeated story, it was cynically suggested that Kant had put religion into his system in his old age only to spare the feelings of Lampe, his devout manservant. But a close reading of his Critical writings clearly shows that, despite Kant's disaffection with the emotionalism of Pietism, he had always retained a profound belief in a personal God who providentially cares for the human species he has created. Friedrich Paulsen goes so far as to claim that “the real purpose of the critical philosophy, the philosophy of Kant, is … to restore the agreement between faith and knowledge” to show how it is “possible to be at once a candid thinker and an honest man of faith.” Indeed, in his second preface to his Critique of Pure Reason, Kant had written that such a critique would “above all” have the “inestimable benefit” of forever silencing “all objections to morality and religion” (Pu.R. Bxxxi).
Kant was also criticized for introducing God into his system only as a deus ex machina, an ad hoc solution to problems he could solve in no other way.
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- Information
- Immanuel Kant's Moral Theory , pp. 261 - 276Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1989