RT Article
T1 Evaluating the Theistic Implications of the Kantian Moral Argument that Postulating God is Essential to Moral Rationality
JF Studies in Christian ethics
VO 34
IS 2
SP 143
OP 157
A1 Breitenbach, Zachary
LA English
PB Sage
YR 2021
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1755888538
AB I contend that Kant’s moral argument that postulates God and an afterlife in order to justify moral rationality counts strongly in favor of theistic ethics even though it cannot on its own justify that God exists. In moving toward this conclusion, I assess Kant’s moral argument and note how both Kant and the utilitarian Henry Sidgwick, in their own ways, recognize that morality cannot reasonably be seen as completely overriding if God and an afterlife are rejected. I then critique a theistic moral rationality argument offered by C. Stephen Layman, as a flaw in this argument helps to reveal why arguments centering upon moral rationality likely cannot reach an ontological conclusion concerning theism; nevertheless, I contend that moral rationality arguments like Kant’s have apologetic significance for theism. They reveal a dilemma for secular ethics: either appeal to the possibility of theism in order to justify moral rationality or else accept that morality is not fully rational.
K1 moral rationality
K1 Moral Argument
K1 Layman
K1 Sidgwick
K1 Kant
K1 Ethics
K1 Apologetics
DO 10.1177/0953946820962408