2023/12/17 by Daniel Smith · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · #Publishing and Scholarly Communication
paper · doi:10.3998/phimp.3059
openalex publication_date 2023/12/17 · openalex created_date 2023/12/18 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
This paper addresses the much-debated question about the fate of Kant's race theory in the 1790s by examining his use of the concepts of “germs” [Keime] and “predispositions” [Anlagen] in the Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason of 1793. Following the well-received “anthropological interpretation” of the essay on radical evil that draws productive analogies with his philosophy of history, it proposes a “new anthropological interpretation” that focuses on concepts borrowed from his philosophy of race. Against those who have argued that Kant changed his mind about his race theory in the 1790s, this interpretation of Religion shows that he continued to use its main concepts well into his late period, even introducing them into his moral philosophy for the first time.