Kant, Religion, and the Psychology of Reason

The paper reproduces the text of the plenary lecture given on February 12, 2024 i Halle at the international conference “Forms of Rationality – Kant and Modernity”, organized by the Christian-Wolff-Gesellschaft für die Philosophie der Aufklärung and the Immanuel-Kant-Forum. The paper suggests to read Kant’s critical philosophy as a Bildungsroman of reason that gradually succeeds in legitimizing its claims in the various domains to which its interest is directed. In particular, the private space of faith is considered in order to show that the rational and a priori structure underlying the various historical religions provides reason with a particular way of finding a satisfactory answer to its own need. Kant’s idea of pure rational faith rethinks the attempts made in modernity to reconcile faith and reason on radically new grounds. This is another expression of Kant’s understanding idea of Enlightenment.