Abstract

Freedom is Schleiermacher's key ethical concept. Human life in general, however, is causally determined. Freedom is actualized only in the inner life, in feeling and imagination. Inner life, however, is the domain of religion, of consciousness of the infinite, and the source of free human fellowship. Thus freedom is tied to religion. This paper analyzes Schleiermacher's concept of religion and relates it to freedom in its connection with determinism. It attempts to demonstrate that religion is the foundation of the moral life in a way that does not compromise the relative autonomy of morality, but rather makes moral life possible.