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Original Sin and Radical Evil: Kierkegaard and Kant

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2012

Roe Fremstedal
Roe Fremstedal*
Affiliation:
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim
*
Email: roe.fremstedal@ntnu.no
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Abstract

By comparing the theories of evil found in Kant and Kierkegaard, this article aims to shed new light on Kierkegaard, as well as on the historical and conceptual relations between the two philosophers. The author shows that there is considerable overlap between Kant's doctrine of radical evil and Kierkegaard's views on guilt and sin and argues that Kierkegaard approved of the doctrine of radical evil. Although Kierkegaard's distinction between guilt and sin breaks radically with Kant, there are more Kantian elements in Kierkegaard than was shown by earlier scholarship. Finally, Kierkegaard provides an alternative solution to the problem of the universality of guilt, a problem much discussed in the literature on Kant.

Keywords

anthropologyguiltImmanuel KantSøren Kierkegaardmoral agencysin
Type
Articles
Information
Kantian Review , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , 08 June 2012 , pp. 197 - 225
Copyright
Copyright © Kantian Review 2012

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