Kant and Theodicy: A Search for an Answer to the Problem of Evil

Product description Review In fewer than 150 pages, Huxford lays out an admirably clear and surprisingly comprehensive account of Immanuel Kant's career-long engagement with the problem of theodicy, defined by Kant in his 1791 essay "On the Failure of All Philosophical Efforts in Theodicy" as "the defense of the highest wisdom of the creator against the charge which reason brings against it for whatever is counter-purposive in the world" (quoted on p. xii)--in other words, the "defending of God's cause" in the face of evil. Though many Kant readers will be familiar, at least by title, with this essay, Huxford demonstrates in detail that Kant was concerned with theodicy from his very earliest, pre-critical writings (in which his focus is on the theodicies of Leibniz and Pope) and that his interest continued on through the early and late critical periods, coming to fruition in "Failure." Students of Kant will benefit from this synopsis of the course of Kant's philosophical progress, and readers interested in theodicy will appreciate the many insights afforded by Kant's work into the taxonomy of evil and the possibility and conditions of a successful theodicy. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.Kant and Theodicy is essential reading for specialists on Kant's religious views and their development."From its examination of Kant's pre-Critical views to the 1791 distinction between doctrinal and authentic theodicy, Kant and Theodicy does an excellent job documenting salient passages, exploring the secondary literature, and evaluating how Kant's views on theodicy interact with the major elements of his theoretical and practical philosophy. This is a must-read for specialists in Kant's philosophy of religion and will be of interest to philosophers and theologians alike working on the problem of evil. ""Thanks to George Huxford's masterful overview of the (much-neglected) attention Kant devoted, throughout his corpus, to philosophical problems relating to theodicy, responsible Kant scholars can no longer portray Kant as having a merely passing interest in the problem of evil. Instead, by showing how Kant's 1791 essay culminates his lifelong grappling with God and evil, Huxford's analysis makes it seem only natural that Kant turned to theodicy as soon as he completed the third Critique. This comprehensive study is essential reading not only for those interested in the history of theodicy but for anyone who seeks to understand Kant holistically.""This is a welcome book-length effort to depict Kant's decades-long struggle with questions about evil and theodicy. Huxford offers a sympathetic portrayal of Kant's evolving views about evil and convincingly argues that they are much more central to his philosophical project than often recognized." About the Author George Huxford received his PhD from Kings College in London.