Fallen Freedom
Kant on Radical Evil and Moral Regeneration

A clear exposition of evil and moral regeneration as they appear in Kant's late work Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone (1793).

Gordon E. Michalson, Jr (Author)

9780521050234, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 11 February 2008

188 pages
22.8 x 15.3 x 1.4 cm, 0.296 kg

In this study Professor Michalson attempts to clarify the complex tangle of issues connected with Kant's doctrines of radical evil and moral regeneration, and to set the problems resulting from these doctrines in an interpretive framework that tries to make sense of the instability of his overall position. In his late work Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone (1793), Kant charts out these doctrines in a manner that represents a fresh development in his own thinking on moral and relgious matters, apparently at variance with the mainstream Enlightenment outlook which Kant otherwise embodies. His position appears to amount to a retrieval of the supposedly outmoded Christian doctrine of original sin, and this ambivalence is seen to stem from his desire to do justice both to the Protestant Christian, and the Enlightenment rationalist, tradition, which weigh equally heavily upon him. In this study Professor Michalson attempts to clarify the complex tangle of issues connected with Kant's doctrines of radical evil and moral regeneration, and to set the problems resulting from these doctrines in an interpretive framework that tries to make sense of the instability of his overall position.

Preface
Introduction
Part I. Radical Evil: 1. Ivan and Kant
2. Kant's definition of moral evil
3. 'This evil is radical …'
Part II. Moral Regeneration: 4. A 'change of heart'
5. Moral regeneration, human autonomy and divine aid
6. Autonomy and atonement
7. Autonomy and transcendence
Notes
Select bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Philosophy of religion [HRAB]