Kant on God. By PETER BYRNE.

Abstract

In discussions about God, faith, and belief, much depends on how those involved understand these concepts. Peter Byrne's thorough, careful, wide-ranging, and perceptive study of Kant's discussions about God in his critical philosophy makes it clear that naive readers will be seriously misled if they do not recognize the distinctive (and, for theists, unusual) function and content of these concepts in his later philosophy. After a very brief but useful and clear introduction to Kant's critical philosophy, Byrne presents a shrewd study of Kant's treatment of the so-called arguments for the existence of God found in traditional natural theology, his understanding of the proper nature of religious language, his views on the positive case for God and on the role of God in human understanding, his conception of the highest good and of morality, and, finally, the relationship of his thought in these matters to rationalism, naturalism, and deism. Byrne's treatment of these topics is primarily based on ‘an interpretation which arises from a direct reading of [Kant's] own words’ (p. vii), although his consideration of them shows his awareness of and response to various secondary works on them. He also makes it clear how at times ‘Kant tests the patience of any interpreter committed to a principle of hermeneutical clarity’. As he puts it, sometimes Kant's statements ‘reveal a mind unresolved or unable to enunciate a single perspective’ (p. 4). In this respect Byrne helps his readers’ understanding of Kant's statements not only by identifying and clarifying such discrepancies but also by offering well-supported judgements about the reasons for them and their significance.