Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason

Study Guide

Core Ideas

The Struggle Between Good and Evil

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Core Ideas The Struggle Between Good and Evil

Kant says the struggle between good and evil is a struggle between moral principles and immoral incentives. In order to be good, we must consciously develop a virtuous disposition and also combat our tendency to engage in evil. As Kant puts it in the very beginning of Part Two: "To become a morally good human being is not enough to let the germ of the good which lies in our species develop unhindered; there is in us an active and opposing cause of evil which must also be combated." If the good is nurtured and the evil ignored, the evil will flourish.

To actively develop our moral tendencies and combat our evil ones, we need a model of truly moral behavior. According to Kant, the most compelling historical modal of moral behavior is Jesus of Nazareth, for he is said to have resisted all temptations. Kant says that it is not necessary to believe that Jesus was the son of God, but it is important to believe in the possibility that Jesus actually attained moral perfection. If one human could be perfect, we could be perfect, too. We must also realize that a total change of heart is necessary to become morally good. Even if the tendency to evil can never be eradicated completely, our commitment to the moral law must be sincere and wholehearted.

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