Critical notice of Christopher J. Insole: Kant and the Divine: from contemplation to the Moral Law (Oxford University Press, 2020)
In this Critical Review I mainly discuss two predominant features of Christopher J. Insole’s Kant and the Divine. The first concerns his argument that Kant distances himself philosophically from Christianity. Insole argues against the “theologically affirmative” readers of Kant who want the critical...
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| Contributors: | |
| Format: | Electronic Review |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Springer Nature B. V
2022
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| In: |
International journal for philosophy of religion
Year: 2022, Volume: 92, Issue: 3, Pages: 183-192 |
| Review of: | Kant and the Divine (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2020) (DiCenso, James J.)
Kant and the Divine (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2020) (DiCenso, James J.) |
| Further subjects: | B
Ethics
B Book review B Plato B Autonomy B Christianity B Kant |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In this Critical Review I mainly discuss two predominant features of Christopher J. Insole’s Kant and the Divine. The first concerns his argument that Kant distances himself philosophically from Christianity. Insole argues against the “theologically affirmative” readers of Kant who want the critical philosophy to affirm traditional Christian beliefs. He rightly focusses on autonomy as fundamental to Kant’s approach to both ethics and religion, and contrasts this with the main figures of both Catholic and Protestant forms of Christianity. The second issue concerns the alternate ‘theology’ or philosophical religiosity Insole discerns in Kant’s work, focusing on practical reason. He argues that this approach to religion is as much Platonic as Christian. He claims that dwelling in a type of rational plenitude offered by the will that is good in itself is the aim of Kant’s ethical religiosity. Insole highlights Kant’s brief references to a “proper self” in the Groundwork as expressing this self-contained plenitude. There is a tendency here to disconnect questions of theology from historical and social life. By contrast, I argue that for Kant, knowledge of the moral law and developing a good will are essential steps in rectifying our “life conduct,” and that both Kantian ethics and philosophy of religion are deeply invested in how we conduct our lives in relation to others. |
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| ISSN: | 1572-8684 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: International journal for philosophy of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1007/s11153-022-09849-8 |