Comprehensive Commentary on Kant's Religion Within the Bounds of Bare Reason - by Stephen R Palmquist (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

• Offers definitive, sentence-level commentary on Kant's Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason
• Presents a thoroughly revised version of Pluhar's translation of the full text of Kant's Religion, including detailed notes comparing the translation with the others still in use today
• Identifies most of the several hundred changes Kant made to the second (1794) edition and unearths evidence that many major changes were responses to criticisms of the first edition
• Provides both a detailed overview and original interpretation of Kant's work on the philosophy of religion
• Demonstrates that Kant's arguments in Religion are not only cogent, but have clear and profound practical applications to the way religion is actually practiced in the world today
• Includes a glossary aimed at justifying new translations of key technical terms in Religion, many of which have previously neglected religious and theological implications

From the Back Cover

"In this thorough commentary with a new translation, Palmquist argues that Kant treats religion as a distinctive experience, beyond both knowledge and morality, and that his major writing on religion is the central and culminating work of his philosophical endeavor. It is an impressive and intriguing accomplishment."
Richard Velkley, Tulane University

"Kant's Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason is arguably his most underrated great work, and there is probably no better qualified commentator on it than Palmquist."
Wayne Pomerleau, Gonzage University

Stephen Palmquist's Comprehensive Commentary provides the first definitive explication of Kant's Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason. The volume includes the full text of Kant's original work in a revised version of Pluhar's translation divided into short quotations. Palmquist offers editorial commentary on each segment, as well as detailed notes tracing other important issues including problems of translation, Kant's sources, and key arguments in the recent secondary literature.

The Commentary reflects contemporary currents in Kant scholarship and takes Kant seriously as a theorist on religion, rather than merely a philosopher who discusses religion as an appendix to his ethics. Palmquist's distinctive interpretation provides detailed evidence that Kant's approach is not reductionist; a balanced focus on both of Kant's two so-called 'experiments'; and an appreciation for and acknowledgement of the deep respect Kant had for the Christian tradition, despite his criticisms. In doing so, Palmquist provides Kant students and scholars with an essential reference, demonstrating that Kant's arguments in Religion are not only cogent, but have clear and profound practical applications to the way religion is actually practiced in the world today.

Review Quotes

"There has been something of a quiet revolution taking place in scholarship focused on Kant's philosophy of religion, and it is largely due to the work of Stephen R. Palmquist.... Regardless of the reader's strategy of approach, there is no doubt that [Comprehensive Commentary on Kant's Religion Within the Bounds of Bare Reason] will offer fresh insights to the Kant scholar, and those more generally interested in the philosophy of religion, for many years to come."
--Jonathan Head, The Heythrop Journal, LVIII (2017)

"The work of Palmquist is remarkable, rich, precise, and stands as an indispensable point of reference nowadays for reading Kant's text."
--Francesco Valerio Tommasi, Con-Textos Kantianos (Translated from Italian)

"This commentary is a highly detailed, original approach to one of Kant's most enigmatic works of the Critical period. Palmquist is very capable of fleshing out all the detail, and all possible interpretations, of some of Kant's most obscure assertions. Anyone can readily recognize the impressive level of scholarship in this commentary... the present work is an impressive contribution to Kant-studies and will surely arouse numerous responses in the years to come."
--Dennis vanden Auweele, British Journal for the History of Philosophy

"An encyclopedia for its subject... one can consult the Commentary wherever one has questions about Kant's text."
--Otfried Höffe, Zeitschrift für philosophische Forschung 70.3, (Translated from German)

"Stephen Palmquist has provided us with a magnificent work. Its sheer size alone dwarfs other recent commentaries on the Religion. Likewise, its encyclopaedic use of the secondary literature makes this book into the definitive resource for all scholars interested in either careful textual or philosophical analysis of Kant's principal work in the philosophy of religion.... An extraordinary resource for those committed to careful study of the Religion.
--Lawrence Pasternack, Kantian Review, 21.3

"[Kant's Religion] plays a central role in Kant's transcendental philosophy... [Comprehensive Commentary on Kant's Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason] fully responds to this need by analyzing and commenting in a complete and timely manner on the full text of Religion.
--Andreas Gentile in abrizio Serra (ed.), Studi Kantiani XXIX, (Translated from Italian)

"A rich and erudite work of scholarship. Above all, it displays intellectual generosity in its effort to try to understand what Kant was trying to say in this his culminating work of his moral and religious philosophy... I have learned a vast amount from Palmquist's remarkable book."
--Ronald M. Green, "Ronald Green on Stephen Palmquist's Comprehensive Commentary on Kant's Religion", Critique

"I was impressed not only by the care which [Palmquist] took in the translation of Kant's writings but also by the significant contributions that he made to our understanding of how the Religion fits with Kant's other works and projects."
--Christina Drogalis, "Christina Drogalis on Stephen Palmquist's Comprehensive Commentary on Kant's Religion", Critique

"A wide ranging study, in which thought-provoking gems appear on almost every page.... I have learned an extraordinary amount from Palmquist's commentary on a work I had thought that I already knew well; and I am extremely grateful to him both for his devoted efforts as an astute critic and scholar to bring it forth and for the magnificent result from which many others will surely profit."
--Susan Meld Shell, "Susan Shell on Stephen Palmquist's Comprehensive Commentary on Kant's Religion" Critique

"An encyclopedic resource to which readers can turn for illumination on any given passage.... Adopting this perspectival strategy... not only provides an effective way of resolving many of the apparent inconsistencies that trouble interpreters of [Religion], but also facilitates a plausible way of detecting when Kant is transitioning between his two experiments, i.e., between rational religion and his explicit discussion of Christian beliefs, symbols, and rituals."
--Andreas Gentile, Aretè

About the Author

Stephen R. Palmquist is Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Hong Kong Baptist University. He lectures on a wide variety of subjects in the fields of philosophy, psychology, and religious studies. Palmquist has written numerous scholarly articles on various aspects of Kant's philosophy, and has published 10 books, the most recent of which is Cultivating Personhood: Kant and Asian Philosophy (2010). In addition to Kant, his research interests include depth psychology, philosophy of love, philosophical anthropology, mysticism, logic of symbolism, theology of politics, and philosophy of religion.