Life without Death: Why Kantian Agents Are Committed to the Belief in Their Own Immortality

Bojanowski, Jochen

doi:10.1515/9783110369007-013

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…3 See, for instance, Bojanowski (2016);Hahmann (2018); Surprenant (2008), andTizzard (2020). 4 All references to Kant are from der Wissenschaften (1902).…”

Section: Orcidmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…11 11 See, for example, Wood (1970, p. 121), Guyer (2016, p. 89), Bojanawski (2016, p. 106), and Willaschek (2010, p. 172). …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bojanowski departs from the standard reading on the issue of holiness. He claims that while it must be true that we cannot achieve holiness, that does not imply that we cannot become holy, that is, be becoming holy as a process (Bojanowski, 2016, p. 106). Even though he is right that we aim at holiness (as I will discuss in Section 3), he has not given an account of how this becoming can satisfy complete conformity with the law, given Kant's claim that a sensible being cannot obtain that complete conformity “at any moment of his existence” (5:112).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Rereading Kant on immortality and the highest good

Morgan

2021

European J of Philosophy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Kant's argument for belief in the immortality of the soul appears tenuous. The standard interpretation suggests that immortality is necessary because agents need an endless time in order to become holy (i.e., incapable of deviation from the moral law). Yet Kant elsewhere argues that sensible beings cannot be holy. This interpretation thus cannot make sense of Kant's insistence that agents become holy, supposing instead that this is an error on Kant's part.Against this reading, I argue that progress toward holiness is simply a definition of virtue, and that Kant's reference to it does not contradict itself by implying that sensible beings must become holy at some point in time. Drawing on Kant's account of the Gesinnung in the Religion, I then proceed to offer a novel reading as to why immortality is needed to secure the complete conformity of a disposition with the moral law. Even Kant's staunchest defenders admit that the second Critique's argument for the immortality of the soul appears tenuous. There, Kant argues that we need to believe in immortality in order to secure the coherency of reason in promoting the highest good, which he defines as the synthetic connection between virtue and happiness. While the postulate for God's existence aims to secure happiness, immortality is supposed to secure virtue. In brief, Kant's argument for the latter runs as follows: our duty is to be morally perfect, and since "ought" implies "can", we must be able to be morally perfect. But in order to achieve that state of moral perfection, the soul must be immortal. Why, exactly, remains a matter of debate, but most interpreters have thought that since this task is so difficult, we will need a lot of time (and hence immortality) to achieve it. 1 Despite the apparent philosophical implausibility of this thesis, it nevertheless remains the dominant interpretation.Although Kant himself clearly thought the postulate of immortality was central to the critical project (it makes an appearance in all three Critiques), most interpreters have disagreed. Kant's argument, they claim, is unpersuasive at best, question begging at worst. To name just one of the problems these commentators raise: Kant seems to, without forewarning or justification, introduce the concept of holiness (Heiligkeit). In contrast to a merely virtuous will, it is

show abstract

“…3 See, for instance, Bojanowski (2016);Hahmann (2018); Surprenant (2008), andTizzard (2020). 4 All references to Kant are from der Wissenschaften (1902).…”

Section: Orcidmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…11 11 See, for example, Wood (1970, p. 121), Guyer (2016, p. 89), Bojanawski (2016, p. 106), and Willaschek (2010, p. 172). …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Rereading Kant on immortality and the highest good

Morgan

2021

European J of Philosophy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…See, in particular,Surprenant (2008),Palmquist (2013),Bojanowski (2016),and Hahmann (2018). The present study evaluates Kant's argument for immortality as a practical postulate in much more detail than Palmquist, who undertakes a more general study of the concept in Kant's work.…”

mentioning

confidence: 92%

Why Does Kant Think We Must Believe in the Immortal Soul?

Tizzard

2019

Can. J. of Philosophy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Making sense of Kant’s claim that it is morally necessary for us to believe in the immortal soul is a historically fraught issue. Commentators typically reject it, or take one of two paths: they either restrict belief in the immortal soul to our subjective psychology, draining it of any substantive rational grounding; or make it out to be a rational necessity that morally interested beings must accept on pain of contradiction. Against these interpreters, I argue that on Kant’s view, belief in our immortality is necessary because it further determines and enriches the cognitive content contained in the concept of the highest good. Through this sharpened conceptual content, we acquire the resources to withstand theoretical skepticism about our moral vocation.

show abstract

Preparing the Ground for Kant’s Highest Good in the World

Ertl

2021

Philosophia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Life without Death: Why Kantian Agents Are Committed to the Belief in Their Own Immortality

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Rereading Kant on immortality and the highest good

Rereading Kant on immortality and the highest good

Why Does Kant Think We Must Believe in the Immortal Soul?

Preparing the Ground for Kant’s Highest Good in the World

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About