上帝的不可知與可知：康德與巴特

Blackwell Companion to Nineteenth Century Theology (ed. David Fergusson, Oxford: Blackwell, 2011), 2010

"""'I had to deny knowledge in order to make room for faith’ (Critique of Pure Reason B xxx).1 This remark, taken from the preface to the second version of the Critique of Pure Reason, is one of Kant’s most famous. The philosophy of Immanuel Kant (17241804) has unparalleled significance for the theology and philosophy of the nineteenth century and beyond. The roles of knowledge and faith are central to that philosophy, a fact that until recently was heavily downplayed by philosophers who investigated epistemology and ethics in ways that ignored theological and historical questions. In this article, Kant’s philosophy will be presented in ways that make his theological commitments explicit, in two sections. The first section will sketch the shape of Kant’s thinking, and the second will present some of the technical arguments in relation to what are known technically as his theoretical, practical and aesthetic philosophy. These divisions will be explained in due course. Theologians continue to be interested in Kant today because he transforms certain questions inherited from his predecessors, especially those related to clarifying types of investigation, a shift from intuition to discursive reasoning, his attempt to offer a ‘rational’ account of respectable habits of thought and action, exploring the character of human freedom, and reconceiving the relation of philosophy to theology. Kant’s influence extends far beyond his significance for particular subsequent individual thinkers. His thought has left its mark on the shape of the modern state, not least the university, and the place of religious life and theological reflection within it.""

Kant and the Question of Theology, eds. Chris L. Firestone, Nathan A. Jacobs, and James H. Joiner (Cambridge University Press), 2017

Kant makes two points clear about his stance on divine revelation. First, one must never deny the possibility of divine revelation. Yet, Kant makes equally clear that were such revelation to occur, it could never be recognized as such. These two points reflect Kant’s dogmatic agnosticism: He is insistent that we never discount the possibility of divine revelation, but he is equally insistent that we can’t know whether such revelation has occurred. In this paper, I engage Kant’s assessment of divine revelation. My engagement consists of two parts. The first part simply examines the question Why? Why is Kant convinced that revelation cannot be rejected as impossible and yet cannot be recognized if it occurs? The second part of this paper looks at whether the view of revelation Kant critiques is true of every “revealed religion,” to use Kant’s term. Exploring every view of revelation in the history of religion is well beyond the confines of this paper. I will thus focus on divine revelation as understood in early Christianity by the Eastern Church fathers. From this investigation, I arrive at two conclusions. First, revelation as understood by Kant is so different from that of the-se early Christian writers that his arguments are irrelevant to their view. My second, far more provocative conclusion is this. Kant evidently wants to leave open the ontic window to the possibility of revelation, while shutting the epistemic window to its recognition. Yet, if revelation is what these Eastern Christians describe, then this cannot be done. By leaving open the ontic window, Kant must leave open the epistemic window as well. NOTE: The attached PDF is of the author MS, not the book proofs. However, the author has formatted the MS to ensure that its pagination coincides with the supplied proofs of the published version. The published essay appears in Kant and the Question of Theology, eds. Chris L. Firestone, Nathan A. Jacobs, and James Joiner (Cambridge University Press, 2018).

Kant the Question of Theology (Cambridge University Press, 2017), 2017

God is a problematic idea in Kant's terms, but many scholars continue to be interested in Kantian theories of religion and the issues that they raise. In these new essays, scholars both within and outside Kant studies analyze Kant's writings and his claims about natural, philosophical, and revealed theology. Topics debated include arguments for the existence of God, natural theology, redemption, divine action, miracles, revelation, and life after death. The volume includes careful examination of key Kantian texts alongside discussion of their themes from both constructive and analytic perspectives. These contributions broaden the scope of the scholarship on Kant, exploring the value of doing theology in consonance or conversation with Kant. It builds bridges across divides that often separate the analytic from the continental and the philosophical from the theological. The resulting volume clarifies the significance and relevance of Kant's theology for current debates about the philosophy of God and religion.

American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 2018

Kant and the Problem of KNowledge. Rethinking the Contemporary World, 2023

This book examines Kant’s contributions to the theory of knowledge and studies how his writings can be applied to address contemporary epistemological issues. The volume delves into the Kantian ideas of transcendental idealism, space, naturalism, epistemic normativity, communication and systematic unity. The chapters in the volume study Kant’s theories from a fresh perspective and offer new arguments for assenting that knowledge cannot account for itself without acknowledging the fundamental role of the cognitive subject. In doing so, they suggest that we reconsider Kant’s views as a powerful alternative to naturalism. Featuring readings by well-known Kant specialists and emerging scholars with unorthodox approaches to Kant’s philosophy, the volume fills a significant gap in the existing scholarship on the philosopher and his works. It will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of knowledge, philosophy and epistemology.

2019

2018

Throughout history, the main and most important subject of metaphysics, namely, God and, consequently, religion, has been at the focus of attention of philosophers and thinkers. In the philosophy of Greece and the Middle Ages, philosophical thinking began from God and led to a discussion of nature and man. But this changed in the Enlightenment era, especially in Kant's philosophy. The distinction between Kant's thinking was that he began from mankind and then began to think of God as one of the concepts of human intellect. Indeed, from the eighteenth century onwards, with the critique of pure reason and practical reason in Kant's philosophy, the concept of God, and consequently religion and religiosity, became subject to fundamental change, and this fashioned the modern approach to the concept of God and its functions. The main purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of God and its place in religion based on Kant's reading. Because in the thought of Kant, the...

Philosophical Books, 2006