The Idea Of God By Kant

Kant accepted the idea of a God, if only as the figurehead of a systematic universe. His theory of morality presupposed the existence of a God so that there could be a rational and ultimate good for all men to will. To Kant, for if men are even to attempt to be virtuous, there must be a rational goal in their actions. Because man and God are essentially separated one cannot look within himself alone to find the path to the supreme good, depending only upon intuition and feeling to light the way. Recourse must be made according to rational principles which are objective and universal. Because the supreme good is conceived of only in terms of reason, the will to virtue must be a purely rational will. The will to do virtuous acts cannot be mere desire; the motivation cannot be something emotional, or something independent of reason—even if on occasion the desiring will happens to coincide with the rational will. The basis of Kant’s moral freedom is that one must choose the rationally identified good for its own sake, apart from any harm or satisfaction such a choice may bring. Just as Kant forcefully separated the world of subject and object, man and God, here he separates desire from action. Kant’s definition of virtuous duty takes the form of what he called the categorical imperative. Succinctly stated, it posits that one should act as if to make the principles of one’s own actions be the maxim of universal ethics. Kant ideas of God considerably influenced religious interpretations of later philosophers.