Wednesday, March 30, 2011
in response to Immanuel Kant's reason
I don't agree with Kant's definition of enlightenment. I think it puts too much emphasize on self and very little on God. It seems to be the perfect recipe for a cult. Many cults begin with a charismatic, free thinker who only mentions scriptures to support his ideas. Therefore, the religion is based on an imperfect person and has very minimal textual foundation, which gives the leader absolute power. Jim Jones comes to mind as I write this. He was a charismatic, free thinker, who believed in equality for all people (a controversial subject at the time). Jim Jones began as a Pentecostal church leader, preaching hope, love, equality, and justice, mentioning Jesus from time to time, but as time went on he began preaching self divinity more and more frequently. Then he started to tell his congregation Jesus was not God, and they all possessed inner divinity. Finally, he taught his congregation he was God. Therefore, his word was the unquestionable truth, and must be followed. Jim Jones' congregation followed him to the death, committing a mass suicide resulting in the death of 909 people. Yes, Kant does encourage all to think for themselves, so ideally a cult would not emerge. However, he admits that the masses will not think for themselves, and eventually will follow.
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This is a really interesting response. I hadn't thought about the similarities between Kants teaching and cult worship. I agree with Ashton's point that Kant puts a lot of emphasis on one's self, and quickly brushes over God. By emphasizing the self, Kant had good intentions of relaying the idea that "lazy thinking" or "going with the flow" makes for a dull mind, and a "immature" person as he said. Which would, as Ashton said, include all the makings of a cult. The main point in which Kant is obviously not seeking to encourage cult formation is seen when he emphasizes the importance of everyone to think for themselves. If each person can individually think, and dwell on God, then the "recipe" as Ashton said would be missing a key component.
ReplyDeleteWhile I would have to agree Kant does not place emphasis on God as much as many other theologians do, I do not think that it resembles cult worship in may vital aspects. The first being the historical context in which Kant was writing. We discussed this a little in the 10:00 section of the class but there were not really many different religious groups known at the time. Cults were certainly not something that would have been an issue. Secondly, Kant was considered to be apart of the church and was not attempting to separate entirely from the religious structure already in place. With that being said, from a modern perspective some of Kant's ideas do seem a bit suspect.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Maddy, Kant does put more emphasis on the self, but I don't think this emphasis is meant to steer away from God. I think God is the omnipotent ruler of all that exists, however, he did not give himself control over the decisions of humankind, which is first established in the story of Adam and Eve. In this way he believes, the self is very important - not more important than God - but crucial to peace within humanity.
ReplyDeleteWith that said, I believe Kant is making a statement to avoid cults rather than cause them by suggesting more logical reflection of the self. What I interpreted from this reading is that Kant believes each individual should have his or her own opinions based on what they have learned through society, education, and personal experience rather than absorbing and confining to the opinions of others. Jim Jones epitomizes Kant's definition of a guardian and their influence over the immature. While this also enters into his discussion of the public (scholarly) and private realms of questioning, there is enough to be said about guardianship in this scenerio. However, as a supporter of this theology of Kant's, I believe Jim Jones was not doing anything wrong by questioning and modifying his beliefs. Of course, he should not have expressed these new conclusions to the members of his Pentecostal Church; however, the church members are at fault here.
The emphasis on the self is more to think of one's individual perspectives rather than what is preached and with this emphasis, universal logic and reason keeps radical ideas in check. Jim Jones's congregation could have thought about what he was saying, and from their own knowledge of scripture (as opposed to what has been interpreted by others) and logic would have seen the absurdity rather than follow along. In other words, I think Kant's theology of logic and reason and emphasis on the beliefs within oneself suggests a way to strengthen the individuality within each person to consequently avoid abuse of power within the church as well as radical cults such as Jim Jones's, Hitler's, etc.