Fallen Freedom: Kant on Radical Evil and Moral Regeneration

This work offers a clear exposition of evil and moral regeneration as they appear in Kant’s late work Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone. Michalson examines a doctrine of radical evil which he sees as strongly resembling the Christian doctrine of original sin. In the author’s view, Kant compromises his position as a result of this throwback to the Christian tradition, which is at odds with some of the basic tenets of the Enlightenment. Kant is thus seen to be deeply ambivalent in the philosophy he puts forward when he talks about divine action, on the one hand, and human autonomy, on the other.