How the idea of God matters for Kant’s philosophy of biology

Abstract

Speaker – Andy Jones, Cardiff University Commentator – David Baumeister, University of Stuttgart Kant famously argued that it is impossible to know whether God exists, but his belief in God was instrumental to various aspects of his account of theoretical and practical reason. For theoretical reason, the regulative unity of reason assumes that knowledge develops toward a singular expansive explanation of everything. For practical reason, to be authentically moral requires “a change of heart” beyond our own comprehension, which only God would be able to detect. If my argument to this point is accepted, then it should come as little surprise that God plays an important role for the Third Critique, which attempted to bridge theoretical and practical reason. The dominant contemporary view is that religion and science are in conflict and incompatible with one another. In line with this view, the general consensus in scholarship on Kant and biology is that Kant’s belief (if any) in God is not significant for his account of biology. In contrast, I argue there are potential lessons for contemporary biology when considering the role of Kant’s belief in God for biology. Kant would have opposed the rise of creation science as he was sceptical about the historical accuracy of scripture and critical of the potential abuse of power within the church. Kant provides a defence against aspects of the contemporary conflict between science and religion. Nevertheless, Kant maintained an unwavering faith in reason to guide knowledge and practice beyond the limitations of experience. Tracing the connection between Kant’s accounts of God and biology opens up important overlooked dimensions within growing scholarship on Kant and biology. There are at least two key issues where Kant’s philosophy can contribute to contemporary philosophy of biology. First, there is disagreement about how to demarcate biological individuals. By framing our comprehension of biological individuals in judgment, Kant offers a way of understanding how biological knowledge is inextricably entangled to the human perspective. Second, Kant offers a way of understanding the relationship between values and science. Kant’s discussion of biology turns to a discussion of culture and the role of humanity in light of our epistemological limitations.