Social Sciences in China Review

No.4, 2018

The Problem Consciousness and Basic Concepts of Kant’s Religious Philosophy (Abstract)

Xie Wenyu

At the very beginning of the first article of his Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason Kant raises the question of the definition of the Angeboren (natural) and Natur (nature).According to Kant, neither of these two words contains the original meaning of time. This seems odd. In order to understand it, we need to return to Kant’s context or problem consciousness in his discussion of religious issues, that is, the internal tension between Kant’s subjective rationalism and Augustine-Luther’s grace consciousness. Kant’s analysis of religious issues is an attempt to construct an understanding of human existence within the framework of subjective rationalism. He believes that for human existence, angeboren and Natur refer to the subjective basis of judgment or Willkür and do not have temporal primitiveness. The true primitive existence is Anlage (original endowment), which is also called the endowment of propensity to the good. It is the starting point of human existence and contains all existential possibilities. Human will (Wille) in the original endowment constructs human nature (good and evil) and constantly changes the evil to the good. Kant argues that, with this endowment and the concept of freedom, the human being can enter into moral life by their own subjective reason.