The Ambiguity of Kant's Concept of the Visible Church
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This paper explores the implications of Manfred Kuehn’s observation that Kant’s claim in Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason that the ethical community must be a community under God seems “a bit strained.” After clarifying Kant’s train of thought that results in his conception of the ethical community in the form of the “visible church,” the paper argues that the seemingly strong religious dimension may be misleading. If we understand the ethical community to be the development of the kingdom of ends in the Groundwork , it becomes apparent that Kant’s notion of God’s “sovereignty” over the ethical community is a shared sovereignty lodged in rationality and not in God’s own will. The “strain” that Kuehn senses thus suggests the potentially gratuitous nature of Kant’s references to God’s sovereignty over the ethical community. Despite the initial appearances, Kant’s account of the ethical community in the form of the visible church is, over the long term, closer to a secularizing move than to a robustly religious one.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
Anderson-Gold S. (2001), Unnecessary Evil: History and Moral Progress in the Philosophy of Immanuel Kant, State University Press of New York, Albany.
View in Google Scholar
Anderson-Gold S., Muchnik P. (eds.) (2010), Kant’s Anatomy of Evil, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
DOI
View in Google Scholar
Banham G. (2003), Kant’s Practical Philosophy: From Critique to Doctrine, Palgrave Macmillan, London.
DOI
View in Google Scholar
Bonhoeffer D. (1972), Letters and Papers from Prison, E. Bethge (ed.), Macmillan, New York.
View in Google Scholar
Chignell A., Anderson P., Firestone C. et al. (2012), “Symposium: Kant’s Philosophy of Religion,” Faith and Philosophy 29: 144–228.
DOI
View in Google Scholar
Despland M. (1973), Kant on History and Religion, McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal, London.
View in Google Scholar
DiCenso J.J. (2012), Kant’s Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason: A Commentary, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
View in Google Scholar
DiCenso J.J. (2019), “Kant on Ethical Institutions,” The Southern Journal of Philosophy 57 (1): 30–55.
DOI
View in Google Scholar
Flikschuh K. (2009), “Kant’s Kingdom of Ends: Metaphysical, not Political,” [in:] Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals: A Critical Guide, J. Timmermann (ed.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 119–139.
View in Google Scholar
Flikschuh K. (2011), “Gottesdienst und Afterdienst: die Kirche als öffentliche Institution?,” [in:] I. Kant, Die Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der bloßen Vernunft, O. Höffe (ed.), Akademie Verlag, Berlin: 193–210.
View in Google Scholar
Förster E. (2000), Kant’s Final Synthesis: An Essay on the Opus Postumum, Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA.
View in Google Scholar
Grenberg J.M. (2010), “Social Dimensions of Kant’s Conception of Radical Evil,” [in:] Kant’s Anatomy of Evil, S. Anderson-Gold, P. Muchnik (eds.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 173–194.
View in Google Scholar
Guyer P. (2000), Kant on Freedom, Law, and Happiness, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
DOI
View in Google Scholar
Guyer P. (2009), “The Crooked Timber of Mankind,” [in:] Kant’s Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Aim: A Critical Guide, A. Rorty, J. Schmidt (eds.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 129–149.
View in Google Scholar
Höffe O. (ed.) (2011), Die Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der bloßen Vernunft, Akademie Verlag, Berlin.
DOI
View in Google Scholar
Kant I. (1793/1996), Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason, trans. G. Di Giovanni, [in:] I. Kant, Religion and Rational Theology, A.W. Wood, G. Di Giovanni (eds.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 39–216.
DOI
View in Google Scholar
Kant I. (1788/1997), Critique of Practical Reason, trans. M.J. Gregor, [in:] I. Kant, Practical Philosophy, M.J. Gregor (ed.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 133–272.
DOI
View in Google Scholar
Kant I. (1785/2012), Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, trans. and ed. M.J. Gregor, J. Timmermann, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
View in Google Scholar
Kneller J., Axinn S. (eds.) (1998), Autonomy and Community: Readings in Contemporary Kantian Social Philosophy, State University of New York Press, Albany.
View in Google Scholar
Korsgaard C. (1996), Creating the Kingdom of Ends, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
DOI
View in Google Scholar
Kuehn M. (2001), Kant: A Biography, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
DOI
View in Google Scholar
Louden R. (2011), Kant’s Human Being: Essays on His Theory of Human Nature, Oxford University Press, New York.
DOI
View in Google Scholar
MacIntyre A., Ricoeur P. (1969), The Religious Significance of Atheism, Columbia University Press, New York, London.
View in Google Scholar
Mariña J. (1997), “Kant on Grace: A Reply to his Critics,” Religious Studies 33: 379–400.
DOI
View in Google Scholar
Mariña J. (2017), “Kant’s Robust Theory of Grace,” Con-Textos Kantianos 6: 302–320.
View in Google Scholar
Michalson G. (1999), Kant and the Problem of God, Blackwell, Oxford.
View in Google Scholar
Michalson G. (2001), “God and Kant’s Ethical Commonwealth,” The Thomist 65: 67–92.
DOI
View in Google Scholar
Michalson G. (ed.) (2014), Kant’s Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason: A Critical Guide, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
DOI
View in Google Scholar
Miller E. (2015), Kant’s Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason, Bloomsbury, London.
View in Google Scholar
Muchnik P., Pasternack L. (2017), “A Guide to Kant’s Treatment of Grace,” International Journal of Philosophy 6: 256–271.
View in Google Scholar
O’Neill O. (2015), Constructing Authorities: Reason, Politics and Interpretation in Kant’s Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
DOI
View in Google Scholar
Palmquist S.R. (2017), “Kant’s Model for Building the True Church: Transcending ‘Might Makes Right’ and ‘Should Makes Good’ through the Idea of a Non-Coercive Theocracy,” Diametros 54: 76–94.
View in Google Scholar
Pasternack L. (2014), Kant on Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason: An Interpretation and Defense, Routledge, London, New York.
View in Google Scholar
Reath A. (2006), Agency and Autonomy in Kant’s Moral Theory: Selected Essays, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
DOI
View in Google Scholar
Rorty A., Schmidt J. (eds.) (2009), Kant’s Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Aim: A Critical Guide, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
DOI
View in Google Scholar
Rossi P.J. (1998), “Public Argument and Social Responsibility: The Moral Dimensions of Citizenship in Kant’s Ethical Commonwealth,” [in:] Autonomy and Community: Readings in Contemporary Kantian Social Philosophy, J. Kneller, S. Axinn (eds.), State University of New York, Albany: 63–85.
View in Google Scholar
Schneewind J. (1998), The Invention of Autonomy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
View in Google Scholar
Sullivan R.J. (1989), Immanuel Kant’s Moral Theory, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
DOI
View in Google Scholar
Sullivan R.J. (1994), An Introduction to Kant’s Ethics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
View in Google Scholar
Tampio N. (2014), “Pluralism in the Ethical Community,” [in:] Kant’s Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason: A Critical Guide, G. Michalson (ed.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 175–192.
View in Google Scholar
Timmermann J. (ed.) (2009), Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals: A Critical Guide, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
DOI
View in Google Scholar
Tomaszewska A. (2016), “Kant’s Reconception of Religion and Contemporary Secularism,” Roczniki Filozoficzne 64 (4): 125–148.
DOI
View in Google Scholar
Wood A.W. (1999), Kant’s Ethical Thought, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
View in Google Scholar
Wood A.W. (2011), “Ethical Community, Church and Scripture,” [in:] Die Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der bloßen Vernunft, O. Höffe (ed.), Akademie Verlag, Berlin: 131–150.
View in Google Scholar
Yovel Y. (1980), Kant and the Philosophy of History, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
View in Google Scholar