250 Kant: A Biography
for Kant restricted to God, freedom, and immortality, do not afford any kind
of knowledge beyond that which is possible through space and time and
the categories. They can give rise only to a kind of rational faith.
The belief that these concepts are satisfied (i.e., that God, freedom, and
immortality are real) is central to Kant's so-called "moral faith." Though
Kant himself was not religious and was opposed to any form of external
religious worship, he did believe that morality inevitably leads us to the
acceptance of certain tenets of traditional theism. In his later essays on
religious matters and especially in his Religion within the Limits of Mere
Reason of 1793, Kant will attempt to develop the parallels between revealed
religion and philosophical theology. We will also see that, in true Enlight¬
enment fashion, he will claim that all that is essential in religion can be
reduced to morality, but he does not reject the main tenets of traditional
religion. They are valuable, if only we realize that they are not knowledge,
but "nothing more than two articles of belief" (A831=6839), namely the
belief in God and the belief in immortality.
Thus even after reason has failed in all its ambitious attempts to pass beyond the lim¬
its of all experience, there is still enough left to satisfy us, so far as our practical stand¬
point is concerned. No one, indeed, will be able to boast that he knows that there is a
God, and a future life; if he knows this, he is the very man for whom I have long [and
vainly] sought. All knowledge, if it concerns an object of mere reason, can be commu¬
nicated; and I might therefore hope that under his instruction my own knowledge
would be extended in this wonderful fashion. No, my conviction is not logical, but
moral certainty; and since it rests on subjective grounds (of the moral sentiment), I
must not even say,'/? is morally certain that there is a God, etc.', but'/ am morally cer¬
tain, etc' In other words, belief in a God and in another world is so interwoven with
my moral sentiment that as there is little danger of my losing the latter, there is equally
little cause for fear that the former can ever be taken from me. (A828f=B856f)
Some might scoff at the idea that this is all that philosophy can achieve,
but Kant believed that it is not only more than enough, but also a good
thing, that in matters that concern us all, no one is privileged. The "high¬
est philosophy cannot advance further than is possible under the guidance
which nature has bestowed even upon the most ordinary understanding"
(A8 3 o=B8 5 8).
First Reactions to the Critique:
"Too Much like Berkeley and Hume"When the Critique first appeared, Kant expected not only that he would be
understood, but also that other scholars would rally to support his project.