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What is Kantian Gesinnung? On the Priority of Volition over Metaphysics and Psychology in Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 June 2015

Stephen R. Palmquist
Stephen R. Palmquist*
Affiliation:
Hong Kong Baptist University
*
Email: stevepq@hkbu.edu.hk
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Abstract

Kant’s enigmatic term Gesinnung baffles many readers of Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason. This study clarifies the notion in Kant’s theories of both general moral decision-making and specifically religious conversion. It is argued that Kantian Gesinnung is volitional, referring to a person’s principle-based choice to live a certain way. More specifically, interpreted as principled ‘conviction’, Kantian Gesinnung is a religiously manifested, moral form of Überzeugung (‘convincing’). This is confirmed by a detailed analysis of the 169 occurrences of Gesinnung and cognate words in Religion. It contrasts with what is suggested by translating Gesinnung as ‘disposition’, which reinforces a tendency to interpret the notion more metaphysically, and also with Pluhar’s translation as ‘attitude’, which has too strongly psychological connotations.

Keywords

Immanuel Kantreligious convictiondispositionattitudebelief
Type
Articles
Information
Kantian Review , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , July 2015 , pp. 235 - 264
Copyright
© Kantian Review 2015 

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