Overview

What is happening when someone has a mystical experience, such as “feeling at one with the universe” or “hearing God’s 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 Kant’s 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 relationship—between reason’s dreams (metaphysics) and sensibility’s dreams (mysticism)—permeates Kant’s mature writings. After clarifying how Kant’s final (unfinished) book, Opus Postumum, completes this dual project, Palmquist explains how the “critical mysticism” entailed by Kant’s 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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9781793604644

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Kant's 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 Kant's Critical philosophy. But Stephen Palmquist convincingly shows that Kant was significantly influenced by Swedenborg's writings, borrowing elements of epistemology, ethics, and religious thinking from Swedenborg. Palmquist's work also profoundly deepens our understanding of the extent to which a mysticism of reason lies at the heart of Kant's whole Critical philosophy. -- Ronald M. Green, Dartmouth College

Kant's 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 Kant's critical philosophy. But Stephen R. Palmquist convincingly shows that Kant was significantly influenced by Swedenborg's writings, borrowing elements of epistemology, ethics, and religious thinking from Swedenborg. Palmquist's work also profoundly deepens our understanding of the extent to which a mysticism of reason lies at the heart of Kant's whole critical philosophy. -- Ronald M. Green, Dartmouth College The term mysticism is generally regarded as having negative connotations for Kant. Thus, for example, references to Kant's interest in K.A. Wilmans' dissertation on this topic are often one-sided. Consequently, works clarifying Kant's actual relation to mysticism are most welcome. In view of the widespread disregard for Kant's central questions, this new book is of the highest importance, especially its last chapter, on the mystical implications of Kant's Opus Postumum. -- Norbert Fischer, Katholische Universitat Eichstatt-Ingolstadt Palmquist's holistic and perspectival interpretation offers a provocative way to rethink Kant's arguments and their implications. -- Eric S. Nelson, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Author Information

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

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