最高善に就いて : カント辨證論の課題

Abstract

The dialectic of Kant's philosophy plays some important role in its system. It has no positive meaning, but it is a springboard by which we are propelled into the higher region. For example, the dialectic in "The Critique of Pure Reason" shows us the way from Nature to Freedom. So, we are going to study to what region from Freedom the dialectic in "The Critique of Practical Reason" will lead us. The problem of this dialectic is the highest good--summum bonum--, that is, the chief good (virtue) and the complete good (combination of virtue and happiness). The realisation of perfect virtue is an ideal infinitely remote from the finite rational being, and the neccessary connection between virtue and happiness may be realized only through the intelligible Author of nature, i. e., God. As it is man's duty to pursue the highest good, the practical reason must postulate the immortality of the soul and the existence of God. These postulates have some reality because of the "superiority of the practical reason". In this way we are led to find ourselves in the higher region beyond Freedom. But there must be the radical self-consciousness of the finiteness of human reason--not simply in so far as it connects with sensibility. Otherwise it would be unreasonable to expect the infinite progress to higher grades of moral perfection of the soul, and to hope for the kinds of happiness in due proportion to those grades. The problem of summum bonum discloses the real nature of the finite reason of mankind. Owing to that self consciousness we can understand the neccessary connection, maintained by the will of god, between virtue and happiness. The dialectic of the practical reason shows us the way from virtue to holiness, from morality to religion in its true meaning.