On a meta-ethical argument and a political argument in Religion within the boundaries of mere reason

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to reconstruct two theses Kant expounds in Die Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der bloβen Vernunft that carry a strong meta-ethical, juridical, and political meaning. These theses, along with the arguments sustaining them, show a solid consistency with the thematic nuclei of the Rechtslehre, which allows us to hold that the 1793 text should be considered as a sort of juridical and political critique that prepares the field for Kant’s juridical-political metaphysics. The first one will be analysed in section I and concerns the meta-ethical conception of freedom Kant elaborates in Religion in relation to the topic of radical evil. The second one, to be dealt with in section II, has to do with the series of differences between the ethical state of nature and community, on the one side, and the juridical state of nature and community, on the other. Finally, in section III, I will study the meaning these theses bear concerning Kant’s critical reception of modern natural law.