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On the Alleged Augustinianism in Kant’s Religion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2020

Lawrence Pasternack
Lawrence Pasternack*
Affiliation:
Oklahoma State University
*
Email: l.pasternack@okstate.edu
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Abstract

Both critics and defenders of Kant’s Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason have raised worries about its alleged employment of an ‘Augustinian’ conception of moral evil as well as the accounts of grace and moral regeneration consequent to it. Combined, these aspects of the Religion are often seen as responsible for its principal ‘wobble’, ‘conundrum’ or ‘internal contradiction’, and are likewise among the key reasons why the Religion is commonly seen as at odds with the epistemic strictures and moral principles which shape Kant’s broader Critical corpus. It is the purpose of this article to reassess these charges and to show thereby that rather than accepting this alleged Augustinianism, Kant engages with and ultimately rejects its core tenets.

Keywords

KantAugustineAugustinianismPelagianismtheologyreligionoriginal sinevilgracechange of heartconundrum
Type
Articles
Information
Kantian Review , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , March 2020 , pp. 103 - 124
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Copyright
© Kantian Review, 2020

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