Literature Review

Despite two main works, analyzing them is the main aim of the research, and other theoretical studies in the field are examined there. It is obvious that not only one work is devoted to religion by Schleiermacher and Kant. Concerning Kant, works on the practical philosophy are mainly analyzed in the research, such as  ‘The Only Possible Argument in Support of a Demonstration of the Existence of God’ (1763), ‘Critique of Practical Reason’ (1788), ‘Metaphysics of Morals’ (1797). In these works Kant shows the importance of questions about the existence of God, freedom and soul for human practice ability. We could not postulate, for example, the existence of God in a scientific way, but we have to accept His existence to be able to make moral actions in the world. Moreover, God is not only the instrument which helps us to make moral actions; He is the moral law itself. So, in these works Kant leads us from morality to religion.

Another corpus of Kant’s works, which is involved in the research, is corpus of theoretical and metaphysical works. The mains are ‘Critique of Pure Reason’ (1781), ‘Prolegomena to any Future Metaphysics’ (1783), ‘The Contest of Faculties’ (1798) etc. We need first to make a border between scientific knowledge and practical knowledge to understand the field of morality and religion. Kant uses his method of critical philosophy to make this border. Kant removes the sphere of knowledge to show the questions which concern only the practical sphere in his works, devoted to metaphysics. So the questions of theology and religion cannot be scientific questions.

Most works of Schleiermacher are devoted to questions of religion, because of Schleiermacher being theologian. The problem of the essence of religion is in the center of his works, such as ‘Brief Outline for the Study of Theology’, ‘The Christian Faith in Outline’, ‘Christmas Eve: A Dialogue on the Incarnation’, ‘On the Glaubenslehre: Two Letters to Dr. Lucke’. The general understanding of religion in all Schleiermacher’s works is connected with sense of religion (German: der Sinn). Religion, according to Schleiermacher is not just a theological concept; it involves present a human being, senses and mind. Religion is the basic structure of a human being, because only in religion inner world and outside world coexist in harmony, so that there is no more contradiction between theoretical and practical sphere of human life, or contradiction between universal general moral law and individual and private feelings of human.

It is obvious that the religious theories of Kant and Schleiermacher cannot be analyzed properly without understanding historical and cultural context. Great amount of works of other authors of that time are involved in the research. After Kant had made his point about theoretical useless of any statement about characteristics and existence of God, many thinkers began to analyze the problem of religion from another side: from its meaning for individual. This research touches upon philosophical and religious systems of Jacobi, Spinoza, Fichte, Novalis, F. Schlegel and A. Schlegel, Schelling, Lessing etc.

The research also includes works of Russian and European historians of philosophy. For example, the classical book of R. Haim devoted to Romanticism became the basis of construction cultural and intellectual atmosphere in the research. “Schleiermacher: Leben und Wichting” by K. Novak and “Schleiermacher’s Leben” by W. Dilthey are main sources for biographical information about Schleiermacher. There is no need to say that some great amount of works about Kant’s philosophy (both theoretical and practical) are also examined in the research. Among Russian researchers of Romanticism and Enlightenment I apply mostly to “Языки культуры” of Michailov and “Философия Немецкого Романтизма: Гельдерлин, Шлейермахер” of Gabitova. Materials from conferences devoted to problems of philosophy of religion are also involved in the research.