Kant and Mysticism: Critique as the Experience of Baring All in Reason's Light

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What is happening when someone has a mystical experience, such as feeling at one with the universe or hearing Gods voice Does philosophy provide tools for assessing such claims Which claims can be dismissed as delusions and which ones convey genuine truths that might be universally meaningful Valuable insights into such pressing questions can be found in the writings of Immanuel Kant, though few philosophical commentators have appreciated the implications beyond his famous Copernican hypothesis. In Kant and Mysticism, Stephen R. Palmquist corrects this skewed view of Kant once and for all. Beginning with a detailed analysis of Kants 1766 work Dreams of a Spirit-Seer, Palmquist demonstrates that in Dreams Kant first discovers and explains his plan to write a new, critical philosophy that will revolutionize metaphysics by laying bare the limits of human reason. Palmquist shows how the same metaphorical relationshipbetween reasons dreams (metaphysics) and sensibilitys dreams (mysticism)permeates Kants mature writings. After clarifying how Kants final (unfinished) book, Opus Postumum, completes this dual project, Palmquist explains how the critical mysticism entailed by Kants position has profound implications for contemporary understandings of religious and mystical experience, both by religious individuals and by philosophers seeking to understand such experiences.

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Kants Dreams of a Spirit-Seer, his early sardonic critique of the Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg, is often taken as an odd and unimportant episode in the development of Kants Critical philosophy. But Stephen Palmquist convincingly shows that Kant was significantly influenced by Swedenborgs writings, borrowing elements of epistemology, ethics, and religious thinking from Swedenborg. Palmquists work also profoundly deepens our understanding of the extent to which a mysticism of reason lies at the heart of Kants whole Critical philosophy. -- Ronald M. Green, Dartmouth College

Author Bio

Stephen R. Palmquist is professor of religion and philosophy at Hong Kong Baptist University.