this issue
previous article in this issuenext article in this issue

Document Details :

Title: An Almost Neglected Aspect of Kant's Theology
Subtitle: The Metaphysical Deduction of the Idea of God
Author(s): HONG, Wooram
Journal: Bijdragen
Volume: 73    Issue: 1   Date: 2012   
Pages: 28-54
DOI: 10.2143/BIJ.73.1.2160750

Abstract :
This article deals with an issue which has so far been overlooked with regard to Kant’s discussion of rational theology, namely his metaphysical deduction of the idea of God. Apart from the transcendental deduction, whose task is to justify the idea of God as referring to the objects of our experience, the metaphysical deduction has its proper task to establish the idea of God as logically originating from the nature of reason. Although the former seems to have more importance than the latter, we show that the latter undeniably has its own importance which cannot be disregarded in favor of the former. For this purpose, we first consider four extrinsic significations issuing from Kant’s metaphysical deduction of the idea of God. After this brief survey, we then go into the internal structure of the Critique of Pure Reason, and specifically examine Kant’s argument for the rational prosyllogistic origin of the idea of God, which proceeds from the principle of omnimoda determinatio, through the idea of the omnitudo realitatis, and finally to the idea of the ens realissimum. By means of our close investigation of this argument, we conclusively reveal the critical signification of Kant’s metaphysical deduction of the idea of God within the framework of the Critique of Pure Reason, i.e., that it guarantees, at least, a subjective validity of the idea of God, even though it cannot guarantee any objective validity on merely logical basis.