Immanuel Kant

by Shao Kai Tseng

Immanuel Kant’s stature in the history of Western philosophy is almost unparalleled, and his sophisticated, complex works have impacted us in profound ways we barely recognize today. Because his system of philosophy led to the secularization of society, Kant has often been considered a modern archenemy of Christianity. Writing firmly in the Reformed tradition, philosophy professor Shao Kai Tseng offers a reinterpretation and critical appreciation of his thought that shows his significance in art, science, and modern conceptions of human dignity, gives an overview of his philosophy, and closes with a critique from an orthodox Reformed perspective.

Genres: Philosophy

235 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 16, 2020

Reviews

[Jimmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you heard of the philosopher Immanuel Kant? Kant as a philosopher is hard to understand and yet Kant was such a watershed individual in philosophy. Through his writings philosophy went from the trend of large speculation on the “big ideas” of God, freedom, morality, religion, etc., to the overall trend today of being interpretative and analytic, and dare I say “less ambitious” in its scope and aims. Given Kant’s importance and the difficulties of interpreting him this book has been immensely helpful. The author Shao Kai Tseng has done a superb job writing this book. He’s given us a rigorous introduction to Kant from a Reformed standpoint. A professor of philosophy, the author is also a Reformed Christian with an impressive academic background in philosophy and theology: His Master of Divinity is from Regent College, his ThM from Princeton Theological Seminary and his MSt and DPhil from Oxford. I appreciate that his writing is from a biblical worldview.
This book is part of the Great Thinkers series published by P&R Publishing and so far I have six volumes in this series. Like other titles in this series this volume reflect the editors’ aim of presenting readers Great Thinkers with care and accuracy while also providing an analysis and critique from the standpoint of a biblical Worldview and also Van Til’s apologetics as a tool of analysis. I can’t wait to read other books by the author in this series.
After the series introduction, foreword and acknowledgements the meat of the book consists of three chapters. The first chapter goes over why Kant matters today and chapter two is on a summary of Kant’s Thought. This is the largest section of the book starting from page seventeen to ninety-eight. Chapter three then presents a Reformed assessment of Kant’s thoughts. There’s also a helpful glossary to understand Kant that I think I will use as future reference since some of his terms are unique; for example what he meant by intuition was not what I first thought it means. There’s also a helpful strategy guide of how to read Kant in the end of the book under “recommended reading.”
I think one thing that stands out from some of the other volume in this series is that I think the author Tseng spent a longer time than other authors in reconstructing what Kant believes. He also engages with the latest Kant studies in academia and subscribes to the new reinterpretation of Kant as being more religious and Christian than previously believed by Anglophone scholarship of past generations. Tseng doesn’t just assert this but attempts to justify this claim from primary and secondary sources (which I think he successfully did) which might be controversial as that means Tseng has to say Cornelius Van Til had it wrong with interpreting Kant. Tseng is still committed to Van Tillian apologetics but here he also puts Van Til’s misinterpretation of Kant in context that Van Til was basing his view on Kant from the latest scholarship on Kant in academia in his day and age; with that Tseng also addresses contemporary Reformed apologists to also be informed by the latest scholarship of Kant. Tseng tells us why he is defending Kant, in that he wants to emulate Herman Bavinck’s spirit of being charitable towards others and yet also being biblical and rigorous in one’s critical evaluation.
When it came time to critique Kant in chapter three I thought it was interesting that the book discussed Post-Kantian philosophical directions and other philosophers who reacted to Kant and their direction. In this way the book also offer the critique of Kant; yet ultimately the author’s ultimate criticism is to the degree that Kant rejected a Christian point of view where faith in Biblical revelation is the foundation for knowledge, there will be the problem (Van Tillians will recognize this apologetics motif). So the book goes over how there can be knowledge of spiritual and theological truth through revelation from God. I really appreciated the discussion with Kant’s epistemology that believes knowledge requires “determinancy” as a criteria, in which something needs to be compared with something equal so that there can be knowledge and yet with this criteria Kant thinks God is by default outside the realm of knowledge since no one can be compared to Him and yet the book brought the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity to bear in that all three Persons of the Trinity are fully God and the Trinity does meet the criterion of determinacy within the Three Persons equal to each other within the Godhead. This Triune God then revealed Himself so we can know Him! Of course from there God is the foundation of all other knowledge as the Creator.
Overall a good book. I admit it took a while for me to finish this book but it was a great exercise in thinking philosophically, historically, theologically and more important biblically.

[Erik Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe the most challenging in the series as Kant is both complicated and interpretations of him contested. Tseng remarkably summarizes his thought in a way that was (mostly) accessible. His engagement and critique at the end was really good.

Kant aimed his three “Critiques” at 1) what can I know?; 2) what should I do?; and 3) what may I hope? While he’s most well known for 2, and probably most influential for 1; his inability to resolve 3 in Christ makes him ultimately a tragic genius.