Kant's practical postulates and the limits of the Critical system

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Kant's practical postulates and the limits of the Critical system

Gardner, S; (2011) Kant's practical postulates and the limits of the Critical system. Bulletin of the Hegel Society of Great Britain , 63/64 187 - 215. Green open access

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Abstract

The topic that I wish to consider is that of the significance, both systematic and historical, for Kant's system as a whole of the postulates of pure practical reason, more specifically, of the two theological postulates concerning the existence of God and personal immortality which form the basis of Kant's moral theology. My discussion will proceed by way of an examination of the problems of Kant's moral theology in the eyes of his early contemporaries, for whom it constituted a crux in Kant's project. Different views were taken by Kant's contemporaries of what exactly follows from this regarding the coherence and completeness of Kant's Critical philosophy. For the thinkers I will be looking at here, the miscarriage of the moral theology constituted a fatal fault in Kantianism. For the German Idealists, the moral theology instead provided a vital clue as to how the Kantian system could be, and showed why it needed to be, transformed into a more radical idealism. The role of the practical postulates in the development of German Idealism demands a separate treatment; what I will argue here is simply that the practical postulates do indeed represent a point at which Kant's philosophical system displays a deep and interesting tension, in light of which both historical responses are prima facie intelligible.

Type:	Article
Title:	Kant's practical postulates and the limits of the Critical system
Open access status:	An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
Publisher version:	http://hegel-society.org.uk/bulletin/volumes/63-64
Language:	English
Additional information:	This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
UCL classification:	UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Dept of Philosophy
URI:	https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1343785