From what I understand, Kant thinks that intuitions based on pure speculative reasoning are meaningless. He holds the notion that God cannot be proven rationally or empirically and that any knowledge cannot exist independently. He believes, however, that morality or a moral law is a function within the human mind that tells us how we ought to act and that it “commands and constrains us absolutely, with ultimate authority and without regard to our preferences or empirical features or circumstances”. This is the foundation of his a rational argument for a reason to believe in God’s existence. He then proposes that the purpose and practical reason of living a virtuous life is to arrive at the highest good - “a world of universal, maximal virtue, grounding universal, maximal happiness”. He thinks that belief in the realization of this world is necessary because disbelief in this ideal would lead to the meaninglessness of morality. Seeing this world unattainable by humans alone, he introduces the existence of God, a being that portions out happiness to those who are morally right. He claims that this type of reasoning is practical because if there were no God, there would be no reason to be good because it would never bring happiness. He thinks that we have infinite amount of time to achieve perfect virtuosity so that we can deserve the ultimate happiness. Therefore, he also has a practical reasoning for immortality of the soul.
Does he use any intuitions when he proposes his practical reason for God in his moral argument? What are some of your other thoughts on the soundness of his moral and theistic claims? Also, this is my first semester of philosophy (philosophy of religion) and my first time encountering Kant, so please correct me if I have any errors in my understanding.
Does he use any intuitions when he proposes his practical reason for God in his moral argument? What are some of your other thoughts on the soundness of his moral and theistic claims? Also, this is my first semester of philosophy (philosophy of religion) and my first time encountering Kant, so please correct me if I have any errors in my understanding.
