Abstract

SANTOS, Leonel Ribeiro dos. Kant's moral interpretation of Christianism and the biblical and christian roots of his ethics. Conjectura: filos. e Educ. [online]. 2017, vol.22, n.2, pp.226-278. ISSN 2178-4612.  https://doi.org/10.18226/21784612.v22.n2.03.

The issue that is dealt with in this essay is at the crossroads between Kant's moral philosophy and Kant's philosophy of religion, a zone of problematic co-habitation or, rather, a zone of passages and tensions, which is rarely visited. And, yet, its approach may result in important clarifications for key points, namely of Kantian Ethics. Starting with the consideration of some problems regarding the subject of the essay and the difficulties involved, we will address Kant's interpretation of Christian Morals in confrontation with other Moral systems of Antiquity (namely Stoicism and Epicurianism), pointing to the explicit biblical-christian inspiration of essential topics of Kantian Ethics. Then, Kant's interpretation of Christianism as a moral and natural Religion and the supposed complementarity between Religion and Morals are clarified, moving on to the explanation of the general assumption that presides over Kantian biblical and theological hermeneutics: reason as supreme exegete, and the principle of morality as its supreme criterion. The essay concludes with a brief note on an unexpected, yet very relevant and still recent rehabilitation of the philosopher of pure reason while qualified interpreter of the most genuine humane, moral and historical meaning of Christianism.

Keywords : Christianism; Morals; Biblical Hermeneutics; Stoicism; Epicurianism.

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