“INSTINCT, THAT VOICE OF GOD” ROUSSEAU’S INFLUENCE ON KANT’S INTERPRETATION OF THE GENESIS

Abstract

In my paper I investigate Rousseau's influence on Kant's interpretation of the Genesis and his philosophy of history. In his essay Conjectural Beginning of Human History Kant interpreted the Genesis from the perspective of the conflict between natural instinct and human reason, i.e. the conflict between the theological doctrine and his philosophy of reason. Opposing Rousseau's opinion that man is entirely satisfied with living according to natural instinct, Kant claims that reason should overcome instinct, which he considers to be the voice of God. Man, therefore, should step out of the state of nature (the Garden of Eden) by his own reason, as Kant regards the release from the rule of instinct and the transition to the guidance of reason as the beginning of human moral history.