Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone (Torchbooks) [Paperback]

Immanuel Kant (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0061300675 | ISBN-13: 978-0061300677 | Publication Date: May 25, 1960

A Monumental Figure of Western Thought Wrestles with the Question of God

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is one of the most influential philosophers in the history of Western philosophy. His contributions have had a profound impact on almost every philosophical movement that followed him.

Kant's teachings on religion were unorthodox in that they were based on rationality rather than revelation. Though logically proving God's existence might be impossible, it is morally reasonable to "act as if there be a God." His strictly rational approach was considered so scandalous that the King of Prussia forbid him to teach or write further on religious subjects, which Kant obeyed until the king's death.

A work of major importance in the history of Western religious thought, Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone represents a great philosopher's attempt to spell out the form and content of a type of religion grounded in moral reason and meeting the needs of an ethical life.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was born in KÖnigsberg, Prussia, where he remained his entire life. His others works include Critique of Pure Reason and Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne (May 25, 1960)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061300675
• ISBN-13: 978-0061300677
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #562,975 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was one of the most influential philosophers of all time. His comprehensive and profound thinking on aesthetics, ethics, and knowledge has had an immense impact on all subsequent philosophy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What can be done in the space between your ears!, July 17, 2001

By 

E. M. Dale (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone (Torchbooks) (Paperback)

Let me state up front that I do not think Kant succeeded in what he tried to do in this book. That caveat in place, Kant's book a fine attempt at grounding religious belief in something other than revelation. Now, of course that might ruffle a few feathers on both sides of the belief-fence (as it did in his day, and will continue to do), but that was Kant's goal in this text. However, no understanding of Kant's reasoning in this book (or any other of his works) can be complete without taking into account the Lutheran Pietism in which he was raised. (Regarding the review below, Kant was never Roman Catholic; the Lutheran streak is part of what made Kant who he was, for good or ill.) The subjectivism of his Pietist background had an almost incalculable affect on Kant's philosophy and metaphysics. As a matter of fact, the subjectivist principle of his "Copernican revolution" in philosophy could arguably be seen as a natural outgrowth of the personalism that his Lutheran Pietist upbringing gave to him. Members of the Pietist sects current in Kant's day believed that religion should be realized, contained, and held deep within the inner self. They also held that religion should be expressed through simplicity and obedience to moral law. Hence, to oversimplify, we get Kant's famous "starry heavens above and the moral law within" as the two things which fill him "with ever increasing wonder."

Kant was convinced that the moral basis of religion, specifically the Christian religion, was available to any and all by introspection and meditation. In this work, he sets out to show why that is the case and how it could be achieved. Kant's anti-supernaturalist project of Kant's book is explicit from the beginning, though I should point out that, as in his Critique of Pure Reason, Kant certainly does not refuse to entertain ideas such as miracles and such. He simply says that they are not he purview of speculative philosophy. This could become a naive fideism, but with Kant it (arguably) never does. What Kant wants to do is plain in his title, and clear in his text: develop the idea of religion strictly within the bounds of reason, alone. For Kant, pure philosophy was the realm of human reason, and within that realm (at least pushing against the antinomies) religion could be found and established. Anything beyond that was simply beyond the ability and thus the interest of philosophy.

This is a great translation and as good an introduction to reading Kant as any of his works.

4.0 out of 5 stars Opinion on Kant's religion, January 26, 2011

By 

Philonous (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone (Torchbooks) (Paperback)

Those who are perplexed by this book, should read "In defense of Kant's religion",would feel some-what eased by it. Anyways, to continue my review, I wanted to say is that I really enjoyed this book despite the fact that I may not necessarily agree with Kant. What made Kant very peculiar to me is his "rational pluralism" as opposed to "naive pluralism" exemplified by the new age movement. By this Kant meant that every religion has seeds of truths or moral principles that are universal among them, and as long as this is the case, then it becomes a basis for religions to get along with each other. Another interesting aspect of Kant's philosophy of religion is that he makes a distinction between the "empirical" and the "transcendental" interpretation of the scripture. Kant believes that whether or not there is evidence for the accounts of the bible is no matter, because what matters is the transcendental aspect of the accounts, which goes beyond the empirical accounts. Conservative theists make take issue with this, but I think that this argument is consistent with his whole systematic philosophy when he made a distinction between the noumenal and the phenomenal. Kant's understanding of Christ as the Platonic Archetype of the Good Person which resides in God for eternity is another fascinating aspect of it. It is through this Archetype that people acquire something that gives them the power to do good. I just feel that Kant's philosophy of religion is enriched with ideas, but at the same time Kant did not attempt to make his philosophy of religion very appealing, and I don't think he tried. My only problem is whether salvation is really gauranteed, and what conditions guarantees it, and I don't think Kant really provided those in favor of moral faith (believing that one is morally extricated from selfish condition). If one lacks self-knowledge of one's moral condition (since it is in the realm of the noumenal) then it would not make sense to confess, since one cannot acknowledge what he does not know about himself. This is very problematic in Kant's philosophy; what is more problematic is that one must indefinitely do good for almost an eternity, and may never know when he really fulfills the moral law. This does not seem very appealing, and in know way does that person really know if his actions really amount to anything close to fulfillment. Actions that are worth fulfilling are the ones that are possible to fulfill, but while Kant did not make it impossible but rather very difficult seems to raise questions about whether this hypothetical moral journey is worth taking. I'm not convinced that one must believe in the immortal soul because the moral law implicitly demands it...it does not seem like facts follow from the moral law, since facts are descriptive not normative, whereas the moral law is normative, but not descriptive. Nonetheless, despite these problems I enjoyed this book, I recommend it to anyone who is curios enough to read it.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Which translation?, October 8, 2006

By 

Kawatteru "kawatteru" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone (Torchbooks) (Paperback)

I assume that this "Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone" is a different translation of the same book entitled by another publisher as "Religion Within the Boundaries of Mere Reason." The question is, which is better and for what reasons?