Kant and Religion Roundtable

Allen Wood

doi:10.1017/s1369415421000601

Abstract

AbstractThis article provides a summary and some replies to points offered in the Kantian Review Roundtable discussion of my recent book Kant and Religion. The main themes are as follows: Kant’s project in the Religion; religious thinking as symbolic; the rational interpretation of revelation and of religious symbols; Kant’s moral argument for religious faith; the ‘psychological’-moral argument; Kant’s thesis that human nature contains a radical propensity to evil; evil and human sociability; evil and freedom; divine forgiveness and the sinner’s self-acceptance; Kant’s Religion as a subject of philosophical controversy.

Highlights

For Kant, ‘religion’ means recognizing all your duties as divine commands
Kant’s project in the Religion Kant’s attempt to show that the Christian religious life can be combined harmoniously with rational morality brought him into conflict with the Prussian authorities
The other way, anthropomorphism, is far worse. It thinks of God literally, not symbolically, as a personified natural force possessing the powers of a human tyrant

Summary

All religious thinking is symbolic

One important and fundamental Kantian thesis about religious thought and cognition is that they are symbolic. Kant insists that if it is a matter not of the intent of the teacher but of the religious meaning of the teaching, we must always recognize that what is being said is symbolic rather than literal Otherwise, he says, the true sense, which is the final end, would be lost (Anthropology, 7: 192). The other way, anthropomorphism, is far worse It thinks of God literally, not symbolically, as a personified natural force possessing the powers of a human tyrant. This is superstitious in Kant’s sense of the word: using your understanding in ways that violate its own essential rules (Critique of the Power of Judgement, 5: 294). The main reason I emphasize the role of symbolism in expounding Kant is that there is no way to understand the project of Kant’s Religion without appreciating the importance of symbols for his conception of religious thinking

The interpretation of symbols

Evil and unsociable sociability

Divine forgiveness and self-acceptability

Controversies about Kant and religion