Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T08:42:07.705Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Kant’s Doctrine of the Highest Good: A Theologico-Political Interpretation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 April 2020

Étienne Brown
Étienne Brown*
Affiliation:
San José State University
*
Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Kant’s discussion of the highest good is subject to continuous disagreement between the proponents of two interpretations of this concept. According to the secular interpretation, Kant conceived of the highest good as a political ideal which can be realized through human agency alone, albeit only from the Critique of the Power of Judgement onwards. By way of contrast, proponents of the theological interpretation find Kant’s treatment of the highest good in his later works to be wholly coherent with the discussions of this concept found in the second Critique. In their view, however, Kant never conceived of the highest good as a political ideal, and some go as far as to argue that it is the work of God alone. In this article, I defend a theologico-political account of the highest good that avoids the pitfalls of both readings.

Keywords

Kanthighest goodpoliticsreligionGod
Type
Articles
Information
Kantian Review , Volume 25 , Issue 2 , June 2020 , pp. 193 - 217
Copyright
© Kantian Review, 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bader, R. (2015) ‘Kant’s Theory of the Highest Good’. In Aufderheide, J. and Bader, R. (eds), The Highest Good in Aristotle and Kant (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 183–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck, L. W. (1960) A Commentary on Kant’s Critique of Practical Reason. Chicago., IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Beiser, F. C. (2006) ‘Moral Faith and the Highest Hood’. In Guyer, P. (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Kant and Modern Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 599–629.Google Scholar
Engstrom, S. (1992) ‘The Concept of the Highest Good in Kant’s Moral Theory’. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 52, 747–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, R. Z. (1984) ‘The Importance and Function of Kant’s Highest Good’. Journal of the History of Philosophy, 22, 325–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodgson, L.-P. (2010) ‘Kant and the Right to Freedom: A Defense’. Ethics, 120, 791–819.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kant, I. (1996a) Practical Philosophy. Trans. and ed. Gregor, M.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kant, I. (1996b) Religion and Rational Theology. Trans. and ed. di Giovanni, G. and Wood, A.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kant, I. (2000) Critique of the Power of Judgment. Trans. and ed. Guyer, P. and Matthews, E.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kant, I. (2002) Theoretical Philosophy after 1781. Trans. and ed. Allison, H., Heath, P. and Hatfield, G.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kant, I. (2007) Anthropology, History, and Education. Trans. and ed. Louden, R. B. and Zoller, G.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mariña, J. (1997) ‘Kant on Grace: A Reply to his Critics’. Religious Studies, 33, 379–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mariña, J. (2000) ‘Making Sense of Kant’s Highest Good’. Kant-Studien, 91, 329–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murphy, J. (1965) ‘The Highest Good as Content for Kant’s Ethical Formalism’. Kant-Studien, 56, 102–10.Google Scholar
O’Connell, E. (2012) ‘Happiness Proportioned to Virtue: Kant and the Highest Good’. Kantian Review, 17, 257–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palmquist, S. R. (2009) ‘Kant’s Religious Argument for the Existence of God: The Ultimate Dependence of Human Destiny on Divine Assistance’. Faith and Philosophy, 26, 3–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pasternack, L. (2017) ‘Restoring Kant’s Conception of the Highest Good’. Journal of the History of Philosophy, 55, 435–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, J. (1993) Political Liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Rawls, J. (2000) Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Reath, A. (1988) ‘Two Conceptions of the Highest Good in Kant’. Journal of the History of Philosophy, 26, 593–619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ripstein, A. (2009) Force and Freedom: Kant’s Legal and Political Philosophy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silber, J. R. (1963) ‘The Importance of the Highest Good in Kant’s Ethics’. Ethics, 73, 179–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, R. S. (2012) ‘Kant’s Political Religion: The Transparency of Perpetual Peace and the Highest Good’. Review of Politics, 72, 1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Villarán, A. (2013) ‘Overcoming the Problem of Impossibility in Kant’s Idea of the Highest Good’. Journal of Philosophical Research, 38, 27–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yovel, Y. (1980) Kant and the Philosophy of History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar