Religion Within the Bounds of Bare Reason

Immanuel Kant was the greatest philosopher of Western Europe, one of the leading thinkers of the Enlightenment, the founder of German classical philosophy, and the creator of critical idealism, who made a decisive contribution to the development of the European philosophical tradition. Everyone remembers Voland’s words about the proof of God’s existence by Kant: “But here’s the curious thing: he completely destroyed all five proofs, and then, as if in mockery of himself, built his own sixth proof!”

Precisely it is presented in the treatise “The Only Possible Basis for a Demonstration of the Existence of God.” The collection also includes “Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone.” In Kant’s view, God is the highest being, a moral and ethical postulate, and religion is the recognition and fulfillment by a person of moral duties as God’s commandments.