On The Role Of Kant’s Concept Of Grace In Removing The Evil To The Good

The problem of "Radical Evil" is one that Kant analyzed in detail in the first canto of Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason.According to Kant,man is endowed with both the predisposition of good and the propensity of evil.Under the state of free will,people can reveal their good predisposition and follow the moral law,or they can let the evil propensity take the upper hand in the Willkiir,that means human,though aware of moral laws,acts with norms as a subjective basis for action,as if this subjective basis for acting in accordance with norms were rooted in human nature and was a fundamental and inherent evil.Human nature has its own "Radical Evil".So,an important question arises:what is the possibility for a person to change from evil to good,or how one can achieve the Highest Good.This can be said to be the core of Kant’s religious philosophy and even moral philosophy.Kant’s rational religion is laying on the basis of moral,so from the standpoint of the pure reason,Kant’s text shows us two ways of dealing with the problem of Radical Evil,one is the Self-Save" means,in which people can freely on the basis of human nature to be good moral genius,puts moral law sensibility motivation before,to become a good person.The second path is the "God-Saving" way,which means that the Radical Evil cannot be overcome only by relying on people’s independent actions,but only by the assistance of an external force,namely grace.According to the logic of Kant’s philosophy,it is impossible to "self-help"through moral perfection,because there is no causal relationship between morality and happiness.Morality is not the cause of happiness in the past.Similarly,happiness is not the cause of acquiring moral quality.Neither morality nor happiness can be the basis or foundation of the highest good in the sense of natural causality.The final solution of the problem of hope needs the external help of some transcendental power.In this way,the role of God’s grace in the transformation from evil to good is highlighted.But Kant’s grace is not the Christian theological sense of grace,grace is under the pure reason,is a rational interpretation of grace.So this paper will reconstruct Kant’s argument as follows:1.People cannot overcome Radical Evil by their own power,which requires the introduction of the concept of "grace".2.The concept of "grace" is different from that advocated by Christianity.It is a rationalized concept of grace.We need God’s grace,because God will give us a promise that even if we do things that are based on "out of" moral law rather than "conform to" moral law,we will not be able to achieve the Highest Good,and then grace comes into play as a guarantee of matching virtue and happiness.Finally,the paper draws the following conclusion:the grace of God as a concept,outside the rational limitation,is not a verily given,it’s set to build respect for moral law,let the human see the light to eliminate evil and reach the theory of "hope" which is the unification of morality and happiness.