Abstract
Kant's Religion postulates the idea of an ethical community as a necessary requirement for humanity to become good. Few interpreters acknowledge Kant's claims that realizing this idea requires building a "church" characterized by unity, integrity, freedom, and unchangeability, and that this new form of community is a non-coercive version of theocracy. Traditional (e.g., Jewish) theocracy replaces the political state of nature ("might makes right") with an ethical state of nature ("should makes good"); non-coercive theocracy transcends this distinction, uniting humanity in a common vision of a divine legislator whose legislation is inward: the law of love binds church members together like families.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 76-94 |
Number of pages | 19 |
Journal | Diametros |
Volume | 54 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Dec 2017 |
Scopus Subject Areas
- Philosophy
User-Defined Keywords
- Church
- Ethical community
- Immanuel Kant
- Might makes right
- Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason
- Theocracy