Explain Kant’s Moral Argument for the Existence of God

Explain Kant’s Moral Argument for The Existence of God

Kant was a devout Christian but argued that God was a being beyond the limit of our intellect and our experience, and as such believed it was not possible to prove his existence through theoretical arguments. However, Kant believed it was possible to show that there are strong practical reasons for believing in God, regardless as to whether or not they amounted to any proof. This led Kant to argue that ‘it is morally necessary to assume the existence of God’ (Critique of Practical Reason) as only God can give meaning to our moral actions. Kant’s Moral Argument was deontological, meaning that is based on doing one’s duty without consideration of the final outcome. Kant believed it is possible to know the world in an a priori synthetic way, which was known as Kant’s Copernican Revolution – as he puts it, it is the representation that makes the object possible rather than the object that makes the representation possible. Kant believed in two distinct worlds of knowledge, the noumenal – the world in its physical and natural from remaining untouched from observation and the phenomenal – the personalised view of the universe. Therefore, these two worlds show how God must exist in order to maintain the noumenal.

In order to understand Kant’s Moral Argument, one must outline his ethical theory. Kant believed a moral action to be an autonomous action – one that is truly free. Therefore, actions based upon emotional motives of desire are no freely chosen and are in a sense imposed upon us. For example, Kant argues that if I recuse someone from a burning house because I have been ordered to do so, then my action is not autonomous as I did not chose the act. According to Kant, choices must be freely made otherwise it wouldn’t be true to say we have an intrinsic inclination instilled within every rational being which acts as a moral code from which we develop our sense of wrong and right. This then led him to argue that it is God does not make actions right or wrong but wills the moral Law which humans can gain through reason and use to discern what is right or wrong. It is interesting to note therefore that Kant rejects Divine Command Ethics as a moral theory due to his belief that acts done because we have been told to do them by God are not autonomous.

Another aspect of Kant’s ethical theory worthy of noting is his Categorical Impetrative which is whereby each individual has the duty to fulfil absolute moral obligations without the interference of any personal inclination. This is because we can work out what is right or wrong by using our reason because the right thing to do is something that has to be applicable universally. Thus Kant uses the example that the maxim ‘break promises whenever it suits you’ is not a duty due to the fact that if everyone, universally, broke promises whenever