TY - JOUR AU - Kozyra, Wojciech PY - 2020/09/07 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Kant on the Jews and their Religion JF - Diametros JA - Diametros VL - 17 IS - 65 SE - Articles DO - 10.33392/diam.1540 UR - https://diametros.uj.edu.pl/diametros/article/view/1540 SP - 32-55 AB - <p>The main focus of the article is the analysis of Kant’s notion of Judaism and his attitude&nbsp;toward the Jewish nation in a new context. Kant’s views on the Jewish religion are juxtaposed with&nbsp;those of Mendelssohn and Spinoza in order to emphasize several interesting features of Kant’s political&nbsp;and religious thought. In particular, the analysis shows that, unlike Mendelssohn, Kant did&nbsp;not consider tolerance to be the last word of the enlightened state in matters of its coexistence with&nbsp;religion. The author also argues that Kant’s fascination with Mendelssohn’s Jerusalem<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>was premature&nbsp;and that his later disappointment with Mendelssohn’s persistent adherence to Jewish orthodoxy reflects his understanding of the condition of Judaism in the context of the new era of Enlightenment.&nbsp;Moreover, the paper addresses in a novel way the relevant connections between Kant and Spinoza,&nbsp;showing substantive similarities between their notions of Judaism and Christianity, and provides an&nbsp;overview of Kant’s historical involvement with Jewish issues, which are significant given the argumentative&nbsp;structure of the article.</p> ER -