The German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804) created a paradigm shift in both science and theology. His theory that the mind plays an active role in constructing objective experience created a ‘Copernican revolution’ in epistemology by placing the human subject at the centre of epistemological inquiry. Kant’s work also represented a watershed in theology and apologetics. He famously asserted that while we cannot objectively demonstrate God’s existence, the idea of God is inseparably connected with the ideals of happiness, morality and the ‘supreme good’. He thus laid the foundations for a ‘natural religion’ based on reason and morality, which was the basis for the Liberal Theology of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Kant and the Early Moderns investigates the relationship of Kant’s epistemology to that of five of his early-modern forebears: Descartes, Locke, Leibniz, Berkeley and Hume. The book consists of five pairs of essays written by an impressive array of American and European scholars. See PDF below to read the full article.

File: Kant and the Early Moderns (Kamal Weerakoon)