Progress and perfection in kant’s philosophy

Abstract

This article aims to characterize the Kantian understanding of the notions of progress and perfection from its position within the debate carried out by the German enlightenment of the 18th century. In order to carry out this task, this article intends to perform two tasks: firstly, to present a contextualization of the Kantian philosophy of history within the so-called German enlightenment, starting from the debate involving the notion Bestimmung des Menschen (vocation of man), with a view to demonstrating how Kant shifts the notions of perfection and destiny from a theological context to an anthropological and historical context.  The second task is to show how the idea of infinite perfectibility arising from the debate on the Bestimmung des Menschen plays a central role in the Critique of Practical Reason in 1788. To accomplish this second task, this article will discuss the Kantian doctrine of the postulates of practical reason - the immortality of the soul and the existence of God - as conditions for morality to be possible in the world.