Description
Product ID: | 9781350195844 |
Product Form: | Hardback |
Country of Manufacture: | GB |
Series: | Bloomsbury Studies in Modern German Philosophy |
Title: | Kant’s Rational Religion and the Radical Enlightenment |
Subtitle: | From Spinoza to Contemporary Debates |
Authors: | Author: Dr Anna Tomaszewska |
Page Count: | 232 |
Subjects: | Philosophical traditions and schools of thought, History of Western philosophy, Philosophical traditions and schools of thought, Western philosophy: Enlightenment, Philosophy of religion, Western philosophy: c 1600 to c 1900, Western philosophy: Enlightenment, Philosophy of religion |
Description: | Kant’s defence of religion and attempts to reconcile faith with reason position him as a moderate Enlightenment thinker in existing scholarship. Challenging this view and reconceptualising Kant’s religion along rationalist lines, Anna Tomaszewska sheds light on its affinities with the ideas of the radical Enlightenment, originating in the work of Baruch Spinoza and understood as a critique of divine revelation. Distinguishing the epistemological, ethical and political aspects of such a critique, Tomaszewska shows how Kant’s defence of religion consists of rationalizing its core tenets and establishing morality as the essence of religious faith. She aligns him with other early modern rationalists and German Spinozists and reveals the significance for contemporary political philosophy. Providing reasons for prioritizing freedom of thought, and hence religious criticism, over an unqualified freedom of belief, Kant's theology approximates the secularising tendency of the radical Enlightenment. Here is an understanding of how the shift towards a secular outlook in Western culture was shaped by attempts to rationalize rather than uproot Christianity. Kant’s defence of religion and attempts to reconcile faith with reason position him as a moderate Enlightenment thinker in existing scholarship. Challenging this view and reconceptualising Kant’s religion along rationalist lines, Anna Tomaszewska sheds light on its affinities with the ideas of the radical Enlightenment, originating in the work of Baruch Spinoza and understood as a critique of divine revelation. Distinguishing the epistemological, ethical and political aspects of such a critique, Tomaszewska shows how Kant’s defence of religion consists of rationalizing its core tenets and establishing morality as the essence of religious faith. She aligns him with other early modern rationalists and German Spinozists and reveals the significance for contemporary political philosophy. Providing reasons for prioritizing freedom of thought, and hence religious criticism, over an unqualified freedom of belief, Kant''s theology approximates the secularising tendency of the radical Enlightenment. Here is an understanding of how the shift towards a secular outlook in Western culture was shaped by attempts to rationalize rather than uproot Christianity. |
Imprint Name: | Bloomsbury Academic |
Publisher Name: | Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |
Country of Publication: | GB |
Publishing Date: | 2022-08-25 |